Thanksgiving Dinner in Baltimore

Mark and I made a hearty beef stew for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was gooood.
Mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, onions, rosemary and pan-seared steak bites. Mmmm.
While we were waiting for the stew to cook, we dined on a fresh loaf of olive bread, camembert cheese and our favorite Ravenswood Zinfandel.
















For dessert (and, I think as an extended birthday treat), Mark made a beautiful and delicious apple pie: "Apple Cider Pie."















Mark and I discovered that Breyer's Butter Pecan ice cream does wonders served with apple pie. Hmmmm...that pie....I'm getting hungry. I think it's time for day-after-thanksgiving breakfast: more apple pie & ice cream!

Building a Garden Wall

Mark is building a little wall in the backyard so we can have a raised garden area.
It's going to be a short brick wall, but first he had to make a concrete "footing" on which to build the brick wall. He dug a trench, laid down sand, and plotted the position of the rebar.




















































































He worked late into the night one day, finally pouring and levelling the concrete.































Below, Mark in concrete-laying nativity scene.
















"We" learned that concrete-layers should wear gloves and knee-pads in the future. (I say "we" because I called it on the knee-pads.) Mark's poor hands are all bruised and cut up and and he has concrete solidified in his cuticles. Ow. His skin got dried out so I've been lending him the most intensive care lotion I have. When he rubs it on his hands he says, "ow." Indeed, next time--gloves. The concrete looks great though. Stay tuned for brick wall.

Here Lies Theo

Here lies Theo, the rat.
















Last week we had quite a lot of rain. When it was time to take the trash out, (early in the morning, me-dressed in a suit for work), the big trash can out back was full of water. I heaved and I pushed, trying not to get my pants dirty, and finally...WHOOOOSH. Out poured 30 gallons of water, two empty, soggy concrete bags, and a one jumbo sized, water-logged rat.

I looked at the giant beast for a moment, contemplating how interesting it was that my fears of having a rat jump out of the trash at me are now validated. I also noticed how pretty he looked for a rodent--this guy had soft-looking grey back fur, and pure-white underbelly fur...obviously he'd had quite a long bath. I kept my distance for I was sure he would dry out, shake it off and jump at me all the same.

I left the darn thing there, poured out onto the soggy concrete bags in our yard, knowing I was more or less leaving it for Mark to deal with when he woke up and headed off to school. I figured I'd clean it up when I got back if it was still there and still looked dead.

As I was driving to work, I started to think about how long the rain had been coming down. I wondered at what point the rat found his way into our trash can. I imagined the poor thing treading water for hours as the water level rose slowly (Titanic-style), until he finally fell exhausted and drowned. Poor thing, after all, his under-belly fur looked so nice and white.

When I got home the rat was still there, still dead-looking.
Mark had imagined some incident with the rat in which the rat was originally alive when I encountered it, and I had had to kill it. I laughed, imagining myself swinging the longest shovel possible clumsily at the rat, trying to beat it to death from 10 feet away. No, no. Thank god that thing was dead when I found it.

In the end, we both somehow got mildly attached to this rat over the course of the day. Mark announced that he had named the rat, Theo, and that he was going to bury him. So bury him we did. But actual words?...we decided we would reserve saying words over the deceased for something more important, like next time if it were a squirrel.

Dad & Sandy Came to Visit

We had a very fun, but relaxing weekend. (I was glad to have you both here, Dad and Sandy!)
We visited all the coolest places I could think of in town. And I was surprised to realize that there were more pretty cool places in Baltimore than I remembered.
We went to the Owl Bar for crab cakes, fire-baked pizza, and good beer.
We went to good old Eddies Market, down the street, for bagels and "the best coffee in town."
We went to One World Cafe for a healthy lunch.
We went to the Wine Store for wine, but got distracted by the Holiday Beer tasting that was going on, and inevitably walked out with a few cases of tasty holiday beer.
We went to the (our) living room for a spectacular viewing of TROY.
We went to Dizzie Izzies for some of that "Balitmore's favorite pub food."
We went to Rusty Scupper for a great view of the harbor and fresh seafood.
We went to Bloom to see what's "Different" in the grocery business.
And finally, back to Dizzie Izzie's for some more of that Baltimore flavor.
Below: us, enjoying our second night at Dizzie Izzies.

A Very Cool Pumpkin Patch

While we were in Georgia, we got to stop at this very cool place:








































































































































Mark is a very cool guy.

I Like this Place

This was taken in a Lodge up near Amicaloa State Falls, when Mark and I went to visit Mom and Wood.

What am I Learning?

I talked to mom the other day and while she was trying to convince me to resume posting, and while I was whining that I hardly do anything of interest besides work (which I don't feel comfortable posting about), she gave me an idea of what to talk about: What I am learning.

That's a good one because if there is one thing I'm trying to do right now, it is LEARN and grow.

I'm trying to learn how to talk charismatically without letting my voice get high pitched and preachy.

I'm learning that telling other people that you're good at something just doesn't quite work the same as when they can see it for themselves.

I am learning to balance my work and my personal life by making strict cut-off times during the day. No work before a certain time. And no work once I get home in the evening. (So far so good).

I am trying to learn how to use the time I am home--and not working--effectively or in a fun way.
Right now I'm reading "Good to Great" which is a great book, but it does make me think a lot about work.
Mark and I were watching the third season of The Wire (from Netflix) each night, but that just ran out. Now we're watching Battle Star Galactica. I love this time together, but it does seem to have me in a regular routine on the couch each night.
Every Sunday I still work the farmer's market. I'm not sure how much longer that will be though. I like this, too, and I'm very glad it gets me out of the house, but it is kind of hard to have half of every Sunday already committed to something (Not to mention that it usually leaves me napping for the rest of the day, since we have to get up so early).
It's getting dark at about 5:30 now and it just makes me want to curl up and rest.
Whine...whine...whine...

In other news, we had about 10 tricker treaters last night. Most of whom were dressed in plain clothes or promiscuous clothes (maybe that was the same thing?), most of whom were too old to trick-or-treat, most of whom were hooping and hollering and yelling at the few little kids that were with them, and of whom would shove at least two plastic grocery bags in my face (pressing uncomfortably toward me) saying curtly, "For me," "and my cousin." Right...

Whatever people. Here just take the candy.
I don't like Trick or Treating. Not here in Baltimore. Why can't I have cute little kids like Ellen and Isaiah come to my door?

That's the other thing...when I am trying to get control of a crowd, whether they are pressing at my door for candy, or just not listening while I have the floor in a class: I raise my voice to be heard and if they still don't listen, I raise my voice again and sometimes even a third time, and I end up sounding really desperate--b/c my raised voice gets kind of high. I don't like that. I wish I didn't get worked up. And I wish my voice had the calm sound of authority.

Spending so much time talking with people, talking in front of people, and being counted on to "reach" people...man, that can wear a kid out. Sure makes me aware of all most converstational short-comings.

Mark laughs at me because last week I came home celebrating how people were just coming right to me with questions and asking for advice. That felt good. But this week, so far (after day 2) I feel like I'm having to force myself on people, in an effort to avoid feeling like I might not be doing my job--might not be making a difference where a difference clearly needs to be made.

Well, that felt nice to vent. Sorry to sound so negative on my first post in a long time. It doesn't really sound like I'm actually "learning" much at all. But at least I've been able to point out and focus on the things I want to learn. :)