Musical Flight

Short note that my pal & fellow contra-dancer Leah will be playing a couple hours of classical music starting at 5:30 tomorrow (Friday) at RayLen Vineyards as part of the Sky Meadow Strings trio. I expect it will be an entertaining couple hours with wine, fine music, and nice weather... My other understanding is that this concert is ultimately being performed to help the trio advance their noble goal (?) of collecting beer money to help kick the weekend off with a bang, so donations are appreciated.

Here's a link for more information -- hope to see you there!

http://www.raylenvineyards.com/index.php/Future-Events/

Spring in Charlottesville

Didn't make it to D.C. for the cherry blossom festival this year, but I was able to do the next best thing and see the trees blooming on a short trip through Charlottesville, VA a couple days ago. Here are some trees that I felt compelled to make a stop for on the way through town:
As for Winston, trees are beginning to bloom here as well... the most immediate effects seems to be that the trees over my house are shedding a bunch of crap on my roof. Upside of spring: nice warm weather, beautiful flowers. Downside: yard work... sigh...

March Roars in Like a Lion

Well, since there wasn't much snow of note through December, January, and February, I guess it was only fitting that we would get a couple inches of snow dumped down in the beginning of March. My friends Paul and Jen were visiting from Atlanta, where they don't get so much snow really, so around 10PM we sauntered down to Grace Court and to check out the scene. Along the way we saw the snow cause a branch to snap off a tree and a transformer on a power line light the sky a bright blue when it nearly blew up right over our heads. Good times!

A couple pictures below:

	Jen reenacts her favorite Christmas Story scene.
	Me in the snow
	Grace Court on a snowy night...

Fall Foliage in Review

I walked outside today and spotted a quarter inch of snow on the car roofs and on the piles of fallen leaves. This prompted a "WTF!?" and made me wonder whether our string of Indian Summer-ish fall days were coming to a close. Indeed, a look at the 10-day forecast shows a nasty run of 50 degree highs with the occasional scattered snow showers (more WTF!?'s to go around!).

So I thought it would only be fitting to say goodbye to a wonderful fall with a couple recent pictures of the fall foliage.

	A view from Crowders Mountain just outside of Charlotte, NC
	Walking down a side-street in Georgetown -- just minutes away from cupcakes...

Goodbye Fall '08 -- we hardly knew ya.

Hazy Days

One of the more surprising discoveries of a hiking venture around Boone about a week ago was that the Blue Ridge Mountains really are blue. (The new banner I put on the blog is a picture I took out there, colors unchanged.)

It didn't take me long to figure out why: the South is so damn humid, that's why. By the end of the hike, and on a not-particularly-hot day, it looked like I had taken a jump into a swimming hole (I had not... I wish I could've). At the end I was able to wring out about 1/2 a cup of sweat from my shirt alone. Here's more information about it from the Frequently Asked Questions about the Blue Ridge Parkway on the National Park Services page:

Why is the Blue Ridge "blue"? According to "A Naturalist's Blue Ridge Parkway" by David Catlin, "it can be legitimately claimed that trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, for hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere by the forest contribute to the characteristic haze on these mountains and to their distinctive color." The entire Appalachian Chain is extraordinarily diverse and rich in its vegetation, so there is perhaps more "blue" to the Blue Ridge and more "smoky" to the Great Smoky Mountains.

While I was Eating Focaccia and Drinking Iced Americanos...

...Apparently the world was falling down around me. I drove home from the coffee shop and found that half the traffic lights I passed were black and trees were snapped like pretty toothpicks.

A couple shots of the carnage, just before sunset:

Water Sports

I attended a Fourth of July party in D.C. last Friday, and the guests did much to stay cool through the summer heat (let's forget the fact that it rained much of the day). Here's the prescription:

Step 1: Get a Slip-N-Slide.

Step 2: Set up Slip-N-Slide so that it ends about 3 feet from a hard wooden porch.

Step 3: Make sure to drink several cups from keg before attempting to use Slip-N-Slide.

Step 4: Participants should get a running start, and then launch themselves toward porch headfirst at top speed.

What could be safer! We went to a water park the next day, where we got endlessly whistled at by the life guards for unsafe use of inner-tubes at the Lazy River. I was tempted to explain to the guards that we were professionals. After all, we had just survived hurling ourselves at a porch on a Slip-N-Slide while drunk.

Amateurs...

Pre:

Post:

Matt knows: The only way to Slip-N-Slide is Superman-style.

Stayin' Cool

My first full summer in the south... what am I getting myself into? I hate hot weather. I have to deal with this until September?

I made a vow to bike to work a couple times a week this summer. However, the constant 90+ degree temperatures are testing my resolve. I'm not a big fan of having to wring the sweat out of my shirts before getting to work after my little gas-saving exercises.

Thankfully for me, a friend had the answer: What's cooler than being cool? Sucking on strawberry popsicles in a kiddie pool. Andre 3000, I hope you're taking notes...