Thank heaven for pretty days

Happy January 2nd!  That’s easy to say when this is your view:

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I swear that picture doesn’t look blurry on my phone…but you get the idea.  I’ve been listening to Welcome to Night Vale podcasts on my phone while running lately, partly so I can stop and take pictures.  I took this one from the top of the Naval Academy Bridge.  The middle of the bridge is a mile and a half from our apartment.

It’s pretty here.

Found another good one

We went to Osteria 177 for our anniversary dinner.  It’s one of the fancier restaurants on Main Street, and this one was good (so that makes…four? five good ones?).  We went early (skipped lunch), and at 5:30, I think there was only one other table in use.  They sat us in the front window and gave us the waiter several Yelp reviewers raved about.  (They weren’t wrong – he was great.)  Dinner was wonderful, the wine was good, we split a yummy off-menu dessert, and we didn’t spend our entire savings account on it.

Figured I’d get some pictures of us first, and since I’m an Instagrammer now, I posted them there.  Sorry about the cross-pollination, those of you who follow me in both places.  I did NOT take any pictures of or at the restaurant. I may be on Instagram, and I may be guilty of posting the occasional food picture there, but I am not willing to be THAT GUY. Not in a fancy restaurant, anyway. We even dressed up!

Happy 15th anniversary to us!

A photo posted by @zannah42 on

The house in the hole

Here’s the house I was talking about the other day.  It was still foggy Friday evening when I went for a run (with my phone), but nothing like that day.

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It got dark fast, and I found myself at the bottom of a steep hill, so I trudged up to the top and back to the house.  Not that house.  John’s parents’ house.  It wasn’t my greatest run, but boy, was it necessary.  The food, guys.  It’s nuts.

(Also, I’m ready to go home.  Every holiday has to come to an end.)

It has begun

It’s a misty day in PA.  John’s parents live on top of a ridge, so the view out the back of the house is of treetops shrouded in fog.  Not very many treetops, though – visibility is so low we can’t see very far.

We’re about to head to Long Island for the afternoon and evening.  We’ll visit John’s grandmother and then go to a party to see some cousins no one has talked to in years and some other cousins we see all the time (where all the time = once a year).  Probably have another late night (got to bed about 1am Monday night), and then tomorrow everyone else is supposed to arrive.  Christmas is here.  I have proof.  Photographic evidence.

Tree 1:

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Tree 2:IMG_20151222_125351

It doesn’t get much Christmasier than that.

I thought she was only afraid of thunder

I got very little sleep Sunday night because of a certain scaredy-cat cocker spaniel who was spooked by the wind. It was certainly very windy all night, and the wind was howling past the open window and doing its best to knock things over, but it’s wind!  Not solid, not harmful.  Daisy spent the first half of the night half on my chest, panting in my direction (her breath is AWFUL), shivering uncontrollably, and making her piggy snort noises as a break from the panting once every couple of minutes.  I don’t know if you’ve ever tried, but I have found that it is hard to sleep with a noisy vibrating dog lying on your chest.  I moved her to my side at some point (she resisted being that far from my face, but I couldn’t breathe), but that didn’t help much because she was still shaking and snorting.  Then, around 3am, the scary wind monster rattled everything in the room.  She stood up, practically blurry with vibrations, jumped off the bed, hid herself between the dresser and the wall, and then crawled UNDER the dresser.  I pulled her out and put her back on the bed with me, but she jumped right back off and went back under.  I left her there the rest of the night.  When I woke up around 7, she was sleeping under there with her nose sticking out.

It’s still windy today, so she’s been glued to my side, hanging out in the basement with me while I worked all morning.  Ridiculous dog.  It’s a good thing she’s cute.

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It’s a nice place

Annapolis is really pretty all decorated for Christmas.  All the storefronts have pine boughs with red bows all over, and the sidewalks have potted trees with lights, and there are wreaths hung across intersections.  We took a short walk last night down Maryland Ave.  All the stores were open late, doors wide open, and there was Christmas music (an instrumental version of “The Christmas Waltz” – one of my favorites) playing near the end of the block.  Just past it, a very nicely dressed Santa Claus came over to say hi.  He asked John if I’d been good this year.  Sexist, but otherwise he was a nice Santa.  There was a whole gaggle of kids at the other end of the block, but we didn’t stick around to find out if they were going to sing or anything.  And on the way back, we passed an older couple who wished us a merry Christmas.  People can be so nice when they aren’t being horrible.

So we came back home, and now we’re listening to Pandora’s Christmas station.  This is probably as Christmas-y as we’ll get this year.  We’ll do our shopping this weekend, and we’ll make sure we get out in the evenings to enjoy how festive Annapolis looks, but we’re not planning to do any decorating (outside of Bird and Bird, who will be joining us on our travels).

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Ugh

Another shooting.  Have a picture of kittens instead.

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Also, apparently I have titled posts “Ugh” two other times.  I am repetitive.  Sorry!  Also also, I upgraded WordPress today and finally installed JetPack, so now I have more stuff to play with.  I got a LOT of spam comments on old posts (a group from 2011 and a group from 2014) all day long, so I added a CAPTCHA that makes you do math.  You’ll have to let me know if it’s too hard for you.  :/  AND I added a Share button.  If it’s annoying, let me know that, too.

Have a puppy, too.

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The dark is rising

My least favorite part about winter is already here: the dark.  The sun is still coming up at a reasonable hour (for now), but it gets dark so early in the evening!  It’s barely 6pm, and I feel like I should be going to bed.  (I am not a night owl.)  I think I need a sun lamp.

Ooh, speaking of the sun (or brightness, at least), I got the picture I was hoping to get.  A few weeks ago, I noticed a view of St. Mary’s I really liked (from the drawbridge over the creek), but all the trees were still so green (I say it like it’s a bad thing – it’s not!  I love it when the trees are all green.).  I thought it might be a nice picture to get once the leaves started to turn.  Then we planned our trip to Oregon, and I was sure I was going to miss it, that by the time we got back, all the leaves would be gone.  Not so!

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Then I took a wider shot – look at that sky!

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I love September and October skies.  (I know it’s November, but November doesn’t have skies like that.  Don’t tell anyone.)

It’s educational, too!

Things I learned in Oregon:

  1. Willamette is not pronounced the way I thought it was.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’ve been saying it wrong my whole life, but only because it only came to my notice a few years ago.  Looks like Will-uh-METT, right?  Yeah, noooo.  It’s Will-LAM-it.  Like, going on the lam.  Or Mary had a little lamb.  Sounds mildly ridiculous, but it’s growing on me.
  2. The reason blender lids have that center plastic piece that comes out is so you can pour things in while the blender is running.  I never knew.  If I put any thought into it at all, I would have assumed it came out to make the lid easier to clean.  I watched Christina make a basil/vinegar/other stuff blend for pasta salad the other night, and my mind was blown when she poured olive oil in through the lid.
  3. Patty-cake is NOT allowed on beaches in Oregon. 2015-10-28 12.32.06
  4. Waves are tricksy beings and like to creep up behind people, splash them a little, and run away cackling. 2015-10-28 12.31.50

Come on, Oregon, now you’re showing off

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On Wednesday, John and I decided to head to the coast and sight-see (and give Will and Christina a day free of house guests), and I may have fallen into a beautiful scenery hole.  I don’t know if I can get out.  It’s almost overwhelming.  The road we were on to get there took us through the mountains and along a river and then there was a lake (with the trees on the mountain going right down to the edge of the water and the water was like glass and the trees were perfectly reflected) and oh, hey some elk (elks?) and it was SO beautiful.  I didn’t get any pictures of that section because I was driving and there was nowhere to turn off, but then we turned south onto 101 (the Pacific Coast Highway!!) and aimed for Coos Bay.  We went to a state park Brian (who used to live there) recommended and BAM.  There was the Pacific Ocean.  It’s been a long time since we last saw it, but hey!  It’s still there.

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There was a trail along the top of the coastal cliffs – I could have stayed up there all day.

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Thursday morning, Will took us running along a trail that runs next to a lake near his house, and really – how do you expect me to run in a straight line when I’m craning my neck in every direction to look at the lake and the trees and the mountains and oh look! there’s a house nestled in there and wouldn’t it be great to live in that house?

Will has done his job – we’re convinced.

The whole state is in on it

We know that it rains in Oregon.  That’s, like, part of the definition of Oregon, right?  It rains.  And supposedly, it rains from any-day-now until…June?  July?  Most of the year, anyway.  We headed out this way fully expecting to deal with a week of rain, and yeah, our first full day here (Sunday) was mostly rainy, but Monday was perfect.  It’s like Oregon is trying to convince us to move here, too.

I mean, who could resist this?

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Annapolis Boat Show

Apparently (or at least according to their web site), the Annapolis Boat Shows are the largest (and oldest!) in-water boat shows in the country.  So….that’s cool, I guess?  We’re not boat people, but we like boats just fine.  One weekend was the sailboat show, and the next weekend was the power boat show, and we figured we’re slightly more interested in sailboats, so if we were going to go to one of them, it would be the sailboat show.  And really, we’re probably never going to live in Annapolis again, so it would be silly not to go while we’re here.  We gathered up Molly (Welcome to Annapolis, Molly!  Let’s go look at boats!) and Jess and spent a couple of hours wandering the floating docks, exploring boats, and trying to imagine what it would be like to live on one (or at least go to sea for a while on one).  The short answer is that not one of us would be happy living on a boat.  Molly would get seasick, Jess just doesn’t like boats, I don’t want to spend that much time on the water, and John wouldn’t fit comfortably (not even on the big ones).

Here’s what I learned:

  1. The nets that go across the front of the catamarans are awfully comfortable.
  2. I would be perfectly happy with a floating dock.  I don’t need a boat.  The rocking motion of a floating dock is all I need.

The biggest downside to having the boat show in town for two weeks was that we couldn’t get to the docks at all (without buying a ticket).  There was a big fence around the whole area, covered with ads and posters, and you couldn’t see the water at all.  Monday was the first day it was all gone, and it’s such a relief.  It’s hardly a big open area, but the fence and all the boats made it seem so claustrophobic.  It’s easier to breathe now that they’re gone.

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Our day at the boat show was a beautiful day, though.

Any day now

John had his pre-solo check ride Friday afternoon, and it went well enough that if it hadn’t been so windy, he would have flown his first solo flight right after it.  They decided it was a bit too gusty to do it yesterday, and I think I’m a little relieved.  I’m not worried about it, exactly.  I have every faith in John’s abilities, and I trust his instructor to know when John is ready, but I think I’d like to be at the airport when he does it.  Just in case.  I think.  But leaving that aside, John is ready to solo!  Already!  This is very cool.  Soon we’ll be able to hop in a plane to visit people instead of the car.

I think he’s been learning in something like this (assuming Google Images is really showing me pictures of a Piper Warrior):

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And here’s the (student) pilot himself:

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What am I going to do when winter comes?

It rained all day on Saturday (seriously, ALL day), but Sunday was beautiful.  We went out for coffee and the worst croissant ever in the morning (the worst croissant ever was not what we went out for – why would that be my goal?  rotten goal – but it’s what I ended up with) and walked around a bit, discussing trips we’re planning (or maybe planning) for the fall.  We both have some vacation time we’re going to lose if we don’t use it by the end of December (which would be a crime), and we want to take an actual fun vacation without spending a ton of money (at least not while we’re also spending money on the flying lessons).  The question is where and when.  Still an open question.  But it’s a nice thing to talk about as you walk along on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Later in the day, after we managed to NOT go to the grocery store, AGAIN – no, seriously.  It’s not that hard.  In this case, we wanted to check out Graul’s Market, a store that doesn’t look all that great on the outside, but could be fine on the inside (better than fine would be nice) and is the closed grocery store to our house.  It was a little after 5 when we got there, and guess what?  They close at 5 on Sundays.  So rather than go to Giant or Whole Foods, we went home.  We can go without groceries for another day or so, right?  Sure!

Anyway, after we gave up on food, John spent some time working on his Android app, and I went over to the dock to read in the sunshine.  I’m trying to be mindful of how quickly the seasons change and how soon it’s going to be dark by 5pm, and I really really really really really want to make sure I’m appreciating the light and the nice weather while we have it.  And you know what?  It was really nice.  There were a lot of people coming and going, kids playing, dogs clearly wishing they could play with the kids, boats and the sky and the clouds, and oh yeah, my book…it was a nice evening to be out there.

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Check out the change in lighting.  These pictures were taken just a few minutes minutes apart, on my phone, and are shown here without any filters (because I don’t know how to do that).  I didn’t move at all, except to turn.  I was seated with my back to a post.  Looking ahead, I could see the dock.  Looking left, boats.  Neat.

A bit of this, a bit of that

For a change of pace, here are some pictures I’ve taken over the last couple of days interspersed with random sentences I’m hearing in the background right now.

“There’s no mud.”

I'm sorry it's grainy, but that is the dome of the Naval Academy chapel.

I’m sorry it’s grainy, but that is the dome of the Naval Academy chapel.

“I’ve got a large body of work.”

Sleeping duck on the dock in the early morning!  It wasn't actually that early.  This was a lazy duck.

Sleeping duck on the dock in the early morning! It wasn’t actually that early. This was a lazy duck.

“And that’s in the past.”

Do you feel threatened?  I think this guy would be easy to duck.  Hee.  Duck.

Do you feel threatened? I think this guy would be easy to duck. Hee. Duck.

“Let’s leave the science to the scientists.”

Well, that was a failed experiment.  For my next trick, I’m going to post pictures from the Bookshelf Porn website because DAMN – check these out:

This framed bookshelf looks so cool.

http://bookshelfporn.com/post/100068917098/framed-bookshelf-by-mark-taylor-design

And this, man, our bedroom is going to look like this when we settle down again:

http://bookshelfporn.com/post/100196654923/we-do-love-some-bedroom-bookshelves

 

Like sleeping on a cloud. We hope.

Our new mattress came today!  We tried out half the mattresses in the store yesterday afternoon, picked one, and it appeared in our apartment this morning!  Like magic.  For all I know, the delivery guys were special mattress gnomes whose sole purpose in life is to bring new soft mattresses to people who’ve been sleeping on the same cheap one for 15 years.  Maybe 15 years is what it takes to get delivery gnomes instead of muggles.  All I know is that I got in the shower around midmorning, and by the time I got out, our old mattress was gone and the new mattress was in its place.  I wonder if they bake bread or fix shoes.

This picture is more exciting to me than it is to you, I know.

This picture is more exciting to me than it is to you, I know.

It’s pretty darn nice here

I had the best morning today.  Getting up was a little difficult, but I got up and out and went for a run.  Ran over the Naval Academy Bridge (across the Severn River), went a little past and up to a scenic overlook.  I was skeptical, since it seemed like it would just look out over the road (yay road?), but no, they know what they’re talking about when they say there’s a scenic overlook.  There’s a view of the river and the bridge and the academy on the other side.  Scenic.  That was my halfway point, so I came back home thinking I’d grab John and we’d go have breakfast, but he wasn’t back yet.  (He went to Pax River last night to see Shorty and ended up staying.)  So I grabbed my phone and my key, went to Starbucks, and looked for a place to enjoy the sunshine and people-watch.  Found the city dock instead (where we saw a band Thursday night), so I plunked myself down right on the edge with my back to a support post, and talked to Mom and Dad for a half-hour or so.  It was SO nice.  Warm, but not hot, sunny, breezy (no bugs!), me with my iced white mocha.

See my shoes?  Proof I was there!

See my shoes? Proof I was there!

Better view, but not great.  The sun was in the wrong place.  Move, sun! (Yes, let's blame the sun.)

Better view, but not great. The sun was in the wrong place. Move, sun! (Yes, let’s blame the sun.)

I took a few blurry pictures of sailboats that I won’t subject you to, and I tried to get a picture of the guy who was sitting near the top of his big sailboat’s mast doing…something, but that picture didn’t come out well at all.

My terrible photos aside, it was SO pleasant, SO nice, and then as I was walking back to the apartment, I went down the street John usually parks on to see if he made it back, and there he was, driving up the street looking for a spot.  Perfect timing.  After we got his car safely parallel-parked next to a gigantic tree, we headed to West St to check out the flea market (underwhelming, but then, flea markets aren’t really our thing – it might have been an awesome flea market as those things go), and then we had coffee and breakfast at a spot down the road.

Every Saturday morning needs to go like this.  Every morning would be nice, but that might be asking too much.

New shoes! And then more new shoes!

I had a rougher time than usual buying new running shoes over the weekend.  My running shoes were shot -I’ve had them for over year…I’m actually not sure how much longer than a year I’ve had them.  Way too long, certainly, and I could feel it when I ran.  I went to my local running store last Friday evening, tried on 5 or 6 pairs of shoes over the course of 90 minutes (I had a very chatty sales guy), decided on a pair of New Balance shoes, and went home.

See my pretty purple shoes?

See my pretty purple shoes?

I took Saturday off from running, so I just admired my pretty pretty shoes, and then Sunday I took them for their inaugural run.  It was also their final run.  My feet hurt in ways they’ve never hurt before, in places they have never hurt before.  I ran a little over 4 miles, just to make sure I was fully warmed up and loose, and it didn’t get better, so I went back to the store Sunday afternoon.

The chatty sales guy was there and recognized me right away.  He brought out my two runner-up pairs, but he had other customers (who were there when I got there), so I didn’t get much help after that.  I didn’t really need any help, though, so it wasn’t a big deal.  I just tried on one pair, ran around the store, then the other, ran around the store, then the first, then the second, then one on each foot, etc., until I felt comfortable enough with my decision.  Of course, this time I was a little gun-shy – what if I chose badly again?  And I didn’t make it easier on myself – I didn’t choose the same model I had before.  I chose another pair of New Balance shoes, a brand I’ve never bought and the brand of the shoes that didn’t work for me just that day.  But they’re so pretty!

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I promise I didn’t pick them just because they’re pretty, and luckily, after two runs now (and a total of 11.5 miles), I can confirm that they’re good (and I am relieved).  Yay new shoes!  But I will be forever nervous when I buy new running shoes in the future.