The Boulevard of Broken Machines

While this past week saw New England suffering from some pretty sultry summer weather (which has thankfully passed for now!), it also saw Amanda up to her eyeballs in a few sewing projects that had her stressed to the max while she spent hour after hour sitting at her trusty Singer sewing machine that had been given to her by a family friend. With Otakon, the annual fan convention in Baltimore that celebrates pretty much every type of pop culture you can imagine from comics to movies to television shows, fast approaching and costumes to get finished in time for the big event, Amanda was really starting to feel the pressure of deadlines combined with the full effects of Murphy's Law which had kicked in big time.  If anything could go wrong with the major project that she had to do, it did and it did it in a big way.

As I worked on my own projects writing about my latest travels with mini-Nathaniel to places like Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, several historic homes in Gloucester, and a patriotic museum in Concord, Amanda slaved over her Singer and worked on what I dubbed to be "The Dress From Hell".  One of her friends had asked her if she could create a costume based on a character from the cartoon series "My Little Pony"; her friend wanted a dress looking like the one Pinkie Pie was wearing below and as Amanda owed her friend some money, she figured that was a good way to pay her back.

Even though it didn't look to Amanda like it was going to be that difficult of a project when she first envisioned it, that turned out not to be the case at all. With a row of embroidered candy corn and lollipops, scalloped hems, numerous bows, and three peplums below the vest and above the floor-length skirt along with a slew of other details, she really had her work cut out for her (no sewing pun intended!)  Add on the fact that the gal she was making the dress for made several major changes mid-project and Amanda was darn near ready for a ride to the local mental health facility halfway into the project.

To make matters worse, last Friday evening she had a bit of a scare when she was trying to bleach a pair of sand-colored shorts white and, following an on-line tutorial, mixed a bit of bleach and white vinegar together.  Double-checking another internet source she found that mixing the two together could result in chlorine gas and fatal poisoning which thankfully didn't happen but which raised her stress levels to near-critical.  Follow that up with our visit from the bat in the wee hours of the morning and I was definitely thinking of putting an ambulance on standby for her!  Not knowing what else to do, I had her take a couple of Tylenol PM and crash in my room as her stress was also causing her not to sleep and the kid really needed to get some sleep!

In the meantime though, "The Dress From Hell" waited and watched as Amanda - after having finally slept for a good solid eight hours - awoke to take on the candy corn and lollipop appliques.  Thankfully that part of it went more or less fairly well but when it got to the point where she had to gather the numerous peplums to sew to the vest, things started to go downhill again as the machine stitches just weren't gathering properly.  Having pity on her, I grabbed needle and thread and hand-sewed in basting stitches that were easier to gather together and soon work was back in progress.  Or I should say it was back in progress until her trusty Singer sewing machine had a fatal accident at 4:00 in the morning.

Having to go to work for my usual 16-hour double on Tuesday, I had gone to bed fairly late on Monday night  leaving Amanda to sew the peplums together after helping out with the whole gathering fiasco.  Around 4:00 I awoke to what I could have sworn was sobbing coming from the dining room where Amanda had been working and when I groggily opened my bedroom door to find out what was going on (please, Lord, not another bat!), I found Amanda in tears holding a metal piece from her sewing machine that had not just bent but had snapped clean in half.  Oh dear ... this wasn't good.  This wasn't good at all.

I finally convinced her to go to bed and try to get some sleep as there was nothing that could be done for it at that time of the morning.  I told her to take a few more Tylenol PM as she had a raging headache on top of everything else so she did and off to bed she sobbingly went while I was apparently up way too early for the long day that was ahead of me as there was no way I was going to be able to sleep as I wracked my brain as to how this particular dilemma was going to be solved. I had a sewing machine myself but it had been broken years ago by my ex-husband when he tried to sew material that was too heavy for it and all it did was spaghetti the bobbin thread so it was of no use and we sure couldn't afford to buy a new machine. I went to work not knowing how this project was ever going to end and hoping that Amanda could get some sleep and try to calm down.

Later in the day when Amanda finally woke up, she called me to tell me that a couple of her friends were coming down from Quincy, Massachusetts and they were bringing sewing machines with them.  The cavalry was on the way!  And they even brought pizza!  Having Kait and Melissa here to help out really, really helped - as did having access to a sewing machine that worked - as when I came home from work at 11:00 p.m. "The Dress From Hell" was almost totally completed. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Above was the dreaded dress as I last saw it on the dress form in the living room (not posterized of course!) for when I got up the next morning to go to work it was packed into its shipping box and merely awaited my taking it to the Post Office after work and getting it the heck out of my house.  I'm pretty sure that I have never been so happy to mail a package in my entire life! While there I also mailed out another package to another of Amanda's friends in Alabama - another costume that she had made but that had been a cake-walk compared to "The Dress From Hell".

There were still projects to be done though as Amanda had another commission for a jacket that she felt would be quite easy compared to Pinkie Pie's ballgown.  As her machine was obviously still dead, Kait left her old Kenmore machine behind for Amanda to use when she returned to Quincy.  The Kenmore had had some problems in the past but Cait was confident that her Dad had fixed it but alas, that turned out not to be the case as shortly into the project, the machine started not picking up the bobbin thread.  Oh no, here we go again.

I contacted a work friend of mine that I knew had a machine to ask her if Amanda could borrow it; it was an older Singer that hadn't been out of the attic for a few years but Lori said she was welcome to use it so we hopped in the car and drove across town to pick it up.  Back home it turned out that - like the Kenmore - it was having bobbin problems and wouldn't pick up the thread at all no matter what we tried.  Fail. Again. Once again I went to bed trying to figure out what to do next as Amanda's stress levels started to climb again as she was really running out of time to get the jacket done for Otakon.  I was beginning to think that Otakon really meant "Convention that causes great stress" as that's exactly what was going on in my house!

On Saturday morning I sent out a plea for help on Facebook for anyone nearby with a sewing machine that Amanda might be able to borrow for a bit which was thankfully answered by another of the ladies that I work with.  Amy said she had a new Singer machine that she had only used maybe twice that Amanda was welcome to borrow so I woke her up and we made the short drive across town (again) to pick up what turned out to be one of those fancy-dancy new computerized machines that pretty much does everything at the touch of a button.  As she was heading off on vacation soon, Amy said that Amanda was more than welcome to hang on to the machine for a couple of weeks and sew to her heart's desire (though I'm thinking once she's done doing the costumes for Otakon she isn't going to have any desire to sew anything for awhile!)

When we got home with Amy's machine, Amanda took a look at the gathering of sewing machines that had accumulated in the dining room and said that it looked like a boulevard of broken machines - a take on Green Day's song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".  I had to agree so snapped a photo because hey, that's what I do!

As of this writing, things are sewing along smoothly, Amanda's stress levels have returned to a manageable level and I think we should be okay until she leaves for Baltimore on Wednesday even though she still needs to make a pill box hat for Pinkie Pie's costume which, compared to everything else, should be a real walk in the park for her.

Oh, and as for "The Dress From Hell", I am very happy to say that it arrived safely in Pittsburgh and yesterday it's new owner wrote on Facebook, "It's here!!!! and it fits perfectly and looks amazing!!! :D i can't wait to wear it in a few days!" Phew!

Eventually we'll be getting Amanda a new sewing machine, especially if she wants to continue to do costume design and making, but in the meantime I'm a bit behind on my travel blogging and I just want to get through the rest of the week without any more stress or drama or disasters!  Hopefully Murphy and his darned law is off terrorizing someone else! Please! 

Back to Baltimore, Part 6: The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum

My tour of the Poe House has been moved and can now be found at The Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore at The Distracted Wanderer. Hope you'll head over there to take a walk through with me! 

Saturday Stuff

I have no idea what church this is in Baltimore, it's just one that I saw while sitting at a stoplight while on my way to someplace and I snapped a quick picture of it.  I could probably drive around Baltimore for days just taking pictures of steeples and spires and still not get them all!

Last night just before midnight Amanda and I drove up to the top of Plain Hill Road here in Norwich to find a dark place to watch a bit of the meteor shower.  We saw a few but I think we saw more planes; apparently Norwich is directly underneath a very busy flight pattern!

In an unexpected turn of events, Jamie will be flying up this way on Monday rather than after the end of the month as I had expressly desired.  Rather than come here and deal with the whole drama of Amanda's last two weeks before college, she's going to stay with my son and daughter-in-law at their home in Rhode Island until after August 28th.

I am eternally grateful to Mike and Laura for not just taking Jamie in but also for being able to pick her up at the airport in Providence as my ex booked her on a flight without consulting with me first as to my availability to pick her up and she's flying in smack in the middle of my 16-hour shift on Monday.

I could do a lot more mumbling and grumbling about the whole thing but he reads my blog and I've already been accused of bad-mouthing him all the time and telling untruths so I'm not going to say another thing about it other than I hope Jamie has a safe flight, manages to find her connecting flight in Philadelphia, and doesn't get too bored waiting there for 3 hours.  And yes, I'm biting my tongue!

On a completely different note, I'm going to ask all of you for prayers and good thoughts & wishes for my blogging and real-life friend Callie Ann who has been in the hospital for what was supposed to be a short stay but which has turned into a lot longer and a lot more complicated stay.  She originally went in for pneumonia but ended up being put on a ventilator and now her kidneys are failing, too.  Her friends have been keeping us updated on Facebook but it hasn't been good news so far so I'd appreciate if you'd all send up a prayer or a good thought or whatever it is that you do when folks are in need because Callie Ann could use them all.  She's a true nut and a wonderful gal and I'm real worried about her.

My cousin and I had a nice trip over to Newport, Rhode Island yesterday to check out Fort Adams (which I thought had more of a Civil War history but was wrong about).  I've got lots of pictures - as if I didn't! - and will get around to doing a post one of these days once I finish up Baltimore - which may take awhile at the rate I'm going!

That was my first trip to Newport and honestly, I wasn't all that impressed but that's probably because I'm just not into places that are crammed with tourists.  I think if I ever go over again I'd like to do so during the off-season.  I wonder if this means I'm turning into an unsociable curmudgeon?

Tonight I'm planning on being quite sociable as Amanda and I have been invited up to my friend and much-appreciated handyman Andrew's house for a cook-out.  He's doing chicken, squash, and corn on the grill and that sounds delicious!  Amanda doesn't like squash or corn but that's okay - I'll eat her share!  Hmm, I wonder if I can talk him into letting me try one of the Yuengling ales I brought back up from Baltimore for him??

I hope everyone has a nice Saturday wherever you are and whatever you're doing!

Back to Baltimore, Part 5: The Hotel Brexton

Yesterday I posted the following picture and asked everyone to leave me their guesses as to what they thought it was. Everyone was pretty spot-on about it being a spiral staircase but most seemed to think that it was a spiral staircase in a lighthouse which is a good guess but not quite right. Granted, I did play around with the picture a little bit ...

To find out what the real answer is and to get a tour of one of Baltimore's best boutique hotels click here to read the whole story complete with the original picture at The Distracted Wandererer, my travel blog.

Back to Baltimore, Part 4: The Parks of Mount Vernon Place

Now that I've covered the Washington Monument, the architecture of the buildings in the vicinity, and the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church it's finally time to move on to the park squares that surround the monument in the shape of a Greek cross. I thought perhaps an aerial view might give you a better understanding of what I'm talking about but not having had access to an aerial balloon which would have been the best method to get a good picture, I used one from Google Maps.

This picture was taken from the direction of downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor heading north; the Mount Vernon UMC, which sits on the northeast corner, can be easily spotted and serves as a good indicator of direction.  Truth be told, were I a smarter woman, I would have looked at this aerial map before I went to Baltimore but live and learn I guess!

Anyhow all lamenting aside, as previously noted, Colonel John Eager Howard died in 1827, two years before the completion of the Washington Monument which stands on land he gave to the City of Baltimore.  Following the death of the former Governor of Maryland, his heirs laid out the four park squares surrounding the Monument in the form of a Greek Cross. The squares running north and south from the Monument are named Washington Place and those laid out to the east and west are named Mount Vernon Place.  If you ever decide to go to Baltimore and check out the area yourself, type either of those streets into your GPS unit and you'll have no problems getting there.

As mentioned in previous posts, in the 1840s the City of Baltimore really began to boom and the town started to grow out towards the Monument which stands on the highest point in the city.  Colonel Howard's family sold lots bordering the four parks to some of the city's most prominent families who in turn built some of the most elegant townhouses to be found in Baltimore. As the fashion of the day changed, so did the landscape of the parks. At one time trees were allowed to grow tall but then they were cut down as they marred the view and until the 1890s the grass plots were enclosed within fences.

Each separate park at Mount Vernon Place holds its own statues and fountains - some are sculptures by famed French goldsmith-turned-sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye (donated to the city by collector William Walters) and others are statues to famed Maryland historical figures like Colonel John Eager Howard and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney who was the first-ever Catholic to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, what Chief Justice Taney is best known for is delivering the majority opinion in the Dred Scott case. Not a great legacy to be sure! In addition to those statues, a likeness of George Peabody reposes comfortably in the park in his chair across from The Peabody Institute.

A couple of the fountains weren't in operation and I even missed an entire statue dedicated to Severn Teackle Wallis, a prominent Baltimore attorney and political reformer of the late 19th century whose statue stands in East Mount Vernon Place.   I guess this is why I will never get a job as a travel writer - I miss things!

The last major piece of sculpture that was added to the parks stands at the northern end of South Washington Place and is the equestrian statue of Lafayette which was dedicated on September 26,1924 to the memory of the fallen American and French comrades of World War I. Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution. On the anniversary of Lafayette's birthday, the 16-foot tall bronze monument sculpted by Andrew O'Connor Jr, an American-Irish sculptor born in Worcester, Massachusetts, was dedicated atop a 20-foot tall Cockeysville marble base. Oh - and just in case you're curious - Cockeysville marble is a building stone quarried in Baltimore County, Maryland which is a metamorphic rock of Precambrian age, about 600 million years old. Originally a limestone, it was transformed by heat and pressure into marble.

As per my want, I took an awful lot of pictures (i.e. way too many!) of the area both while I was there around noon and again later in the evening when I walked back over from my hotel to catch a bus.  As such, I've put them together into a slideshow to share with you.  Some of the pictures have captions that seem to get in the way and the picture quality isn't all that great so if you'd like to get a better look, feel free to click on over to my Mount Vernon Place set over on Flickr. I apologize for the redundancy but sometimes I just find it way too hard to pick only one picture to share!

"Mount Vernon Place"

Back to Baltimore, Part 3: The Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church

In Saturday's post about the architecture of Mount Vernon Place, I briefly mentioned the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church which sits just northeast of the Washington Monument at 2-10 East Mount Vernon Place. The church is a prime example of Norman-Gothic style architecture and is only one of three Gothic buildings in all of Baltimore.  Alas, I still need to figure out where the other two are!

The church was built on the outskirts of the city on land that originally was the site of the mansion of Charles Howard, son of Colonel John Eager Howard, who had erected the first residence on the square circa 1830. Charles Howard married Elizabeth Phoebe Kay whose father was Francis Scott Key - author of our national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". On January 11th, 1843, while visiting his daughter at her house, her father died of pleurisy and was later interred in the Howard family vault (though his body has since been moved to his family plot in Frederick, Maryland) . The Baltimore Chpater of the Daughters of the American Revolution, afixed a plaque observing Francis Scott Key's death on the southern outside church wall, marking the church as a highlighted location on the National Historic Register which it was added to in October of 1971.

Conceived as a "Cathedral of Methodism", the church was constructed between 1870 and 1872 with completion on November 12th of that year.  The cost of the structure including the land, building, and furnishings was $400,000 - not a small sum back in post-Civil War times.  The church has three spires with the tallest being on the southwest corner.  At the time of construction, it was stipulated that the tallest spire had to be shorter than the 178-foot height of the Washington Monument that the church sits kitty-corner from.

The building was constructed of six of different types of stone including now rare green serpentine marble from Baltimore County and buff and red sandstone trim. Its extraordinary color comes from the green serpentine marble which is reportedly quite exceptional when it gets wet. Not having any rain while we were in Baltimore I didn't get to see that but I did see the church in both the broad light of noon and again in the fading twilight of evening and it looked spectacular both times.

Unfortunately, neither the buff or red sandstone wears well so major repairs and replacements of individual pieces were made in 1932 and again in 1978 but I think that simply adds to the unique character and grandeur of the building.

As I was walking around outside taking pictures of the impressive structure, a gentleman sitting on the side steps told me that if I went into the church offices next door that I would be able to tour the inside of the church which I decided sounded like a grand idea!  I went next door to what is known as the Asbury House which is designed in the Italianate Renaissance style and was built in 1950 for one of Baltimore's leading German merchants, Albert Schumacher.

Asbury House is one of the few early-Victorian era homes left in Baltimore that hasn't been broken up into apartments and was purchased by the church in 1957 to be used as offices and meeting space. The mansion is named for Francis Asbury (1745-1816) who was the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America. The house has a gorgeous spiral staircase that leads up to an equally gorgeous library on the second floor of the house which has very elaborate carvings as well as a ceiling painting that is a replica of Guido Remi's "Aurora". Even though I went up there I didn't take any pictures though in retrospect, I can't figure out why not!  "Duh" moment, I guess!

My guide led me into the interior of the church and graciously turned on the lights for me so that I could take some pictures of the beautiful worship space which contained many beautiful stained glass windows including a Connick cross above the pulpit which replicates a sister cross at Notre Dame.

In 1870 the trustees purchased an organ for their new church that used water power to "raise the wind" and was the fourth largest of its kind in the United States. Since then it has been replaced with a state-of-the-art M.P. Moller organ which has a total of 3,827 pipes. Can you imagine being able to play something like that or how gorgeous it must sound?

The sanctuary sits 900 people though my guide told me that the average Sunday service nowadays is about 90 parishioners. She said that part of the problem is that there is very limited parking in the area which makes it difficult for the congregates. The American walnut pews were all hand-carved by just one gentleman - work that took him seven years to complete but was obviously lovingly done.

As you can see, there are large hand fans located in the pews which are for the comfort of parishioners on hot summer Sundays.  While I was there it was a bit stuffy inside the church and even though I didn't look around to be certain, I'm going to guess that there is no air-conditioning in the building - which would make complete and total sense as obviously it was unheard of at the time of its construction.  I'm pretty sure that buildings on the National Historic Register have to stay as original as possible also so I rather doubt anyone would have tried to put air-conditioning in.

Behind the sanctuary itself is located the much smaller and intimate Bosley Chapel which was named in memory young Sidney Bosley, the son of a former pastor of the church, who died in a tragic train accident at the age of 12. Accordingly, the stained glass windows depict the 12-year old David and Jesus.

The church worker who gave me my tour told me that the church is also home to Carpenter's Kitchen which provides meals for approximately 400 hungry people every single Saturday regardless of the weather or if it's a holiday.  Having been approached by quite a few people for hand-outs while I was in the area, I can see where that's a program that must be very well appreciated in Baltimore and I was more than happy to leave a small contribution in thanks for my chance to view the beautiful sanctuary of the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.

Back to Baltimore, Part 2: The Architecture of Mount Vernon Place

As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the Baltimore Washington Monument, this next post is going to be about the area around the monument which is referred to as Mount Vernon Place. Technically there are two distinct areas that branch out from the circle that surrounds the monument and form a Greek cross. The squares to the east and west are called Mount Vernon Place, while the north and south squares comprise Washington Place; however, it seems that most people lump the two areas together and for the sake of argument call the entire area Mount Vernon Place - which is what I'm going to do!

As I mentioned yesterday, when the townspeople of Baltimore decided they wanted to erect a monument for George Washington the initial idea was to build it closer to town but due to a fear that the massive structure would collapse on neighboring houses, the monument was constructed on land located outside of the town itself in an area known as Howard's Woods. The land on which the monument was to sit, as well as surrounding property for the building of parks, was donated by Colonel John Eager Howard who had served under Washington when both fought in the American Revolution.  A favorite native son of Baltimore, John Howard was the fifth Governor of Maryland as well as holding the title of State Senator from 1796 to 1803.  Colonel Eager was born and died at the family's palatial estate in Baltimore known as "Belvidere" and it was part of that estate that eventually became the Mount Vernon section of Baltimore.

After Colonel Howard died in 1827, just two years before the completion of the Washington Monument, his heirs sold lots that bordered the parks and monument.  Baltimore was the fastest growing city in America during the first few decades of the 19th century and by the 1840s some of the city's most gracious townhomes had been built in the lots around the monument by some of the city's most prominent families.

Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked when it comes to the beautiful homes around Mount Vernon Place as I was too busy looking at the parks themselves and the sculptures there. It wasn't until I got home and started doing research that I realized that I had been in the presence of some very grand homes of some very grand people which I guess means another trip down to Baltimore will be in order one of these days! Perhaps if/when Claire ever gets her cheeky ginger-topped self back over to this side of the Atlantic I can talk her into a jaunt down there!

At any rate, I did get pictures of The Hackerman House which is the second oldest house on the square built between 1849 and 1851. The home was originally known as the Thomas-Jencks-Gladding House which was designed using the Italian Renaissance features then in fashion. The house was built for John Hanson Thomas, a descendent of John Hanson, President of the Congress under the Articles of Confederation. At the time of its construction the house was described as "one of the most elegant and princely specimens of architectural taste and mechanical skill."  It may not look all that grand from the outside but I've heard that the interior is just gorgeous.  Unfortunately, it wasn't open while I was there so I'm going to have to take the word of everything I've read!

The house changed hands several more times before Mr. and Mrs. Willard Hackerman presented the house to the City of Baltimore in 1984 and in 1991 it was remodeled for museum use and now houses the famed Asian art collection of the Walters Art Gallery which is just around the corner from the Hackerman House. The gallery, modeled on the University of Genoa's University Palace, holds the tremendous art collection that was amassed by William and Henry Walters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and given to the people of Baltimore on Henry Walters death in 1931.

Across Charles Street from the Hackerman House stands the original building of The Peabody Institute - the oldest continuously active music conservatory in the United States - which was built between 1858 and 1862 but not dedicated until after the Civil War in 1866.

 In 1857 George Peabody, an entrepreneur and philanthropist originally from South Danvers, Massachusetts, wrote to 25 leading Baltimore citizens outlining a specific proposal to create a cultural institution in Baltimore. When his gracious offer was accepted, he insisted that it be built on this site which was one of the most expensive and prominent locations in the city. The building was designed in the Renaissance Revival style and it's most most impressive feature is its large central reading room which rises to the full height of the building under a skylight, with six stories of alcoves giving room for 300,000 volumes. Another building I gotta into one of these days!

Directly across the street from the Peabody Institute on the northeast corner of Mount Vernon Place sits the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church but I'm not going to say anything more than that in this post as I've got a full post on the church alone and you're just going to have to come back for that one!  Claire isn't the only one who can be cheeky!

In addition to the other beautiful buildings surrounding the Washington Monument , North Washington Place hosts two large apartment houses, the Washington Apartments built in 1906 in the Beaux Arts style and the Stafford Apartments (originally Hotel) which was built in 1894.  At the northwest corner of Washington Place stands the Graham-Hughes House, a grand 1895 example of a French chateau-style townhouse.

In addition to all of the lovely buildings and examples of gorgeous architecture that line the streets around the Washington Monument there are four parks but I think we're covered enough for one post.  After all, I don't want to overload you with too much history just in case there's a quiz later!

Back to Baltimore, Part 1: The Baltimore Washington Monument

This beautiful tribute to our Nation's first President predates the one in Washington DC by 55 years. You can learn all about it by following this link - Baltimore's Washington Monument - to my travel blog.

Mid-Week Musings

Hey!  How did it get to be the end of July already??

Speaking of July - on the news last night the weatherman said that this July is going to go down in the record books as the hottest July since the National Weather Service started keeping records back in 1888.  June has already gone down in the books for the same thing so if it seems like it's been hotter than usual this summer - it has been!

I'm rather hoping for a bit of a break this weekend as Amanda and I are taking her last road trip before college down to Baltimore - a trip which surprisingly has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe!  Instead Amanda is going to be attending the Otakon Convention which in their words "celebrates all anime, manga, and all facets of Asian pop culture!"  Okkaaayyyy ... she bought and paid for her own ticket so I'm basically going to be playing Hoke to her Miss Daisy!   She just recently managed to rope her friend Darci into going with her so we'll be making a stop in New Jersey along the way.

I think her prime reason for going is that she wants to meet Tessa Stone who is the comic artist of Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name - a web comic that Amanda absolutely loves.  Ms. Stone's artwork is very much like that which Amanda hopes to someday do so she is really looking forward to the opportunity to meet her in person.

Apparently I may get the opportunity to meet her in person myself as I was asked last night if I would be able to do group photos for Tessa and her "fans" on Saturday evening.  Not having any one thing in particular on my own agenda - at least not yet but I've found some things I'm quite interested in doing - I'm pretty sure I'll have the time to do that before going back to my own devices in Baltimore.

This being my third trip down to Baltimore at least I've got a semi-decent idea of the lay of the land so what I'm mostly planning on doing while there is taking pictures of some of the more historic parts of the city.  The hotel I managed to get a really amazing deal at (more on that in another post) is located in the Mount Vernon section of the city which is considered to be the heart of Baltimore's arts and culture community.  Once the home of Baltimore's gilded age elite, there is a lot there for any history buff to love including the original Washington Monument erected 50 years before the one in Washington, the Basilica of the Assumption which was America's first cathedral built between 1806 through 1821, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library which is one of the oldest public libraries in the country established in 1882.

Anyhow, there will be lots more on this later but for now I've got to take Amanda up to her doctor's office to get a meningitis shot - something she's really not looking forward to but a definite must for college!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday no matter what you may be doing this hot, hot July!

Six Sunday Things

Saturday was pretty much a wash-out here in New England so I spent the day in my pajamas lounging around the house watching bad movies, historical documentaries, and John Barrowman (rowr!) in Torchwood on BBC America. Torchwood is a spin-off of Amanda's favorite Doctor Who and Captain Jack, Barrowman's character, is quite easy on the eyes - much like David Tennant's Tenth Doctor!  How bad can it be to spend a day with handsome British gentlemen on the TV?   Not bad at all!

In addition to watching more TV in one day than I normally do in an entire week, I also attempted something new in the kitchen and cooked up a batch of chicken & dumplings as it seemed like the perfect meal for a chilly, rainy November day.  A friend from work had mentioned chicken & dumplings on her Facebook status a few weeks ago and I had been wanting to try making it ever since.  I more or less wingd it sans recipe and I'm happy to say it turned out quite well along with the mashed potatoes that are invisible in this picture.  Amanda declared it to be very good even though she wasn't too keen on the corn.  I know that most people use peas along with the carrots but she hates peas even worse than corn so I sort of compromised and went with corn though I guess I could have used green beans as she tolerates those the best.

Quite unfortunately it doesn't appear like we are going to be able to get Rufus to come into the house and make himself at home.  As I mentioned the other day, we were trying to take in one of the neighborhood strays who is a very handsome cat and quite friendly but every time he comes in the house, he simply sits at the back door and howls to go back out.  It's a shame as I really like Rufus, which coming from me as a non-cat person is quite the compliment.  Amanda would still like to have a cat, though, so we are keeping our eyes open for other possibilities pending approval from my landlady to have one.  I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind but I do believe a deposit may be required.

Remember our trip down to Baltimore for Edgar Allan Poe's funeral back in October? Well, Amanda's favorite illustrator who was one of the speakers at the funeral put up a video on YouTube yesterday and much to her delight it contains a picture of her and Darci at the previous day's book-singing.  The video also highlights the best parts of Gris Grimly's eulogy and Amanda totally loved hearing it again.  I was rather flattered that several of my pictures from the day were used in the making of the video which you can watch by clicking here if you'd like.  I believe it gives me a few extra 'cool points' amongst Amanda and her cronies.

A blogging friend (hi Gracie!) sent me an email yesterday asking me about doing a calendar with some of my photos on Red Bubble saying that if I did, she'd dearly love one.  Hmm ... truth be told, I haven't done anything with my account on Red Bubble in a long time but perhaps I will put together a calendar just to see what it looks like.  The tricky part would be picking just the right picture for each month but it could be kind of fun, too.  Gracie, I will let you know!   Any suggestions for photo choices?

Finally, a big thank you to my mom who decided to give me my Christmas present quite early this year in the form of a Comfort Furnace infrared heater.  My mom knew that I was majorly concerned about what the cost of electric heat was going to be like this year so she did some research and bought me a unit that claims it will heat 1,000 square feet.  I don't know if that's accurate or not but we set it up in the living room last night and it did a great job there as well as into the dining room and the kitchen.  Havng a brick house it's been pretty chilly in here lately but for the past two days it's been quite comfy cozy without the added stress of the electric bill.  My mom is truly the best and in this case, I don't mind Christmas coming early at all!

Wishing everyone the best Sunday!

"Into the region of shadows ..."*

One week to the day later I am finally getting the chance to write about one of the main reasons that Amanda, Darci, and I made a second trip to Baltimore this year - the funeral of Edgar Allan Poe. The other reason can be found if you click here and go to my post from last Sunday but if you're a regular reader you're going to have done that already so please, continue on!

At any rate, I was going to start this post out with a bit of a poetic spoof -

Once upon a Baltimore sunny, while I thought I would be funny,
Over many a quip and snarky turn of phrase.
While I thought, and tried reciting, suddenly there came a growling,
As of someone almost scowling, scowling at my small word plays.
"'Tis some teenager," I muttered, "growling at my wit's new chore --
Only this and nothing more."

However, Amanda totally forbid me to do that which of course meant I had to do it anyway! She seems to think that Mr. Poe would be deeply offended but I'm pretty sure I'm not the first - nor the last - to totally muck up a classic like "The Raven". Besides, doing so gives me the chance to embarrass her once again which is part of the Parental Code of Conduct as spoken of last week!

Anyhow, enough fooling around and on to the topic at hand - the funeral that Edgar Allan Poe never got when he first departed this earthly plane on October 7th, 1849 under mysterious circumstances, or at least circumstances that have never been fully figured out. Baltimore has gone all out this past year celebrating the 200th birthday of the author who was born in Boston but died in their city and last week's funeral was probably the largest jewel in the crown that was Baltimore's Poe Bicentennial. It was an event more than worth the almost-6 hour journey and if E.A. Poe was able to attend, I'm sure he was pleased.

The day dawned absolutely beautiful and after getting our ducks in a row, the girls and I headed for downtown Baltimore bound and determined to find the allusive Poe House and Museum that we had failed to find several times over during our last trip to Baltimore.

Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House, left a comment on my previous post with better directions and landmarks plus I had also spoken to Gris Grimly's girlfriend about how tricky it was to find during his book signing the day before so I wasn't going to leave Baltimore without finding the house this time even though it wasn't going to be open to tour.

As you can see, we succeeded in locating the house and had our picture taken by another Poe-fan who was taking pictures of the house with her friend. Normally I'm behind the camera but in this case, I made an exception!

Following our moment of "Eureka! I've found it!", we walked around the area a little bit and watched the Loch Raven Pipes & Drums warming up as well as some adjustments being made to Poe's antique hearse.


I still didn't know exactly which route the funeral procession was going to take to get to Westminster Hall so I took the opportunity to speak to a couple of Baltimore's Finest who were on duty for traffic control and the like. One advantage of being a former police dispatcher is that I always know who to ask for directions and have no fear of speaking to police officers. Sure enough, they were nice enough to whip out directions for the route and tell me where a good place to park was as well as the best place for viewing.

The girls and I drove back over towards Westminster Hall, parking in almost the exact same spot as we did in August (déjà vu all over again!), before walking up to join the throng that was gathering in front of Poe's final resting place. A lot of the 'mourners' were decked out for the occasion in their period finest which made me wish once again that I had been born pre-Civil War so that I could hide my fat legs in the big skirts and hoops of the time (though I could have done without the itchy wool). Alas, I don't believe those particular fashions are due to come back anytime soon but fashionable or not, I would loved to have had one of the top hats that some of the women were wearing. Not that they woud go with my uniform mind you but the hats were just too cute!

Anyhow, in addition to the funeral attendees, some of the scheduled speakers were gathering also - Walt Whitman, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and others. One of the speakers, Revered Rufus Griswold, was probably not there to praise Edgar Allan Poe but to bury him (much like Marc Antony in Julius Caesar) as it was he who had tried and succeeded in ruining Poe's reputation.

An editor and literary critic, Griswold had borne a grudge against Poe since 1842 and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his death starting with a long obituary that appeared in the New York Tribune the day after Poe died. In it he stated, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." Griswold also wrote a biographical article of Poe called "Memoir of the Author" in which he depicted Poe as a depraved, drunk, drug-addled madman and included Poe's letters as evidence. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well and the letters later turned out to be falsified but a lot of people at the time believed his claims and half-lies. Needless to say, it was going to be quite interesting to hear what the Reverend Griswold had to say!

A short time later the sound of bagpipes and drums could be heard and soon Poe's funeral procession turned the corner onto West Fayette Street complete with a police escort and line of mourners behind the horse-drawn hearse. Amanda took some video which is included in the video below along with a lot of the other still shots I took during the funeral service. I should apologize now for the quality/clarity of some of those shots as they're shaky at best. Photography was allowed during the service after all but non-flash of course and though I had borrowed a zoom lens from Kevin, I'm not real good at holding the thing still apparently. I obviously need more practice but I didn't want to leave any of the speakers out so everyone's in there, even if they're a bit blurry.

Following the escort of Poe's "body" (it was a replica) into the church, the girls and I took a drive out to Fort McHenry so I could at least say I'd been there this trip and generally just killed some time until the girls could change into their funeral garb and head back to Westminster Hall. The service kicked off exactly at 4:30 with Poe's body being brought to the front of the church and the speakers gathering on the dais. Actor John Astin, probably best known for his role as Gomez on The Addams Family, opened the service as Master of Ceremonies followed by soloist Paula McCabe (the picture of her really was too bad to include).

From there one speaker after another, with the exception of Rufus Griswold, sung the praises of the Master of Macabre who had influenced their lives and writings in many different ways. Shortly after he began speaking, Griswold was hissed by the crowd and told to take his seat several times by Mr. Astin as he continued to spew the same venom that he did in 1850. I guess some people can really hold a grudge!

Two of my favorite speakers were H.P. Lovecraft, late of Providence, and Britain's Sir Alfred Hitchcock who opened his speech with his patented side profile presentation and "Good evening". Both spoke of how Edgar Poe had paved the way for them to become the writer and filmmaker that they were and Lovecraft even read a bit from his voluminous anthology Necronomicon while garnering quite a few chuckles from the audience, er, grieving attendees!

After a few more speakers Amanda's favorite illustrator, Gris Grimly, took the podium and it was easy to see that he wasn't kidding when he had mentioned the day before at his book-signing that he didn't like giving speeches to large crowds. He seemed a bit nervous and out of his element, especially compared to the relaxed guy we had met the day before, but he was quite funny as he talked about how reading and rereading and rereading Poe's works over and over and over again had changed his attitude when it comes to annoying people or being jilted by a girlfriend. I'm guessing he's got a dirt floor in his basement or perhaps a bricked-up wall or two! Hmm, perhaps I should read some more Poe and see what he might recommend for teenagers who don't put their dirty clothes in the hamper?!?

At the end of the service, the aforementioned Jeff Jerome thanked everyone for making Poe's funeral the wonderful event that it was and invited us all back again in 40 years to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Poe's death. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Amanda gets there - which would make her a bit older than I am now but probably still just as much of a Poe fan then as she is now.

All in all it was a great time and I'm really glad we went - if for no other reason than to see the looks on people's faces when I tell them I went to Baltimore to attend Poe's funeral! How many people can say that??



*Edgar Allan Poe, "Shadow. A Fable", Southern Literary Messenger, September 1835

Greetings from Gettysburg!

Just time for a quick post before heading out the door to explore as much of Gettysburg as we can before heading over to Lancaster later tonight to put Darci on a train to Philadelphia.

So far the trip has been great and Poe's funeral yesterday was well worth the drive back down to Baltimore. I've got lots of pictures of the speakers - both living and dead - who were at the service that I need to sort through as well as lots of other pictures but for now I'll leave you with this one of the procession to Westminster Hall -

It's kind of cloudy and chilly out today but I'm thankful it isn't raining as that would be a huge disappointment to me in showing Amanda some of one of the places I love best in this country. I hope she likes it half as much as I do.

Travel Plans

First and foremost, if you get a chance please meander on over to my friend Jeni's blog at Down River Drivel and wish the old seasoned gal a very happy 65th birthday. She had told me yesterday that she was going to more or less just ignore the day but I told her that birthdays were meant to be celebrated and not ignored. Jeni - and everyone else - can ignore them when they're dead and buried but if you're still on this side of the dirt - celebrate!!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, our upcoming road-trip this weekend is going to be a bit longer and cover a bigger expanse of places than past ones have as I'm trying to turn it into an actual vacation and not just a jaunt down to Baltimore and back. Amanda and I were supposed to be flying out to Southern California with our friend Amy and her mother at the end of the month to spend Halloween in Los Angeles but - without going into too many details - Amy and her somewhat famous rock star sister had a bit of a falling out and the trip was canceled. Amanda had really been looking forward to it and was understandably disappointed so we moved to Plan B which was Poe's funeral. Amy was originally going to go with us on this trip but couldn't get her time off from work adjusted so now it's just myself, Amanda, and Darci - again.

I'm actually taking four shifts off from work which gives me until next Thursday off so after we attend the funeral on Sunday afternoon, we're heading northwest to Pennsylvania and Gettysburg National Battlefield which is only a little over an hour from Baltimore. After we get settled into our hotel there, it's off to the Farnsworth House for one of Gettysburg's famous ghost walks on Sunday night and then we'll spend as much time as possible on Monday covering at least the highlights of the battlefield. Neither Amanda nor Darci have ever been to Gettysburg (and Darci is a history nut) but they're both looking forward to it. Plans also include meeting up with a blogging friend who is spending a few days at Gettysburg with her husband; we may actually meet up at the ghost walk if things work out right.

Monday evening after I've bored the girls to death with all things Civil War, we'll be driving over to Lancaster to put Darci on an Amtrak train back to Philadelphia as her father doesn't want her missing school on Tuesday and then Amanda and I will spend the night somewhere in Dutch Country. I haven't made definite plans on just where yet (though I'm leaning towards the Strasburg area) but I hope to have that nailed down by Friday afternoon. Tuesday will be spent touring as much of the Amish countryside as possible, including one of those delicious Pennsylvania Dutch Country restaurants, before heading north to the Wilkes-Barre area where plans call for meeting up with another blogger and her husband who live in the general area.

Tuesday night will be spent either in the Wilkes-Barre or Scranton area depending on where I decide we're going to hang our hats and then I'm hoping for a nice leisurely drive back to Connecticut either through the area of the Delaware Water Gap or further north depending on the weather and the amount of foliage. Of course I'd like to try to find the most scenic route if possible and if that involves staying off of the major roadways for awhile, I wouldn't mind that in the least as I'm sure I'll have spent more than enough time on major highways and could use the break! I'm hoping to be back in Norwich at a reasonable hour Wednesday evening so Amanda can go back to school and I can go back to work on Thursday - much to what will be, I'm sure, both of our disappointments!

Obviously Amanda is going to miss two days of school but I figure she was going to miss that if we went to California later in the month anyway and she's promised to get any assignments she's going to need from her teachers ahead of time. Come to think of it, I need to remind her of that!

In an effort to get somewhat more organized for our upcoming road-trip than I have been for the last couple, I'm going to try to spend tomorrow doing some packing so I'm not scrambling around wondering what I forgot at the last minute - again. Considering we plan on leaving Connecticut at the god-awful hour of 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, I really need to be ready to go ahead of time as "scrambling" isn't even my dictionary for that time of the morning - including when it comes to eggs! However, I figure that time should get us through New York City and well down the Jersey Turnpike before traffic becomes an issue - I hope!!

After we get home from this trip I'm going to try to stay put for a little while though I've also got plans in the works to attend the Annual Lantern Tour in Derby, Connecticut on October 24th with my friend the Princess Patti and her hubby Ralph - two wonderful bloggers and Nutmeggers I've had the pleasure of spending time with in the past; a trip to Fort Adams in Rhode Island with my cousin on the 23rd; and it also looks like Amanda and I will be heading to Salem, Massachusetts with Amy and Jason for Halloween. So ... maybe I'll stay home next weekend??

Jack O' Lanterns, Apple Crisp, and Funerals

You know it's October when you come home from work to find a Jack O' Lantern burning cheerily away on your kitchen counter wafting that aroma into the air that only burning pumpkins have! Boy, does that always bring back a bunch of childhood memories!

Amanda loves October - loves, loves, loves it - and she couldn't wait any longer to carve one of the two pumpkins that she got when she and our friend Amy went apple-picking a couple of weeks ago. I told her there was no way it would last until Halloween but she figures she'll have time to carve plenty more before now and then. I just bet she will!

Speaking of October and aromas in the air, I baked a couple of apple crisps yesterday afternoon as I needed to use the apples I had before they went bad plus it sounded good even though I didn't have any vanilla ice cream or whipped cream in the house to go along with it. When my friend Andrew came over to remove the air-conditioners from the windows for me and my bad back, the apple crisp had just come out of the oven and he got the first bowl as a thank you for his help. This picture is of a second smaller batch that I made to maybe take to work with me later today - maybe!

Speaking of work where I've been putting in some extra-extra hours lately, I'm actually going to take a few days off this coming weekend and next week so that Amanda and I, along with her friend Darci, can head back down to Baltimore to attend the way-past-due funeral of Edgar Allan Poe. I'm sure that sounds downright strange but I guess by now you folks should be used to that with me!

Poe's Funeral is the crowning event of Baltimore's Poe Bicentennial Celebration with two services being held on Sunday - one at 12:30 and one at 4:30. Actor John Astin, best known as Gomez in the TV series The Addams Family, will be hosting both services which promise to be quite interesting! We'll be attending the 4:30 service but plan to definitely be on hand for the 11:30 funeral procession which will bring Poe's body from his former Amity Street home to Westminster Hall via an antique horse-drawn hearse. Unfortunately no pictures will be allowed at the funeral but I'll be sure to get some of the procession.

In addition to Poe's funeral, we have another reason to be heading back down to Baltimore and that's so Amanda can attend a book-signing on Saturday at The Children's Bookstore by her favorite illustrator and inspiration for much of her own art - Gris Grimly. Grimly will be autographing his latest work, Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Death and Dementia, so its only appropriate that he be in Baltimore not only for the book-signing but also as a speaker at Poe's funeral. It's been said that "Grimly's deliciously malevolent illustrations are the perfect compliment to Poe's stories" and I'd have to say that I couldn't agree more. Amanda is, of course, both excited and nervous at the prospect of meeting Mr. Grimly and no doubt getting her hands on an autographed copy of his newest work.

Speaking of Gris Grimly's work, this is the piece that Amanda would like to have done as a tattoo someday. It's called Goddess of the Creeps - appropriately! I'm not so sure it's something that I would want as a tattoo as the detail work would have to be really, really painful but I guess I wouldn't be surprised to someday see Amanda sporting this - once she's over the age of 18 and can pay for it herself!

Amanda's friend, Sami, has been trying to encourage Amanda to draw something to give to Mr. Grimly at the book-signing but she's just not sure what to draw and worried that he wouldn't like it. The kid has no confidence in her own talent sometimes even though one of her teachers, after seeing her Poe portrait, asked her to do several more paintings of American authors for Writer's Ink, an anthology of stories and artwork from students at NFA. Personally I think she should do something but she doesn't think he'd want it so I'm guessing she won't. I have to give her credit for wanting to respect other people's "space" but I still think she should do something even if it was small. Ah, but what do I know?

Anyhow, there will be a lot more to this trip than just a jaunt down to Baltimore but I'll fill you in on that later in the week. For now I'm going to go debate some more as to whether or not that second apple crisp is going to make its way into work with me or not!