Christmas 2010

Christmas is a wonder-filled time of the year.  I was blessed to spend mine with my sister Pat and her husband Bob and their family.  The oldest of their grandchildren is seven, and five of them live nearby, so we had a rollicking good time.  Making time for both sides of two different families meant that we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, but we made it an all-day celebration, starting with a hearty breakfast and going through to a turkey dinner in the evening.  In between all the eating there were presents to be opened, new toys to be enjoyed, and lots of fun just being together. 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  Emily had a brand new chair that had her name embroidered on it, and she took possession of it immediately.

Jake got a stuffed blue dog (I think its name is Blue), a character in a cartoon he likes.  He was obviously pleased.

Ava and Elizabeth are the proud owners of American Girl dolls, and they were so excited they could hardly speak!

Abby is a bit young for all the excitement.  Just wait until next year!

For more pictures of this crew and their Christmas, you can check out the Picasa album at http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2/Christmas2010#

Threat of a major snowstorm chased me home on Christmas Day in the afternoon, but we had minimal snow here.  Places north of us got slammed.  A friend in NYC reports 20 inches of white stuff.  They may have it with my blessings.

Christmas and the children's program

On Sunday Calvary United Methodist Church in Annapolis had as a part of its service a Christmas play put on by the children from the Sunday School classes for grades one through six.  Titled "The Grumpy Shepherd", it was very cute, and some of those children have excellent speaking and singing voices for their ages.

Some of the younger children sitting in the audience were heard to complain, "I can't SEE!", and the next thing I knew there were two really cute youngsters sitting quietly in the aisle.

They were quickly joined by six or eight others, and there they remained until they were dismissed for Sunday School at the end of the play.  

The church was richly decorated for Christmas with lots and lots of poinsettias. 



Discovering that I had my pocket camera in my purse was a nice surprise.  Had I realized it earlier, I would have finagled a seat closer to the action!



A weekend in PA

There were many good excuses for spending last weekend in PA.  I haven't seen that crew since the end of July; a new baby has been added to the clan since then; and we were celebrating Jake's second birthday.  Not that I need an excuse, because I always have a great time with the family, but the reasons for this trip made it even more special. 

First of all meet Abigail Grace, born in early September.  She's a little sweetheart.

Her big sister Emily is quite the little helper, especially for one so young.

Jake found the birthday celebration entertaining, especially when he got new toys with wheels.

Halloween also happened around that time, and Jake's sisters Ava and Elizabeth dressed for the occasion at one point.  Ava's bunny had a little powder puff of a tail, which she enjoyed showing off.

If you question how much fun an old lady could have with all these adorable little ones, this one should give you the answer.

For those of you still who want to see more from the weekend, go to
http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2

Now I'm looking forward to the next visit!

Once More at the Renaissance Festival

The Renaissance Festival is such a great opportunity to gawk and take pictures that I had to go back one more time.  Last weekend was the final weekend of the year, and it started out chilly but warmed up to comfortable very quickly.  I have been trying to capture the people who blow soap bubbles with their hands but it is very hard.  This is as close I've managed to come this year.

There is always at least one baby that catches my fancy.

This little girl was really chowing down on her corn on the cob.  Getting her arm painted must have given her an appetite!

As I was sitting in one of the shows, I noticed a young girl who was very busy drawing.  I got up and moved to where I could see her better.  She was very intent on what she was doing.

Often the visitors to the festival are in costume and are accompanied by a "friend" or two.  This one had a shoulder buddy and a bosom buddy she calls "titmouse".  It doesn't look like the titmice I know, but then I'm a birder, not a festival groupie.

So long to the Renaissance Festival for this year.  See you next year, I hope.

Storytelling in Tennessee

The first weekend in October I spent a wonderful three days in little Jonesborough, Tennessee at the National Storytelling Festival.  Picture three days of listening to some of the best storytellers in the world doing their stories just for you--and hundreds of your closest "friends" packed into a very large tent.  There were five of these tents scattered over a five or six block area.

You needed to get to your venue of choice early.  My strategy was to take water and nibbles, choose the venue where I could be content most of the day, and leave only to go to the bathroom or stretch.  Someone would always mind your seat for you, and you returned the favor for them.  Because you tended to be there early (or ended up standing for the hour's program) you got time to watch the setting up process.  The sound and lighting were excellent, especially considering that often there were 500 people in a tent, sometimes listening with reverence to the grand dame of tellers, Kathryn Wyndam, who is in her 90s and sometimes listening to much more boisterous tellers such as Bill Lepp.  Those sound technicians were awesome.  We were not allowed to photograph the performers, but the crew was fair game.

The only time the sound crew was out of its depth was when the trains came by, and then you just had to wait.  Two of the tents were VERY close to the tracks, and they were NOT quiet.  I didn't have to do more than just turn my little Canon camera in the right direction to get this picture, and some of those trains are LONG!  This one had five engines and seemed to go on forever!

If you got hungry, the local restaurants and scout groups and church groups were all ready and willing to sell you food.  I'm sure some of these groups make good money during this event.  The schools let you park in their lots and on their grounds (for a fee, of course) as do many of the local residents.  If you park at the schools, there is a constant stream of shuttle buses running right into town (five minutes away) and you are poised for a quick exit.  It is cheaper to pay for parking at the school and a couple of bucks each way on the shuttle than to park in town.

When the weather was drippy and chilly, the places selling hot drinks and hot food did a booming business.  When it warmed up, the ice cream shop had a line out the door.  Whatever the weather the Lollipop Shop was always busy.

Jonesborough is a pretty little town, and one of its churches presented a nice view near sunset one day.

This was my second time at Jonesborough, and the storytellers were as great as I remembered them being.  There were so many styles of story from the gentle stories of Kathryn Windham to the outrageous ones by Bill Lepp to the hilarious ones by Don Davis that had me laughing until tears ran down my face.  If you think this is something that would interest you, check out http://www.storytellingcenter.net/festival/  and then reserve your place to stay in the spring.  There isn't much in the way of motel space in town and most of us stayed in places like Johnson City, about 20 minutes away.  If you wait till September, you'll just be plain out of luck.

Searching for Ancestors

My mother's maternal grandparents are buried in West Virginia, and her paternal grandfather is buried in Gordonsville, VA.  I figured I could detour a bit when I headed down to Tennessee for the weekend and see both sites.  I had actually been to both of them years ago when I was about 16 years old, and with the help of www.findagrave.com I had good directions to both grave sites. 

The cemetery in Gordonsville had a contact person, so when I asked her if there were a map available that tells who is buried where, she actually went out to the site to verify where my great-grandfather is buried and sent me a map with the section marked in red and a description of landmarks surrounding it.  That one was a cinch and here is the proof.  This fellow died in 1880 when he was only 32 years old, leaving a wife and five children.  The oldest child, my grandfather, was only 12 at the time, and the youngest, named after his father, died a few months later.  Both father and son died of consumption, as tuberculosis was known then.  Here lies the father, George W. Rhodes.  I wished that I had thought to bring a large sheet of paper and crayons or chalk to make a rubbing of the markings, because I couldn't get older eyes to decipher the saying at the bottom.  Next time, perhaps.

The engraving on this stone is long gone, but the stone is small enough to be a child's, and my assumption is that it is the grave of the little one who died not long after his father.

The following day I moved into West-by-God Virginia.  I had directions to the old Greenbrier Church outside Alderson, and the Perry great-grandparents are buried in the cemetery behind the church.  However...

There are NO pictures of Greenbrier Church or the gravestones. I will make a concerted effort to find and scan in the ones I have from years ago and be done with it. I had reasonable directions, but very UNREASONABLE roads.  Some so-called roads I was on at one point made the Going to the Sun Highway in Montana, which I drove this summer, look tame. Almost one lane wide with a tiny space on the edges in case, God forbid, you met someone on the roads which were series on tight S's, that was white-knuckle driving in the extreme.  Fortunately I only met someone once or twice as I drove. When I got to the church after making several wrong turns because I couldn't believe what they wanted me to drive on was considered a road, there was no place to park and no way for several more miles of that road to even turn around. I finally found a real driveway with a real person coming out, and I asked for directions back to Alderson. She suggested I follow her since she was going there. I thought she knew another way.  She apparently did not, for back we went along the same treacherous wanna-be road I had just come along. At least she was the lead going around the curves this time. I figured if she met anyone they would get her first! In Alderson, which isn't much, I found the road to Pence Springs, which is where my grandfather once had a general store.  There was NOTHING there but a gas station with a bathroom, which by then I was beginning to need.  Thank goodness for small blessings!  Onward. I went through Lowell, site of Grandpa's other store in the area and that was a bust, too. SOOOO! Enough of WV. My original plans had an option of going to the county seat in Union to do some research, but that would have required another of those narrow winding roads.  I know, because one of my wrong turns took me a ways down it!  I headed back along roads that were a bit wider and better paved to civilization for the night, stopping in Wytheville, VA.  I do NOT plan to go back to Greenbrier Church. 

Next stop, Jonesborough, TN for the National Storytelling Festival.  Stay tuned!



Tiny Rose

A couple of years ago I was given a miniature rose in a pot.  After it had bloomed nicely indoors I tried to figure out what to do with it.  My indoor space for plants is limited, so I tried it outdoors.  It has been uprooted and replanted a couple of times in trying for just the right space, but this year it has seemed happier and has produced several pretty little roses.  I thought the season was over, but Monday morning I went out to get the paper and found another one.  It had been raining and the rose still had raindrops, so I took a picture to share.  Here is a rose for you.

It's a cute little thing--only about two inches across, fully opened.

Back to the Renaissance Festival

How can you resist "seniors-get-in-free" day at the Renaissance Festival if you are a senior, live close to the happenings, and the day is glorious and pleasantly cool?  You'd have to be a stronger person than I to resist, and I didn't!

Each festival day begins with the entrance of Henry VIII and his entourage:

He is followed closely by the necessary clean-up crew.

Once he has gone inside the gates, the merriment begins.  This year one of the characters dons a variety of costumes representing animals (and in some cases the rider).  This one is is a dragon named Wasabi, I suppose because of his color.  Some kids loved it and would come up to pet it.  Some little ones had a screaming fit to get away.  It just didn't compute in their memory banks of acceptable creatures.

Later s/he changed into a caterpillar with a butterfly floating above his head.  Talk about something difficult to photograph!  Again some children came up to shake one of its "hands" and some wanted NOTHING to do with it!  The butterfly was referred to as "Mother" by the caterpillar.  Three photos--complete outfit, top, and bottom of the costume.

The willingness of the royalty to associate with and engage children is impressive.  I seriously doubt the real Henry VIII would have gotten down to this level to talk to a child.

Mimi and her children are most often found parading around in white costumes, walking on stilts and connected to one another by long white strands of cloth or ribbons, but occasionally they come down to earth.  Here she and what I presume is her eldest, Zizi, are blowing soap bubbles using their hands to form the soapy globes.
















Obviously I was having WAY too much fun with taking way too many pictures, so I'll stop here, and if you are interested in more of the photos, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2/RenaissanceFestivalSeptember6#

EOS--End of Summer

Summer may not end on the calendar until later this month, but Labor Day weekend is, for all intents and purposes, the end of summer around here.  After a year when we have broken the record for the most 90+ degree days, this past weekend cruised in comfortably in the 70s and low 80s.  Perfect weather for outdoor fun.

On Sunday the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra gave a free concert in Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis.  It's a beautiful setting, with a bandshell at the bottom of a nice slope, making viewing easy. The ASO is a top-notch regional orchestra and gets better and better each year under the firm hand of music director Jose-Luis Novo.

I love those concerts. Kids get up and dance to the music, adults kick back with blankets or chairs and enjoy picnics and great music.

One really cute number featured percussionist Donald Spinelli as "soloist" playing cellphone ringtones on cue, which means he had to be ringing at just the right time to come in perfectly in the piece (which incorporated old familiar ringtones as part of the music).  Donald is quite the showman and obviously enjoyed himself.

It was a lovely way to end the summer.

Bombay Hook in Late August

Traditionally I make a one-day trek to Bombay Hook NWR in August to see migrating shorebirds.  It occurred to me the other day that August was essentially gone, and I hadn't yet made that jaunt, so I closed out the month with a trip to see the shorebirds.  The birds were there, and I saw most of what I hoped to see, but the birds were out of range for my camera.  For closer photos of birds I have to go to Chincoteague, and even there most of the little stuff is just beyond camera range.  Some of the wildflowers, however, were showing off for me.

Even if I didn't have a calendar, I would know fall was on the way when certain wildflowers show up.  The goldenrod is a prime example.

Thistle is another one.  There are a number of thistle species, some native and others not, and they are the curse of some naturalists, but the goldfinches love them when they go to seed.  The seeds feed their young, and the down from the seeds line their nests.  Butterflies seem to like them, too.

When milkweed goes to seed, it has wonderful seed pods.

I must confess that all these were taken from the car window.  I'd focus, lower the window, take the shots, and quickly raise the window again.  The mosquitoes and "bitey" flies (horseflies?) were rampant, and the temperature was around 95.  I saw what I wanted to see and left for home!

The Renaissance Festival Starts

The Maryland Renaissance Festival opened its season on Saturday, and the weather was beautiful--lots of sun but not too hot and not yet too dusty.  I find that it's a great place to go and people-watch.  There are some very entertaining performances, lots of old favorites and some new ones.  The food is different--fast food but with a twist.  You can munch on a turkey leg, have steak-on-a-stake, enjoy meat pies and spinach pies, and all manner of other goodies.  I draw the line at fried pickles and fried macaroni and cheese. 

There is usually a sort of acrobatic act with a young lady doing things using two very long lengths of cloth, wrapping herself in them, twisting and turning and stretching.  In previous years the act was in an area where photography was a pain!  Too much background noise and poor light whatever the time of day.  This year they moved her near the entrance and the setting is much better.

Among the acts we enjoy (I often go with Dave and John) are Pyrates Royale and the O'Danny Girls. Both are singing groups, and both can come up with some rather bawdy numbers (bawdy by innuendo more than words).  Both are very funny.  Here's one of the pirates.

The O'Danny Girls have one member who is perhaps not as pretty as the other two, but it doesn't matter.  She has other features that the men in the audience find very attractive.  (She's the one in the middle.)  I suspect you can tell what they are.

There is a glass blower who makes beautiful things.  I stopped by to watch him at work.

To my great amusement, O (a mime who has his own shows throughout the day), was there in the booth visiting.  While he was there, he took advantage of the glass blower's furnace to toast marshmallows!  He did this with the air of a connoisseur, carefully turning his marshmallow this way and that until it was just so.  With a "ta-da" kind of motion, he quickly and carefully made a smore and gave it to an eager youngster in the audience.  I don't know whether the glass blower minded being upstaged, but he was laughing along with the rest of us.

One can get one's face painted or hair braided, and many children (and some adults) chose to do one of them.  Here are a couple examples:

There are a number of artisans at work including the woman who creates chain mail items.  Note that she wears her own work.  The second picture is of some of the wares for sale at the booth.  I will tell you that even if I were bold enough to wear that uplift bra, I would not do it on a day when the temperature was due to be close to 90 degrees!

For other photos of the event, you may check out my Picasa album http://picasaweb.google.com/ejoyce2/RenaissanceFestivalAugust28#