Cuckoos and Peaches

Rob came up on Saturday armed with his repair kit as my cuckoo clock that he had only given me the previous week had taken a tumble and consequently suffered a, hopefully, minor damage. Everything was working fine except the cuckoo who refused to go back into his house and shut the door once he had heralded the hour. Rob set to straight away and started undoing screws, pulling pieces off and fiddled inside the intricate mechanism with his big paws while I hovered with baited breath. After much poking and moving chains and wires about, Rob sat back declaring it was fixed. We silently trekked to the bedroom and hung it back on the wall. The minute hand turned and the cuckoo burst out of his door and cuckooed loudly and then, Woo Hoo! retreated slamming the door behind him loudly. Well done Rob! I was so pleased and now take great delight in the way the door claps shut behind him, almost as though he were most displeased with having to announce each hour.

I had noticed a few days ago on the way home from work a sign announcing that peaches were available across the road from me. So off we went to investigate. A house had set up signs and based on the honor system you could go and pick peaches, stuffing your payment through the letterbox afterwards. We met the owners, Blane & Jan, as we approached the door and chatted happily for a few minutes before we headed off to the peach trees.

The trees we could pick from had white streamers hanging from them. This was the first time I've ever picked peaches let alone seen them growing on a tree so I was excited. My first task was to hunt and find the bestest biggest and juiciest peach on the trees for me to eat. This took a little while as I could hardly contain myself and flitted from tree to tree before I managed to gain control and concentrate on picking just one delectable globe of heavenly sweetness.

Found it!

It was actually impossible to bite into the peach without some going up my nose, the thing was huge!

As it turned out Rob ended up doing all the picking while I followed him around munching and dripping. I think I put 2 peaches in the bag, the second one right at the end as I became aware of my non-contribution.

Rob fooling around and displaying our peck of peaches.

Cool number plate!

All lovingly placed on the fridge shelf ready for consumption.

We pottered down to the pond again with Kota to feed the fishes but didn't stay too long as a couple of steaks were calling us from the house.

The evening ended nicely with a yummy feast of rib eyes, baked beans and baked potatoes. Rob had the largest potato I had seen for a while, it was humungous and barely left room on the plate for his steak and beans. He declared he could woof the lot but had to admit defeat and leave some, a planned tactic I know, to save room for locally made apple pie and ice cream!

July 4th Weekend

I slept in late on Saturday and lay listening to the birds and relishing the fact that I could hear no traffic, no sirens, no shouting, no thundering on stairwells, no car doors, nothing except the melodious sounds of nature. I was truly relaxed. But eventually the master of the house insisted that I rise up and at least fill his bowl with breakfast and open the door so he could take his morning preamble around the garden. Undaunted I slowly sorted out Kota, made a cup of tea and then went back to bed to read and ready myself for the day.
I eventually made it out the door to go buy provisions for a BBQ. MJ and Martin came over for the first time and Rob came up also. MJ & Martin both loved the house and I think MJ will bring her camera on the next visit. We had a great feast which luckily we chose to eat inside as while we were still eating the heavens opened and a monster storm rolled around the area. It was wonderful to just sit and watch while we chatted and had dessert.
I took no photos during the whole day or the next but once Kota and I were on our own again we took a stroll back down to the pond, a routine we've got into most evenings, and the camera came along.

The fish in the pond have got used to their visitors so much that when people arrive they come close, knowing that there's a container of food in a nearby tree that will be opened when folk arrive. I couldn't believe this chap who for a moment I thought was going to climb out on to the bank and get the container himself.

 

A stink bug. When I moved in to Meadow House, I had been warned that these bugs would be prolific but I haven't been as repelled as I thought I would. I've had a few in the house, vacuumed one up by mistake but have not experienced 'the stink'. i know in some areas they cause a lot of distress. I'm lucky not to have that problem.

Kota once again insisted on being carried some of he way home, especially up the hilly part. He's got it made, he really has, but I'm very relieved that he's settled in so well and seems to love his new terrain. We both do.

Critical Mass 2nd Ride

Emily, Jason and I met once again at Dupont Circle for another CM ride. I thoroughly enjoyed the last time and was excited to do it again. Feeling like a pro this time, I waited for people to arrive and as soon as the circling began around the fountain, I leaped up to join in.

We recognized a few people including the guy above who seemed to be extremely well equipped for such a short ride. I did find out later from his videos that he was delivering the wheel and not hauling it about in case of an emergency. We circled the fountain a few times and then were off again.

Cycling downtown and shadows of Emily and I.

Appreciating the art along the way and heading towards the Capitol. We circled the roundabout a few times as we did on the last ride and I wondered if we were taking the same route, but no, we went in another direction.

We passed The Nationals baseball stadium and then rode towards The Waterfront, bells and horns announcing our arrival. I really need to get something noisy for the next ride, my vocal chords were wearing out. There is a trapeze school down here with a superb motto on the building, '
A little later we found ourselves on Pennsylvania Ave and the three of us decided that we needed lubricating so we stopped at Wisdom, a bar which is one of our C urbexing group's favorite haunts. The rest of the group continued on their way. A couple of beers later we trundled through the city again, this time passing Emily's workplace, so a visit seemed a good idea.

 It was great seeing where she worked and there was a wonderful cityscape view from her floor. I was also impressed with the coat hooks hanging on the wall. Jason's pulling one of the pegs down to show how it works.
We eventually got back to Dupont after having visited all 4 quadrants of the city and estimated that we'd covered about 16 or 17 miles. It didn't feel like it, DC is so easy to cycle through as long as you don't get intimidated by cars passing or don't mind cutting across lanes. I've become used to cycling here now and don't get fazed but it must be said that DC drivers are very cycle conscious and don't seem to mind cyclists zipping back and forth. We've never been honked at.
Jason sent a link showing some videos of the evenings ride taken by Jerry, the guy at the top with all the equipment. I come into the frame on the 11th second wearing a black t-shirt on a green road bike. Thanks Jerry for making these videos public.
So it ended up being another late but fun night and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

A Busy Day in Baltimore

So it was up again early on Sunday but no dancing around the house this morning. It was grab the camera bag and go, as quickly as possible, because Emily and I were exploring! Yee Ha! It's been ages since we've been out and we were both raring to go.

 Emily had been checking out a few photos on Flickr and had a couple of idea so our first stop was a small suburb on the west side of Baltimore where we found these row houses right next to a railway line and a few old buildings.

Then it was off for more scouting and we ended up driving through derelict streets but noticing white tent tops and loud music. 

 Stopping to investigate, we walked into the Roots Fest, which was a 'celebration of community, creativity, culture and connection'. It seemed a little surreal to find all this activity when most of it's surroundings were buildings bereft of life or care. But it was a welcome lunch stop and we took great interest in an exhibition portraying the proposed new Red Line railway which would run east to west in Baltimore. 

Our interest turned to delight when we spotted a map showing some of the abandonments we'd previously visited along with some more that we hadn't. A free pointer, how kind! We continued to wander around but soon decided to go back to the car and continue scouting around the city.

This lady was sitting outside her house, one of the very few that was still inhabited, and seeing our cameras, asked us to take her photo. What a cute little girl! 
We carried on driving and entered areas that even Emily was unfamiliar with. Then at the end of a dead end street we hit gold. An abandoned church and surrounding buildings. We walked in noting how all the windows were boarded up but we found one at the back that had been opened. Climbing in, we crept through rooms with flashlights loving the beautiful mirrors, fireplaces and fittings that hadn't yet been ripped out. But then I noticed a red light flashing in a corner. A motion sensor. Walking to the entrance hall, I saw the main panel was flashing red also so it was time to leave, quickly. We got to the car and waited a bit and realized that the alarm was probably not hooked to the local police station any more. But common sense prevailed and we left, to research further and definitely return. Photos will be posted after that visit.
Our next stop was Madeira St. Emily had seen some photos of an art project there showing photos pasted onto derelict buildings of the people who used to live there. 

We also walked around the backs of the buildings where later I realized I had been bitten to pieces.Damn mosquitoes. 

I used my glass ball, found a porn book, found an awesome Oolie Owl who now resides on my patio and this suspended bathroom deserved a photo. These buildings are slated for demolition this summer so we were pleased to capture the area before it disappears forever. It was getting late and we had covered a lot of ground so inevitably we finished with beer. It had been great to get out exploring again and we'd achieved a lot in one day. I love this activity!