Red Nose

Day to Day

This happiness business is hard work.

Part of it is knowing that no matter how much Wellbrutrin I ingest, the situation at work is not going to change. What can change is my reaction to it. I'm working on that; I am making slow, slow progress.

I catch myself slipping into the sad state, staring off into myself, stagnant.

But there are other times, too; times when I feel... lighter. Less stuck.

So there's that.

Anyway!

I went to Seattle last week. Flew out on Tuesday, did a presentation to the STC Puget Sound chapter, had a drink with my pal Kathy, slept, got up, and flew home. I didn't even get jet lagged.

The presentation went very well -- folks laughed in the right places, asked good questions, and thanked me profusely. I was absolutely delighted to see another friend at the meeting; we had a good yak while eating lasagna and salad.

But man, airline travel is so irritating these days! The trip out went just fine -- short lines at both check-in and security, space in the overhead compartment for my bag, non-offensive seat mates -- on both flights no less! I had to walk ten miles to get from gate to gate in Minneapolis, but that's a given.

The trip home was slightly more nerve wracking. There was no line at check-in, yay! But I saw that my seat assignment for the Minneapolis-to-Baltimore leg was a middle seat way in the back of the plane, ugh. And also, UGH. So I tapped the "Change Seat" button and saw that I could switch to a "preferred" seat -- window, much closer to the front -- for an extra charge. With fear and trepidation, I tapped the screen to exactly how much extra that charge would, and it was -- ta-da! -- $19.

Sold.

The security line was enormous; so enormous that I expected to see those signs telling you how long your wait was going to be. It was slow, too, and I got a little nervous about making my flight. But the flight was delayed, so whew.

And the best part of the trip? Seeing Joe at the end of the walkway at BWI, smiling his wonderful smile.

Now that made me happy.

And I got a present for speaking -- an Amazon gift card! So I immediately used it

Family For Christmas

Joe got home from work on Saturday afternoon and we took off to celebrate an early Christmas with Joe's family. We chased the sun west, over the ridges and through the woods, and got to the best place in western Maryland.

We got there in time to nosh on cold cuts and cookies, and cheered on my nieces and their delightful kids as they built a beautiful cookie tree. The real tree was just as beautiful.

Yesterday was the feast. Friends and relatives came up to the top of the ridge to eat and laugh and hug on each other; to remember my brother-in-law and feel his presence with us, laughing right along. And boy oh boy, did we eat! Cold cuts and curry and cookies; lasagna and salads and cake kept us busy munching. The kids played with new toys and the rest of us just enjoyed being together.

Tonight, back home, we head over to my sister's for more food, more love, more Christmas.

And that's what it's all about, isn't it? Love, family (whether it's family by blood or by choice), fun, and -- of course -- food!

Merry Christmas!

Barreling Toward Christmas

I think the gift shopping is done.

No, I lie. It's almost done. I think I have one more gift to buy; maybe two.

We are planning to head west on Saturday afternoon to see Joe's sister's family, for the first time since my brother-in-law died. I am looking forward to seeing my sister-in-law; I want to hug her a lot. Joe gets off work at 3:00, so we would likely get on going around 4:00 -- yes, just as the sun's going down.

There's the added uncertainty with the weather. I'm hoping hoping hoping that the predicted snow (damn you, Draco!) stays on the western side of the ridge that separates Cumberland from Frostburg. Neither Joe nor I likes to drive in the snow, especially in the dark and especially on winding country roads. If it looks too iffy, we may wait until Sunday morning. Amazingly, Joe does not have to work on Christmas Eve, which gives us some welcome flexibility.

Christmas Eve is shaping up to be a damn busy day regardless of our travel plans, especially because I still have to do the Christmas dinner grocery shopping and any last-minute gift shopping I decide to do. At least I can do the decorating (which will be minimal at best) and wrapping on Saturday while Joe is at work. And then, of course, we have the Family Christmas Eve feast at my sister's house. (Note to self: Bring salad.)

Christmas dinner will be the usual turkey and three starches, plus cranberry sauce and the best pumpkin pie in the whole entire world, which is just the way I like it.

Luckily, it's also just the way Joe and SonnyeBoy like it.

YES! SonnyeBoy will be home for Christmas! He has to work Christmas Eve (bummer) and doesn't get off until 8:00 am Christmas morning, but then he will come home for presents and food. He'll even be here for a couple of days! This makes me ridiculously happy.

I'm a wee bit bummed that he won't be home for the Christmas Eve feast at my sister's house, but yay for Christmas!

Something Was Fishy

I'm all alone just now. Joe has gone off to work and the kids (Kids. They are not kids. They are grown ass adults.) are off at the Renaissance Festival doing medieval shopping and show attending. Ergo, I am alone, save for the garden cats, who are yelling at me to give them some chow.

Shut it, garden cats. You have had plenty of chow already, and I will give some more when I am good and ready.

So!

I took yesterday off because SonnyeBoy and his sweetie came up to spend a couple of days with us. We all went up to the National Aquarium in Baltimore and had a grand old time ogling the undersea and tropical rainforest creatures. We saw jellyfish, sharks, seahorses, dolphins, rockfish, stone fish, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. We saw Nemo and Dory, electic eels and manta rays, starfish and turtles, a chambered nautilus and a megalodon jaw fossil. We walked through the simulated rainforest and spotted a sloth and some fancy parrots, then shivered at the sight of the teeny tiny poison dart frogs.

Did you know that these lethal amphibians come in all sorts of colors and patterns? However, the deadliest of them all is plain white. It will kill you dead as a nit if you even touch it.

Then we went to an Irish bar and grill for a late lunch. Joe and I came home after that. The kids (!!) continued their adventure.

Yesterday evening I joined my group of high-school pals at a local pizza joint for dinner. As usual, we had a blast! The pizza joint messed up a few of our orders, but eventually (and after many inquiries and some nagging) all the food came out. I had only a salad, because I was still stuffed from lunch.

That was just as well, because when SonnyeBoy and his sweetie returned from their adventures, they brought a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake (from Cheesecake Factory, no less) with them.

So much for watching my sugar intake! (Just that once, though. Honest. I'm serious!)

 

All May Skate...Or Not

One of the many activities at this year's Weetacon was a trip to the local rolling skating rink, the Rola Rena.

I used to be able to roller skate. In fact, I even took lessons once upon a time, at the Congressional Roller Rink in Rockville, Maryland, which has been gone, gone, gone for many many years. Unfortunately, I was never very good at it.

Skip ahead about 15 years -- roller skating became quite the fad in the 70s. I was in college, and several of my pals took up the sport. They'd head for the parking garage next to the student union, head up to the top level, strap on their skates, and roll around and around all the way down to the lowest level. I was envious of this daredeviltry, but I was way too chicken to try it out.

One night we all went to a roller rink, where I did try to skate. I failed miserably, so miserably that a lot of the regular skaters used me as a push-off pole. I stumbled around a bit and then called it a night.

Fast forward to last weekend. We all got out of the Weetabus and headed into the rink for our private skating party. I conveniently forgot about my roller skating past, laced up my rented skates, and headed out to the floor. There I picked and lurched and inched my way around the rink, holding on to the wall for dear life.

There were lots of folks there who could skate. Some could skate really really really well, like the lovely and talented Shawn, who is in training with the Angel City Derby Girls, and my own personal savior, Sean B, who took pity on me, grabbed my hands, and skated me the rest of the way to the gate.

He was perfectly willing to continue to help me get my skating legs under me, and said, "Okay, first we go with two hands, then one, then you'll be able to go on your own."

I, however, know my limitations, even if I did ignore them at first. I got to the gate and thanked my benefactor profusely, releasing him to skate as he was meant to skate.

Then I slid down the ever-so-slight incline to the rest area and promptly fell directly on my ample ass.

Joe, though, did great! He made it around eight times!

 

 

You Are Here

Today's Photo-A-Day theme is "sign."

I thought about being creative on this one, but ultimately I just snapped a picture of this helpful piece of user documentation near the Silver Spring Metro stop.

The reason for this sign (and many others like it on the surrounding blocks) is that the county (or maybe the state? I don't know!) is building a brandy-new transit center that will consolidate buses, subway trains, Amtrak trains, MARC trains, bicycles, skateboards, and maybe even scooters!

I kid. But they are building a transit center. It's that gray irregular pentagon on the sign.

Anyway, the construction of this behemoth has caused the bus stops to go all cattywampus and WMATA has had to accommodate the buses on the surrounding streets. They've actually done a pretty good job, including signs like this one.

At least you always know where you are.

Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow

The lovely and talented MissMeliss hosts a site called CafeWriting, which has monthly, themed writing prompts. This month's is right up my alley: Trains!

Option 5 in this month's prompt asks for seven things about trains, so all aboard!

1. My grandfather was a stationmaster for the B&O railroad. The station was at the end of the street, so all he had to do to get to work was walk a block. Because of his job, he and his family got to ride the train for free. My gramma took full advantage of this perk to take summer vacations to Illinois to see her relatives. My mother remembers riding for hours and hours, overnight, sitting up in the seats (a sleeper cost extra), and eating cold fried chicken. Gramma was not going to pay for meals in the dining car either!

2. I've taken a few long-distance train trips. My first was to Atlanta -- it was cheaper than flying, even with the least-expensive sleeper option. In 1992, we took a grand family vacation aboard the train. We flew to Seattle, then took the Empire Builder back to Chicago. We switched to the Cardinal in Chicago for the ride back to D.C. We chose the Cardinal over the Chicago Limited because it goes through the New River Gorge in West Virginia -- gorgeous!

3. That previous item reminds me of another thing I love about trains -- their names. The Empire Builder, The Sunset Limited, The Crescent... beautiful names that evoke the romance of travel. Airplanes are numbered; trains are named.

4. I also love eating in the dining car. On Amtrak, space in the dining car is at a premium, so you're seated with other folks in the four-person booths. I've eaten with lovely little old ladies, a gaggle of Aussie backpackers, and pleasant families. I even had a celebrity sighting in a dining car: Art Monk, Hall-of-Fame wide receiver for the Washington Redskins. I wished I could have been seated at his table, but I probably just would have gawped at him all through dinner.

5. Train whistles are the lonesome-est sounds you could ever hear. I love them. I grew up in the house next door to my gramma and grandfather, so I heard train whistles my whole life. They always make me want to go... somewhere, anywhere; just climb aboard the train and follow the rails.

6. Alas! I never got a chance to live in a circus train, but I did visit some of my circus pals on the Ringling train. One night I was spending some time with a good friend when the train started rolling! I had to grab my stuff and literally jump out. Luckily, it was moving pretty slowly.

7. Whenever I ride the train, whether it's a quick hop to Philly or a journey across the nation, I just sit and watch the world roll by. I don't feel the need to do anything other than relax, letting the images of the country flash across my eyes. It's the best meditation I know.

 

Weekend In The Mountains

For SonnyeBoy's big three-oh birthday weekend, we headed west to visit with Joe's sister's family. SonnyeBoy came up on Friday evening, and we jumped in the car early Saturday and lit out for the mountains.

Sunshine and Chum live in the woods, on 100 acres near Cumberland, Maryland. It's my second favorite place in the world, right behind Ocean City. Once we got there, the rest of the crew was not far behind: Joe's brother and his wife, his niece and her daughter, a local friend. After the initial round of hugs and visiting, we piled into two cars and headed for the Springs Folk Festival.

Oh my! Talk about your Amish paradise! There were crafts, there was food, there were half-nekkid men in loincloths selling tomahawks.

I browsed all the crafty booths. The handmade wood furniture was gorgeous, the silk chenille scarves were soft as a baby's breath, the jewelry sparkled and the leather purses were beautiful. I managed to restrain myself however. It was kind of a blessing in disguise that most of the booths did not have electricity; therefore, it was cash and carry. And I was not carrying that much cash.

Oh, did I mention the food?

You already know that I have a dirty mind.

Heh heh heh heh. But yum!

After we got back from Springs, it was time for the feast! Lasagna, salad, bread, all sorts of sides, and birthday cake!

We sat up late swapping stories and telling lies and having fun. Folks eventually drifted out to their own homes, and we bedded down for a good night's sleep.

But not before I tuned in ESPN to see that my Caps won their home opener!

 

So... Yeah, Hi!

Okay, okay! I'm going to the reunion. Joe's going too, God bless him! Thanks for the encouragement -- it should be a hoot. I hope I'll recognize some folks! Maybe I'll drag out my old eighth grade class graduation photo and bone up on the names and faces. Do you think they've changed much in 45 years? I know I have. Well, except for my porcelain complexion and radiant smile.

Last weekend we ran down to Ocean City for the weekend and hosted some very dear old friends. We had a great time, just sittin' and yakkin' and eatin' and drinkin'. The water was wonderful and I spent a lovely afternoon floating over the waves. Saturday evening the lovely and talented Deb and Beth stopped by for a beverage and a nosh, so the joint was a veritable beehive of activity! SonnyeBoy spent a lot of time with us too, so I got to love him up good.

Today I finally threw in the towel and called the doctor about my aching neck. The left side of it has been stiff and sore for over a month. I can't tell if it's a sore muscle, a pinched nerve, or something way more horrible like mocus in the crud. ("Mocus in the crud" is a fictional disease my pop was fond of diagnosing.) I am finally sick of having (not being) a pain in the neck! The doc prescribed Naprosyn, Flexiril, and hot compresses. Alas, I'll have to wait to pick up the meds, but I'll start the compresses tonight.

In fact, I think it's time for supper, accompanied by a Dark and Stormy with a hot compress chaser.

 

Along the Trail of the Lonesome Wine

This morning I googled "Maryland Wineries" and found a lovely site that describes several wine trails throughout my lovely state. Given that it was a beautiful day -- probably the last before the next wave of high heat and stifling humidity -- we took off to explore the Frederick Wine Trail. (Want pictures? Here's the Flickr set!)

Our first stop was Black Ankle Vineyards, a lovely place in the middle of the woods. We took the long way to the tasting room -- the road was easy enough to find, but when it went from a regular road down to a one-lane gravel track we started to get a little anxious. Happily, the road turned back in a paved byway and then, just up over a hill, there was the vineyard!

It's quite a beautiful setting. The tasting room is lovely -- it was built in 2007-2008, a hay bale structure made from hay grown on the land. The tables inside were made from curly maple trees harvested from the land; even the plaster was made from clay from the land!

But what of the wine? It was great, from a crisp, light Viognier to a rich, sweet dessert wine called Terra Dulce. After the tasting (six wines), we settled at a table and had a glass of wine (Terra Dulce for me; Crumbling Rock -- a very tasty red -- for Joe), some cheese and bread, and a couple of chocolate cake pops. I also splurged on a bottle of the Terra Dulce -- what can I say, I'm a sucker for sweet wines.

I could've stayed at Black Ankle all afternoon, but other wineries were beckoning! Off we went to Elk Run winery. This vineyard was founded in 1983. We were met by the owner, who offered us another six wines to taste! Again, they ranged from dry whites to full reds to sweet dessert wines, and once again my favorite was their ice wine, Vin de Jus, made from a reisling grape. They were getting ready to have live music on the patio overlooking the vines, but alas! We had more vineyards to visit and more wines to taste, so we pocketed our tasting sheet and headed off down the road...

...to Loew Vineyards, founded in 1982. Once again, we got to try six lovely wines. This tasting room did not have anyplace to sit or relax, but that was fine. We had a fun conversation with another couple and with the co-founder, Lois. And, predictably, my favorite of the six wines was a sweet mead made with honey and grapes.

After Loew, we drove onward to Linganore Winecellars, but got stopped on the road because of an accident. Rather than wait, we decided to check out Linganore another time and started home.

But we had one more stop: Jimmie Cone! Yep, some soft ice cream with chocolate sprinkles was the perfect end to our long and "wining" road.