Colonial Williamsburg

Last weekend, as a birthday treat for me, Daniel and I took a day trip to Williamsburg. It was a gorgeous sunny December day, perfect for tri-corner hats, mulled cider, and a bit of history. I love Colonial Williamsburg and have never visited during the holiday season so it was quite a treat to see all the winter decorating. I am not usually a big fan of christmas decorations, I like christmas lights, but ornaments or tinsil or garland and wreaths I could take or leave but after going up to Williamsburg I think I have a new found appreciation for such things. Colonial Williamsburg decorates all of its buildings with handmade wreaths and garland that stay true to materials that were historically used during the colonial period. It was amazing that they could make such interesting things out of such simple everyday items. Garland made of gumballs(the kind that fall from trees, not the ones you chew), wreaths made of peach pits and oranges, ornaments made from apples-and all were just as pretty, and so much more interesting than the store bought plastic ones. One home had horse stirrups hanging from the shutters with a different colored apple in each one. I love the simplicity of it all!
The picture below shows a simple wreath made of corn cobs.

The tavern below was one of my favorites but I didnt get a very good photo of it. The door is decorated with wheat ears fanned out in a nice pattern and the sign hanging in the upper right corner shows the use of apples as decorations, from a distance they look like christmas balls. So primitive and eco-friendly! Maybe next year I will break out the apples, dig up the old stirrups I have in the garage and do a little decorating myself. I know there are a ton of gumballs to wrap our house ten times over with garland. I wonder if Daniel could eat enough peaches between now and next christmas to make one of those peach pit wreaths?

Here are a few more pics from our trip:



I love these bell jars! I have to find out where I can get some of these:
I love these sheep! I just have to find out where to get some of these:

I love this contraption, perhaps I should get one of these too:

Grand Illumination Parade

Last weekend Daniel and I joined my sister and her family at the Grand Illumination parade in downtown Norfolk. The parade kicks off the lighting of the christmas lights that outline the high rise buildings and the light posts in downtown. So we bundled up, warmed our tummies with some Starbucks and fought for a parking spot to get a glimpse of the festivities. I am always pleasantly surprised at how many people show up for this event. I always figure that since it is freezing, and the parking is insane that no one will show up to an after dark festival geared to children, but they do! My favorite float was the space shuttle, I also thought the fish balloon was cute!

Fall & Winter are Here!

The receptionist at my work made an annoucement today over the intercom that the first snowflakes of the season were gracing us with their presence. All of my coworkers with windowless offices (myself included) gathered around the windows to take in the sight. Snowflakes aren't a common occurrence around here, so everyone was kinda excited. I can't believe that three days ago it was sunny and 70s, I think it is safe to say that the 70s are out and the 30s are in, bbrrrrr. Judging by the amount of leaves in our backyard its supposed to be Fall but it feels more like Winter to me. Daniel and I are waiting for all the leaves to drop off the trees before we bother raking. I have a feeling we will be outside raking all day Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Here is a pic of Cooper in the leaves. It is hard to believe that the last time the leaves fell he was just a little pup. He has gotten so big. Daniel weighed him the other night and he was 66 pounds. I think he still has some filling out to do.

As for Daniel and I, we havent done much in the past few weekends. Much of our time has been preoccupied with trying to fix a plumbing problem in our only shower. I have lost count on how many times we have been to Home Depot's plumbing department. That is one boring department! Up until now I have enjoyed gong to the hardware store. Checking out the appliances is fun, the hardware department, the power tools sections, I even find that the lumber section has a few redeeming qualities and it doesnt hurt that it smells good too, but the plumbing department is a snore. While we were out this past weekend we stopped by a local art center to see the "canstructions" that the local college engineer students put together as a benefit for a food charity. The theme this year was from Monty Python's Spamalot. The structures are made of cans, bags, and boxes of stacked food. Here is a photo of a castle and "Yosemite Spam" (the pupil of his left eye fell off and is on the floor in front of it). There was also a few pigs an cows and an entire flea circus. It was cute. Thats it for now.

I voted!

With the fanfare of this election, its hard to admit that voting has never really been that important to me. I try to blame it on my neutral upbringing, (Jehovahs Witnesses never get involved in politics), but I think thats just an excuse. So this election, despite the dreary rain, my desire to sleep in, and lines that wrapped around buildings, I made sure that I got out and voted. My precinct casts its ballots at a local church, which I always think is little odd since I thought church and state werent the best bedfellows so to speak. Anyway, when I pulled up to the church and saw the 6 foot fence with barb wire around it and bars on the window I realized that I was glad I chose to vote in the morning instead of the evening because if I had showed up after dark I dont think I would have gotten out of my car. But it looked safe enough during the day so I stood in line for a bit over an hour to cast my vote. It was a fairly ordinary experience except for the nagging doubt afterwards that I filled out the form improperly and my vote may not have counted, for that fact I feared that we all had filled out the ballot incorrectly and no one in that precinct would be counted! You see, the city of Portsmouth is the only city in the Hampton Roads area that was using a paper ballot that you had to fill out with a pencil. Everyone else has an electronic system. When I was waiting in line, I had noticed that every 5 or ten feet there were signs posted everywhere that showed you how to fill out the ballot properly. On every sign it said "Use a number two pencil", just like a high school Scantron test. When I got up to the voting booth with my paper ballot that said at the top "USE A #2 PENCIL",I was expecting to see cups of pencils available to everyone, but the only thing available to the voters were markers. I looked around and everyone was using markers so I am sure it was ok, right? I seemed to be the only one questioning it, so I am going to assume that markers could work. Who knows, Portsmouth is such a sad little city stuck in the dark ages.

(THis photo was about 45 minutes into the wait, I thought when I got to the doors I could vote, but I was quite disappointed when I got the door and saw even more line.)

Is it 2005?

I was a bit groggy when I passed the eleventh WAWA on my way to work this morning so when I looked out the window and saw that gas was under $2 a gallon I wondered if I was dreaming, I had to pinch myself and sure enough I wasnt so I scrambled to get my camera and take a picture before the stoplight changed from red to green. Actually, forget the light, I probably needed to take the picture before the price changed again. Who knows how long this will last. As some may know, I have very mixed feelings about these fluctuations in gas prices that the country has been experiencing lately. Part of me is selfish and delights in the fact that it doesnt cost almost a days wages to fill up my gas guzzler. Then there is the other part of me, the side that wants to see the bigger picture and is sad to see gas prices fall. That side of me wants to see them get higher, like $8 or $9 a gallon at least! I know it sounds ridiculous and would truly "shoot me in the foot" considering my commute, but the only way to get the average American to look at the crisis that we are creating with our dependency on this high polluting foreign oil and the corrupt companies involved is to get them where it hurts, the wallet. When gas prices are low no one thinks of their energy consumption or considers alternatives. Is it not discontent that spurs change? Why buy a hybrid or consider investing in research for alternative fuels if gas is cheap and flowing like water? American cars have only gotten 6% more fuel efficient since they were originally invented. The Model T Ford got 17 miles to the gallon, that is more than my truck right now! Americans citizens are at the mercy of oil and the oil companies that are squashing the advancements of technology. I say let the prices go sky high and see what happens.

A bit of paint and as good as new-almost

Well we have been back from our trip for a few weeks now and unfortunately have settled down into the everyday, laundry -work-eat-sleep -repeat. Before we left we kept saying that "when we get back we have to do something with this kitchen!" Sure enough as soon as we returned we got some paint and sandpaper and with a bit of elbow grease(mostly Daniel's) we repainted the kitchen. Here is a before picture:

And here are a couple of afters. Daniel took the ugly country woodcut above the sink out and replaced the ugly light fixture above the sink. All the dingy off white is gone and so is the blue. I will have to say that I think it is quite an improvement.

The Redwoods

Check out these huge trees! We were just waiting for a Brontesaurus to step out from behind a tree, thats how surreal these forests are. Quiet, fern covered, eerily still, its like a place where gnomes and fairies should live. I was just amazed at how large and old these trees are.

The Coast, Again

Our last day at the coast we spent in Brookings looking for tide pools hoping to get a glance at some sea urchins or starfish. The day started out nice and sunny but the fog rolled in quickly. I personally didnt mind, I prefer overcast skies, you have to when you are pale. At this particular area of the beach there was a sign posted that said that a mountain lion had been spotted recently and to beware. "Beware of Mountain Lions" - that can make you a bit paranoid. I am surprised that people didnt hunt it down and kill it for showing its face on the beach. That seems like typical human behavior.
Unfortunately, we didnt spot any tide pools because the tide wasnt low enough but we still had a good time,...



...Plus we got to feed some animals. Among some of the rocks near the coast, there are gopher-like ground squirrells living in holes and tunnels in the ground. When you walk up to them, the fat speckled ground squirrels pop out of their holes hoping to be fed human food. I decided to feed them a granola bar. As soon as I opened the granola bar about twelve of them ran to our feet and started begging. I was afrad they were going to run up our pant legs, they were so insistent.

Pacific Sunset

I have seen my share of Atlantic Coast Sunrises but have never watched the sunset over the Pacific, so here is my first. We were driving down the coast heading to Gold City to spend the night, so we stopped to take a few pics.

Oregon Wildlife

While we were in Oregon, we saw quite a bit of wildlife, unfortunately most of it wasnt very wild. Daniels parents took us to a wildlife rehab center that takes in animals that are injured or abused and rehabs them to either release or keep at the facility. The bears were quite sleepy and unexpectedly stinky. They had black bears, Kodiak bears, mountain lions, bobcats, foxes, wolves and a huge collection of birds of prey. My favorite out of all was the Badger. He was so fat and cute and quite lazy. Badgers are supposed to be fierce creatures that you wouldnt want to encounter in the wild. But this one had been raised by humans so he acted like he would have curled up in our laps and cuddled. Unfortunately we didnt get a photo of him.


My favorite animal, (well maybe a close second to the badger)...

Oregon: Jacksonville

One of my favorite towns in Oregon is Jacksonville. Its a cute little historic town just outside of Medford that still has its "Gold Rush" appeal. we like to get coffee there and visit the toy shop and other cute stores that sell handmade things. My favorite is one called Terra Firma which is the kind of store I would like to open in Olde Towne Portsmouth.



It may look like we stepped into the 1800s, Daniel's phone and iced latte keeps him in 2008.

Finally Crater Lake!

Third time is a charm! The past two times I tried to see this natural phenomenon, Daniel and I would get all the way to the ranger station and they would make us turn around because the ice and snow was too dangerous. I guess it pays to take the trip in the summer.
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It was created when the mountain was a volcano and the top colapsed in on it. It is almost 2000 feet deep and is at an altitude of over 7000 feet, which is the highest altitude that I have ever been on land. It was gorgeous! Bluer than the sky and quite clear. It was also pretty cold. Where we were standing at the rim it was around 65 degrees but when you peaked down towards the water you could feel the cold air rising from the lake.




This was the lodge at the top. We went inside and all the fireplaces were burning and everything had this neat craftsman style wood cabin feel. we considered staying the night but we decided to save our limited resources for something else.