Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I think I can receive a pass for using that worn out title as a line since I never actually saw the movie.  Sorry, Mudda, I just *told* you that we were going to the movies when you dropped us at the theater (two screens even then, folks), instead we cruised the Plaza.  <shoulda seen the movie instead>

Charley and I traveled to the east coast recently and enjoyed the sights, slurps, and sounds of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cape May, NJ.  Phila and Cape May, as per normal, did not disappoint, and the majority of the photos are from my first experience in Baltimore:  Photo Album

There's a rogue photo that I snapped for my seester, of myself and my newest foot care purchase, The PedEgg.  There's also a paparazzi shot of a giant stuffed monkey in the backseat of a car.  You can also notice a stuffed frog wrapped around the passenger side's head rest.  I'd like to think that this was a getaway car, taking stuffed test lab animal subjects to a refuge in a land free of needle probes and toxic cosmetic injections.

Baltimore is a unique little-big city that offers more history and sites than we could take in during the afternoon we were there, but I wholly recommend a trolley/bus tour if you're in the town.  Catch the 12:30pm tour in front of the National Aquarium, and ask for Doc to be your guide.  Tell him the Texan sent ya!  He'll tell you the story of how, when he was stationed with the military in San Antonio in 1963, he loaded up the family and drove straight to Dallas the day after JFK was assassinated, ostensibly to catch a glimpse of the shooter(s).  On the Baltimore food front, naturally we wanted crab cakes so Mo's Seafood's Little Italy location was our pick.  I've never seen (or tasted) so much crab meat in a cake, sans fillers.

Thanks to Charley's parents, we experienced a new dining experience in Philadelphia, The Perch.  My chicken Caesar was deeeeeelectable and the beer selection was nicely arranged for most beer-dies.

Cape May, NJ has a plethora of hotels and B&Bs that bring charm and comfort for a visit to the shore town, and this time we stayed at The Mooring.  Charley is the lodging snob in our relationship, but even he was more than pleased with the accommodations.  Union Park offered some of the finest food I've tasted AND it's BYOB.  Yes, ladies and gents, 'fine' can equate to BYOB.  While in Cape May, Charley's rockstar swimmer of a niece competed in the National Lifeguard Championship, which was conveniently staged IN Cape May.  As one of the members of our group quipped, the competition area of the beaches looked like a recruiting ground for Abercrombie & Fitch models.  As someone who never took swim lessons as a child and instead learned via the sink or swim method, I was highly impressed by the athleticism exhibited by the lifeguards.  During the school year, rockstar niece swims competitively for a division 1 university.

It's been a wonderful summer packed with equally wondrous vacations, but I admit that I'm looking forward to staying marooned at home, at least until the holiday season begins.

I don't eat Chick-fil-A & I don't have a basement

...But I appreciate some, or a lot, of what this person has to say:

<written by a stranger, shared by a friend (AD) via Facebook, and blarg posted by me>

"In The Basement"

Hi, I'm Mat.

Here's the jewel that greets front door guests, now:

Rapture in the blender

Recipe

• About two bananas, sliced.  The browner ones, the better.
• Roughly 1/2 cup ice
• 6-8 ounces of any type milk, yogurt, Greek yogurt, etc.
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• Optional:  Nutella, chocolate syrup, etc., to taste
• Optional:  small amount of Splenda
• Seven year old not included

Hey, lady.

"What color would you like for your nails, lady?"
"Would you like another pina colada, lady?"
"Hey, lady, would you like another week at the resort on the house?"

We only "heard" two of the above statements, regrettably, when I traveled to Mexico with my dear, dear, DEAR best friend Andrea.  She and I go way back.  Here we are crashing a news desk during college:

Among Andrea's rainbow of talents, she is a fitness instructor in her meager spare time.  When Andrea invited me to join her on a jaunt to a resort in Cancun, as a "working" vacation, I purchased my air ticket quick and with more intention than a waxing technician in a hurry and with no time to fret over your sensitive upper lip derm.  Andrea taught pilates classes a couple of times per day and we enjoyed the remainder of the time studying Middle American Anthropology.  I mean, sun soaking, snorkeling, wave running, parasailing, shopping, dining, walking, working out, and sleeping.

It is probably obvious, but Andrea had a simple task of convincing me to obtain my group/aqua fitness instructor certification so that I too can commandeer my own Caribbean coup of a vacation.  She will be MY guest on our next resort excursion!  Besides, becoming a water aerobics teacher will help me remain active.  As I heard Gov. Ann Richards once state at a speaking engagement, "when a woman makes an appointment, she will NOT miss it."  She said this as a way of encouraging us to remain fit through accountability.  I for one would not relish the repercussions of standing up a pool full of retired ladies (insert stereotype).  Here's evidence that Andrea's role in our vacation did involve a degree of "work:"

This is my favorite photo from our vacation, resulting from a literal ambush of Mexican blankets, sombreros, and faux guns:

Here are more Cancunigan photos:

Beach Life

Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got

These are admittedly a combination of cute and serial-killer-who-pieces-together-notes-with-newspaper-cuttings-scary.  

Here's where said rocks have made their home:

Family, remember the giant mint plants growing behind the ice cream shop in Arkansas?  This is one of my favorite additives to iced tea.

These lil sprouts are from seeds and I look in on them periodically like a mother hen:

There's no cat in this house.  Yet.

Nostalgic green moment - prepare your landscaping fabric for any dewy drops.  The plant in the photo below is what a gift from my Mudda, for my 21st birthday, resembled.

 

(not my actual plant)

Lemme tell ya, folks, there's a darn stellar reason why this is called a closet plant.  This thing can survive a nuclear meltdown (I suspect) and still stake a strong come-back.  The equivalent of a nuclear meltdown in my care (insert obvious reason:  owner neglect) apparently took this baby out several months ago but you can see that 21 (that's her name) is rebounding nicely:

Green onions, anyone?  You can even grow these in a simple glass with water if you don't want to trouble with a pot and soil.  I started mine with a bulb from a package of store-bought green onions.  These puppies grow quicker than a dirty sock, in a petri dish, sprayed with orange juice, in the sun.  Chop off your desired quantity as you're stirring up dinner, and, voila! 

Anyone have any feedback on wild strawberries?  There are some growing in the yard, and I'm tempted to dig 'em up and plant them in pots.  I'm skeptical of eating "wild" berries, though, after reading Into The Wild and "Hunger Games." It's entirely possible that these aren't wild, though, and just the gift received from birds making pit stops along their travels.  Whatever they are, they are currently just bebe berries.

Side trip for those who entertain:  The Pinspiration of using water balloons, frozen, as an alternative to ice (that can only be used once), was a hit at a recent gathering of mine.  Give yourself plenty of freezing time, however, and place them in a freezer location where they have a wee bit of room to expand.  

Or you'll wind up with some frozen stuck in precarious places:

Because I can't restrain myself from sharing

My last post was education oriented and such is this one, too.  (enter station identification pause for those who would like to turn the channel)

If you're an educator or in a similar profession and in need of some "oomph," click here:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/15-6

Gratitude to Charley for sharing that!

If you're an educator or in a similar profession who has ever heard "I think I'll get my teaching certification, you know, just as a fall-back choice in case my corporate career doesn't work out, or if we have children soon and that way I have the same schedule as them," babbled from a friend (and I quote that, verbatim, from someone I knew at the onset of our current economic decline), then read this:

http://www.musingsonlifeandlove.com/2010/09/13/the-hardest-job-everyone-thinks-they-can-do/

If you're anyone who may have ever questioned the dedication of children or teenagers (admit it, we all have at one point), or questioned the reasons some of them appear "gangsta," silly, squirrelly, or like misguided "losers," then read this post contributed by a fellow colleague of mine, who is currently teaching urban-ish high school summer school, and who is also a fellow PHS Wildcat of mine:

"I almost cried today! I had a student walk 3 miles to summer school this morning because the DART bus driver drove by him and wouldn't let him on the bus... He was sweaty and a bit stinky, haha, but he WALKED all the way to school! One of the moments when you are reminded, once again, that our students don't magically plop down into our classrooms with no problems of their own. And they DO care. Not all the time, but they will care if YOU care :-)"