Ohio to Baltimore

We stopped by Brad's parents' home in the morning before hitting the road. We checked email, made sandwiches for the road and just hung out for a bit. It was still raining as we departed but thankfully the heavy rain we had experienced yesterday had dissipated. It rained lightly on and off for about three hours until we reached Breezewood. We stopped off at the Prime Outlets shopping center in Hagerstown and then arrived at Domenica and Brenda's place around 6 p.m. Domenica had been press checking and also had a class to teach so we went with Brenda to Alonso's for dinner. Alonso's was packed so we chose instead to eat at their sister (or should I say, brother) establishment, Loco Hombre where we had some really delicious mexican food.

Rainy Day in Ohio

We can't believe that tomorrow morning we depart Ohio. Our visit here seems to have just flown by. We woke up to a hazy misty rain this morning. The rain steadily increased all day long till it was coming down in buckets this evening. This is Katrina making here way north. I feel guilty complaining at all about the weather though when I look at the news reports of what the folks in Nawhlins and Mississippi are going through.

We did a bit of shopping here and there this morning. Brad even got me to go into Gabriels and I managed to find some Reeboks for $25.99. I usually hate shopping at that discount store. One must sort through all kinds of crap to find the bargains. I simply concentrated on the atheletic shoes and managed okay. We spent the afternoon at Brad's parent's house doing laundry. Joyce stopped by for dinner and we ordered a pizza. After dinner Brad and I stopped at Joyce's for a while. I wanted to bookmark a few websites for her. She says she only logs onto the computer once a week. Maybe even less. I simply can't imagine that. I am so wired...when I'm home I check my email constantly throughout the day. It's nice that this hotel has free hi-speed internet access. A definite plus.

We had hoped to stop in at the Canfield Fair tomorrow morning but if this rain keeps up, and we have every expectatin that it will, we will forego the fairground. Brad's father entered a photo he took of Rene in the photo competition and we wanted to see which ribbon he would get for his efforts. Oh well, Joyce will just have to report the results to us later.

Cleveland Rocks!!!

Today we took a drive up to Cleveland. I was curious about what other cities in Ohio are like. Plus, I had heard that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland and thought it would be fun to check it out. It took about an hour and half to make the drive from Canfield to Cleveland. Rock Hall, as it seems the museum is called fondly by the residents, was a bit of a frenetic experience. The exhibits do not seem to be laid out in any logical order whatsoever and there is so much stuff on display you can quickly become overwhelmed. There is (loud) music piped in as you make your way from one exhibit to another -- different music in each area. A definite sensory overload. But maybe that was intentional. I spent a lot of time looking at the Jimi Hendrix exhibit. They had a number of drawings he made as a teenager, plus some of his flamboyant costumes, some of his guitars.... At the John Lennon exhibhit I pored over several issues of The Daily Howl -- a "newspaper" he put together as a grade school kid. I could see the seeds of John Lennon In His Own Write there. There were countless other displays featuring vintage album covers, musical instruments, stage costumes, Elvis's white jumpsuit, a letter from Charles Manson to the editors of Rolling Stone. Really interesting stuff. I also learned a bit about Alan Freed. He was a DJ from Ohio (not originally, but that's where he worked) who coined the phrase "Rock and Roll". The actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the third floor (we had been advised not to miss this highlight of the museum) was a bit of a letdown. It consisted of a long hallway with the signatures of the inductees backlight in gold light. Big Deal. Very Big Deal. Actually, the best part was an interactive computer monitor on all the R&R Hall of Famers allowing you to read profiles and listen to a selection of songs on headphones. I checked out some numbers by Howlin' Wolf and now I want to buy a CD by him.

After the museum we walked around a bit in downtown Cleveland. I was very impressed. The city is very clean and has some interesting architecture. What a nice position it has situated there on Lake Erie. All in all a lovely day out.

Lazy Day

We spent the whole day lounging at Brad's parent's house. We were visited by Brad's cousin Jeff and cousin-in-law Ron. We have been gorging ourselves on the most luscious juicy tomatoes ever.

A Big Celebration

We got up early this morning, piled into the car and drove over to a Prime Outlets mall in Lodi, about an hour and a half outside of Canfield. Our goal was not shopping but visiting with Sherrilyn. She is inbetween work assignments now and staying at her mom's house in Mansfield, OH. This was the only time we could coordinate our busy schedules. We chose Lodi as a halfway meeting point, though we figured out it was a bit farther trip for us than Sherrilyn. At any rate we had a nice time visiting with Sherrilyn and her mom. The only downside of meeting at Lodi was that we didn't get a chance to see Jacques but Sherrilyn shared some precious photos of her pup with us.

It's about 10 p.m. now. I'm in the business center of our hotel in Canfield, Ohio. We just got back from celebrating Brad's father's 80th birthday at Joyces' house. Joyced served up a grand feast: grilled filet mignon, baked potatoes, salad, muffins, yummy tomatoes, grilled portobello mushrooms. We presented Pa with some more gifts and then laughed ourselves silly as the family reminisced about old times. I'm so tired now....jet lag has finally caught up with me. We've been on the go so much since our arrival I haven't had a chance to get tired...or to sleep in late. I plan to tomorrow morning.

Colossal Crabs

I had a dr. appt. this morning at 9 at Good Sam Hospital. I was nervous about driving through the Ft. McHenry tunnel to get to my appt. but all went well and I happened to see a part of Baltimore I've never really explored before. I kept thinking, if we lived here I'd come back to this area to take some photos. After my appt. I drove into town through very familiar territory and saw that there have been lots of changes in Balmer in these past few years. I saw lots of construction going on. New shops and restaurants. It felt so strange traveling on streets that I once knew so well but which looked a bit odd and out of place now.

Brad had a noontime dentist appt. and after that we drove over to the "mall from hell" (Arundel Mills) for a bit of lunch and some shopping. In the evening we all went out for crabs at Bo Brooks on boston street. I have very vague memories of eating at Bo Brooks a long time ago when they were on Belair Road. They are now in a prime location on Lighthouse Point in Canton. We ordered some "colossal" crabs. The first batch was a bit disappointing, we complained and then manager sent a fresh batch that was steaming hot and heavy with sweet meat. Oh, how delicious they were. We presented JL with a birthday cake after dinner, catching him totally by surprise as his b-day isn't until Sept. 11. Brad and I won't be here then, so I wanted to celebrate with him while we are in town.

In The Land of Pleasant Livin'

Got up at the crack 'o dawn yesterday (5 a.m.) so we could have a good breakfast before taking the long road home. Manchester rush hour traffic was not as bad as it can be and the weather, though not great, was not as terrible as had been predicted. We drove through some rain and our car was hit by some high winds but I guess it wasn't as bad as the torrential rain and gale force winds we had heard the forecasters talking about. The flight was uneventful and boring. My headphones wouldn't work properly so I read (Samuel Pepys' Diary) most of the journey and managed to catch a few intermittent zzzs. We arrived at Dulles Airport a little bit past schedule yesterday around 3:40 p.m. Baggage claim, customs, rental car pick-up -- all routine. We hit the DC beltway around 5 p.m. and wended our way through one stop and go jam after another to Linthicum, arriving a little past 6:30 p.m. We drove over to JL's to meet up with him, Sally, Domenica and Brenda, then took off to a new restaurant in GB that JL wanted to introduce us to. We met JoAnn at the restaurant -- Bonefish Grill in the GB Mall shopping center. The food was pretty good, especially the Bang Bang Shrimp starter. It was great to see everyone but halfway through the dinner the long hours and the rigors of travel began to wear me down. We made plans to go out tonight for crabs and to celebrate JLs b-day.

I've already been to the doctor appt. that I had scheduled for today. Brad is off soon to the dentist.

Ginger Update

I dropped Ginger off at the vet today. He will be staying there while we visit with friends and family back in the States. We will be celebrating Brad's father's 80th birthday in Ohio and also visiting my family in Maryland.

Ginger's staying at the vet instead of the usual kitty ritz because of his most recent diagnosis. The biopsy he had last month revealed intestinal feline lyphoma. A kind of cancer. Even though the vet has not given Ginger a very good prognosis our purr boy is doing quite well. He is on steroids and another medication to help his symptoms, and Leukeran, a cancer-fighting medication. Since being on his meds Ginger has not been throwing up. He now has a ferocious appetite (actually a side effect of the steroids) and has consequently put back on the weight he recently lost. He looks quite healthy, as evidenced by the photo above. He still has diarrhea and that does not look like it will ever clear up (oh dear!). I dreaded having to leave him at the vet's today. I will be calling periodically to check in on him. The vet's office has my email address to contact me in case he should suddenly go downhill. So, we are hoping for the best...that when I come back in September I shall be cuddling my sweet purrboy again.

A Hike From Birstwith

Today the Thursday Ramblers took a pleasant hike from the village of Birstwith. The sun shone brightly and it was warm enough for me to wear shorts and a tank top, though I had to do a bit of stretching here and there to avoid the stinging nettles and thistle. Even though its been a relatively dry summer so far the fields were still lush green. We came across the usual variety of critters; sheep grazing in the fields, cows that were uncharacteristically running across a field and some fine and handsome horses. We passed some lovely old stone buildings and had some hazy views of the countryside around us. We finished up with a tasty lunch at the Old Station Inn.

Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival

Kettlewell is a quaint and cozy little village in Wharfedale. Every year the good villagers of Kettlewell hold a scarecrow festival for ten days in August. I wasn't sure what to expect when I drove across the moors, on past Grassington and up to Kettlewell (and this was me driving all by myself on these narrow roads. I even took a wrong turn and got on one of those single track roads with drystone walls on either side!) but I was not disappointed. There were scarecrows around every corner, on windowsills and in gardens, in churchyards and on telephone poles. There was even one hanging by its neck in a tree. Some of them were goofy, others sweetly traditional. Some made biting political statements. Others were bawdy. You could tell the whole town put its heart and soul into the project. At first I was amazed at how many people showed up in Kettlewell on Wednesday for the festival. After walking through the town I understood why. The festival is probably the best marketing Kettlewell could ever hope for. By following the scarecrow trail I saw much more of the village than I ever saw on a brief visit one day last spring.

The Celebrated Mr. Pepys

Years ago my father chastised me for not having read the Diary of Samuel Pepys. I can never forget the usual refrain: "What! You graduated phi beta kappa with a degree in English and you've never read blah blah blah..." I remember seething at the preposterousness of being expected to have read every major work of literature under the sun. But, at the same time, underneath my anger was embarrassment over not having ever heard of Samuel Pepys. Living in England for these past two years has sparked my interest in the history of this nation and I've finally begun to read the Diary of Samuel Pepys. I'm enjoying it immensely. It is an unparalleled look into 17th-century London. Much more rewarding than all those period BBC docudramas and dime-a-dozen historical novels. I'm aghast at how casually Pepys and his wife accept and attend public hangings. I cringe at the misguided medical treatments of the time. I'm surprised about the naughty bits (which I don't think they allowed in the extracts during my father's time). I lap up greedily the accounts of Pepys' brushes with royalty. And I laughed out loud at the following passage:

My wife and I by coach to the Opera and there saw Romeo and Julett, the first time it was ever acted. But it is the play of itself the worst that ever I heard in my life, and the worst acted that ever I saw these people do; and I am resolved to go no more to see the first time of acting, for they were all of them out more or less.

Hey, it took me a while to get 'round to it, Daddy-o, but in honor of your birthday I wanted to thank you for the tip about Pepys.

Froggy Comes A Courtin'

I opened the patio door and there he was in all his glorious wartiness. Eek!!

Third Best Place To Live

Last night Channel 4 proclaimed Harrogate the third best place to live in the UK. I'm rather inclined to agree with them.

Sudoku Mania

Yesterday the Sunday Times Magazine printed its first sudoku puzzle on the games page. The puzzle usurps the space of the illustrations that used to accompany the Bookwise quiz. I'm sorry to lose that splash of color on the games page and wonder how long the sudoku craze will last. As happens so often, the sudoku craze began in Japan -- maybe because one can't possibly compose crossword puzzles with the Japanese writing system. Suduoku has since become wildly popular in the UK. I wonder if it is such a hit in the U.S.?