(no subject)
It's back to the daily grind again (and I'm not talking about a certain campus coffee shop), but at least I had a bit of a break. You may read details about the fun and interesting times had in NoVA, DC, and MD (wow! I used all acronyms to describe where I went on break!) below.
Friday: Rainy day weather made driving in traffic up to NoVA difficult and longer than usual. We got to alicat1621's house around 10 and ate sherbet and talked for a bit before going to sleep. I slept in the bottom bunk with was much like a cave since there was a dresser in front of it; very cozy.
Saturday: I woke up a bit later than planned, which meant we were off to DC a little later than planned. Another rainy day, but it wasn't too bad because it was still warm outside. The Metro was almost empty going into DC, I guess even though it was a holiday weekend the rain kept people indoors. There was a bit of a line outside the Holocaust Museum, but it turned out that was just for the security screening. We got tickets right away and then rode up to the top floor in elevators that disturbingly reminded me of gas chambers. I had been to the museum about 11 years ago and while I must admit that it made a bigger impact on me then than it did this time it was still very impressive. This time I was old enough to see over the concrete barriers to the video monitors with some of the more disturbing film clips. Just horrific what happened. I think you get more of the impact of the horror when you see the films in this setting; no music in the background, no PBS commentary; just the films and the horrors they document. I caught myself wondering what I would have done if I had been alive in Germany or the other Axis-occupied countries during World War II and the time leading up to it: would I have actually had the courage to take action and help those targeted by Hitler's "Final Solution"? I'd like to say yes...but I'm not so certain. I look at what's going on in the world today and realize that I need to do SOMETHING, I just don't know what to do. This sickens me...and yet I still haven't done anything.
We spent four hours in the Holocaust Museum and as it was 11:30 when we went in, it was now long past time for lunch. We rode the Metro to Union Station and had sandwiches and gelato; the sandwiches were good but greasy and the gelato...well, I've had better. Looked around in some of the posh stores at Union Station and decided we couldn't afford anything...and since we'd promised allicat1621's mom that we'd be back for dinner we went ahead and took the Metro back to NoVA. Had a nice, warm, filling dinner (it had turned cold during the day) and watched "The Motorcycle Diaries." Then after a bit of relaxation time we went to sleep.
Sunday: Church in the morning, then we picked liberalnun up to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival! This is where the "Luscious Renaissance Boobies" come in. I rigged my renaissance dress bodice, with the help of a corset and squishy gel push-ups, so that for once in my life I had cleavage!!! Woohoo!!! It evidently did a lot for me because I got a free s'more due to being so...uplifted. We saw a glass-blowing demonstration that also included "The Fool Named O" heating marshmallows over the glory hole for s'mores (this is where I got my free s'more). We did a lot of window shopping, saw "Hack and Slash" do their "Ale Show" (typical bawdy, not very good, Renaissance Faire fare), and messed around on a bowed psaltery, the bodhran, and a hammered dulcimer. If I could pick any type of musical instrument to learn next, I would learn the hammered dulcimer. The festival closed and we went to Juliana's sister's apartment and I bade farewell to my faire companions. Juliana, Sylvia, Carolina, Caroline, Julia, and I played a couple of games before getting some sleep before our long drive the next day.
Saturday: We got an early start that was delayed by a trek into Silver Spring (home of Alice from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" books) to find a coffee shop. We had hoped to find a local coffee shop and thus beat "The Man," but were forced to find sustenance at Starbucks. Then we began the drive up to northwestern Maryland. I was navigator and the journey wen surprisingly quickly. For most of the journey there were clouded mountains and the fall colors were just beginning to appear in full glory. We got to the farm by a slightly muddy road and were robbed of our first view of it by a valley socked in with fog. The farmhouse was newish - 60's? 70's? - but comfortable, two large bedrooms upstairs (with multiple beds), a living space flowing into a kitchen, a bathroom, and two more smaller bedrooms on the ground floor, and a spiral staircase down to another bedroom in the basement. And the porch, the marvelous porch, with a porch swing and a wonderful view once the fog cleared. We set our stuff down, took stock of the foodstuffs we found in the cabinets, and drove into town for groceries. First we stopped at Penn Valley, an Amish craft community, but found that most of the workshops were closed due to the holiday. We then managed to buy enough food for lunch, dinner, breakfast and another lunch for relatively little money, stopped by the candy store for dessert, and then headed back to the mountain farm. The day had cleared up and we could now enjoy our view!
I studied most of the afternoon, but I was on the front porch and distracted by the views of low, rolling mountains. I was also distracted by Juliana and Julia attempting to pick apples and being stampeded by cows and hitting apples off the tree and trying to catch them before they rolled down the hill to...more cows. Later I was distracted by Julia and Caroline when they perfected their apple picking strategy and Julia knocked off the ripe apples while Caroline played a game of catch halfway down the mountain. We had a late dinner of bread and butter, potatoes, butternut squash, apple cider, and apple cobbler made experimentally from our freshly-picked apples. After some more studying, we stayed up very late and watched Anne of Green Gables.
Sunday: Woke up late, made a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon and then had to say goodbye to the farm. Drove back to NoVA and played with cats until our ride back to W&M came. We got back a little late and found some non-sugary dinner...since most of what we'd had on the ride back was candy bought back in Maryland.
The end.
You scored as Death. You are death! Reaper of souls! Riding your horse, Binky, with a scythe at hand. Always working, always busy� You sometimes try to socialize with the living, and ALWAYS SPEAK IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Death
75%
Carrot Ironfounderson
63%
Lord Havelock Vetinari
63%
Cohen The Barbarian
63%
Commander Samuel Vimes
56%
Greebo
50%
Gytha (Nanny) Ogg
50%
The Librarian
38%
Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax
31%
Rincewind
25%
Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
Oooh. Interesting news. Ever since I'd heard about my Medieval Book Professor's trip last summer with several W&M students to make the pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, I'd kind of wanted to go. Reading said professor's pilgrimage magazine strengthened my desire. I mentioned this to my parents the other night, but wasn't sure how they'd respond; I figured they'd probably say it was a nice idea and that if I could go with the school or something and find the money I could go...but that wouldn't be likely. Instead I mention my interest and they said that I should go...and that I should go with my sister, aardvarklf. Now I just have to do a lot of planning and hopefully things will work out!
Friday: Rainy day weather made driving in traffic up to NoVA difficult and longer than usual. We got to alicat1621's house around 10 and ate sherbet and talked for a bit before going to sleep. I slept in the bottom bunk with was much like a cave since there was a dresser in front of it; very cozy.
Saturday: I woke up a bit later than planned, which meant we were off to DC a little later than planned. Another rainy day, but it wasn't too bad because it was still warm outside. The Metro was almost empty going into DC, I guess even though it was a holiday weekend the rain kept people indoors. There was a bit of a line outside the Holocaust Museum, but it turned out that was just for the security screening. We got tickets right away and then rode up to the top floor in elevators that disturbingly reminded me of gas chambers. I had been to the museum about 11 years ago and while I must admit that it made a bigger impact on me then than it did this time it was still very impressive. This time I was old enough to see over the concrete barriers to the video monitors with some of the more disturbing film clips. Just horrific what happened. I think you get more of the impact of the horror when you see the films in this setting; no music in the background, no PBS commentary; just the films and the horrors they document. I caught myself wondering what I would have done if I had been alive in Germany or the other Axis-occupied countries during World War II and the time leading up to it: would I have actually had the courage to take action and help those targeted by Hitler's "Final Solution"? I'd like to say yes...but I'm not so certain. I look at what's going on in the world today and realize that I need to do SOMETHING, I just don't know what to do. This sickens me...and yet I still haven't done anything.
We spent four hours in the Holocaust Museum and as it was 11:30 when we went in, it was now long past time for lunch. We rode the Metro to Union Station and had sandwiches and gelato; the sandwiches were good but greasy and the gelato...well, I've had better. Looked around in some of the posh stores at Union Station and decided we couldn't afford anything...and since we'd promised allicat1621's mom that we'd be back for dinner we went ahead and took the Metro back to NoVA. Had a nice, warm, filling dinner (it had turned cold during the day) and watched "The Motorcycle Diaries." Then after a bit of relaxation time we went to sleep.
Sunday: Church in the morning, then we picked liberalnun up to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival! This is where the "Luscious Renaissance Boobies" come in. I rigged my renaissance dress bodice, with the help of a corset and squishy gel push-ups, so that for once in my life I had cleavage!!! Woohoo!!! It evidently did a lot for me because I got a free s'more due to being so...uplifted. We saw a glass-blowing demonstration that also included "The Fool Named O" heating marshmallows over the glory hole for s'mores (this is where I got my free s'more). We did a lot of window shopping, saw "Hack and Slash" do their "Ale Show" (typical bawdy, not very good, Renaissance Faire fare), and messed around on a bowed psaltery, the bodhran, and a hammered dulcimer. If I could pick any type of musical instrument to learn next, I would learn the hammered dulcimer. The festival closed and we went to Juliana's sister's apartment and I bade farewell to my faire companions. Juliana, Sylvia, Carolina, Caroline, Julia, and I played a couple of games before getting some sleep before our long drive the next day.
Saturday: We got an early start that was delayed by a trek into Silver Spring (home of Alice from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" books) to find a coffee shop. We had hoped to find a local coffee shop and thus beat "The Man," but were forced to find sustenance at Starbucks. Then we began the drive up to northwestern Maryland. I was navigator and the journey wen surprisingly quickly. For most of the journey there were clouded mountains and the fall colors were just beginning to appear in full glory. We got to the farm by a slightly muddy road and were robbed of our first view of it by a valley socked in with fog. The farmhouse was newish - 60's? 70's? - but comfortable, two large bedrooms upstairs (with multiple beds), a living space flowing into a kitchen, a bathroom, and two more smaller bedrooms on the ground floor, and a spiral staircase down to another bedroom in the basement. And the porch, the marvelous porch, with a porch swing and a wonderful view once the fog cleared. We set our stuff down, took stock of the foodstuffs we found in the cabinets, and drove into town for groceries. First we stopped at Penn Valley, an Amish craft community, but found that most of the workshops were closed due to the holiday. We then managed to buy enough food for lunch, dinner, breakfast and another lunch for relatively little money, stopped by the candy store for dessert, and then headed back to the mountain farm. The day had cleared up and we could now enjoy our view!
I studied most of the afternoon, but I was on the front porch and distracted by the views of low, rolling mountains. I was also distracted by Juliana and Julia attempting to pick apples and being stampeded by cows and hitting apples off the tree and trying to catch them before they rolled down the hill to...more cows. Later I was distracted by Julia and Caroline when they perfected their apple picking strategy and Julia knocked off the ripe apples while Caroline played a game of catch halfway down the mountain. We had a late dinner of bread and butter, potatoes, butternut squash, apple cider, and apple cobbler made experimentally from our freshly-picked apples. After some more studying, we stayed up very late and watched Anne of Green Gables.
Sunday: Woke up late, made a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon and then had to say goodbye to the farm. Drove back to NoVA and played with cats until our ride back to W&M came. We got back a little late and found some non-sugary dinner...since most of what we'd had on the ride back was candy bought back in Maryland.
The end.
You scored as Death. You are death! Reaper of souls! Riding your horse, Binky, with a scythe at hand. Always working, always busy� You sometimes try to socialize with the living, and ALWAYS SPEAK IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Death
75%
Carrot Ironfounderson
63%
Lord Havelock Vetinari
63%
Cohen The Barbarian
63%
Commander Samuel Vimes
56%
Greebo
50%
Gytha (Nanny) Ogg
50%
The Librarian
38%
Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax
31%
Rincewind
25%
Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
Oooh. Interesting news. Ever since I'd heard about my Medieval Book Professor's trip last summer with several W&M students to make the pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, I'd kind of wanted to go. Reading said professor's pilgrimage magazine strengthened my desire. I mentioned this to my parents the other night, but wasn't sure how they'd respond; I figured they'd probably say it was a nice idea and that if I could go with the school or something and find the money I could go...but that wouldn't be likely. Instead I mention my interest and they said that I should go...and that I should go with my sister, aardvarklf. Now I just have to do a lot of planning and hopefully things will work out!