On My Mind

Hello. Welcome to my world. The rambling side of it, anyway.

Less than a week left, and I’ll be on the road back to Omaha. In those few days, I have to figure out how to load all the stuff that I bought into a car that was already pretty well loaded down. Hmmm. I may have to ship some books back. And some yarn. What am I saying?!? I have to have my yarn with me!

Ring around the rosies, a box full of cozies. Mom is so excited that I have relaxed a little and am enjoying reading cozy mysteries that she sent me a boxful from her own library. A few of them were on my list for when I got back to the library, so bonus. I already have so many books on my list to read, and now I have even more physically on the “to read shelf.” I’m going to have to get a “to read” bookcase [she says with girlish glee].

The last couple of mornings, guys from the marine base were running on the beach while I was walking Cosette. That’s right. Starting the day with a little man candy. They would run, then stop and do sit ups or push ups or something else, then run a little further. Cosette wanted to sit and watch them run by, and being the over-indulgent owner that I am, I let her and kept her company.

I’ll miss the morning walks that we go to the park and are joined by Gracie and her owner Gail. Gracie is the cutest little beagle, and when she sees me, she runs up baying and barking so loudly that she sounds like she is in pain. It cracks me up every time.

I’m not sure how Cosette is going to adjust to not having her nightly walks on the beach. What started out as a run through the sand and water, turned into a hunt for crabs to eat, and is now a passion for digging for live crabs.





Which really wears her out



I’m ready to get home and back into what passes as normal for me. We’ve enjoyed it here and saw as much as we could. We got really lucky and the weather gods graced us with cooler weather. Everyone keeps telling me that this is not normal for this time of year. It was really hot and humid there for awhile, but it’s been gorgeous the last week or so. It’s as if the weather gods looked in on me and said, “Alright, if we give you some nice weather, will you get out and have some fun instead of staying in here feeling sorry yourself?” Yes, I will.

But it’s not like I wasn’t productive while I was pouting. Look at the cool market bag I made.



The handles are on the wrong side, but it still works


It was fairly easy, so I’m thinking of making them for Christmas gifts. Now that I’ve made one with the pattern, I can play around and change the size, stripes, colors, that kind of thing. This one is really tall, tall enough to hold boxes of cereal from the grocery store.

We went to another delightful town the other Saturday. Ever eat or hear of Smithfield Country Ham? Well, we went to the town where it started. It's a pretty little town that is very proud of its Victorian heritage and is trying to build its place in the tourist trade with a million-dollar restoration of Main street with lots of shop/cafes and creating a walking tour of houses. It's a nice day trip.



Christmas shop




A note about country ham--Calling something a "country ham" doesn't mean a good ol' Southern ham. Country ham is very very salty; you have to soak it in water, even pre-sliced out of a package, for at least 15 minutes, maybe more. It's cured in salt and if you buy a whole ham, you have to clean off the mold and salt before soaking then cooking. It also has a kind of moldy smell to it, and honestly, I can't get past the smell to enjoy it. Many people compare it to prosciutto, but it's not as mild and the taste isn't quite as clean. If you could slice it as thinly as prosciutto, that may help, but I'd rather spend the money on prosciutto.

While in Smithfield, I had another "duh" moment. While walking around the shops, I noticed there where lots of little pigs every where for sale. Pig Christmas ornaments, pig-shaped dishes, pig notepads, you get the idea. In the Smithfield Country Ham Shop, I actually thought and almost said, "What's with all the pigs?" Sometimes, it's amazing I make it through the day.

Saturday morning, we took our coffee out to the upstairs balcony and watched a sailboat regatta. I counted 50 sailboats.







Later that day, there were kite boarders. I think we're getting some residual effects of Fay, so the kite boarders had a good time.





And a couple of more pictures. The first one shows you a storm that came in very quickly. You probably can't see it, but there is a sailboat in the center about to get hit by that storm. The next picture is Cosette waiting for us to take her to the beach. I would say "waiting patiently" but I can't even type that without say, "pffft, yeah, patiently."





This is the time of year when I say that I’m ready for fall, because I am. I’m ready for pumpkin patches and apple picking. I’m ready to bake pies and shake out my sweaters. I’m ready to walk Cosette early in the mornings and listen to the drums of the high school band as it practices. I’m ready to drink beer at Octoberfest and plan our own pumpkin-carving party. I’m ready to walk up and down the aisles of every craft fair and partake of every free sample offered me. And I’m ready to start planning for Thanksgiving visitors. I’m just ready.

But I gotta get back home, first, which means I gotta get packing and making lists. And I’ll get right on that as soon as I knit a couple of rounds on this next market bag.

Thanks for stopping by.

Whirlwind Tour

Hello out there. Thanks for stopping by.

So, I was just sitting around, knitting up a market bag that might be a Christmas present or I might just keep for myself because it’s so darn cute, when Al said something strange.

“My paper’s due next week then I’ll have my final. Can’t believe time has gone so quickly here.”

What did he mean “time has gone,” we still have lots of time left. Then I realized, Holy Crap we only have a few weeks left! Where did the time go? Why am I sitting here knitting when there are things still to see?!? It seems like just last week I was saying that we should be sure to start doing the touristy things before it gets too late. And it’s almost too late! We both knew we better get off our duffs.

You don’t have to twist Al’s arm to do anything, you just have to do the deciding, the planning, the plotting and the preparing. I think I should start freelancing as a tour planner. Here are some of the things we’ve done.

We took a cruise on the American Rover.



This 135-foot tall sails ship goes for daily cruises 3 times a day, plus special charters. They stay in the calm waters of Hampton Bay, which is a good thing if not a little dull. Most of the sights you see are the shipyards for navy boats being worked on. Did you know that when a ship is in for repairs, they pull a smaller boat up next to it that serves as housing (like a dormitory) for the sailors. That stinks—no escaping the boat.

Anyway, the Rover is comfortable and it’s fun to watch them unfurl those huge sails. The Captain announces that if anyone wants to help, they can. Help? I’m cruising baby, I’m not working. But it did make us think about taking sailing lessons. Well, it made Allen think about it. I thought about how much work it was and how the older I get the more of a weenie I become. Al did look up getting lessons at the base, but changed his mind when he saw how much it costs.



The Rover holds 149 people, but luckily, there weren’t that many people aboard on the day we went. It’s beautiful and breezy on the deck, with lots of chairs under a canopy or benches along the side. And if you get a little too hot, you can go down stairs to sit in pretty comfy seating in the air conditioning.



There’s a bar that they open for the sunset cruise and special charters, but this day a smaller snack bar was open. Being on a sail boat in the harbor, we of course got a tropical drink that oh-my-goodness was it good but went straight to my head. You know, you really shouldn’t chug something with a lot of schnapps, brandy and whatever else, even if it is mixed with fruit juices.



We also made it up to Colonial Williamsburg.



Originally, my plan was to leave Cosette in this great kennel I found and we were going to take our time seeing everything and spending the night. It didn’t quite work out that way, but we got up there and Cosette did fine in the condo by herself, so it’s all good. The only hitch in our gitalong was the traffic. What should have taken 45 minutes took over an hour and a half, going and coming home. I don’t know how the people who live here get used to this traffic. There aren’t enough Zen breathing exercises in the world to keep me calm. I told Al that if the traffic on the bridge was already backed up 7 miles when we head out, I’m just going to cry.

Al: Then we’ll just head to the bar and start drinking.
Me: OK. We’ll ask the bartender to pretend that the bar goes back to colonial times and that Thomas Jefferson once drank ale there.

Anyway, Colonial Williamsburg is a recreated Colonial town. The people are in historic costumes and as you tour the different buildings, there are people telling you how things were done in past.



A shuttle bus takes you to a drop-off spot and you walk into the town, like walking through a mirror, taking you to another time. Well, you hundreds of other people. Luckily, again, it wasn’t that crowded and it was gorgeous day. Virginia is having unseasonably cooler weather right now, so it was sunny and in the low 80s.

Every building offers something different, but not all the buildings were open. Unfortunately, the weaver was closed, but there were plenty of other cool places.

Such as the Bookbinder and Press









The Silversmith



The Millner



The Brickyard





The Cabinet Maker



By late afternoon we were exhausted, too exhausted to stop at the farm. And we didn’t watch any of the shows or reenactments but I’m sure they were great. We just had a finite time there and didn’t want to spend 2 hours of it standing in the sun watching a show.

I was also too tired to stop at the yarn shop on the way out of town. Now that’s tired! I don’t know, I just may have to make a trip over there during the week some day.

Al’s seminar group went to the MacArthur Memorial in downtown Norfolk.



I passed joining in on this field trip because I was beginning to feel a little weird being this hanger-on. Besides, it’s by the mall (MacArthur Mall), and you know I’ll be going to the mall while I’m here, so I can see it later. Al said it was really interesting and the museum had a lot of amazing things. MacArthur and his second wife are buried there, so it’s more than just a statue in the park.

So, I think that catches you up a little. I still owe you pictures of Yorktown, so I’ll try to get to that.

I'll leave you with a picture of Cosette. Always leave your posts on a happy note.

Idling

Here I am again and thanks for stopping by.

First things first, I was tagged by Janet (who has a wonderful blog and you should go there, by the way) to come up with 6 things I'm proud of. I will do this Janet, but it's gonna take some thinkin'. My therapist would love this. At our first session she assigned me homework--3 of my weaknesses and 3 of my strengths. Guess which one was easier for me. But I will post it soon.

Now onto the catching up. We've been pretty busy around here. Whew! Yep, busy, busy, busy. For example, it takes so much time out of my day to have to flip channels on a TV without a guide. I've never been much of a flipper; I just go to the channel I want or I pull up the guide on the TV and look through it rather than flipping. But flip I do, and I can never remember which channels are where. Oh sure, I could write them down somewhere, but it's such a nice little procrastination tool that I think I'll keep flipping around.

I've been taking Al into work so that I can have the car and taking Cosette to one of the city parks in the mornings. She loves running around in the grass and among the trees, hunting squirrels. She's going to pull my arm out of its socket one of these days.

I have a new phone. Yep, we caved and got iPhones. Wow is it cool! I mean, super-duper even I feel like a techie cool. Plus I downloaded a Mahjong game for free, which probably wasn't a great idea because it's a better procrastination tool than flipping channels. There is so much it can do that I had to take a class at the store to learn more about it. The best thing? The sound is so clear when I'm talking to others and my battery lasts long enough that I can have a conversation without saying "My battery is running low, so if I stop talking you'll know what happened." And that's just the phone part, which I don't use that often because you know how I hate talking on the phone. It's amazing to be in the car (as a passenger) and be able to pull up the internet to find an address then plot it on the Maps, choosing to show traffic (red line means there's a back up) because like I said before, traffic is a huge issue here.



My brain hasn't caught up with it all yet. It's also the first time I've had a camera on my phone, and that's pretty cool. Here are a couple of pictures of Cosette on the beach.

Cosette and a crab. This one she didn't eat.


I love this photo. It's dusk and there's a storm on the Eastern Islands. We didn't get anything, but we could see the storm across the bay.


I also caved and bought an iron skillet. I couldn't stand it any more. The "nonstick" stuff in the other pans was peeling off into our food. Ew. This little 10-inch pan does everything I need it to do. I'm making beans and cornbread for the weekend! Mmmmmm cornbread.

On the tourist front, we got the most amazing opportunity. We toured a submarine! How cool is that? Let me tell you, very cool. I wish I could show you pictures, but I don't think it's a good idea. We could only take photos in certain areas, so to play it safe, I'll just tell you about it. As you would imagine, it was very close quarters, with lots of narrow steps/ladder configurations. The crew members works 12 hours, then have 2 days off. Anyone can do any job, even the Commander can step in and do any job if there's a problem. Except one--the medic. There's only 1 (on a crew of around 140 for this sub) and he isn't a doctor. He has some medical training, and he handles all the medical issues that come up, from a cold to an appendectomy. If that was my job, I'd spend all my time in that little room praying "Please don't let anyone get sick. Please don't let anyone get sick." At one point the guy giving us the tour told us that we were so many feet under water on that level. I could have gone all day without hearing that. I had done pretty well with ignoring that little necessity in taking part in this tour. But it was really amazing and I have a renewed appreciation for what they do.

Let's see. Oh, I've continued reading the cozies. A friend of mine sent me Mary Kruger's knitting mysteries for good beach reading. I just finished Dyed in the Wool and will read the next one, but I think I'll stop there. The mysteries are pretty good and well plotted out, but her writing drives me crazy. It's very repetitive, stilted and her dialogue is horrible. I think she was trying to capture "real life" dialogue, but that never works because "real life" is repetitive and boring. But I do enjoy the whole knitting theme; it makes me want to put down the book and knit.

Lastly, who needs a Cosette update? I know, I so rarely talk about her. We had a horrible yet quick storm a few days ago. There was booming thunder, crackling lightening, and flash flooding, all while we were at the mall. I was concerned about Cosette because she gets really anxious during storms like that, so I was happy when we got back to the condo. We had to search for her; she had found a little hidey hole in the space between the couch and the wall.



Poor baby. But she was fine, so I was relieved that she at least found a place to go. I don't know why she didn't go into her kennel. She likes to sleep in there, but she walked right past it to sit between the wall and the couch. Hm.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures for ya.

Boy, that pizza sure does look good.


Just because the dishes are in the dishwasher doesn't mean they're off limits.


Sunrise



One last thing, just something to think about. I may post something serious about this some time, but right now I'm still just thinking about it. The NY Times ran an article, "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading" (you may have to register to read it). There's quite the hub bub about if reading forums, blogs, fan fiction, and other internet stuff is a good substitute for reading books for kids. I won't go into all of it right now, but I will quote the 16 year old who spends hours and hours on fan fiction:

Nadia said she wanted to major in English at college and someday hopes to be published. She does not see a problem with reading few books. “No one’s ever said you should read more books to get into college,” she said.

OK, let me be the first to say, "You should read more books to get into college."

Later y'all.

Some Random Thoughts

Well, I have some photos of Yorktown Battlefield that I toured with Al and his class, but I haven't typed up any info yet. I've been staying really busy so I haven't had a chance; oh OK, so I haven't been exactly busy--I've been driving around looking for different shops and walking the dog in our favorite park. She has a little Beagle friend named Gracie, who is always as excited as Cosette to be there. Actually, Gracie and Cosette couldn't care less, but I'm enjoying having Gracie's mom to talk to.

We've also toured the naval museum and the Wisconsin battleship that is docked in Norfolk. I'll post about that, too, later. This tourist attraction is free! But if you want to see it, better do it soon because the Navy has told the city they are not going to keep putting money into the upkeep, so Norfolk is going to buy it. A good guess is that it will no longer be free when the city gets it.

I love museums, so we also went to the Ocean View (the neighborhood we're living in) Museum. It was a little sad because you wouldn't believe how much used to be here. It was called "The Atlantic City of the South" because of the roller coasters, the pier, the restaurants, the salt water taffy shops, the ice cream shops, and so many community activities. It's all gone now, except for the pier, where they, I kid you not, charge you a dollar to look around and $8 to fish off the pier. There is a bandstand and they have live music on Friday nights in July, which is cool, though.

It's wonderful renting a totally furnished condo to stay in so we didn't have to bring anything but our clothes. Hell, there's even a crockpot and a blender. But I wish I had brought my iron skillet. Is that a true Southerner, or what? I also like to think it's a true cook, because the cheap pots and pans are driving me crazy. They're usable, though, and I can work with it. I do, however, have to put aluminum foil in all the baking pans because they are so rusty. Ew. It's also been a long time since I've used a gas stove and I'm kind of afraid of that sucker. It won't turn on, it won't turn on, it won't turn on, just click click click, then Whoosh! We have flames!

Cosette had a trip to the groomer and they cut her pretty short. That's what I wanted, so it's OK. She's much easier to keep clean and to get those stickers off her. We left her head and tail fuzzy, so when she lifts her ears and cocks her head, she looks like one of those dinosaurs whose skin fans around it before it spits acid at you. I'll try to capture it in a photo.

Al has to play softball with his seminar group (there are 14 groups of 18 people in each seminar group). The military always feels obliged to have some kind of team sports requirement. He played volleyball when he first got in, then he played some version of flag football, then group runs and racquetball. Now softball. I was more than a little concerned because men his age are usually retired from these sports. He's played ultimate frisbee with people from work, and everyone has ended up injured--Al with a broken thumb, one guy with a broken nose, one with a broken arm, another with a pulled tendon, and one who almost broke his ankle. So, I went to the first softball game so that I could drive anyone to the emergency room. But I needn't worry. This is politically correct softball. A game lasts only an hour or 7 innings, whichever comes first. You get 3 pitches and someone from your team pitches to you while the opposing team is on the bases, in the field, and as catcher. There are 4 practice games, then everyone is in the tournament. Luckily, Al's group isn't gung ho and they really don't care--just having fun. Their first game was against the high ranking officers who are shooting for general and admiral, so they are even older than Al's group. One of the guys said to his team member, "What was that sound? Was that war cry or a did you pull a muscle?" So, they're having a good time with it.

I went to the first game, but I'm going to sit out the next one. Unfortunately, the heat has arrived. I can do anything up to the low 90s, then I have to be careful, and it's getting close to 100. So, I'll be enjoying the comforts of air conditioning. It's pretty weird and a little frustrating. I was outside at Yorktown all day and got pretty hot, but never really felt too bad--I mean MS bad. None of the MS symptoms bothered me. But today? Lordy. I was out walking Cosette and I had to get her back in so I could sit down. My left leg is tingling, the pain in my cheek is back, and there are muscle spasms in my left arm and leg, with spasticity (where the muscles tighten up to the point I'm afraid they are going to snap). It could be so much worse. I have a friend with MS who looses her ability to walk when she gets overheated. She has to be carried somewhere to cool off and rest. Once she cools off, she starts getting feeling in her legs again. So, I'm thankful that my little piddlin' tingles are all I have to get through.

My goodness but I've just rambled on and on. I sat down with nothing to say, then look what happened.

Oh, one more thing. We have a dog with gourmet taste. I made gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce, and as we were cleaning up the kitchen, Cosette licked the sauce off the plate. She likes smelly cheese. Who would've thunk it. Al and I weren't real wild about it.

Speaking of Cosette, she has her head near my lap and is whimpering in soft, high pitch. I'm not sure what she wants, but I'm going to close this and find out. I'll tell her "Show me!" and she'll lead me to what she wants, either to the kitchen for a treat or downstairs to go out. She's got me trained real well.

Checking In Again

I did warn you these posts could be sporadic. Kind of like the way my brain works.

Thank you for the kind comments welcoming me back, especially those of you stopping by from Jay's blog. Nice to know he has such good blog friends. I still haven't made the rounds to all the blogs I want to, but even if I haven't commented, I have been by.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th. I spent most of it with an anxious dog who was pacing and panting. Poor thing. She finally jumped up in Al's lap, then jumped down, then jumped back up beside him and started to calm down. Gotta say I was a little jealous. Luckily, the fireworks aren't as bad here as they are at home in Omaha. Good Lord those people love their fireworks! Plus, a rainstorm came through. That kind of put a damper on things.

So, we're doing a lot of exploring here in Virginia. Mostly we've been to motorcycle shops (for Al), yarn shops (for me), coffee shops, liquor stores, and restaurants. You know, all the important stuff. Oh stop rolling your eyes at me, all that cultural/historical stuff will still be there in a couple of weeks. I'm gettin' to it.

We did go on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and I'm not in any hurry to do that again. It's a little bit of an anxiety attack waiting to happen--A bridge that goes into a tunnel, that comes up into a bridge again, just to go down into another tunnel, and back up onto a bridge into the nothingness of the Eastern Shore. Oh sure, there are cute little Cape villages with pretty marinas full of really nice boats, but if you're thirsty at 10:30 in the morning, all you can do is a get a large sweet tea at Hardee's.

Here are a some pics of the bridge and Cape Charles.

The gap is the tunnel. We're heading for it.


Looks like we're going into the ocean, doesn't it?


Our GPS display in the tunnel. One lone black line amongst the blue.


Land!


Ritzy neighborhood in Cape Charles


The marina


Pretty boats


Niiiiiiiiice


Added to all those thrilling experiences is the almost $20 it costs to drive on that heart-palpitating bridge/tunnel/bridge/tunnel/bridge. We were so far out on the bay that there weren't even any pleasure boats. There were no boats at all.

In other news, I've only eaten fresh steamed seafood once, and I'm very disappointed in myself. My plan was to eat seafood every day. Now I'm behind schedule. But now I have a goal; I mean a goal besides knitting and reading mysteries.

More later. I take my camera where ever I go, but sometimes, the best pictures are right at home:

Update

Hello there!

You're all so sweet for checking in on me and leaving supportive comments.

Things are going pretty well. I'm in Virginia right now. Al got accepted into a 10-week school, and I told him that I thought he would be too lonely on the beach all by himself, so the dog and I had better go with him. We found a great condo on the beach, and Cosette loves running in the waves and trying to eat dead crabs. They're crunchy!

So, I'm probably going to start doing a little blogging again. I haven't decided if I'm going to do it here or on my travel blog or how often and when, but it'll probably be soon. Jay has been after me to start up again and you know how I fall to peer pressure.

Thanks again for all the kindness. A break was just what I needed.

Here are a couple of photos to update you on what's going on.

Cosette chills in the back of the Element on the drive out. She had it made--we set one of the seats up against the side, and she laid on top of a suitcase and used a gym bag to prop herself up on.



The view from the balcony off the master bedroom of our condo.



The beach. Dogs can only be on the beach from 7 at night until 9 the next morning.


At first, Cosette was afraid of the waves and tried to chase them back in. Now she loves it. I'll have those pictures later.


Talk to you all later.