Patches 'n Places

2012 Free-Motion Quilt Challenge - January

2012-01-31T14:27:00.000-05:00

I like to say that I'm a quilter. But really, I make a lot of quilt tops. And then they sit. Sometimes for a very long time. Getting those quilt tops actually quilted is a real challenge for me. So, when I saw that SewCalGal was going to host the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge, I knew I had to follow along.

The way it works is that SewCalGal has lined up some FMQ experts. Each month one of them will present a tutorial with tips for the participants to practice. Participants who pledge to complete the challenge can submit a picture and be eligible for that month's prizes. I wasn't going to take the pledge, just follow along on my own. But there are prizes! How fun is that?

January FMQ leaves

The tutorial for January was by Frances Moore. She showed how to do some free motion leaves. After practicing on a white board for two weeks I bit the bullet and tried them out on a practice quilt sandwich. You know what? They don't look half bad! Are they perfect? No. I know I still need to practice my spacing and my stitch length consistency, but if this had been done on a printed fabric with matching thread it would have looked just fine. Most of all, this has given me a much needed boost in my confidence level.

I'm looking forward to more tutorials, more practice and most importantly, finishing some quilts!

(I know I still need to do some work on the look of my blog, but I wanted to get this submitted before the deadline.)

Did You Miss Me?

2012-01-28T09:31:00.001-05:00

Probably not since the only people who read my blog are people that I talk to on a somewhat regular basis anyway. It's been over 2-1/2 years since I last posted. How can that be? I have a couple dozen posts started that I was going to get back to in "a few days" and that was just a couple of months ago, right?

Since I'm taking part in a couple of monthly quilt challenges, I want to be able to post my progress here and submit links so I've decided to revive the blog. Once I figure out what I'm doing again I may even update the look.

Stay tuned...

Memorial Day Parade

2009-05-25T16:00:00.052-04:00

Did you know that I like parades? No? How did you miss it? I mentioned it in this post, this post, this post and this post. But you know what? Rich doesn't like parades all that much. He only goes along to humor me. I love that about him.

But today, he wasn't budging. His back was bothering him and there was no way he was going to sit on a curb and watch a parade just to humor me. Sigh. I guess I really can't blame him. But, I wasn't going to miss it. I'm only here for a year and I'm on a mission to get to as many places and see as many things as I can. And that includes parades.

Besides all the usual military marching groups you'd expect to see in a Memorial Day parade, I liked all the reenactment groups that were in this one. I especially liked this Civil War group. There were a lot of women in period costume following them, but they were a little spread out and I couldn't get a good picture.

There were also a gazillion high school bands. I almost missed this one and barely got the picture snapped. I can't believe it! This is the high school that my oldest son graduated from! He was even a part of this band! It was a nice surprise to see them in the parade.

Bagpipes are always fun. I love listening to them. Well, when they're performing as a large group anyway. We once had a neighbor who used to practice out in his backyard every day after work. He wasn't so much fun to listen to.

NSO Memorial Day Concert

2009-05-24T23:00:00.071-04:00

For the past 20 years the National Memorial Day Concert has been broadcast on PBS to honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. Each year more than 300,000 people attend the concert on the U. S. Capitol west lawn.

Rich and I took our lawn chairs and found a nice, grassy area to sit and watch the concert. When we sat down there was hardly anyone there. By the time the concert started, it was wall-to-wall people.

The concert was hosted by actors Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna and along with a slew of well-known stars and personalities featured the National Symphony Orchestra, The U. S. Army Chorus, The U. S. Army Ceremonial Band, The U. S. Army Herald Trumpets, The U. S. Navy Band Sea Chanters, The Soldiers' Chorus of the U. S. Army Field Band and maybe some others that I forgot. I don't usually watch the concert on PBS when it's televised, but it was nice to be here and remember what Memorial Day is really about.

Rolling Thunder

2009-05-24T15:00:00.058-04:00

I've heard of Rolling Thunder, but had never actually seen one of their demonstration rides. At noon Rich and I were sitting on Memorial Bridge when the first riders turned onto the bridge going toward the Lincoln Memorial. I have no idea how many motorcyclists there were. Tens of thousands?

Rolling Thunder is dedicated to helping American veterans from all wars. They have over 90 chapters across the country. I always thought you had to be a veteran to be a member, but you don't. You do have to be dedicated to their cause. You have to be willing to volunteer your time. And, you must be present in Washington, DC on Memorial Day weekend.

You don't have to have a motorcycle to participate. But I think it would be a lot more fun if you did.

We watched for 45 minutes. I don't know how much longer it went on, but I'd bet it was a couple of hours. I think our ears will be ringing the rest of the day. If I ever get to see them again, I'll remember to bring ear plugs.

Another Nats Game!

2009-05-23T19:00:00.033-04:00

After resting up from our morning adventure, Rich decided he wanted to go see the Nationals play the Baltimore Orioles. It was kind of a last minute decision, but we find that we can do things like that so much easier here since we hardly drive anywhere. While we have to allow time for getting to/from the metro stations and walking to our destination, we don't have to worry about traffic and looking for parking.

I got pictures of Rich with all the presidents. Here he is with George.

You know my favorite part of the game - the 4th inning presidents race! Look at the lead Teddy has! Could this be the night he finally wins? With a lead like this how could he possibly lose?

Wouldn't you know it. Just 10 yards before the finish line the Baltimore Orioles mascot jumps out of nowhere and tackles poor Teddy. And even has the audacity to do a celebratory dance too! I forget who won the race.

Heh, heh. Teddy got his revenge. While he always has that big, goofy grin, standing there next to the oriole down on the ground that grin takes on a very mischievous quality. Not very presidential, but so, so funny.

And, while the Nats didn't win, it was a very close game. They lost 2-1.

Take Me to the River

2009-05-23T17:00:00.056-04:00

Memorial Day Weekend. Beautiful weather. What to do, what to do. Well, we decided to go kayaking on the Potomac. We got up early and were at Thompson Boat Center within minutes of opening. We got outfitted and were on the water in no time. After we were out on the water we realized that it's kind of impossible to get a picture of us in the kayak since we're both, uh, in the kayak. And, when we returned we didn't think to ask one of the employees to get a picture of us because the line to rent kayaks was way out the building and they were just a tad busy. The great part about starting so early (besides not having to wait in line) was that there were hardly any boats out so the water was still relatively smooth. It's a river, so the water is moving, but it wasn't choppy from lots of boats.

We headed south a bit and had this view of The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

There's an island in the middle of the Potomac between DC and Arlington. It's the Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial. We haven't been there yet. It's supposed to have some nice hiking trails. We're running out of time here, but I hope to get there. Anyway, this picture of the other people out rowing was taken between the island and Arlington. We're heading back north now.

This the Key Bridge that goes from Arlington across the Potomac to Georgetown. After this we continued around the island and back to the boat center. It took us a little more than an hour and since kayaking isn't something I do everyday that was plenty. I probably won't be able to use my arms tomorrow.

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

2009-05-20T20:00:00.022-04:00

This Happy Hauntings block went together very quickly. It's a little difficult to see the green bubbles against the busy background, but I think they'll show up better after the embroidery for this block is done. It's hard to explain but there'll be wavy lines coming up from the pot around the bubbles. I haven't even decided what block to work on next. I usually prep two or three blocks at a time. I've been so busy running around lately with visitors and all that I haven't looked ahead. Guess I'd better go get to it.

The Boss!

2009-05-18T23:00:00.068-04:00

Rich and I went to see Bruce Springsteen at the Verizon Center! From the picture you can see that our seats were up and behind the stage a bit. That's okay. We were happy to have gotten tickets. You see, the concert sold out in 17 minutes. Last time we saw Bruce was 24 years ago at the Dallas Cotton Bowl Stadium for his Born in the USA tour. We had 9th row center seats. It was awesome. To get those seats we camped out all night and slept on a sidewalk. I was pregnant.

This time was different. They don't want people camping out for days ahead to get tickets to concerts. So, what they did was everyone who was standing in line at 8:00am (tickets went on sale at 9am) were brought inside the building. They did a head count and put that many tickets in a bucket and then went around and had you draw a ticket. That determined your place in line at 9am. If you came after 8am you had to get in line behind those who got a randomly selected ticket (although your chances of actually making it to the window in time to get tickets to the concert were practically nil). I got number 37. It took 12 minutes to get up to the window. Meanwhile tickets were being sold online and over the phone as well. Yeah, we were lucky to get tickets.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band still put on a heckuva show.

Do What You Wanna Do

2009-05-17T17:00:00.034-04:00

We took Marcus and his friends to dinner at a restaurant we just recently discovered. Maybe I'll write about it sometime. We really like this restaurant and will probably go back, but this post isn't about the restaurant. It's about the building across the street:

I usually make the pictures on my blog small (you can always click on them to make them bigger), but I really wanted you to see what was happening in this one. So, here we are on Pennsylvania Ave. This is the Mexican Embassy. I couldn't find any info about the building but I'm guessing the row houses are historic in some way and couldn't be torn down. What do you do? Do you add on in a way so as to maintain the historic look of the buildings you're surrounding? Nah, why the heck would you wanna do that?

Tidal Basin Paddle Boats

2009-05-16T19:00:00.028-04:00

Marcus and his friends participated in a bicycling event today. While they were out doing that, Rich and I went to the Tidal Basin and paddled around in the paddle boats. I think our boat must have been made for 8-year olds. The pedals were so close to the seats that I couldn't straighten my legs while I paddled. I think Rich probably felt like he was on a little kid's tricycle. But, the weather was nice and we paddled around lazily for about an hour. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon. I think this would really be a lot of fun when the cherry blossoms are in bloom!

Sculpture Garden

2009-05-15T18:00:00.028-04:00

While we were in Florida, Marcus and his friends spent a couple of days sight-seeing in DC and then continued their road trip up to New York City. They're back to spend a few more days in DC before going back to Florida.

Marcus and I did some walking around while his friends were checking out museums. I hadn't walked through the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden yet. It was a beautiful day and there were a ton of people out.

I love the illusionistic qualities of this. It's House I by Roy Lichtenstein. While the side of the house looks like it projects out toward you, it actually recedes.

When I see this, I wonder how many people younger than, oh, say 35, even know what it is.

Birds and Apples

2009-05-11T20:00:00.019-04:00

Even with all of the activity the past couple of weeks, I've been able to find little bits of time here and there to get another Happy Hauntings block done. The birds' feet will be embroidered later. This has been a fun project to work on.

Out on the Prairie

2009-05-09T20:00:00.046-04:00

When I think of Florida I think beaches, sunshine, humidity. I don't think prairies. Kristina took us on a walk along La Chua Trail in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Prairies in Florida? Who knew?

I love the spanish moss hanging from this tree.

This is Lake Wauberg. Isn't it beautiful?

Take a closer look. There were quite a few gators out and about.

I don't know what kind of birds these are, but they blended in with the marsh so well I almost missed them.

I almost missed this guy too.

I love the depth of field in this shot. It was completely by accident. Whenever I try to do this on purpose it never comes out. I hope to figure it out one day.

I've seen so few wild turkeys in my life. I'm always surprised at how small they are. Not like Thanksgiving turkeys at all.

Kristina's Got Wheels!

2009-05-08T16:00:00.012-04:00

I told you it was going to be a busy week with people coming and going. Rich got home Thursday night. Marcus and two of his friends drove up from Florida and also arrived Thursday night. That's a lot of people in a small two bedroom apartment. But it was only for one night. Friday morning, Kristina, Aline, Rich and I all flew down to Tampa. We went down for a long weekend to help Kristina get this:

She can quit bumming rides now.

Run Teddy, Run!

2009-05-05T19:00:00.071-04:00

Kristina's friend, Aline, flew in yesterday. They got a lot of sight-seeing in yesterday afternoon but this morning they weren't quite sure what they wanted to do. I found out from the Let Teddy Win blog that the Nationals were playing. And it was free t-shirt Tuesday. And that friends of Teddy (I guess people who subscribe to the blog) could get half price tickets! Being May 5th, the t-shirts had a Cinco de Mayo theme with a picture of Teddy wearing a sombrero and the caption "¡Corre Teddy, Corre!" Even Screech got into it with a sombrero and serape.

The president mascots have been racing around the outfield during home games since 2006 and Teddy has never won. Ever. Hence the blog. You can see from this picture that he didn't win today either. I guess that sombrero he's wearing really slowed him down.

Oh, the Nats were playing the Houston Astros. The game was tied in the 11th inning when it had to be suspended on account of rain. They'll finish the game in July when the Nats travel to Houston.

Cinco de Mayo Festival

2009-05-03T19:00:00.008-04:00

Rich left early this morning and will be gone most of the week. It's going to be pretty busy around here with people coming and going, but for today Kristina and I were looking forward to attending the National Cinco de Mayo Festival at the Mall. Except it was raining. We kind of hung around the apartment for a while waiting to see if it was going to clear up. When it looked like it would maybe let up for a little bit we grabbed our umbrellas and went.

The Maru Montero Dance Company performed a lot of different numbers at the Sylvan Theatre which is an outdoor stage by the Washington Monument. I was surprised at how well the dancers kept right on dancing even though it was raining, pretty heavily at times too. I got to see La Bamba which is always one of my favorites. Even though the stage had pools of water in places, the dancers still made their bow. If you've never seen this performed, a long red sash is unwound from around the man's waist and placed on the ground. The dancers manipulate it with their feet and at the end of the number it's picked up and should hold together in a bow. I can't imagine how hard it was to do in puddles of water.

Between numbers this guy had a pretty big job to do:

They were really great to watch, but we didn't stay all that long as it kept right on raining. There were tents set up for food and activities, but since there weren't that many people there, they were closing down. This is more than half of the spectators:

It was pretty disappointing as I could tell that it would ordinarily be a really fun festival.

G'Day Mate!

2009-05-02T21:00:00.003-04:00

Cultural Tourism DC is a non-profit that helps to strengthen and showcase the heritage and arts programs that DC has to offer. Every year they sponsor an event called Passport DC. This is a week long event with many activities going on. I think it's probably impossible to get to all or even most of them. What I was looking forward to was the Embassy Open House where many of the embassies open their doors to showcase their country's art, music, culture, dance and food. Because lines are long, you can't expect to make it to very many of the embassies so we didn't even try.

After checking out the sawdust carpets we jumped on the metro and headed toward the Australian embassy. The line stretched out the door and about two blocks down the street. People were being allowed in only as other people left. The line moved slowly but steadily. Once inside and through security, there was a man from one of the aboriginal tribes telling us a little bit about the history of the native peoples there. He also gave an awesome demonstration of the didgeridoo. We listened to him for about 10 minutes before moving on.

From there a line formed where you could pick up some tourism brochures and information about work visa programs. Also, you could sample some foods and wine from Australia. It really was a lot of fun. I sure hope I get to visit one day.

We thought we might have time to take in another embassy or two, but after standing in line for so long we didn't even try. We maybe could have made it into another one, but decided to go grab a bite to eat instead.

I think if we lived here in DC permanently I would try to check out two or three every year. It would be fun to attend some of the other events as well as they have dance and art programs throughout the week.

Sawdust Carpets

2009-05-02T20:30:00.078-04:00

One of the really wonderful things about living here are the interesting things that are happening right around the corner. Literally. Kristina flew in yesterday and we decided to check out the Australian embassy as part of Passport DC (more on this later). Just two blocks from the apartment and on the way to the metro, I'd read that there were going to be two different groups making sawdust carpets. One from Guatemala and the other from Germany. They were to start around 8 in the morning and be finished around 5 in the evening. At the end of the day they just sweep up their work. I didn't know anything about sawdust carpets (and still don't know much), but thought it would be interesting to stop by and check out their progress early in the day, and maybe catch them later on our way back if it wasn't too late.

So, what are sawdust carpets? Well, basically you buy a whole lot of sawdust. You dye it. You choose your design. It looked to me like there were two different methods here. With the German method you draw a grid over your design. You draw a huge grid on the ground and then fill it in using your design grid. The Guatemalan method looked like they used a kind of stencil to fill in their border designs. I'm not sure how they did the central part of the design. With both methods the sawdust is put down by hand. Many artists will work on a sawdust carpet in order to complete it in a matter of hours.

In both instances, sawdust carpets are usually made for religious ceremonies. They will cover the streets as a processional carpet. They are destroyed as the celebrants walk on them and then swept up at the end of the day.

More Blocks Done

2009-04-30T22:17:00.119-04:00

I haven't done a lot of piecing since I've been here. I just can't seem to get set up in a way that I'm comfortable. When I came out here I was in the middle of 5 BOM projects. Four are pieced and one is hand appliqué (the Thru Grandmother's Window blocks that are all complete, even if the quilt is not). The past couple of weeks I went through each BOM one at a time and cut all the pieces for the remaining squares. Since my sewing table doubles as my cutting table, I'm hoping that by doing this I'll be able to spend a lot more time piecing now and a lot less time converting back and forth.

It seems to be working. The past couple of days I've finished the last blocks for a BOM called Woven Ribbons. There are two of each of these 9" blocks:

Even though all the blocks are now done (there are a total of 18, I'll post a picture of all of them together at a later time), I won't be able to finish this one for a bit. The pattern comes from the book Better by the Dozen by Susan Teegarden Dissmore. The pieced sashing is a little involved and I don't yet have fabric for it. It's a long story that I won't go into here. Let's just say that I'm not happy with my LQS for abandoning this BOM before it was all complete.

Azalea Blossom Watch at the National Arboretum

2009-04-25T18:00:00.043-04:00

I mentioned at the end of my White House Garden Tour post that I love azaleas. So naturally I had to go to the National Arboretum for Azalea Blossom Watch 2009. They have an incredible collection of azaleas that I had just found out about a couple of weeks before when I was there to look at the cherry blossoms. The first azaleas start blooming in early April and others are blooming as late as July, but the "peak" period for this year was the last week in April. Rich and I walked the trails for over an hour. It was just so breathtakingly beautiful. I've posted a few pics below, but you can see all of them in my Picasa album.

Witches Boot with Candy

2009-04-23T11:00:00.005-04:00

Finished another block for Happy Hauntings. This was a fun block to work on. The sole and heel of the boot blend in with the background a little more than I thought they would though. I'll probably embroider around it in an outline stitch in black thread to differentiate the two fabrics. Even though I'm making quick progress on these blocks, I still don't think I'll get the quilt done in time for Halloween.

White House Garden Tour

2009-04-19T17:00:00.082-04:00

The White House opens its grounds to the public twice a year for garden tours. I missed the fall tour, but it couldn't have been as spectacular as what Rich and I saw that day. Even though the tour is free, timed tickets are distributed early in the morning on a first-come, first-served basis much like when we got tickets for the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. The big difference is that this event isn't nearly as popular and people weren't camping out since the night before.

We were there about an hour before ticket distribution and there were only about 30 people in line ahead of us. We got our tickets and then went and had breakfast while waiting for the tour time. We got in line about half hour before as instructed, went through oodles of security, then entered the grounds from the southeast gate onto the paved driveway that circles the south lawn of the White House.

We were only allowed to walk along the paved driveway. If you stepped off the driveway onto the grass even by a foot (you know to get a picture, or pose for one), you were immediately yelled at by one of the many secret service agents stationed about every 20 feet or so. Let me tell ya, they are not kidding around. I saw an agent yell at a little girl that couldn't have been more than 8 years old when she stepped off the driveway onto the grass to get a closer look at a picture of Bo, the Obama's new dog.

We saw the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden.

We saw the Rose Garden. (It was still too early in the season to see any roses, though.) This garden and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden are the only formal gardens on the grounds.

Many of the trees were planted to commemorate a person or event. The oldest that I saw was a Southern Magnolia planted by Andrew Jackson in honor of his late wife in 1830. I got this picture of the plaque on the tree, but was standing too close (and couldn't leave the pavement) to get a picture of the tree. I meant to get one from a distance after we'd walked a bit further along the path, but forgot. (D'oh!)

We saw the brand new playground that the Obamas installed for their daughters. It was crazy the way people were snapping pictures of this like they'd never seen a playground before. Then, I realized I was one of them. It's tucked away so that it can't be seen from the viewing public. There are also tennis courts, a pool (which we couldn't see), a basketball hoop (not a full court) and a small children's garden also tucked away.

While it was fun, I would really have liked it if the tour were held a little further into the season so that there were more flowers in bloom. There were azalea bushes all around the children's garden, but the buds hadn't even started to open yet. I'll bet that's a sight to see. I love azaleas.

It's Derby Time!

2009-04-18T21:00:00.001-04:00

Roller derby, that is. Have you been to a roller derby match? You should go. At least once. I'm not sure if roller derby is considered more of a sport or entertainment. I'd say it's a bit of both. The women were certainly athletic, but with the provocative names, garish make-up and lots of fishnet stockings, I'd say there's a "spectacle" component as well.

The league here is called DC Rollergirls and their motto is "With Liberty and Justice to Brawl." We watched the Cherry Blossom Bombshells take on Scare Force One. Never having been to a roller derby it took a little bit to figure out the scoring. Luckily, tucked into our program was a scoring cheat sheet. A match is divided into jams which last up to two minutes. Five players from each team line up for each jam. Here they are lining up:

It's kind of complicated to tell you what happens after that. But, they skate around, blocking each other, bumping each other off the track, trying to pass, etc. Most of my pictures look like this:

And this:

With less than ten minutes to go, the Bombshells were way ahead and people started to leave. But during the last couple of jams before time ran out, Scare Force One poured it on and tied it up. The Bombshells ended up winning in double overtime. It was exciting even if you didn't know what was going on.

The best part was the crowd. Not a huge crowd, but so into it. If you have a roller derby team near you, check them out. Just once. For fun.

Tally-Ho!

2009-04-18T17:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, maybe that phrase is only used in fox hunting, but that's what I thought of every time I saw these guys. On the recommendation of an office manager where Rich works, we went to the Middleburg Spring Races to see the oldest sanctioned steeplechase in Virginia. I know absolutely nothing about steeplechase racing other than that horses need to jump over obstacles like this:

It was a pretty big affair. I found a little hill to stand on to try and get an overall view of things. You can see the tailgaters. They had some amazing spreads laid out. The course was a beautiful, lush, rolling lawn only interrupted by the obstacles that the horses had to jump. You can see some racers lining up for a race in the pic below. They don't really have an exact starting line, they just kind of line up and take off when the starter gives them the signal.

After the race, the owners can choose to have their horses cooled down, like below. The area there in the background is where the finish line is. There are several races of different lengths. They start in different places, but all finish there. The cars parked there belong to sponsors, patrons, owners, etc. They pay big bucks for the privilege of parking there.

I don't know how long this rock wall was. It stretched for what seemed like forever. There's absolutely nothing holding those rocks together. It's completely dry-stacked. I checked. :-)

There were seven races which were going to take most of the day. The races themselves aren't that long, but there's a lot of time in between each race. We watched a few races and then left. It was fun, but I don't think I'd go again. I like horses, but don't exactly enjoy watching them race whether it's steeplechase or on a track. Maybe, being from the southwest, I'm more of a rodeo kind of girl.

National Acrobats of China

2009-04-17T22:30:00.000-04:00

Rich and I went to see the National Acrobats of China at the George Mason University Center for the Arts. What's surprising is that they don't have their own website. They have a management company that represents them and you can see a few pictures here from their website. I tried to find some videos, but all the ones that I saw on youtube were of really poor quality. Anyway, they were absolutely amazing. This troupe of jugglers, gymnasts, bicyclists, contortionists, plate-spinners, and martial artists performed non-stop for about an hour and a half. They were amazing and fun to watch. I can't begin to imagine the amount of training and rehearsing that goes into performing these acts.

GMU was not that far of a drive and they have a wonderful arts center with a really great schedule of performances. I wish I'd heard about this venue sooner. Sigh.

Finally Putting the Pumpkins Together

2009-04-10T17:00:00.001-04:00

The night before Mom and Tín left I brought out my pumpkin squares to show Mom and ended up arranging them on the living room floor. I decided to leave them there and kept rearranging over the next couple of days until I was happy with the arrangement. I was only able to leave them there for so long because Rich was out of town. Normally he doesn't care when I leave things arranged on the floor, he realizes I need to live with it for a long time couple of days before I'm happy with it, but here in the apartment it blocks the way to the bedroom. I had them all put together by the time he got home. I still need to appliqué leaves and embroider the vines and tendrils. I just may have this one done by fall!

The Civil War at Ford's Theatre

2009-04-05T19:00:00.001-04:00

Ford's Theatre just had a grand reopening in February after being closed for quite some time for renovations. The reopening was timed to coincide with the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. There are a lot of special Lincoln exhibits and events going on to celebrate.

Instead of just taking a tour I wanted to get tickets to see a performance there. While Mom and Tín were here the musical The Civil War was going to be playing and I got tickets for all of us. It's not a musical that tells a story, but a series of songs inspired by the stories of people from the time - Union and Confederate soldiers, slaves, abolitionists and veterans. The vocalists were phenomenal. The music is contemporary, performed by a band which sits prominently on the stage. It felt like going to a concert. Unfortunately, none of us really cared for it. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just left me lukewarm.

The theatre is beautiful. I think I will go back and take a tour before I leave. Here's a picture of the Presidential Box where Lincoln was assassinated.

Cherry Blossom Festival Parade

2009-04-04T20:00:00.002-04:00

Yup! Another parade! I just can't get enough of them. Even though it was a rather blustery day, there was a pretty huge turnout for this one. Luckily, I had gotten tickets for bleacher seats for Mom, Tín, Rich and me. Especially since Mom's knee was still somewhat weak. Standing in the cold would not have been fun. We'll get right to the pics.

Alex Trebek was the Grand Marshall and started off the parade.

One of the fun things about the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade are the balloons. It was so windy that they had to hold this one low to the ground. It ended up being the only one we saw because it got so windy that the rest of them couldn't be carried along the parade route. Too bad.

Here are all of the festival princesses. There's one from just about every state. The festival queen is chosen from among the state princesses. Hmmm... I don't see one from New Mexico.

That's because the princess from New Mexico was chosen to be the queen! Well, one of them anyway. There are two queens. One from the US and one from Japan.

There were the usual - marching bands, a few production numbers (we weren't sitting in a good spot to get pictures of them, but they were pretty spectacular), sponsor floats,etc. This Shriner clown was hilarious.

Just about every parade has an old fire engine or two, but how would you like to have to put out a fire with this?

Even the Easter Bunny made an appearance!

Cherry Blossoms at the National Arboretum

2009-04-02T19:00:00.000-04:00

Another place to see a lot of cherry blossoms is the US National Arboretum. The day was a little cold and dreary (a minus) and there weren't very many people there (a plus). While there aren't as many cherry trees, there are a lot of different varieties of cherry trees. The blossoms range from white, to pale pink, to deep scarlet. And, the trees themselves have different characteristics. One of my favorites is a weeping cherry tree. There are some with white blossoms and some with pink blossoms. Not all of the varieties bloom at exactly the same time, but we did get to see quite a few different ones. Here are some pics.

Kennedy Center Tour

2009-04-01T23:00:00.000-04:00

I've been to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts several times, but never seemed to be there at the right time to take a tour. I really wanted to see the inside of the Concert Hall and Opera House. Up to now, I'd only seen the Theater Lab - a small experimental-type theater, and the Millenium Stage - basically two stages at either end of the Grand Foyer. The tour covers the history, the theaters and the artwork that has been presented as gifts from around the world. Here are a few pics:

This is the Grand Foyer. There are 16 crystal chandeliers each weighing a ton. They were a gift from Sweden.

These chandeliers are in the Concert Hall and were a gift from Norway.

This is the Opera House Chandelier and was a gift from Austria. It's 50 feet across and has about 200 bulbs. To replace the bulbs and polish the crystal they need to use a cherry picker.

This is the President's Suite at the Concert Hall. See the Presidential Seal on the wall? Through that door are seats for the President and/or his guests. I don't know if President Obama has been here for any performances yet, but I heard that his mother-in-law has been here several times already. There's also a Presidential Suite for the Opera House.

We got to see a lot of artwork and sculptures as well. This wall structure was a gift from Switzerland. The artist exploded dynamite on both sides of a sheet of steel, then chromed and polished it. Standing in front of it was like looking in one of those carnival fun-house mirrors.

None of my other pics came out good enough to share. If you'd like to see more of the gifts from the tour you can see them here.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

2009-04-01T22:00:00.002-04:00

I'd been wanting to check out this museum since shortly after we moved here. I just hadn't seemed to get around to it. It was on Mom's list of things to do, so that worked out well. It's so much more fun to go to a place with someone else than by yourself. Well, someone else who also wants to go anyway.

The museum is housed in a building previously used as a Masonic Temple. It underwent extensive renovations and with white marble staircases and crystal chandeliers, it is just beautiful and so sophisticated inside.

I love this open space (I think it's called The Great Hall) with a mezzanine going all the way around.

I don't know the architectural term, but this was a panel in the ceiling.

The focus of the museum is to recognize the achievements of women artists. In addition to the permanent artwork that was on display, we also saw a couple of photography exhibits and an exhibit by American fashion designer Mary McFadden. I like that the artwork encompasses a lot of different media. I would have liked to have seen more sculpture and textile work. These have been featured in past exhibits, I just came at the wrong time.

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

2009-03-31T22:00:00.001-04:00

Mom carefully planned her return visit to coincide with the Cherry Blossom Festival which lasts for two weeks in the early spring of every year. While there are cherry trees sprinkled throughout Washington, DC, the biggest concentration of trees is around the Tidal Basin by the Jefferson Memorial. We'd been having a lot of cloudy, drizzly days and I was worried that I might not get good pictures while the trees were at their peak. We got lucky with one really nice sunny day and spent a couple of hours enjoying the sunshine and blossoms. Here are a couple of my favorite pics. You can see all of them here.

You can click on them to make them larger.

Quilt Inspiration at the Basilica

2009-03-30T22:30:00.009-04:00

At the end of my last post I mentioned sharing some more pics from the Basilica that I called "quilt inspiration." I don't remember where these first few pics were from (a chapel maybe?), but the entire marble floor was like a giant quilt sampler. I don't know why I didn't get a low angle pic so that you could see how it all went together. If I return, I'll make sure to do that. One look and you'll be convinced that the men who did these floors were married to quilters. =)

This is another marble floor. For this shot I was standing on my tiptoes holding my camera over my head and still couldn't get it all in one shot, but I think I got enough of it to get the idea.

Another marble floor pic taken high over my head and at an angle to get as much of it in the shot as possible.

This mosaic ceiling really caught my eye. I know it's not the clearest shot, but besides the main design in the ceiling I like the border around the arches as well.

See the triangles in the flat part of the arch? I'm pretty sure I've seen a quilt that looks just like that in those exact colors. Look at all the different stars. Perfect for a star sampler quilt.

How about this domed ceiling? Talk about stars!

I know this pic didn't come out so well. It reminds me of a Double Irish Chain with the background changing from light to dark.

And lastly, this was the ceiling in a corridor. Absolutely gorgeous.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

2009-03-30T21:30:00.089-04:00

Churches have some of the most amazing architecture. Remember how impressed I was with Washington National Cathedral? Remember when I went to the Christmas concert at the Basilica and vowed to return for a tour? Well, with Mom and Tín visiting it seemed like a good time to do that.

I'm not sure where to start. It's among the ten largest churches of the world. The architecture is Romanesque-Byzantine in style. You know what I love about Byzantine architecture? The mosaics. And does this church have a lot of mosaics. There are over 70 chapels and oratories in the Basilica which gives them a lot of places for mosaics. Here are just a few:

That last one is in the north apse of the Great Upper Church and is over 3600 square feet. Think about that for a second. That's bigger than most people's homes!

Being a shrine dedicated to Mary, there were a lot of different ethnic representations of Mary. Here's a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Vang (I hadn't heard of her before), who appeared to the people of a Vietnamese village during the 18th century.

There is also an incredible amount of statuary. This was one of my favorite sculptures. It's titled The Holy Family at Rest - The Flight into Egypt. It's not mentioned in the Bible, but they must have been worn out after their ordeal and I think this sculpture conveys that. Even the donkey looks exhausted.

This chandelier was in an oratory dedicated to Mary, Queen of Ireland. It had the most beautiful alabaster window, but the sun was shining in such a way that I just couldn't get a good picture. I don't remember for sure, but I believe the docent told us that the chandelier was Waterford Crystal.

There was a lot of quilt inspiration which I'll cover in another post so that this one won't have too many pictures in it. Our tour lasted about an hour and we didn't even come close to seeing everything. I'll definitely need to make a return trip.

National Building Museum

2009-03-29T22:00:00.007-04:00

I took Mom and Tín to the National Building Museum. What is the National Building Museum? I'm not sure I can explain it, but from their website:

Created by an act of Congress in 1980, the National Building Museum has become one of the world’s most prominent and vital venues for informed, reasoned debate about the built environment and its impact on people’s lives. Our exhibitions, educational programs, and publications are well regarded not only for their capacity to enlighten and entertain, but also as vehicles for fostering lively discussion about a wide range of topics related to development, architecture, construction and engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

I love this building. I took a tour shortly after we moved here and am amazed at the design features. After the Civil War, a new building was needed to house the US Pension Bureau. Congress appointed Montgomery C. Meigs as the architect and engineer and gave him some guidelines. The building had to be cheap and fireproof. Besides housing the Pension Bureau, it also had to have a large space for social and political functions. What's cheap and fireproof? Brick. You don't see a lot of brick buildings in DC, and according to the docent it wasn't well-received in its time. It didn't "fit in" with the other buildings in the area.

One of the things I found amazing is that by placing vents in strategic places, Meigs designed a ventilation system that created continuous air flow throughout the building. He felt that it would lead to a healthier work environment. Also, his placement of windows and arches made for a well-lit space throughout the Great Hall and the offices.

I've been to the National Building Museum a couple of times now, but have never been able to get a good picture of the Great Hall. Because of the way the windows are on that upper level, it's difficult to get a good pic without the light messing things up. Especially for a "non-photographer" like me. This is the best one so far:

I'm standing at one end on the second level looking toward the opposite side. This place is immense. See that fountain? It's 28 feet across. The Great Hall is larger than a football field. The perfect place for Inaugural Balls and the like as it can accommodate so many people.

Yeah, I like this place. Even if it doesn't "fit in."

More Company!

2009-03-27T21:00:00.001-04:00

Mom and Tín arrived day before yesterday to spend a couple of weeks with us. After coming for a two week visit in the fall, they realized that wasn't nearly enough time to see all the things they wanted to see so they're back again. We'll see how much we can get done in the next two weeks. Mom is recovering from knee surgery and is walking with a cane. I don't think that'll slow her down too much though.

It was a pretty chilly and windy day, but we can't stay home just because the weather doesn't want to cooperate can we. Chilly day, indoor activity. While walking to the National Museum of American History from the Metro station, we saw this group of little kids (daycare? preschool?) flying kites. They were having sooo much fun.

We were able to get a wheelchair for Mom at the museum so that she could rest her knee a bit. We didn't go through all of the museum, but we did see quite a bit of it. Since reopening in November I've been there a couple of times now and I still haven't been through all of the exhibits. One of the exhibits that we spent a bit of time in is America on the Move, a history of transportation in the US. It's a huge exhibit (26,000 square feet according to the website) that has so many objects and so much information. Cars, buses, trains, trolleys, the highway system... it's all covered. Here's Tín waiting in line for a trolley ticket.

While Tín went to The Price of Freedom: Americans at War (covers the history of our military from the French and Indian War to the present) which I'd seen before, Mom and I checked out First Ladies at the Smithsonian. Here's the inaugural gown worn by Rosalynn Carter.

I'm not sure why I liked this gown so much. I think because it feels so different from the other gowns that were on display.

There's a lot to see at the NMAH. I need to get back there at least one or two more times before I'll have seen all of the permanent exhibits.

Leaving the Big Apple

2009-03-22T20:00:00.001-04:00

After our show, we met Rich's cousin Jeannie and her husband Will for dinner. They've lived and worked in Manhattan for years. Afterward, we hopped on the subway. Got ourselves back to Port Authority and rode the bus back to Jersey. I love reliable public transportation.

Our original plan had been to just drive back to DC Sunday morning. But while walking around Central Park on Saturday, we went by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and decided it wouldn't hurt things if we spent a couple of hours there Sunday morning before heading back.

It's huge and we knew that we didn't have time to see everything, so we picked just a couple of exhibits and concentrated on those. Better to leisurely enjoy a few things than to race through trying to see everything and end up forgetting it all because you saw it too quickly, right?

As we walked in, the Egyptian Art exhibit caught our eye.

Rich then wanted to see the Arms and Armor exhibit.

Just those two exhibits had kind of taken up most of our time. We did do a kind of quick walk through of The American Wing. It's being expanded even as I write this with phase II opening up in late May, and phase III scheduled for completion in 2011.

Done at the museum, we had lunch in the city and then back to New Jersey to retrieve the car and drive to DC. It was a very nice weekend. We'd like to do this again, but I think we're going to be running out of weekends pretty soon.

Wicked Awesome!

2009-03-22T19:30:00.001-04:00

I mentioned that we were going to see a Broadway show, but I didn't mention which one. It's really hard to pick just one when you haven't been to all that many. It was difficult, but we finally decided on Wicked. WE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! Yes, I'm shouting. It was that good. I hadn't read the book and only knew that it was kind of an alternate story of the Wicked Witch and Glinda. The story was good, not too dramatic, not too silly. The two lead actresses (sadly, I can't find my Playbill at the moment to give you their names - that's what happens when you wait a month and a half to post) both had amazing voices and stage presence. The music was great. I really loved the costuming. I would see it again. And again. And again.

I saw other people taking pictures of the stage before the curtain went up and when I didn't see any ushers or security racing to confiscate their cameras I snapped a quick pic too.

Start Spreading the News...

2009-03-22T19:00:00.030-04:00

we're leavin' today. Actually, we left on Friday.

For Christmas the kids got together and gave Rich and I a gift certificate for tickets to a Broadway show. We've been waiting for a free weekend to use it. Rich took Friday off from work and we drove up to New Jersey. We met his sister, Carol, and his brother, Joe, and their families for dinner. I think we've seen more of Rich's family this past year than we have in the previous ten. We just don't get out this way often enough. We'll have to make more of an effort after we move back to Albuquerque.

We stayed at a hotel in New Jersey near his sister's. On the other side of the parking lot is a bus station. This worked out perfect for us. In the morning we just walked across the parking lot and got on a bus that took us right to Port Authority. Here's Rich with a Ralph Kramden statue.

Our show was a matinee and so we had several hours to wander and walk around. I love New York. I think it's a wonderful city with so much energy. I don't know that I would want to live there, but I definitely would like to visit over and over again. Here I am at the LOVE sculpture . I so wanted to ask the hot dog vendor in the background to move his cart.

We ended up walking all the way to Cental Park. I had never been to Central Park before. While not exactly warm, it was a bright, sunny day and there were a lot of people out. We stopped and watched the skaters for a bit.

I didn't realize just how much area Central Park covers. It's huge! There are lots of bridges, and pedestrian paths that go over or under the streets that go through the park. This one is absolutely beautiful. I'm standing about in the middle looking in one direction. There is a fountain looking the other direction, but there was a very large school group completely blocking the way.

Still wandering we came across this Alice in Wonderland sculpture.

We eventually made it all the way to the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir.

At this point we needed to jump on the subway and head back to the theatre district for lunch and our show. We only saw a small fraction of the park and I hope to spend more time there on a future visit. I'll bet it's absolutely beautiful when the trees have leaves and flowers are blooming.

Going Batty!

2009-03-19T11:00:00.001-04:00

Finished another block for Happy Hauntings. The bat's eyes will have beads for the pupils after the quilt is assembled and quilted. That might be a while at the rate I'm going. I don't even fantasize about having it done in time for this Halloween. Maybe Hallween 2010?

Kiss Me! I'm Irish!

2009-03-15T20:00:00.006-04:00

Well, no, I'm not. Mom has done some extensive research on our family history and claims to have a drop of Irish blood. That means I only have half a drop. But everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day, right?

I know I've told you a couple of times now that I love parades. So, of course I had to get myself down to the St. Patrick's Day parade, right? It was pretty chilly (in the low 40s) and drizzly. There was still a good crowd and people were having fun. We had fun. But we couldn't stay until the end, we were just too cold and damp. I don't think we missed very much though. We walked a couple of blocks to have something to eat and it wasn't long before the place was super crowded because the parade was over.

Put on a green outfit and a few green accessories on your horse and carriage and you're ready!

Bagpipes and kilts are Scottish, not Irish. Close enough?

The Nationals Presidents crack me up every time I see them.

These little girls did some Irish dancing and were just too cute.

We even saw a leprechaun!

Spring Break is Over

2009-03-14T21:00:00.001-04:00

Well, it's over for Bri and Kristina anyway. I know for many it's just beginning, or is still a couple of weeks away. We got around to a lot of places in the few days that they were here. Most of them I've already blogged about so I won't recap those places again.

Rich was able to set up a Friends and Family Tour at the Pentagon for us. My brother Tony was in town on business and he joined us. It was pretty interesting. Each corridor has a theme and there are flags, photographs and artwork having to do with the theme. I'm sure that not all of the corridors are themed and decorated, but put it all together and it would still be a good sized museum. Obviously, I don't have any pictures. We weren't even allowed to look at our cell phones while on tour.

I finally made it to the FDR Memorial. It's very different from what I thought it would be. When we went, none of the water features were on, so I hope to make it back on a clear, sunny day when the fountains are operational. Here are a few pics:

How Many Times Will I Go To Mount Vernon This Year?

2009-03-14T20:45:00.001-04:00

Well, I think this was my fourth time there. We hadn't been able to go on any of Kristina's previous visits so it was the first time for both Kristina and Bri. There weren't very many people there so the docents were able to spend a little more time with each group as it went through and that was really nice. Since I've already posted about Mount Vernon a few times before, all I'm going to share is a picture of this tree. There are some trees that are just a lot cooler looking in the winter.

The Mall with Bri and Kristina

2009-03-14T20:37:00.002-04:00

A couple of days after Kristina got here, my sister flew in to visit us during her spring break. Bri is a high school teacher in Texas. She'd never been to DC before. The weather was pretty nice the week that they were here although they might not have thought so being a couple of tourists from Florida and Texas.

So, where do you take someone on their first visit to DC? Well, the National Mall, of course. We were able to get tickets to both the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Washington Monument. While both of these things are free, you do need to get timed tickets that are given out first come, first served. Sometimes they run out very early in the day, but we got lucky.

After leaving the Washington Monument we headed west toward the Lincoln Memorial. Isn't this the coolest tree ever? It has kind of a "sleepy hollow" look to it. I've probably seen it lots of times with leaves and not really given it a second look.

We stopped at the World War II Memorial. My stepdad served in WWII and is an honoree in their database. Since then, Rich and I have submitted his dad and uncle's information. Do you know someone who served during WWII? Would you like to have them added to the registry? You can click here and follow the instructions. It's really pretty simple and a great way to honor a WWII veteran.

Next stop was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We looked up the name of a young man from the small town that Bri and I grew up in and found him on the wall. I like the way this picture of Bri and Kristina's reflection came out.

We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial and then back east stopping at the Korean War Veterans Memorial. We were a little pooped from all the walking at this point and returned to the apartment. The only downside is that it hadn't warmed up enough for any of the water features to be working. So, no fountains, no reflecting pool. Still, it was a pretty nice day and we were able to get a lot of sight-seeing in.

National Zoo

2009-03-08T20:32:00.001-04:00

Kristina came for a visit during her Spring Break and one of the items on her "to-do" list was to see the pandas at the National Zoo. The zoo is part of the Smithsonian and like all the other Smithsonian facilities (museums and art galleries), it has free admission! We've gotten very spoiled here these past months with all the free things to do.

We did get to see the pandas. They must have just fed them before we got there as they were all in this same position eating whatever it is they gave them to eat. Except for chewing, they hardly moved.

One of the highlights was watching this tiger.

First he tried getting the ball with his paw.

Then, he tried using his mouth.

When it rolled further into the water, he actually looked sad.

Botanic Garden Greenhouse Tour

2009-03-07T15:00:00.001-05:00

Once a year the US Botanic Garden opens its greenhouse to the public for tours. It was kind of fun to get a peak at what goes on behind the scenes. The USBG receives its funding directly from Congress. They grow and deliver all the office plants for the Capitol Hill complex here. All of the seasonal plants for interior displays (like poinsettias, chrysanthemums and Easter lilies) are grown here. This is where they maintain the botanical collections that aren't currently on display at the Conservatory or Bartholdi Park (like orchids and insectivorous plants).

The greenhouse is actually 85,000 sq. ft. divided into 34 bays with 16 different environmental zones. What I found most fascinating is how the zones are all completely computer automated. The shade cloths, air flow fans, and evaporative cooling systems are all computer controlled to create the desired environment. It was really noticeable walking from a subtropical environment to a desert climate.

Being early March, not a lot was in bloom. But then, there probably isn't much in bloom here at any one time anyway since those plants are probably put on display. Here are just a few pics for you.

Goodnight Moon

2009-03-06T18:16:00.000-05:00

I didn't go anywhere this past week. Rich was out of town and the weather was a little dreary. I did get this block done for my Happy Hauntings quilt. It's supposed to be a moon. It looks a little "sleepy" to me. I'm not totally happy with how it came out, but I still need to embroider some details - nose, smile lines, etc. - and I think that will perk it up a bit. But that will have to wait until after I move back to Albuquerque this summer.

Home for a Week

2009-03-01T17:44:00.001-05:00

I was home (in Albuquerque) for the last week in February. It was so nice to catch up with friends, sleep in my own bed, relax in my own home. The weather was beautiful and my daffodils were just coming up. Can you believe I forgot to take a picture of them? D'oh!

I flew in and out of the Baltimore airport. Isn't this stained-glass crab amazing? It's absolutely huge! If you look just above the open claw you can see a woman sitting on the other side texting on her phone. Yup. That's how big it is.

A Capital Time

2009-02-19T14:26:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks back Rich and I thought it would be fun to see a hockey game. So, we looked up the Washington Capitals schedule, and of all the remaining regular season home games, there was only one that we'd be able to make it to. We bought tickets and went to see them play against the Montreal Canadiens.

We had so much fun! The Verizon Center was packed. I don't know if it was sold out or not but there weren't very many empty seats. It was a great crowd. I know very little about hockey, but the action was non-stop. The Caps are having a great season and were expected to win. And they did. IN DOUBLE OVERTIME! I can't begin to tell you how exciting that was.

(I dated this back when it happened, but at the time that I'm writing this, the Caps have just beaten the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs and will be facing the Pittsburgh Penguins in round two. GO CAPS!)

Comcast Has Left The Building!

2009-02-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

Late last year Verizon spent quite a bit of time wiring our building for FiOS. It became available to us last month. We mentioned it to our landlord and he said that he preferred FiOS over cable and that if we didn't mind he'd like to switch services. If we did, he'd make the switch when we moved out. We've never had FiOS but have heard so many wonderful things about it that of course we didn't mind.

We've had FiOS less than 24 hours. We're lovin' it.

My Next Applique Project

2009-02-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

So now that I've finished all of the appliqué on Thru Grandmother's Window, it's time to start the next project. I like to always have at least one hand appliqué project to work on while watching TV in the evenings.

I decided to work on Happy Hauntings by The Vintage Spool. You can see a picture by clicking on the underline.

I've finished one block so far:

I think this will be a fun one to work on.

Now They're Really All Done

2009-02-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

One of the biggest challenges for me when working on a project is choosing the fabrics. I've gotten a little better since I first started quilting, but I still make some bad choices now and again. One of them was with this block:

I don't know what I was thinking, but I just did not like the leaves that come out from behind the tulips. I set the block aside and finished all of the others, and still did not like it. Since those pieces are behind the tulips, I didn't want to take everything apart to fix it, so I chose a different fabric and appliquéd it on top. Now, the block looks like this:

It's hard to tell that this is the same block since the block looks different due to the lighting. I do like it better. The new leaves might be just a tad too bright and too "teal" for the blue center, but I like it better than before. It may still not be perfect, but I can at least live with it now.

Here are all of my Thru Grandmother's Window blocks. You'd never know that the backgrounds are from the same fabric since the pictures were taken at different times with different lighting, but they are. Maybe at some point I'll take new pics all at the same time.

Now, I need to start working on how I'm going to sash these.

Chocolate Heaven

2009-02-18T16:12:00.000-05:00

The weekend before Valentine's Day, Rich and I went to the Chocolate Lover's Festival in Fairfax, VA. There are events all over town, but we just made it to two.

A Taste of Chocolate was held in the Old Town Hall and it was wall-to-wall people. There were hundreds of chocolate items to sample made by area confectioners. There were cakes, brownies, fudge, cookies, candies, truffles, ice cream. The chocolate fountains made my mouth water just watching people dip fruit and pound cake in them. There were so many things to choose from that after a while I was on sensory overload and couldn't even choose anymore.

We then headed over to the City Hall Atrium where they held the Chocolate Challenge competition, chocolate cakes and sculptures with categories for professionals as well as amateurs. I really loved this cute purse with the lipstick.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2009-02-18T15:34:00.001-05:00

Okay, I don't know for sure that that is how you say "Happy New Year" in Chinese, but I learned that a long time ago and it has stuck. It certainly doesn't look Chinese, maybe it's phonetical? Anyway, Chinese New Year was on January 26th which fell on a Monday. This year is the Year of the Ox.

Rich and I went to the Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown on Saturday, February 1st. Because, you know, I love parades. It was a pretty short "neighborhood" kind of parade. The dragons are always fun to watch.

The highlight was supposed to be a giant firecracker. See the long, red ribbon in the picture? That's a string of firecrackers! I don't know exactly how long it was, but they lifted it up about five stories on a crane and about half of it still snaked around on the ground. The time that it was supposed to be lit came and went. Hazmat was called in. Don't know what the problem was, but it was called off due to "safety concerns." So very disappointing.

Bonnie... and a milestone of sorts

2009-02-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

I mentioned a couple of posts back, that there was no way that I'd miss the inauguration. There was a bit of a conflict though. You see, the quilt guild that I joined booked Bonnie Hunter to give a lecture and trunkshow on Inauguration Day.

I first found Bonnie's website about 3-1/2 years ago when I was finally able to devote a little more time to quilting. I love scrap quilts and she just made it all seem so simple. She has dozens of free patterns for scrap quilts up on her website. Even though I didn't have much in the way of scraps, I started following her Scrap User's System to better organize my scraps as I accumulated them. I also started using Leaders and Enders the way she did. I subscribed to her blog. I was so excited when she started giving lectures even though I knew that she probably wouldn't be traveling to New Mexico any time soon. I really hoped that I'd get to see her in person.

So, you can imagine how disappointed I was when I realized that I wasn't going to get to see her on Inauguration Day. Imagine the sigh of relief when I looked at her calendar and saw that she was going to be at another local guild two days later!

I was so excited to see her! I got there a little late because I took a wrong turn, but I don't think I missed much. Most of what was in her lecture I'd read either in her blog or on her website, but it was so great to hear her say these things instead of reading them. I'd seen all the quilts on the website, but pictures rarely do a quilt justice and to get to see them all up close was wonderful.

I bought her new book which I've been wanting since it came out last October. And, she even signed it for me.

Oh, the milestone? This is my 100th post!!

Having a Ball! (Or not)

2009-02-18T11:49:00.001-05:00

Once the Inauguration ceremonies were over, I had to make my way to the Convention Center. I would have liked to have stayed on the Mall because the parade was going to be broadcast live on the jumbotrons, but I needed to report at about the same time that the parade was going to start. Getting where I needed to be with about a million other people also trying to get someplace meant that I didn't have time to hang around.

What can I say? It was FREEZING! I was standing in the middle of the street scanning tickets. Wind chill brought the temperature down into the single digits. And, even though I had warmers tucked into my gloves and shoes, within half an hour my fingers and toes were beyond numb.

I was scanning tickets at the entrance for the Neighborhood Ball. I saw a handful of celebrities, but I have to say that I was concentrating so hard on trying to get the tickets to scan that I barely made eye contact with any of the people. There were a number of people that went by that I thought, "Hmm, you look familiar."

It was fun, for about an hour or two. After that things started to break down just a bit. There weren't enough of us to take frequent breaks because some volunteers left without telling anyone and never came back. Our team captain disappeared to warmer areas and wasn't there to help when we had situations to deal with. Ticketmaster didn't send anyone to be on site, so when the scanners started malfunctioning (probably due to the extreme cold), there wasn't anyone to help out. Secret Service was telling us that no one could go through unless they had a valid ticket. Yeah, great times.

Here we are just before getting started when we were still excited.

Inauguration Day

2009-02-18T10:45:00.002-05:00

When I first found out that I'd be spending a year in DC, I remember thinking about all the things I'd get to do while I was there. One day last July or August it hit me that I'd be there for Inauguration Day. Now, you have to remember that last July we didn't even know for sure who the party nominees were going to be let alone who would be elected President. I knew then that I'd be taking part in the inauguration festivities. Well, given the historic nature of this particular inauguration, there was no way that I was going to miss being there.

It was another freezing cold day so we stayed at the apartment as long as we dared. Live coverage on TV showed that things were filling up rather quickly. When we left, we knew the Metro was going to be packed and almost impossible to board, so we walked from the apartment, by the Iwo Jima Memorial, across Memorial Bridge and into the National Mall area. It's about two miles. In fair weather, it's actually a rather nice walk. We made our way to the World War II Memorial and staked out a fairly nice spot where we could see one of the jumbotrons.

Rich and I left Kathy and Dan there while we went to see if we could find a better spot near the Washington Monument. It was so packed with people that we almost couldn't get back out! Rich was able to get this picture. See the Capitol building way in the background? See the mass of people? We went back to the WWII Memorial.

It turned out to be a great spot. The way the memorial is shaped a lot of the wind was blocked and it felt so much warmer there. There was so much energy in the crowd. Even though people were freezing, they were excited and happy and, dare I say, hopeful.

This is a day that I will remember the rest of my life.

Operation Gratitude

2009-02-18T09:15:00.001-05:00

On MLK, Jr. Day, Kathy, Dan and I (Rich was sick and stayed behind) headed out to RFK Stadium to participate in Operation Gratitude where we helped put together care packages for soldiers. I think the goal for the day was 75,000 care packages and I believe the goal was not only met, but surpassed.

It was really well-organized. Each participant was given a large zip-lock bag and as you walked past a row of tables, other volunteers put items into your bag trick-or-treat style. At the end of the tables, you sealed up your bag, it went into a box (for shipping) and you got back in line to start again. I think we each did 15 to 20 bags, I lost count.

Once done, there were thank you cards to fill out that went into the boxes with the care packages.

You want to know the best thing? Everything was donated by Target. All the items that went into the care packages, the shipping materials, even "goody bags" for the volunteers (a Target shopping bag, a bottle of water and a brownie).

The second best thing was that it all took place inside a heated tent.

We Are One: Opening Inaugural Celebration

2009-02-18T08:30:00.001-05:00

One month ago today (has it been that long already?), my sister-in-law and her husband came to spend the Inaugural weekend with us. We were all pretty excited to be right in the thick of things.

You might remember that the Sunday before the inauguration there was a big concert at the Lincoln Memorial. We braved the cold weather and headed over there with about half a million other people. Since we arrived only about an hour before we couldn't see the talent from where we were, but we did get lucky enough to be right in front of a jumbotron.

It was a star-studded concert. Despite the freezing temperatures, we had a great time. I've never been in the middle of such a huge crowd where everyone was happy to be there. People sang and danced and cheered. It was so much better than if we'd stayed at the apartment and watched it on TV (which we had considered because of the cold).

Even getting out went smoothly enough.

And Done!

2009-02-02T14:45:00.001-05:00

After finishing my last Thru Grandmother's Window block, I decided to work some more on my pumpkin blocks. I think I was really just procrastinating on the tweaking that I decided to do.

In any event, I finished the remaining 12 pumpkin blocks. Like I've said before, these go really, really fast and they're fun to do.

Done!

2009-02-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

I finished block #12 for my Thru Grandmother's Window quilt! I wish I could say that I was completely done, but I've decided to go back to one of my earlier blocks and tweak it just a bit. I really don't like this one block. I thought that maybe by the time I'd finished all the others that it wouldn't bother me anymore, but it does. Even after laying all the blocks out, it just sticks out (and not in a good way) to me.

My friend and fellow quilter Olive says that "they don't all have to be your favorite" and that's true. So, instead of starting over, I'm just going to tweak it a bit. I think after that, while it still won't be my favorite, I'll be able to live with it in my quilt.

I'm a Volunteer!

2009-02-02T14:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I was at any rate. That's what happens when you get so far behind in your blog posts. It's kind of hard to talk about things as though they just happened.

So, a while back I saw that the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) was accepting online applications for volunteers. I figured that living in DC for the year and being a tourist for a year, what better way to add to my "DC Experience" than to volunteer for the PIC? So, I submitted my application and then received an email telling me where I could attend a training session.

There were several training sessions, and mine was three weeks ago. I think there were about 5,000 people there, all volunteers. Even the organizers for the training were volunteers. It was so incredibly organized. Seriously. It was impressive. We had a general session where we were given some general info and then we broke up into smaller groups for breakout sessions which is where we'd be given our assignments.

In the general session they told us that over 80,000 people had submitted applications and only about 13,000 were given jobs. Not being any more qualified than the next person, I'm not sure how I was chosen over so many others, but I was excited.

My assignment? Scanning tickets for one of the Inaugural Balls at the Convention Center! Now, this doesn't mean that I'd be IN the convention center. It means that I'd be scanning people's tickets before they went through the metal detectors before they were cleared to go in the Convention Center. Still, how fun to see people all dressed up, maybe a few celebrities, who knows?

I was even given a dorky cool hat to wear while working and a lanyard with "souvenir" credentials. The real creds were to be given out just before the event.

Jewels of Light

2009-01-28T08:45:00.001-05:00

The kids all left the morning of New Year's Eve. It was kind of odd to have this two bedroom apartment go from bustling with activity to dead quiet. I spent most of the day "recovering." I know they were all pretty tired from all the sight-seeing, but I was absolutely exhausted. I had to take a nap just so that I could get up before midnight to ring in the new year!

On New Year's Day, Rich and I went to the National Cathedral for an up-close tour called "Jewels of Light" which focuses on the stained glass windows. The tour guide pointed out the various styles, some traditional, some more modern. She chose a handful of windows to focus on and took us through a lot of the details that would have been lost on someone like me who knows next to nothing about the art of stained glass. She also talked a little about a few of the artists that designed and made some of the windows.

This isn't one of the windows that the tour guide talked about, but it's the only picture that came out. I'm still learning how to get good pictures in low light. They almost always come out kind of blurry for me no matter how still I hold the camera. It doesn't help that most of the windows are fairly high up so besides having trouble with the light, they're also not that close either.

There are a few other up-close tours I hope to make it to. The National Cathedral has to be one of my favorite places to visit here in DC.

Five Day Whirlwind Tour of DC

2009-01-27T20:15:00.002-05:00

Since this was the only time that JC and Marie were able to visit us while we're here in DC, we tried to cram in as many things as possible. Since a lot of these are places that I've already been and blogged about or places that I'll be going back to, I'm just going to list the things we did each day, maybe a short sentence or two, and a few pictures. It'll probably still be a pretty long post.

Day 1:

White House Visitor Center

White House Tour - We were lucky to get this tour. The rooms we were allowed to see were all beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Washington Monument - always such a nice view of DC and the surrounding area.

Natural History Museum - If you're with JC and you go to a natural history museum, it's a given that you'll be checking out the dinosaurs.

Day 2:

Tourmobile - This bus tour takes you by most of the museums and monuments. This is a great way to see a lot of popular sites, but don't do it on a weekend. Traffic around the mall was so bad, that we ran out of time at the end and missed a couple memorials that we would have liked to have seen. These are the places we actually got out at:
  Arlington National Cemetary
  Lincoln Memorial
  Vietnam War Veterans' Memorial
   Union Station
   Jefferson Memorial

Shear Madness at The Kennedy Center - This play was so hilarious. You must see it if you have the opportunity. It's a whodunit where the audience helps in solving the crime.

Day 3:

American History Museum

A Christmas Carol at The Lansburgh Theatre - Five minutes before curtain time the fire alarm went off and the entire theatre had to be evacuated. It was a really great show. The actor who played Scrooge was phenomenal. And, pyrotechnics are always fun. I think this is the best Christmas Carol I've ever seen.

National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum - I didn't realize that these two museums are actually in the same building. This courtyard was enclosed during a major renovation. I love the way it "floats" overhead.

Day 4: We had a late start. I had wanted to take them all to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing so that they could see how our currency is printed, but it was closed for the week. I tried to substitute another activity for the morning, but everyone voted to sleep in a little instead.

Voice of America tour - We took a behind-the-scenes tour of live broadcasting in radio, TV and the internet. VoA broadcasts live around the clock. This was informative for anyone interested in broadcasting. It was fun even for someone who knows nothing about broadcasting.

Air and Space Museum

US Botanic Garden - We met Rich's brother and his family here to see the Windows to Wonderland exhibit.

National Christmas Tree

Day 5:

Library of Congress

Capitol Visitor Center - This just opened a few weeks before we were there. The same staff assistant who helped me get the White House Tour tickets also booked a tour for us at the Capitol. I hope to go back when it's less crowded and get some good pics.

Capitol Tour - The Capitol tour starts and ends in the new Visitor Center. It starts with a short orientation film, "Out of Many, One" and then takes you through parts of the Capitol. Here's a pic from Statuary Hall.

Supreme Court Building - We got to the Supreme Court Building just in time for a public lecture about the history of the building and the Court, and how cases are brought before the Court. We walked around the building and looked at a few exhibits after that. This picture is looking up one of the spiral staircases in the building.

As you can see we had a very busy five days. I don't think we could have fit anymore in there. If you're coming for a visit and you tell me that you want to see everything, I'll do my best. Just make sure you're well rested before you get here.

Christmas in New Jersey

2009-01-27T15:10:00.003-05:00

We woke up early Christmas morning so that we could drive up to New Jersey to spend the day with Rich's family. We made really good time and got in much earlier than we'd expected. This usually happens when Rich is driving. So, before heading over to my brother-in-law's place we made a stop at Asbury Park so the kids could see the "Jersey Shore." Here are Rich and the kids standing on the boardwalk.

We spent the day with all of Rich's family. This is the first time in many years that all of Rich's brothers and sisters and their families (and even some cousins thrown in for good measure) have been together. We had such a wonderful time. Here we all are, except for my sister-in-law Debbie who took the picture. Next time, we definitely have to plan ahead and make sure there's a tripod handy. Quite a group, huh?

We would have liked to have stayed the night in Jersey and gone into New York City the following day, but at the last minute I was able to get White House Tour Tickets for the day after Christmas. So, we drove back that same night. Luckily, our tour wasn't until late morning, or we'd never have made it.

The Nutcracker

2009-01-27T14:15:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been almost two weeks since I said I was going to work at getting caught up. I wish I had a good excuse for not getting there. I don't. But, let's see how much I can get done before the end of the month.

A couple of days before Christmas, Kristina and I went to see The Nutcracker performed by The Washington Ballet. This wasn't your ordinary Nutcracker. This version takes place in historic Washington, DC. It is sprinkled throughout with bits of American culture and iconography. For example, the Nutcracker is George Washington and the rat king is King George III. The rat soldiers are redcoats and battle it out with the Continental Army. At the end, instead of the Waltz of the Flowers, it was the Waltz of the Cherry Blossoms. Making appearances in one form or another are Frederick Douglass (prominent DC resident of the time), John Paul Jones, Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Miss Liberty, Anacostia Indians and Frontiersmen. The costumes and sets were so wonderful. At the end of Act I, Clara and her escort travel on a riverboat on the Potomac. At the end of Act II, Clara leaves her dream world in a hot air balloon.

I could have seen it several more times as I'm sure I missed a lot of references. Too bad it's not available on DVD.

Behind Again...Naturally

2009-01-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

Even after five months I don't quite have the hang of this blogging thing down, do I? It seems I'm caught in a cycle of getting behind/catching up. Right now it's time to get caught up again. I'm going to try really hard to get all caught up in the next couple of days because it's going to be pretty busy around here this weekend and most of next week.

Just as I predicted the kids were all pretty exhausted by the time they left. So were we. But, we had the best time ever. Well, I did anyway. I sure hope they did too.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T01:00:00.001-05:00

Last week before the kids arrived, I went back to the Washington National Cathedral to see the Annual Crèche Exhibit. The Cathedral has over 500 crèches in their collection and have about 50 of them on display this year. This one made of painted gourds from Peru is one of my favorites. You can see all of them here.

Merry Christmas!

All Together for Christmas

2008-12-24T17:12:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, Marcus and Kristina flew in from Florida. Remember the funny Thanksgiving sweaters? Well, Marcus greeted us at the airport with the Christmas sweater that he made. Tonight, JC and Marie are flying in from California and we're really excited to be spending Christmas all together. I have lots of sight-seeing activities planned. When they all leave next week, they're going to be exhausted.

Windows to Wonderland

2008-12-24T17:05:00.002-05:00

There were so many places I wanted to get to this month to see the holiday decorations and exhibits. A couple of weekends ago Rich and I went to the US Botanic Garden to see the Windows to Wonderland holiday exhibit. The garden railway and miniature historic buildings on display were designed by Paul Busse and his company, Applied Imagination. The detail is amazing.

Everything is made from natural plant materials. It's a lot of fun walking through the exhibit and trying to figure out what things are made of. There are the usual things you would think of: twigs, bark, leaves, seeds, nuts, vines and moss. But then, there are some things a little more unusual like the gourd that is used for the dome of the Jefferson Memorial. I haven't figured out what is used for the glass windows of the US Botanic Garden Conservatory.

To design a building, Mr. Busse first studies architectural drawings and photographs. He then creates a base structure out of acrylic foam boards. Then all the details are added using dried plant materials. How long a building takes depends on the complexity. The US Capitol took over 600 hours to create. There were nine replicas of buildings that are located on The Mall.

In the East Gallery is "Wonderland" - several villages and trains running everywhere. I've only put up a few pics on this post, but you can see all of the photos in a web album here.

Union Station

2008-12-23T16:00:00.003-05:00

I'm going to keep this short. A while back I took an outdoor tour of the buildings that make up Capitol Hill. I hadn't gotten any pictures of Union Station, so here are a few now:

Besides being the largest train station in the world when it was built, I think it must have been the most beautiful also.

Even More Pumpkins

2008-12-23T00:05:00.000-05:00

I've completed another nine pumpkins. I really love doing these. They go really fast and have been a lot of fun. I now have 36 out of 48 done.

One To Go!

2008-12-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

I finished block number eleven of my Thru Grandmother's Window quilt. It's a little wild, isn't it? One more block to go!

Merry Tubachristmas!

2008-12-22T23:55:00.000-05:00

The night after A Ragtime Christmas there was another Millennium Stage performance that I thought would be fun. It was called Merry Tubachristmas. I had never heard of Tubachristmas before, but it's an annual event that takes place in cities all across the country. Traditional christmas music has been arranged just for tubas and euphoniums. Anyone who plays one of these instruments can participate.

At the concert that I went to there were over 300 participants! That's a lot of low brass and the sound really filled the hallway. They played a couple of dozen pieces and encouraged the audience to sing along.

Here's a link to all of the archived Tubachristmas performances at the Kennedy Center if you'd like to have a listen.

A Ragtime Christmas

2008-12-22T23:50:00.000-05:00

The Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center has a free performance every day of the year at 6pm eastern time as part of the Performing Arts For Everyone program. Can't make it? You can watch them live on the web! Missed one you wanted to see? All the performances are archived!

A couple of Sundays ago I went to see A Ragtime Christmas performed by Bill Edwards. He was wonderful! He played several ragtime selections and in between told us a little of the history of ragtime. You know, it's really hard to listen to ragtime for an hour and not leave feeling happy.

Scottish Christmas Walk

2008-12-22T23:30:00.000-05:00

I think I've mentioned that I love parades. The morning after the Christmas Charity Concert we went to the 38th Annual Scottish Christmas Walk Parade in Alexandria, VA. I don't think I've ever seen so much plaid in my life! There were over 100 Scottish Clans, pipe and drum bands, Scottish dancers, re-enactment groups, and Scottie dog groups. It was a pretty chilly morning, but it was worth it. Here are a few pics:

Basilica Christmas Concert

2008-12-21T23:00:00.000-05:00

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception held their annual Christmas Charity Concert on December 5th. (You can see that I'm still desperately trying to catch up on my blog posts.) I hadn't yet been to the Basilica. It is the largest Roman Catholic church in all of North America. Since we got there just before the concert started, I wasn't really able to walk around and look at everything, so I'll be going back for a tour sometime after the holidays.

The music was so beautiful. The concert featured the Choir of the Basilica and The Catholic University of America Chorus and Symphony Orchestra. We weren't sitting where we could see very well, but at a concert it's more important to be able to hear than to see, right? And, we were lucky to have a place to sit as there were many standing along the sides and back. I just love the way choirs, and music in general, sound in large churches. The sound just has such an ethereal quality to it.

If you're interested and you have satellite TV, the concert was recorded for broadcast on EWTN. It'll be shown on Dec. 23rd at 11pm and Dec. 25th at 2pm, both EST.

Happy Birthday, Rich!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

2008-12-20T09:10:00.004-05:00

Boy, it seems like forever since I got up early to stand in line for tickets for The National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. But the day finally arrived! Here's a picture of the tree before...

and after.

The ceremony itself was great. There were a lot of musical numbers with some great performers and even Santa made an appearance.

President Bush gave a short speech and Laura (with the help of two young girls whose fathers are serving in Iraq) flipped the switch that lit the tree.

At the base of the tree are several train displays that are a lot of fun to watch.

Around the tree are 54 smaller trees - one for each state and territory.

There's a nativity.

There's a Santa's workshop.

It was a beautiful evening. The ceremony lasted about an hour. Afterward, I hung around just a bit for the crowd to thin and get a few more pictures.

I could do this every year!

My Pumpkin Patch is Growing!

2008-12-17T18:45:00.000-05:00

With our whirlwind trip up to New Jersey, we didn't do much sight-seeing in DC with the kids. We were all too exhausted. But, they'll be back in 3 weeks after finals for Christmas. November flew by being that for the entire month we either had guests or were out of town ourselves.

When the kids went back to Florida I took a few days to relax, catch up on laundry and grocery shopping and just taking it easy. I also got 8 more pumpkins done. Are you keeping count?

I'm not sure about the pumpkin in the lower right in the group below. When laying out all the blocks it seems to get lost in the busy background. I mentioned to Rich that I might replace it but he says that I should leave it. What do you think?

I Love a Parade!

2008-12-17T17:00:00.001-05:00

Marcus and Kristina flew in Wednesday night for Thanksgiving. We met them at the airport where they were wearing these turkey sweaters that they made themselves. Marcus' turkey lost his googly eye. It did get fixed but I didn't get a picture. Don't you love how Marcus' turkey has a hat and Kristina's has a bonnet?

We were going to be driving up to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with some of Rich's family. Since the kids were flying into Baltimore, we picked them up and just kept right on driving north. We got just a couple of hours sleep before heading into New York City to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I really love parades. To say it was crowded would be an understatement. We never did get close enough to see what was going on at the street level, but we could see all the balloons just fine. Here's the crowd. See the clowns? That's the parade.

I don't know how Rich got some of these shots. There was a building just to our left and we wouldn't see the balloons until they passed the building. Then, there was a traffic light in the way. Also, a lady who was sitting on a railing. She (or her hat) ended up in almost all of our pictures. Did I mention that Rich took all the pictures with his arm extended straight up over his head to get over the crowd? It's amazing he was able to get as many good shots as he did. Here are a few:

We got back to Rich's sister's house just as the other guests were arriving and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We had such a great time visiting with Rich's brother, sister, cousin and lots of nieces and nephews. Since we've never lived close by we miss a lot of these family gatherings. We're really happy that spending this year in DC puts us within driving distance.

More Pumpkins

2008-12-17T14:00:00.000-05:00

I had been dreading the flight back to DC, but it turned out to not be too bad. I think because it was broken up into shorter segments it made traveling so much easier. Our longest stretch was from Honolulu to LA which was only a little over 5 hours. Compared to the 8-1/2 hour flight from Dallas to Honolulu on the way out it was an easy flight.

Besides all the fun things I've posted about we had a great time relaxing on the beach, walking around Waikiki looking at the shops (I hate shopping, but I loved looking at some of the windows already decorated for the holidays), and trying out some of the local restaurants. I made it to two fabric stores, read two books and completed 7 more pumpkins.

We had such a great time, but were so happy to get back to DC. We got back in Tuesday morning (before Thanksgiving) to find that most of the leaves that I'd been admiring in the previous weeks had fallen off the trees. It was such a such a stark difference from when we'd left, but especially from the tropical setting we'd just been enjoying.

Some Random Hawaii Pics

2008-12-17T11:45:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share these pictures even though they didn't make it into any of my earlier posts.

These statues were outside a hotel that we drove by.

It's raining in this picture of some waves at the north shore. See the surfers?

We watched this sand sculpture as it was being made in the entrance to our hotel. One day eight tons of sand were unloaded and four or five days later the sculpture was complete.

This sculpture of turtles was in the entrance of our hotel.

I've never seen birds like these before, but I saw them all around the island. They are Brazilian Cardinals.

A yellow hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii.

USS Arizona Memorial

2008-12-17T10:40:00.001-05:00

After seeing the sunrise at Diamond Head, we went back to the hotel, showered, ate breakfast, packed and checked out. We drove to the airport and realized we still had a lot of time. Pearl Harbor isn't too far away and we hadn't really seen much of it.

We went to the USS Arizona Memorial and found that the timed tickets being given out to visit the memorial were past what time we had. They do have a nice visitor center and museum though so we took an audio tour of the museum and shoreline exhibits.

Here's a picture taken of the memorial from the shoreline of the visitor center. The memorial is actually a bridge that spans the hull of the sunken battleship which can be viewed through the windows.

As part of Rich's conference we attended a dinner reception earlier in the week at the USS Missouri. There weren't any tours being given, but there were retired Navy veterans on hand to answer questions as we walked around the battleship. It was very dark and as much as I tried, I just couldn't get any good pictures. This picture was also taken from the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center.

Sunrise at Diamond Head

2008-12-16T09:50:00.002-05:00

Here's a picture of Diamond Head from our hotel. Remember when we tried to hike the trail a week earlier? Well, here we are on our last day in Hawaii and we haven't made it back. Granted the trail just opened up on Friday and it rained all day Saturday (we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center). While it had cleared up on Sunday we knew the trail would be pretty muddy, so we saved it for Monday even though we were leaving later in the afternoon. During the week we had talked to someone in passing and they suggested climbing the trail in the early morning and watching the sunrise. We thought that was a great idea. And, it was.

The trail itself is not that long. It's only .8 mile one way. Less than a mile, no problem, right? Well, in that short span it climbs 560 ft in elevation. It was a little tough, but the view from the top made it so worth it. And luckily, we had timed it just right. The park opened at 6am, we got there just a few minutes after that. Sunrise was slated for 6:48am which didn't give us a whole lot of time, but we made it up there with several minutes to spare.

Here's a view of Waikiki from Diamond Head in the early morning light just a few minutes before sunrise.

Rich was snapping away with the camera as the sun was coming up. Here's the first sliver of sun.

This picture taken about a minute later is my favorite. I just love the colors in the clouds. What a great way to start the day. What a workout!

Going down? So much easier.

Lost in a Maze

2008-12-15T23:55:00.000-05:00

When we drove to the Polynesian Cultural Center, we passed right by the Dole Plantation and thought it would be a fun place to check out. So that's where we headed the next day. We learned an awful lot about pineapples, the different varieties, how they're planted, how they grow, how they're harvested.

There is a Pineapple Variety Garden where there are about two dozen varieties of pineapple from all over the world in different stages of growth. Since I've only ever seen what's in the grocery store, I had never thought about there being different varieties of pineapple. Here are some pics of a few of them.

There was a Pineapple Maze that we thought would be fun to go through. You can see a picture of it on the website. In 2001 it was the world's largest maze spanning about two acres with over 3 miles of paths. Hidden in the maze are eight stations that you're supposed to find as you go. The top five recorded times are posted on the ticket window. The top times were between 16 and 20 minutes so we figured it couldn't take more than 45 minutes or so, right? Well, it ended up taking us somewhere around an hour and 20 minutes! We did find all 8 stations, some of them more than once. The biggest challenge was getting out after we'd found the last station. Here we are lost in a pile of pineapples.

Polynesian Cultural Center

2008-12-12T00:45:00.000-05:00

Rich and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center on the day after his conference was over. I had gotten tickets ahead of time and we almost didn't make it. It had rained all night long and was supposed to rain all day and there were flash flood watches for the entire island. The center opens at noon and I had been told that you should get there as soon after opening as possible to have plenty of time to explore all the villages. Being concerned about the weather we didn't get there until about 2:00pm. That gave us three hours to explore which turned out to not be enough time. Oh well.

The first village that we visited was Samoa. Did you know that on the island of Samoa the men do all the cooking? I think I could handle that. :) We watched a great demonstration. A young man from Samoa told us about life there. He started fire by rubbing two sticks together (very impressive!). He showed us how to crack open a coconut, the difference between the juice and the milk, how they use the husks. In this picture he has just finished scraping out the meat of the coconut and is showing us the empty shell. He did it in about 5 seconds! Yes, those are real tattoos from his waist to his knees.

There are seven villages and we saw five of them. Each village has some kind of demonstration or activity. We didn't see everything at each of those five villages, but I think we caught the highlights. After visiting villages it was time to go to an authentic Hawaiian luau for dinner. The food was wonderful and the entertainment was great. Can you see behind the dancers in the picture? It was the most beautiful mountain backdrop with waterfalls and tropical foliage. An amazing setting.

After dinner we attended the "Horizons" evening show. It's an incredible 90 minutes of Polynesian dancing, music and storytelling with a cast of over a hundred. It was difficult to get pictures with the low light levels since the performers were in constant motion. During intermission we had some Pineapple Deelite, a pineapple ice cream and fruit concotion. Deelectable!

It was a very fun day.

Bishop Museum

2008-12-11T23:25:00.001-05:00

The Bishop Museum was on my list of things to do. The natural and cultural museum is the largest museum in the state. I went right after meeting Rich for lunch and stayed almost until closing. I could have easily spent more time there. From their website:

Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawai‘i and other Pacific island cultures.

Hawaiian Hall was closed as it's undergoing a two-year renovation, but there were still other exhibits to see. Polynesian Hall was most interesting with two floors of artifacts from the various Polynesian cultures. I also saw a show at the planetarium called "Explorers of Polynesia." We learned how Polynesian voyagers used the stars to navigate and even took a trip from Hawaii to Tahiti! Well, actually we saw how the sky would change on such a trip.

I'm so used to not being able to take pictures in museums, that I didn't even realize I could have taken pictures there until I was on my way out.

When I got back to the hotel, the sun was starting to set. It was cloudy the whole week we were there so I never did get a nice picture of the sun setting over the water, but I got this one of it setting into the clouds.

Hula Lessons!

2008-12-11T15:05:00.000-05:00

The hotel that we stayed at offers free hula lessons on some weekday mornings. How could I go to Hawaii and not learn how to hula, right? It was a lot of fun. The young woman teaching spent about 45 minutes telling us about traditional and modern hula, and some of the implements used. Here's a dorky picture of me posing with some of the implements.

After that we were ready to get started. She taught us a few basic steps and some hand motions. Then, we learned choreography for a hawaiian song which I don't remember. While I had a ton of fun I have to say that I have never felt so uncoordinated and ungraceful in my entire life! There were about 15 of us and we all put our cameras on a table so that a hotel staff employee could take pictures for us. He snapped several pictures with each camera. Here's one of them. Do you see me? No? I'm behind the really cute girl in the middle of the front row. You can see just a little of the bright pink blouse that I'm wearing.

While he took pictures from different angles, in most of them I'm behind somebody. At first I was a little upset about it, but then I realized that I have proof that I took hula lessons without anyone seeing just how uncoordinated I am. :)

'Iolani Palace

2008-12-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

I visited 'Iolani Palace one afternoon while Rich was in meetings. They give guided tours in the mornings and there are audio self-guided tours in the afternoons. The audio tour took about 45 minutes and was so informative. I realized that I knew virtually nothing about Hawaii before it became a state.

The palace was built in the early 1880s and served as the official residence of the last two monarchs. It was built to have the most modern amenities for the time - indoor plumbing, gas lighting (which was changed to electric just a few years later), even a telephone system. When you consider that Bell invented the telephone in 1876 and Edison made the incandescent light bulb practical in 1879, the palace was ultra modern for its time. When the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the furniture and furnishings were sold at public auction. It was used for government offices until 1969 when a new capitol building was constructed. Restoration began almost immediately and it was opened to the public in 1978. Many of the original palace objects that were sold at auction have been recovered, but the search continues.

This is one of the plaques that hangs on a gate that goes around the palace grounds. It depicts the Coat of Arms for the Kingdom of Hawaii. The motto is attributed to King Kamehameha III and translates to "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness."

This building, known as Ali'iolani Hale, was the Kingdom of Hawaii's government office building and is across the street from the palace. It is now used as the Hawaii State Supreme Court building and also houses the Judiciary History Center.

Here's a close-up of the Kamehameha Statue in front of the building.

Waikiki Aquarium

2008-12-10T11:00:00.001-05:00

Rich had a morning free and we walked to the Waikiki Aquarium. It's about a mile from the hotel, but it's a nice walk. Waikiki is very touristy with lots of shopping. I'm not much for shopping, but most of the stores had already started decorating for Christmas and it was fun to take in the store window decorations. It also felt a little odd seeing mannequins with scarves and hats when it was 80 degrees out.

The aquarium has been there for over 100 years! Its exhibits focus on the aquatic life of the tropical Pacific. There was a lot of information about the different types of coral and how they grow and survive. I kind of wish I'd seen this before I'd gone snorkeling as I might have had a better appreciation for the coral and not focused just on the fish. Next trip, right?

On our way back I snapped this pic of a banyan tree in a park. Isn't it amazing?

Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay

2008-12-10T00:15:00.001-05:00

The next day we got up early and went to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve to go snorkeling. We didn't take our digital camera because we knew we'd be having to leave it unattended on the beach. We couldn't have taken it into the water, but it would have been nice to get a few pictures of the bay. We brought a disposable underwater camera with us to take pictures while snorkeling. We could have probably taken a few pictures of the bay and the beach with it, but we used up the entire camera taking pictures of fish. Unfortunately, the pictures did not come out. I was really hoping that I'd have lots of amazing pictures to put into a web album, but only a couple are even worth sharing.

While I'm disappointed with the pictures, I am in no way disappointed with the experience. It was so incredibly amazing! I had never snorkeled before and was a little nervous about it. It only took a few minutes to figure it out and be comfortable breathing through a tube. The hardest part was getting in and out of the water with fins on!

We saw so many beautiful fish in colors that I never would have believed. We saw a sea turtle which was pretty exciting also. Here are the not-so-great pictures. You'll get the idea. The school of fish pictures are especially of poor quality, but I had to share them. Can you even imagine how incredible it was to see that up close and personal? I can barely believe I got to see it myself.

We spent four hours there. When we got back to the hotel, we took showers and immediately crashed. We had had such a great time that we hadn't even realized how exhausted we were.

Taking in the Scenery

2008-12-09T22:55:00.002-05:00

Having gotten in after dark, we looked forward to exploring the island in the daytime. It was a little hazy out. Our waitress at breakfast told us that it was expected to be a little hazy all week long because of the volcanic activity on another island. Diamond Head was so close that we thought that was the perfect place to start. We planned on hiking the trail to the top and getting a bird's eye view of the area. Except, this sign was waiting for us when we got there.

The trail was closed. But, it would be reopening just a couple of days before we were to leave, so we weren't too disappointed. We were able to stop at a lookout point outside the rim and get this picture. I think it's Koko Head. We didn't climb Koko Crater. Next trip?

We drove to Halona Blowhole. Rich remembered having seen it on his visit to Hawaii 28 years earlier. See the little pool of water in the rocks? When the waves are just right, water shoots up like a geyser from lava tubes that extend into the ocean. The day we were there, just a fine spray was coming up, but I'm told that with the right conditions water can shoot up 30 feet.

The waves along the north shore are at their highest this time of year. Driving to the north shore was going to take over an hour from where we were at the southeastern point of the island. So, instead of going to the north shore, we drove up the eastern coast to the Marine Corps Base near Kaneohe Bay, where because of the shape of the island, the waves come from the north.

We made it back to the hotel in time to snap this pic of the sunset.

Guess Where I Was?

2008-12-09T21:00:00.001-05:00

I've written 10 posts in the past week and am still barely to the middle of November. At the rate I'm going I'll be lucky to catch up before the end of the year!

Well, here we are in the middle of November and it's getting a little cold in the DC area. Well, maybe not cold to the people who live here, but cold for someone from the southwest. I've lived in cold places before, but it's been quite a while. Anyway, not to worry because for the next week and a half I was going with Rich to a conference in...<drumroll>...HAWAII!

I'd never been to Hawaii and was so looking forward to going. The conference was being held on Oahu at a hotel in Waikiki . The only thing I wasn't looking forward to was the long flight there. We stopped in Dallas with about an hour to wait. Lots of shops at the Dallas airport. I don't remember what store this was, but I had to snap a picture of one of the mannequins. I can't decide if it's amusing or disturbing. :)

From Dallas to Honolulu, it was an eight hour flight. The flight was absolutely full and I had a middle seat. I dozed some, read some, watched one of the movies (Mamma Mia) and dozed and read some more. I didn't think we were ever going to get there. We finally landed and I was so excited I could barely contain myself. While I was waiting for the baggage, Rich went to check on the rental car and came back with a lei! Can you see how excited I am?

Happy Birthday, Kristina!

Another Block Done

2008-12-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

I finished another block for my Thru Grandmother's Window quilt. This makes number ten. You can see them all here . This isn't the best picture of the colors in this block. I didn't notice how off it was until I uploaded it into the web album and saw it with all of the others. The first 5 blocks were all taken at the same time. The rest have been taken in different places, with different lighting.

This block felt like it took forever to make. I'm not sure why that is as it wasn't a difficult block to make. Maybe I'm just getting a little anxious to have them all done.

The National Cathedral

2008-12-07T22:45:00.002-05:00

On Veterans Day I drove Mom and Tín out to Washington National Cathedral. There aren't any Metro stops near the cathedral. We would have had to take the Metro and then transfer to a bus. I decided to brave it and drive there. Luckily, it wasn't too bad.

I can see the Cathedral when I'm on the treadmill at the fitness center in my building. Even from that far away it looks pretty huge. Being there up close and personal is another matter though. It is immense. A tour on the art and architecture of the cathedral was going to be starting soon after we got there so we sat in a pew and waited about 10 minutes. I was gawking again.

The tour lasted about an hour and was very informative, but I felt like it barely scratched the surface because there was so much to take in. The docent told us about gothic architecture, the history of the cathedral, the chapels, the stained-glass windows, the carvings, the wrought-iron gates, the organs, the needlepointed kneelers and more. This picture is of the high altar. I'm amazed by the carving. The statues are incredible, but what takes my breath away is the decorative filigree-like work. This is stone! Just amazing.

The stained glass windows (according to the website there are 231 of them) are so beautiful. This not very good picture is called The Space Window and contains a piece of lunar rock embedded in it. Does that surprise you? It did me. Since the cathedral is gothic in style you get the feeling as though it's been there for hundreds of years, but it hasn't. The foundation stone was laid in 1907. It was built in sections with the west towers completed in 1990, making it the longest-running construction project in DC.

There are different tours and I sure hope to do each one. I haven't checked them out yet, but there are online tours that you can do from the comfort of your own home. My next trip there will be to see the Annual Creché Exhibit for the holidays.

The Peacock Room

2008-12-07T15:42:00.003-05:00

After our "money" tour we walked through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery . The galleries are mostly dedicated to the huge collections of American and Asian art amassed by Charles Lang Freer. His interest in Asian Art came from his friendship with American artist James McNeill Whistler whose work was heavily influenced by Japanese prints and Chinese ceramics.

The highlight for us was The Peacock Room, a dining room painted by Whistler for a wealthy London businessman. Mom just happens to have an obsession a collection of peacocks in her home and years ago I had given her a book that I'd found about The Peacock Room. You can read the story behind this famous room by clicking on the link from the webpage. After reading about the history of the room, I think Whistler must have been quite a character.

The Color of Money

2008-12-07T15:30:00.001-05:00

Back in September when I went to the Washington Monument, I walked up to the ticket window around 1:00pm and was given a ticket for two hours later. I had heard that it was difficult to get same day tickets during the tourist season and so had figured that tourist season was slowing down. If it was slowing down the middle of September, it must be even slower in November, right?

Mom, Tín and I headed for The Mall and while they went into the Smithsonian Institution Building (aka the Castle), I walked over to the Washington Monument to pick up tickets. It was only around 11:00am and they were all out for the day! How could that be? I guess I got lucky back in September.

We were able to get in a tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing though. The tour started out with an informative video and then took us through the facility where we got to see blank sheets of paper turned into currency. It's a pretty amazing process. Did you know that you don't have to travel all the way to DC to see money being printed? You can also take a tour at the Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, TX.

Here's Tín. Can you see how much he would be worth if he were a stack of $100 bills?

Oh, Shenandoah

2008-12-05T15:54:00.006-05:00

You may remember when Rich and I went to the Library of Congress because it was pouring rain and we couldn't go apple picking. Being just a couple of weeks later we thought we'd give it another try. We (Mom, Tín, Rich and I) drove out to the Marker Miller Orchards in Winchester, VA. This wasn't all that far from where we'd gone three weeks earlier when we drove along Skyline Rd. It's about an hour and a half drive and while the leaves weren't quite as vibrant as before, they were beautiful nonetheless. I don't think I could ever get tired of seeing the autumn colors here.

It turns out that apple picking time was over. That didn't stop us from buying apples, apple cider, apple butter, apple dumplings, apple cider doughnuts and apple caramel cookies. We'd almost eaten all of the doughnuts before I remembered to snap this pic. I still have a little bit of apple butter left in my fridge and it is sooo good. I'm trying to ration it out so that it lasts a while. It's not easy.

On our way to the orchard we saw a sign for the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley . Since we hadn't spent any time apple picking and it was a slightly chilly but beautiful day, we decided to check it out. It's a fairly new museum having just opened three and a half years ago. It is dedicated to the art, history and culture of the Shenandoah Valley. The Glen Burnie Historic House is also on site as well as several acres of gardens. We toured the house and the museum.

We didn't spend much time in the gardens since it was a little chilly and not the best time of year for gardens. I'll bet they're beautiful in the spring and summer though. I thought this statue was, hmmm, I don't know, whimsical?

Oh! I almost forgot to mention. There was a miniatures gallery in the museum. I didn't think we were ever going to see Mom again.

Mount Vernon - Again

2008-12-03T10:49:00.000-05:00

The weather service predicted a beautiful day so we headed to Mount Vernon. You might remember that I had just been there the week before. The drive down there was beautiful once again. While the trees were starting to drop their leaves some, the colors were still pretty amazing. It did turn out to be a beautiful day which made walking around the mansion, outer buildings and gardens so much nicer.

I think we spent the entire day there. Even though I've been there twice before I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen before. Or, was able to spend more time on things that I rushed through before. The first time there I walked through the Education Center and read most everything, but didn't stop to watch all the video presentations (I think there are more than a dozen). I think I was able to catch almost all of them this time. One area I hadn't noticed was a Hands-On Learning center for children. They had period dress-up clothes and a doll-house sized replica of the mansion for kids to play with. There were probably a lot of other things, but those caught my attention the most. Here are Mom and Tín as George and Martha Washington. You can tell the cutouts were for kids as their faces barely show through.

I'm hoping to make a quick trip there for the holidays.