| Poem for Wednesday and Virginia Cicadas |
[Jun. 19th, 2013|12:44 am] |
( Apples )
I had a pretty quiet Tuesday involving laundry (four loads washed and dried, not yet folded; Adam ironed his own shirts) and taking Adam for a drive, something likely to happen frequently until he has the 60 hours he needs to get his license. (Daniel appears to be in no hurry to do the same.) We stopped at the bank and the UPS store and did a long loop paralleling the C&O Canal in the rain, and he only bumped the curb once, when three police cars with their sirens on went zooming past. Paul worked from home because his office's air conditioning was not working, so we all had lunch together.
Delta and I were discussing the other day how there are lots of Les Mis memes involving Mean Girls references because of Amanda Seyfried and I had never seen it so I didn't get half of them, then I discovered that Tuesday was the last night it was free On Demand on Showtime. So we watched it, and I actually howled through the whole thing -- partly because I knew about half the lines from memes, partly because we all know a Regina, though it stole its best aspects from Heathers and Cruel Intentions. Here are some photos of the cicadas at Gunston Hall last weekend -- Brood 2 is about to disappear for 17 years!
( Cicada Invaders ) |
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| Poem for Tuesday, Bunny, Man of Steel |
[Jun. 18th, 2013|12:01 am] |
( A Far Cry From Africa )
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dementordelta and I had a Russell Crowe day -- joined by my family, since both kids were home and apaulled worked from home. We had hummus and pita and watched a bunch of Man of Steel interviews and talk shows, then we watched Proof of Life since Delta had never seen it and I think it's somewhat underrated (decent female characters, good performances, though it's way too focused on foreigners living in a fake Latin American country with very few actual Latin American characters).
Then all of us went to see Man of Steel, which I went into knowing I was going to love and was not disappointed (disclaimer: I never saw Superman Returns, and the first Christopher Reeve film is the only one I really loved, so despite a decade of fidelity to Smallville and on-and-off Lois and Clark viewing, I don't consider myself a particularly passionate Superman fan). Small qualifications: there were waaaaayyy too many explosions, product placements, and irksome Jesus parallels. ( Otherwise, spoilers. ) Just one neighborhood bunny tonight, more pics tomorrow!
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| Poem for Monday and Orioles Victory |
[Jun. 17th, 2013|12:01 am] |
( To Her Father with Some Verses )
We spent Father's Day in Baltimore, though some members of my family enjoyed it more than others -- we picked my parents up Sunday morning and met my in-laws at Camden Yards for the Orioles-Red Sox game, which the Orioles won 6-3, to the chagrin of Paul's and my father and the delight of most of the rest of us (the fact that the Nationals lost did not improve my father's mood). The weather was lovely, though -- humid but not too hot and it didn't rain -- and the Orioles looked good!
( Father's Day Baseball )
We said farewell to my in-laws in Baltimore and drove home with my parents, then picked up a pizza and ate that along with the Reese's peanut butter cup cheesecake that Adam spent last night making -- despite his concerns about having used too much whipping cream, it was delicious. After he drove my parents home, we watched Doctor Who's "City of Death," in part because older son had read that John Cleese was in it -- Romana's not my favorite but it's fun to see the Fourth Doctor in Paris! |
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| Poem for Sunday and Gunston Hall |
[Jun. 16th, 2013|12:31 am] |
( The Gods Are in the Valley )
Saturday had absolutely gorgeous weather -- partly cloudy, not too hot, breezy -- so while Adam was working at Photoworks at Glen Echo, the rest of us went to Gunston Hall, which was free for visitors in honor of George Mason Day commemorating the June 1776 ratification of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. We went on a tour of the mansion, walked to the gravesite, and visited the formal gardens (I was also delighted to discover that Mason Neck is in the Brood 2 cicada zone.) There were reenactors including Mason himself, a pair of cooks, and a visitor from Williamsburg demonstrating woodcrafts slaves would have been expected to make, plus Pershings Own Brass Quintet playing music:
( George Mason Day )
We got home at the same time Adam did; he needed to go shopping to get ingredients to make Paul a peanut butter cheesecake for Father's Day. Then Adam went out to dinner with friends while the rest of us had ravioli. When Adam returned, he had some problems (read: the kitchen had to be vacuumed) with the cheesecake, and in between that hilarity we watched a couple of episodes of Vicious which went perfectly with household disasters. The Nationals pulled one out, but the Orioles lost on a really dumb play; on Sunday we are going to Baltimore with my parents and in-laws to see the latter play the Red Sox, where I fear both grandfathers will be rooting for Boston! |
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| Poem for Saturday, Red Pandas, Shattered Mirror |
[Jun. 15th, 2013|12:48 am] |
( Putting in the Seed )
The weather on Friday was so gorgeous that it made up for the rest of the week. I saw six bunnies in the neighborhood, including one sitting on our front porch munching what's left of the azaleas plus two babies, and my parents had a deer munching in their backyard during dinner while we were eating seafood (and fake seafood) au gratin. Earlier Daniel went bowling with my father and Adam went running. I wrote a review of Deep Space Nine's "Shattered Mirror", probably the weakest of the crossover episodes, though I forgot to post it until 11 p.m.!
A generous soul shared with me the episodes of Vicious, the Ian McKellen/Derek Jacobi comedy, so we watched the first three, which were hilarious. Then younger son went to talk to his girlfriend on the phone and the rest of us watched this week's Graham Norton Show, which was hilarious -- Russell Crowe explaining that Cate Blanchett has replaced Jon Polson as his favorite screen kiss, Amy Adams explaining that she isn't really stalking Henry Cavill, Henry Cavill explaining that he does not look like Superman with his shirt off unless he's getting paid to. Crowe got to man the red chair and dumped people with aplomb!
Here are a few photos of the red pandas at the National Zoo last weekend, moving quickly and not in the mood to pose:
( Firefox ) |
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| Poem for Friday and National Zoo Beavers |
[Jun. 14th, 2013|12:05 am] |
( My Love Sent Me a List )
Adam is now a high school senior, which is delightful for him and slightly traumatic for me. Since he is finished for the school year, I took both my kids plus their friend, our neighbor Daniel W, to the mall for lunch in the food court and some shopping, since Adam is overhauling his wardrobe -- today it involved getting new sneakers and some Old Navy's sale on shirts -- and I have now been in that Art of Shaving store, where a surprising number of women with kids were looking for Father's Day presents, whereas the guys I was with were more staring at the old fashioned razors like artifacts. Plus I was the oldest person in Urban Outfitters.
We could hear thunder while we were in Old Navy, and when I checked the radar the predicted huge storm system was moving into the area. We got home literally as the rain started to fall -- Paul beat us by a few minutes -- and watched the news as a tornado touched down near College Park. We had buckets of rain and branches falling onto the deck, but fortunately no trees down in our part of the neighborhood. Evening TV included a special on photographer Bob Gruen on Showtime and this week's DS9 episode, plus I showed Paul Russell Crowe on Jimmy Fallon. Here are some pics of the National Zoo beavers from last weekend:
( Zoo Beavers ) |
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| Poem for Wednesday and National Zoo Amazonia |
[Jun. 12th, 2013|12:01 am] |
( My Lady Is Compared to a Young Tree )
I was slow and stupid on Tuesday and I can't even blame it on having been Monday because it wasn't. I am ready for weather swings to stop because they've given me a two-day headache. I did work and folded laundry to The Quick and the Dead -- I forgot how much I like Sharon Stone in that and how feminist it is, plus Baby Leo, Young Russell and lots of other great actors make it a pleasure. Daniel had lunch with my father and went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness with him (he said he likes The Wrath of Khan better, which coming from a 19-year-old is all I need to know); Adam's girlfriend came over for lunch with him after her last final exam, they went to California Tortilla.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits was on one of the cable channels, so after dinner we watched that. Visually, it's highly enjoyable -- animated tall ships and steampunk devices, Darwin and his animal collection -- and the cast is phenomenal (David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Salma Hayek, Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Blessed). But it's rather bizarre to see a British film for kids in which Queen Victoria is the villain, and the animals-in-jeopardy plot was kind of disturbing given the species of the main animal. Speaking of animals, here are several from the Amazonia building at the National Zoo celebrating World Oceans Day last weekend:
( Amazon Indoors ) |
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| Poem for Tuesday and Zoo Herons |
[Jun. 11th, 2013|12:32 am] |
( The Creek-Road )
We had pouring rain for most of Monday which helped give me a migraine when I woke up, so I was slow to get going, but I ended up getting a lot done. Paul worked from home until he had a dentist appointment in the afternoon, so we all had lunch together, then I went to do my kids' favorite thing -- take them clothes shopping. Adam drove us, first to the mall, then on the highway to Kohl's during the brief period when it was not raining. He got pretty much an entire new wardrobe and did fine merging across several lanes to get back on the highway; Daniel just got new khakis and polos, but managed to survive even Nickelback on the Kohl's sound system. And I found a cute shirt for $9, plus I got Paul a new belt for Father's Day since his is falling apart, so it was all good.
There was a special on the Science channel on Cicadas and Invaders that the University of Maryland entomologist who was on The Tonight Show with Russell Crowe the other day was on, so we watched that -- lots of other swarming animals, bats and birds and fish -- then we watched this week's Warehouse 13 with Steve's hot ex. Now I am waiting for Russell on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Here are some photos of one of the coolest things at the National Zoo -- a flock of wild black-crowned night herons who have been migrating to spend the summer in the trees near the zoo's bird house since the 1970s, when there were herons in the outdoor flight cage and the wild herons heard them and decided the zoo would be a good place to nest; now the zoo feeds them to stop them from stealing food from the rare birds:
( Summer Trespassers ) |
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| Poem for Monday and Maryland Science Center |
[Jun. 10th, 2013|12:50 am] |
( The Conditional )
Our Maryland Science Center membership expires in a couple of weeks and our kids have pretty much outgrown it, so we decided to go spend one last day there. We went to our favorite places -- the crabs on the top floor with views of Baltimore's harbor, the dinosaurs on the first floor, the space section where we watched a feature on cosmic disasters, the visiting Sherlock Holmes deductive reasoning exhibit. Here are a few photos:
( Baltimore Science )
After dinner we watched the Tony Awards, though we haven't seen any of the shows and given how many involve shrill kids, I'm not sorry -- not even Jane Lynch could make me want to see the Annie revival. (Some of the live singing was so off-key that it left my mystified where all the Russell Crowe hate came from -- he's way better than that woman from Matilda). My favorite moment was at the beginning, when Neil Patrick Harris said, "Can I have my Tom Hooper Les Mis close-up?"
Even when I haven't seen any of the shows, there are always some great moments -- Judith Light, Cicely Tyson (whose dress should win an award too), Kinky Boots and the actor from it who won, The Phantom of the Opera, Cyndi Lauper's understated "True Colors" during the memorial montage, women winning two directing categories, men thanking their husbands. |
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| Poem for Sunday and National Zoo Bears |
[Jun. 9th, 2013|12:08 am] |
( Sometimes with One I Love )
We spent nearly all of Saturday at the National Zoo! We went first to see the Andean bears, since there are two cubs who are only outside in the mornings (or until they get exhausted, since it was after noon when we finally stopped watching them being adorable). Then we went to Amazonia, the invertebrates (where there were World Oceans Day displays outside, since that was Saturday too), the American trail, the great cats (near whom we had a picnic), the bird house and flight exhibit, the Asian trail, the elephants, and pretty much everything else except the small mammal house since it was crowded and we were tired!
Despite sunblock, I seem to have managed to get a bit sunburnt over the past couple of outings. In keeping with the World Oceans Day theme, we had veggie fish sticks for dinner, watched the final episodes of the new season of Arrested Development (after the cliffhanger they better give us more), then watched the last episode of Spies of Warsaw, which despite some very good actors really has not held my interest and I doubt I'd pass a quiz on what happened in it. Here are some quickly cropped photos of the Andean bear mother and cubs -- sadly, the father died before they were born:
( Mama Bear and Cubs ) |
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