|
Here and There…Now and Then |
Karlee and Dorothy
We flew down to Birmingham Alabama this afternoon and the drove a little way to the rehearsal dinner for our dear friend, Karlee. We were a bit late due to flight schedule changes but there was still food available to us in the buffet. I took quite a few photos including a bunch of Karlee and Patrick with various friends. Although Cathy and I had met Patrick once, Dorothy had not before today. This was one of the last photos of the evening of Karlee and Dorothy.
Patrick and Karlee
As mentioned in the previous two posts, Cathy, Dorothy, and I are in Alabama for Karlee and Patrick’s wedding. The weather was a bit cooler than expected, even for this time of year, but they went ahead with their outdoor ceremony (under a pavilion roof but without walls). They provided hand warmers for anyone who needed them. With my suit coat, I was fine, although the girls were a bit chilly. After the service and before they came into the reception I was able to take a few photos of the bride and groom. So, may I present to you the happy couple.
George, Carmela, and Chester
Iris and Seth hosted us for Thanksgiving this year and also cooked the turkey. George and Carmela drove down and arrived at around 1:00 PM. We had a lovely time visiting and of course eating. We had taken a good group photo at the beach and we decided that trying to get a good group photo today was not going to happen. Nevertheless, I took a good collection of photos of the festivities. I’m happy with this one of George and Carmela with their dog, Chester.
Live Nativity
I’ve posted photos a few times from the worship night’s that Dorothy organizes. This week we had a live nativity. No farm animals this time, but everyone was encouraged to come dressed as someone from the nativity story. Amanda read the story and when your character was introduced, you went up to the manger to play your role. Between the readings, we sang Christmas songs that celebrated the part of the story just read. This is the band, who lead the singing. From left to right, Andrew, Dorothy, Adam, Michael, and Greg. I think it was safe to say a good time was had by all.
Santa and Margaret
We were visiting Margaret today when Santa came to her building. At first she didn’t want her picture taken but eventually she decided it would be alright. There was Christmas music being played on the piano in the living room while residents took their turns with Santa (and his dog, Mrs. Paws). After Santa left, presumably to visit the other buildings, the music continued and the residents enjoyed singing along. I also got some nice photos of Wil in his Naughty/Nice Christmas sweater.
Cathy On The Potomac River
We drove to Pennyfield Lock today and walked up stream past Blockhouse Point. We took a few detours off the towpath, heading down to the river. First we went around one of the artificial ponds between the canal and the river that were built, I believe, in the early part of the 20th century. We got off the towpath again north of Blockhouse point and that’s where this pictures was taken, sitting on the rocks on the side of the river. The river is quite low, even for this time of year, but I suspect we’ll start getting rain again soon and it will be back up.
Sean, Abba, Cathy, and Hannah
Two of Cathy’s nieces, Abba and Hannah, and Hannah’s boyfriend Sean came for a visit. We picked them up at the airport and as usual, I took a few pictures while we were there. Abba had planned to come when her dad came back in September but at the last minute had to cancel. At the time she said she’d do her best to come, and here she is, with Hannah and Sean thrown in for good measure. This was the first time we’d met Sean but he fit right in and we had a really good time with them all.
Dinner with Grandma
Last night Abba, Hannah, and Sean arrived from Chicago. Abba, Sean, and I had to work today. Cathy normally has Friday’s off but she had to work some, as well. Dorothy was here, though, and she hung out with Hannah and the rest of us were here, working on our various laptops. I had cooked shrimp, salmon, broccoli, and rice for dinner and it all turned out pretty well. The shrimp were a little spicy, cooked briefly in a little hot oil infused with chili peppers. We went out into the living room and Margaret sang to the cockatiels a little. We left with promises to return tomorrow.
Rob’s Birthday
When we moved back here after living in England I was going into eighth grade. In many ways it was like moving to a new town, even though I had lived in the same house until only 14 months before. One of the people I met was Rob and we’ve been close friends ever since. It was really nice to spend the evening with Rob, his lovely wife Susie, and a large handful of their closest friends. I only knew a few of them and those not very well, but I enjoyed talking with them, regardless. This is Rob and Susie with three of those friends who were able to come.
Cathy
Where the Northwest Branch Rock Creek goes under Muncaster Mill Road the Kengla House Trail heads upstream. We seem to go there right around this time of year fairly regularly. We happened to go there again today. It’s not the most exciting trail around, but it’s nice. The worst part is where it goes under the ICC (MD route 200). Our favorite part is a little ways beyond that where a side stream goes between two huge sycamore trees. Whenever we head this way, I take pictures of Cathy leaning on one or the other of those trees. You can see two pictures from Friday, December 31, 2021. This year the sun was out so I had to move her into the shadow of the tree to get a better picture.
From there we continued upstream until we got to Norbeck Meadows Neighborhood Park where we crossed another side stream and then headed back. There were a lot of dogs out today, which Cathy enjoyed. One border collie wasn’t as happy to see me as we initially were to see her and she lunged at me, whacking me in the leg before her owner pulled her back. But no real harm done, thankfully.
Jim and Cathy on Roosevelt Island
Cathy’s brother Jim came for a quick visit. After we picked him up from the airport we had a little extra time before his and Cathy’s mom would be done with lunch so we stopped at Teddy Roosevelt Island and walked around it. Part of the way around we saw two of these shelter-like constructions made of collected branch pieces. I dont think they are official, National Park Service structures and may well be gone the next time we’re there. But it seemed like a good opportunity for an informal portrait of brother and sister.
Bonn, Doris, Bill, and Cathy
After a few years without, during that whole pandemic thing, we had our first group holiday party last year and another one this year. In the past I’ve been parts of small groups that had parties. When I worked for Mike his group had a party and that varied in size from a dozen or more, down to a low of three of us. Then we were invited to go to the party for the group we supported and we did that for quite a few years. More recently the larger IT team directly supporting project work had a party. That was a larger group. Last year and this, however, it’s been a larger group again, this time including all the systems and other support groups. We are now call Technology and Digital Solutions or TDS, which sadly has the effect of sounding like tedious. These are a few of my not so tedious colleagues, Bonn, Doris, Bill, and of course Cathy.
Margaret and Friends
As we did last year, we took Christmas breakfast to Cathy’s mom. Also like last year, I made a quiche Loraine and it turned out quite well (it’s not really very difficult, to be honest). Today’s visit was a bit more hectic than last year, though, when it was just Cathy, Dorothy, and me. This year, Tam and No were visiting, having arrived shortly before us. Then Tam’s sister Dieu and her husband Henry and his aunt arrived while we were there. We don’t get to see Henry and Dieu very often, because they live in Florida. Tam and No were planning to leave for a visit to Vietnam tomorrow and Henry and Dieu towards the end of January. So, a very nice reunion but not really a quiet Christmas morning.
Kaien, Silas, Dot, and Eloise
At about 2:00 PM my family started to arrive, starting with George and Carmela (and their dog Chester) who drove down from New Jersey and made better time than expected. The rest came between 2:30 and 3:00 and we have a very lively Christmas afternoon. Our meal this year was all sorts of appetizer-type things. Some might call them tapas but we prefer the name ‘what-nots’. There was considerably more food that the 15 of us could eat so plenty of leftovers. I had planned to make latkes and had already prepared the potato and onion batter but lost track of things and didn’t make them. I fried up a few the next day and they were terrific, but we really didn’t need them today. We didn’t take a whole-group photo but I did get some of mom on the sofa with her three great grandchildren, from left, Kaien, Silas, and Eloise.
Cathy and Dorothy On Horse Rock
Cathy and I spent most of the day up in Pennsylvania today. I had 45 tree seedlings I wanted to plant and that took a good part of our time. I planted 25 Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) and 20 black gum (or tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica). I put six of the cedars in the picnic field with the hope that at least a few of them survive to maturity. I don’t expect them all to and honestly I might cut down all but three if more than that make it. The other were planted in the woods simply to add to the woodland environment. Both trees are native to the area, with the cedar being confined mostly to the states along the Atlantic and eastern gulf coast and the black gum more widespread as far west as Texas.
I planted about half of them in what we refer to as ‘the wet field’ but which is woods at this point. This large rock and a few others are along the edge of what was a field when my parents bought the property nearly 60 years ago.
Amy and Jim
Jim and Amy came to visit this weekend. Well, really Jim came to visit his and Cathy’s mom and Amy came to visit her dad and family, but Jim stayed with us and we got to see Amy a few times. On Sunday her nephew was playing in a soccer game at a local middle school so we met them there. I took a few pictures, as is my wont. I took one with Amy, Jim, and Cathy but I think this is better of these two and since the weekend was about them, I thought I’d just post this one. I also took a few of Amy and her sister.
Krystal, Erin, Mary Chris, Marianne, and David
From Kindergarten through third grade, Dorothy went to the Fourth Presbyterian School in Potomac. It was a good time and we made some good friends while there. Dorothy’s second grade teacher, Mary Chris, and her husband David, moved after that year and we haven’t seen them since, although we did hear a few things about their travels through Krystal. Mary Chris and David and their son Joey were in town visiting and Krystal invited us, along with two other teachers and their husbands as well as Cathy and me, for dinner. Erin and Krystal taught first grade. Dorothy was in Erin’s class but the two classes did a lot together and we’re very close to both of those teachers. Dorothy didn’t have Marianne or David as her teacher, but we enjoyed visiting with them, as well.
Lydia and Dorothy
Cathy and I drove up to Frederick this evening, bringing Lydia with us, and met Dorothy and Jeff at the Kittiwat Thai Kitchen. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed chatting over a nice meal. We had brought a window air conditioner that our friend Amy gave us so that Dorothy could have it in her room in Pennsylvania, where the house doesn’t have central air. We moved that to the back of her truck and then talked a little more before heading home. And of course I took a handful of photos, because it’s what I do.
Henry Hartley (September, 2024)
As mentioned in the previous post, we went to Tumalo State Park this evening and enjoyed the sunset as well as the large ponderosa pines. Brian took a few pictures with his phone and was messing around with its ‘portrait mode’. He took this portrait of me and I like it quite a bit. In addition to posting it here, I’ve also added it to my “Who Am I” page. I don’t generally like photos of myself but this one is good. As you can see, I’m standing in front of one of the larger ponderosa pines and leaning lightly on my camera with the long, telephoto lens, mounted on a monopod. Up until now, the photo on my Who Am I page has been from 2003, when my beard was still dark. It’s been quite a while since that was true, so I thought it would be a good idea to update the page with something more recent. My forehead has definitely gotten a bit higher but I still have hair on top of my head. In the last two years I’ve let it grow long for the first time since college and it’s not longer than I’ve ever worn it. I’m not sure how long I’ll let that go, but for now, it’s long and curly.
Anna, Carolyn, and Chuck
Having spent the night in Pennsylvania with Dorothy and her housemates, we went to a show of Anna’s art at Waldo’s in Gettysburg this evening. She’s a talented artist and has done work in a wide variety of media. I especially likes some ink drawings she did and a piece of wood burning, an image of a tree on a slab of maple. Her parents, Carolyn and Chuck also came and we always enjoy seeing and chatting with them. She also had some very nice stained glass creations. If you’re interested in her work, you can contact her through her Instagram account or through The Hartley Residence.