Miscellaneous

Three of Cathy’s Figurines

I was looking for something to photograph this evening and noticed these three figurines on the stairs so thought I’d take their portrait. The beaver and the dog are new, having been brought by Dorothy as a birthday present for her mom. They seem to have settled into the household routine. The baby was also a gift to Cathy from Dorothy. She bought it in Chinatown in Manhattan. When we were there in May we happened to find the store where she bought it, which I think it pretty remarkable. Cathy carries the baby around with her, taking pictures of it in various places to send to Dorothy and her friends via Snapchat. The ‘rug’ they are all sitting on is actually a paint sample of a color called ‘Hostaleaf.’

Rainbow

We had a fair bit of rain today and I enjoyed hearing that against the window in my office. Later in the day, after about 4:00 p.m. the rain stopped and the colors of the trees outside my window were intensified, as they often are in the afternoon light after a storm. At about 4:30, though, the sun broke through the clouds to the west. Apparently it was still raining not too far to the east and there was a lovely rainbow over the trees in our parking lot.

Ara and the Band, Open Mic Night, Villain and Saint

We had a nice time in Bethesda this evening at Villain and Saint’s Open Mic Night. We went specifically to hear Cathy’s friend and soccer compadre Ara, who was singing with her band. I really should be able to label this picture with all of their names, but we only know her. It was a rockin’ good time, loud for these old ears, but a lot of fun. In addition to Ara’s set, which included four original songs, I believe, the bands before and after her were quite good, getting a bit of the Doors, Moody Blues, and Chicago into the mix.

Crossword Puzzles

I enjoy crossword puzzles. Way back in the early 80s I started doing the crossword puzzles in the Washington Post. I had a friend at work that I’d do them with during lunch. Neither of us was very good at them and we were often frustrated by them. There was another co-worker who seemed to know all the answers and we marveled at his ability. Now, more then 30 years later, I often complete the puzzles in the post. We don’t get the print newspaper but my mom saves the puzzles for me and I work through them when I have time (as well as the puzzles in Simon and Schuster puzzle books). Here’s a stack of recent puzzles that I’ve finished.

Lamb Chops

I don’t usually buy lamb chops because I try to stick to the lower priced cuts of meat. There’s generally more flavor in those, anyway, but it’s at least partly about money (actually, it’s mostly about money, in this case). I will, for a special occasion, buy ribeye steaks but that’s an extravagance. The first thing I check at the store is the meat that’s been marked down, usually 30% and occasionally 50%. This is typically perfectly fine meat that’s nearing its sell-by date. Since I’m either going to cook it right away or freeze it, that’s no worry. These lamb chops were on sale this week and I figured it was worth it. They were terrific, broiled until hot and crusty on the outside and slightly pink in the center (except cooked all the way through for Cathy, who doesn’t care for rare).

Lake Bernard Frank

Cathy and I drove to the small parking area on the far side of Lake Frank today and walked up toward Meadowside Nature Center and back. It was a beautiful day, although it got fairly hot by the time we were back at the car. I took pictures, as you won’t be surprised to learn, but I wasn’t particularly excited about any of them. This one was reasonably good, although a picture of a muddy stream isn’t all that special. The trees are pretty, though.

Queen Elizabeth II

I know it’s not much of a picture, but on the windowsill in our kitchen is this small tin. On it are faded and worn likenesses of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It was made to commemorate her coronation on June 2, 1953.

Her reign actually began over a year earlier, on February 6, 1952, upon the death of her father, George VI. Today, September 9, 2015, she surpassed her great, great, grandmother, Queen Victoria, to become the longest-reigning British monarch in history.

We’re not really into monarchy here in the United States. We think we have a better system, even if it was born out of the Anglo tradition. In any case, I wish her well and many more years of health.

Pennsylvania Monument, Monocacy Battlefield

It was another fine, summer day. Quite hot, but pretty. Cathy and I drove up to Frederick and visited the Monocacy Civil War battlefield, just south of town. The battlefield straddles the Urbana Pike (now MD 355) where it crosses the Monocacy River. The Confederate troops, under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, had come up the Shenandoah Valley and into Maryland and approached the bridge over the Monocacy from the north. Union troops, about 2,300 strong, but mostly Hundred Days Men, were commanded by Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, who is perhaps more famous as the author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Wallace’s troops were reinforced by men from the 3rd Division of the VI Corps, under Brig. Gen. James B. Ricketts. Together about 5,800 Union soldiers faced about 14,000 Confederates in what became both the south’s northernmost victory of the war and the defeat that saved Washington. Because of the delay to Early’s troops, Union General-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was able to get reinforcements to Fort Stevens in time to meet them on July 12 and on July 14, Early and his men crossed the Potomac back into Virginia at White’s Ferry. That ferry is still running and the boat is called the Jubal Early.

Our connection to the battle is that an ancestor of Cathy’s (her great, great grandfather) was in the 67th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who are commemorated on the Pennsylvania monument at the battlefield. They did not actually participate in the battle, however. They were “delayed” and didn’t arrive in time for the battle. Their commander, Col. John F. Staunton, was court martialed. He was found guilty of the first two of three charges (Disobedience of Orders and Neglect of duty to the prejudice of good order and military discipline) but not guilty of the third (Misbehavior before the enemy), and was relieved of command and removed from service. (You can read the minutes of the court here.)

123,456

It’s meaningless, I know, but I have an unusual (probably) affinity for patterns in numbers. When the odometer in a car turns over to a number with a particular pattern, I’m interested (I won’t go so far as to say excited). Hitting an even hundred thousand is the most obvious. In the first car I drove much, my parents’ 1971 VW bus, the odometer only went up to 99,999 so it would roll over to zero when that happened (it happened twice in the ‘life’ of the car, which made it to about 210,000). This photograph is from our newest and lowest mileage car. It is a long way from an even 100,000, so I look for other patterns. This is a good one, I think.

Silver Diner

We went out to dinner this evening. Can you guess where we went? If you guessed the Silver Diner, then sorry, your wrong. We were, however, in the same shopping center and I like the lights so I took a few pictures of it before heading home. Also, we do eat at the Silver Diner now and then, it just doesn’t happen to be where we ate this evening (Ruby Tuesday).

Restarting (Again!)

Computers have, as you probably know, become a big part of our everyday lives. Those reading this who are younger than 30 may not realize that it hasn’t been this way for very long. Microsoft has been a big part of the personal computer industry since the early 1980s and continues to dominate the desktop.

I’m not a fan.

I’d be happy if we didn’t have to have any Microsoft products in the house. Unfortunately, in order to connect to work, we need to be running some relatively recent MS operating system. So, my main computer dual boots and I can bring up Windows 7 when necessary. I use Win7 at work, as well, so I’m fairly comfortable with it and put up with it’s (many) annoyances because I sort of have to (unless I want to look for another job). Cathy’s machine used to dual boot, as well, but with Windows 7 being the default. Recently we ‘upgraded’ that machine to Windows 8.1.

I suspect that there are a lot of really smart people at Microsoft. Like many really smart people, however, they often don’t seem to have a clue. This evening I had to reinstall the OS on this machine (don’t even ask about why!). It took hours. All the while the screen displayed very ‘helpful’ (i.e., condescending) messages. What annoyed me most, well, after the amount of time it took, was the number of times the system had to restart. This continues to be a huge annoyance with Windows. What’s with that, anyway? I mean, needing a reboot after a new kernel is installed is one thing but it seems with Windows you need to reboot after just about everything. Anyway, while I sat and watched the computer do very little for a long, long time, I took a few pictures of the screen. This is at least the third reboot, but I can’t say I counted very carefully.

P.S. I’m not much of an Apple fan, either.

Asbury Methodist Village

Because George was in town, mom thought we should pay a visit to Asbury Methodist Village. She’s thinking about moving there “at some point” and it seems reasonable to see the place and get all the facts and figures. She and I went a few years ago and it looks basically the same, but of course prices, etc. have changed a little in the intervening years. This is the oldest building on the campus, the original living block, now used for administration, as well as outpatient rehab, doctors’ offices and the pharmacy.

Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

We have a huge number of rabbits in our neighborhood. I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t see at least one in our yard. There’s a very small one that we see in the back yard. When I pulled into the driveway this evening, fortunately with the windows open in my car, this little fellow (or filly) was munching on grass fairly close to the driveway. I was able to pull out the camera and get a few pictures before he got spooked and ran off.