There are a bunch of meme/prompt blogs that deal with food on Fridays (http://funcraftsandrecipes.com/index.php/category/four-foods-on-friday/ is one) so I'm using today to think about what I ate this week.

I was back from vacation in time for my favorite farmers market in the Farm Show Complex parking lot on Tuesday. I got romaine lettuce, napa cabbage and candy onions (with the tops still on!) from a new stand; and cherries and green beans from the guy I got delicious strawberries from in June. The cherries we ate raw, the cabbage is going to be cole slaw and the lettuce goes in salads and on sandwiches. I plan to roast the onions and the green beans will probably get pan fried.

I'm participating in a market research study for Kraft ranch dressing, so we've had ranch on sandwiches and ranch dip this week.

Last night, we celebrated Taru's new outfit with a trip to Rita's Italian Ices for a smores cream ice, a fudge brownie cream ice and a sweet tea ice. I wasn't fond of the sweet tea - I don't like their lemon flavor. But the rest were delicious.


Btw - I'm looking for good picnic recipes, if any one has any sources (books, sites, interesting ideas). I need stuff that will last the two hour drive to DC without a fridge.

Sewing success! I have completed the book corset and we made Taru's inappropriate chef jacket. Yay!

I got a clownfish pin from http://www.agirlandherfed.com that I totally forgot I had pre-ordered. It's awesome. Nice surprise.

And the book fabric cut out nicely into a corset and a vest. Hopefully I can complete the corset by Sunday for the poetry stroll.

Had a lovely week in upstate NY (it is pretty, even if it is a stupid place to live. Don't believe me? Look up last week's news articles on what the state senate is doing.)

We visited my mom, taught my grandparents to play wii, hiked up Rondaxe mountain, got rained on, ate sausage, grilled bacon, spagetti, jambalya and picnic salads, and watched my little cousins fish. Kith discovered that he gets motion sickness from carnival rides during a Sunday trip to Enchanted Forest.

Apparently as usual, our 5 hour trip home took 9 hours yesterday.

Photos will be forthcoming.

Greetings All! I will be away for the next week (to return on July 6). Following my return, select members of the D&B will be at the following events, wearing exciting costumes:

July 12: Washington DC garden walk and bad poetry reading. More info can be found here: http://the-nordic-one.livejournal.com/221268.html

Sunday July 19: Susquehanna Folk Music Society Summer Fest and Potluck Picnic. More info can be found here: http://www.sfmsfolk.org/spevent/spevent.html We will be there with cookies!

POSSIBLE: Monday July 20: A taste of Hummelstown. Hummelstown PA
(If I ever find anything about advance tickets.)

Sunday August 2: Possible visit to the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg. They are having a talk on "Etiquette of the Ball or Assembly Room" with Myra Reichart from 1:30pm - 2:15pm Entrance to presentation is included with the purchase of a Museum admission ticket. (http://www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org)

PROBABLE SUNDAY CONCERT: Starts at 7:30 pm. Attendance depends on weather conditions.
Sunday August 2: Long's Park Summer music series: Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Longs Park, Lancaster.

Sunday August 9: PA Renaissance Faire. Mount Hope.
More info can be found here: http://parenfaire.com/ A group of us will be attending in period-inappropriate steampunk costume.

Sunday August 23: D&B co-sponsored Victorian Menagerie Stroll. National Zoo, Washington DC.
More info can be found here: http://kaypendragon.livejournal.com/172801.html

Sunday Sept 6, or More Likely Monday Sept 7: Kipona Festival. Riverfront, Harrisburg.
http://www.harrisburgevents.com/Events/Kipona.html


If you are attending/hosting/know of another exciting event, I'd be glad to know! If you are attending one of these events, I'd love to know (and possibly meet you there)! If you have odd and unrelated comments, I'd love to hear them!

Greetings everyone!

Sorry it's been so long between letters again (we last spoke in April!) but it has been a busy spring!
This spring John and I entered the world of Steampunk ("subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes anachronistic technology, usually from the Victorian Age" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) and have been making new wardrobes and attending new events. Early in May, we met up with other Steampunk folks in Washington DC for a Museum crawl (like a pub crawl, but with the Smithsonian instead). You can read all about it and see exciting photos here: http://kaypendragon.livejournal.com/169010.html.
This spring we also visited Fort Hunter, (http://www.forthunter.org/) a nearby park with Victorian buildings, several times (Photos available here: http://www.gather.com/viewAlbum.action?albumId=15161 ).
There are many outdoor events in Harrisburg and Lancaster in the summer and I have something planned for nearly every weekend this summer! Already we've been to see "Cymbeline" at Shakespeare in the Park in Harrisburg and Buckwheat Zydeco at Longs Park in Lancaster.

Kith's 26th birthday was in June and we had a grand time celebrating nearly all month long. This year he got a Wii console and a meatloaf and potato birthday cake (http://www.gather.com/viewImage.action?fileId=3096224745794495).

Blue is also doing well. She is enjoying lazy days (http://www.gather.com/viewImage.action?fileId=3096224745687760) and putting up with us (http://www.gather.com/viewImage.action?fileId=3096224745689915) even though she insists we do not feed or love her enough.

I hope you have all had a wonderful spring and look forward to seeing many of you this summer!

I believe I have finally come to terms with the fact that I don't like Renaissance costume. I am officially attending Faire this year in period-inappropriate Steampunk garb. (Kith, you're inventing a time machine that I'm using as an excuse.)

And I finished my Lizard pants and vest and am wearing them for the first time today. They are ridiculously colorful (nearly obscene. They definitely draw the eye) and I love them.

The HersheyPark mailing list just sent me an e-mail that includes the following ad:
"Breakfast with the Product Characters
Start your day with a delicious breakfast complete with life-size Hershey's Product Characters. Available now through August 31. Get more information."

Giant walking Chocolate bars that try to hug you still creep me out. The thought of them doing it while I attempt to eat is even more terrifying.

Am I the only one who wonders how one plays "nuclear power station"? I mean, I remember having odd pretend games when I was young, but this boggles me.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090623/od_nm/us_radiation_1

Yesterday, we went to see Up which was wonderfully cute.
I feel the need to mention the AMC movie watcher's club (http://www.moviewatcher.com/index.html) because they gave us free popcorn! It's like a loyalty card for the theater. It is pretty awesome.

In the evening we visited Longs Park in Lancaster to hear Buckwheat Zydeco (http://www.longspark.org/) and eat cookies. This, also, was fun. Although it was quite crowded - I believe it is more popular this year than the last time I went.

Patrons did not hate self service holds, and they seem to all be smart enough to use the service. It gives me hope for the future.

And I found blue fabric that I love. I just have to decide what to do with it.

Courtesy of http://www.patrickkphillips.com/category/saturday-six/

1. What is the dominant color in your bathroom? Have you coordinated rugs, towels and the shower curtain to match this color?
Green. The towels all match (shocking!) in a lovely hunter green. The shower curtain is paler green vines or seaweed or something (it's kind of abstract). The bathmat is new so I just had to go check, but indeed, it is a cream and pale green seashell shape.

I did not do all of this on purpose (well, the towels were wedding presents and I registered for them so sort of for those). It just kind of happened. And we like green.

My most recently discovered green space. First it was Hershey Gardens, then Wildwood and now Fort Hunter.

"What is more difficult: looking into someone's eyes when telling how you feel or looking into someone's eyes when they tell you how they feel?"

Actually, for me, it's looking into someone's eyes at all. I'm one of the ones for whom extended eye contact feels awkward and rude, if not downright aggressive.

I went through atheism, Atheism and Wicca and considered Judiasm, Bhuddism and a number of other eastern religions in High School. I also actively studied Latin American Religions in College.


(Side note: Yes, atheism and Atheism are two different belief systems. With the capitol A is is an active denial of a higher being. With the lower case a it's more of a not really caring thing.)

Bleh. Totally missed yesterday's post.
Yesterday Taru and I trekked to the other side of the river to find another Jo-Ann's (yes, I went hunting for other Joann's stores to get yet more 50% off clearance fabric) and the PA fabric outlet (which is awesome and has metal stays for sale!) and the west shore farm market (which was decidedly not awesome. Possibly it has more awesome on weekends.)

I now have silly amounts of fabric.

Today's questions are from last week on http://curiousasacat.blogspot.com/

1) What sin do you most enjoy committing? Gluttony. Which leads to question 2->

2) Describe your cookie jar, or the closest facsimile you have. Right now, my cookies are stored in a big ziplock bag.

Remember when Good Humor ice cream used to have prizes on the ice cream stick? I used to win free ice creams from those.

And costume contests, but that was really more my mom's awesome sewing skillz than anything I did.

Yesterday, one of the Reference ladies stated that it wasn't just that I had such nice clothing (which I do) but that I wore it so well.

So, here's to being better than flinging clothes upon my person.

Today's http://thatsmyanswer.com/ asked
"If there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, what is there a pot of?"

Skittles. Duh. Didn't you see the commercials? (Which, btw, were better in England during Buffy the vampire slayer shows.)


On a side note, today is Peanut butter cookie day. We celebrated by eating peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies. And going to Friendly's for salad and Peanut butter cup & mint chocolate cookie sundaes.