36 posts tagged “phil”
Tomorrow is Mr. P's birthday, and I have a surprise in store for him. Can't wait to spring it on him!
Lots to be thankful for-- a wonderful husband, fabulous friends, a great family. And pie. One should always be thankful for pie.
It's been kind of a rough month. Not worst ever, but not so easy. We spent Friday driving out to Tennessee to see Mr. P's grandfather. I'm relieved to say that we did get there in time to see him, but that he passed away the next day. Monday was very long-- up early for the funeral, we hit to road mid-afternoon for a long drive home in the rain and in the dark. Made it home safe and sound, if exhausted, and both of us headed to work this morning.
We're looking forward to Thanksgiving with friends, and I'm hoping to get back into the mode of being able to finish all the stuff I have on deck in the next few weeks, and maybe getting back to the gym at some point....
Why, yes, I have. My love, Mr. P, does get kissed quite often, but he got extras today for his service, and because I'm very very happy that he is not in Iraq anymore. I had the day off, which meant that I was at least somewhat productive-- I did get some sewing stuff done that had to get done, and finished the second edit on the paper and worked on additional accoutrements. The project for which those pieces have been made is due tomorrow, and I think now that I will be able to get it wrapped up-- yeay!
In the meantime, I took Mr. P out for a Veterans' Day lunch, wherein we stuffed ourselves so completely that neither of us is interested in dinner. Instead, we're going for an episode or two of old skool Star Trek. We are just wild and crazy, que no?
My love, Mr. P, has a new solo show opening at Irvine Contemporary in Washington, DC on October 30th.
The work is fabulous (I should know, since I live with it!), so if you'll be in the area between Oct. 30th and December 12th, come see it! He'll also be giving a gallery talk on the evening of November 12th. More information about the show can be found on the Irvine website. And of course, more of Mr. P's work can be found on his website.
Mr. P and I went to the Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival this weekend, because he's the kind of guy who will spend a day driving up to Orange so that he can watch his wife oogle sheep and alpacas and fondle yarn. Lots and lots of yarn. This is why he is a total keeper.
Sheep!
Goats! These guys were so cute. I was all for smuggling one out.
The last few weeks have been crazy busy-- lots of stuff going on, including my hitting the road for work once again. Just got back last night from my first multi-day out-- the first of many to come. In the midst of all of that we had to say au revoir to our dear friend Carrie.
I've been busy making stuff, too....
And we took in what is prolly the last harvest of the year. (I had planted peas for fall, but the bunny ate all the sprouts, so no peas for us :( )
Tomatillos and sweet red peppers...
And hot peppers. I put them all together for dinner the other night....
Tomatillo and Corn soup with sweet red peppers (and a few hot ones, too). Delicious!
In the meantime, Mr. P has been busy building a person out of wood. :)
More prictures! As promised!
We headed up towards the Shenandoahs last weekend for camping and hiking. I was the one who reserved the camping spaces, and clearly I need to learn to look more closely at where we are going when I do such things, because I failed to note two important facts: 1) this was a hike in campground; 2) that is the first state park with camping that one hits off of I-66 headed west out of D.C. Number one wasn't really a problem, just that we hadn't packed for hiking in, so we had to do some readjusting. Number 2, however, would explain the prevelence of fellow-campers who were boisterous and not appropriately packed for the hike in location. Or the woods, really, for that matter. Our much too close neighbors were a large group who sang Hindi songs well into the wee hours. They were set up in an ancient tent with giant poles holding it up that was meant for far fewer people than were inside it. They also brought EVERYTHING THEY OWNED. They had chairs. They had appliances. THEY HAD LAPTOPS. IN THE WOODS. At one point we heard a terrible dragging sound and turned to find one of them dragging a rollie suitcase up the hill. Who brings wheeled luggage on a camping trip?
This was only one of several groups that brought an enormous amount of stuff, most of it not so useful. There was another group that involved several annoyed looking young women who seem to be very angry at having discovered exactly what their boyfriends meant when they said "let's go camping!"
I believe that when looking at the website of the park I so fixated on the park's being an entrance to the Appalachian Trail, which in my mind conjured up images of lonely woodsy forests faaaaar from civilization, that I simply failed to really look at the map to see where it was in relation to, you know, NoVA. I also failed to process that we were in the descent path for planes coming in to Dulles from any and all points west. The park was pretty, and the hikes were nice, but it was like living in Flushing Meadows. yyyyyyeeeeeEEEAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW, all night long, one after another.
The hiking was really nice, though, and I really enjoyed it. And, planes be damned, the cacophony of insects singing and singing all night long was cool. The lightening storm that went on and on was a little hairy, though it didn't start raining until about seven the next morning while P and I were quickly striking camp. We spent the rest of the trip imaginging the pandemonium that must have ensued when our neighbors woke to find water dripping on their laptops.
The next day it rained and rained and rained, but, undaunted, we visited that amazing site....
FOAMHENGE!
If you haven't gone, you should.
On Sunday we discovered why it is that you should always go to a state park on a Sunday.
We were blissfully alone, the only people in the entire primitive camping section of the James River State Park, which was pointedly not the first state park on I-66. We hiked a whole lot, all over the park, and saw lots and lots of bugs and animals and snakes and fish and birds. Lots of wild rabbits, a big spider with a crazy coned web that probably could have caught a chipmunk, quail running across the road, and several deer, including a huge buck with a giant rack of antlers. (Sadly, I am almost positive that we also saw several Emerald Ash Borers).
We rounded up a faaaaaabulous weekend with a little canoeing on the James, which was great.
Sigh. wish there was more trips like this coming up.....
But in the meantime it's back to work....
Of course, I didn't get everything done I was hoping to (not even close), but we did have a fun weekend, so who cares? P and I went to an abandoned mall in Richmond and shot some photographs (large format for me, so may be a while before I get them back). Found a wild blackberry patch and ate tons of blackberries (yum!). Went up to Charlottesville to retrieve my fixed cameras (yeay!). Had lunch at the Blue Moon Diner (yum!). Went to a crazy antique place where P got something that he's using in his new work (come see it at Irvine Contemporary this fall!). Had ice cream, and then came home and watched a movie. :)
Never got around to the garden tasks I was hoping to do this weekend.
But things grow with or without you....
Today I shot some pictures for our friend Carrie, who is being featured as applicator of the month for American Clay. She does super beautiful work, so if you are looking to redecorate or just beautify your house, you should give her a call. It was great to see her, and super fun to go out and shoot some pictures of her work and some puuuurdy houses.
A place I hardly ever see. I was gone all week, and when I came back things were sprouting and growing and all sorts of things in my absence.
