Sunflowers on a Sunday

One of the items on my bucket list is to see the sunflower and wheat fields in Arles, France which are so wonderfully painted by Vincent van Gogh. I have been seeing friends on Facebook post photos of the Maryland sunflower fields and finally found out where they were (thanks, Sheila!). Over Labor Day weekend, Owen and I decided to go up for a visit. The field is beautiful and huge and worth the drive. I kept thinking of the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams, and the famous line, "If you build it, they will come." In this case it's more like, "If you plant it, they will come." There were a lot of people snapping photos. 

I feel like I can scratch Arles off my list now. Although if I am ever nearby, I will definitely drop in.

Feelin' Groovy

I am in a good mood today. It could just be the exercise-induced endorphins at the mo', but I am feeling like I accomplished a lot in a little time which will make my afternoon from h e double toothpick much easier.

I think the first thing that put me into a good mood was hearing REM on the radio (I love WTMD) whilst driving around the circle at UMBC just before my swim. I think I was thrown into a time warp back to 1986 and it also reminded me of my brother who taught himself how to play the guitar by playing REM ballads over and over and over again. At least it was good music.

The second thing that put me into a good mood was a productive swim, but even better than that, I did not get a ticket in the metered parking! I parked in a spot that had a jammed meter and the lot was packed and no spots were available so I stacked four quarters next to the meter hoping that would appease the traffic god. Either it worked or he/she didn't make his/her rounds at lunchtime. Woohoo! And I took my quarters back.

The third thing that put me in a good mood was that I actually remembered the Farmer's Market was today and I stopped and got some veg.

The fourth thing was that I remembered for Owen's sake that he needed his instrument today even though it was sitting in our house and I delivered it to him. He owes me big time.

The fifth thing was that I treated myself to take away sushi since the middle school is a hop, skip and a jump from the Asian market. So yummy!

And now I am texting my friend, Sue, back and forth cuz she lives in Seattle. Yay!

The Shamrock/Emerald Isle Classic

Well, this year was a disappointment like so many years in the past. Navy just doesn't have the poundage to take on Notre Dame's pounding. Notre Dame's coach was very generous with his comments at the end and all of the Midshipmen we saw on the telly looked hung over.

Whilst watching the game, Craig and I were reminiscing about the last Navy-Notre Dame game that was held in Dublin in 1996. At that time, the contest was dubbed The Shamrock Classic and was held at Croke Park. We were lucky enough to be in attendance with dear friends, roommates and classmates. It was also a drubbing and "set a record for the longest winning streak over an annual collegiate opponent at 33 games" (Wikipedia) but the Guinness brewery took care of any disappointment at the time.

We have such fond memories of that trip: following a hurricane from the east coast of the US only to experience it again at Shannon airport and in County Cork at Blarney Castle; driving on the other side of the road for the first time next to large stone walls just inches from the car; the Cliffs of Moher; Connemara; much-appreciated ham and cheese toasties in a deserted village pub; the Dingle Peninsula; "some say it's pagan"; Old Man Callahan's House of Abstinence; a different type of what was called "orange juice" in every B&B we stayed; that comedy show that none of us could understand - were they even speaking English?; that giant people mover being driven across the Connor Pass (a very tiny road on the side of a mountain) by none other than Craig's roommate and us running into him there (almost litruhlee); returning home to Evan who was just over one year old and how he wouldn't even look at us, he was so mad we left him with his grandparents who spoiled him rotten the entire week! Aaah, good times, good times.

Navy lost? Oh, well.