Nature of the Neighborhood

vegetables, fun

We’ve been spending the majority of our time during the pandemic and work from home experience in south central Pennsylvania, but occasionally we do need to dip back into our usual domain of Arlington, Virginia. One one of these occasions a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take a “walk on the wild side” on the Windy Run Trail.

This trail is only a short distance from our home, but offers a semi-wilderness-like tangle of trees and underbrush arrayed along a babbling stream (Windy Run, obviously). Although as you progress toward my usual goal, a dramatic bluff over-looking the Potomac River, the rushing sound of the stream gives way to the steam of rush-hour on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which you cross under.

The day I sojourned along the trail, there were few other people astir, just a few dog walkers on close to the trail head. As I went deeper into the woods and up and down the steep portions on this muggy day, the air felt heavy and instead of feeling energized by the nature all around me, I began to feel slightly uneasy. I came for a short escape to nature, but the trees and the atmosphere started pressing down on me.

When I reached the underpass, the feeling accelerated. Graffiti referencing the killing of George Floyd was writ large along the metal beams. I caught my own breath as the full weight of the message “I can’t breathe” brought me back to the reality of our troubled country.

There is no escaping the news, the angry division of people, the fear and uncertainty. Nor should there be. It is the time and space we live in and must all confront daily. We live side by side with nature and human history, both at times beautiful but often ugly and disheartening.

I passed under the bridge with the traffic roaring above me and got to the other side. I stood on the high bluff gazing at the muddy waters of the Potomac. I felt a mix of emotions – awe at how untamed nature can still appear but cognizant of the fact that humans still fight so hard to control it, and each other.

Roll on, mighty river. Bring us some hope for better days.

The intersection of nature and human construction.
Out of the suburbs and into the woods.
Reality check.
A view perhaps similar to what the early Patawomeks, on whose land I stood, might have encountered?

Creative COVID Content

vegetables, fun

Getting creative is necessary in our “new normal.” Connecting creatively. Cooking creatively. Protesting creatively.

Along those lines, I have dusted off the sewing machine, tried new recipes, and – maybe most fun of all – started collaging with my friend Martha. I will admit, when Martha asked me if I wanted to “collage with her” via Skype, I said, “Huh?”

Collage seemed like something that went out with macrame (though I hear that is coming back, too?). But, since there are many old magazines around our premises just begging to be cut up and then recycled, I agreed to give it a try.

So, every couple of weeks, we call each other and chat while gluing little pieces of cut up magazines and other paper and even maybe fabric scraps onto pieces of paper to create some kind of artistic thing. The last two times I made cards, which to me seemed more useful than a potential wall hanging.

I am practical-minded, obviously, but the product is not the point. Its the companionship, the chat we have about whatever comes to mind or happened that day or week, which comes simultaneously with the art-making, that is the real exchange here.

In other creative endeavors, I have made some face masks out of old sewing projects for family and friends. I realized that some of the material in my scrap drawer is over 30 years old, but fabric doesn’t expire and it’s good to work it into something everyone is using everyday now (or should be use, but that is another story we won’t get into here).

As for cooking creatively, this can mean using whatever is in your pantry, or even engaging in a little friendly competition. My buddies (who I used to eat lunch with in the office) and I decided to stage a “pie baking competition” over July 4 weekend. Their’s were a lot prettier and more creatively crusted than mine, but we declared everyone a winner anyhow.

I just wish we had been able to share the pies with one another. Some day soon, we can all still hope. Meanwhile, we do what we can to stay connected.

Rainbow card collage. I sent it to my mom who likes rainbows.
Sort of a sunrise or sunset type of feel. It’s all in the interpretation, right?
Masks for my mom and sister. I can’t even recall what I originally made out of these cotton fabrics !
One crust pie with bumpy orange surface decorated with orange flowers on either side.
Sweet potato pie which I tried to make prettier by photographing with day lilies! It tasted good at least even if it wasn’t really that pretty!

Bagpipes and Big Wet Rodents: Expect the Unexpected at Cowans Gap

#Pennsylvania State Parks, memories, ,

As I pulled up to the parking lot nearest the tiny beach of Cowans Gap Lake for an evening swim, I thought I heard bagpipes. In nearly thirty years of coming to the lake to walk, swim, boat, surreptitiously pick apples, and otherwise commune with nature, that was a first.

Cowans Gap is our default Pennsylvania State Park. Located about six miles from our cabin atop Tuscarora Summit, it offers year-round recreation. Sandy beach without jellyfish and sharks – though maybe a few stray Canada geese – boat launch and rental, and, most used of all by our family, a one-mile trail circumnavigating the lake.

We started coming to the park when visiting my (then boyfriend, now husband’s) friend John Small, who lived nearby. I recall, though he doesn’t, talking about our future on the one occasion I talked him into renting a paddle boat. (He’s not a boat person, and I now know it must have only been true love which drove him to acquiesce.)

Several years later, we introduced our baby daughter to the joys of walking around the lake on a cold February day. Not sure she was convinced then, but when she got older and we had built our cabin, many more weekends included a walk around the lake. We formed a ritual which included: 1. Always turn right from the parking lot and walk across the dam first. 2. Pitch a good sized rock off the dam aiming at the stream below. 3. Stop to walk out on the small fishing pier to look for fish or other wild life (salamanders, newts, etc.) 4. Skip stones at the shallow spot near the island. 5. Have a stick race at the bridge.

Over the years, we encountered many wonders walking around the lake. The eerie sound of ice cracking in a spring thaw. Exploring the contours of the lake bed the year they drained it for dredging. And once, while walking around the lake after dark (which they don’t let you do anymore now), a perfect luna moth glowing green in the moonlight.

But, I had never heard anyone playing the bagpipes before, and thought I might be imagining those faint but distinct notes of Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace. To make sure I wasn’t going crazy, I asked some other beach-goers, and they heard it too. The music brought back memories of my one and only trip to Scotland in 1988, and another bagpiper playing the same tunes when we visited Loch Ness.

When I got home, I looked up the events page of the park to see if they had scheduled a program of bagpipe playing that evening. But all I found was an upcoming program celebrating Big Wet Rodent Day. The wonders of Cowans Gap never cease.

M.E. does not look all that thrilled at her first walk around the lake.
When Steve’s cousins visited, a walk around the lake was mandatory.
A few years ago, our friends Alex and Anastasia got married in the lakeside pavillion.
Fall glory, looking down on the beach from the overlook.
Even the starkness of winter brings its own beauty.
I guess not!
Moonrise. Nuff said.

Life On (the) Line: Missing the Mall

Smithsonian Folklife Festival, vegetables, fun,

My Google photo feed sends me down memory lane with “revisit this day x years ago” and it is painful. The photos this week were all of past Smithsonian Folklife Festivals, where I would have been this year.. except that didn’t work out, right?

For over thirty years, until last year, I’ve been on the National Mall on July 4. It was just another work day, albeit one usually with even more people than usual especially toward the end of the day. And a staff barbecue and fireworks at the end.

This year we went digital, Beyond the Mall, on Facebook Live and YouTube, schedule here. (if you missed the live programs you can watch the recorded versions.) Our team worked on the June 24, July 2 and July 5 programs. It was a lot of work, but nothing compared to the intense planning and execution of doing the Festival on the Mall.

Several members of the Festival staff commented that they didn’t miss the triple H weather (hazy, hot and humid) and the pop-up thunderstorms. But that was all part of the package that came with in-person camaraderie with staff, volunteers, interns, participants, visitors. Hugs and handshakes and sharing good food and laughs.

Will we be back on the Mall next year? We really hope so. And if we are, we will complain about the heat and humidity just as much as always. But if we can gather together and do what we do best, it will be worth it.

Here are some of my photos from past Festivals. Visit us online and keep wishing and hoping for a better next year!

In 2018, we had our Bengali visitors in DC during the Festival. Here they shared our July 4 staff barbecue with a couple of our interns.
2017 “Circus Science” tent with our clown educator friends from the Sarasota, Florida Circus Academy.
2016 Basque program kid’s area, the Txiki Txoko. How many times did we grouse about being swamped by summer day camps in their matching t-shirts? Bring ’em on!

What’s New?

pandemic,

Things are gradually and (for the most part) cautiously coming alive. Plants. Streets. Optimism.

But, things are still turned a bit upside down, like the sunset in the picture above which happened last week. A big cloud of fog descended on the valley just as the sun was setting, and all the color went to the bottom instead of up into the sky. Life is like that right now, right?

The hardest thing is uncertainty. How long will we [fill in the blank]? When will [fill in the blank]? Is it safe to [fill in the blank]? Who knows; wait and see; not for awhile… pick your answer.

And so, we soldier on, Zooming and writing emails and calling/texting. Getting outside. Planting flowers and vegetables. Hoping for the best.

Here are some photos from the past few weeks in my world. From the realm of the real and the virtual; we live in both these days.

Baby plants awaiting transplant into the garden.
At Big Springs State Park, a stand of virgin timber “untouched by the hands of man.”
This is how we are “meeting” our new summer interns.
Nothing beats a cute otter puzzle for a diversion from working! Even a virtual otter is better than no otter at all.

Life in Lockdown

vegetables, fun, ,

Blogging in the time of the pandemic is, well, sort of boring. Not much really happens, so there’s not much to write about. And, people are so sick of screens that I’m not sure they need any more reading-on-a-screen.

But, still, what is a blog for anyhow? Mine, because I have relatively few readers, is as much a chronicle of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing than something I think will ever go viral or have hundreds, much less thousands, of readers.

And, so, as usual I go through my latest photos to see what I’ve found interesting or important to document. Much of them had to do with getting outside in our portion of rural PA. Enjoy if you have not been able to do so yourself and stay safe!

We”ve been taking a lot of long walks in the woods. Finding new parks and new trails.
I take a lot of photos of plants, sort of a digital herbarium. Then you can check their identity with a Google i.d. tool. This is mayapple which I should have known!)
Revamp of garden previously mostly rocks and weeds! Thanks to our landscaping buddy, Tim, and his marvelous little digger.
The late spring has meant more time to appreciate cherry blossoms. These were on the campus of the Mercersburg Academy.
Driving around rural Pennsylvania you inevidibly come across some interesting industrial history like these old coke ovens that fed the steel industry in earlier times. Now a good place for wildflowers to grow.
and theres this on nights when it’s clear…

Cooking Up a Quarantine

#quarantinerecipes, food, ,

Two chain letters (via email but also apparently also via social media) have been circulating, as many of my friends have confirmed, in this time of quarantine. Why this is happening right now is anyone’s speculation, and speculate they have. In the past week or so, articles, features or columns about this phenomenon have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and on CNN to name only the more reputable sources.

I noticed this trend a little over a week ago, when my husband received the “recipe” chain email. Then I received the “uplifting poem/quote” one. Since then, I have been researching and writing an article for our Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage web site, which will appear just as soon as our beleaguered and over-worked editorial committee gets to it among all the other material they have been rapid-fire publishing in the past few weeks.

I did not respond to the poetry one, but I thought the recipe one would be fun and maybe I would actually get a few good new recipes. Unfortunately, I only received three recipes instead of the thousands I had imagined. (But they were good ones, thanks to those who sent them!)

I sent a recipe that I had recently tried, from Parade magazine, to the email first on the list as per instructions in the letter. It bounced back to me. Maybe it had a typo in it? Or that person changed their email without informing their friends? Or…?

So, my recipe was lost to the many who it would have been forwarded to. But, wait. I could share it with you, dear readers. And without any obligation to forward it to ANYONE unless you do have someone you truly want to share it with. Make sure you get their email correct, though.

Here’s a shot of the recipe as it appeared in the Parade magazine. I made it pretty much word for word, and I am on my second batch now. These are very versatile, as stated. Enjoy and keep safe!

As the World (Keeps) Turn(ing)

childhood; stuff; family, ,

Our family has watched daytime soap operas since before I was born. One of my earliest memories is coming home from kindergarten and watching the soaps on CBS (As the World Turns and The Guiding Light) with my grandmother who babysat us after school while my mom was at work. Years later, my mother, my sister and I got semi-addicted to Days of our Lives, which is one of the few hold-outs of revamped weekday daytime TV. (Most soaps were not so lucky, and got axed in favor of more talk shows and game shows.)

My mom is in assisted living now and I usually call her once a week. One of the things we talk about is “the soap.” We rehash the plot, fill one another in if we missed a day or two, and discuss how ridiculous the storyline has become (or always was?) and always question why we still waste our time watching it.

But, I think right now, “Days” and other fictional distractions are just what we need. While they do sometimes confront “real life” current issues (though not often or particularly well) the soap is taped so far ahead that the storyline now exists in a refreshingly pre-COVID19 bubble. People go from place to place, discussing their problems over meals at the local hang-out, and the most talked-about medical test proves or disproves the paternity of someone’s baby. Unlike watching a movie or TV show with a fixed time period, it just, well, goes on like normal life is supposed to, albeit in a heightened dramatic fashion.

And here we are, in our own real-life soap operas which take place mostly in our our homes, with a reduced cast of characters appearing in person. I haven’t taken a lot pictures in the past couple of weeks, except things I want to share with my remote family members, friends and co-workers. But here are some snaps from my recent activities.

I cut my own bangs and took a selfie. Ugh my face looks terrible… but my hair looks OK.

Like many other people I have been experimenting with new recipes, including this naan bread using self-rising flour (the only kind left at the grocery one day) and Greek yoghurt. Not bad!

I ordered our ginseng friend and colleague Jim Hamilton’s novel… I can read it and call it research, right? It’s a good story so far.

“STAY WELL” is my new sign-off to everyone. We’ll see this through and get to the other side, just as everyone on Days of Our Lives has for 50 years on NBC!

Dispatch from a Happier Time

Guadalajara, Guadalajara, tourism, ,

After our trip in mid-February to Guadalajara, Mexico, I planned all sorts of topics to write about, as I had with trips to France and India in the past. Happy things, bright and sunny things, reflecting the excitement of traveling to a new place full of color, light and warmth.

Then, within a few weeks, the dreaded COVID-19 hit full force and suddenly, despite the early arrival of spring flowers, things seem bleak, bleached out, and hand-sanitized for your protection. My mother’s assisted living facility in South Carolina is closed to visitors; we are teleworking which is okay in the short run but will get old I am sure; and the larger world full of students trying to learn from home, social distancing, and semi-empty grocery shelves is the new reality.

Still, I wanted to share a few lovely moments to add cheer to a cheerless situation. And I might write a couple more blogs on specific topics such as the voladores. But for now, our wonderful trip seems like a dream. And let’s hope our current situation does not turn into a nightmare.

Gaby and M.E. goof off with guavas near a natural warm spring which we took a soak in.
Murals, but famous and not so famous artists, abound in and around Guadalajara. This one was on a small island in the middle of Lake Chapala.
Steve, M.E. and Gaby pose in the late day sun in Tlaquepaque, a town full of crafts, mariachis, and people having a good time.
Even the skeletons were cheery.

Guadalajara: Love at First Bite

tourism, vegetables, fun, , ,

Guadalajara, and the area within a couple of hours of the city in its state of Jalisco, is a winter vacationer’s paradise. Warm, balmy days in the mid-70s to low 80s, slightly cooler nights good for a stroll, and plenty of attractions.

I meant to start writing about our wonderful visit there much earlier, but soon after our return, I got felled by some sort of flu. (NOT the dreaded corona virus, I promise – there are still plenty of nasty old garden variety flus out there to content with.)

Now, I am looking over the photos and remembering the great time we had, and especially all the delicious meals. Instead of a lot of writing about the food, here is a photo gallery and commentary about some of our many tasty experiences.

  • Most of these food adventures were led by our friend Gaby and her dad and sometimes her mom. They never steered us wrong! Second day (I was too tired to document the first though wish I had), breakfast on the road to Lake Chapala. The cafe had a French name but the food was all local!
  • My birthday dinner – seafood on the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake.
  • No, the shrimp are not from the lake…but they were very fresh. The coast is only a few hours away and seafood is very popular even inland.
  • Another lakeside resaturant (different lake, same feel) and more shrimp!
  • Tasty stand on a side street of Tonales.
  • Typical condiments at small stands which feature tacos, quesadillas and other snacks and lunch items
  • Along with your tastes of tequila on a factory tour (in Tequila of course), you get to taste roasted agave. Sort of like a very sweet and stringy pineapple.
  • Meat in its juices is a popular dish.
  • Tortillas (always corn) and condiments (limes, salsas of various heat) along with MEAT!
  • We took a cooking class; here our instructor Naomi had all the ingredients laid out in a colorful array awaiting our lesson.
  • Fish tacos, and so much more. We certainly left full to the brim.
  • Another mostly meat meal at a delicious authentic cantina (singers offering off-key serenades and all) in Zapopan. This one includes four kinds of meat, melted cheese, guacamole and salsas. I lost count of the number of tortillas I wrapped it in and gobbled down!
  • Many flavors of agua fresca to choose from in Zapopan.
  • And, last but not least, one must try the “drunken sandwich” – more meat, this time on bread.
  • And dunked in a liberal amount of hot sauce. It’s a thing that they say you have to try in all the guide books, but the locals like our friend Gaby and her parents discourage it.

OK, so for some mysterious reasons the captions (though I can see them in post editing mode) are not showing up on this post. So, here they are until I figure this problem out:

  1. Most of these food adventures were led by our friend Gaby and her dad and sometimes her mom. They never steered us wrong! Second day (I was too tired to document the first though wish I had), breakfast on the road to Lake Chapala. The cafe had a French name but the food was all local!
  2. My birthday dinner – seafood on the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake.
  3. No, the shrimp are not from the lake… but they were very fresh. The coast is only a few hours away and seafood is very popular even inland.
  4. Next day, another lakeside restaurant (different lake, same feel) and more shrimp!
  5. Tasty lunch stand on a side street of Tonales, where we visited many crafts shops for souvenirs.
  6. Typical condiments at small stands which feature tacos, quesadillas and other snacks and lunch items.
  7. Along with your tastes of tequila on a factory tour (in Tequila of course), you get to taste roasted agave. Sort of like a very sweet and stringy pineapple.
  8. Meat “in its juices” is a popular dish and it is delish!
  9. Tortillas (always corn) and condiments (limes, salsas of various heat) along with MEAT!
  10. We took a cooking class; here our instructor Naomi had all the ingredients laid out in a colorful array awaiting our lesson.
  11. Fish tacos, shredded pork roast cooked in banana leaves, chorizo and potatoes… oh my, we were so full by the end of the class!
  12. Another mostly meat meal at a delicious authentic cantina (singers offering off-key serenades and all) in Zapopan. This one includes four kinds of meat, melted cheese, guacamole and salsas. I lost count of the number of tortillas I wrapped it in and gobbled down!
  13. Many flavors of agua fresca (a refreshing fruit drink) in Zapopan.
  14. And, last but not least, one must try the “drunken sandwich” – more meat, this time on bread.
  15. And dunked in a liberal amount of hot sauce. It’s a thing that they say you have to try in all the guide books, but the locals like our friend Gaby and her parents discourage it.