WIngs of Freedom

Simian and I went with E, HJ and their son, E, to see the Wings of Freedom Tour . It was really fun - I got to climb into the body of the B17 Bomber and walk/crouch inside. You have to wonder how people flew in these airplanes. They also had people bringing their collections of World War 2 Memorabilia. That was just as fascinating. I got to carry a few World War Two guns - and some of them were really heavy.

Afterwards, we adjourned to 5 Guys for lunch. E and HJ had never been - this was so shocking one of the volunteers at the Wings of Freedom Tour yelled in disbelief  as he walked past :)

Best Yogurt ever

Farm!

My cousins came to visit in Baltimore, and we took the opportunity to go visit S's family's farm. S's farm was super fun - there were animals all over the place and I even got to sit on a horse, while S led me carefully around :)

Summer in Maryland

Suntaneye and I went for dinner on Wednesday night and we went to Cafe Hon. Neither of us had been there in a while. For some reason, everyone seemed to be in Hampden. This was the first time we had to circle around for a parking space but we found one quickly! There are tons of new places in Hampden though it's nice to see some old favourites there.

Here are some of the goldfinches on my finch sock and the lillies have just bloomed in the garden. It is also incredibly hot. On the plus side, clothes dry incredibly fast outside :)

Brunch at N's

We got in late Friday night to Maryland - Simian some how watched seven movies and I managed a dismal three compared to him . I saw The Silver Linings Playbook which was funny. Skyfall was possibly my favourite Bond yet and that's saying a lot. I had to stop watching to tell Simian that it was the Goldfinger/Thunderball Aston Martin. Also, a film that includes Turner and Joseph Wright of Derby's paintings in the National Gallery is awesome :)

I also watched Shores of Hope (a pretty inaccurate translation from the German Wir Wollten aufs Meer)  - which was also good and with a cast of some of the best German actors.

We got in and I cleaned on Saturday and then on Sunday, Simian and I went over for brunch with a whole bunch of people from Simian's old lab at N's home. We saw Suntaneye very briefly as she was feeling under the weather, and then went to Will's before heading to Trader Joe's. Suntaneye also gave me a huge box of TJ's stuff! Thanks Suntaneye!

The cat in the photo lives with Nick and he was not sure what to make of the human children running around.

Maryland

The last few days in Maryland consisted of us going to Glyndon Garden, going to Suntaneye and her husby's to have dinner (and pumpkin ice cream sandwiches from JJJ Hoffman's!) and having Simian put up my new feeders! There were quite a few customers :) We also went to the Ham Fest!

Bluebirds

Back in Maryland, the bluebirds seemed to be using our deck as a base to check things out. We saw three bluebirds, including some of the juveniles Suntaneye identified back in August. I suspect that some of these birds may be the juveniles all grown up :)

Stuff

Things I did in the last few days in the US - held to Nosh with M to meet a friend's friend for coffee, then back to Maryland to clean the house (of course!) and then sit around and watch my birds. Suntaneye and her husby heard this catbird when they came to pick me up to take me to the train station.

I came back to a bunch of flowers from E - very sweet of a 2 year old to steal her Mom's credit card :) I also made biscotti over the weekend - M got some fantastic biscotti from Trader Joe's and I needed more so I made some.

Simian and I also made it to the Longboard shop that D told us about and we managed to get helmets. All the other safety equipment was out however so we need to go get more. In the meantime, I managed to scrape my knee again.

Simian and I saw this van on the way back, and it made me crack up and take a quick photo.

Dinner with Suntaneye

Back to Maryland late last night - E woke up this moring and according to M, she said "Aunty D is SO gone".

I met Suntaneye and her husby for dinner at Tahina's and then we went to the new yogurt place in the same complex, USpoon. I was so excited and took so many photos Suntaneye and her husby said I was an embarassment :) An Asian guy walked out, did a double take and said that we were the first Asians he had seen in five miles. Predicatably he had just moved here from California :)) I came home and there was a deer on the lawn. Deer are pretty dumb - but there's still something magical about seeing them standing in your headlights.

Bennett Place

M drove us to the Bennett Place - site of the largest troop surrender of the Civil War. Little of the original farmhouse survives, except for the chimney, but it was a fascinating look into one of the most important sites of the Civil War. I was very glad to have had the opportunity to go.

We headed to Whole Foods afterwards and then to the apartment for dinner.

Birds and weather

It was hot today - the thermostat read about 35 degrees celcius but with the heat index it was more than 40 degrees. I went to pour water in the bird bath and was rewarded by two birds sitting on our deck drying off. They were the same birds I saw the other day - and Suntaneye identified them as juvenile Eastern Bluebirds. Good eye, Suntaneye :)

Here are some shots of the robins and my first customer at my new finch feeder. The old one was broken, possibly due to the storm!

Poor Simian is sick. He seems to be getting better today. We also got our AC fixed - but only the top unit is working. Still it helped tremendously today as the whole house was cooler as a result. This evening there were thunderstorms but they seem to have subsided and the threat of tornadoes seems to be gone. Yay!

Dinner with friends

Another busy day that involved us running around sorting out various errands (with a quick lunch at Chipotle), and then dropping down town to meet our tenant, and finally, meeting Will & A, HJ, E & E and D for dinner. We also got to meet Baby A for the first time and she is so sweet - and a really good baby too! She sat quietly through dinner and E was also very good.

We headed to Rocket to Venus. Simian and I had a potato soup and fried pickles to start, and a Kung Faux, which was really delicious. The restaurant is named after some B-moreans who tried to send a rocket to Venus, and basically just started a big fire :) I had a really good Strawberry Habanero Margarita too.

Will and A got Simian some Ka-Bars for his birthday They know what he likes :)

Maryland

After a flight during which I finally watched "The Hunger Games" (yay!) and The Pelayos with the ever fantastic Daniel Brühl, Simian and I landed to a very wet Newark. Simian drove us home and I spent yesterday cleaning. We did manage to see Suntaneye and her husby, who also left these little mice around the house to celebrate our mouse-free status! Suntaneye MADE these cute little mice and they are adorable. I got a pirate mouse, complete with eye patch, among the three that I got! She is so talented.

 It was Suntaneye's birthday and she kindly suggested that we go to Samos :) I hope SHE had as good a time as I did :))

We went to Five Guys today and then we came home and Simian went around fixing things around the house while I tried to do homework :) We saw this bird that I don't quite recognise.

Maryland

Our last few days in Maryland flew by - the weather got nice and nice as we approached the end of our trip. Obviously :) We stopped by Tractor Supply Company to get Bird seed and had a late dinner at Chipotle (which made Simian ask how difficult it could be to bring something Chipotle-like into Singapore). It was chick season at TSC!

The buds were just coming out on the tree outside our front door - I'm sorry to miss the tree blooming fully in about a week. It'll be full of beautiful white flowers.

Hail

Everyone says that it's been a really warm winter, but of course when we got here, the weather started to fall. As I was typing the previous post, hail started to fall. Now the sun is out again - weird weather!

G & M visit

Our friends, G and M, came by with their kids, N and O. We went to Liberatore's for dinner (which closed today at 7 pm - presumably because it was Easter). They were nice enough to let us in anyway and let us order quickly.  M brought these cake pops from New York, made by a neighbour of hers.

Simian worked on his finals all last night and is exhausted now.

Garden in spring

Lovely weather today - I went out and took some photos of the yard. I also took a photo of the Nutella & Go I bought yesterday. Brilliant idea!
Not so brilliant is the fact that I think the mouse is still in the house. I found two pellets that I don't think were there yesterday on the kitchen counter. All our food is either in the fridge or the cupboards. Also all the ants seem to have come into the house for some reason. Ugh.

Birds

I've been too tired to write since I got back to Maryland. First, I found out that there was mouse poop on the counter (and in the basement) and was upset about that. Then, the water pressure gave out (and was fortunately fixed the same afternoon). By the time, I was done cleaning, I was exhausted. I spent all of yesterday either asleep or just lounging around. Thank goodness Suntaneye and her husby not only picked me up from the airport but also bought me TONS of food from Holy Frijoles. This meant I didn't need to go out to even get food!

I did go downtown today to meet Will and A and we went to Freshii (first time I've been there and the food was good) for lunch with V and G. I went back to their home after, got to see all the work they've done on the house AND play with the birds. Arnold even sat on my head!

Then I got to try my new Vibram Seeyas. I've been drooling after these shoes so long, that Simian has been laughing at me. I got a good deal too with my discount and rebate. At first, I left the strap too loose, and then I think I tightened it a little too much. I tend to get blisters when I first break in VFFs anyway so I'm hoping they will go away. Still, so far I love them - I went for a short run to acclimatise and to break in the shoes.

Creek

 

I went with G, M and their kids, N and O, to Cold Saturday Farm. Unfortunately, we didn't see any horses - so we drove around the neighbourhood till we did see some :) We also saw some ducks by the Creek, and N tried to feed them Ritz Crackers. The ducks were not interested.

The weather today was cloudy but warm. I went for another run to take advantage of the warmth! :)

Sun

 

The weather warmed up beautifully today and we even had sun. We stopped by a playground after lunch. Baby E had a lot of fun pushing his stroller (what is it with babies and pushing their own strollers?) The trees are all red, orange and yellow - I need to go for a drive to look at the trees.

M - I was good and didn't run two days ago because I thought it might be a bit cold for my hands. Today I bundled up -I had a hat on, gloves AND a jacket because it was around 7 degrees celcius. Turns out that I was actually TOO warm - my hands started to sweat. Still, better warm in my case than not!

I made a vegetable bake for dinner - it's been a long time since I made one and I was pleased with my dinner!

The last few shots have all been taken with my new, awesome camera which I love!