Why? Why not!

Sarasota to Savannah to Richmond

January 22, 2012 10:47 – 10:47

This is a blog entry just for my own future memory… so I can later determine where I was, and when. For most of the past week, we were staying in a rental house on Man of War Circle in the East Paddocks area of Sarasota. It was spacious, but had 1MB DSL. So, internets were a lot slower than we typically find when renting a house. The house had an unheated pool and “hot tub,” and the 55 degree water was a bit too chilly for us to venture in for a dip.

We left for home on Friday morning… January 20^th. We’d thought about stopping either at Solomon’s Castle or at Paynes Prairie State Preserve along the way, but decided to err on the side of getting on up the road. For lunch, we picked up stuff from the deli counter at a Publix, and then spent close to an hour trying to find a picnic table. We finally did find one, in Brandon–it was the 5th or 6th one that we tried. So much for saving time by stopping for a quick picnic on a nice day.

On the way to Sarasota, our only overnight stop was at the Comfort Suites in Brunswick, Georgia. For the record, they had the fastest Comfort Inn internet speed I’ve ever seen, topping 30M—even faster than the FiOS we currently have at home (25M). The room was also spacious and comfortable. Note to self—Brunswick is the place to stay when heading to Florida. Except for the water and breakfast, that is. Their water has a heavy sulfur taste. Note to self—always have a gallon of normal water standing by. You never know when you might need it. As for breakfast… their eggs tasted like Styrofoam, and I’m pretty sure have never seen the inside of a henhouse, let alone a hen. Note to self—next time, skip the “free” breakfast and hurry on down to Hardee’s.

Friday night on the way back north, we stayed at the Comfort Suites near the Savannah airport. Called a “contemporary” design, the room was extremely narrow and cramped, and their “high speed” internet was a highly variable 2 to 3MB. It was good enough for streaming Netflix, but stopped and stalled a lot.

Note to self: avoid any Comfort Suites that bill themselves as “contemporary.” And, if it was a suite, then I’m a Swede. At breakfast, the eggs looked real enough, but I think they were scrambled in warp engine oil. They were like eggs produced by an alien replicator. They looked correct, but their taste and molecular structure were all wrong, as if they’d been produced by someone who had seen eggs, but never tasted them. They were hard and grainy, and tasted of some odd cooking oil not yet discovered in this part of the galaxy.

For lunch on Saturday, we stopped at a small place in Manning, SC, called D & H Bar-B-Que, and both had the buffet offerings. The fried chicken was excellent–large juicy pieces of chicken, cooked to perfection, and extremely fresh. The BBQ itself was typical lackluster Carolina BBQ, with a ready supply of vinegar masquerading as BBQ sauce.

Yes, I know many love Carolina BBQ, but I grew up with the stuff, and never quite understood how anyone could eat it. My father loved it, and Parkers in Wilson was a required stop every time he went to NC. I’ve never yet been able to taste any hickory smoke in Carolina BBQ. I’ll take Tennessee and St. Louis BBQ, any day. The best BBQ I’ve ever had–bar none–came from a place called Three Pigs of Rockville, in MD. It closed decades ago, but the Three Pigs in McLean, VA comes very close. They called theirs Tennessee BBQ. They cooked it over hickory logs right there in the restaurant, and they had a sauce that’s to die for.

For dinner Saturday night, we went to a Chinese restaurant called Yummy House, which  did not live up to its name. The soups and spring rolls were good, but the entrees were awful. The disappointing thing is that the reviews we read were all glowing. So, either the folks around Savannah don’t share our tastes in Chinese food, or a lot of the Yummy House family have been busy writing reviews.

Saturday night, we were at the Springhill Suites in the Short Pump area of Richmond—technically, it’s in Henrico. Note to self—look up and find out WTF “Short Pump” means. Edit: According to WikiPedia, it’s named for a short-handled pump that was at the front of a tavern that was here.

The room at Springhill Suites was also fairly narrow, but is in fact a “studio” suite. This means that the area with the sofa, desk, microwave, and mini-fridge are separated by a semi-partition, but not by a door that closes. It’s fine, but not huge. The internet again has been governed down to 1M. Good enough for streaming Arrested Development at reduced rez, but not much else.

After our Yummy House experience, and because it was late, we decided to entrust our dinner to Five Guys. They never let us down. Did you know that you can order your burgers without buns?

For breakfast… the Springhill Suites featured egg patties, I guess thinking that if you slap one of those and a sausage (which was good and real) onto a biscuit, they will provide a sufficient illusion that you’re eating actual eggs. I don’t eat biscuits, so the illusion doesn’t work for me. Again, I’m not sure where these eggs come from, but I’m sure that they’ve never seen the inside of a hen. I’m pretty confident they were equal to the task of serving as a high protein breakfast, much as eating a tree limb would provide one’s daily allowance of fiber.

The reason for this post, which contains little of interest for anyone other than me (unless you want to know about hotel internet speeds and breakfasts, and where Karen & I eat lunch), is that I spent a fruitless hour trying to figure out where we stayed the last time we were in Richmond. Alas, I didn’t blog our activities, and trying to find anything I might’ve said on Facebook back then is hopeless (at least until/unless I switch to “timeline” view, something I’m resisting because it’ll probably mean a couple days of work to render it safe). So… next time, I’ll have this as a reference.

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Wednesday, January 18th—New College, Cortez, and Venice

January 20, 2012 23:06 – 23:06

We began Wednesday by touring New College and the surrounding area. Our first stop—the Music and Arts Pavilion—was closed, the hours and days posted on the front notwithstanding.

From there, we headed down to Cortez for lunch at Star Fish Market… another excellent seafood meal.

Upon leaving Cortez, we set a course for Venice. Venice has a lot of beautiful homes… as well as an unsightly water tower.

The historic railway station in Venice is now used as a bus depot.

I didn’t catch this guy’s name.

Afterwards, we went to an art gallery, and then drove around looking at architecture in Venice.

Yes. It’s called SCAT—Sarasota County Area Transit. And—med students probably love this one—the system form Manatee County is called MCAT. “Where are you going?” “Going to take the MCAT!” “You’re going to medical school???”

Unfortunately, it was raining—the only rain we’d seen on the trip so far—and I’m not fond of wet cameras. So I didn’t take many pictures. This beauty in Venice was too hard to resist, however.

At about six, we picked a restaurant from a list of a half dozen or so that Karen had researched, and we headed for the Sicilian-flavored Cafe Mangiafico in Venice. It double duty as the Upper Crust Cafe and Bakery in the daytime. In fact, we weren’t positive we’d arrived until we had parked and studied the sign out front.

I think we have a knack for hitting restaurants on the first day of waiters’ working there. In any case, we successfully negotiated ordering dinner and wine, and Cameron brought us two huge glasses of wine. The wine was a hearty Italian red—I don’t remember the name. But, neither of us finished it. It was good wine, it was just too much for someone who still had to drive back to Sarasota.

For entrees, Karen chose the Sicilian spaghetti with meatballs and Sicilian sausage, and I had the veal Florentine. Both were excellent. To top it off, because we paid in cash, they subtracted 10% from the bill… their way of encouraging repeat business.

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Sarasota, Days 1, 2, and 3

January 17, 2012 22:37 – 22:37

We’re renting a house in Sarasota, about six miles from the coast. We’ve been taking things easy, and not trying to cram too many things in—something we usually do far too often. It’s not unusual for us to return from a vacation… needing a vacation.

We arrived on Sunday. The house is clean, modern, and spacious. Our only complaint would be that the pool and “hot tub” are not heated, and the owner wants $40/day to heat them. That’s exorbitant, and suggests that the owner really doesn’t want us using them. So, we’ve declined paying for heat. I’m tempted to use the pool unheated, just to say “So, there!”

Our first night—Sunday—we had dinner in Sarasota at the Waterfront Restaurant. Their specialty is supposed to be shrimp, so that’s what we both had. The shrimp were huge and plentiful. If I were to offer any criticism at all, it’s that the shrimp were cooked a little too long. Other than that, however, everything was perfect.

On Monday morning, I decided to explore the neighborhood on foot, taking in a six mile loop. Along the way, I encountered a sandhill crane, a flock of ibis(es?), and a beautiful canopy of trees draped with Spanish moss (I’ve been to Spain five times, and I’ve never seen any Spanish moss there, which makes me wonder why it’s called that.

I sure wish they’d try to leave more trees in place in Virginia when they build new houses. It would definitely help keep walks cooler in the summertime. Here’s that sandhill crane I told you about.

And here are those ibises.

When I got back from my walk, we headed for Myakka River State Park, stopping to pick up some picnic food at Publix along the way. The fried chicken from the Publix deli counter is excellent, by the way. Juicy and seasoned just right.

After a quick picnic, we headed for the Canopy Walk. The Canopy Walk is a wooden structure that takes you just above the tree canopy where you can see a variety of birds (see note below). Here it is from the ground and from above.

Well… where somebody can see some birds. We didn’t see any. Being MLK weekend, families were out in droves, and I guess they scared the birds away. About the only birds we saw were high in the air just about everywhere else… Florida’s state bird: the turkey vulture. Well, probably not. But, based on sheer numbers and visibility, perhaps they should be.

The Canopy Walk is only about a hundred feet or so, and they limit it to three adults at a time. It tends to sway a bit. At one end of it, there’s a tower. From the top of the tower, it looked like a South American or African jungle.

No elephants or giraffes in the clearing below, alas. No lions, tigers, or bears, either. Not that we saw, anyway. So, Dorothy need not worry.

By the time we were done at Myakka, it was getting towards late afternoon, so we decided to head back to the house. Back here, we rested up for a while, and then headed out to dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant called Siam Orchid. The food there was probably the best Thai food I’ve ever had—maybe even better than Tarntip Thai back in Virginia, an unexpected little gem of a restaurant in Fredericksburg, Virginia. At Siam Orchid, Karen had the beef and I had shrimp—both in the house special sauce. Karen had mild, and I had medium. Medium was absolutely perfect!

This morning, we again got a later-than-we-really-planned start, and headed over to Simon’s Coffee House, recommended by Pat Bossman. The food was good, and there was unexpected art on the wall!

After lunch, we headed up the coast to the De Soto National Historical Site—one of those off-the-beaten-path locations that tourists usually miss. The monument itself wasn’t all that impressive—but that’s usually the case.

The grounds, however, abounded with interesting scenery. Most impressive, to me anyway, were these humongous trees that look like they were designed with climbing in mind. If I were about 100 years younger…

They’re called gumbo limbo trees.

Above the water, there were numerous pelicans, diving for fish.

And clear water, so they could see the fish for which they were swooping.

And, back on land, a dog was ready for his weekly poker game.

Also, some re-enactors were scaring the heck out of tourists by shooting very loud 16^th century guns (at least they claimed that’s what they were).

Yum! Wooden BBQ! Low in fat, but very high in fiber.

And 16^th century scarecrows?

From De Soto, we decided to head back to the house and change… and head for the beach in Siesta Key. It’s supposed to be the best beach in the U.S. It might be. Although, I guess it depends on what you’re looking for. If you were looking for warm water, you wouldn’t find it today. The surf temperature was about 60. Mind you, it didn’t stop me. I swam. Karen decided it was too cold. And, I’ve been in colder water—58 degrees in the St. Lawrence, 54 degrees in Fundy National Park, and maybe a little colder in the Mediterranean off Spain once (looking for Spanish moss, but not finding any—see above).

After the beach, we headed home to shower & change, and then to Mi Pueblo for dinner. We happened upon Mariachi night. There was a six-piece band playing and singing, and they were really good! And so was the food! I had the steak fajitas and Karen had tacos al pastor. Both were excellent. My only criticism would be the beans. They have only refried beans, which I find mostly disgusting. Actual black beans or red beans would be good.

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Reason for Hope

December 17, 2011 10:30 – 10:30

 

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Huntley

October 23, 2011 10:04 – 10:04

Here are the lyrics to one of the songs I sang yesterday at Frog Pond Early Learning Center‘s fall festival. It’s my tribute to one of my favorite places on earth—Huntley Meadows.

Huntley ©2002 by Herb Tyson

As I walk through the trees,

A distant lark sings,

Keeping time to the rhythm

The woodpecker brings.

 

And there up above,

Colors flash by,

Yellow and red

Against a blue sky.

 

An a old fallen tree

Here joins the earth,

Melts into the ground,

And is given rebirth.

 

A rustle of leaves,

A crunch in the brush.

I feel my breath stop,

And I hear myself hush.

 

They call it a meadow,

But it’s really a forest,

But it’s really a wetland

But it’s really a haven for life.

 

It’s a real-life recording,

Of nature in sound,

Of nature in smell,

And colors abounding,

And it’s really a heaven on earth.

 

On hot days in summer,

When sidewalk eggs fry.

My mind glances upwards

And I think that I

 

Would be cooler in Huntley

By many degrees,

Under an umbrella,

Of cool green leaves.

 

The buzzing of bumblebees,

Ants marching by.

Swallows catching mosquitoes

A fawn that says “Hi!”

 

Back in the swamp,

There’s whistling spree,

A million tiny frogs,

Sing in symphony.

 

They call it a meadow,

But it’s really a forest,

But it’s really a wetland

But it’s really a haven for life.

 

It’s a real-life recording,

Of nature in sound,

Of nature in smell,

And colors abounding,

And it’s really a heaven on earth.

 

Leaves turned to yellow,

Orange, red and brown.

Frantically swirling,

Make their way to the ground.

 

A fawn’s spots now fading,

The underbrush dies,

A chorus of crows,

Against the blue sky.

 

The water is bulging

As beaver flow by,

Hauling their harvest

And I think that I

 

Sense a change in the air,

As autumn turns to go,

Deer coats turn to gray,

There’s a fresh fallen snow.

 

They call it a meadow,

But it’s really a forest,

But it’s really a wetland

But it’s really a haven for life.

 

It’s a real-life recording,

Of nature in sound,

Of nature in smell,

And colors abounding,

And it’s really a heaven on earth.

 

Footprints in the snow,

Tracks on the ice,

Reveal even in the cold,

There’s still so much life.

 

Footpaths once too wet,

Now hardened by cold,

Invite you in further,

If you are bold.

 

Tiny buds at the tips

Of every tree.

Ache to unfold

And yearn to be.

 

And the Canada goose,

Now takes to the air,

Pollywogs in the water say,

Spring will soon be there.

 

They call it a meadow,

But it’s really a forest,

But it’s really a wetland

But it’s really a haven for life.

 

It’s a real-life recording,

Of nature in sound,

Of nature in smell,

And colors abounding,

And it’s really a heaven on earth.

Huntley Meadows is heaven on earth.

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On irons, starch, and ironing boards

October 4, 2011 08:07 – 08:07

I wonder how many people under the age of 30 have ever used an iron, let alone used starch. Back in the dark ages—before permanent press—my mother insisted that I use starch when ironing my shirts. Yes, I was doing my own ironing by the time I was 6. All starch did was make shirts uncomfortable, and manage to turn any wear-induced wrinkles into even deeper and more noticeable crevices. If not used properly, starch also can really gunk up an iron and make a really unpleasant smell.

And, whoever thought up using starch on handkerchiefs??? Do this only for display hankies. Do not use starch on your “I have a cold” supply of handkerchiefs.

Somewhere along the way, something called “wash-and-wear” came along. While it never really worked, it gave me an excuse not to iron certain pieces of clothing. Then came permanent press—which was neither permanent nor pressed. Nonetheless, I rejoiced at the invention, and used the nomenclature as an excuse to stop using starch, and ultimately as an excuse to live with wrinkles. Living with wrinkles, as it turns out, is a very handy acceptance skill to have as one makes his way through his second half-century of life.

These days, we still have an iron, but I tend to use it only on extremely rare occasions—maybe once every few years. So, what else are irons good for?

Irons are essential for iron-on patches and this stuff called Stitch Witchery. The latter is a webbed fabric glue and is a good substitute for actual stitches when you need to hem a pair of trousers and don’t feel like dealing with needle and thread. You can also make Halloween costumes using the stuff, as well as for affixing achievement patches onto uniforms. Ultimately, patches should be sewn on, but the iron-on stuff is a great stop-gap. An iron also can be good for accelerating the drying of a “must-wear-this one” shirt.

Through the 1960s and even into the 1970s, irons were great for making grilled cheese (and ham and cheese) sandwiches. You assemble the sandwich, adding a little butter to the outsides of the bread, and then wrap it in aluminum foil. Then, you use a heated iron to press the sandwich. I found that the Cotton setting (no steam) worked best—about 60 seconds on each side. There’s nothing quite as appetizing as leaking butter sizzling on a hot iron, or hot cheese leaking and leaching into an ironing board cover. Yum. I cannot recommend cooking omelets this way. However, if you can find a way to hold the iron in place upside down (a large shoe works), an iron can be used to heat a cast iron skillet. And once you have a hot cast iron skillet, nothing is impossible.

Just about every hotel room seems to come with an iron and ironing board. Do not be fooled—these are not provided for making thrice-worn clothing look fresh (nothing says “professional” like ironed-in sweat stains). Irons are there as a cooking device for rooms that do not have microwave ovens. And ironing boards are there because they can make handy makeshift luggage stands and laptop tables.

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Art by Nora DeBolt

September 30, 2011 21:17 – 21:17

Normally, I’m pretty oblivious to hotel room art. In our room last night, however, were a couple of beautiful prints. The paintings were done by a little-known late 19^th and early 20^th century American impressionist, named Nora DeBolt. I took pictures of the prints, and cropped out bits of wall and frames.

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No climbing on cow.

September 29, 2011 07:21 – 07:21

Before lunch yesterday, I took a short 10k walk through the neighborhood. Almost immediately, I happened upon a fox—two doors down from our cottage. It didn’t seem rabid, but it didn’t seem skittish, either. Apparently, people feed the foxes, and they’ve become less fearful of humans. Not good, since that’s my usual way to tell if a fox is rabid. In any case, I had my cell phone and took a picture, but it’s not large enough to make out the fox.

When I got back, we headed off for lunch. We decided to have a “local” lunch, and ate at By the Bay, a little restaurant just up the street. Karen had the “Philly steak” sandwich, and I had the chicken Caesar salad. Both were up to the task of lunch. Although, there was nothing Philly-ish about the sandwich. Mind you, it was very good, but nothing like what you get in Philly.

After lunch, we headed down to the Cows ice cream factory for a tour. To our dismay, the tour was fully booked by, of all things, tour busses. So much for coming here in the off-season. So, we drowned our sorrows with a little ice cream. Outside, there are some interesting lawn decorations.

No climbing on WHAT cow? Oh. That cow. It’s about 15 feet tall, and very unclimbable, in my estimation.

After lunch, we headed to Charlottetown to the Confederation Centre for the Arts. The gallery has a number of temporary works. And, by temporary, I might really mean temporary. Apparently, there was a honeybee exhibition… with live bees. Only, most of the bees are now gone, except for a few that seem to have expired. The art museum is free, the price being an entrance that’s hard to find, since the most visible entrance has a sign that says “use other entrance near the amphitheatre”, without any instructions about where to find that other entrance OR the amphitheathre. 180 degrees from the “use other…” sign was another door. This one had no sign at all—not even “ART MUSEUM”. Yet, it was indeed the door to the museum.

After leaving the museum, we decided to drive through some additional areas of PEI National Park. Here’s some of what we saw.

 

 

After leaving the park, we headed back to the cottage to change into longwear for dinner, since the temperature was now down to about 50.

For dinner, we ate at Sirenella’s, in Charlottetown. I was skeptical about Italian food here, but my skepticism quickly dissolved. Karen had scallops in a white sauce with a wide fettuccini. I had lobster in a red sauce with the same homemade pasta. Both dishes were delicious!

After dinner, we came back to the cottage, and began plotting our trajectory back to the U.S. Our first night will be in Bangor. There’s an open mic on Thursdays at the Union Street Brick Church. If we get there and settled in time, we might go to that. More, later. Time to shower & pack the car.

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Cheese, llamas, and windmills—oh, my!

September 28, 2011 07:23 – 07:23

Yesterday, we decided to pay a visit to the Cheese Lady, in Winsloe. She makes nothing but Gouda, and she makes it as well as the Dutch. The Cheese Lady had llamas on our previous visit a few years ago. The llamas were there to chase away coyotes that prey on sheep. This year, the llamas had been relocated for the season.

The llamas aren’t at the Cheese Lady’s farm now—but we found them on Monday.

The Cheese Lady also has a cute little windmill.

After leaving Winsloe, we decided to hit Peter Pan for lunch. It’s a tiny drive-in that has fast alternatives that include fish & chips, burgers, lobster burgers, and fried scallops and clams. We split orders of fish & chips and scallops & chips. Everything was fresh and excellent—with just-caught potatoes!

After lunch, we pointed the Jetta towards the Greenwich PEI National Park. It’s about 30K east of our cottage, but a much longer drive (about 60K).

It has a beautiful trail that leads to some dunes (we didn’t get that far—it was getting on towards sunset, and we didn’t want to be coyote food).

The trail has lost of magnificent views and wildflowers.

When we finished at the park, we decided to head back to the cottage. I was wearing shorts, and it was already down to 50, and I decided I needed long pants for the evening’s activities. Before going back to the cottage, however, we decided to drive around the point at North Rustico, since we hadn’t yet done that. There are some very nice views within two minutes of the cottage.

And… a few FOR SALE signs. Hmmm…

After getting changed, we headed back to Charlottetown for dinner. We’d decided to go to a Lebanese restaurant, called Shaddy’s. It’s recommended in Where to Eat in Canada. The food was good, but the spicing isn’t really something we liked a lot. We both had shawarma (thin-sliced beef cooked on a vertical broiler/spit), over rice, with a salad. But, it was an experience.

After dinner, we headed back to the cottage. On the way, we stopped at Tim Horton’s and picked up some muffins to have for breakfast. If you haven’t been to Canada, you might not know that Tim Horton’s is Canada’s premier place for donuts and coffee. It is as pervasive as Starbucks is in the U.S., although their coffee isn’t nearly as pretentious and expensive. Slowly but surely, Timmy (as he is known by many up here) is making his way into the U.S. I don’t know if he’ll ever edge Dunkin’ Donuts out, but he’s certainly making a dent, at least in the border states.

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From Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island

September 26, 2011 08:07 – 08:07

On Saturday—on our way from Boutilier’s Point to Halifax, we decided to come up the lighthouse trail and to hit Peggy’s Cove once again. We’ve done it before, but it’s always majestic. On Saturday, it was drizzling majestically, so we decided not to brave the slippery-when-wet rocks. Others did, and some fell. Here’s a picture of some who didn’t fall.

And here’s the obligatory picture of the lighthouse:

We stopped for lunch at Phil’s, on Quinpool. Karen had the seafood combo platter, and I had the haddock fish & salad. It was all very yummy.

We spent Saturday night at the Quality Inn in Halifax, and then went to the service at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Halifax on Sunday morning. “Seven generations” old, this UU church does indeed swap the U’s. I counted at least 90 people in the historic house at the beginning of the service (including children and RE teachers). The congregation seems mostly over age 60, but I was glad to see at least 10 I would call young adults—with about 10 children.

Unlike our visit to the UU church in North Andover last Sunday, we were definitely made to feel welcome in Halifax. The service was largely about atonement, with a nice selection of hymns. One hymn, #193 “Our Faith is But a Single Gem”, I think was sung at double-time. I was astonished that the congregation kept up—they’re vocally agile. UUCH is in their third year of a search for a settled minister. The Rev. Frances Dearman is the current interim minister, and has been with them since March 2011. She mentioned and quoted Paula Cole Jones, who will be facilitating an ADORE (A Dialog on Racial Equity) session at MVUC tonight.

After church, we tried to find a chipper we’d passed a few times (for fish & chips), but ultimately gave up, and settled on a Subway in Bedford. Suitable subbed, we next set a course for Prince Edward Island.

We’ve rented a house named White Sails Cottage. We’ll be here through Thursday, whereupon we’ll begin our slow re-entry and descent back into the land of never-ending primaries. Here are a couple of pictures of the exterior.

We’re here:

At the end of the road is part of the PEI National Park. Here are some of the views from our driveway.

And here’s our living room:

Today, we’ll do a little shopping and a lot of exploring. We’ve been to PEI many times before, but there’s always sometime fun & new to do. This is by far the most complete cottage we’ve ever rented here. The only thing it’s missing is A/C (it was a very muggy 80 here yesterday, and we could have used it—we’re both wimps when it comes to hot weather). But, with forecast highs and lows in the 60s and 40s for the rest of our time here, it should do nicely. And, it’s nice and sunny.

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Moncton, New Brunswick (because the Old one is too far to drive to)

September 21, 2011 09:41 – 09:41

We’re in Moncton, NB. I didn’t take any pictures yesterday—it was drizzling on & off. This is just a stopover on our way to eastern Nova Scotia, where we’ll be for the next four days.

Quick restaurant review… on our way up from Augusta, Maine, we stopped at a little seafood shack in Bangor, called McLaughlin’s Seafood. It was good, but not as good as Hingham Lobster Pound. Their shrimp tasted more like homogeneous fried seafood than shrimp. Their clams, haddock, and scallops were good, but not stellar. Their fries were quite above average, though. Hmmm… McLaughlin’s Fries might be a better name.

For dinner last night, we didn’t get fancy. We opted for spicy chicken Caesar salads at Wendy’s, and then blizzards at DQ.

We’ve been at the Rodd Hotel in Moncton. We’re in the L part that was the original motel, years ago. We decided it’d be nice to be able to back right up to the room for a change. As it turns out, “outside entrance” is code for “good place for smokers in a non-smoking hotel.” Getting to and from the car last night meant coming through a smokescreen. Fortunately, the room itself isn’t smoky, though, and none leaked into this very allergic traveler’s room. The beds turned out to be quite comfy, and we slept like proverbial logs. Aside from the smoke, my only other complaint is the internet wireless signal. It comes & goes, and loses connection at least several times an hour.

Our next overnight destination is a cottage in Boutilier Point. It’s supposed to have internets. My fingers are crossed. Time to pack up and hit the road.

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From North Andover to Augusta

September 19, 2011 08:54 – 08:54

We’re in August, Maine, at the Fairfield Inn & Suites. We have a regular room, rather than a suite. It’s comfortable, albeit not spacious. We’ve decided to spend another night here, and head over into Canada sometime tomorrow.

We began yesterday by attending the First Religious Society (UU) of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Every other UU church we’ve visited has been welcoming, friendly, and curious about visitors. There was none of that at FRS. We stopped at the greeting table, where we were greeted. But, after saying we were visiting from MVUC in Virginia, there seemed to be no curiosity or interest. I thought, okay… we don’t have questions about UUism, so there’s no need to press. But, inside the sanctuary, while people were happily engaged in conversation with each other, nobody turned and introduced themselves. After a very nice service, we went to the Parish Hall for coffee, and picked up a couple of silver-colored mugs to signify we were visitors. Neither the mugs nor the visitor name tags attracted so much as a “Hello”. I did receive one query… it was “Do you know where we put these?” from a woman looking to see where to put her empty coffee cup.

Listen up FRS. Yes, you have a decent size congregation. But, if you want visitors to feel welcome, you’ve got work to do.

After church, we headed up the road to Biddeford, where we had lunch at Pizza by Alex—my favorite place for pizza anywhere. It lived up to our fond memories. If you want beer with your pizza, then you’ll need to go elsewhere. Either that, or do carryout. We were content with soft drinks, especially given that we had more driving to do.

After lunch, we headed back down the coast to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. We’ve been there before, but they have interesting outdoor sculptures, as well as changing exhibits inside. No photography inside, but I did stroll around the grounds until I felt at home.

After the OMAA, we set a course for the Swinging Bridge, in Brunswick, Maine. It was built so that workers could move afoot between Brunswick and Topsham, across the Androscoggin River. The bridge was recently refurbished. It took a fair bit of searching, but we finally found it.

There were beautiful views from the bridge, particularly nice as sunset was approaching.

I’ll have to see if I can find out what kind of birds there were. They would sit for a moment on the branches of trees on the short, then swoop and dive, possibly for flying insects. My guess would be some kind of swallow, since the behavior is similar.

After the bridge, it was well after 6 pm, so we decided to head up the road for Red’s Eats, in Wiscasset, and then to the hotel. The line at Red’s wasn’t awfully long—for once. After a 5 minute wait in line and a 15 minute wait after ordering, we found ourselves chowing down on the best and largest lobster rolls anywhere—served with hot drawn butter. Mayo is also a choice, but please! Mayo? I guess it takes all kinds.

After dinner, we headed up to Augusta, to the Fairfield Inn & Suites. Where we are now. And as 10 am approaches, I guess it’s time for us to get ready to head out to see what we can see. On the agenda are an apple orchard and other stuff. I’m sure this has plenty of typos, but I don’t feel like proofing right now. I’ll fix any errors later.

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Caution: Graphic Content!

August 6, 2011 09:46 – 09:46

There are a bunch of reports and articles out yesterday and today about unemployment and jobs. I was curious to see exactly what’s been happening with unemployment and discouraged workers during Obama’s Presidency so far. So, I downloaded the seasonally-adjusted data from BLS (based on CPS monthly surveys).

Obama inherited a recession. The stimulus package began to kick in in November of 2009. More significant improvements came after the November, 2010 elections, but then things began to deteriorate after March, 2011.

June and July 2011 are interesting because we can’t tell whether another recession has begun or if things are beginning to turn around. Unemployment took an unexpected dip, but there was an increase in discouraged workers. Discouraged workers, simply put, are people who have dropped out of the labor force (and are no longer looking for work), but who are nonetheless available for work. August will tell us more.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Tea Party has been trying very hard to boot us into a recession (or depression) by ensuring that the Federal government’s hands are tied with respect to making the kinds of long-term investments needed to spur the economy. In August, perhaps, we’ll begin to see the fruits of their labors, particularly if S&P’s downgrading of the U.S.’s long term credit rating causes investors to look beyond our borders, sending long-awaited jobs overseas.

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Two UU Churches near San Diego

July 8, 2011 22:26 – 22:26

When we’re traveling, we like to visit other UU churches. Usually, we just drive up, get out, and snap a few pictures. Today, at the Summit UU Fellowship in Santee, California, shortly after we began snapping pictures, the Church Administrator—Linda—came out to greet us. She even gave us a tour!

What first got our attention is where the church is and what it used to be. Does this look like a strip mall?

Yep. It’s a strip mall. At first, they rented just enough space for a fellowship hall. But, after some serious growth, they bought the rest of the mall and converted it into offices, RE classrooms, and a nice sanctuary. Oh… and the salon out in the parking lot? It’s still called “The Salon”, but it serves as their social/community hall.

In the sanctuary, the children’s RE classes put together a series of tapestries celebrating our seven UU principles.

Other art celebrates peace.

Oh, and they’ve chosen a name for their RE program that I wish other UU churches would adopt. Religious Exploration is so much more descriptive of what we do than religious education or lifespan spiritual growth (which sounds like something you might need to have surgically removed).

And, like MVUC, they also have a peace pole.

Seeking peace. Welcoming all.

Open Minds, Loving Hearts, and Helping Hands. That just about wraps it up.

Upon leaving Santee, we set a course for Solana Beach, California, about forty minute to the northwest. There, we found the UU Fellowship of San Dieguito. At 239 members, it’s not quite twice as large as Summit. San Dieguito’s main building took two stitched pictures to capture:

The terraced campus extends way up the hill, where there are a number of additional buildings, as well as a shaded sitting area. Adjacent to the church is a Montessori school.

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A Memorable Memorial Sunday

May 30, 2011 06:30 – 06:30

Yesterday, we rose early and had Weis muffins for breakfast. Then we headed to UUFCC. Mark Hayes greeted us when we arrived, just a little before 9:30. In the chapel, I met Art, who sings with the choir and does their sound. I listened to Matt Sheppard, their new choir director, take the choir through a choral arrangement of In Flanders Fields. Art set up a microphone for me, balanced somewhere between voice & guitar, and I was all set.

The structure of UUFCC’s service is a bit different from MVUC‘s. First, there is no recitation of a covenant following the first hymn (which was a seated singing of I Know this Rose Will Open). Next, there was no “for all ages” portion of the service, after which children leave—I didn’t seen many, if any, children. I don’t know if that’s because this was a “summer” service, or if that’s the way things are always done. At MVUC, during “summer” services, the children immediately go to class, and don’t come to the service. The rest of the year, the children at at the service for the first 15-20 minutes. So… I don’t know if this really was different or par for UUFCC’s course.

Another definite difference is that they have vocal sharing of joys and concerns, during which a wireless mic is taken around. In MVUC’s services, our joys and concerns are expressed through the silent lighting of candles during the offering. This method would be unwieldy at MVUC, I think. I vaguely recall that we might have done it that way when we first started attending MVUC, but that we stopped for that reason.

The choir’s presentation In Flanders Fields was quite nice. I counted about 20 voices, which seemed like a good turnout for a hot memorial Sunday service. (The chapel is not air conditioned… something that wouldn’t work for us in the DC area.) The seats seemed about 70-80 percent filled in the congregation—also a good turnout for a holiday weekend.

I sang during the offering. I don’t usually like to sing during MVUC’s offerings because the passing of the baskets and the lighting of candles means that people are distracted, and sometimes chatting. Yesterday, however, people were not distracted, and were very attentive. They seemed to appreciate The Heart of It All, which most had not heard before. I offered an SATB arrangement for their choir, which I’ll send to Matt when I get home.

The main hymns were Let It Be a Dance and Gather the Spirit—two of my favorites. The former was requested by one of the congregants, a fourth generation Unitarian from England, whose wife died several weeks ago. He also gave a touching memorial account of how he met his wife, their life together, and her last few days in home hospice care.

After the service, we spoke with a number of members, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We agreed to meet up with Emily and Jonathan for dinner at the Corner Room in downtown State College.

After saying our goodbyes to Mark, we headed back to the room to change into upper-80s-compatible clothing, and then headed for the Berkey Creamery and the Palmer art museum. When we saw how long the creamery line was, we decided to hit the museum first. Some two hours later, unfortunately, the line was no better at 3 than it had been at 1. About 45 minutes later, we finally had our ice cream. Karen said hers was worth the wait. For me personally, almost nothing is worth a 45 minute wait in line.

While in line, we were treated to annoying whistling and humming from an attention-starved right wing guy behind us from the west coast. But, from the thoroughly pleasant people from New Jersey in front of us, we also got the scoop on the volleyball tournament—which was the cause for hotels being fully booked and the long line at the creamery. There are over 200 teams competing here, with about 10 high school girls per team. With coaches and family, this means that about 5,000 or more people descend on State College each Memorial Day weekend. The volleyball mom who provided all this information should be in one of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels. She had the most perfect Jersey accent I’ve ever heard.

After the creamery, we explored a bit more around the campus of Penn State, and the decided to head to a couple of adjoining communities. We took the highway towards Bellefonte, then followed the meandering Spring Creek through town. Bellefonte has a lot of beautiful and interesting houses and other buildings. After Bellefonte, we continue northeast to Milesburg. Unfortunately, we didn’t go through Bald Eagle State Park. I didn’t realize until this morning that it’s just northeast of Milesburg. Even if I had realized it, however, it was getting close to dinner time, and we needed to head back to State College.

We met Emily & Jonathan at the Corner Room, and enjoyed a lively conversation during dinner. The others appeared to enjoy their food. I ordered the fajita salad with beef tips. For someone who enjoys pickled peppers, my salad would have been wonderful, since that was the main taste ingredient. Were I to eat there again, I’d go for a chicken Caesar salad, instead.

And… that was our Sunday. Today, we plan to do some additional exploring before heading home. On the agenda, we’ll see if we can find a winery, and I want to drive through Huntingdon and Juniata to see if there are any Folk College events in evidence.

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What kind of snake is this?

May 10, 2011 22:40 – 22:40

Is this a copperhead? It was sunning itself half-in and half-out of my garage this morning.

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Mr. Reeder’s Quizzes

March 31, 2011 08:11 – 08:11

In one of my 12th grade English classes at Edison High School, Mr. Reeder gave a 10 item multiple choice quiz every day. He gave the same quiz to every class throughout the day. By 2nd period, strips of paper containing the correct answer sequence (e.g., adebcaabde) were in wide circulation, particularly among the jocks. As the day progressed, the scores improved.

We never really knew whether Mr. Reeder knew what was happening, until…

One day, a saboteur gave a jock all the right answers, but in reverse order. In grading the jock’s quiz, Mr. Reeder said “Mr. Smith. You have all of the right answers, but they are exactly backwards. So, I’m giving you a B instead of an A.”

The quizzes were so ridiculously easy to begin with that anyone who’d read the assigned work at all would get 100%. Questions like… “Who is the main character in Hamlet?” and “What two lovers tragically die at the end of Romeo and Juliet?” or “What is the correct spelling of Faustus?”

There never were any trick questions. Mr. Reeder just wanted us to read the material–and we re-read everything in class, as well. He would go down each column of desks, each of us reading a passage, then go back to the beginning of the class and continue until we reached the end. We were encouraged to read in character, as well, which was great practice for developing not only public speaking skills, but character voices and accents, as well. That class was the most enjoyable class I had at Edison.

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Top’s China Goes to the Top of Our List

January 22, 2011 20:26 – 20:26

Top’s China
Chinese Restaurant
8727-B Cooper Rd.
Alexandria, Virginia 22309

We just had the most wonderful dinner from Top’s China. We had never gotten food from them before, and we weren’t expecting much. But, the food was absolutely delicious—almost as good as House of Dynasty, and in some ways, as good. And, in one important way, better—Top’s delivers! At least as far as where we live, which is right behind Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church. So, if you live anywhere between us and Woodlawn, chances are excellent that Top’s will deliver to you.

We ordered a variety, as we frequently do when ordering Chinese food. Thus, if one dish isn’t very good, we have alternatives. Also, since we’d never tried them, we wanted to sample a variety to see what’s good and what’s not. And then, there’s the matter of lunch leftovers.

We started with soup. Karen had chicken corn soup, and I had hot & sour soup. Both were wonderful. In fact, their hot & sour soup is the best I’ve had in the DC area since Shangri La closed many years ago.

Next, we sampled their fried jumbo shrimp and spring rolls. The spring rolls were definitely the weakest item we ordered. The fried shrimp, however, were out of this world! Super fresh and perfectly fried—still hot and crisp when they were delivered. They’re competitive with Hingham Lobster Pound’s up in Massachusetts. And, Top’s delivers. They also have fried scallops and fried fish. We’ll have to try them just for seafood sometime.

For main courses, I ordered the Hunan Triple Delight—chicken, beef, and shrimp, in a rich tangy sauce with a nice bite to it, with snow peas, broccoli, and green peppers in a luscious supporting cast.

Karen order the beef mei fun. She misread the menu, though, and thought she was ordering the wide flat noodles. Instead, these are thin rice noodles. The dish was very good, though, and the beef was super tender. (It doesn’t appear that they even have the wide flat noodles.)

For a sampler dish, we ordered the combination lo mein—which has chicken, beef, and shrimp. It was excellent—next time, though, we’ll ask them to make it a little spicy.

They also threw in an order of General Tso Chicken. It was superb—very tangy and cooked to perfection. Although, the broccoli under it was the one part of the meal that was overcooked.

We definitely will become repeat customers. We like their neighbor’s food—Thai Nakorn. But Thai Nakorn doesn’t deliver. So, the next time we’re feeling like having someone bring us Chinese food, Top’s goes to the top of our list, replacing Magic Wok. The latter’s food is good, but Top’s blows it away.

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Sarcasm

January 3, 2011 08:34 – 08:34

Sarcasm (n.) – the ability to insult idiots without them realizing it.
On the road, Karen & I listened to Kyril Bonfiglioli’s book, Don’t Point that Thing at Me. It’s one of the most wit-filled books I’ve ever listened to, and is quite reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse’s (Jeeves) writing. The main character is Charlie Mordecai, a decidedly British “art dealer” who spends much of his time on the wrong side of the law. After being brutally manhandled by mentally challenged deputies in New Mexico, Charlie struggles briefly to conjure an insult that will be both satisfying and not well comprehended by the most evil deputy as they are parting company. Finally, he says “Your mother and father met exactly once, and funds were exchanged… probably a dime.”

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Last Day in West Palm Beach

December 31, 2010 20:47 – 20:47

Well, it’s finally acting like Florida, weather-wise. It was in the low 80s today—our last full day in Florida. That’s not too terribly oppressive, unless of course you spend two hours walking in the hot sun… which is what I did while Karen was at the Norton Museum of Art.

(I’m getting worried about the power. It hiccupped/flickered three times between 6 and 6:30. There are no storms or heavy wind. I hope we don’t end up with a blackout for New Year’s Eve.)

After the Norton, we decided to head to Tacos al Carbón in Lake Worth for lunch. Last year when we were here, here’s what I wrote:

I’d read that they had amazingly good & cheap Mexican food. They do! I had a shredded beef taco and a steak burrito. Karen had two tacos—one beef and one pork. We’re putting TaC onto our “go there again anytime we’re anywhere close to Lake Worth” list.

Okay. I’m taking them off my list. I had two a la carte tacos—one carne asada and the other with shredded beef—and a burrito with carne asada. They were all very boring. Karen’s two tacos were also boring. Their salsa was green (apparently not from cilantro or jalapeños) and was salty. Their chips were burned (and they charge $2.50 for chips & salsa). Either the quality there is very variable or they’ve gone downhill.

After lunch, I mentioned that in all the times I’ve been to Florida (maybe 30 times or more), I’ve never actually seen Lake Okeechobee. I’ve tried to see it a number of times, but never found a way past the levees to actually see the lake. So, I studied the map and determined that there might be a way to see the lake in Pahokee. We drove to Pahokee and presto! We did get to see the lake. Mind you… this was by ignoring a no left turn sign and entering a KOA that seems to be occupying what my map said is Pahokee State Park. Oh, by the way, on our way, we passed this:

And just how can we be sure we’re not back in Virginia, the open carry state? Here’s how:

No. Not the palm trees—the sign. Not big enough to read? Okay—I’ll blow it up for you:

Okay, then. I won’t be swimming in Lake Okeechobee.

After visiting the lake, we decided to drive through Belle Glade (which doesn’t live up to its name) before heading back to WPB. Note to self: never get stranded in Belle Glade. On the way back to WPB, I decided to stop by the Havana Restaurant where I’d seen some tempting-looking guava turnovers, and bought one for 91 cents. It cost me 91 cents to learn that I do not like guava turnovers, and that just because something looks like cherries does not mean it tastes like cherries. I’ll have to buy a guava and see if I like it unadorned.

For dinner tonight, we went with our usual New Year’s Eve theme—Asian food. We were torn between Grand China and Thai Bay. We chose the latter. We shared steamed dumplings and spring rolls for appetizers. Karen really liked the dumplings and the sauces. I thought both tasted too much of molasses. The spring rolls were okay, but just okay. After Taste of Saigon’s spring rolls, nothing else comes close. For an entrée, Karen had scallops Pad Si-Ew, and I had beef Pad Khe-Mou. They were very similar, except that mine was a bit spicier. Not as spicy as Thai Nakorn, mind you. They were actually both very good for someplace so far from Thailand.

Tonight’s our last night in Grandview. Never heard of it? Here—have a sign!

Not big enough to read? Okay, I’ll blow it up for you.

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