Last of the pictures from my Philadelphia trip. I promise

I was going through my Philly trip photographs culling out what I thought might be paintable, what could be printed then glued to canvas, and what was crap. I was performing the basic librarian function called weeding. Some libraries weed through their collections pulling out duplicates, older additions of currently held materials, and books that are falling apart that will need to either be re-purchased or tossed depending on circulation statistics.
I KNOW!
Fascinating 
And, all fantastic information for you on a Friday morning.
My day is complete;
I have imparted information.
The End.

No, wait, the last of the photos.

Have you been to Philadelphia? I hadn't until now so was like a kid in a candy store. Hello.....historian/librarian + historic Philadelphia = Michele's got to see and take pictures of EVERYTHING!

Off we go into the wild blue yonder:

Went to the famous local market to get food. Was distracted by this:

And this:

But, finally got some of this. Loved my veggie Philly sandwich.

Went on a guided trolley tour of the sites. Saw the Rodin museum. I love me some Rodin.

Saw Dragonflies on a stick.
 

Saw the Philadelphia art museum. Choose not to embarrass myself and frighten other passengers by running up the stairs then bouncing around while fist punching the air.
 

Saw Camden, New Jersey. Did not have time to take the train over there. So sad. I hear they have a great aquarium.

Ate good food.

Stood on Benjamin Franklin's grave. Don't worry, I think he would have wanted me to.

Fell in love with Christ's Church. They buried people in the floor. Sat in George Washington's pew. Don't worry, I think he would have wanted me to.

After harrowing Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (thank you for that one Jan. It sums it up perfectly) I flew to Charleston, South Carolina. Gave a speech. Proving that I could put words together to form real sentences.

Saw funny art. Thought immediately of my blog friends amusement. Surreptitiously took photographs. I've titled this "Lurking Cherry".
 

Inner 12 year old rears its ugly head as I giggled at the name of this restaurant.

Ate awesome food. Licked plate. Contemplated ordering another one. Check extra belly roll. Decided against it. Still not sure if it was the right decision.

Flew home. Snapped horrid picture from 35,000 feet of the Mighty Mississippi. Determined that spring cleaning of airplane does not include windows. Thought about my own windows. Decided that it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Did not call airlines to make a fuss.

The End

Love,
M

Charleston, South Carolina Farmers Market

 My co-worker Kelli and I were scheduled to give a talk in Charleston on Saturday morning. I packed up my stuff on Friday morning, took a harrowing shuttle ride to the airport (that I will blog about later. I'm still not over the near fatal experience.), and caught a flight from Philly to Charleston. 

After a lovely dinner at Mercato, my favorite restaurant in all of Charleston. (Another blog post for Monday. The mushroom risotto is to die for.) I wandered around Charleston looking for Kelli. She was at some tapas bar on King street. (story for later but let me just say that Coast Guard men when on dry land can't find restaurants any easier then librarians after a couple of glasses of wine)

Saturday morning found Kelli and I at the farmers market. Oh how I love me some farmers and their markets. Let me show you the lovely stuff we can across.

 There was a glass artist that was selling his beautiful work. I couldn't afford the bowls and vases he had on display, (the dude wanted about $3500 for the smallest piece. I'm a librarian not a rock star. If I was a rock star that wasn't washed up I'd have bought the sea blue bowl in the back.), but I did take a picture. I plan to paint this. In fact most of the pics I took that day will becoming a painting of some sort.

 I love the look of cotton still on the stalk. It reminds me of clouds on a stick. Or divinity candy. (Yes, it does always come down to food for me.) Cotton and/or cotton picking has some bad memories for some in the south and rightly so, doesn't make it any less photographic and fluffy. Cotton is very fluffy, like Nessa after a bath. Historical note: South Carolina was more known for their rice crops than their cotton. (you knew I couldn't help myself with the history stuff.)

 Pie

Enuf said.

 I liked the look of the fur? hair? markings? (you can tell I've been around horses a bunch) This is another painting. I can tell you that the horse and the horses owner, not to mention Kelli thought I was a nut case for taking this photo. I like the play of light on each strand of fur? hair? Art is all about the light for me.

 Magnolia trees produce my favorite flower, leaves, and scent. I bought every bottle, bar, and jar of magnolia scented stuff from the homemade soap vendor 6 tents up from the flower vendor where these leaves were. Look at how glossy they are and green on one side and reddish brown on the other, Love it! Sort of reminds me of myself. Kinda staid reddish brown librarian sometimes and vibrant green goofy ball at others. The creamy scented white flowers are just our way of showing off for company.

 Round

Round again

 

And one more time with the round. It is becoming a theme for me.

Hand dyed silk scarfs. My mother is getting one for Christmas. (don't worry, she doesn't read my blog. She doesn't even know how to find my blog. It is bookmarked on her desktop. She still doesn't know how to find it. That's okay. She's pretty great anyway). I have to paint this. I think I'll tilt it to the right just a bit. Or maybe the left. Give it a bit of energy. 

There you have our trip to the Charleston Farmer's Market. We walked across the street to the hotel, gave our presentation then jumped in another airport shuttle, (a much less white knuckle trip then before) and flew home. 

The End

Love,

M

Happy O'Hollows Eve

The witches fly

Across the sky,

The owls go, "Who? Who? Who?"

The black cats yowl

And green ghosts howl,

"Scary Halloween to you!"

~Nina Willis Walter~



Have a happy Halloween!

Love,
M

RTT - Whatever You do Don't Break the Spine

Hi Kids!

What time is it?
It's Random Tuesday Thoughts time!

OMG, am I that old?
Don't answer that.

The Boy thought this was hilarious. I don't get it. Who would want to break the spine on a book? That is so wrong!

Okay, I lied. I do get it. But, I fail to see that it is funny. Okay, it's a little bit funny.



It has alternated being rainy and sunny here. I'm hoping that that is not the pattern for the rest of the winter. I've become the biggest wuss since living in Arizona for 3 winters. I like the sunshine and warm for the whole winter. Not just a day or two at a time. I know that those of you in the northern climes will not sympathize with me but tough. I spent forty + years in the Pacific Northwest. I don't do rain and 40 degrees anymore.



The verdict is in. I am a spaz.
Case in point: if there is a sharp surface on anything I will find a way to cut myself on it.
Proof:
Knifes: pleeeese.....daily.
Paper: Yeah, whatever.
Cardboard: Check.
Scissors: Yep, I'm all over that one.
Saws: What did you expect. Of course.
Foil on the wine bottle: Give me a break. Twice a week occurrence.
Foil gum wrapper: (shaking my head sadly) I even cut my finger on these. And, I regret to say more than once.

So, that clinches it; I am totally spazolicious.



Here are a couple of old house on Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina. They are for sale. You can't really tell from the pictures that they are in a sad state of disrepair. Peeling paint, rotting piazzas, crumbling gardens. It is pitiful.

Anyone or six of you want to go in on one?
Because I truly can't afford that.

That's it for me. And, I didn't even injure myself. Go figure. Want more randomness? There's enough to go around, honest. Head over to Keely's place. It's where all the cool kids are. And, then there's me. The one with all the bandages on her fingers.

Love,
M

Charleston Historical Society; one of the best hours I've ever spent

The fabulousness that is my friend Julie said; "Michele, you must stop into the Charleston Historical Society store."

I usually do what Julie tells me to do because she is brilliant. She proved it once again.

This was so much fun. I spent and I spent. I spent time and I spent a bit of money. More time then money, thank heavens.

Lovely huh?
I can't resist a Historical Society Shop.
See the pretty blue soup tureen on the table?
I lust for it.

I totally drooled over this blueware.
There is nothing sadder than a 50 year old woman standing in
front of shelves of china drooling
like a eight month old teething baby.
That small oval platter top center next to the square bowl?
It called to me.
Michele....Michele.....buy me.
Buy me now.
I resisted.
It was hard.

Then I hit the cookbooks.
Lord, help me
These salespeople know.
They just know,
I can't resist a cookbook.
Isn't it funny?
I couldn't find a Low Country Vegetarian cookbook.

Then I saw these!
And I laughed my ass off.
And immediately thought of Becky.
She has rules for this kind of thing.
Though she has never codified them,
Charlotte Hays and Gayden Metcalfe did it for her.
Wasn't that nice of them?
So thoughtful.

I'm from the Pacific Northwest where hosting the
perfect funeral involves micro-brew beer
and baked salmon.
Weddings are performed on mountains,
beside rivers and in wildflower gardens.
I don't think I've actually been to a wedding with a punch bowl.
We did go to a couple of Jewish weddings that included
some sort of chicken dinner and open bars.
That was cool.

I'm not sure if this counts as a Spin for the Spin Cycle hosted by Sprite's Keeper but if I ask real nice she may let me slide on this one. So what do you say Jen? Spin or no Spin?

Want to read more Spins? Head over the Sprite's place (she's got a poopy for princess dress party going) for the complete list.

Love,
M

Meatless Monday while Traveling

One of the things that I find difficult while traveling is finding vegetarian choices at restaurants. Even soup, rice and sauces are not safe from meat stock. Forget about salad. You can't always be sure that the Caesar dressing doesn't have anchovies in it or that the spinach salad doesn't have bacon. I totally give up on cheese not having animal rennet in it.

When I asked the waiter at the restaurant that I choose for Sunday nights dinner in Charleston, South Carolina whether the mushroom risotto had meat stock you would have thought I was speaking a foreign language. Sure, his accent pegged him as an Aussie but I don't think my question was that hard. Mum-me; would that have baffled you? They were nice enough about the whole thing as they searched out the chef. Who had to come out of the kitchen to reassure me that the mushroom risotto was indeed vegetarian. I can not tell you how many chefs I've met this way.


I started with the bruschetta. The one a one o'clock was a tomato compote. Pretty good. Not great. The piece at five o'clock was baba ganoush. It was the best of the bunch. Or it may be that I love baba ganoush. The piece of crustini at ten o'clock was chickpeas or garbanzo beans with arugula. It was pretty good if you didn't mind that the chickpeas decided to escape. They rolled all over the plate. I gave up trying to get them to stay up and resorted to eating them with a fork.



This picture does absolutely no justice to this dish. Wild mushroom risotto. It was fantastic. There are almost no words to describe how utterly wonderful this was. It totally melted in your mouth. I'm going to be trying to recreate this one because it was that good. I promise that when I get it perfected I'll be passing it along to all of you.


So far (it's only been one day) Charleston has eclipsed San Francisco for food for vegetarians. At least for me. People of San Francisco please don't feel slighted I just never came across veggie friendly food that was outstanding like this risotto. I'm here for another 3 days and it will be hard for me to try other restaurants because I loved this so much.

Have any of you come across a mouth watering meal that you'd go back for again and again?

Love,
M