Annapolis Adventure

It's not often I wait until Wednesday to blog about the weekend, but it's been a busy week and I can't quite figure out evenings.

I work from 9.30am-6.30pm.  I've worked those hours before in London, with an equally long - but much more tiring - commute.  Perhaps the reason I'm confused is that back then I stopped planning as soon as I got home.  Now, the 9 o'clock hour is reserved for talking to Jeff, so I like to get chores done beforehand and internety things afterwards - and weekends are also no longer laundry-filled lolling about in pyjama days.  I have things to see, and places to explore, with somebody!

So anyway, this has been a hard week so far, mainly because of this one English project.  I got one phase of it QC'd and handed over but it was mind-boggling because the client gave it to us so mangled up the project managers and graphics department are in overdrive.  And I have to sift through that confusion.  I tell you, it was such a relief to turn to the relatively simple Italian documents sitting on my desk all morning.

You know what I like hearing when I am on the metro?  Leaving the Foggy Bottom-George Washington University station, the driver often says, "This is the last stop in the District of Columbia.  Next stop is Rosslyn, the first stop in the Commonwealth of Virginia."  I'll have to tell you more sometime about Virginia, the Old Dominion founded in 1607 as the first English settlement in North America.  And of course you know it's named after Elizabeth the Virgin Queen?

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But you want to know about Saturday, of course.

It was a lovely nearly-hot day which was pushed a little late because J had training to do at the office.  When he picked me up, we went to get a hat for me (which I couldn't wear because it was so windyu) and a pair of sunglasses for him (which he wore because it was so sunny).

On to Annapolis.  It's only about a 45-minute drive so we were there around mid-afternoon and wandered about a bit, taking in the atmosphere and watching the people, including midshipmen (male and female) in their summer whites.  It is a quaint, pretty, quirky town full of arts and crafts, seafood bars, galleries, antique shops, cafes.

Then we came upon a 40-minute boat cruise on the Severn River, which took us past the US Naval Academy, towards the Chesapeake Bay.

Up the Severn River with the US Naval Academy to the left

A pretty sailboat

Afternoon skies over the USNA

Sunset over the Severn River

Sunset over the USNA dorms and chapel dome.

The dorms are the second largest in the world, housing 4,000 midshipmen.

The chapel dome has a gilt cupola on top.

Returning to dock after the cruise.

Jeff's cool new sunglasses and my old ones

McGarvey's Saloon and Oyster Bar on Pinkney Street, Annapolis.

It was all wood-panelling, tile floors, marble tables, Tiffany lamps.  There was an atrium room where we ate in the left building, which had a real tree growing out of the floor and it reached the glass ceiling.  I couldn't take a pic as by then it was too dark.

I was taking a photo of the chocolate marquise we shared to round out the 3-course seafood dinner.  Even this we couldn't finish.  We rarely finish anything.  And yes, J is well aware that any photo I take could end up here, which is kind of why he did that.

The Maryland State House and Flag on State Circle, Annapolis.
Built in 1772, the state house is the oldest continually-used capitol building in the US, and for a short while even served as the nation's capitol.
The Maryland flag is unusual and probably the only one in the union to be based on heraldry:

It represents the quartered Calvert and Crossland family crests.  MD was founded in 1639 as a English colony by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.  Crossland was his mother's family and as she was an heiress he was entitled to use her family crest in his own (the red and white cross bottony).  The yellow and black palisades represent a fortress.  Maryland is the only state to display a gold cross on its flagpole.

Coming up for air

Yes, Glo, here I am - I read the late comments on my last post!

Omigosh!  It's raining cats, dogs and a few horses out there!  It started just as I typed the last sentence.  This evening walking home the air was heavy, warm and moist, like a primordial soup, with a few silent flashes of lightning.  Like the rebirth of life was about to happen.

Anyway, you want to hear about the job.  The image of the cherry blossoms above are from the two trees flanking the office entrance in Arlington.  Everyone is so nice and friendly there.  It's a quiet and studious environment, which is perfect for me.  When it's a hectic week, you can hear a pin drop.  When there's not enough work, it gets noisy.

So far, I've edited documents in Latvian, Portuguese, French, and - get this - Azeri (from Azerbaijan) for things I shouldn't tell you about.  But I now know how to say gamma and neutron in more than one language.

I'm a tri-stater now:  live in DC, work in VA, hang out in MD.  I've never crossed state lines so much in my life.

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This weekend with J was wonderful!  Saturday was hot - nearly 80F/27C - so we absolutely had to stay outdoors.  We went to Great Falls national park which sprawls across both Virginia and Maryland.  We were in the Md. part of course, on a part known as the Billy Goat Trail.  Being a native Marylander, J knows all that there is to do in that state.

Some rapids where we spotted a few kayakers going sideways

After about a mile hike, resting on the rocks at a small inlet beach

Leaving the inlet and heading back the way we came, we stalked a blue heron.  This is 5x zoom.

At a quiet pond we spotted another heron - can you see it?



There he is - being all still and zen waiting for a meal

Roots of a log that spans the stream



Pretty blue flowers (any of you expert floraphiles know?)

Gritty, sweaty, and icky, we freshened up (good thing he only lives 10 minutes from my place), I got picked up again and crossed back into Maryland where we went to dinner at a very swanky Vietnamese place in Bethesda.  It was some of the nicest decor I've ever seen in an Asian restaurant down to the details - very homey despite the soaring ceilings, the fancy aquarium and the waterfall behind the bar.

As a result of all the clambering and climbing, I was very sore today.  My quadriceps and even my deltoids are feeling it because I used my arms a lot to climb up and down.  It's funny because J feels it in his calves, but mine are fine.

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Sunday was very Sunday-ish.  J picked me up and we went to lunch and then Macy's.  My mission failed in that they were out of my shade of makeup.  J's mission was accomplished in that I helped him pick out a new shirt and tie for a client event on Tuesday.  If it doesn't work I accept the blame.  Even though I used to buy ties for Dad, I haven't had that much practice matching them with shirts and suits.  Then we went to DSW Shoe Warehouse where I made up for the lack of makeup by buying two pairs of shoes for work.

We rambled around downtown Bethesda for a while and enjoyed the band playing Led Zeppelin outside Barnes & Noble.  When it tried to rain, we retreated inside to share a big cookie and sat together reading magazines until it got dark and chilly outside.  Finally, we went to Austin Grill for a dinner of starters, enough for two small people.  I think we stayed out much later than I had expected for a Sunday night!

Two interesting cakes in the window of a cupcake bakery:

I shall call this one Wedgwood

Cherry Blossoms...

...or "Livvy Petals" as J called them which I think is very cute.

49th Annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival

I was to meet up with the Meetup.com World Culture group in front of the Natural History museum before 10am, and having had a long week, Jeff would join us at noon.  I set my alarm for 7.15am, but didn't notice it was my Monday-Friday alarm, so woke up sometime after 8 and wasn't downtown until at least 10.30.  I caught most of the parade, but I didn't have a great vantage point, most of them already being taken.  I really don't need to go to another for a very long time, but I enjoyed the marching bands.

J arrived at noon and we tried to fight the crowds at the food stalls, but there were too many people and in my opinion not enough food stalls, so we ditched the festival and took the metro down to the Daily Grill where we ate in civilized fashion.  So - no martial arts shows, no taiko drums, no dancing geisha.  Sorry!

We cabbed it back to the Tidal Basin area and spent the next few hours wandering through cherry blossoms and dodging pointed cameras.  

It was an extremely windy day and everyone had wild hair.  The wind was chilly but in the pauses the sun was hot.  We were disappointed that the wind prevented the paddle boats from going on the water, but another time perhaps...

When we got to the Jefferson Memorial we sat on the steps and watched Indian dancers on the stage opposite.  When they were done, a band from Gibraltar spent about a half hour setting up while Led Zeppelin played over the speakers to keep us distracted.  The Gibraltans played very foot-tapping Spanish-style numbers but we couldn't stay much longer as the sun was getting low and it was time to keep moving.

On the way out of the area, we walked through the endless  FDR memorial, which is made of granite and is full of waterfalls, fountains, engraved bronze surfaces, and rough-hewn blocks of juxtaposed pink granite.  We also discovered across a random lawn a small memorial to those District of Columbians who gave their lives in the Great War.

And then on the way to the metro we took a small detour so I could see the more famous side of the White House (since in January I only got the back, and lots of ice) with the bonus addition of cherry blossoms.

Nearby is the Department of the Treasury, with a statue of Alexander Hamilton:

We went up to Bethesda for some good sushi, sake, gyoza, and green tea.  Halfway through dinner, I got a text from Diva saying they were nearly ready for our webcam session, so J stepped up the pace saying, "We have to go, because you have a show".  It had been Nags' surprise 40th birthday party, so Amy and Pandy were there too.  The connection was worse than last time, so we gave up after a valiant effort, but it was lovely to see everyone and say hi and have them "meet" Jeff.

Midweek Miscellany

On Monday, after a mini-adventure up to Jeff's office (where he had kindly printed out my thank you letter to the translation company), I visited World Market to buy spices and an apron.  I was so thirsty I also picked up a lychee drink.  The bottle was very interesting, so I sat in the atrium of the Mazza Gallerie to open and marvel at it, and roll the glass ball around inside. 

I happened to look up, and this is what I saw:

I ran some more errands, and going up the stairs to my porch, I picked these up off the ground:



The courtyard is full of trees with white blossoms.

Yesterday, the translation co emailed me a second QC test to print out and mark up using provided proofreading/editing marks plus company guidelines - it was a bad faxed copy of a cost table in Russian, and the English translation.  There were some bad errors, but it was tricky enough that I flapped my hands about a bit.  The all-in-one printer I inherited from my landlady would not scan, so I faxed it from the UPS Store this morning.

Interesting development, that, isn't it?

Slow Day

Shot myself in the foot by posting today's photo as the banner pic - so here it is again.

Do any of you gardeners know what it is?  (I don't.)

Thanks to all the unfamiliar pollen, I'm fighting non-sneezy allergies (headache and sore throat) BUT...still excited because:

Spring is here!

Birds were broadcasting their joy like maniacs in trees, and squirrels were busy chattering at each other over mistaken nut stashes.

Crocuses purple, white, and yellow, are still around.  

A few stubborn wilting snowdrops persist.

Daffodils are turning up their bright faces to the sun.

Yellow and purple pansies have been planted in front gardens.

Most trees are still biding their time, but some are smothered in white blossoms.

And blooms in varying shades of pink inhabit different kinds of bushes.

But most importantly, the stars of the city - the sakura cherry blossoms - are coming out!

They have nothing to do with real cherries, but are actually magnolias indigenous to Asia and a mainstay of the annual spring celebration across Japan.  Most of the sakura in the US were gifts from Japan at different times in history for different reasons.  More on this after I've been to the festival sometime in the next month.

Oops Easter!

I went out for some lovely easter hymns, came back, called some friends in the US, fell asleep and slept through my dinner slot. I am very hungry but I cannot use the kitchen because my landlady is cooking dinner now.

Yesterday I spent the day out with a cute Australian (originally from Central America) who had the most gorgeous pair of eyes I have ever seen. Seriously. We went for a coffee and a stroll through Green and St James's parks to Westminster, then back again via Trafalgar Square to Piccadilly, where we met his friend (half Spanish, half Greek) who is an even more recent arrival from Oz. We went to a pub in Soho where we were accosted by a homeless druggie; then to dinner in Chinatown; then to another pub in Covent Garden where some "ladies of the night" asked us for directions to Maiden Lane (ah, the irony). It was a long and wonderful day.

Aussies are so cool! Now I know why the Oz guys I have talked to in the past said that if I lived there, I wouldn't be single for long. There is a freshness and sincerity in them that is totally lacking in the pretentious British male with his unrealistic expectations.
These two made me honest, comfortable (as much as you can be with people you've just met), real, and I didn't feel that they were judging me. They accepted me for who I am. After everything I've been through in this city, I needed that.


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First spring walk

What a pretty day it was. Although I woke up with a migraine and some deafness (still congested), I decided to get rid of the laundry I haven't done since before I went to Dallas. In the afternoon, I went for a walk in Regent's Park. I love how it's just round the corner from my house, and every spring I take my first uplifting walk through it. The paths were packed because a lot of people get Good Friday off, even though Easter Monday is a public holiday.

I was bombarded with sounds and images and snippets of life:
Tiny green buds on the ends of branches.
Blossom petals on the ground.
Groups of geese flying over the bridge.
Pigeons doing the courtship dance.
Lady feeding the squirrels and a robin joined in after singing in a bush.
Italian greyhound arcing across the pathway at full bound.
Couples of all ages laughing, chatting, holding hands, kissing.
Mixed groups of adults and children kicking a ball around.
I saw a duck dive and not surface for over 10 seconds.
Children on bicycles have no sense of direction.
A football rolled towards me across the path so I stopped it and kicked it (perfectly directed, may I add) back to its owner.

Standing by a bush looking at some tulips and topiaries, I spotted a robbin who popped up from behind a tulip, peeping at me with his big beady eyes and little red breast, so I stayed there and next minute he'd flitted over into the hedge, and a second later he popped out right at my foot! I had my phone out, but was so excited I couldn't turn the camera on without moving. He hopped about for a bit looking cheeky and then flipped over onto a bench. Sweet!



On my way back home, still enjoying all the sensations, I started sniffling and my eyes got sore, so I decided to pick up some allergy tablets. On a rather empty bit of pathway on my way out, I passed a couple of Middle Eastern men in their late 20s-early 30s, bowling about on the pathway like they owned it. As soon as I was level with them, one of them said something that sounded like, "Hi." In the big city, people learn to ignore what other people say sometimes, so I did. Then his mustachioed companion said it louder and his friend said, "Too much". I was at least 5 steps past them by now and still going. Then I imagine they turned around a bit and the first guy said, "Scuse me!" and his companion followed with, "Hello, scuse me!"

I mean, what am I supposed to say? English guys do not do that unless totally drunk. Italians do, but they are kind of laughable. One time I was waiting at the Tube turnstiles for [the first guy I nearly dated when I came to London] when an Italian man standing near me said, "Would you like to go out for a drink?"

How do they come up with that stuff?

So yea, the only attention I get is from [you fill in the blanks] instead of the guys I am interested in. When I am interested in a guy, I only get as far as "being friends". (See rant below, yes it is happening again.) I will let you know if that ever changes.

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Fresh Eyes

A few points before I get to the meat of today's post:

I. When someone about to interview you says you have an impressive CV, are they just saying that, or do they mean it?

My "impressive" CV hasn't served me well since I got it!

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II. Yesterday was a long hard day at a venture capital firm in the City, not far from where I worked last year at M-C.
The kitchen was fancy - red cabinetry and stainless steel fittings, all automatic soft-close. However, it wasn't stocked with as much tea or biscuits and fruits as at M-C, which definitely had a snacking culture as well as lunch delivered in. But...this place had a mini cafeteria with free food! So between midday and 1.30 pm you can go eat. Chili con carne and wild rice, tacos (the first I have seen on offer in London), baked potato, three types of salad, fruit plates, cheese and cracker plates...


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Every spring, there comes one day when I fall in love with London all over again. Today was the day.

I went to the interview at the Arts Council this morning in bright warm sunshine. It was a straight shot down the Jubilee line to Westminster and barely took half an hour door to door. Whilst dodging tourists, I got to walk past the Houses of Parliament, ask a cute police officer if I was going in the right direction, and gawk at lots of exquisite architecture.

The building I went into was also lovely on the outside. Red brick with stonework, big vaulted wooden doors, and in the lobby there was a stone fireplace and oak "linenfold" panelling.

It was a casual interview with two people, so I was in for only 20 minutes. They liked some of the things I said. I was put on the spot a few times when I had to answer impressively about the role of art in modern life and why looking back at history is important. It's funny how in interviews you can come up with stuff you didn't know you knew. They made all the right sounds of approval. At the end I even asked some questions about which organisations were involved in the project and what they hope it will have become by the end of the year. They said that was a good question.

I got chatting with the receptionist. She is from Los Angeles, also with a master's degree in art history. She did a bit of finance here and nearly died inside, so she is happier earning less in a gentler environment.

I know I will miss earning that kind of money. It will be nearly half what I was getting at M-C, when all I did there was audio, and here I will be an actual project administrator. Oh bah humbug. The compromises we have to make...

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When I left the building, I wandered around soaking in the warm sunshine, and taking in the beauty of Westminster Palace and its environs. In fact, I wished I had my camera with me. It's a good thing my phone camera is good for blogging. Unfortunately, I ran out of space faster than usual since I had uploaded some MP3s onto my media stick, not leaving much room for photos.

And while I was out, I fell in love with London again, as I do one day every spring. Life begins again. There were miles of daffodils in St James's and Green Parks, blushing blossoms on the trees, courting pigeons underfoot. The air was light, the sky was blue, the sun was warm, and the breeze was soft. I felt happy.

I walked through St James's Park, crossed Pall Mall and passed Buckingham Palace (Her Majesty was at home), then through Green Park to Piccadilly and along there to Fortnum & Mason. I haven't been there in many months.

I saw my old friend, a lady who has worked at the deli since I was studying at Christie's. I used to go there for more affordable sandwiches and wraps than those offered at nearby Italian cafes, and she and I would chat. She missed seeing me and said I ought to go round more often. They no longer make sandwiches like they used to, but she offered to make me one anyway, and any time I ever want one. She said she would have liked it if I got a job at the Royal Academy across the road.

I always treat myself after interviews, I don't know why. I bought my usual medium box of assorted chocolates, and she even managed to fit in a couple of marrons glaces (glaced chestnuts), a box of Rose Pouchong tea, a jar of rose and geranium jelly, a jar of quince jelly (I had to stop there or else I would have brought home the violet jelly, lavender jelly, earl grey tea jelly, pomegranate jelly, and rose petal jelly too!), some Bahlsen choc and coconut biscuits, a box each of Duchy Originals sweet oat cakes (the best) and cracked black pepper oat cakes, a lemon for my smoked salmon (forgot yesterday, and have discovered that undressed salmon is a bit ick), a bottle of F&M chili tomato ketchup, some old fashioned sausages, and a box of freshly handmade asparagus and padano ravioli.

Oh, me spoilt, I know :P
Totally...

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Westminster Palace:



























Parliament Square



Thought the Americans would like this one. A bus, the bell tower of Westminster Palace (only the bell is called Big Ben!), and the London Eye across the river.



Westminster Palace peeping out from behind Westminster Abbey




Crossing Pall Mall between St James's Park and Green Park, Buckingham Palace is on the left. Her Majesty was at home...