Stuff and Nonsense

We had a busy weekend last weekend. My niece, Cassidy, received her First Holy Communion.

She is so cute.

We received our chicken house in the mail and Owen and Evan assembled it.

Craig has almost finished the outside of the coop. It just needs screen on the front and some bricks around the outer perimeter to keep the foxes from digging in, litruhlee.

The girls are about a week and a half old and a pretty array of feathers are showing.

 Patty

Theola

Ora

Olga was not in the mood to have her photo taken.

Owen built the chicks a small chick-friendly roost. They actually love it although none would get on it whilst I had a camera at the ready.

 Our garden continues to bloom.

 False Indigo

 A humble Bumblebee with seriously loaded leg sacs.

 The last of the peonies. They bloomed. It rained. They fell apart. The second round bloomed. It rained. They are falling apart.

 The olde timey rose bush that cannot be killed

 Daylilies getting ready to pop open

 We planted asparagus this year and five plants emerged.

 Coral bells are going crazy.

 The woodland shady side of the house

Pachysandra, Cinnamon Fern, Sweet Woodruff and an Astilbe

 Yay! The Sweet Woodruff and Pachysandra have filled in!

 Owen has decided that he has a calling as a cobbler. He is taking orders for duct tape shoes without any type of insert or sole. He actually wore them to school one day, the entire day.

Last night was Owen's last concert as a Sixth Grader.

Gardening With Historic Annapolis, Inc.

I am about to reveal a huge secret: If you don't know it by now, I am a huge Groupon and Living Social junkie. I love a good deal when I see it. Last weekend, I saw one for half-price+ tickets to a gardening lecture in Annapolis at St. Anne's Church which sits in the middle of the famed Church Circle. Being an avid gardener and never having entered St. Anne's, I talked my husband into going on Sunday evening with the promise of a pint at the Ram's Head upon completion. As we drove into Annapolis on a lovely Spring evening, we commented on how nice it is there and maybe Annapolis would be a good place to retire.

The lecture was an author's presentation on a book she had written a few years ago. The book is Founding Gardeners by Andrea Muth. Even though she is presently on a book tour for her most recent book (something about the planets with Venus in particular), she was "persuaded" (euphemism for "paid generously" - more on that in a moment) to speak about her other book by Historic Annapolis, Inc., a nonprofit who restored and manages the William Paca House among other properties and endeavors.

Her discussion was very interesting as she chronicled the gardening habits, preferences and beliefs of our founding fathers: Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison to be more specific. As I was listening, it confirms my suspicions that I own this book! My friend, Amy, gave it to me as we left the UK and it is sitting on my bookshelf to read this summer. Too bad I didn't make the connection sooner or I would have had it signed.

The beginning of the presentation was even more interesting. Historic Annapolis, Inc. is a quite obvious members-only sort of Inc. Craig and I were probably two of five people who didn't look like they attended the members-only, pricey ($250 which did include a $25 ticket to the talk for which I paid $20 for two tickets) and private author's reception/garden party (litruhlee) an hour prior to the presentation. In fact, the man at the door had a list of attendees from which of course, our name was missing. To his credit, he did write our surname on the margin with a (2) when all he had to do really was gate-count the Groupon people. 

So we all file in and the CEO of Historic Annapolis, Inc. appears and begins a weirdly disjointed speech and gives a lecture on the history and benefactress of the group. Now, seriously, there are FIVE people who are probably not members (meaning we are not dressed in our flowered garden party dresses, wearing cardigans embellished with tennis rackets) and who may not know how wonderful St. Clair Wright is (yes, her first name is St. Clair which he pronounced all British-like as "Sinclair"). His spiel is not to actually ask us to join the membership which is what I expected, but instead he is lauding praise upon the benefactress and her family for her support and all of the members clap clap clap enthusiastically because she is so rich. I kid you not. I clapped a few times but once it got to ovation status, the plebeian in me drew the line. So then the CEO ends as abruptly as he started and with no segue at all introduces a Trustee, I believe, who is going to introduce the speaker.

Up comes Mr. Fwah Fwahfwah who had previously been blocking the entire aisle so no one could sit in a seat with a good view whilst yukking it up with two of his contemporaries. Also, I believe he was wearing a cravat like Freddy from Scooby-Doo. He definitely looked like he ate as much as Scooby and Shaggy combined without the metabolism to match, but I am not judging. Me? Judge? NEVER! Anyway, he talks about how he and his wife have been forever members (they were both probably Historic Annapolis, Inc. legacies) and how they enjoy giving something back to the community, blah blah blah. You're preaching to the choir, dude. As he is speaking, my mind drifts and asks itself, "Self, why in the world did they offer this lecture on Groupon?" The only answer that seemed plausible was that they needed to get some riff raff in to offset the cost of the pre-lecture garden party and also to make it look like they were "giving something back". I know, I am so cynical. Whatever.

After the lecture, both Craig and I pretty much at the same time decided that we never want to live in Annapolis. Kentucky is looking better and better. Besides, we probably would feel much more at home in District 12 than the Capitol anyway. And then my garden could look however I wanted it without any infringements on Historic Annapolis, Inc.

Taking my Fiat to Little Italy

Today was another absolutely perfect day and a good thing it was because Craig left the Fiat home so I could get it detailed. A window was inadvertently left open on a windy day and copious amounts of dreaded oak pollen weaseled its way inside my poor baby Coco and was a mess. Bad Dad! I was afraid to take it to your basic drive through car wash because she has a delicate constitution so I researched hand washing places. I found one off of Eastern Avenue in downtown Baltimore in between

  

and Fells Point. So I went.

When I got there, I was told it would be about 40 minutes for them to finish my car so I decided to take a walk in Little Italy. I am really glad I did because I soaked in a lot of Baltimore-ness. One of the first things I saw was Via Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi.

 In case you didn't know, Nancy Pelosi is presently a US Congresswoman representing California and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. She was born in Baltimore on Albemarle Street. Her father was a US Congressman from Maryland as well as a very beloved Mayor of Baltimore. Her brother was also Mayor of Baltimore when I was very young.

There was some great wall mural art.

 

 

I love this one above for so many reasons:

1. "Balt Amore";

2. the photo of the married couple; and

3. above that potrait of the man, it says "FIAT".

 

 This house is perfect - formstone exterior and and Italian striped awning.

  This is where Craig and I got engaged.

 A long and not so clear shot of the Shot Tower

The Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum is right on the edge of Little Italy. I went in to take a quick visit, but just before I paid admission, a HUGE school group entered for a field trip. I made a swift decision to come another day.

Instead, I went to have a cafe lunch at

which makes the best cannoli in the area. As I entered, the song Mack the Knife came on and as I left, Night and Day sung by Frank Sinatra (I think) serenaded me on my way. I will say Bono's version on the Cole Porter tribute CD Red, Hot and Blue is much better.

I had a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad with toasted foccacia and olive spread on the side and some asiago cheese as a treat. I love cheese. My waitress lives in Catonsville too. Small world. Before leaving, I bought some cannoli for the family. I passed St. Leo's Church and their bocce ball courts but was unable to take a photo of the old nonnos sitting on the benches because my camera ran out of power. I know, right?

I returned to the car wash about an hour after dropping Coco there and they were just finishing up. My baby is spotless.

Mission accomplished.

Black-Eyed Susan Book Report

Owen did his last book report for the year and I was typing it up because it is due tomorrow. Maryland has a list of "Black-Eyed Susan" books every year and they have to choose from this list. He chose 42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. The book sounded interesting so I read through it. It is like a book of 1-2 page short snippets from a girl's life, sort of like her diary. It was easy to read and I was done in no time since I really just skimmed it. One story stood out and I want to share it.

Hands

Old Mr. Johnson owns the farm

just up a piece.

He rents out all his acres

save three

where he plants a garden

each spring,

churning the rich soil

with his old hand plow,

spending long days out

in its rippled rows,

the corn slowly swallowing

his crumpled frame

as the summer winds on.

His sons grew up

and left the farm,

putting their faith in factories

instead of the weather.

"Smarter 'n me, I s'pect,"

he says,

sipping the bitter black coffee

on his creaky porch swing,

waving at each passing car, hoping somebody

(like Dad and me)

will stop and sit for a spell

to compare this year's harvest

to last

and all the others

his hands have known.

Feeling Broody

Today at around noontime, a post delivery came to our door. It wasn't delivered by a stork, but it may as well could have because WE HAVE CHICKS!!!

I think I am officially in love. They are the cutest things ever. They were a little stressed out at first after their travels and we had one casualty which was a little sad. The other four are in great shape and thriving. Right now, they are all silent after being introduced to the kiddos. They tend to cheep when they are stressed, so I am taking silence as naptime and contentment.

Meet the girls who are named after the kids' great-grandmothers:

 

 This is Olga.

She was the first to find the food and water (smartest or hungriest) and the bossiest.

I think she is the Buff Orpington.

 This is Theola.

She is sweet and unassuming.

I think she is the Rhode Island Red.

 This is Patty (short for Patricia).

She is the loudest.

I think she is the Easter Egger AKA Ameraucana.

 This is Ora.

She is my favorite.

I think she is the Silver Laced Wyandotte.

Come over and visit our babies if you see my car in the driveway. I will need to be around the house more often because of them and would love the company.

Sightseeing Weekend

I went to a couple of places this past weekend. The first was with Finn on an 8th grade field trip to Mount Vernon 

 

near Alexandria, VA, the home of President George Washington,

 

the father of our country.

It is an easy drive and I cannot believe we haven't visited sooner. Mount Vernon itself was sort of spartan. Impressive, but not fabulous. However, Washington was not a fancy man and it mirrored those sentiments. It was also sort of Williamsburgish in that it was real but obviously very repaired. I am fine with that, but it didn't have a super authentic feel to it. The views across the Potomac River were definitely stunning.

 

Nine boys and I walked all around the property and they seemed to enjoy themselves. I particularly liked Washington's tomb and was surprised to see that it was engraved with the title of General and not President.

 

It was also neat that there are two mini Washington monuments at the grave site.

 

I want to go back again to really look through the education center. The boys weren't so into that portion. I just won't go on a weekday in May with every other school group in the United States. I am thinking the day after Labor Day.

Then on Saturday, my Mom and I went on a bus trip to Wilmington, Delaware to see...

Nemours is the home of Alfred I. and Jessie du Pont. This place is also not too far away. The story of Alfred DuPont is very interesting and I do recommend the Wikipedia article link. His 77-room estate was amazingly impressive.

 

He also was humble man (although his house would have told a different story) and his charitable work is a wonderful legacy. His personal life was a bit wacky, but he was happy in the end. The tour guides sort of rushed us through and we had to drive around the gardens

which was a total bummer since it was an awesomely beautiful day, but it was probably better for all of the old ladies present.

 This statue cost $23,000 to repair and reapply the gold leaf!

One of the many hood ornaments from his six automobiles

This is a Cadillac beauty.

The reason we had to drive wasn't because of the old ladies though. It was because we were scheduled to have tea at the

in Wilmington proper. The hotel was a grand old hotel

and High Tea was delicious, although I have had better.

The dessert plate

 was just incredible for ONE person and there was no way I was finishing all of that after the sandwiches!

My Mom and I were stuffed, so we took a short walk around Wilmington before we had to catch the bus. The Wilmington Public Library has an impressive facade

and the Royal Opera House

was pretty. The church across the street had a nice bell tower

and the Trinity district looked promising, but we didn't have time to get there.

Today, on Mother's Day, I did pretty much nothing. Craig made dinner and he had to go into work today. Evan has his "applicant processing" tomorrow at Craig's work for his internship next fall so I am off to bed.