In Which I Travel

Lots of goings-on this weekend. I went to the quaint town of Occoquan to poke arond the little shops, and discovered that there is a small waterfall. The weather on Saturday was warm, and spring was in the air, so being outside was definitely called for.

Today I drove to Bethesday, MD to Strathmore to hear Hillary Hahn, the world-reknowned violinist. She played a Bach unaccompanied violin sonata, which was amazing to watch. She makes it look so easy. She also played and Ives concerto, which wasn't so bad (I sometimes think Ives is better than he sounds), Kreisler's "Variations on a Theme by Corelli" (always fun), and
a Beethovan. We sat in the choir loft behind the stage. It seems odd to watch a performer from the back, but we were sitting pretty close, which is fun.

In Which I Make Stew

Snow day today! We got 1/4 inch of snow. Really. There was some black ice this morning, but why cancel school? Virginia is a strange, strange place.

So what did I do in my free time? I read a book, went to the library and got more books (one can never have too many books). I practiced Beethovan's 9th Symphony, watched the news, read the paper while I drank my coffee, and I made beef stew. I've never made beef stew before. It came out pretty good. I haven't actually eaten it yet. I will tomorrow. Stew is always better the second day, so why not wait for the second day to eat it?

In other news, did I tell you all that my computer crashed? Well, after spending many hours on the phone to India, and to my brother, and bribing my boyfriend, it is finally mostly fixed. I lost everything on the hard drive. Fortunately, I didn't actually have much on the hard drive. But, then, a week later, my printer died. Grrrr. Yet another HP product that has failed me miserably.

In Which the Bay Freezes

Today was a beautiful February day in Virginia: it was sunny and almost 50 degrees. Hahahhahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! Don't you wish you lived here and not in the snow belt? We had a snow day on Thursday. It was icy around a corner of the county, and we wouldn't want our little cherubs to slip and fall, now would we? Even if the sun did come out and melt off all the ice by 11am. There are advantages to living here.

I went back to Leesylvania State Park today, because the sun was shining and the weather was too tempting to stay indoors. It was so nice to be outside! However, it is still definitely winter because the bay was still had ice floating in it. The sound made by icy chunks floating in the water was like plastic containers clunking together.

Happy early Valentine's Day!

In Which I See Vegetables

Today I went to the National Art Gallery. There was an exhibit of rather interesting paintings by Arcimboldo, an Italian painter from the 1500's. he painted some unique faces composed of fruit, vegetables, marine animals, and other flora and fauna. There was even 4 faces that looked like plain old still lives until you looked at them in a mirror upside down. Then they looked like odd faces! The paintings were rather funny and entertaining. Here is a picture of a sculpture someone made to look like one of that paintings:

Outside the museum was a silver tree. Really. It was like, Oh! A silver tree! It looks like something that should be the symbol of Minas Tirith (wasn't that a white tree though?)

And lastly, here is a picture of me (slightly blurry) through hands. It was an exhibit of 15 pairs of hands. Yeah.

In Which My Eyes Fall Out

My sister got a festive turtleneck for Christmas. I don't think it was meant to be worn with these pants......

In Which We Make S'Mores

So on Christmas Eve, my sister and I discovered that one can roast mini-marshmallows over candles, and they taste just like over a campfire! Of course, we immediately thought of making s'mores. So, we rounded up tiny graham crackers and used bits of Hershey bars to make them. delicious. See, people can entertain themselves without cable television.

In Which I Bake Christmas Treats

Happy Christmas!





I am officially on holiday until 8 am January 3!!!!!!! I spent the day baking, which is my one of my favorite forms of stress relief. Today, I baked chocolate chip cookies, Mexican wedding cakes (1 cup butter, 4 T. powedered sugar, 2 cups flour, 1 cup chopped walnuts, shape into small balls, bake 350 for 15 minutes), Magic squares (cookie crumbs, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts layered in a pan and baked until gooey and yummy), and finally, a cranberry coffee cake. I've never made anything with fresh cranberries before. They are a bit sour, so I had to add a sugar glaze (thanks for the tip, mommy). Next time I will have to remember to taste them first.

Needless to say, I am going to have to buy bigger pants or work out a lot. I am actually showing some restraint in the baking department this year. One year I think I made 15 kinds of cookies, but I was in college at the time and had a rather stressful semester. Baking is much more relaxing than, say, writing an 8-page paper in German or calming a tantruming 10-year-old, or developing crises intervention plans for depressed teenagers. Flour, sugar, and butter are easier to manage. They are predictable, and nobody sues me if I make a mistake and burn the cookies.

Hope everyone has a nice holiday!!!!