Virginia Adventure

OK. This is a photo from last spring, but the trees were starting to bloom on this visit.

Years rolled on again, and Wendy had a daughter. 

This ought not to be written in ink but in a golden splash.

~J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

A friend's daughter recently moved with her family to Fairfax, Virginia. My friend, BC, and I were invited to visit and wasted no time in booking our flight.*

CCC was 14 when I met her and she now has a 14 year old daughter of her own. I watched CCC grow up and marry.  I followed her career and that of her husband as they traveled widely - complements of Uncle Sam. CCC is a force of nature - organized and hard-working. And she nurtures all...a mediator when mediation is called for. Her husband MC is a boisterous young man - smart and funny. Their daughter (hereinafter the "kid") is a delight.

I usually don't take trips where someone else plans the itinerary, but this time I was "along for the ride." And what a ride - a holiday for me. We were wined and dined. We didn't have to plan anything. We had only four goals - to see the gems at the Smithsonian,** to visit the bead shop in Dupont Circle, to visit a quilt shop, and to see my friend's granddaughter play volleyball. We accomplished all our goals and more.

Day 1:

We were advised that we would be having massages on our first full day of the visit. I haven't had a massage in years. It was wonderful, if weird. The therapist climbed up on the table - for leverage I guess. I was so relaxed afterward I kept falling asleep each time I sat down. Perhaps I have been carrying some tension.

Later we headed to a quilt shop. There were so many fabrics I was overwhelmed. I found the giant "loose button" display and sorted buttons with one of the clerks while my friends found quilting fabric and beautiful silk chiffon for scarves. Then I noticed an old friend hanging midst the notions.

OK. I know that most folks are unfamiliar with the term "darn" other than as your grandmother's way to avoid saying "damn."  But "darn" also means repairing fabric items - usually by hand-sewing. I am sharing another blog post for further explanation.*** No, I don't expect you to learn to darn...I just love darning eggs (only one example of personal collections no one will want when I am gone).

Don't get me started on buttons. I loved this ad on the bulletin board.

We headed back to the house where we were fed and I sat down - promptly falling asleep (that massage!).

At some point in the afternoon we stopped by a discount department store, fingered all the clothing, looked at the Easter decor, lost each other as we wandered aimlessly, fretted over the shoes, and entertained the other shoppers. Everyone found something (but what happens in Virginia...).

[Shhhhh! Don't disturb her. She's fallen asleep again!]

Day 2:

We got a late start. It was almost lunchtime when we arrived at Dupont Circle and walked to Beadazzled, one of my MUST DO stops when in D.C. We looked at everything - beads, scarves, jewelry, findings, evil-eye pendants and more. BC purchased a few things for projects before we headed to Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe next door.

BC spied this tome through the window - I'm reading it next.

I love this bookstore.

CCC sent a text - she was in the bar. [I didn't even know there was a bar.] I dragged my friend away from the folks she was talking to on the street (she never meets a stranger) and a crazy lady from the bead shop showed us where the bar was hiding just beyond the side room (children's books???).

Irish coffee - it was a cold day! There were snow flurries!

Crab cake pasta.

Our barman, Darrell, was a great sport and saw to it that we were properly fed and hydrated.  He's got some stories now.

Finally we headed to the Smithsonian - The Natural History Museum. There were some stops in the sculpture garden outside (love that giant eraser), before we headed up to see the gemstones.

A crowd gathered around the cursed one, but we had our turn before viewing all the other amazing rocks.

The cursed one (The Hope Diamond)

More impressive stones.

The bird cases on the way in distracted me from the jewelry. You must love the Eastern Screech Owl.

Another family favorite - Curlew

My - I was the only one to see it on the CBC - Wilson's Snipe. There is no missing that out-sized beak.

I love this museum.

BC in the "crystal ball"

I want to do some glazes like this...

These colors would be lovely on pottery.

Day 3:

It was a lazy day (I think we were still a little jet lagged). We played a card game called, "Rats." It uses 3 decks of cards (2 of spades and jokers wild!). The rules are simple, but the strategy takes some work.

That's the "kid" touching the discards. She plays "cut throat."

One of my less than stellar hands...I love the wooden card-holders.

We took a little break to visit a local flea market - a reminder that no one wants your collections or your grandmother's furniture. Sometimes someone might want your books, however. I climbed through the "stacks" to see what might be hiding in the poetry section. Found a little something...

Place looks promising.

No one wants your salt and pepper shakers...love those Mr. Peanut shakers.

No one wants your grandmother's teapot (this is the shape and color and almost design of my grandmother's - which I have and sometimes use. It is a Hall teapot - the best kind.

No one wants this Bobby Vinton LP [As I wandered through this section I talked to a woman who was taking a break from clearing her mother's estate. She said she had some 78 RPM. She agreed that she was having a difficult time finding homes for her mother's things.

Loads of interesting things.

This thrown piece of pottery has a long list of New York City locals. I was tempted as I still collect pottery (don't judge!), but would never be able to get this on the plane.****

The sign on Mr. Kruger's office. I managed to talk him out of the office so he could show me some books in the "book room" where he has well over 100,000 books.

These are the cheap books on a table by the office.

Mr. Kruger disappeared into this maze of literature.

He reassured me I could make it to the section I was looking for. I climbed up the movable library stairs so that he could slip past me. My friends were a little concerned when we disappeared and kept asking questions - keeping us talking as I reviewed titles, picked out two, and negotiated a price.*****

We went inside to see the jewelry and found MORE BEADS! The Gene Simmons look-alike proprietor of this section was from Afghanistan and stocked lovely (and dear) items. Locked cases contained beads and tribal jewelry from all over the place.

BC found some Lapis earrings. MC attempted to negotiate a price on a clock. I gathered stories.

BEADS!

It was more than a little overwhelming

Back at the house we shuffled and dealt a promised "final" game of Rats...and I won!

Winning score sheet******

Day last:

Our final day began early. We loaded up our luggage and headed to a volleyball tournament. We had hoped we would see the kid play and were treated to a number of games where she hustled and served like a champ. She is a tiny thing, compared to many other players, but she makes up for he lack of height with hustle. She's still young. I cannot wait to see how she will play in future years as she and her game mature.

This is not the kid's team - I just wanted to show the set-up. there were 4 courts in this side of the building and more beyond. It was loud. I was relieved to see the netting. Parents and girls were everywhere.

During a break in the action CCC took us to the airport. We were early enough to grab lunch before heading to the gate where we discovered our final DC surprise.  We heard him before we saw Andy Leighton playing familiar songs. He performed a few college fight songs and other tunes that tugged at the memory - classics and movie scores. He's a volunteer and carefully avoids interfering with announcements as he delights travelers, young and old.

If you head to Virginia/DC, you may not be able to be treated to the vacation we had, but if you are lucky you may get to see and enjoy A Touch of Brass - Andy Leighton, Volunteer Musician at Large.

Andy Leighton, Volunteer Musician at Large, performs at National Airport

 

NOTES:

* My friend talks to everyone. Traveling with her is an adventure in itself.

** BC visit DC many years ago. I toured everything last spring. We were here to visit family. The monuments and other museums would have to wait for the next time.

*** On darning - https://diyfashionsense.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/more-than-just-darning/ [My mama said that you could use a light bulb or a laying egg (the glass egg you put in the chicken coop to encourage the hens to lay) if you could not find the darning egg.]

**** A large whiskey jug was held on the plane back from Ireland in 1981, but they won't let you do that anymore.

***** Mr. Kramer has less than stellar YELP reviews, but I found him quite the character and very fair in his pricing. Maybe YELP contributors need more appreciation of characters.

******I tried to find "Rats" online. It is similar to a number of games, but I found nothing exactly like it. I know you need three decks of cards and a different number of sets and lines for each hand. It's those darned wild cards that can make for sharp playing.

      

A daughter is chiseled to chisel the world.

~ Karishma Gajipara

FINAL NOTE:

I cannot forget Mia, the family dog. She's Great Pyrenees and something else. She ate popcorn out of my hand and then rested behind me - I suppose she was there to guard me or make sure I didn't get "out of line."

Mia resting. Sorry this isn't a better photo.

Rabies

 Do not be afraid; 

our fate cannot be taken from us;

 it is a gift.

~ Dante Alighieri, Inferno

It's a rambling story...sorry.

Mom was a a real scientist. A bacteriologist,* her training and work experience certainly had an impact on us as we grew up in the wilds of south Texas. She regularly explained "the germ theory of disease" to us and so we washed our hands and sanitized the dishes. She had worked at the state health department before moving south with Daddy to raise four rowdy children. And even with her knowledge of all we could be exposed to, Mom encouraged us to be regular kids.

We spent time outdoors and knew to be cautious of stinging insects and arachnids. We knew how to avoid places where the rattlers** and cottonmouths*** hung out. Mom and Dad gave us a love of the environment and opportunities to experience wilderness. And we had what some consider a charmed childhood. We climbed to the top of the mesquite trees, rode our bikes, played hide-n-seek all over the place, caught crawdads in rain-swollen ditches and flooded fields and wandered our extended neighborhood. We climbed the dirt piles and explored the woods unconstrained by hovering parents.

We all fished and hunted and my brothers trapped for a time. The trapping seems to have been short lived. I'm not sure when it started, but I do know when it ended. One day my brother came back from checking the traps having been bitten by a raccoon he'd caught. The raccoon had a big bite out of him from another animal. They killed the raccoon and sent its head to the state health department for rabies testing. ****

We all knew about the painful series of shots one would take in the event the tests were positive for rabies. Friends/relatives had been there. No one wanted to go through the shots unless absolutely necessary. Mom had long told us about a friend from the health department, who was responsible for the rabies testing, who had somehow contracted the disease and died. It was (and is) not a pretty death. Back then, no one who contracted the disease survived.*****

The results came back negative, but we still watched and waited (as an animal can have and share rabies without it showing up in the brain). In fact, I became obsessed and researched rabies in the all-knowing Encyclopedia Britannica and in every reference book I could get my hands on. I learned a lot about rabies. I learned the incubation period, generally about a week to 10 days, can be as long as months or even years (I'll let you look that up yourself). I prayed hard and watched my brother. I think I gave the disease 2 months. After my arbitrarily imposed two month period of worry, I thought he was probably safe, but I was different. I am not sure I ever got over that sense of foreboding and helplessness and uncertainty.

So when the subject of rabies comes up, I pay attention. When someone is bitten I know to wash the wound with soap and water and check shot records. I've discussed the effectiveness of rabies vaccinations in dogs and cats (3 years, but they make you do it every year so it gets done and you don't forget). I've lectured people who ignored rabies shots for their wandering cats and for their "she never leaves the house" dogs. I've fretted over the wild baby squirrels a neighborhood child brought home. I worried when I heard my nephew had a dead bat in his desk at school. I listened with rapt attention to the "bat lady" teach us about rabies in bats and refused to handle the live bat she brought with her (why take a risk?). And I make sure my animals - even the stray cats who hang out around the house from time to time - are vaccinated.

A week or so ago I saw that an old building across from my studio/classroom was about to be torn down. My former employer had purchased the property and was clearing the tract. I noticed some of my former co-workers preparing for the "tear down" and walked over to talk. "What did they use this for?" I asked. The answer surprised me. The place had a bit of a checkered past - communications company, this and that, and once there was a veterinarian who manufactured rabies vaccines in the building. There were furnaces for the cremation of animals in the back. AND, or so the rumor went, the vet somehow contracted and died of rabies.

Researching the literature on rabies, specifically rabies in Texas, is much easier to do these days. The answers are about the same (other than that rates of rabies are down, shots are much better, and more people - although still a tiny number of those who contract the disease - survive).

I had to know if the rumor was true. Did a veterinarian who worked in that low white concrete building actually die of rabies?

Yes.

It is thought that a piece of equipment he used - something like a blender - aerosolized the virus and that this veterinary microbiologist was exposed during a time he had a respiratory illness becoming sick and dying of rabies in 1972.******

Rabies In Texas, A Historical Perspective, is a fascinating article for those interested in the disease as it has appeared in Texas. I've provided a link to the article below. And it includes the story of the veterinary microbiologist AND the 1956 death of George Menzies, entomologist/rabies researcher and my mother's co-worker - how it is thought he too was exposed to aerosolized virus (in a cave in Uvalde County where he was studying bats). At the time he had a skin infection and poison ivy lesions which were the likely entryway for the rabies virus to enter his system. 

I remember talking to Mom about him a number of times. She had wondered if there had not been a tear in his gloves in the laboratory or some other error that allowed exposure to the virus. I don't think she ever knew how the disease had been contracted.*******


NOTES:

*She went to college to be an interior decorator and fell in love with a science class. She worked in a lab at the health department. I have some of the pans they used to sterilize instruments (apparently just the perfect size when cooking for one or two).

**When we were kids we played on a couple of large dirt piles (possibly build during construction of our subdivision). We called one the Big Hill (although there was another "Big Hill" over by the creek that was REALLY big) and the other the Little Hill. We were long grown and gone when those hills were flattened. Mom said they found some 10 rattlesnake nests in one of the hills and she "almost had a heart attack" remembering how much time we spent playing there.

***All southerners know to be on guard for cottonmouths. They enjoy the shores of lakes and streams. It's wise to watch where you step.

****My brother tells me he was 11 or 12 when this incident occurred and the constable drove the raccoon head some 3 hours to Austin for the test. He was a good man.

*****Information on Rabies: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/ and  
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/ and 
http://www.waco-texas.com/userfiles/cms-healthdepartment/file/RABIES%20PREVENTION%20IN%20TEXAS%202016.pdf

******It took "some doing" as my mother would say, but I finally found the identity of the veteranian who died. He was Dr. Earl Lawrence Mundell. Born in New York, he lived in Temple for "years" according to his death certificate. He became sick and a week later died on March 9, 1972. His case was the subject of an article in JAMA and at least one Texas medical periodical. It took a search of death certificates for his date of death to find him. The cause of death is listed as respiratory failure, encephalomyelitis, and by cvs virus, a shorthand for the rabies virus.


******* I always thought it strange that Mom didn't know how her friend had died until I learned it was in 1956. I was born that year. Mom was busy mothering a busy two-year-old and new baby.


Rabies In Texas, A Historical Perspective  - https://www.dshs.texas.gov/idcu/disease/rabies/history/historyInTexas.pdf 

See also:  Rabies Transmission by Non-bite Route https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1914752/?page=1


FINAL NOTE:

VACCINATE YOUR ANIMALS (and your children while you are at it - different diseases, but same theory). Be careful about handling wild animals. If you are bitten, WASH the wound, seek medical treatment and quarantine the animal or have it tested.

Eating Our Way Across Southern California

 We have been traveling and so we have tried to avoid chain eateries as much as possible.

Our first stop was the Mexican restaurant a short walk from our hotel in Corona. Miguel's was very good. We thought we were going to "eat light" by ordering appetizers. We were wrong.

There were too many choices.

Chips were good. I wasn't too crazy about the "salsa."

But the nachos grandes were GRAND indeed. The quesadillas were fine, but unnecessary.

Lunch on our way to Palm Springs [Just typing that makes me laugh. We wanted to see the mid-century modern architecture and try out the sky-tram.] was in Beaumont, California at the Country Junction diner. It was the diner to end all diners. Deborah was our waitress and she was fabulous. This is the place where locals eat. The owner stopped at the table a number of times. We felt like we were home.

Someone has painted a watercolor of the place.

They had poured the coffee almost before we sat down.

The homemade salsa was great...

...as were the chips...nothing out of the bag at this place.

I had a classic burger, but they had me at "chocolate malt."

I'll be honest. I am going to be on soup and salad for a month after this trip, but it was worth it. In Palm Springs we skipped the dinner theater (sorry, I had to) and at at Norma's Italian Restaurant. It was a tiny place too and we had to wait a bit, but it was worth the wait. DH and YC had pizza. I took the waitress' recommendation and tried the chicken piccata. Again, the owners kept watch and were gracious to all (even one cranky patron who didn't think he should have to wait).

Simple cheese pizza

Chicken Piccatta

Maria Pizza

No need for a "To Go" box.

A miscommunication had DH and me drinking coffee and reading in the lobby. We thought the kid needed more sleep. We snore. We are used to it, but we forget that others might have their sleep disturbed. So...we enjoyed the hotel coffee. Then we all grabbed a quick breakfast sandwich on the way to Joshua Tree.

Coffee and anthropologist mysteries - perfect pairing.

Sometimes fast food is what you need.

On our way home we found an unusual but good dining spot in 29 Palms.  Kitchen in the Desert is a quirky spot - specializing in burgers and fries, but with other options.

A traveling friend taught me to photograph the menu for future reference. I don't do it enough.

My "signature burger." You have to love a burger with bacon, spinach, and arugula.

I had curry/split pea soup as my side, because I knew DH would share his fries.

Enough! Our last meal was seafood at a chain-ish place, McCormick & Schmick's. It is an old reliable for us and, after an afternoon on the ocean (more on that in a later post), we needed seafood.

It will be salad for a month to recover, but worth it.

It Was a Fluke

Time, the dark whale
Spouts blithely from his spiracle
A jet of memory that makes glad the sun.
-William Rose Benet

Some years ago I had been in San Diego for a conference and a whale watching trip (a bonus attraction to the deadly dull and overly intense conference - some people take themselves WAY too seriously - we weren't rocket scientists or brain surgeons) was planned for interested attendees. But the weather changed. A storm blew up that was so powerful, no boats left port the day we had hoped to see ocean life. I had not really thought about wanting to go out in a boat to search for hours for whales before. It had been a whim, but it went on my list then.

Other opportunities have resulted in actually getting on boats and whale sightings -  Fin whales with DH and YC  about 4 years ago and then a Minke whale with DH last year. This last trip (on a Zodiac boat - small - 6 passenger) had included views of scores of dolphins* and other sea creatures, as well as hundreds of shore birds.

During our recent trip to southern California we suggested a ride on the Zodiacs to YC and JF and they agreed to head to Balboa Island with us.

One of the gulls** hanging around.

We headed out to a spot where Grey Whales had been spotted.  We resisted the urge to shout "there she blows," as we saw the spouts. These whales did not show more than their backs and we followed them a long time before we headed much further out where our captain had spied the "blow" of what he thought was a Humpback whale.

Terrible, but the best photo I got of the Grey Whales. They did not cooperate.

On our way out a Brown Pelican paralleled the boat. I looked him in the eye. He was about 15 feet away.*** Then he flew on to feed with the hundreds of California gulls, Cormorants and other seabirds.

My pelican friend.

For most of the rest of our trip we followed the Humpback and watched as he**** dove over and over. And I finally saw the fluke when he dove deep.

We would see the whale's back.

There were some shallow dives, but more hump showing meant a deeper dive.

And the tale would come up.

We would see the flukes.

Sometimes quite a bit of the tale showed.

And on the final dive...

We could see the water dripping from the flukes.

And the lighter color of the underside of the tale.

The lazy sea lions greeted us on our way back to port.

The usual suspects "sing" us back home.

 
The gulls and pelicans lined the breakwaters and watched as we slowly moved past.

Part of the brakewater.

Detail showing some of the "watchers."

Wonderful trip!

Cormorant?

I should know...

NOTE:

*Really -  hundreds, maybe a thousand, common dolphins - incredible!

** I took a look at the gulls on the eBird list - more than 12 varieties commonly in the area at this time of year. Madness. I counted over 150 California gulls and more than 200 gulls I couldn't see well enough to identify.

***I fumbled with the cell phones and missed the photo...but I still see him in my mind. Messages from beyond, I think.

****OK. I don't know if it was a he or a she.


Other photos of our visit:

Pigeons were all over the place.

DH, YC, JF - my companions on the boat.

Our boat

The Ferry at Balboa Island. I have watched it before, but this time we went for a ride!

We killed time waiting for our whale adventure. We did not ride any of these rides.