A Day at the Beach`

I needed a getaway. I needed to go somewhere fun. I wanted to go play outside. Unfortuently, it's October and that means one thing - ragweed. Outdoor activities are pretty much out, until we get our 1st freeze, which usually occurs mid-Nov (ugh.). I'd read somewhere that the beach was pollen free. I wasn't sure I believed that but the beach is only 3 1/2 hours away and if I could enjoy a day outside it was certainly worth it.

I decided that I'd go out to Assateague Island National Seashore, even though it's quite possibly the furthest beach from my house! I was thinking that it would be a good opportunity to get another stamp in my passport and it would be more "outdoorsy" than the beaches at Rehoboth and Ocean City.

I'd thought if I left home by 7 or 8am I could be at the beach by lunch, I could stay until 4 or 5 and get home by 8 or 9pm. I was a bit nervous about driving back over unfamilar roads (in the rural sameness of Delaware and Maryland!) after dark. I left home at 8:00, a bit nervous about the long drive and the possibility of feeling miserable on the drive back. I stopped to get gas and it was 15cents cheaper than it had been the last time I got gas, so I took that as a good sign! And then when I stopped at a Royal Farms (kinda like Sheetz or WaWa) in Seaford, DE and saw that gas there was $2.99 I knew it was a sign! :)

I arrived at Assateague about 11:45 (exactly 3 1/2 hours after I left the gas station in Lake Ridge!) and went to the visitor center - got my passport stamped and got a map. I then headed out across the bridge and on to the island. I drove to the furtherest point I could then got out and walked the beach. I enjoyed a picnic on the beach and walked about a mile down the beach and back. There weren't that many people there - most people were surf fishing and had driven their cars on to the beach (over sand vehicles are allowed at the far end of the park). There was also a bunch of horseback riders.

The pictures below are a bit out of order, I uploaded them to blogger not realizing that it was putting the new ones on top!), but I hope you enjoy....

The requsite "sign" picture!

There are 2 "trails" on this portion of the island, a dunes trail and a forest trail. This was taken on the forest trail that lead to an obersavtion tower over the bay and the marshes. This lone egret was hanging out quite a distance away - Iwasn't sure if it was a bird or a bouy with the naked eye!

A view of the bay and the marsh from the top of the observation tower.

This is a different egret. There was a place where you could walk out on the marsh and people could go crabbing and clamming and this egret was sitting all by herself (himself?) in the middle of a piece of land pretty far from the parking area. I walked out there and she/he put on quite a show - I got pretty close (but I still had to use the zoom to get this picture!) and he/she didn't make any moves to fly away.

There are 2 main parking areas for beach access - this is at the north beach area, not close to where the cars can drive on the beach. In the distance you can see the big hotels at Ocean City. Also the beach further north is much more crowded than the beach where I was - there is a Maryland State park on Assateague, I'm guessing that their day use fee is lower than the National Parks which is why more people were there. That's fine with me! :) This was along the road into the park - there are 7 white birds in this picture - I'm guessing they are the same egrets that I'd seen at the marsh.

The other trail is a trail through the dunes - each trail is about 1/2 -3/4 miles. This trail was very hard to walk on because the trail bed was soft sand!

These yellow flowers were everywhere at the southern beach access point. They were all over the dune trail too. I didn't see them at all on the bay/marsh side of the island.

In the middle of the dunes trail there was a little observation platform. You can see the ocean lust above the trees.

Some footprints in the sand. I'm not sure what animal made them.

A very cool butterfly on the plentiful yellow flowers!

Assateague is famous for it's wild ponies! I saw a few "herds" - they might have been all the same poines though - along the road.

There were only a few birds on the shore - mostly gulls - this one is probably a gull, but he/she looks different from the other gulls.

Looking north up the beach from the southern beach acess point. You can see the car on the beach and the fishing gear. The ocean water was warm and just before I left the beach I put my daypack down and waded into the surf. Not exactly swimming but I was throughly wet when I was done! It was fun, until I had to walk all the way back across the beach and I was wet and the sand stuck to me like glue!

On the way back the sun was shining though the clouds and it created this cool rainbow in the cloud!

This shot was taken from the bay bridge as I was zooming across! I was grateful that I'd made it though the trick ruralness of DE/MD before it got dark (from the bridge home is easy -50 to 495 to 95), and now I know the way so next time I go out there I can stay later and drive home in the dark.

I stopped for dinner in Annapolis and got home about 8:30. It was a wonderful day! I spent 5 hours outside and had no allergy symptoms! The beach seems like it's a good "pollen free" day trip location! I think next time I may explore Cape Henlopen and Rehoboth beach area since it's about 20 miles closer!

The New Adventures of an Old Chair

Most of my furniture is "mid-century hand-me-down", which I got basically for free from my parents and grandmothers. A few years ago when my grandmother moved into assisted living and we sold her house, I inherited her dining room set and matching end tables, coffee table and rocking chair. The rocking chair had a cushion that was covered in an itchy green, gold and orange plaid fabric - a fabric that fit perfectly with the "mid-century" decor that my grandmother had going on, but it clashed horribly with my slipcovers. In addition, I was certain that the cushion was crawling with dust mites and other nastiness. I removed the cushion from the chair and put it in a garbage bag so I could take it to Calico Corners and get a new cushion made.

I'd looked for some fabric to cover it with and had a hard time because everything I liked was a stripe and I already had 2 different stripes in the room. Then I thought about getting rid of the old couch and getting a new one, which would mean I could get the new cushion with a stripe. I was stymied.

This summer I finally decided that I would just go to Calico Corners, pick a fabric and be done with it. When mom and dad were visiting at the end of July mom and I went to Calico Corners and picked out a lovely yellow micro-suede fabric that goes with the decor now and would go with whatever else I decided to do.

The new cushion arrived last week and it looks great! :) The new cushion should be good for another 50 or more years!

Really? Are you Serious? FIX IT!!!!!!

This video makes me think of my kids - all day I say things like "really?" and "are you serious?" and I'd love to yell "FIX IT" in reference to annoying behavior that continues despite consequences. Enjoy!

Things that make ya go hmmmm....

On the form at the gynecologist

Check one:
male or female


hmmmmmm.........

Tales from the 'Hood: The Parking Space

I live in a townhouse community. We have a "U" shaped court with 18 townshouses in 3rows. Each house has 2 parking spaces. Due to the fact that we each have 2 spaces and there is only parking along 2 sides of the court, each house's spaces are not directly in front of the house they go with. Each parking space is numbered matching the house numbers - for example house #3225 has 2 parking spaces each numbered 3225. So therefore one would think that it would be quite easy to ascertain where one should park and where one shouldn't park. Not exactly.

My next door neighbors are from Yemen. They have 11 children. They always have visitors of one kind or another. My parking spaces are directly in front of their house. More specifically my "left" space, which is the one I always park in, is most directly in front of their house.

When I moved into the neighborhood almost 6 years ago to the day, we had some issues with their guests parking in my spot. Although it was never more than 1 car, it was always the spot on the left - there was a place for me to park, but it wasn't my spot. At 1st I let it go. I mean I could park and I wanted to be neighborly.

About 3 years ago I kept my mom's purple Volvo while my parents sowed their wild oats in the RV, which meant that I had 2 cars and needed both spots. All the sudden there were always cars parked in my space. At least once a week, sometimes twice. At first I was nice. I would go over and knock and ask them to move the car, which they always did, with apologies. When I continued to find cars in my spot I started getting angry. I attempted to explain that I had 2 cars and that under no circumstances should they allow their guests to park in my spot. I continued to find cars in my spot.

One day I came home and found a car in my spot and that was it. I'd had it. I parked them in and went into my house in search of the phone number for the towing company. Being as the spots are rightfully mine it is well within my rights to have a car towed. I glanced out the window to see one of the older girls and the guest standing outside baffled as to who might have parked them in. I went out and had a few words with them. Let's just say that wasn't a conversation for the children. I moved my car and allowed her out, after I'd been called a bitch several times.

The parking in my spot has declined since then, however I'm sad to say that it still continues, although not as frequently, I find someone there maybe 8-10 times a year and most of the time they move the car quickly when they see me coming or I just don't say anything, because obviously asking them not to park in my spot doesn't work.

This evening I returned home at 11pm after a fun evening celebrating Susan's birthday, and found a mini van parked in my left spot. My spot. There was a spot for me on the right, however, they were in my spot and I have asked so many times that they not park there that I was pissed.

I went in the house and wrote a nasty note to put on the car. As I was heading out to put the note on the car the neighbors were heading out of their house. They started with the apologies. I started with the angry words. I mean really, they seem to think that they can just use my spot whenever they want and just apologize it away? Oh and BTW not once have they ASKED me to use my spot, if they asked I'd prob say "sure" - other neighbors have used it and they have all asked - one even wrote a note and stuck it in the door when I wasn't home, I didn't care. I'm happy to share, just ask, realize that it's not yours to use at whim. Anyway, I lit into them about how we have been over this a thousand times and what part exactly of "DON'T PARK HERE" is confusing?

I then turned and walked to the mailbox to get my mail and the father followed me, again with the apologizes. I suggested that maybe he stop apologizing and not allow his guests to park in my spots. I explained that there is PLENTY of guest parking (really there is - a whole street where anyone can park, less than a block away, and it's very safe), and that when the rest of us have guests, that's where they park. I also suggested that he ask before he allow his guests to use my spot. He then launches into a whole sob story about how his son has hurt his back and just came from the hospital and yada yada yada. I didn't even care. Hospital or not, the rule is still don't park in my spot, or if you do, move the car fast (ie before I get home and find it) - I understand if they were getting him in the house etc, but they have so many people around all the time there's no reason they couldn't have moved the car as soon as the injured person was out.

As I'm yelling at the father the owner of the car drives up and tries the apology thing and says that it was her fault. I explained that it was in no way her fault, that it was their (I motioned over to the owner of the house) fault because they don't ask their guests to park in the appropriate guest spots.

I then stopped talking and walked back to my house, ignoring their many attempts to apologize.

I'm probably overreacting. It's the fact that they give me the impression that they think my spot is theirs because it's right in front of their house and no matter how much asking, yelling and threatening to tow* I do they just continue to do as they please and have seem to have no respect for my spot, my asking, or the general community rules. Maybe next time I have guests I'll have them park in their spots and see if they like how that feels?

*I'd be happy to have their car towed, however they always seem to see me park and come out (despite the fact that all their windows are covered b/c the women can't be seen w/o their head coverings) and if I called the towing company the car would be gone by the time they got there. I'm thinking that next time I'll pull my car out to the main road and then call on my cell that way they won't see me. I'd hate for it to come to that, but they just aren't getting the message.

What Daisy Wants....

Daisy gets.....

Daisy Mae has taken a liking to sleeping in my wingback armchair. It used to be when I wasn't home but now she'll try and hop in anytime. Even to the point of being peeved with me when I sit there. She'll pace and sniff and try every angle to get in and then walks away perturbed that she has to sleep on the floor. Nevermind that the couch is right there and she used to sleep there all the time, but doesn't like it anymore.

I decided that I was sick of having Daisy sleep in my chair - it's got a slip cover on it that is getting really grungy from constant use and the dog only makes it grungier - so I thought I'd pile up some stuff in the chair to keep her out. This morning I put my cross stitch basket in the chair, my wheeled "reading table" in front and the crammed the ottoman in front. I figured this was sufficient for an ancient blind dog. I figured wrong.....here's what I cam home to.....






Remember that she is blind....can't see a thing....how did she ever wedge herself in here?

Tales From the 'Hood: New Concrete

Yesterday there were work crews in my court replacing cracked and damaged portions of the sidewalk, leaving a number of squares of wet concrete to dry on a surprisingly un-humid day.

Last night, around 7:30, I stepped out to retrieve my dog, who had escaped yet again through the fence that doesn't quite close tight and the lawn-boys always leave a little open, and I saw 2 of my neighbors contemplating the new sidewalk square.

I said: Checking out the new sidewalk huh? and my neighbor replied: "Did you see what my son did?" And she pointed to some barely visible writing at the top of the square (by where the sidewalk meets the yard of the house in front - where her son had carefully etched his name and the date into the fresh concrete.

I chuckled and allowed as to how I'd considered writing something in the wet concrete myself! She says that her son did this once when he was 4 and now he's going to college and he is still doing it and tells me how mad she and her husband are.

I said that I thought there were way worse things and really a name etched in the pavement gave it character. She was stunned, and I think a little peeved that I wasn't upset about this. I then added that now every time I head out I'll see her sons name and think about him, I might even say a little prayer that all is going well for him in college (she is one of those scary "you are going to h*ll if you miss a Sunday at church, prayer (something good) can't possibly come of something this heinous" Christian, so I know that comment peeved her, which was my goal). She seemed flabbergasted that defacement of public property didn't bother me at all.

I left her to her anger and went to drag my dog home. Being extra careful to make sure she didn't step on the new concrete!

As I walked away I thought....
First of all, he ain't the sharpest tool in the shed - if you are going to vandalize something (and admittedly writing in wet concrete is vandalism) DO NOT write your name!!!! HELLO!!!!! A heart, a peace sign, a smiley face, all would have gotten the job done w/o drawing any attention to yourself, unless someone saw you, and even then you could deny it.

2nd - lighten up people! If this is the worst thing this 18 year ever does (and that's how the parents were acting) consider yourself lucky. I mean etching ones name in small letters in new concrete is hardly a punishable sin considering all the other trouble an 18 year old college bound kid could get into!

It's The Muppet Show, or why Facebook Rocks my World

About 3, maybe 4, weeks ago my good friend Consuelo invited me to join Facebook. I'd been on MySpace for years and hadn't ever considered Facebook, but ok, sounded good, I'll sign up. Turns out there are a lot of people I know on Facebook and it's way, way better than MySpace! I think I have close to 60 friends on Facebook, one of them is Matthew Stensrud, one of the kids I worked with in Oklahoma. Matthew was always one of my favorites (and I'm not just saying that because he'll likely read this either...) and so I was thrilled to re-re-connect (We'd found each other a few years back on MySpace), but I was even more thrilled to hear that Matthew was working in DC for the summer!

After dodging all of our committments, which was a challenge b/c we are both busy folks, we met up this evening to visit the Jim Henson Muppet Exhibt at the International Gallery and grab a bite to eat with Matthew's boyfriend, Michael.

Matthew and I met at the Smithsonian Metro - how amazing to see him all grown up! I think the last time I saw him he was maybe 13? Middle school or early high school, we can't remember. Now he's 21, taller than I am, but the same fun, funny, caring, sensitive, intelligent Matthew! It was so wonderful to see him! :)

We had about a million things to talk about as we headed into the museum, to see the traveling exhibt all about Jim Henson's Muppets and how they came to be. The exhibit was pretty good - they had a few of the actual muppet puppets on display - Rowlf the Dog, Bert and Ernie, one of the Kermits. Jim Henson's work is pretty amazing when you look at all the techincal and creative thinking that went into it.

After we finished persusing the Muppets, we walked a few blocks (it was a stunningly beautiful day - barely 80 degrees and no humidity - a near miracle for August in Washington DC) to a cute little pizza place for happy hour deals! Along the way Matthew and I had a chance to get all caught up on what's happening with the other "kids" back home, what his plans are and life in general! It's hard to get my brain around the fact that all these kids who were in elementary school are now getting ready to graduate from high school! They have jobs and drive cars and all that stuff! Of course I haven't aged a bit!

We met up with Michael, who is a great young man, and had pizza, drinks, and discussion at a little pizza/bar somewhere in DC (I just followed Matthew!) It was so great to meet Michael and I enjoyed talking Olympics and light politics!

All too soon it was time to hop back on the metro and head home, unfortuently Matthew and Michael are heading back to Ohio on Saturday, but hopefully we'll get together again soon! :)

Yummy Cake!

You Are an Ice Cream Cake

Surprising, unique, and high maintenance. You're one of a kind, and you don't want anyone to forget it. You're fun in small doses, but it's easy for people to overdose on you!

What Kind of Cake Are You?

Oh the Saga....Solved!

This morning Drew and Brenna got all packed up an headed out by about 11, my parents are on their way into town and will be here for dinner, so I had a few hours and I thought I'd go over to the DMV and finally take care of this damned car title stuff.

I arrive at the DMV about 11:30 and was pleased to see the parking lot half empty. The line to get a number to wait in line was much longer than it's ever been. ugh. I got to the front and the "Sorting Hat" lady remembered me. Hmmm....wonder why?

I ask if maybe I can check to see if the letter is there before I sit and wait in line, she says sure, just go to window 11 and ask them to look. So I do. The guy goes into the back and I can see him standing by the fax machine going through pile after pile of faxes. Not turning up mine. Finally, after about 10 mins he comes back. My letter is not there. I'm pissed. Again I say a few explitives under my breath and storm out.

I get home and call the Land of Morons, I mean GMAC. The gal there, Mona Lisa (yes, I'm serious) says that the letter was faxed on 7-25, Fri. I gave her a big piece of my mind explaining how this really isn't my problem, they are the ones who messed up and not really understanding why I have to spend this much of my time dealing with their mistake. She offers no apologies. She does however say that she will put in another request for a letter and fax it to the DMV, it should be there in 24-48 hours. AGHHHH!!!!!

I decided to call the DMV to see if maybe there was a "recieved on Fri" file that the guy didn't look in since I told him it would have Mon or Tues. I get the central, call center, but the gal who answered the phone called the Woodbridge DMV then took my number for them to call me back. I was skeptical that I'd get called back, but I did....

About 20 mins after I'd called the phone rang. It was the Woodbridge DMV. No my letter was def not there. However, if I had the original lien relase letter she might be able accept that (I think at this point I was talking to a big wig at the DMV). She said I could come down with the letter and bypass the line and ask for her and she'd see what she could do. She did question GMACs answer of 24-48 hours for a letter if the letter had in fact been sent on 7-25, but there's not much I could do about it.

I high-tail it over there and track down this "Miss Chestnut". She looks at my letters - I now have 2 letters from GMAC indicating that my lien has been paid off. She accepts the one that they randomly mailed me last week because it had a signature on it in blue ink which made her certain it was an orginal. She signs off and instructs the man at the window to take care of me! :) *

He takes my DL and checks the form I filled out, matches up the vin #, collects $10 from me and hands me the title to my car! :) YIPPPEEEE!!!!! I thank them both profusely and escape from the DMV. With any luck it will be at least 6 years before I have to go back!

Now I just have to locate my grandmas car title which has been sitting here for 2 years because I'm supposed to put it in the safe deposit box and I was waiting till I had my title, and get them both safely to the safe deposit box!

*When the customer service guy came over and Miss Chestnut told him that she'd signed off on the transcation, he muttered something like "Why did you do that?" and she muttered back "because I did" I'm guessing that they were trying to get rid of me. hmmm....maybe repeatedly coming into the DMV then storming out with a slew of explitives is the way to solve a problem?

Splashdown!

My good friends Drew and Brenna came down for a few days with their 2 kids - Alex is 3 and Evan is 16 months. Last year Brenna had come down with the kids and we went to Splashdown! Which is county park with a water park - it's a small water park, but just perfect for preschoolers. Last year Alex wouldn't go down the slides by himself and adults aren't allowed to accompany the kids. This year however, Alex spent nearly 4 hours going down the silde, then back up, then down, then back up, etc.... Evan also enjoyed the shallow water - he's not into walking yet and the water would frequentlt get too deep for him to crawl!


One of Evan's many faces of joy and excitment! :) I love the tongue!

Alex going down the big pink slide! I love the too big sunglasses!


Brenna with Evan getting ready to go down one of the little slides.


Drew with Evan, also getting ready to go down the slide.


Alex, totally zonked out when we got home.

Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day

According the card my mom sent me, today is Take Your Houseplants for a walk day...

About this holiday:
July 27th commemorates the exciting "Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day". Plant owners the world over proudly stroll their plants through the streets, exchanging hellos, plant-care tips and general merriment. It is believed that by "Strolling the plants" you enable them to know their environment, bringing on wellness.

All of my house plants are too big to take for a walk anywhere, so they are going for a virtual walk, right into all your living rooms!!!! :)

This is a 33 year old Norfolk Pine. My dad purchased it for my mom the day I was born. It's about 7 feet talk and occupies it's own corner of the living room. Recenly, my mom and I repotted it, a huge undertaking. It has survived a move from Alexandria, VA to North Tarrytown NY in 1979, then a move from North Tarrytown, NY to Cincinnati OH in 1987, then a move from Cincinnati here in 2004.

This is the "little" Norfolk pine. I use that term very loosely. As you can see it's taller than the chair. When we moved from Alexandria to NY in 1979 my mom was afraid that the original Norfolk Pine would die, so she bought another one and planted it with the original. When I got the plants in 2004 I decided that the little one was likely choking out the original one so, after 25 years of co-habitation, I got the "extra" pine it's own pot. Seemed to do good things for both plants - both plants had a growth spurt and looked healthier. However, I now had 2 huge plants in my living room.

This is Audrey. As in Little Shop of Horrors. Feed me Seymour. Audrey is split leaf - she might have a more scientific name, but we know her as "the split leaf". Audrey is family heriloom. I'm not exactly sure how far back the split leaf goes in our family, but this particular ones history is easy to trace. My grandparents had a giant split leaf plant, prob about the size of this one, and my grandmother drug it outside for the summer. It was very happy outside and it doubled in size in a short amount of time. It was now too big to get it into the house! So my grandmother cut part of it off. My grandfather wouldn't allow her to throw the cutting away so she planted it - which of course meant that she now had 2!!!! She gave the cutting to my parents soon after we moved to Cincinnati and now that cutting takes up more space in my living room that some of the furniture! I actually really like Audrey - she's an active plant, very frequently I'll look over there's another giant leaf unfolding! She doesn't need much water and a yearly feeding of miracle grow keeps her happy!

The neat thing about the split leaf is that when it grows a new shoot from the stem you can cut it off and stick it in water for a month or so and when it grows a root plant it in a pot and guess what? You've got another ginornmous plant on the way!

I once sent a cutting home to California with my aunt. We wrapped the stem in a wet paper towel and put it in a ziploc baggie and she carried it home on the plane. Her cutting grew a root and she planted it and it's well on it's way to being huge! She recently moved back to the East Coast and the plant survived just fine. It recently unfurled another leaf!

When my cousin got married I gave her a cutting, that I'd planted, and called it "her branch of the family tree'!

Soon after I got Audrey, my grandmother, who had moved to Florida and then back to VA and somehow her split leaf has vanished, asked for a cutting, so I grew her a plant. She has taken very good care of her plant and it's probably about 1/4 the size of mine. Recently she moved to an independent living facility in Williamsburg and she can't keep the plant (barely enough room for her in her tiny apartment!). The plant now lives at my parents house in Williamsburg, where it gets bright sunlight most of the day and it's quite happy. The downside to this is that my parents have retired as gypsies and they live in their motorhome 8-10 months out of the year! My grandmother doesn't have a car. This means that once a month or so someone has to go and water the plant. The upside to this is that if someone drives to Williamsburg to water the plant we'll likely stop in to see my grandma - the family plant, keeping the family together!

Did you take your houseplants for a walk today?

And Now For Something Entirely Different....

As Susan already posted she and I went to Wolftrap on Thursday night to see Eric Idle and The National Symphony Orchestra perform "Not The Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy"

See here post on this here.

We weren't sure what we were in for as neither of us had ever heard of the show. Susan had found an article on google about the show (it's linked on her blog)and basically it was based on The Life of Brian the way Spamalot is based on The Quest for the Holy Grail.

Not The Messiah is quite the production! It features the NSO, however the music is anything but classical! The composer described the music as like listening to an iPod suffle where you can listen to a bit of a rock and roll piece followed by some jazz and then a bit of classical, etc. That was an apt description of the format! Very unique!

They had the orchestra, a chorus behind them and then the 5 soloists/actors in front - there were minimal props and special effects - although the singing sheep, bagpipers and leaf blower (not sure of that...other than just to be different) were priceless! The 5 solosits all had "parts" although they all played multiple roles, making it hard to follow in places.

The other interesting thing was the audience. Not sure what I was expecting but it seems like a stage performance of a Monty Python movie would draw a younger, less refined crowd, although Susan and I were sitting in the pavilion, the ex-nerds who could recite the entire movie were probably sitting out on the lawn having a grand ol' time!

The other funny thing about the evening....Susan had gotten her ticket before I did, she mentioned it at book club and I really wanted to come so I bought a ticket the week before - we had both clicked "best available" and we ended up 2 rows apart in the same seat #! We were in the 4th and 6th row - it was a little close for me, although it was a treat to be that close to Eric Idle. It looked like the show was almost completely sold out! There were 2 seats near me that were empty and there were some people who left at intermission.

Last night I dug out my old VHS of The Life of Brian and popped it in as I was doing some chores! Hysterical! I hadn't watched it in years - prob not since High School or maybe College - yet it was still just as funny! It made the performance the evening before even funnier! I think it helped seeing the movie after so that I could focus on the performance and appreciate the show for what it was not try to make it more like Life of Brian (if that makes any sense at all!)

It appeared that the show had limited performances in the states - just 3 I think. If it ever comes near you, go see it!!!!!

Autobiographical Widget

Back in March Drew tagged me and I'm big procrastinator (see below entry about the car title!)and didn't participte so here goes:

Books are scarce in the world. They are illegal in some provinces. They are not easily replaced if not impossible to replace if lost in many if not most circumstances. If you can replace a book or buy one it is usually through the black market at astronomical costs that you cannot afford. Yet you have been able to maintain one of the best collections in the world. If your entire library was about to burn up (think of the firefighters in Fahrenheit 451 invading your home) and you could only have one* book to take with you other than the bible, what would that be and why?

Simple Rules
Answer the question. Offer one quote that resonates with you. Tag five people whose response is of genuine interest to you and inform him or her that they have been tagged. Cheers!


*And it cannot be an entire series of something, that’s cheating.

I have entirely too many books, although there is truly no such thing! I have 5 floor to celing bookcases in my 3rd bedroom filled with books. They are mostly kids book that I have for my classroom and I couldn't possibly even begin to pick just 1 to save - they all serve different purposes!

I would pick one from my "to be read" piled for sure because I'm not a huge fan of re-reading books (children's books are the exception, "adult" books I like to read once and move on...too many books, too little time, to re-read) - that lends the question do I grab the library book since it's not mine and I should return it?

THe rules say that "my" library is going to burn up - a library book isn't actually mine so the 4 library books I have should be safe....therefore I'm going to take "The Time Traveler's Wife" for 2 simple reasons: 1)I haven't read it yet and 2) it's long so it will be keep me busy until I can buy more books!

Now to tag: Susan (of course!), Elizabeth, Liz, Judy, and anyone else who wants to respond! :)

Everyone's Doing it....

The Meme is like a virus....everyone has it....

I can take criticism, and realize some memories of me might not be the nicest. Sometimes the truth hurts. Hopefully one or two people have a fond memory of me.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

So there you go. What do you remember about me (whether in real life or on-line since many people reading this live exclusively in my computer)?

Oh the Saga....

I bought my 2006 Saturn Vue in December 2005. I’d been planning on paying cash, however they were offering some kind of incentive for financing, an incentive which I cannot remember at this time. So since I qualified for the incentive I went for the financing, then promptly paid off the loan in March 2006.

GMAC sent me the lien release letter and a title. The title was to someone else’s car. Some Cadillac in New York. I called GMAC and they basically said “oh. Oops. Take your lien release letter to your DMV and they will give you a new title.”

A trip to the DMV, ugh. I put the paperwork on the table in the kitchen to deal with later and promptly forgot all about it. The stuff would surface every now and then, but usually on a Sun or another day that I couldn’t deal with it. That’s how 2 and half years later I’m just now dealing with this.

I found the papers Wednesday evening as I was cleaning off the table in the kitchen. It was about 4:00 so I decided to high-tail it to the DMV right then and get it taken care of. I feeling so good because I was finally dealing with this and was making a list of other “old problems” and “old projects” that I could take care of in the coming weeks.

I get to the DMV and find that now you have to wait in line in order to earn the privilege of waiting in line! I guess it’s kinda like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter! So the Sorting Hat lady tells me that I must have a lien release letter that is addressed to The Woodbridge DMV, the letter I had was addressed to me. She gives me the form and instructs me to call them now and get them to fax the letter in the next 15 mins. She gives me a number and calls the next person.

I reach for my cell phone and realize that I have not battery left. I have to go out to the car in order to call so I can hook up to my charger. I call the number on the letter and enter my account number. My account cannot be accessed so they transferred me to a customer service representative. She asks for my account number, which again, she cannot find. I explain the situation she then accesses me by using my name and address. I explain that I need a the lien release faxed to the Woodbridge DMV, now, in the next 5 mins. She says that it will take 24-48 hours. Yikes.

At this point I decide that it would be better for them to fax the letter to me, that way I can have it and get it to the DMV myself. I didn’t want the letter to get lost at the DMV or something. I tell the gal the number and she repeats back to me that the letter needs to go to Melissa (my last name), I said “No, it must be addressed to the Woodbridge DMV, NOT me.” I repeated this 4 times and again before I hung up. She assured me that the letter would be addressed to the DMV.

I headed home satisfied that I’d made headway on the problem and that I would get it solved on Friday.

This afternoon about 2:00 the phone rang. It was the fax! I waited by the fax machine as the paper came out. The letter that I’d explicitly asked to be addressed to the Woodbridge, DMV, was addressed to me!!!!!! AGGHHHHH!!!!!

What’s an intelligent rule following gal supposed to do? Doctor the letter of course. I went to the computer and typed “Dear Woodbridge Department of Motor Vehicles:”, changed the font color to a dark grey so it will match the faded, old toner text color of the fax, made a copy of the fax, taped the new salutation over the old one and made another copy. The hardest part was erasing the line that kept showing up making it obvious that I’d doctored the letter. I didn’t have any white out, so I tried white acrylic paint, too thin. Finally I smoothed the tape enough that there wasn’t a line. I had my letter and I headed off confidently to the DMV.

I walked in and stood in line for the Sorting Hat lady. When it was my turn I showed the lady the documents and explained how the gal Wed night had instructed me to get a letter addressed to the Woodbridge DMV. She approved of my documents and gave me a number. I went to sit and wait my turn.

As I sat down I noticed a spot of white paint on my right thumb from where I’d tried to use acrylic paint as white out and started to panic a bit – they’d see it and know what I’d done! Despite the fact that no white paint was actually used in the doctoring of the letter. I would make a crappy criminal. I picked the paint off. I waited about 45 mins in the crowded lobby, reading my book club book and witnessed a very large African-American woman plead at the top of her lungs with her screaming toddle to “Sit yer ass down!” Colorful afternoon at the Woodbridge DMV.

When my number was called I marched myself up to the window. The gal at the window looked like a cartoon character. She was a shortish, roundish African-American lady with huge 1980’s saucer like plastic tortoise shell glasses (think Sally Jessie Raphael, only not in red), blond fake hair and purple lipstick on her nearly circular plump lips.

I showed her my paperwork. She then says “Is the lien release in the back?” Motioning to a back room. I said, very proud of my forethought here, “Nope, it’s right here! See, it’s even address to you, like the gal said.” Little Miss Big Glasses Purple Lips says, “The letter must be faxed to us.” I explained my thinking and she says “Why is the fax number stapled to the form?” I explained everything that had happened and she said “The lien release must be faxed here.”

It was at this point that I lost it. I almost all out yelled at the poor lady. I angrily explained that I’d been wasted 45 mins waiting, that the other lady should have told me about the rule of faxed letters only. I was so angry. She probably gets yelled at like this all day, she just repeated her line and I gathered up all my papers and stormed out of the DMV.

So I get home, call GMAC again and ask for the letter. This time the letter is going to be faxed to the DMV. It will be there in 24 – 48 hours. I suppose I need to wait until at least Wed to go over and try again. Third time better be a charm or I’m writing my own damn Title for the car.

Moral of the story: I will never, under any circumstance, no matter what the incentive, finance a car again. Cash only.

Hurricane Comments

I'm hanging out here at class - going to start tutoring in a few mins and since we are winding down I actually have nothing to do and am reading AOL news - there's a story on the Hurricane Dolly and there's a space for comments - I love reading these comments - the things people will put in print for all to read!!!!!


"How come there are no hurricanes named Abdul or Mohammed? The people that name these hurricanes are discriminating against the Muslims!!!!!!!! Come on, fair is fair, let's get some Muslim names in there - after all - hurricanes cause destruction."

Good Question...Hurricane Dolly seems so namby-pamby....why don't we have a Hurricane Saddam??? That would be so un-pc!!!!

4th of July Memories

I hope everyone is having a nice 4th of July! It’s rainy and humid here and there’s not much going on. In past years my neighborhood has had an informal block party complete with fireworks. Doesn’t appear to be any action outside and lots of the usual suspects are not home so I guess this is an off year. Since there’s not much to write about this years 4th of July I thought maybe I’d regal you all with stories from 4th s past…

The first 4th I can remember was when I was about 5 or 6. We were living in North Tarrytown, NY and our neighborhood held a neighborhood parade and picnic. I remember decorating my bike (still with training wheels) with red, white and blue streamer and getting to ride it on Belwood Ave – the main road into our neighborhood that ordinarily we were not allowed to ride on because it was too busy! After the parade we had a picnic at a big field – there were games and prizes, even a band! It was at this event that I learned that I did not like grilled hot dogs. They tasted like they had been burned! To this day I’m still very picky about the cooking of my hot dogs.

The first memory I have of fireworks was at my grandparents house in Kentucky – I was probably 7 or 8. They had a house on the Barren River Lake near Scottsville, KY. Every summer we went down there and some years we went for the 4th. My grandfather had 2 aluminum Grumman canoes and we used them to paddle our way across the lake to the Lodge to watch the fireworks on the big lawn. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fireworks because they made loud noises that reminded me of thunder and I was not a fan of thunder back then. After the fireworks were over we had to paddle back across the lake to my grandparents dock. It was now dark and there were lots of pontoon boats around and I believe there was lighting and some distant thunder. I just remember sitting in the middle of the boat hiding under a towel.

When I was in college I worked at Camp Joy and inevitably the 4th occurred when we had kids at camp. We took the kids into Wilmington to see the fireworks. We were able to go to a building that was part of Wilmington College’s agricultural dept. We weren’t able to use the building but they had a big yard and a great view of the fireworks, plus we had the place to ourselves and didn’t have to worry about our kids getting lost or disrupting others. We of course got there early and had a few hours to kill before the show so we’d brought all kinds of games and sporting equipment as well as snacks and sodas for a special treat. All day we’d been dodging thunderstorms, and we debated not even taking the kids because of the threat of more storms. It was getting dark and we were gathering the kids for the fireworks. I had all of my 7 & 8 year little girls gathered on a blanket ready when I heard a very loud “freight train-ish” sound coming from behind me. I panicked and told all my girls to get down – which they all did. All of my kids (about 14 or so) were laying face down in the grass when I glanced behind me to see a giant 747 jet just clearing the trees behind me – it had just taken off from the DHL shipping hub just 5 miles from where we were! The camp director saw the whole thing and nearly wet his pants laughing at me.

After college I moved to Oklahoma. We had the best 4th of July’s in OK! One year we had a picnic at one of the church members house followed by homemade lemon ice cream in the parking lot of the Lloyd Noble Center waiting for the fireworks. On the way home I mentioned that I’d never played with sparkers. The other folks I was with found that hard to believe and decided that we needed to remedy this, so we went to a nearby fireworks stand to get some and they got a little overzealous and bought a lot. We headed back to set them off. At this point I must mention that the 4 people I was with were all members of the governering body of our church and served in major leadership roles – all four were also middle aged, with children. In addition OK was experiencing the hottest, driest summer on record, a record that might still stand today. Fires of any kids were strictly prohibited and would likely spread like ummm….wildfire. In addition fireworks were forbidden within the City of Norman (we’d driven just outside city limits to buy them). Add to this the fact that the people’s house we were going to was in a new subdivision – one where all the houses are very close together and one where neighbors would call the cops on other neighbors, esp when they launch illegal fireworks after midnight and run the risk of setting everything on fire. This is quite possibly the most illegal thing I have ever participated in. We did however launch all the fireworks and lite all the sparkers, and we didn’t catch anything on fire and no one called the cops!

My parents moved into their house in Williamsburg just before the 4th of July and we spent the whole day unpacking boxes, not even really aware that it was a holiday. About 8:30 we went out for ice cream at Brusters. While we were sitting outside eating our ice cream we saw the fireworks near Colonial Williamsburg (this is prob “their” holiday since the town was settled during the Revolutionary War) so we hopped in the car and drove over there. We found a parking spot on the street where we could see and finished our ice cream. When the show was over, my dad simply started the car and we drove home – no traffic because all the other folks were still making their way to their cars!

I did a similar “drive by” with the fireworks two years ago when I was in Jackson, WY on the 4th. I’d just finished up with a 7 day hiking trip in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs with Backroads and wasn’t flying out until the next day. After I’d gotten checked into my room I’d walked into Jackson and had pizza at Mountain High Pizza Pie – a local joint that was simply bustling with tourists and locals. The tables were long picnic tables that sat 10-12 – I found one that was empty but eventually I ended up sharing it. A nice family came over, a man and a wife and their two little girls. I had a lovely conversation with the man and walked away feeling like I’d made some new friends! After dinner I walked back to my hotel and got myself some homemade chocolate chip cookies (this hotel made them every night for the guests!) and headed upstairs to cross stitch. The nice thing about being in Wyoming is that they are on mountain time and all the late night sitcom re-runs are on during prime time! About 10:00 (gets dark a lot later out there) the fireworks got started. I was able to walk to the parking lot of my hotel, in pjs no less, watch the show and walk back to my room!

Wow I have drizzled on and on…..
What are other folks 4th of July memories?

Happy 4th Everyone! :)

The Library....not just for books!

Last Friday I went to my local library to pick out some new novels and I saw a sign for the "Needles and Hooks Needlework Club" that meets on the 1st Wed of every month at 7:00 pm. I'd seen the signs before but never made it to the club. I realized that today was the 1st Wed of the month and decided to make a point of attending. I was looking forward to making some friends, or at least connecting, with people who live in my neck of the woods and being able to stay out a bit later since I wouldn't have a long drive home. If I liked the folks at the club I could even go on school nights!

As I was driving over there this evening I was recalling all the fun stuff I did at the library as child/pre-teen. I lived in a small suburb of NYC and I loved our library. The Warner Library was a cool place! First of all it's an old stone building that just smells like a library - a mix of dusty books, clod tile floors, high ceilings and old furniture. Many of the rooms were oddly shaped with intricate narrow halls and staircases winding through the stacks of books. The main door, that I think was merely decoration had these awesome intricate carvings. When we'd go my mom would browse the tall metal stacks of "grown up" books and I'd head down to the children's section. It was one of the only places I was allowed to venture on my own. I would head down the big stairs to the lower level and check out all the books. I knew exactly where all my favorite authors were and I would often go right to the Beverly Clearly books and pick one to read for the thousandth time. One of my favorite things was the giant baseball mitt "chair". It was huge! You could fit maybe 4 kids in it. I recently saw an identical one on an episode of King of Queens! I distinctly remember getting my 1st library card - you had to be able to write your own name and just as soon as I could do it, I got my very own library card!

The library wasn't just for books, we did all kinds of other things there too. Saturday afternoons they would show Disney movies on the big reel-to-reel projector way up on the 3rd floor where people usually didn't get to go, this was in the days before VCRs so seeing a movie for a 2nd time or not in the theater was a treat (funny because now seeing a movie in the theater is a treat!). I remember watching Bambi and Snow White here. It was especially cool because parents didn't have to stay, it was one place where we kids could just hang out. I also saw Slim Goodbody there - anyone remember him? When I was about 10 they started having craft classes. I learned how to cross stitch, my "craft of choice" to this day, at the Warner Library. Only fitting that I should find comraderie at my local library today.

Only, for now, I didn't find much in the way of comradrie! I got to the library early to check out some books and pick up some holds. I couldn't find the Needlework Group so I had to ask. The nice librarian opened the room and explained that likely I'd be the only one, seems the group is very "spotty" in the summer. So rather than get comfy with my stitching I pulled out a book I'd just checked out to read until someone came or until no one came.

I was about to give up and go home when a nice lady showed up. She was knitter and needed help with a project. She too had never come to the group. We had a very nice chat - she's a high school counselor and likes crafts so we instantly hit it off.

We chatted for awhile and then her cell phone rang. It was her sister so she answered it and proceeded to have a long conversation about her grandma's house and the roof caving in and so on and so on. I'm just sitting there. We hadn't pulled out our stitching and I'd tucked my book back into my bag. I was just sitting there. What is the protocol for that situation? I mean there was nothing holding me there - we were two strangers making small talk, yet getting up and leaving didn't seem right, esp since she was sitting between me and the door and I had this big bag of books to hoist up on my shoulder. I waited it out and then we chatted for a few mins more before we both got up and left.

We both agreed to come in Aug, so here's hoping there will be a bigger group then. If not, oh well, I tried! :)

Spiritual Gifts?

Found this hokey test at my friend Identity Mixed's blog....check it out here

I had theological issues with 1/2 the questions, I clicked "strongly disagree" so many times that I'm surprised it didn't come back saying I was Jewish! :) HA!

Here are my scores....doesn't appear that I'm "spiritually gifted" - oh well. There are worse things!


Following are the top three results of your Spiritual Gifts Test:


Score Spiritual Gifts Scripture Reference

67% Servant/Helps Acts 6:2-4
67% Leadership Hebrews 13:7
67% Hospitality Acts 16:14-15

This test reminded me of a conversation I had with a pastor of church in OK. We were both serving for a week as chaplains at Dwight Mission, a PCUSA Camp and Confrence Center in Sallisaw, OK. This was my 3rd summer at Dwight and it was his first. He was an oldish guy - prob in his 50s. A few weeks after camp I was moving to Northern VA to go to grad school to get my masters in Education. We were discussing this move and he said "I really think you need to stay open, I think God is going to call you to the ordianed ministry" I replied "God is calling me loud and clear, he wants me to teach in America's public schools. God calls people to things other than ordained ministry." I don't recall his comment after that, I think he just shut up. I mean really, who the h*ll is he to tell me what God wants? I know he's a pastor and all but really?

Maybe my "spriutal gift" is pissing off people with spiritual gifts?

Theses are the Cars of our Lives

My blog buddy Tal
wrote a post all about his history in cars so, since he asked about his readers cars and my comment got out of control so I decided to make it's own post...

When I was a kid we had a 1974 (I think...might have been a different year) Navy Blue Volvo Station Wagon then when it was worn out (I believe it had 100,000 miles on it, or close to it) we bought a 1986 Navy Blue Volvo Station Wagon - nearly identical to the old one except that the new one had AC and a tape deck. We were so excited when we got it my grandparents came up and we drove it Maine (from NYC area)! So my grandpa could make a religious pilgimage to the LL Bean store in Freeport.

When I turned 16 (1992)my mom bought a Lexus - and I got the Volvo tank which I drove until it got totally in an accident in 1996 - just a couple hundred miles shy of 100,000! It was a chain of event accident - there were 3 cars traveling to an Alpha Phi Omega service project. I was in the middle and the guy behind me hit me with his Jeep Wrangler at 45 mph, hurling me (I was stopped or close to it) into the Ford Taurus sedan driven by another of our friends. Thankfully, no one was injured. I attribute that to the fact that the Volvo tank was in the middle. Both my Volvo and the Ford Taurus were totalled.

For my replacement car I got a green volvo station wagon that I was never a big fan of....I wanted a Saturn (they were new at the time)but didn't feel like doing the research my parents would have required, I wanted a new car more so went with a Volvo because the purchase process would be faster. While we were shopping for my car, my mom found a purple Volvo sedan, it was too expensive for me, but she traded in her Lexus for it, this car is still in the family, it lived with me for almost a year when my parents were motorhoming and now my grandma owns it, but it lives at my uncles house.

I moved to OK in 1998 and decided I needed an American car because there were no places I could go to get the Volvo fixed. I couldn't afford a Saturn on my own and I ended up having an unfortuente encounter with a Chevy Cavalier which I sold after about a year and got finally got my Saturn.

My 1st Saturn was a 1999 Navy Blue sedan. In fact it was the last of a "dye lot" and the next set of "blue" saturns was a swimming pool blue - not pretty. I dubbed my car "Old Blue" after my Grandpa's Cadillac - it was a 1960 something blue boat, when he wasn't able to get parts for it anymore he bought an identical car to keep in the yard for part (Old Blue 2). He lived in KY and grew up in West VA.

I drove that Saturn for about 6 years and had over 90,000 miles on it. Right after I bought my Saturn the company came out with the Vue and I wanted one so in 2005 Saturn was running some good deals on trade ins with incentives and things so I traded in my sedan for a....you guessed it...Blue Vue. Pacific Blue to be exact. Very bright, in your face blue, but I like it. I have loved this car from day 1! I have had it about 2 and 1/2 years and already have close to 50,000 miles on it, and frightenling enough I have only driven it in 4 states!

As you can see I like my blue cars. I'm also one of those people who finds what she likes and sticks with it.

Good Morning!

So it's about 4:50 am and I'm sleeping away, having a lovely dream, and suddenly I'm woken up by a horrible loud "aggghhhh" noise from somewhere in the house. By the time I'm awake there is no sound anymore, so I get up to investigate....nothing out of the ordinary upstairs, nothing strange downstairs, nothing strange in the basement....then I hear it again....it's clearly the upstairs hardwired (ie wired into the electrical system of the whole house) smoke detector!!!!!! And it's clearly malfunctioning - the house ain't on fire and it's only going off intermittently....my 1st thought was "crap, I can't call the FD at 5 in the morning!!!!! They will come in a fire truck and wake the whole neighborhood!". It went off again for about a sec - then I remembered what the FD does for this problem* - shoots compressed air into the offending sensor, sometimes they get dusty - so a whole house search for the canned air I bought just for this purpose ensues. I finally find the canned air - having not heard the alarm for a good 15 mins - I spray the air into the sensor on all sides, get it good and "airy". Then I read the can.....do not spray in enclosed spaces as vapors may ignite. Great. How will I know, I just sprayed it into the smoke detector!

I guess the good news is that I know the smoke alarm will wake me up!
Here's hoping it won't go off again, only thing is that now, I'm up for good.

*About 5 years ago, on the 4th of July, I was polyurthaning a rocking chair I was painting for my classroom, and the same thing happened, only it was the one in the basement, I was pretty sure it was the fumes from the spray on poly but it kept going off after I stopped the painting. Finally, about 8:30 in the evening, just as it was getting dark, I called the FD, what else are you going to do? I can't just take the batteries out! Every townhouse in this area has the same system so I knew they must know what to do. They came, with their truck and full gear, and took their big FD fire extinguishers, and shot air into it and whala silence.

I Fought the Billy Goat and....

The Billy Goat won! The Billy Goat Trail that is, at Great Falls NP in MD.
I'm running out the door now, no time for comments, will add later...

It's later....We have had a rare stretch of cooler/lower humidity days here in Northern VA and since the pollen is finally gone so yesterday I went out to Great Falls NP. I have veen out there a few times but mostly on the VA side and I'd never done much hiking there. There's a very popular trail called The Billy Goat Trail. It boast fabulous views of Mather Gorge on the Potomac River, however those views come at a price - lots and lots of rock scrambling. I'm not big on rock scrambling but I thought, it's only 1.7 miles, how bad can it be?

After I left the visitor center I headed down the C&O Canal towpath to the trail head and I saw another side trail/boardwalk so I headed out there to see what was there....plenty of photo ops...

This is the view from the 1st bridge. There was a barrier and when I leaned on it gently it swayed!!!! yikes! Luckily it only moved a fraction of an inch!


Another view from the bridge.




At the end of the boardwalk you could see the falls - an into VA! This heron was posing right by the water - I took many pictures but these were the best.



Another shot of the heron.

This is the "offical" Great Falls. Imagine the early settlers coming up the river thinking they could take a boat all the way in and then "wham!" they hit this!

On the way back to the toepath there was a bush of these cool white ball things...they must be flowers. I was trying to photograph the flowers when the cool butterfly showed up. I had to "stalk" the butterfly for about 10 mins in order to get these shots. It kept moving and then the wind would blow, but I think you'll agree, it was worth it! :)


This is one of my fav pictures, I think it's got a future on my wall! I't going to look pretty cool against the purple!


Once on the Billy Goat trail I stopped for lunch at the 1st overlook I saw, which I dubbed "picnic rock". From my lunch spot I could see a kayaker on the river and....


Rock climbers on the VA side of the river!

As I went along the "easy" part of the trail I saw a lizard! Again, a little "stalking" yielded a cool shot, I actually have a few cool shots of him, he prob won't make it to the wall, but the pics are still cool!

This is where the rock scrambling started! You can see the blue blaze on the rock in the middle of the picture. This part wasn't so hard.

The rocks opened up and this was the view! Pretty cool.


Then we got to this part. Yes, that is the trail heading up that steep rock face. Yes, those are people on the rocks "hiking". It was here that I realized why I'd never hiked this trail before. You can't see it in the picture but the 1st person at the top has a baby in a backpack!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I could barely hike the trail myself and there was a woman with a baby.



It wasn't long after I made it up the steep rock face when I saw this sign! I was thrilled! No more rock climbing! I could get back to the nice, flat toepath!

I was so giddy, I had to try a self-portriat!

As I was walking by the sign I heard a huge rustle in the leaves and looked over and there was this black snake slithering his way through the leaves! Again a little "stalking" and I got some cool pics!


Back on the nice tame toepath there was still lots to see - big flowers....


little flowers (those white dots weren't visible with the naked eye! Go digital zoom!).......




dragonflies (or is it a damselfly?)........


And finally turtles....lots of turtles but I only posted the one picture!

Next time I think I'll hike on the VA side, I think there is a trail that also has great views of the gorge, but no rock climbing! Or maybe I'll try one of the "tamer" sections of the Billy Goat Trail.

All in all though, a nice day! :)