Monthly Archives: February 2016

Pork Chop and Sugar Snap Peas

Photograph taken on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 by Henry
Pork Chop and Sugar Snap Peas

Pork Chop and Sugar Snap Peas

One of my favorite meats is a cured pork chop from the Lancaster County Dutch Market in Germantown (https://www.lcdutchmarket.com/). I love the rich, salty flavor of cured pork and they don’t dry out when cooked as plan pork chops tend to do. Of course, I brine plain pork chops so they won’t dry out, bu these don’t need that treatment. This evening I pan seared them and topped them with a smokey apricot sauce and served them with sugar snap peas. It turned out very well and was a very satisfying meal. I could have eaten two of them, but that’s another story. One was god.

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Snow Squall

Photograph taken on Tuesday, February 09, 2016 by Henry
Snow Squall

Snow Squall

It’s been relatively warm the last week or so and most of the snow that fell a little over two weeks ago is gone (except the big piles where it was plowed off of roads and parking lots). It got a bit cooler today, down to about freezing, and there were some pretty significant snow squalls, starting in the morning and lasting into the early afternoon. By the end of the day it was clearing up and nothing had really accumulated on the ground, but it was pretty as it was falling. This was taken from my office window, a little after 1:00 p.m.

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James Armistead

Photograph taken on Monday, February 08, 2016 by Henry
James Armistead

James Armistead

Dorothy graduated 20 months ago (it is truly amazing how fast time flies) but we still think of and refer to WCA as ‘our school.’ I have kept up at least some of my involvement, visiting a few of the elementary school classrooms from time to time to help with a particular lesson (and another of those is coming up next week). When we can we also go to the school functions such as the Christmas Bazaar, Banquet, and (in the spring) the Auction. This evening we went to the WCA Society meeting. The Society is the highest governing authority over the school and elects the Board of Directors and adopts the annual budget.

We were not able to go to the meeting in late September because we were in Massachusetts. The winter meeting was postponed because of the little snow storm we had here a couple weeks ago. It was postponed to this evening and we were thankfully able to go. It’s good to get an official update on the state of the school as well as to talk with other parents and some faculty and staff.

We don’t know James very well, because he came to the school as we were leaving, but he has been the head of school for (I believe) just under a year now. It was nice to hear from him, particularly his perspective on the school, present and future, and to hear their plans for moving forward.

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Watching Super Bowl 50

Photograph taken on Sunday, February 07, 2016 by Henry
Watching Super Bowl 50

Watching Super Bowl 50

We had a longish day today, leaving Greensboro at about 7:45 and driving home, pulling in at 1:30 after going almost exactly 300 miles. Traffic was quite light, for which I was extremely grateful, and we had no problems on the way. I didn’t have long to rest after getting home, because I had a church leadership meeting at 2:00 and then church at 4:00. By the time we were home again, the Super Bowl had already started.

Because we don’t have cable and our meager antenna only really picks up NBC and Fox, we couldn’t watch the game on our television. Fortunately, in this internet age, the game was being streamed on the CBS Sports web site and we were able to watch in on that. Our computer monitor is small compared to many new television sets but at 21 inches, it isn’t all that much smaller than our old, 1986 television. The picture is quite a bit better.

This picture was taken towards the end of the game (3:13 on the clock) and pretty much sums up the action. Referee Clete Blakeman is announcing yet another penalty against the Carolina Panthers.

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Sunrise, Greensboro, NC

Photograph taken on Saturday, February 06, 2016 by Henry
Sunrise, Greensboro, NC

Sunrise, Greensboro, NC

Yesterday (Friday, February 5) we drove down to Greensboro for the memorial service for my Uncle George. This morning, after breakfast I was drinking my second cup of coffee and ready in the breakfast room of our hotel. I happened to glance out the window and this is what I saw. I rad back up to the room, grabbed my camera and went outside to take a dozen or so pictures. That’s quite a nice way to start off any day, but particularly one when we’ll be mourning a loss, as we did today.

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Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

Photograph taken on Friday, February 05, 2016 by Henry
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

We had some extra bird seed for Solomon that was starting to go bad. I ordered another bag and when it arrived, I put the old seed out back for whatever birds and squirrels wanted to eat it. Mostly the squirrels came but this morning there were a few dark-eyed juncos on the patio. They are cute little birds and quite common here this time of year. The large power cord behind the bird in this picture is the power to the bird bath de-icer.

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Sunset

Photograph taken on Thursday, February 04, 2016 by Henry
Sunset

Sunset

After work today I needed to run a few errands in southern Rockville. When I came out of the store, there was a fair amount of color in the western sky. I grabbed my camera and put the long lens on it so that I could get the colored sky without the buildings and parking lot lights in the foreground. Actually, I took a few with them showing, as well, but this one, I think, is the best. A month ago it was dark by the time I left work, so the days are clearly getting longer. We still have a fair amount of winter ahead of us, however.

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Fog

Photograph taken on Wednesday, February 03, 2016 by Henry
Fog

Fog

When I left work today I was thinking that there might be a bit of fog. Most of the way home, however, there was none. When I got to Norbeck Road, though, all of a sudden, there was fog. Dense fog. From Gude Drive through Baltimore Road, it was quite dense. Traffic stopped a few times in that stretch (as it often does) and I grabbed a few pictures, including this one that shows reasonably well how foggy it was.

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Sunset From My Office

Photograph taken on Tuesday, February 02, 2016 by Henry
Sunset From My Office

Sunset From My Office

At the risk of posting too many sunset pictures, here’s another one. They seem to be fairly popular with the general public, so I guess there won’t be too many complaints. I happened to look out my window at just the right time this evening (5:23 p.m. to be precise) and this is what I saw to the west (which is at an angle to the left out my window. Not extreme color but still quite lovely, I think.

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Fog In The Woods

Photograph taken on Monday, February 01, 2016 by Henry
Fog In The Woods

Fog In The Woods

In general, the view along my commute to and from work is pretty unexciting. There isn’t much in the way of pretty scenery and almost no real vistas to get excited about. On the other hand, it’s only about a 15 minute commute, and I really cannot complain. This time of year, though, especially when there is snow on the ground and it is a bit rainy, we sometimes have fog. There is a stretch of my commute, a little less than a mile, where there are woods on along one side (and a shorter stretch where the woods are on both sides). There are a few places along that bit of roadway where the view into the woods isn’t obscured by bushes or a steep bank. This afternoon, as I was coming home, I pulled over onto the shoulder to take a few pictures of the woods. I love how the copper colored leaves of the beech trees stand out against the dark trees and the pale light on the fog in the woods.

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