Hummingbird Personalities

We have two hummingbird feeders and four hummingbirds who are frequenting the food stations.
I've learned this summer by watching them that hummingbirds have personalities. I've named our four hummingbirds according to their personalities:
Hummer, the all American good hummingbird.
Humms, the zen female hummingbird who is my favorite.
Hip Hop, the hummingbird that flies like a little bunny going hop, hip, hop near the ground.
Helter Skelter, the hummingbird from Hell.

Well, you ask, how do tell their gender? I don't know. But I think Humms acts like a girl. She likes to sit on the rose trellis near the feeder and just contemplate life in my flower garden. She is like in a tranquil zen state. But then along comes Helter Skelter, the little bully, and he knocks her off her meditation pedestal by dive bombing her. I can just picture Humms saying to herself: these guys are so juvenile! When are they going to grow up?

Hummer is the biggest drinker. When he comes to the feeder attached to my breakfast room window I can see his little mouth (beak?) gulping down the sugar water and his little wings are beating so fast that I can see the illusion of four wings: two going up and two going down.

Hip Hop is the funniest flyer. He skims the ground in a series of hip hops instead of helicopter moves that most hummingbirds use.

Helter Skelter is just plain mean. I can't think of anything good to say about him. He hides in the shrubs and trees and then does sneak attacks on the other birds at the feeder and poor Humms on her rose trellis perch.

Two of these hummingbirds like to fly together in a vertical rocket formation. They look like the Air Force Blue Angels doing tricks in the air. They will fly straight up in the air---higher than our two story house. Then they break formation and fly off in a dive in two different directions. What a sight to see.

Farmers Market at Heritage Hunt

Now that Heathcote Blvd is up and running we have discovered a wonderful Farmers Market at the entrance to Heritage Hunt. The market is open for business under tents on Tuesday mornings. Take a look at the beautiful heirloom tomatoes, yellow pattypan squash, white eggplants, colorful peppers and sweet cabbage that I bought. There is also a gentleman selling African style handwoven baskets and a Mennonite family selling baked goods. The bread and cherry pie were delicious! In addition there are vendors selling organic meat and
honey products. So mark your calendars and cruise down Heathcote
to the Farmers Market. You will find
great things to purchase and the vendors are a lot of fun to talk to too.
I got into a long discussion with one
lady about Paula Dean's appearence on the Larry King Show. We got to discussing Paula's longtime affair with a married man. Paula warned the viewers that that was a bad mistake on her part. An affair with a married man will just give you bread crumbs--no bread. And there you have it from the mouth of Paula Dean.

Randy Wright April 1958-August 2007

Randy Wright
April 1958 - August 2007

In Memory of Jack's Nephew

Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
and youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to desecration
and then perhaps to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or
from strength to weakness
and often back again;
From health to sickness
and we pray to health again.
From offense to forgiveness
from loneliness to love
from joy to gratitude
from pain to compassion
from grief to understanding
from fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat
until looking backwards or ahead
We see that victory lies not
at some high point along the way
but in having made the journey
step by step
a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey;
A sacred journey to life everlasting
Author Unknown

What To Do When It Is So Hot

The heat this week in Northern Virginia is oppressive to say the least. Thank goodness we have a nice home with air conditioning. I just hope we don't have a power black out this week. When it is this hot I start to remember other times that I have been hot, hot, hot!!!!!!!! When I was little and living on a farm in Ohio we had to keep the windows open and pray for a breeze because we didn't have any air conditioning back in the '50s and '60s. When we couldn't fall asleep upstairs we would go down to the cool and damp basement and sleep on an old couch. One of the hottest farm jobs to do in the summer was unloading a wagon load of hay with the help of an elevator. The one on the wagon had it the easiest. The ones in the hay mow really sweated through the undertaking. My Dad always insisted that everyone have a nice cold glass of homemade sweet lemonade before heading back out to the hayfield. I still remember the lemonade recipe:
4 lemons rolled then cut and squeezed
1 and half cups of sugar
and enough water to fill the pitcher to the very top

I also can remember two extremely hot days in Arizona. The first occurred in the '70s but let me tell you first about the one that occurred in July of 1989. My husband and I had taken our two daughters to Arizona for a long visit with friends and relatives. While in Phoenix we wanted to show our girls the campus of Arizona State in Tempe. Wow, was it hot in Tempe in July of 1989. Temps each day were approaching 116 degrees. Now that is hot, hot, hot! My husband always likes to say when people gasp at that number that it isn't so bad because it is a dry heat not a humid heat like back in the southeast. Well, let me tell you how you too can experience a dry heat----set your oven on 116 degrees and after the oven warms up put your hand in the oven to see how it feels. Now try to imagine how your whole body would feel in the oven. That's Arizona in the summer. Here are some more heat experiences in Arizona in July:

Use oven mitts or gloves to touch your car handles after a day of work or sightseeing.
You can burn your hands on the car doors. Erma Bombeck wrote about that.

Don't ever open a car sitting in the sun and just hop in to drive. Open all the doors and let
the built up heat escape first.

Don't sit down in a hot car that has leather or vinyl seats while wearing shorts. You will grill
your legs and buttocks to a crisp.

Don't ship your pet by air to or from Phoenix's Sky Harbor in July heat. If the plane sits
on the runway the poor pet will be baked to death in the cargo hold.

Try not to fly in the heat. Heat can stress the metal of the plane and lead to an accident.

Well, I think you get the picture. Arizona in July is hot, hot, hot! So here we are in Tempe on the campus of ASU and we are showing an amazed nine year old and a stupefied thirteen year old the sights. How hot was it? It was so hot that all of us decided then and there that if we managed to get to our car and to get the car cooled enough for entering and driving, we would never ever in a million years consider sending our daughters to school in Arizona. The problem was reaching the car without passing out in the heat since many of the campus buildings in the summer were locked so we couldn't rely on walking through buildings to get to the car. We used our campus map to plan strategic moves across campus: walk along the overhang of this building till you get here, then walk quickly as you can in this heat to reach those palm trees for shade, then walk by the trees next to that building over there, etc. We finally were able to do a retreat by car from ASU and our two daughters promised themselves and us that they would not apply to any Arizona universities. Suddenly the University of Virginia and James Madison University started looking pretty good. And that folks is how we avoided paying out of state college tuition. It just took one trip to Arizona in July to do the trick.

My other story about Arizona summer heat occurred one August day in 1975 after I returned from summer school at the University of Kentucky. Jack's mom mentioned that there used to be an old marble mine in the mountain range near Bowie and the Cochise Stronghold. Well, before we had thoroughly thought through this plan, we jumped in the truck and set out to find the marble mine and our fortunes. Mom directed my husband on where she thought that marble mine might be. Soon we had left the paved highway and were on dirt roads and then we were bouncing and banging around over no roads---just rocks and cactus. Then Jack's mom announced that this was just the beginning of the trail and that we were all going to have to get out and hike the rest of the way on foot. On foot! Well, my flip flops were not exactly hiking boots. Mom had on sensible mom shoes and Jack had on his sneakers so they were in better foot gear than me. So we walked and walked and walked and climbed and climbed and climbed but we didn't see anything that looked like a cave opening with a marble mine inside. We did run into some billy goats and some aggressive female geese that were intent on blocking our path by biting our legs and butts. This last experience led to a hasty decision to give up on making our fortunes by finding that marble mine. In the meantime the hot sun was bearing down on us. In the shade it must have been at least 100 degrees and remember that we didn't have shade. We just had rocks and cactus and heat. Why we had left in such a rush of enthusiasm that we didn't even have hats, water or sunscreen for protection. If I am ever in a presidential debate and someone asks me to give a past mistake I won't pull a Gulliani. I will answer immediately that my big mistake was making that trip with my husband and mother-in-law to find that marble mine near Bowie, Arizona. What a stupid thing to do. We did finally make it on foot back to the truck and we did a reverse trek over no roads, then dirt roads to interstate #10 and Mom's house trailer in Bowie. Jack and I both agree that the best shower we ever had in our entire married life was after that little adventure in the desert.

So what to do now that it is so hot outside? Stay inside and don't get any bright ideas. Just chill out like your house pets. They know better than to go out in this heat except for a quick trip to the outdoor potty.

I Want A Phone That Works!!!

Jack and I have been caught up in the downfall of our phone provider, Sun Rocket. Our phone service promptly up and stopped on July 16. A couple of days earlier the company sent us a final email message stating that they were no longer accepting service calls and ended with the statement: good by. We thought that message was very abrupt and rude but we had no idea as to what was coming at us next. We learned thru the Washington Post that Sun Rocket was going bankrupt overnight and that the CEO broke the news to the employees, then fired them. She then announced that she was resigning as CEO. She picked up her purse and briefcase and walked out the door. Well, that left us with no home phone service except for cell phone service. This all happened three weeks ago and we have been trying to get new service since then. Apparently there is a wait period for going from one phone service to another if you want to keep your same phone number. The thought of changing numbers and having to change our personal checks and notify all friends, relatives and businesses of the new number was not a pleasant thought. So we have been trying to be patient but after two and half weeks we are about to throw a hissy fit. What's taking so long! In the meantime we have been reading in the Post horror stories from other former Sun Rocket customers---like the lady about to deliver a baby and no phone access to call her husband to tell him to take her to the hospital ASAP! And we have our own horror story. This week we asked the new provider to give us a temporary phone number to use till we can be checked out or whatever it is they need to do before they start our service up again with the old number. Well, this new temp number apparently was last used as a fax number. So now we are breaking our -uts to get to the phone when it rings and all we get for our efforts is a fax machine beeping in our ear. Oh, and yes, of course this phone dis-service began the month after we paid our phone provider in advance for two years worth of service. I don't think we will get a dime from this company that has filed bankruptcy so abruptly. Trials and tribulations. If you run across the former CEO of Sun Rocket, give her the old heave ho.

Hobos, Bums and Tramps and Memoirs

I love a good memoir or autobiography. My top twelve favorite autobiographies or memoirs are:
#12 Edward Ball: Slaves in the Family (South Carolina and Georgia)
#11 Thomas Vogel: Growing Up in Vietnam (Minnesota and Vietnam)
#10 Katherine Graham: Personal History (Washington D.C. and Virginia)
#9 Willie Nelson: Willie An Autobiography (Texas and all 50 states)
#8 Roze Zar: In The Mouth of The Wolf (Warsaw, Poland and the Nazis)
#7 Nathaniel Fick: One Bullet Away (Quantico, Afghanistan and Iraq)
#6 Chaim Potok: Davita's Harp (Jewish New York 1930's and 1940's)
#5 Rick Atkinson: Long Gray Line, From West Point to Vietnam and After--
The Turbulent Odyssey of the Class of 1966 (West Point to Vietnam)

#4 Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Holland and the Nazis)
#3 Jeannette Walls: The Glass Castle (West Virginia, the Southwest and NYC)
#2 Malcome X: The Autobiography of Malcome X (Omaha, Michigan and NY)
#1 Louis L'Amour: Education of a Wandering Man (North Dakota, the West)

Yes, the number one memoir in my opinion is the Lous L'Amour's memoir of his life that he wrote just months before he knew that he was going to die from cancer. It is the story of his wandering thru both life and books: from simple western beginnings in Jamestown, North Dakota to Singapore to Klamath Lake in Oregon to Kingman, Arizona to World War II battlefields in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany, to New York City and Hollywood and finally to his Colorado ranch. And while Louis was wandering over the earth he was wandering thru any book that he could find. What I like best about this memoir is that Louis kept lists of all the books he had ever read in his lifetime. What an astounding thing to do.
The lists show how books influenced his life and his writings. Every time I check his list of books read I think to myself: now why haven't I read that yet?

The reason I'm writing about my favorite memoir books is that thru my neighborhood book club I have found a memoir that has leapfrogged to #3 on my list. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls is the story of a young girl living in a very dysfunctional family. Holy Cow, what a strange story! This has to be a memoir because nobody could dream up such weird circumstances and characters in a book. It is simply too, too wild to be fiction. Robbyn, what a great book selection. I can't wait to discuss it his Friday nite at your house.

And the reason I'm labeling today's blog Hobos, Bums and Tramps and Memoirs is that I happened to pick up L'Amour's memoir and read the passage about hobos, bums and tramps. Do you know the difference between the three? According to L'Amour a bum is a local person who doesn't want to work to make a living while a tramp is a wandering adventurer who doesn't want to work to make a living. In contrast L'Amour described his early career years as a hobo: a person who wanders around the country to earn a living. A hobo is a person to be admired. Well, in The Glass Castle the father is the bum, the mother is the tramp and the second daughter is the hobo who makes it from a rain soaked shack in West Virginia to an Ivy League university (Bernard) and a journalism job with MSNBC in New York and Washington.
(An aside: during the depression years my mother fed a lot of hobos who traveled from town to town by train. She spoke well of them all except for the one who threw her fried egg sandwich in the road ditch after she stopped her chores to make him lunch.) And while we were on our cross country road trip we bought a CD of famous train songs and one of them was the Hobo's Lullaby. I told Jack that I needed to learn the lyrics so that I could entertain our grandson. Jack, however, questioned whether Daddy Karras wanted his son referred to as a little hobo: Go to sleep, you little hobo.....

Baby Jack's Baseball Team

This past week Baby Jack got to prove to his paternal grandparents that he is going to be a little Boston Red Sox fan. Terry and Patty drove down from Cape Cod to see their newest grandchild and they came bearing gifts for the whole family. Grandpa K, the electric man, promply installed a ceiling fan above Jack's crib for those warm summer evenings. However, in return Baby Jack had to take a baby oath. He had to swear that he would always support the Boston Red Sox. Please check out Baby Jack's baseball outfit in the photos.) It was a tough thing for Baby Jack to decide to support the Red Sox. If he had followed the baseball teams of his maternal grandmother born in Ohio, he could have chosen the Cincinatti Redlegs or the Cleveland Indians. And if he had chosen the Cleveland Indians, he would be sitting in first place in the American League right now! If Baby Jack had followed the baseball teams of his maternal grandfather born in Missouri, he could have chosen the St. Louis Cardinals or the Kansas City Royals as his favorite baseball team. But that didn't happen. He went with the Red Sox and he is proudly wearing a Red Sox outfit. He even has Red Sox baby socks! And Daddy Karras couldn't be happier right now. But here's a warning for Daddy. Lock the doors and keep Baby Jack's Aunt Jeanine at bay because she is threatening to sneak into the house and put a New York Yankees outfit on Baby Jack!

Grandma's Little Visitor

Jenn will have some new adventures to relate to Daddy when he gets home from work this afternoon. Baby Jack made his first visit to Grandma's house in Haymarket. He had both his early lunch and his late lunch at Grandma's house. Jenn told us that every day he has an early breakfast and a late breakfast and an early lunch and a late lunch and an early dinner and a late dinner and then several midnight snacks. Wow! No wonder that little boy is growing. We noticed that he can now hold his head up by himself for a second or two. Grandpa Jack put together the baby swing so that Baby Jack could snooze while swinging and listening to music. Jenn took her son to the backyard for some pictures in the swing and by the blooming crepe mrytles. The visit was enjoyed by all and Jenn may bring Baby Jack back this Wednesday for more time with Grandma Jo and Grandpa Jack. In the meantime Baby Jack has discovered with Jenn the Starbucks in Franklin Farm. So far he has been a good boy while Momma orders her lattes. On the home front there is also some good news. One cat--namely Mr. Merlin is starting to notice Jack and will now sit by him. Merlin has even given Jack a friendly lick on the head. Meow!

Robert Duvall and Protest Picnic

We went to a protest picnic at the farm estate of Robert Duvall, the movie actor, who makes his home in Virginia down the road a bit from us. There is an energy company that is trying to erect 15 story high power poles and power lines in our little neck of Virginia which is one of the most historic areas of the United States. The aim of this company is to bring cheap coal produced electricity from Ohio and Pennsylvania thru both Virginias (West Virginia and Virginia) and move it north to New Jersey and New York to make Big Bucks. As Robert Duvall said yesterday one would not erect 15 story power lines across the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park so why should this company be allowed to erect power lines across land that George Washington surveyed, where John Brown protested and both Union and Confederate soldiers fought to keep. It is also the home area of John Marshall who created the Marshall Plan after World War II. And in more recent times the hunt club riding estate of John and Jackie Kennedy. Jack and I do not want the power lines coming thru this area so Sunday was a great day to protest and have a wonderful picnic on the farm of Robert Duvall. There was entertainment too: a bluegrass band, a French horn ensemble, a folk singer and a puppeteer. There were other attractions as well: a silent auction, a karate demo and a team of draft horses with a beautiful carriage for rides thru the fields. And of course we got to see Robert Duvall and his wife and their beautiful 200+ acre farm. Robert Duvall told us that his wife who is originally from Argentina thinks that Virginia is the best place on earth or as his wife puts it: the last station before Heaven! I tend to agree with that statement. Virginia is awesome.

And the thought of 15 story power lines here is awfulsome.

By the way, the name of this power company is Dominion Power.

Take a look at the pics of Robert Duvall's farm. Note the beautiful barn and silo in one of the photos. This barn and silo is where Robert and his wife practice the tango and throw tango dance parties.

Ring A Ding Ding

I have a ring a ding ding story to tell you. July 7'th Jack and I drove by car to D.C. early in the morning to get in a long, long line to see Al Gore open up the D.C. portion of the Earth Live Concert at the National Museum of the American Indian. We were able to get into the museum's courtyard to hear Al Gore speak and to hear country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood perform. While waiting in line for Al to speak the lady behind me said to me: "Why I think you are wearing a Robert Lee Morris ring!" And I replied: "What???" Uhhh......did I mention on this blogsite that on our roadtrip we met a woman at a motel in Detroit, MI who asked us for $12 in exchange for the ring on her finger. Well, to make a long story shorter let me say that I agreed and now am wearing this supposedly sterling silver ring. It has style and hasn't turned my finger green yet. Plus it is a sturdy ring to wear when gardening in the summer. Well, anyway this lady behind me was going on like I was wearing the Hope diamond. So when we got home from the Earth Live Event and the 2007 Folklife Festival I did a search for Robert Lee Morris on the web and lo and behold I learned that he is a famous jewelry maker in NYC who works with dress designers like Donna Karan and Karl Lagerfield. He has a store in SoHo in NYC and my neighbor has now told me that he also sells his jewelry on QVC. My ring is a concave rectangle and I know that it is a Robert Lee Morris ring because this lady at Earth Live insisted that I take off the ring so she could check the Robert Lee Morris logo and the sterling mark on the inside. I think my ring must be somewhere in the $200+ range. Go to this website to learn more about Robert Lee Morris and to see more of his jewelry: www:robertleemorris.com/biography.php.

Jack Aidan

Jack Aidan celebrates a birthday today. He will be one week old this afternoon at 1:20 P.M. EST. Jenn and Terry brought Jack Aidan home from the hospital Wednesday morning. Jenn and Terry were anxious to introduce Mr. Merlin Cat and Mr. Milo Cat to Baby Jack. Mr. Merlin took one quick look and decided that that little thing in the car carrier was extremely scary looking so he hightailed it out of the kitchen and down to the family room. Mr. Milo then approached the carrier to find out what had frightened Mr. Merlin witless. (See photo) Milo walked right up to the carrier and took a look and then as the alpha cat of the household he let out two loud hisses and turned tail and walked away disgusted. Poor Baby Jack. What a welcome home. Luckily he was fast asleep so it shouldn't be a too traumatic experience.

After reaching home Baby Jack's next big adventure was Friday when he was going to the pediatricians' office in Reston for the first time. Grandpa drove, Jennifer sat in back with Jack and Grandma rode shotgun to and from the Pd's office. Jack slept thru most of the event. He only squawked when he got poked in the ribs and when blood was drawn. He was a very good boy.

Sleepy Little Baby

We visited Jenn, Terry and little Baby Jack in the hospital this afternoon.

We learned that the midnight staff insisted that Jenn nurse her baby boy even though he was sleeping soundly. So Jenn and Terry played wake him up and shake him up early in the morning. Baby Jack didn't budge or open an eye. Then Jenn decided to take off his swaddling blanket and little outfit in hopes of getting him to wake up to nurse. Well, that didn't work either. Baby Jack was sawing logs. So Jenn and Terry finally gave up and told the nurse that it ain't going to happen at 2:00 A.M. My comment after hearing this story was this: Haven't you heard the proverb about letting sleeping dogs and newborn babies lie?

The baby books say that newborn babies sleep an average of 17 hours a day. Baby Jack must be like the average baby because he slept thru our entire visit, a diaper change and the drawing of a vial of blood! But I swear that this newborn was having dreams. The expressions on his face were priceless. Of course, he could have been having nightmares too because this morning he was circumcised. Poor baby! Baby Jack, tomorrow will be better because I think you get to go home to that beautiful living seas nursery that's waiting just for you.

Let Me Introduce Baby Jack

WELCOME TO THE WORLD, JACK AIDAN KARRAS!

We now have our first grandchild. He arrived on Monday July 16'th at 1:20 P.M. at the Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church. The same place Baby Jack's Aunt Jeanine entered the world. Jennifer entered the hospital Sunday night to begin inducement and labor. It was hard work but Jenn did great and of course Terry did alright too. Terry called us at 10:30 A.M. to give us an update and we decided to drive over because Jenn was making good progress with her labor. She only slowed down when it came time to push at noon. Apparently Baby Jack was not ready for his eviction (birth) because he kept trying to swim back upstream like a salmon. (I didn't know babies sometimes did that.) Jack and I returned to the ground floor hospital waiting room and tried to stay relaxed and calm. At 1:50 P.M. Terry called Jack on his cell phone and announced that we could come up to meet our grandson.

When we arrived Jenn was sitting up in bed nursing her son who was just 45 minutes old. Everyone is doing great although I think everybody including little Jack could use an afternoon nap. Baby Jack is so little and precious and cute. He has the sweetest little face and lots of dark curly hair. When he wasn't learning to nurse he was making these precious little whimpers. He sounded like a little kitten. Maybe he had been listening to Mr. Milo Cat and Mr. Merlin Cat in the womb and thought that was the way to talk. Anyway he was mewing like a little kitten. I think he has already bonded with his Momma and Daddy because when I held him he soon wanted to return to the safety of his parents. When we had checked on all his fingers and toes and had ascertained that Mom and Dad were up for the job we took our leave to return to Haymarket. Grandpa Jack is so tired that I don't know if we will get some pics posted on this blog. I think an afternoon nap is in order for Grandpa. Will write more soon.

2007 Folklife Festival and Live Earth

This is going to be a great weekend for both folklife and entertainment. The annual D.C. Folklife Festival has been going on since before July 4'th. Jack and I went by car and then Metro to the festival last Friday-June 29'th. We arrived on the mall via the Smithsonian Station Metro Stop at 11:15 A.M. and we found enough to keep us busy until 7:30 P.M. This is one of the better folklife festivals. Two years ago the festival focused on food prep around the world and we got to watch Emirl Legasse kick it up a notch or two. But the festival that year was a little confusing. This year there are three distinct places to explore:

Northern Ireland

The Mekong Delta

Root of Virginia Culture

When we arrived at the festival last Friday we made a beeline to the Mekong Delta which represents four countries that border the Mekong River. Anyone who lived during the Vietnam War era must remember hearing repeatly on the evening news reports of so many Americans killed today along the Mekong Delta. We quickly learned that the Mekong not only runs through Vietnam but the Yunnan Province of China plus Laos and Cambodia. The first thing we watched were the Cambonese dancers and singers who sang and danced a wedding celebration. The great thing about this festival is that all the acts are straight from the country and culture they represent so these attractive young dancers and actors were from Cambodia and looked like the men and women were putting a little extra spice in this wedding dance. After watching this and checking out the Mekong culture tent where we saw Thai silk weaving and Asian wood carving we headed to the Mekong food tent where we decided on what we wanted to eat. I decided to sample the ground chicken salad from Laos with a Thai beer to share with Jack. Jack opted for the Vegan Pad Thai. The Laos salad was tasty but very very hot. (Hotter than any Mexican food I have tried!) The Pad Thai was excellent! The yellow noodles and fried tofu in the dish were so delicious!For dessert we shared a portion of fresh sliced mango with sticky rice. Very very good.

After lunch we headed to the Northern Ireland Pavilion to watch and hear Irish music and dance. Our favorite Irish group was Four Men and A Dog.

I thought the group should have been called Four Men and A Little Girl. There was a girl about eight years old who knew how to do the Irish dances

like in River Dance. She would come out and dance to the music and the men would acknowledge her presence. After this more and more people came out to try to do an Irish jig either solo or with a partner. And I never did see the dog? After this we checked out the Northern Ireland culture tents where we saw how the world famous Guinness beer is made from roasted barley and water. We also saw Irish cathderal stone carver demonstrations.

After this we headed to our own state of Virginia Pavilion and watched the Virginia Native Tribes do native dances. One of the girls wore a jingle dress that had hundreds of metal jingles sewn to the dress. This dancer told us that her dress weighed about seven pounds! Seems to me it would be hard to walk let alone dance in a dress that heavy.

Soon it was time for dinner and more Irish music so we headed to the Irish food tent and had Shepherd's Pie with a glass of Guinness before heading back to the Irish Pavilion to hear the drummers that accompany the Irish bagpipers. Finally we headed back to Haymarket at 7:30 via Metro and car.

It was so much fun. We are hoping to head back to the festival tomorrow for more good food and shows. All the shows are free so you only need money for transportaion and food. Also, this Saturday the National Museum of the American Indian is having an all day Indian Summer Showcase to coincide with the the Live Earth Concerts that will be happening all across the globe. You can look up Live Earth on the web and find out who is performing on each continent for this worldwide event. Should be a great weekend for food, fun and entertainment even though it will be very hot outside.

Our Summer Motto: Work Hard and Play Harder

The July 4'th Holiday is the midpoint of most people's summertime. Well, Jack and I also subscribe to this thinking so this means just one thing: we got to start working harder at playing harder this summer.

We have had quite a few parties which I will discuss later in more detail but it seems that we have been in catchup mode since we got home from our road trip. Catchup on the house, the garden, the travel photo albums (We've filled six with some of the 1200 pics we took on our trip.) the extended family, the neighbors and the ironing! The ironing---I finally got around to that yesterday and after about five hours I reached the bottom of the stack. I stopped counting the number of long sleeved shirts I ironed up for Jack when I hit number 30! My daughters can't believe that I still iron clothes. Actually I enjoy ironing. It's great to see a crumpled up piece of fabric turn into this spiffy well pressed cloth. I think ironing is becoming a lost art. Otherwise, why would Martha Stewart have to give a TV lesson on how to iron a shirt?

The Bambi encounter and the flying ant home invasion also kept us hopping for awhile. I am happy to report that I have found several deer remedies in a book I bought at Merrifield Garden Center last week: Deer Proofing Your Yard & Garden written by Thonda Hart. We learned from the salesperson that animals are smart so you have to frequently vary what you are using for a deterrent. With that advice in mind we bought the book and a $50 container of liquid deer deterrent at Merrifield. $50! I know. Apparently deer proofing your yard costs big bucks. No pun intended.We also stopped at Blooms Grocery and bought several cakes of Irish Spring soap. We sprayed the $50 stuff on all our beds. It smelled like someone had just thrown up in the yard. Whee! If I were a deer, I would skip that yard too. Well, guess what? The deer stayed away after the spraying. Even our cute little brown bunnies skipped munching in our lawn for a few days. And I stayed away from the swing for a few days too. The stench was too great for my nose. But I haven't seen any traces of deer plant attacks. Yeah!!

To be on the safe side I'm going to the skewer the cakes of Irish Spring and stick them in the ground too. We have learned of several homemade remedies:

human hair (doesn't work)

human male urine (does work if you can find willing male)

rotten eggs in water (does work but hold your nose)

Another application of Liquid Sevin along the perimeter of the house has solved the flying ant problem.

So now that we have caught up on our chores and have solved our house and garden invasions we are in the mood to party once more. We have had three Loop wine tastings. These are always impromptu events when the weather cooperates and people are available on the loop. Dickie and Scott hosted back-to-back wine tastings the first two nights that we were back from our trip. (I think the neighbors were anxious to hear about our adventures on our trip and I think Jack and I were anxious to hear what the neighbors had been doing in April and May. Jack and I hosted a wine tasting last Saturday night for Dickie and Scott to discuss the D.C. Folklife Festival.

I had the opportunity to attend two important parties in June. June 10 my second daughter, Jeanine, and her apartment roomie, Maria, hosted a Baby Shower for my older daughter Jennifer who is expecting our grandson on July 7'th. I contributed some food and flowers for the event but Jeanine and Maria did all the party prep work: decorations, food, drinks and games. Yes, we had to play a game or two. Like do you know the current price of a box of pampers? I managed to overprice everything on that game list. That must mean I have a bad memory which I know I don't (because my older sister says I have a great memory) or else the cost of having a baby has decreased since the '70s in Arizona. Did we have Walmart in AZ in the '70s? Maybe that's it. The most fun at this baby shower was watching Jenn open each gift and getting to decorate bibs with funny sayings. Here are some of the sayings:

I Love My Aunt Jeanine

Feed Me!!!

Got Milk?

I Love My Daddy!

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Baby On The 4'th of July 2007

Party: My Crib 3:00 A.M.

Friday June 15 I had the opportunity to attend the retirement party at Waterford of Springfield for Dr. Jackson, my last principal, who is leaving Franconia Elementary this summer. I learned that the Franconia School Library will be renamed the Dr. Jackson Library and since my days at Franconia were spent managing the school library this news makes me very happy. Besides having a chance to say thank you and good by to Dr. Jackson it was a great party for meeting lots of current and former Franconia school folks. Check out my pics of myself with some old school friends: Eleanore Callaway, Lorraine Mitchell, Peggy Bedwell, Martha McCash, Lydia Hunter and Florence Stewart. Didn't manage to get a pic of Dr. Jackson or Susan Lloyd or Sue McNamee but enjoyed talking with them.

With all these parties in June it was difficult to find a weekend to have a family barbecue in honor of past events that we needed to celebrate but we did make time on June 23'rd to celebrate the following missed celebrations:

Mother's Day

Father's Day

Memorial Day

Joann's Birthday

Jennifer's Birthday

We had lots of barbecue and side dishes, lots of presents to open and lots of laughs when daughter Jeanine gave me my most unusual birthday present:

The Official Duck Fart Kit. Please check out the photo of the Duck Fart Kit. It even includes a little green duck that looks embarrassed because he just passed gas. The Duck Fart Kit was given to me because I had a Duck Fart Drink at the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau, Alaska on our Alaskan Cruise.

Would you like to know what is in a Duck Fart?

The Duck Fart

Carefully layer each of the following liquors in the order listed from top

to bottom into a shot glass then sip gently and decorously:

3/4 oz Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey

3/4 oz Bailey's Irish Cream

3/4 oz Kahlua Coffee Liqueur