Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Travel Tuesday : Mt Vernon



The Lower Garden, the kitchen garden. 

A riding chair, George often toured the estate riding in one of these. 

Heritage sheep make the thier home on the estate. 

This is new this spring, I hope it is a sign that chickens are returning to the estate. 





 Mt. Vernon was home for George Washington, the first President of the United States.  He inherited the estate from his older brother.  It was home when he was President, and he retired here after his time as President.  He died in the house, a week after having dinner with the Fairfax family, here on the hill that I live on.  


Monday, March 18, 2024

Moody Monday: Deep Memories

 


Happy 67th Birthday to my sister Karen. 

I was in kindergarten the first time my family visited the Grand Canyon, and we returned again a year later, both times we were there on March 18th. The date is enshrined in family history, it is my sister's birthday.  The memories are distant, and reinforced by slides and movie film of those early visits.  The photo above is from one of the Kodachrome slides my father took during those visits.  

A few things that stand out in my memory from those early visits. The first view of the canyon, you never forget it.  A gift shop operated by American Indians near the south rim.  I remember shopping there, buying picture postcards that I still have, a huge oversized pencil, and a beaded belt. I remember at the end of the road, a stone building with a shop in it, and a warm wood fire in a fireplace.  I remember cuddling onto a fur throw next to an Indian, I was very comfortable, my mother was a little freaked out.  And dinner in the dining room at the El Tovar hotel, a couple of tables over was a table of astronauts. They were in the Canyon studying geology, in preparation for landing on the moon.  I was too shy to go over and say Hi, my oldest brother was not shy. 

I have been back to the Canyon twice as an adult.  The first time in the middle 1980's. I had been in Scottsdale for a sales training program, rented a car and drove up and spent the night.  And about a dozen years ago, in the late spring, I had been at the Equal Justice Conference in Phoenix, and drove up and spent a couple of nights.  I have a couple of scanned slides from the 1980's trip. From the last visit I have a couple of prints, the digital files were all lost in a hard drive failure - I started running backup drives after that. 


Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Sunday Five: Creativity


1: Do you have music playing while you work, write, or create? 

2: Are you a visual or a verbal person? 

3: Do you draw, sketch or doodle? 

4: What inspires you?

5: Do you get more wound up by things that make you happy, or things that make you angry, or do both turn your creative or communicative crank? 

My Answers: 

1: Do you have music playing while you work, write, or create?  Almost always, if the room is quiet, I will turn music on. 

2: Are you a visual or a verbal person? If you meet me, I talk to much, but I am a visual learner. 

3: Do you draw, sketch or doodle? Not much. 

4: What inspires you? Things I see, things I read, 

5: Do you get more wound up by things that make you happy, or things that make you angry, or do both turn your creative or communicative crank? Both wind me up, I try to let the anger dissipate on it's own without letting it into my work. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Satruday Morning Post - Spring has Sprung




Spring 2024 is here. The early flowers are blooming, the bees are out foraging.  

The pink blooming shrub/tree is always early. There are several of them here on Mount Eagle, they have a delicate sweet scent.  The Yellow is Forsythia, always an early bloomer.  There was one near the house I grew up in - in Michigan it would bloom in April, or May.  The espaliered fruit is against a sunny wall out at Mt. Vernon. I asked the gardener if he thought the blooms stand a chance of maturing into fruit, and he said he thinks so.  There are many signs that we are past the hard freeze risk. Though my grandfather always said, the risk is there until the leaves on the oak trees are as big as a squirrel's ear.  

The bees are out at Mt. Vernon, there are half a dozen hives tucked in the trees off of the great meadow.  I walked around the back of it a week ago, I had never taken the long way around before.  Having been raised with bees in the backyard, I knew to keep my distance. I am surprised these appear to be 8 frame hives.  Dad scrapped out the last of the 8 frame stock back in the 1970's running all 10 or 12 frame.  Apparently 8 frame has come back in style.  

More sunshine each day, and the trees are starting to burst into leaf, it is a wonderful time of the year.  
 

Friday, March 15, 2024

Foodie Friday: Good Bourbon

I won't rival Ralfy with his single malt reviews, but at times, I may make a comment on an exceptionally good whiskey.  I also won't waffle on nearly as long as he does.  

This is a six year old, small batch, single barrel, from a distillery I had never heard of.  Their production is small, and distribution is limited to a dozen or states.  It has a deep rich flavor, with a lot of dark cherry aftertone. It is a sweeter bourbon, not a lot of spice or bite to it. Oak does not dominate as it can with many older agings. It is a sipper, not a mixer (it would be a shame to mix this in a cocktail, it is destined to be sipped.) On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being Jim Beam, and 10 being impossibly good.  I would give this a sold 8. It is far above average. It is expensive at a little over $100.    

I picked this up in the shop inside the airport in Louisville, Kentucky.  Kentucky changed the law to allow liquor stores inside of security in the three commercial airports. Meaning you can slide it in your carry-on as long as you don't have to clear security again on your way home.  If you have the opportunity, you want to try this one. 
 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

The Thursday Ramble: Observations


A couple of weeks ago J and I visited the National Gallery of Art, I was moving through at a leisurely pace, meaning I was about two rooms ahead of J, so I sat down for a couple of minutes to let him catch up.  I looked around the room, saw the painting above and immediately though, "that is Salisbury Cathedral", the spire is unique. If I hadn't traveled as much as I have, I probably wouldn't have recognized the feature in this English Landscape.  We stayed at a small hotel next to the Cricket Field in Salisbury, taking the local bus out to Stonehenge the next morning. It was out first trip to England together.  The Cathedral has an original of the Magna Carta, at the time we were there (over 25 years ago) it was in a side chapel, in a plywood box, with a plastic cover with a simple hasp and padlock.  This was a few years before another copy sold for tens-of-millions of pounds.  The Salisbury Magna Carta toured the United States about a decade ago, I saw it in a museum, in a bullet proof case with inch thick glass protecting it.  

Travel changes us, we learn, we see, we observe.  

I was on a call recently and someone remarked about "unprecedented, record high interest rates."  I started to chuckle, and had to say. "I bought my first home in 1982, at a bargain first time home buyer discount interest rate of 13.5%, I am amused by people being baffled by 7% 30 year fixed rate mortgages." One of the other people on the call added, she graduated from law school in 1982, and her student loans were at 12%.  I am surprised by how short people's memories are, how little they know about the economic history of the country and the world.  These are good times, we have survived and thrived through much more challenging times. The anomaly was really the extremely low interest rates of the past decade.  

When did you buy your first home? 

I had to have my dipstick replaced.  The handle broke off. A replacement as ordered, came in overnight, and was changed out within minutes the next morning.  When I told J I was headed out to have my dipstick replaced, he had a much need laugh. 

How is your dipstick doing? 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

My World of Wonders, aka The Wednesday W's, 12 on 12 edition

What am I up to this week? I have long admired Blobby's 12 on 12 posts, 12 photos from the 12th of the month, posted on the following day. The timing worked for my Wednesday W's post this month, so here we are. 

Wake up time, I have found the time change much easier, now that my daily routine is not tied to arbitrary start and finish times.  I still think daylight savings time is a stupid idea, and should be stopped.  


What is for breakfast? Buttered toast, and iced coffee. Checking for and responding to comments on my blog, followed by reading and commenting on my daily read list.  A browse through the Washington Post online. The ceramic box on the right, I bought in a small art gallery on Park Avenue in Winter Park, Florida when I was a student at Rollins College.  I have used it to hold postage stamps, since first class postage was about 25-cents. 
Where do I find refuge each day? My shower.  We live in a high rise building, water, including hot water is supplied by the building, meaning that the hot water supply is virtually endless.  If I want to take a 15 or 20 minute shower, I never run out of hot water.  


Where have I been this week? Into the city for lunch and a wander, Winkler Botanical Preserve, the gym, Mt. Vernon a couple of times. This is my Daily Selfie post, Tuesday morning with the top down headed out to Mt. Vernon. 

What astounded me this week? Someone drove this to this parking lot. As I was headed down the George Washington Parkway toward Mt. Vernon, there was debris in the road from a blown tire, then sections of the wheel, then more tire debris, and this was in the parking lot at Mt. Vernon with a flatbed there trying to figure out how to load it. Scrapes in the pavement confirmed that it had been driven there in that condition.  If you are thinking, "how is that possible" your mind is in the right place. 
What did I do that was good for me? An hour or more of walking each day. On the 12th is was Mt Vernon, the long way around and down to the lower farm and back up the hill with only one short stop. 

What have I been eating? Grilled chicken sandwiches, a veggie and meatball soup, meatloaf, cheeseburgers, and on the 12th, a nice greek salad for lunch. 

What am I looking forward to? The spring lambs, I understand 9 have been born at Mt Vernon and will be moved the public areas in a couple of weeks.  The photo above the expectant fathers waiting pen. 

What have I been watching? I spend probably an hour a day watching YouTube, Billy at The Pethericks, Dan at Escape to Rural France, and a bunch of others when they post, Finnegan Chamberlin posted on Tuesday of this week, he is young and talented, I found him through a link from Angus at Bob and Sophie one of my daily blog reads.

What am I doing to be creative? I am painting again, I find it surprisingly relaxing.  I am running out of wall space.  

 

What did I try this week? I have had this one for about 10 months, sitting in the bottom of the cabinet, waiting for something special.  Well everyday is a special day, and it was time to open a bottle of single malt.  When we were going to Iceland last spring, Doc Spo urged me to buy this if I could find it.  I found it at the airport on the way home.  A review will show up as a Foodie Friday in a couple of weeks. 



What have I been reading? This is the second book this week, back to the library in the next couple of days.