AAM Monday: Holiday Excursion

We really haven't done much or gone anywhere this holiday season and that has been fine with me. I didn't do my traditional December Daily pages but I suspect I will next year. Or maybe next year will find us in London or somewhere in Italy...who knows!

But a few years back we went to DC to see the poinsettias at the Botanical Gardens. It was a sunny brisk day and we had a great time. We made a whole day of it and also had lunch in DC. This trip was a bit simpler on an overcast day after Christmas. The conservatory IS just gorgeous. It must have been something back in its day but today it's in a not so great part of town and looks a bit forlorn
 

Now DC had poinsettias up the gazoo but Baltimore does its best without the benefit of federal tax dollars that DC has. There was a $5 contribution per person which I semi-reluctantly gave but gave in to the spirit of generosity.

The orchid room was bathed in a hazy blue light but did show the difference that light makes for the same plants. The tree of poinsettias looked a lot bluer than those back in the hallway. Both however, were Orion plants. Yes, an overexposed shot but you get the point.

Afterwards, we wandered around Hampden, had an espresso (which I regretted at Midnight...), checked out some vintage shops and had great ice creams at The Creamery. By then it really was drizzling and we decided to drive down to and across 34th Street. Most of the holiday crowds were either not coming or it was just too early. Fine with me, as I jumped out of the car, took a few snaps and then it was home in time to settle in for a bit before the PBS Call the Midwife special and the Downton Abbey review. Please God, do no force me to watch Bernadette Peters for that long ever again.  Is she paralyzed or is it a full body Botox? And really PBS....did we need that may previews?

Well say goodbye to the 34th street lights for this year. Make sure to do a Baltimore run in 2015!

Five on Friday: December 20, 2013

The cold comes and goes here. The sky is sunny or it's that certain gray the makes me think SNOW!! But I'm married to a man who used to work for the National Weather Service. No, he's not a meteorologist but he plays one. When he says precip, I used to say...Say rain, if you mean rain!  I stopped saying that because then I got the 'precipitation lecture'. Like I give a rat's ass... Anyhow, our one bit of snow cum sleet cum icy cold just kind of made a mess with patches of thick pebbled ice that lingered for a couple of days. A long couple of days. But I am digressing... on to The Five.

1. Our Cypriot neighbor gave us cookies and one type is covered in powdered sugar. He's eating those and leaving a trail of white powder hither and yon. But then I bought a German (marzipan! num num num) stollen at Trader Jo's and it's covered with...yep, powdered sugar. However, I cut a slice and mostly just shove the whole thing into my mouth. Unladylike but in the privacy of my own home it means no mess for me. Sneaky, huh...

2. Each day I look at the clutter in my studio, I think of things I'm willing to give away. However, that means boxing/bagging the bits and pieces up and taking them somewhere. I know most people and charities are not really interested in being bombarded with donations right now. I'm not looking for a donation receipt - esp with the end of year rush - so I suppose I'll just have to live with it til....2014. One batch did go out on Monday. Bit by bit.

3. It's been soup time again. Last Saturday I made Dutch pea soup with a hunk of ham bone I had in the freezer. I had to leave out the leek and substitute green split peas for the yellow. That bone had very little ham but I didn't care. I used the container of turkey broth my daughter in law gave me after the T-day dinner. Man,was that good stock! My dh had a look on his face when he saw dinner but said he never liked his mother's pea soup but that it didn't taste like this one. How did it taste? I asked. Not like this he said. That was about all I got out of him but I suspect he'd have liked a lot more ham and probably prefer if he never got this soup again. Actually, I found the spices a little odd. Perhaps they were just old. I can't think of the last time I've used allspice!

4. A funny line I heard on Joy The Baker podcast, a podcast about cussing and some ways to shortcut that habit, just use initials..."If your stuff is S, then F it!"  Podcasts are great for car drives I've found. (btw, check Joy's blog for some baking porn. I think I need to wait til February to consider baking again.)

5. I also had a chance to drive through some neighborhoods that are not far from me but in a  rather different world. How can you spot that at night?  The volume of Christmas lights goes way up! Sadly, the traffic was too heavy to pull over anywhere without some truck hitting me so there are no photos.  There were more colored lights, more flashing lights, more lawn decorations (lit of course), more mixtures of colored lights with blue lights and one of the strangest ones, to me, all green lights. Again, lots of lights and white lights rarely in sight. I suspect that if you were high in any way it would be quite the experience.

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However, nothing quite compares to 34th Street in Hampden, Baltimore for glitz though! I hope we get up to see it again this year. And may your Christmas be as flashy as you like!