Miscellaneous

Monarda didyma (Bergamot)

The flowers of bergamot (Monarda didyma), also known as crimson or scarlet beebalm, scarlet monarda, or Oswego tea, are quite different. They really stand out in the garden, not only because they are bright colored, but also their shape. Bergamot has antiseptic qualities and has been used in poultices for skin infections and minor wounds. I can’t say I have any real experience in terms of it’s medicinal properties, though.

Lexi

Lexi and her mom Jean were up in Maryland late this afternoon and we managed to snag them for dinner at the Silver Diner. It would have been a shame for them to have been this close and not get to see them. Today was Lexi’s last day of high school and as you can (possibly) see, Lexi has had her friends sign her shirt. Graduation is still a few days away but she’s done and looking forward to the summer before heading off in July for early college classes. Because she is on the lacrosse team at school, they take an intensive class during the summer so they can take a slightly lighter load during the fall and still get the required credits in by the Christmas break.

Kendra’s Red Wings

Dorothy and Kendra went to a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion this evening. When they got home, or when Kendra dropped Dorothy off at home, anyway, we visited with them for a while. These are Kendra’s Red Wing boots. I don’t suppose there is much to say about them, except that they look like well built shoes. Not a lot in the way of traction on the soles, but sturdy and comfortable.

Garage Cleaning

In the fall we had an exterminator come to the house to do a termite treatment. The house has had termite activity in the past and we’ve remained clean since we moved in but we wanted to take precautions. In order to treat the garage, that mean we needed to pull everything away from the inside garage walls. If your garage is anything like ours, you know what that meant. By the time I started to get things back to the way they were it was winter and too cold to spend all day working in the garage. So, today we had our good friend Julia over and she helped me empty the garage, swab down the deck, and move everything back in. We even managed to get one of the cars in. That’s something that isn’t going to happen often with us. I figured I better document it. Without the seats out of the back of one van (on the left) and the firewood box (on the right), I could probably have put two cars in. But that’s just not going to happen.

Rain On My Window

Once again I have fallen behind in posting my “photo of the day.” This is being posted almost a week late. We had a bit of rain on the last day of April and I took some pictures of rain drops on my office window. I didn’t notice as I took them how dirty the windows are but I like the organic shapes of the drops of water and the upside down and out of focus images of the woods beyond my window that show up in each drop.

First Aid Kit

Alright, I admit it, I think I may have reached another low in terms of the pictures posted to my blog. I took a few pictures earlier this evening but there were not pictures I wanted to share with the world. When I got home, I decided to photograph this old first aid kit that I had taken out of our Honda. I’m glad it was in there last week, because I cut myself while doing a little demonstration at the school and bled pretty badly for a little while. We were out by the car because I had just shown the students how to change a tire and the first aid kit was handy. So, there’s the lesson for today. Always keep a small first aid kit in your car (along with the spare tire, jack, jumper cables, and flares.

Olney Library

Cathy and I stopped at the library this evening to drop off some books and pick up a few more. The library building was recently renovated (actually, totally rebuilt) and was closed from December 2010 through March 2014, which I think is a bit excessive even for a government project. The building is nice but at nearly $13 million, I suppose it should be.

What bothers me most about it is that although the size of the building was increased from 16,825 to 22,574 square feet, there seem to be fewer books that before the renovation. Not what I could have hoped for.

Do I sound like a grouch? Yes, I probably do. Sorry.

Margaret, Cathy, and Dorothy

I already posted a photo from the sunrise service we went to this morning. After that we enjoyed talking with friends and having ham, deviled eggs (which, come to think of it, is a funny thing to have on Easter), and fruit. At 8:30 we went to the regular 8:00 a.m. service. I say regular but the orchestra does make it a bit more special.

After a nice lunch at home with roast lamb, potatoes, green bean casserole, and asparagus wrapped in bacon, we went to Cross Community Church, which is not the official name of the church plant that we’ve become involved in. After the service there, we all enjoyed the warm afternoon sunshine and I took a few pictures, including this one of Margaret, Cathy, and Dorothy.

Leisure World Globe

Over the weekend something came up about old fashioned phones—remember when you had to turn a dial a different amount for each number—and I mentioned that my mom took my older brother and me to the New York World’s Fair in the mid-1960s. Ralph and I saw an exhibit where you could time yourself dialing your phone number on the then-current “rotary dial” phone and then on a newfangled touch-tone phone. We also talked to each other on video phones, which was even cooler, even if it was only in black and white video.

I mentioned that I had heard that the large globe at Leisure World was from the New York World’s Fair. Turns out that is not true. According to this page at the Roadside Architecture site, the globe from the World’s Fair, the Unisphere, was 140 feet tall. The Leisure World globe is only 40 feet tall. They are similar, of course, because they are both based on the same planet, but they are not the same. Someone also mentioned that there was a rumor that Australia is upside down on the Leisure World globe. That is also false.

Steak, Tomatoes, and Olives

I was home alone for dinner this evening because Cathy had a soccer game. She’s also not having red meat for a week. So, I took the opportunity to have a New York strip steak. I had some very nice tomatoes so I cooked one of those and melted some cheese over it. The olives were something of an afterthought but went with this very well. I had both Kalamata olives and green olives stuffed with garlic, both sauteed a bit in the meat drippings.

Cathy and Broccoli

I made some chicken for dinner tonight, in a tomato sauce with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and Kalamata olives. To go with it, I cooked a little broccoli. I thought I’d take a few pictures of the dinner to post, but instead I’m going to go with this one of Cathy, being silly with two large spears of broccoli. She has one foot up in some sort of yoga pose, but I didn’t have the right lens on the camera for that, so you just get her and the broccoli.

1/2″ Ship Auger

I hope you don’t find this boring. I was looking around for things to photograph this evening and not having a lot of success, frankly. I’m much better off when I get outdoors but it was getting late and I wanted to find something to photograph. I came across this 17″ long, 1/2″ ship auger drill bit. I don’t remember for sure why I first bought this long bit but I think it was drilling a long hole through the corners of a built-up pond I made out of 4″ by 4″ lumber at our old house. In any case, I like the helical flute on this and, whether it’s worth it or not, it’s my photo for the day.

Sculpture In The Snow

I took only a few pictures today and, not terribly surprisingly, I suppose, they involved snow. Are you tired of the snow yet? I know a lot of folks around here are ready for spring and I’m pretty sure it’s just around the corner. I can almost feel the daffodils starting to push their way up through the cold, wet earth. But for now, we still have a bit of snow. I spotted this piece of natural sculpture when I got to work this morning. Between the stems and their shadows, it paints a pretty picture. Look for spring, but enjoy the remainder of winter.

Snow Cream

Without question, proper Italian ice cream (i.e., gelato), with its particular texture (generally no egg and with less fat than “standard,” American ice cream), is just about the best thing in the world for dessert. A close second, and considerably easier to make if you have the ingredients on hand, is snow cream. The recipe is about as easy as anything can be: one can of sweetened, condensed milk mixed with one can of crushed pineapple. Then mix in as much fresh, light, fluffy snow as you can. You want to be ready to eat it right away, because it melts fairly quickly. Of course, the snow is the tricky ingredient, as it’s not always easy to come by, depending on where you live and the season of the year. This evening it was available in abundance. The other two ingredients are easily bought ahead and kept for the occasion.

Table Knives

Dorothy and I drove up to Frederick today, but more about that in my next post. We had a little time to kill so we went downtown and wandered into an antique shop. I took a few pictures in there, but this is my favorite, a table covered with flatware. It was laid out with the knives, spoons, and forks in different segments of a circular display, all radiating out from the middle. The knives all range in price from $4 to $6 and the sign said 20% off. All I took were a few pictures, though.