Author: Jaclyn

by

Seven Days, Seven B&W Photos

Well, I’m guessing that most of my friends have encountered the latest social media challenge to make its way around Facebook and Instagram.  I’m not normally one to get into doing social media challenges; I rarely participate in Instagram month-long daily prompts and I usually roll my eyes hard at Facebook challenges.  But my friend Rebecca challenged me twice to do the B&W challenge, I figured I’d better go along with it, or she’d never stop.  😉

The rules of the challenge are: post a black and white photo every day for seven days; no pictures and no explanations.  Challenge another person.  I followed along and posted my photos noting only what day of the challenge I was on, and at the end, challenged my sister-in-law Danielle.  Now that I’m done, here’s the whole challenge in all its glory, with some more details about the photos and the processing, and at the end, a lesson I learned that surprised me a bit.

Day One

Place: Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, California
Date: August, 2017
Camera: iPhone 6s Plus
Processing: Silvertone

I was really pleased with the way this one came out.  I snapped this picture on my phone as Steve and I were hiking the bluffs on Santa Cruz Island, and I liked it, but it was sort of a grey day and the views weren’t as dramatic as they are when the sun is shining.  It didn’t occur to me to process it in black and white (that almost never occurs to me) but I really like it.

Day Two

Place: Great Falls National Park, Virginia
Date: August, 2016
Camera: iPhone 6s Plus
Processing: Clarendon (Instagram) and Noir

I much prefer this picture processed in color.  It’s actually one of my favorite photos that I have taken while hiking – not that it’s the best or most dramatic, but Great Falls is my favorite place in the world.  I don’t feel like the black and white processing does the picture any favors at all.  Perhaps if I’d taken this during the winter, when Great Falls is pretty much black and white anyway, I’d feel differently.  But I remember taking this picture, and the whole day was a riot of color, and it was our first hike back after moving home to Virginia, and my cousin Jocelyn was there.  If there’s ever a picture that should be processed in color, it’s this one.

Day Three

Place: Pamlico Sound, Frisco, North Carolina
Date: July, 2015
Camera: iPhone (older generation)
Processing: Silvertone

Longtime readers may recall that when I recapped my 2015 summer vacation to the Outer Banks, I included a post with one sunset picture from each day of our trip that I had snapped on my camera and processed/shared on Instagram.  This was one of the outtakes.  I didn’t use it because I didn’t like the big dark expanse in the foreground.  I think the black and white processing has improved this picture.  Normally I would never process a sunset picture in black and white, because what on earth would be the purpose?  But I think the Silvertone filter gave the sky a really cool look, and I like the silhouette of the windblown tree.

Day Four

Place: Hall Ranch, Lyons, Colorado
Date: November, 2015
Camera: iPhone (older generation)
Processing: Rise (Instagram) and Silvertone

This was my favorite photo of the challenge – in part because I remember this hike as one of the happiest I’ve ever done (it was in Colorado with my family, my brother and sister-in-law, and we had such a wonderful time soaking in the incredible scenery and enjoying being together) and in part because I was surprised how much I love the black and white processing on this.  I think the layered filters really made it look cool.  I almost never process my pictures in black and white, and this one is making me wonder why.  (It also doesn’t hurt that when I posted it on Facebook, one of my mom’s friends commented that it looked “Ansel Adams-like!” – picture me blushing hard.)

Day Five

Place: Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Date: September, 2008
Camera: Nikon D5100
Processing: Mono

The only picture of this set that wasn’t snapped on an iPhone, this is also fairly early in my photographic experimenting.  I’ve always liked the pictures I shot on Skye, which has to be one of the most photogenic places in the world.  What you can’t tell from this picture is that the grass was almost electric green.

Day Six

Place: Fort de Soto Park, Pinellas County, Florida
Date: September, 2017
Camera: iPhone 6s Plus
Processing: Clarendon (Instagram) and Noir

Out of the seven black and white photos I posted over the week, this one got the most love from my Facebook friends.  I can understand why – it’s certainly dramatic.  I also think it illustrates that you don’t have to have a ton of skill to shoot a cool-looking nature picture (although skill would help) if you happen to be in the right place at the right time.  I was actually closer to this egret as it took off than it appears from the picture, but I’d have loved to be closer still.  Either way, I do really like this picture – the white bird against the dark mangroves, and the reflection in the water, I think are nice effects.  I also loved this in color, but it’s more attention-grabbing in black and white.

Day Seven

Place: Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, Santa Barbara, California
Date: August, 2017
Camera: iPhone 6s Plus
Processing: Lark (Instagram) and Noir

I wanted to end with a mountain, so I saved this one for the last photo.  I love the sky effect here – in reality, it was a brilliant blue, but it looks almost stormy with this processing.  Choosing a black and white filter was tough for this one.  Silvertone looked terrible, but I was really torn between Mono and Noir.  Steve liked Mono, but I thought Noir showed off the craggy mountain a little better and gave the meadow some glimmer.

So – I had a surprising amount of fun with this.  I’m really not a big joiner, but after Rebecca prompted me twice I thought if I kept ignoring her she’d kill me, and I found myself really enjoying the process of choosing a picture each day and then selecting the best filter to give it the effects I wanted.  And by the end of the week, I was feeling really inspired to play more with black and white processing, which I suppose was the whole point.

While I love photography, and I really enjoy playing with processing and filters, I have been really resistant to black and white.  There are a couple of reasons for this – one is that I think black and white processing is almost like cheating, because it forgives so many lighting and formatting sins.  It’s hard to process a picture in black and white and have it NOT look good.  I also think that color processing, while more challenging, looks far better when it’s done well.  (I don’t always do it well, but I am learning.)  Especially when it comes to landscape and nature photography, I’d much rather look at a really well-done color photograph than a black and white one.  But after last week, I think I learned that there is a place for black and white photography in my own albums.  I’ll definitely be playing more with this in the future.

Did you get pinged to do the black and white challenge, too?

by

A Project 24 Update

As my friends may recall, I’ve committed to Simon’s Project 24 for the year – meaning that I’m restricting myself to only buying twenty-four books All. Year.  Long.  This may seem easy, but I assure you it is not.  Anyway, it’s been awhile, so I owe y’all a quick update.  I’m pretty sure I’m still on track with Project 24, although I have gotten slightly disorganized about it and there’s a chance I might have forgotten a book purchase or four.  Here’s what I’ve purchased through today:

January

  • The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne (Folio Society)
  • The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge (Folio Society)
  • Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery (Folio Society)
  • Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery (Folio Society)

February

No books!

March

  • Envelope Poems, by Emily Dickinson (The Gorgeous Nothings)
  • Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks

April

  • Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks
  • North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks

May

  • Anderby Wold, by Winifred Holtby (Virago)
  • The Land of Green Ginger, by Winifred Holtby (Virago)

June

  • Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome (Folio Society)

July

  • Before Lunch, by Angela Thirkell (Virago)
  • A Memoir of Jane Austen, by Edward Austen-Leigh (Folio Society)
  • The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Folio Society)

August

  • Father Brown Stories, Vols. I and II, by G.K. Chesterton (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks

September

  • After Many Years: Twenty-One Long Lost Stories, by L.M. Montgomery (Nimbus)
  • Sylvia’s Lovers, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print, purchased from Abebooks
  • Ruth, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print, purchased from Abebooks
  • 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Washington, D.C., by Renee Sklarew and Rachel Cooper (Menasha Ridge Press)

October

  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Illustrated Edition, by J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine)

November

  • The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery (Sourcebooks)

By that count, I’m at twenty-two books for the year.  (The Chesterton stories are in two volumes, so even though they’re together in one slipcase, I’m counting them as two books.  And I’m counting the hiking guide, even though I really purchased it for the family.  I’m trying hard to be upstanding here!)  That leaves me with two books left for the year – I’ll probably purchase one more this month and one in December, since I don’t usually spend money on myself in December anyway and often find books under the Christmas tree.  It’s been an interesting exercise, and I’ll reflect more on it after the conclusion of the project, in a few months.  In the meantime, I’m off to peruse my wish lists and try to decide what to order next…

Have you ever done Project 24?  Did you survive?

 

by

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (November 6, 2017)

Fall-back weekend before children: hmmmmm.  How should I spend this extra time?  I think I’ll sleep in and then go have a leisurely brunch.

Fall-back weekend with children: Please sleep past 4:00 a.m.  Please sleep past 4:00 a.m.  Please sleep past – dammit.

Happy Monday, friends.  How were your weekends?  We had a lazy weekend around the neighborhood, which was exactly what I wanted.  With all the excitement of Halloween happening last weekend and into the week, and with the busiest season of the year directly ahead of us, I really, really needed a weekend or two in a row with no plans and no commitments – and that’s exactly what we got this weekend.  On Saturday, we walked out to the library and farmers’ market, then stopped by the playground – the leaves are finally out! – and the fire station on the way home.  So – our usual circuit.  The furthest afield I ventured was a fifteen minute walk to yoga while the kids napped in the afternoon.  Added in a family movie night with pizza and Star Wars (Nugget’s first viewing! he shouted “THERE’S MY BUDDY!” every time Darth Vader was onscreen), and it was a pretty perfect day.  Sunday was even lazier – I don’t think I got out of my pajamas all day.  We did lots of playing, made paper plate turkeys with feathers listing what we are grateful for, some reading, and a bit of laundry and work so we felt like we’d been at least a little bit productive.  I felt a little under the weather on Saturday and worse on Sunday – I have a vicious cold in my throat and head, and I basically sound like Sexy Phoebe singing “Smelly Cat” all the time.  So a lazy Sunday at home was just what the doctor ordered.

  

Reading.  It was a good, productive reading week.  I finished Poems Bewitched and Haunted on Halloween – perfect timing!  It was loads of fun, a perfect Fright Night read, and made me want to read more poetry soon.  Then I turned back to Dark Money, which I had been plodding through slowly.  It’s one of those incredibly interesting and informative nonfiction reads that I think are very important – but it was also sort of dense and I don’t seem to have the wherewithal to keep track of all these shadowy foundations that are one step away from money laundering… in thinking about it, though, perhaps that’s exactly the point.  Yeah, food for thought.  Anyway, Dark Money was due back to the library on Saturday, and I was still fifty pages from the end, so I flew through the final couple of chapters while the kids played, and then dropped it in the overnight return box.  On Saturday evening, I turned to Little Fires Everywhere, the new Celeste Ng.  I’m about a third of the way through it and really enjoying it, so more next week, I’m sure.

Watching.  It seems we are straight-up re-watching Parks and Recreation, which is fine with me.  Duke Silver just made his first appearance!  On Friday evening, we ate takeout Indian food while watching Ann break Leslie of her fear of first dates through “bad date immersion therapy.”  Parks and Rec is definitely helping us hold it together as we wait for the next season of The Crown to drop on Netflix – not too long now!

Listening.  I’m back to podcasts as I take a little break from audiobooks.  At the moment, the “Read Aloud Revival” episode on the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report is in my earbuds, and it’s very interesting and informative.  (Further down, I’ll share the best thing I listened to all week – it’s my “loving” for this week, so read on.)  In addition to podcasts, I’m still playing the Book of Mormon soundtrack on repeat.  Less than two weeks to go until we will be saying “Hello!” to Elder Price and Elder Cunningham at the Kennedy Center!

Moving.  Sort of a slow week.  Sleeping has been really bad lately – it seems like the whole house is conspiring to keep me awake some nights, and this lousy cold hasn’t helped matters.  That’s making it hard to get up and out of the house for early morning workouts.  I made it to power yoga on Tuesday, but missed Friday, because Nugget was clinging to my neck from 4:30 onwards.  That made me sad, because the Friday classes are taught by my favorite instructor, who is moving to Africa in two weeks, and I’m trying to soak up as many of her fabulous vinyasa classes as I can before she leaves.  She also teaches on Saturday afternoon, though, so I made a point of going to that class, at least, and – I got into crow pose for the first time in years!  This is a big deal!  Jaimie – the instructor – came over to my mat and gave me Muppet arms.  Wahooooo!

Blogging.  I have a Project 24 update coming to you on Wednesday (spoiler – I’m on track, I think?) and on Friday, a fun photography post about a surprising thing I learned while doing the black and white challenge on Facebook last week.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  Best thing this week was a podcast episode!  As I’ve been working my way through my ever-neglected podcatcher, I listened to a pretty recent episode of The Mom Hour, all about things you can do to get ready for the holidays NOW, instead of waiting until December and making yourself miserable.  There were a ton of great tips – lots of common sense, but sometimes you need that, right ladies?  The Moms suggested writing thank-you notes and putting together your kids’ teachers’ gifts in October (this is revolutionary, and I will definitely be getting that task done early); scheduling out as much of your holiday calendar as you can in advance, down to the last trash pick-up day before Christmas so you will know when you need the garbage guys’ bonus checks ready; and making your Shutterfly projects ahead of time so you’ll be able to take advantage of Cyber Monday sales without spending that whole day making photo books (which I try to do anyway, but the reminder is good).  I was so inspired that I jumped right onto Shutterfly and started making Nana’s Brag Book 2017 – hi, Mom!  (Don’t worry; this is a gift she gets every year, so I’m not ruining a surprise – she knows it’s coming.)  The Mom Hour is my favorite parenting podcast, and I think this was one of their best episodes yet.  No one else can get me more inspired to be on top of my parenting game while simultaneously reassuring me that everyone feels like a flake at the end of the school semester.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

by

Halloween – or Hamilween! – 2017

Happy fall, y’all!  I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  We kicked off the holiday season in grand style with Halloween festivities over several days.  Ready for the usual massive photobomb of a recap post?

Trick-or-Treating at Mount  Vernon

First up on the Halloween agenda was a new-to-us activity: trick-or-treating at Mount Vernon!  We are members, and have taken the kids to special events there in the past, but we hadn’t done this one before.  It looked like fun, so we signed up and on Friday after work, we drove down to the estate with… wait for it, wait for it…

ALEXANDER AND ELIZA HAMILTON.

The costumes were actually Peanut’s idea – well, the Eliza costume was.  Back in September, she mentioned that she wanted to be “Eliza” for Halloween.  Thinking “Doolittle” – an Eliza I didn’t think she knew about, I said, “Eliza who?”  And with great scorn in her voice (is she five or fifteen?) she replied, “Mom.  The Schuyler Sister.”  Ohhhhhh.  Well, once I realized what she meant, I obviously thought it was a great idea, and some googling led me to a “Colonial Lady” costume on Amazon that was just the right shade of blue to serve as an Eliza Hamilton costume.  There was one left and it was her size – done!  And then, as I was adding it to my shopping cart, Amazon piped up with a “suggestion” – would I like a “toddler Alexander Hamilton” costume?  YES.  YES I WOULD.

Mr. Treasury Secretary Hamilton looked very handsome in his gold-trimmed black velvet I KID YOU NOT.

Our first order of business at Mount Vernon was to figure out where the candy was.  They gave us a map of the trick-or-treating, which helpfully plotted out the candy spots, but it wasn’t clear what the candy collection points actually looked like.

Some wandering and running ensued, but we eventually found the candy.  They had volunteers dressed in period costumes standing at various spots, with big baskets of candy.  The kids had fun spotting the actors and going from basket to basket collecting mini candy bars.

Sadly, Nugget no longer says “twee twee!” for “trick or treat!”  But he was pretty cute nonetheless.  A couple of times, he tried to weasel some extra candy out of the volunteers.  They were having none of it.  (At one point, after Nugget tried to reach into a basket and grab a handful for himself, Steve leaned over and said to me: “Hamilton doesn’t hesitate – he exhibits no restraint – he takes and he takes and he takes…”  Haha!)

Eventually, we found our way to Lady Washington, who was sitting by the entrance to the Mansion greeting her guests.  She interacted with the kids in character, and it was amazing.  To Nugget, she said, “You look like a handsome gentleman, in your coat in the new style.”  Ha!  I explained who they were, and she was all over it.  “Eliza!  I knew you before you were married!  I used to call you Betsy.  Betsy, do you remember, I was there when Alexander proposed marriage to you.  Alexander, you were quite a spiffy dresser!”  I was DYING.

She even let Peanut – excuse me, Eliza – hold her parasol.  I’m telling you.  DYING.

All in all, trick-or-treating at Mount Vernon was both hilarious and successful.  The kids came home with bags full of candy and Steve and I laughed at their costumes all night.

Lee-Fendall House Pumpkin Hunt

The Lee-Fendall House children’s party and pumpkin hunt was a repeat event for us.  Last year, we met up with a school friend for the party and everyone had a great time, so we decided to reprise the event.  It was a great event, just like last year.  Unfortunately, our gang wasn’t really up for it this time.  Nugget was feeling emotional about something (being two is complicated…), Peanut was straight-up belligerent, and her BFF was very upset that she didn’t win the costume contest.  BFF’s mom and I decided that we may have outgrown this one (even though it really is a terrific party) and should look for something else next year…

As you can see, no one wanted their pictures taken.

Last year, Nugget won the pumpkin hunt.  This year, Steve was encouraging him to “defend the title” and he gave it a good effort but…

Alas, we did not win.  Unless you count collecting dozens of temporary tattoos as winning, which – actually – Peanut totally does.

The costume parade was adorable, too.  Peanut and her BFF – the witch – had fun marching around and showing off their costumes.  But they were on the older end of the partygoers, and I think we’ll definitely find something for older kids next year.

Pumpkin Picking at Wegmeyer Farms

Back this summer, I made plans to meet up with a sorority sister – who I haven’t seen since graduation! – and her family to pick pumpkins at Butler’s Orchard, where we picked blueberries over the summer.  As our fall schedules filled up, it got harder and harder to coordinate, but we really wanted to make it work so that our kids could meet – she has two little girls, one a little older than Peanut and one around Nugget’s age.  It turned out that the Sunday before Halloween was the only day we could all do, so we planned to head up to Maryland then.  Unfortunately, that Sunday ended up being rainy and gross, and we called it off when we saw the weather reports.  But we still needed pumpkins, so we hastily rearranged some plans and headed out to Loudoun County, Virginia, to collect our pumpkins from Wegmeyer Farms on Saturday afternoon instead.  (It was just our family, as sadly, my sorority sis and her fam were booked up on Saturday – hence the original plan to go on Sunday.)

The pumpkin field was small, but was dotted with pumpkins of all sizes, shapes and colors – I’d never seen such variety at a pumpkin patch before!  It was simply beautiful.

The kids wanted to ride down the hill in the wagon.  I tried pulling them myself, but I couldn’t control the wagon – don’t let the angle of this picture fool you; the hill was STEEP.  So we called in the big guns – Daddy!

About halfway down the hill, we stopped and let the passengers out.  Peanut and Daddy continued walking down the hill to check out more pumpkins, while Nugget and I decided there were plenty of good options right where we were.

Nugget was a man on a mission – to find the biggest pumpkin in the field.

There were some gigantic gourds.  (You bet I coordinated my sneakers to our activity.  Doesn’t everyone?)

Nugget and I agreed on a reasonably large pumpkin and then Peanut returned to look for one more family pumpkin.

This one is huge, let’s get it!

I love this picture – it captures them so perfectly.  Mr. Personality and Lady Belligerent.

Back up the hill!

Up at the farm store, they had mums, small gourds, and cider donuts – among other treats.  We bought a “pink porcelain doll” pumpkin because they supported breast cancer research.

And we picked out a few small gourds for a little seasonal tabletop display, meaning that I have officially become my grandmother.

Pumpkin Preparations

On Sunday, we settled in for a rainy day at home.  My friend Zan had texted on Friday and asked if we wanted to get together for the football game – or, more specifically, for the guys to watch the football game while the girls hung out and chatted.  With our original Sunday plan having been rained out, we were totally up for some friend time.

Zan promised to bring a red lentil chili, so Peanut and I assigned ourselves the task of baking cornbread and gathering the other accompaniments – cheese, yogurt, and crispy onions (which I actually forgot to set out).  Once our friends arrived, we got down to the business of having fun.  The boys turned on football and the girls sipped bourbon, apple cider and rosemary cocktails (well, the grown-up girls did), ate chili, and baked pumpkin muffins with Peanut.  Such a fun day!  It’s always a blast hanging out with Zan and Paul – I’m so glad we’re all together in D.C.

On Monday, we brought our pumpkins inside for a sticker-fest.  One of these years we will carve the pumpkins again, but for now – stickers are a lot cleaner, safer and less hassle.  (I do plan to cut the pumpkins open and scoop out the seeds for roasting, eventually.  I won’t go without my roasted pumpkin seeds, even if we don’t carve jack-o-lanterns!)

Trick-or-Treating!

Finally, the main event!  On Tuesday, we dressed the Hamiltons up for another venture out on the town.  There is a street in our neighborhood that closes to traffic and turns into a big block party – the houses go all out with giant candy cauldrons, wild and weird decorations, lights, fog – the works.  We checked out the scene last year and obviously that had to happen again.

We started from the south end of the street this time, and it was a circus!

Refusing to smile for pictures.  Sigh.  Can’t win ’em all.

Eventually, after about thirty minutes of searching and exchanging text messages and bumping into several other people we know, we found Peanut’s BFF and her family – our trick-or-treating buddies.

The Hamiltons and their witchy friend had their game faces on.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Everyone loved Nugget’s costume, but only a couple of people actually got what the kids were without being told – I was surprised!  I thought that more people would catch on, given how popular the Broadway musical is – but a few did.  One kid shouted “They recreated Philippa Soo’s costume!” and that was the only person to get it based on Peanut.  Two people called out “Is that a little ALEXANDER HAMILTON?” when they saw Nugget, but he also got asked if he was Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Liberace.  We also saw (an adult) George Washington, who called, “Hey, you’re from… my period!” – to which I responded, “This is your right-hand man, Alexander Hamilton.”  Ha!  Once we explained to folks who the kids were supposed to be, everyone loved their costumes.

BFF’s dad had it goin’ on with his wig.

We went door-to-door collecting candy (and got enough to last the kids until Christmas!) until the sun set and it was legit dark – and with a wilting Founding Father and wife in the stroller, headed home to see if we got any trick-or-treaters of our own (we got two groups, for five kids total – an improvement from last year, when we only got one kid!).

Happy Halloween, one last tiiiiiiiiiiime… BOO!

by

Reading Round-Up: October 2017

Reading Round-Up Header

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for October, 2017…

Something True, by Karelia Stretz-Waters – Tate Grafton is a barista who has given up her own career to help prop up the coffee shop that saved her when she was a teenager who’d been kicked out of her mom’s house.  She’s trying to make her peace with the fact that her life is passing her by, when Laura Enfield walks into the coffee shop and asks if there is a “women’s bar” nearby.  Laura is looking for a one-night stand, and she draws Tate in – but things get extremely complicated when their paths cross again.  So, I picked this up to fulfill a task for the Book Riot Challenge – read an LGBTQ romance.  It was okay – the writing was good, the plot was engaging and the ending satisfying – but what I realized is, romance is not my genre.  (I already knew this.)  I certainly wanted to know what was going to happen, and I kept reading even while shaking my head over the characters’ terrible decision after terrible decision.  So I’m glad I gave it a shot, but it didn’t turn me into a romance reader.

The Golden House, by Salman Rushdie – This book, Rushdie’s answer to the 2016 election, was heavily hyped and I was really excited to read it.  The book centers upon a young filmmaker named Rene who becomes one of the few people allowed into the inner sanctum of the reclusive Golden family – patriarch Nero, his young Russian supermodel wife Vasilisa, and his three troubled sons.  Rene watches as the Golden family begins to collapse.  Meanwhile, the Joker – of comic book fame – announces his candidacy for President of the United States and amasses legions of followers who respond to his insane proclamations with a chant of “Ha! Ha! Ha!”  So – the Joker parts were the most interesting to me, and there were not nearly enough of them.  The Goldens themselves didn’t really interest me, with the possible exception of Vasilisa.  It seems like, try as I might – and I do try mightily – I can’t seem to get Rushdie.

See America: A Celebration of Our National Parks and Treasured Sites, by the Creative Action Network – I picked this book up on a whim, off an endcap at the library.  The artists of the Creative Action Network have put together a collection of “See America” illustrations – one for every legacy national park and most of the smaller NPS-managed sites – in the style of the “See America” posters created to advertise the national parks during FDR’s Works Progress Administration.  The posters all echo the WPA posters in style, and each is accompanied by a one-paragraph description of the park and a map showing where it is located.  As with any art book, some of the illustrations were more to my liking than others, but I really loved most of them – no surprise there, because I love the national parks.  The only thing that bugged me about the book was that there were a few careless typos.  For instance, one national monument was noted as having been designated “by President Barack Obama in 2008” – well, President Obama was not sworn into office until January of 2009; I don’t think President-elects have the power to designate national monuments during the transition period.  And Cape Cod National Seashore was referred to as being in “Texas and Oklahoma” – which, no.  It was correctly located in Massachusetts on the map, but the text was wrong.  I felt that careful editing should have caught both of those, since they jumped off the page at me and I wasn’t reading for typos.  But other than that irritant, I really enjoyed the book.

Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng – I tore through this family saga, which opens with perhaps the most gripping line of any literary novel: “Lydia is dead, but they don’t know it yet.”  (Right?  How can you not keep reading after that?!)  The book follows the Lee family – parents James and Marilyn, whose mixed-race marriage in the 1950s caused seismic waves that are still reverberating years later, and their three children, Nathan, Lydia and Hannah.  Lydia is the favorite, and struggles with the weight of parental expectations piled upon her shoulders, while Nath and Hannah fade into the background.  When she disappears and is later found dead, each member of the family copes differently.  Everything I Never Told You is a family story disguised as a thriller disguised as a family story and is completely and utterly captivating.  I was turning pages at a breakneck pace, wanting to smack both of the parents and hug Nath and Hannah tight.  I think I finished the book in less than 24 hours – I just couldn’t put it down.

Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson – Nimona is a bloodthirsty sixteen-year-old shapeshifter who walks into the lair of local villain Lord Ballister Blackheart and offers herself up as a sidekick.  Blackheart is initially skeptical, but agrees to take Nimona on – she doesn’t really give him a choice – and she instantly ups his villain cred and gives him a leg up in his ongoing dispute with his archnemesis, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin.  It doesn’t take Nimona long to both announce her presence and to discover that Goldenloin’s employers are up to some shady dealings.  Blackheart, for his part, is not nearly as villainous as he’s made out to be by the people he supposedly terrorizes, and Goldenloin is far from the golden hero.  As Blackheart and Nimona launch a plot to expose the Institute of Heroes for what it truly is, Blackheart finds himself caring almost paternally for Nimona.  (Awwwww…)  So, I just loved this.  It was sweet, funny, silly and touching.  Blackheart was my favorite, and I was cheering for him to get some resolution – and Nimona kept everyone, including the reader, on their toes throughout. A total delight.

Beartown, by Fredrik Backman – Backman’s books have gotten so much hype and buzz, that I felt compelled to give him a try.  Perhaps it was all that buzz, but I liked – but didn’t love – Beartown.  It should have been a story right up my alley – Beartown is a small rural hamlet that shares one obsession: hockey.  The town’s hopes and dreams for the future are completely invested in its junior hockey team, which is about to play in a major semifinal match, and the town elders hope that if the juniors win, it will bring the town enough attention to attract a hockey academy and rescue the sagging local economy.  It’s a lot of pressure to put on a group of kids, and it’s unsurprising that the semifinal match leads to a violent incident that ends up ripping the town apart.  So – it was certainly a gripping novel, and some of the characters – Amat, Peter, Bobo and Maya in particular – really did draw me in and make me care about them.  But overall, I sort of wanted more.

Dawn (Xenogenesis/Lilith’s Brood #1), by Octavia Butler – I have been wanting to read more of Butler’s work since I read the splendid Kindred last year, and there seemed like no better time to check out Lilith’s Brood after the announcement that there will be a dramatic adaptation.  Lilith Iyapo is one of a handful of survivors of an apocalyptic event that has all but eradicated the human race.  She and her fellow survivors have been plucked off Earth by a group of aliens, and kept in a suspended animation state while the aliens cleaned up the planet and prepared to reintroduce humanity.  But the aliens are far from disinterested benevolent helpers, and they plan to exact a price for their assistance to the residents of Earth.  Lilith is chosen as their emissary to humanity, and the repercussions are violent and terrifying.  Well – obviously, because this is Octavia Butler – Dawn was brilliantly written and astonishingly creative.  It was also pretty violent and weird, and while I loved the book and certainly plan to continue reading the series, I’m probably not going to want to see it play out visually on a TV screen.

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline – Another majorly hyped book, and one that has been on my TBR for ages.  I didn’t want to find myself avoiding the movie on account of not having read the story first, so I finally made the effort to get a copy from the library.  Ready Player One tells the story of Wade Watts, a teenager in 2044, whose life is consumed by a virtual video-gaming platform called “The Oasis,” and a hunt for an “Easter Egg” that was hidden deep within the system by its creator – the finder of whom will be the heir to an enormous fortune.  Years go by after the creator’s death with no progress, but one day, Wade finds the first clue – and all hell breaks loose.  Ready Player One was tons of fun – and would have been even more fun if I had gotten more than 10% of the 1980s pop culture and gaming references.  I tore through it in two days, and recommended it to Steve and my BFF, both of whom also devoured it.  And now we’ll be ready for the movie.

On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service (Her Royal Spyness #11), by Rhys Bowen – Lady Georgianna Rannoch is cooling her heels in Ireland, waiting at Kilhenny Castle for her beloved’s return, when she receives two letters forwarded from her brother’s house.  One is a plaintive missive from her best friend, Belinda, who is pregnant and alone in Italy.  The other is from the Queen, summoning Georgie to Buckingham Palace to discuss Georgie’s wish to surrender her place in the line of succession and marry Darcy O’Mara, a Catholic.  Georgie rushes to London to meet with the Queen, who seems willing to agree to Georgie’s marriage, but – typical! – has a little task for Georgie in the meantime: spy on the Prince of Wales and make sure he doesn’t secretly marry Wallis Simpson during a house party in Italy.  It’s a good opportunity for Georgie to make the Queen happy while fitting in a visit to Belinda, so Georgie willingly agrees.  But it’s 1935, times are troubled, and there is more at stake than any royal marriage – several of the attendees at the party are highly placed Nazi and Italian Fascist operatives, and Georgie finds herself conscripted into spying on more than one fellow party guest – and then when one of the guests is murdered, things get really interesting.  As always, I was absolutely delighted with the latest Lady Georgie mystery.  I love where Bowen is taking all of the characters, and I can’t wait to find out what’s next for Georgie, Darcy, Belinda and all the gang.

The Collected Plays 2010-2015 by Portland Preschoolers, by Andrew Barton – “Read a book published by a micropress” was the most baffling and confusing Book Riot Challenge task of the year.  It took me months to figure out what to read – but I sort of figured that if I could find a micropress that published one book I was interested in, then that same press would publish other books I was interested in.  (Does that make sense?)  Anyway, eventually I happened upon Two Plum Press and The Collected Plays 2010-2015 by Portland Preschoolers, which I have declared to be the greatest book ever written.  Barton compiles a collection of AMAZING plays by kids in his preschool drama class, and they are everything that is wonderful and fabulous.  My favorite play was “Paris When It Sizzles,” but I loved them all.  (Honorable mentions to “The Hamster’s Adventure With the Baby Show” and “The 3 Little Deer, the 3 Little Ponies, and the Big Bad Volcano.”)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Saenz – Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza is looking ahead to a long and boring summer of bumming around town with no friends when he meets Dante Quintana at the pool.  The boys bond and quickly become best friends, and their parents become friendly too.  At the end of the summer, an accident prompts Dante to declare his feelings for Ari – feelings that go beyond friendship.  The rest of the story shows how Ari comes to terms with Dante’s love for him, and gradually realizes that he loves Dante.  I listened to the audiobook of this highly acclaimed young adult novel, and the narration by Lin-Manuel Miranda added even more depth and emotion to the story.  Although it took me almost the entire book to really feel invested (likely because of my habit of listening to audiobooks in short bursts and then letting days or weeks go by without returning to the story) by the end I could absolutely see what all the fuss was about.  This was a beautiful book.

Poems Bewitched and Haunted, ed. John Hollander – Looking to both read something spooky at the end of the month and check off another Book Riot Challenge task (a collection of poems in translation on a subject other than love – not all of the poems in this collection are in translation, but enough are that I think it counts) I grabbed Poems Bewitched and Haunted off my shelf.  With offerings from everyone from Homer to Shakespeare to Emma Lazarus, and on subjects ranging from witches to haunted houses to “dangerous wooers,” there’s something for every poetical taste in here, and it’s all deliciously spooky and Halloween-y.  Such a fun way to spend the last couple of days of the month – shivers abound.

 

Not a bad month of reading, if I do say so myself!  Twelve books – I’m still a bit behind on my Goodreads goal of 100 books for the year, but this month’s total has helped, and it also isn’t really important, so.  Lots of good ones, too!  I’m actually hard pressed to pick a highlight, or even a few highlights.  Poems Bewitched and Haunted was such a fun way to close out the month and spend Halloween.  Of course, any visit with Georgie is bound to delight, and On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service was no exception.  Ready Player One and Nimona were pure fun, and Everything I Never Told You was as gripping a page-turner as any family saga ever could be.  And now, onward to November!  I have a small heap out from the library, and I’m expecting some excellent reads to come in via the holds queue any day now, so look for those.  I’m also hoping to spend time with some comfort reads from my own shelves, and I am planning to partake in Sarah and Naomi‘s #ReadingValancy readlaong of L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle.  It’s going to be a great month as we head into the big season of cuddling up with a book and a hot beverage, so do check back in with me!

 

 

by

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 30, 2017)

Happy Mischief Night, my little ghouls and goblins!  How were your Hallo-weekends?  Ours was – as usual – packed full of activity.  On Friday afternoon/evening, Steve and I took the kids trick-or-treating at Mount Vernon.  If you follow me on Instagram, or we’re friends on Facebook, you already know their Halloween costumes – but for the blog, I’m going to keep them under my hat for a few more days.  (Sorry… I promise they’re amazing.)  But I will say that their costumes made quite the splash at Mount Vernon.  And that’s all I’ll say.  On Saturday, I squeezed in a Barre3 class in the morning and then was home in time to shove the kids back into their costumes for a children’s pumpkin hunt and Halloween party at the Lee-Fendall House, one of the historic homes that is now a museum; our neighborhood is lousy with historic house-museums.  We met up with Peanut’s BFF from school and her mom, and none of the kids seemed to be that into the festivities this year.  Nugget just wanted to run away; Peanut spent half the party “camouflaged” in the bushes, and her BFF was very upset that she didn’t win the costume contest.  BFF’s mom and I agreed that we like doing a Halloween activity together, but next year we might look for a different option.  Lee-Fendall House throws a great party, but our kids were all attitude.  Anyway, after the party we had a quick lunch and then headed out to Loudoun County to pick pumpkins at Wegmeyer Farms.  We came home with a trunkload ranging in size from small decorative gourds to big jack-o-lanterns-to-be.  We had to get all the outdoor fun in on Saturday, because the weather on Sunday was gross – chilly and rainy.  A good day for football, chili, and baking – which is exactly what we did.  Our dear friends the Dumanskys came over, and the guys watched their beloved Buffalo Bills while the ladies chatted and cooked up a storm in the kitchen.  Zan brought red lentil chili and I provided toppings and pumpkin cornbread, and then together we made Thai-inspired vegetable soup (my lunches for the week!) and delicious pumpkin muffins with Peanut.  The only thing we didn’t get around to doing was carving our pumpkins and roasting the seeds, so that’ll be this evening’s activity.

Reading.  It’s been a good week.  On Monday, I finished up the latest Lady Georgianna mystery, On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service.  It was a blast, as usual, and I have the same complaint as I always do – it went too fast!  These books keep getting better and better and I would like to spend much more time with Georgie.  Still wanting fun, I read the (unpictured) Collected Plays 2010-2015 by Portland Preschoolers, which I have decided is the greatest book ever written.  I bought it to fulfill a Book Riot Challenge task – read a book that is published by a micropress – and it was the best thing EVER.  (I can’t decide what play was my favorite.  I’m torn between “The Hamster’s Adventure With the Baby Show” and “Paris When it Sizzles,” honorable mention to “The 3 Little Deer, the 3 Little Ponies, and the Big Bad Volcano.”)  Clearly, I was having too much fun, so next I picked up Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, on the recommendation of a co-worker.  It’s very interesting, but I’m reading slowly; I want to pay attention.  I also finished Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe on Friday, and really enjoyed it – helpful that Lin-Manuel Miranda read the audiobook.  Finally, for the Book Riot Challenge – and also Halloween! – I started reading Poems Bewitched and Haunted, which I’m hoping to finish my tomorrow.

Watching.  We’ve been sprinkling episodes of Parks and Recreation – my favorite show – into our evenings here and there, and it’s been so much fun.  I forgot what a delight the first season is.  (Mouserat playing “The Pit” for the first time!  Police Officer Dave describing Leslie as belligerent!  April entering the Miss Pawnee beauty pageant!  Wendy Haverford!)  No movie night this week, but next week, hopefully – it will be my turn to pick.

Listening.  I did a lot of listening this week, because I was getting tantalizingly close to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and I wanted to get through it.  It took pretty much the whole book, but I was invested – and misty – by the end.  Dammit, Lin, stop making me cry.

Moving.  Y’all, I am DEVASTATED.  My favorite yoga instructor joined the Peace Corps!  I finally find a studio I like and she’s leeeeeeeeeaving!  (And clearly, it’s all about ME.  /sarcasm).  Anyway, I have another month until she leaves, so I am going to try to squeeze in as many of her awesome flow classes as I can.  Only one last week, because I found out this terrible news on Friday.  But I also fit in two Barre3 classes on Wednesday and Saturday.  I like the instructor a lot, and the class is very challenging – in a great way – but the music and atmosphere are a bit overwhelming for this introverted HSP.  Challenging myself to go, because it’s good to get outside of my comfort zone, and Barre3 definitely does that on multiple levels.

Blogging.  Fun week coming up!  I have my October reads for you on Wednesday, and on Friday I’ll be recapping Halloween.  As always, we have been doing a lot – and the holiday itself hasn’t even happened yet, so I’m sure I will have even more fun to share with you.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  There are certain fall treats that I look forward to all year, and cider donuts are one of them.  (Others include apple cider, both hot and cold, and roasted pumpkin seeds.)  Over the weekend, while the kids were running wild at the pumpkin patch, Steve bought a dozen cider donuts and – yummmmm.  Totally worth waiting 51 weeks for them.  Do you have a favorite fall food?

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

by

Twenty-Four Bookish Hours in NYC (Plus, HAMILTON!)

Last week, Steve and I snuck away for a long-planned mini-break.  As I told y’all on Monday, almost a year ago, I bought tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway.  The only tickets I was able to get were for a Thursday night, so we took a long weekend, flew my mom down to D.C. to watch the kids, and hopped on a train up to New York.  We arrived in the city mid-day Thursday, checked into our hotel (more about that in a minute) and headed out to wander the neighborhood for a bit.  First stop – only a block away – was the New York Public Library!

I would like to send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils…

Steve had never been to the NYPL before.  I’d been there – and actually spent a lovely afternoon with a Miss Read book in the main reading room – back in the summer of 2012, while he was off at a Yankees game with his dad.

Since I was the “expert” – a.k.a. had been there exactly one time – he told me to show him around.  Uhhhhh, I’ll try.

We found the reading room, and the book request counter.  I HAVE SOME REQUESTS.

Then the main event – down the main stairs into the children’s section!  I love the NYC-themed mural on the wall.  But of course, there’s one reason why people flock to the children’s section in the main branch of the NYPL.

Hello there, Pooh and friends!

I have always loved Winnie-the-Pooh (and my kids love him, too) and his playmates in the Hundred Acre Wood.  I feel so lucky to be able to visit Christopher Robin Milne’s original toy menagerie from time to time.

Steve said that Pooh was bigger than he was expecting him to be.  I think he’d anticipated something more the Pooh I had as a child – which was small.

After admiring Pooh and friends for awhile, we headed back out into the city in search of something else to do.  We had a lot of time to kill before our dinner and theatre evening, and we’d noticed the J.P. Morgan Library on our walk from Penn Station to our hotel.  I’ve been listening to Book Riot’s new(ish) podcast, Annotated, since it launched – and after their early episode on Belle de Costa Greene, Morgan’s personal librarian, I’d thought it would be cool to visit the Morgan library and see the fruits of Belle’s collecting for myself.  Since the Morgan Library was right there, and we had hours free, we decided to go check it out.

First stop – checking out Morgan’s collection of medieval treasure bindings.  They were really spectacular.

I was happy to see some books of hours in the collection, but bummed that none of them were French.  A long time ago at a university far, far away, my freshman art history project was a paper on medieval French books of hours, and I still get excited when I come across one.  Morgan’s were mostly German and Italian – extremely cool, but I wasn’t quite as well-versed in their symbolism as I would have been if they’d been French.  Most of my paper was about family status symbols and symbols of wealth in the books, which has a lot to do with paint color, so I was able to share some facts with Steve on the assumption that the paints that were expensive in France during medieval times were probably also expensive in Germany and Italy.  He was impressed, and if I got any details wrong – well, he didn’t know!

After we’d gotten our fill of the treasure bindings, we made it to the section I was most excited to see – J.P. Morgan’s personal library and study!  Steve asked me what made the Morgan library interesting/worth seeing.  So I explained that Morgan was one of the financial titans who lived and enjoyed his fortune in a time when collecting rare books and artifacts was a big status symbol.  However, unlike D.C.’s beloved Henry Folger (who focused completely on Shakespeare’s First Folios and rare Shakespeareana and eventually created our Folger Shakespeare Library), Morgan didn’t have any one author or artist who interested him in particular.  He just bought whatever seemed super-cool.  And, as I learned from Book Riot, his librarian – Greene – was extremely cool in her own right (go listen to the episode, if you haven’t already heard it!).  Enough rambling – let’s go inside.

I made a beeline for Morgan’s study.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that the books were shelved alphabetically, so I went about verifying the presence of my favorite authors.  Austen, the Bronte sisters, Eliot – all there.  (I didn’t have time to check for Trollope, but I’m sure he was there too.)  I spent several minutes crouched in front of the Austen shelf, with the Brontes right beneath it.  Although – inquiring minds want to know: why did Morgan have Volume III of Agnes Grey, but not Volumes I or II?

After we got our fill of Morgan’s study, we emerged into a spectacular rotunda.  Once upon a time, when Morgan actually lived (and Greene worked) here, this was the main entrance.  Pretty impressive, no?

From the rotunda, we headed into Morgan’s personal library.  Oh.  WHAT.

#goals

Off the library was Greene’s office, which was filled with more books and treasures from the collection.  Can you imagine working here, surrounded by rare books and objects of art that you’ve acquired (with someone else’s money)?  More #goals.

While I would have loved to grab a book off the shelf, curl up in one of Morgan’s chairs, and read the afternoon away, I thought that would probably have been frowned upon.  So we wandered around until we had our fill of the library, and then headed back to the hotel.  Steve wanted to get in a quick nap (so as to be wide awake for our exciting evening plans) and I decided to use that time exploring the hotel.

Because – we checked off another bookish bucket list item and stayed at the Library Hotel.  I’ve had this hotel on my list for years, and it absolutely didn’t disappoint!

The idea behind the hotel is that each floor corresponds to a different theme, and within each theme, the rooms are all individually themed too.  When I booked the hotel, I requested a room on the eighth floor – the Literature floor.  I also listed my favorite authors – Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, Trollope – and someone at the hotel must have thought that was adorable, because when we checked in we were informed that they had upgraded us and placed us in the Classic Literature room.  YES.

Each room contained a selection of books that corresponded to its theme.  These were ours – I spy Fitzgerld, Trollope, Dickens, Capote… and Jo Nesbo?

I wandered around the hotel and checked out the scene while Steve napped.  Eventually I found my way into “the reading room” – a book-lined lounge with free coffee, pastries and cookies.

I got myself a Rory Gilmore-sized cup of coffee and settled down to – what else? – read.  (No, I didn’t pull Ready Player One from the shelves at the hotel.  That was my Alexandria Library copy that I toted along with me, and which Steve is now reading.)

Eventually, Steve joined me in the reading room and we had another coffee together before getting all fancied up for our big night on the town.  First up – Saju, a Provencal bistro near Broadway.

Appetizer course: salmon tartare for him; soupe au pistou (Provencal vegetable soup) for her:

(Sorry the pictures are so terrible.  I assure you it was delicious.)

Entrée course: kobe burgers for him; salmon with potatoes and asparagus for her.

By the time we finished our meal, the city was lighting up.

We hurried through Times Square en route to our destination: the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

What’s your name, man?  ALEXANDER HAMILTON!

As noted above, Steve and I have been waiting almost a year since buying our tickets – and really, even longer than that to see the show.  The soundtrack is playing in our house almost every day, our kids love the music too, and we’ve been anxiously anticipating curtain up (metaphorically speaking; there’s actually no curtain) on Broadway.  And the show absolutely didn’t disappoint.

One thing that we both noted, and couldn’t stop talking about, was how funny the show is – funny in ways that don’t necessarily come across when just listening to the music (as great as it is on its own).   The actor who played Aaron Burr was absolutely hysterical – rolling his eyes, side-eyeing, and making funny gestures all over the place.  There were other visuals, too, that took the show from great to once-in-a-lifetime.  For instance?  When Angelica sings, in Satisfied, the line “My father has no son, so I’m the one who has to social climb for one,” Philip Schuyler was cleaning his glasses up in the scaffolding – that really tickled me.  And you know the dubstep when young Philip raps in Take a Break?  THAT’S ELIZA.  There was more, but I don’t want to spoil anything – because everyone should go.  Mortgage everything and go.  It was worth every penny.

After the show, we wanted to keep the night going, so we found a Prohibition-style bar and broke down the whole performance over gin and whisky cocktails.  It was a really magical night that I’ll remember forever.

And that was it!  We had time for a leisurely breakfast before our train home to D.C. and our babies the next day.  It was just a brief jaunt up to NYC, but damn was it memorable.

Thanks for a wonderfully bookish – and way too quick – twenty-four hours, NYC!  We’ll be seeing you again soon, I hope…

by

12 Months of Trails: Sky Meadows State Park (October 2017)

I’ve been craving a good, long, remote hike for awhile now.  Lately it has seemed like we’ve been on the go with social engagements – either family or friends, in town or out – almost every weekend.  While friend time is fun and important, we all needed some time to decompress, breathe, and just be together as a family.  And so when Steve asked me what I wanted to do as a birthday weekend activity, I had one request: a hike.

As we’ve planned out our hikes for the year, I’ve had my eye on two Virginia state parks that are a little more off the beaten path: Sky Meadows and Shenandoah River.  Both are within our home region of northern Virginia, but they’re far enough away from D.C. to make it very difficult to get in a hike and make it home for lunch and naps without anyone (coughNUGGETcough) falling asleep.  But lately the guy’s been on a weekend nap strike, so Steve and I decided – if he’s not going to nap at home no matter what we do, why worry about car naps?  With the time pressure removed, we found that our exploration options widened substantially.

After hemming and hawing a bit, I decided that we should do my birthday hike at Sky Meadows.  We’ve actually been there before – in 2009 or 2010; I can’t remember which.  Long, long ago in the days before babies, Steve and I used to go on super cool dates.  Can you imagine?  And one evening we packed up a picnic and joined a stargazing evening party hosted by Sky Meadows.  We plunked down a blanket right behind the house and listened to a talk on constellations while taking turns peering through telescopes at the night sky.  The park is super-remote, so there’s almost no light pollution – turns out, Sky Meadows is a very apt name.

Anyway, it had been a long time, and obviously we weren’t going to be doing any stargazing this time.  (Although I can’t wait to take the kids to one of the Sky Meadows star parties when they’re old enough to enjoy it.)  The park also has a big network of hiking trails that we’d explored a little back in the day, and I was looking forward to reacquainting myself with the footpaths.

When we got to the park we discovered that there was an autumn family festival going on.  We chatted with the rangers a bit and promised to return after our ramble – and then it was off to check out the trails.  We decided to do the Snowden Trail, a fairly easy, but still scenic, loop through the forest.

Here we go!  The path was wide and carpeted with leaves, and the terrain was gently rolling – nothing too crazy; just enough to keep things interesting.

After a bit of walking on the main “road” (a slightly larger path, really) we turned onto the Snowden Trail and enjoyed a quiet morning’s walk in a beautiful forest.

The trail network was well populated.  On the main trail, before we branched off, we saw a large group coming back from a night of camping.  They had several small children with them, which really inspired me.  We’ve been discussing camping with Peanut’s BFF and her family.  BFF’s dad really wants to get his family into camping, and her mom agreed to go as long as I was there – haha!  They’ve been asking us to camp for months, and I’ve been putting them off, because I didn’t want to introduce tent camping until Nugget was out of his crib.  Fortunately, they totally understand that – next summer, it’s ON.

Once we got onto the Snowden Trail, the leaves were slick with dew and I had to spend a lot of time looking down at my feet so as not to fall.  Fortunately, the view of the forest floor was just as gorgeous as the rest of it.  Can you believe that moss?

Eventually, we made our way off the trail and back to the main part of the park.  I gratefully let Nugget down out of the backpack – I swear he gets bigger every time we hike – and the kids scampered off to explore the fall festival attractions.

There were wooly bear caterpillar races.  I liked the caterpillars, but was appropriately horrified at what they will eventually become (disgusting tiger moths).

The kids named all of the caterpillars and coached them ruthlessly through their races.  The ranger in charge – who shared a name with Peanut – thought they were delightfully adorable.

I decided to commune with some critters more my speed.  CHICKENS!  They were sitting on the gourds as I approached and I thought they’d make a fantastic photo, but a fellow park guest scared them off by trying to pick them up.  Poor form, fellow park guest.

After I’d run around snapping pictures and the kids had sufficiently traumatized the caterpillars, we packed up and drove to the picnic ground for lunch.

Nugget was confused about what was happening, and he didn’t eat much as a result.  But I was so excited to be out on a picnic – a picnic! – with my family, and not be contorted into an impossible position shouting at Nugget to stay awake in the backseat as we sped home for lunch in our kitchen.  This was much more relaxing!  The kids had cheese, crackers, tomatoes and fruit, and the parents had falafel sandwiches – yum.  Such a treat!  I’m so glad we can finally do things like have picnics an hour away from home now.  There’s one consolation of the kids not being tiny babies anymore…

Thanks for a perfect birthday hike, Sky Meadows!

What’s your favorite state park?

by

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 23, 2017)

Haaaaaaaaappy Monday, y’all!  I’m heading back to the office after a long weekend away.  Last year, when I was depressed after the election (a state that has lasted some time, I’m afraid) I scored Hamilton tickets and they were one of the only things to put a smile on my face in those dark days.  Of course, the tickets weren’t for another year, almost, but that just meant I’ve had eleven months of looking forward to seeing what was easily the most spectacular Broadway experience of my life.  Steve and I took the train up to NYC on Thursday morning.  We checked into our hotel (the Library Hotel, and it was perfection) and spent the afternoon meandering around the neighborhood, visiting the New York Public Library and the Morgan Library, before it was time to get fancied up and head out for a delicious French dinner and then a Revolutionary – literally – night at the theatre.  I’ll tell you all about it later this week, but for now I’ll just say that it was an absolutely magical night and we loved every second.  We headed home on Friday, where my mom was watching the kids.  The rest of the weekend was devoted to family time and to my big race of the year – the MCM 10K – little brother of the Marine Corps Marathon.  The expo on Saturday was a total circus (as expected) but the race itself was glorious.  I had an awesome time and left inspired and looking forward to my next run.

Reading.  It’s been a really great reading week.  On Monday, I finished Beartown, which was good – very well-written, engaging, and timely – but didn’t really grab my heart in any way.  It’s funny, because I LOVE hockey, and I liked the descriptions of the hockey games best, which I don’t think was the universally-held opinion.  Anyway, after Beartown I picked up Dawn, which I wanted to read because (1) Octavia Butler, and (2) I hear it is becoming a movie (or TV series?).  After reading it – it was excellent, but I don’t think I will watch the show (movie?).  I will, however, read the rest of the trilogy, eventually.  Once I finished Dawn, the reading got really fun.  I tore through Ready Player One while we were in NYC – it had been on my list for awhile and I loved it once I finally got around to it.  And I’m not a gamer or an eighties pop culture geek, so I can only imagine how much MORE I would have loved it had I got more than 10% of the references.  Finally, looking for something light and frothy, I picked up the latest Lady Georgie mystery, On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service.  These books just keep getting more and more delightful.  I am about halfway through it and expect to be done shortly – too soon, because a visit with Georgie never lasts long enough.

Watching.  The only thing I watched this week was one of the best things I’ve watched all year – Hamilton, live on Broadway!  I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED the show.  We laughed, we cried, we sang along (quietly, so as not to disturb the people next to us), we danced in our seats.  I’ve seen a few shows on Broadway – Les Miserables (twice), Spamalot, Wicked, and The Phantom of the Opera (twice on Broadway, three times with the touring cast – it’s my favorite show) – but nothing that approached Hamilton.  I suspect nothing ever will.

Listening.  Now that our trip to see Hamilton is behind us, I’ve turned my attention to another Broadway show.  We have tickets to see The Book of Mormon when it comes to the Kennedy Center next month, and I am brushing up on the soundtrack.  I’ve done a lot of laughing, and a lot of cringing and gasping in horror.  It’s completely offensive, of course, and also sort of hilarious.  (Orlandooooooooo…)  I can’t wait to see it performed!

Moving.  Great week!  It was sort of slow on the classes front – only Barre3 this week.  I had a rotten night of sleep on Monday and missed Tuesday power yoga as a result, and I was in New York when my regular Friday morning yoga class met.  But I made it to Barre3 on Wednesday morning, and spent the rest of the week resting my legs for the big fitness event of my fall season – the MCM10K!  I had a great run, enjoyed myself immensely and felt amazing after the race.  I thanked approximately 500 Marines for their service and only cried once.  OORAH.

Blogging.  I have a fun week coming up for you!  October hike on Wednesday, and a lovely long, chatty recap of our NYC trip and Hamilton on Friday.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  Obviously, I am loving Hamilton this week!  We had so much fun and the Broadway cast put on an incredible show.  I’ll tell you all about it on Friday, but I wish we could see it all the time.  There were so many little moments that don’t come through in the soundtrack, and seeing it performed onstage was even more incredible than I expected (and I expected it to be earth-shattering).  We’ve been making Hamilton references and jokes all week, and trying to scheme up a way to get back to Broadway and see it again (and again, and again, and again) soon.  I don’t think that’s happening, but it’s fun to dream about.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

by

A Sunny Florida Wedding Weekend

Another month, another plane ride to another wedding!  We’ve been looking forward to my BFF Rebecca’s wedding for a LONG time.  Rebecca and her husband (!!!) Eric first met and fell in love in Afghanistan in 2011 and have been living in Virginia Beach since they returned stateside.  Rebecca planned a simple and sweet beach wedding, encompassing everything that they love – their family and friends, the water, and great food.  Peanut and I were both in the wedding party, and we were so excited to help “Aunt Rebecca” celebrate her special day.  Nugget was excited to ride on the Metro again.

And he had fun running around the gate.  We saw the airport fire truck pulling out of the fire station, so obviously that was the highlight of the weekend.  Ha!

We arrived in Florida a day late and a hundred dollars short.  No, seriously, we did.  Poor little Peanut started showing signs of being sick at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.  Our flight to Tampa was scheduled to leave at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, but there was no question – she really needed to go to the doctor (which opens at 8:30 a.m.).  Southwest allowed us to change our flight to Friday morning instead (for the low, low price of $100).  And sure enough – double ear infection.  Ouch.  Poor kid!  She left the doctor’s office with a prescription for antibiotics and permission to fly the next day.  So, off we went to Florida on Friday instead of Thursday.  Once we got there, we didn’t waste a second – off to the beach!  Peanut was thrilled to see Aunt Rebecca.

So were Nugget and I!  We found Rebecca swimming with her sister and some friends.  Eric was walking the beach with his metal detector and announced, “I’m trying to find Rebecca a ring!”  Gosh, I love those two hilarious lovebirds.

 

Nugget enjoyed a swim with Aunt Rebecca and some of her friends, while I stayed on the beach with Peanut.

Peanut can be kind of unpredictable in her water comfort level.  The Gulf of Mexico was really warm and calm, but she didn’t want to swim.  She got drilled in California in August and has been avoiding the water ever since – oof.  But it was probably better for her ears that she didn’t get her head wet, anyway.

She did have fun playing in the surf.  As long as she was having a good time – that’s what matters!

Eventually her little brother joined her and they had a great time stomping and splashing in the small waves.

We headed back to our little beach cottage to clean up, and then Peanut and I joined the wedding party for a rehearsal.  We managed to get through the ceremony before the skies opened up and we moved inside Rebecca and Eric’s rented beach house for dinner – a fabulous Mediterranean spread.  No pictures from the rehearsal, but it was hilariously slapstick.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny.  The wedding wasn’t until 5:30, and Peanut and I weren’t expected until fairly close to zero hour, so we decided to devote the morning to squeezing in a little adventure.  (You know me…)  Rebecca had recommended a local Pinellas County park, Fort de Soto, for hiking, kayaking, shelling and general beach fun.  Naturally, we gravitated to the kayak outpost.

The kids were READY to get out on the water.  We loaded up and immediately shoved off for a morning on the Fort de Soto Water Trail.

Most exciting development of this excursion: Peanut got her own paddle!  As I mentioned in this post, Steve had been “duffing” Peanut in a single kayak, but she was putting his legs to sleep, and she seemed like she would be trustworthy enough to not jump over the side of the boat if she had her own seat, so we decided to try her out in a double kayak.  The kayak rental employee agreed that should work and suggested that she take along a particularly small and light paddle that he had lying around.  (More so that she could feel involved than anything else.)

Verdict?  She loved it!  I don’t think she was any help at all in either the steering or forward propulsion departments, but she had a good time and stayed in the boat, so – a win!  Now I’m looking at kids’ kayak paddles for her to tote along when we kayak the Potomac next summer.

As for me, I still had my little duffer in a single kayak.  Per usual, we were both swimming in our life jackets.  <–see what I did there?

It was a gorgeous day out on the water.  We were constantly scanning the area, looking for the manatees that we’d heard were having a party in the park only the day before, but didn’t see any.  A bit of a disappointment, but I reminded myself (and everyone else) that wild animals don’t adhere to a schedule.  We had great luck out whale watching in California, but there are no guarantees on the water.

And let’s be honest – any day out paddling with my family under bright blue skies and in such a beautiful place is a GREAT day.

The water trail was well-marked with signage and we followed the trail from point to point, watching the fish jump and pointing out beautiful birds.

I could have stayed out there all day!  I’d have loved to have more time to explore in the mangrove forest, too – but we stuck to the trail.

We were rewarded when we caught a glimpse of this guy:

A beautiful snowy egret!  Nugget and I paddled closer to take a good look.

Such a stunning sight!

Eventually, sadly, we had to turn back.  We needed to get a move on, and Nugget was starting to lose his patience.  He has about a one-hour shelf life in the kayak – anything more than that is pushing it.  I’m just grateful that, at two-and-a-half, he is so adventurous and game for anything.  If we have to keep our kayak excursions to an hour for now, I’ll take it.

After the kayaking, we made a quick trip to the beach at Fort de Soto, but it wasn’t quite the shelling destination we’d hoped for, and it was getting close to lunchtime – so we headed back to civilization for a bite to eat and naps for everyone.  (Well, naps for the kids and for me.  I think Steve worked while the rest of us slept.)  And then it was time for the wedding!

Peanut and I headed over early to get ready with the west of the wedding party, and before we knew it, we were walking down the sandy “aisle.”  Peanut was radiant!  At five years old, she has long been crazy for weddings – Rebecca’s was actually the fourth one she’s attended – but this was the first time she actually got to participate.  She took her flower throwing extremely seriously.

Little sweetheart!  My heart was singing to see her so happy.  She was so obviously proud of her role and thrilled to be included in her godmother’s special day.  She also made the most of her moment in the spotlight, stopping frequently to strike poses and blow kisses – haha!  The groomsmen were having a particularly hard time holding it together and not laughing as she did her prance down the aisle.  Eventually, by a combination of wild gesturing and yanking, I got her “offstage” in time to give Rebecca her moment – and she was a glowing, wildly happy bride.

It was.  The best.  Wedding.  Ever.

Peanut and Nugget got to join in the fun for a little while, then we rushed them back to the beach cottage, where we had lined up a babysitter for them, before heading back to the wedding (a five minute walk away – so convenient) to dance the night away.  It was a wonderful, happy, sparkly night that I know Rebecca and Eric will remember forever.  We were so happy to have had a small part in their joy.

And with that – summer is really and truly over.  But what better way to send off the season than with a beautiful barefoot wedding in the sand?

Have you ever been to a beach wedding?