aussie.emjay's blog

Good stuff & a little weirdness

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Yesterday was a really busy day.   I met one friend downtown for a very early morning tea and then caught the train out into Virginia to see a movie and have a very late lunch with two other friends.    We saw "Eat, Pray, Love"  - which we'd all read and were interested in seeing how they'd made it into a movie (staring Julia Roberts).  There was not one male in the cinema - not surprising as it's definitely a chick flick and Julia is required to cry a lot!   I thought it was good, not great  -  I liked the book better.

*** 
I was really pleasantly surprised to get home and find that my new neighbour had sheared her front yard!  Just goes to show how effective a bit of whinging can be!    She has also thoroughly cleared out the area under her back deck - it will be hard for any drug users to hide under there now.  Hopefully this means she is close to moving in.

And,  the smoke detector has been totally dead for a couple of days.  I'm not going to knock it down with a broom as there is another working one closer to the bedroom and the (tall) manservant will be home next week and he can deal with it.

*****
I had a weird experience on the metro ride home - I got into a rail-car with a couple of people at one end and a guy way up the other.  Because I wanted to get off near the front of the train at my station I walked up there and sat across from the guy who was on a mobile phone.  As I opened my book I became aware that he was angry and I could not help overhearing his conversation.  He was talking about "good shit"  (in the drug sense) and how someone had to be paid;  he kept reiterating that these people could not be screwed over and finally said if they were not paid "that's when guns come out" ......    That's when I started feeling like a character out of one of the many crime books I read -  you know the witness who has to be silenced because of what they've seen or heard?   I was glad I didn't have my camera out, it might have given the wrong impression.  LOL. 

*****      
When I got home it was still light and slighter cooler so I decided to try out the new whipper snipper - recently purchased because the manservant has been away so much this summer and I really, really hate the roller mower - so much that I refuse to use it.  Our handkerchief-sized lawn is sloped so the roller misses so much that you have to clip so many missed bits that you might as well have clipped the entire lawn from the start! 

Anyway,  knowing that there was a possibility of hurting myself I dressed in long pants, proper shoes and safety glasses (felt a little overdressed in those but I value my eyesight).   I didn't plug the electric cord in until I had the implement safely down the stairs and exactly where I was going to start.   Before plugging in,  I even did a couple of practise air swings to get a feel for the weight etc.   Wow - it was quick!  God knows why we hadn't spent the $30 before to get one!   I do need a bit more practise on correct angling though as there are some really huge divet holes in the middle of the lawn LOL.    But  I was very pleased that I had "played" with this for 10-15 minutes and neither ringbarked our Japanese Maple,  chopped any plants in half nor whipped my shins!! 

***** 
Today is  washing, bill paying and tidying up day  -  that includes vacuuming all the bits of grass that have somehow appeared in the carpet from the front door to the back....... 

Here is a sight that cracked me up....

Here comes a police escort  - complete with sirens.... 

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What a laugh  -  police escorting police: 

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Where I live even our police need protection:    :-) 

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Irritating things....

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** I got off my train after a hot & crowded commute and could not get out of the station....  well, not legally through the exit fare gates.  There was a huge line of disgruntled passengers and none of the turnstiles were working.    It was like Hotel California.  

** My morning tea mate at work is on vacation - and the chocolates are locked in her cabinet!!   

** How long will a smoke detector "beep"  before the battery goes totally flat?   I'm not quite tall enough, standing on a chair,  to reach the damn thing.   It does not beep continuously.   It beeps a few times and then relaxes while it builds up enough battery charge to beep again.    Given my propensity to fall,  standing on a stool seems a very bad idea! 

** I got bitten by something just under my eye while I was scavenging amongst the chili plants.  I have an ugly red lump and the ring under my eye is really black. Not painful anymore but not very attractive for a receptionist!  

** My new, but absent, neighbour has allowed her front and back yards to become overgrown which gives her place a derelict appearance.  DC law says that weeds and grasses can not be higher than 10 inches or we are fined - the fine is in the $200-$250 range.   The weeds have really annoyed me but I'm not quite ready to turn into Big Brother.  

It's strange that we are fined $50 if we do not shovel snow off the public footpath infront of our house but if we neglect our own yards the fine is so much higher.

Anyway, someone must have dobbed her in.  I don't imagine an inspector just driving around looking for violators so perhaps the neighbours on the other side have a lower tolerance than me and rang 311 to complain.

This piece of paper (folded to protect the guilty party's name and address) is a notice of Violation under DC Law:

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And this is the front yard: ....   

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Project photo-a-day for 365 days.... 181-190

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181 -  a grate "thing"  that I walk over every day in the footpath. It intrigues me that it is not American made. 

181:365

182 - I love the colour of this day lily.  It is in a pot on my deck and this year had about a dozen blooms.

182:365

183 -  this shows how behind I am in posting the photo a day shots!  It amused me that this fireworks stand was set up under the giant exhaust of a Caribbean cafe.  The Sweet Mango cafe  makes great jerk chicken and often there is mouth-watering aromatic smoke coming out (you can just see a wisp of smoke here). 

183:365

184 - Poster seen on the wall of an apartment block:

184:365

185 -  July 4 fireworks in the neighbourhood.  It's not a great photo but I loved how it looks like the flames were shooting out of the chimney.

185:365

186 -  funky bug spied on one of my pots. 

186:365

187 - the ever changing metro billboard:  

187:365

188 - after a hot train ride home it doesn't seem wise to start on the wine as soon as I walk in the door so I have something to hydrate first.  My favourite cool down quick drink is cranberry juice diluted with water and ice.  THEN I start on the wine!

188:365

189 - a very lonely seat - unusual on the  L'Enfant station platform.  No-one wanted to sit that close to whatever was in those big drums: 

189:365

 
190/190a -  a wine the manservant bought for me to try.  It's a Moscato - ......   It might go nicely with sweets but I tried it with humus and crackers and did not like it enough to request a second bottle. 

190:365

190a:365

 

Nice Day for a

                              White wedding..... 

Yesterday I went to a really special wedding at the gorgeous Meridian House (built 1920). 

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It was a white wedding and all the guests were requested to wear white.     

Now, I am not a petite girl so white does not feature in my wardrobe -  especially not anything fancy white.  However a couple of months ago I bought a white lace sheath dress online because it was on sale for $25 - well, not only because of that but because I  "thought"   I would wear it.  But, when it came it was obviously a dress belonging to a season other than summer as the lining is some material close to flannelette!!   So it was sitting in the packaging it came in until the wedding invitation arrived..... 

I "practised"  wearing it a couple evenings during the week - in the hope that it would sort of "loosen" up a bit -  then I'd be able to eat - and maybe even sit down without it riding high up my fleshy thigh!   

That of course brought to attention the issue of whitey-white legs - seriously glow in the dark legs do not look good poking out from a knee length white dress!   A friend recommended L'Oreal Sublime Glow and assured me it would neither streak nor turn my legs neon orange...   Friday night was spent shaving, exfoliating and slathering.    Wow!  It can take a lot of time being a female.  I'm sure I spent more hours thinking about, and preparing what I was going to wear, than I spent at the wedding! 
 
The ceremony was held in the gardens.... ... 

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A harpist played during the ceremony:

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Then there was a reception inside: 

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Imagine having a room like this! 

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The hors d'oeuvres table (and bar!) : 

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The wedding cake (yes, it was a gay wedding): 

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I stuck with white wine as red wine seemed to assure that there would be no second wearing of the white dress.  Yes,  at one stage I had two glasses of wine at the same time! 

Emjay's place

The party favours were a lovely parasol and a little box of chocolates - and one of the organizers asked if I would like to take one of the table flowers ... 

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   It was a perfect afternoon for a perfect couple  (yes, I checked that it was ok to post their photo):   

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Two Things on Thursday.....

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*  At 5.30am this morning the weatherman said that there was a 60% chance of an afternoon thunderstorm.....  as I was leaving the house at 6.40am he said there was a massive thunderstorm coming through Montgomery County in Maryland right now!!

" Well", I thought,  "I live in DC and I'm going to work in Virginia,  I'm not going to take my fancy windrella umbrella that's supposed to withstand a near hurricane,  I'm just going to take my emergency umbrella that's usually in my bag".   You know the sort that has a radius just slightly bigger than your head. 

 When I got out of the underground in Virginia at 7.30  it was as though I'd had a time warp and gone back into night.  It was incredibly dark - but no rain at that stage.   For a second I wondered if I should go into the Starbucks and wait it out - but as  "it"   had not started yet I thought I should just hustle the 3 blocks to the office.   Before I'd gone one block there was a scary transformation  -  buffeting high winds, thunder and amazing devil's lightning!   

Oh please, don't let me be struck by lightning!     Then I thought "no self respecting lightning would attack this pathetic umbrella!". 

I arrived at work with everything along the back from the my neck down to my ankles totally drenched.

So jeez!  First we had record snow falls; then record heat and now an entire day of really damaging storms.   Wonder when the locusts will descend! 
 
I learnt a couple of little factoids today (according to my weatherman):
-in relation to flash floods -  it takes less than 18 inches of water on the road to float a vehicle off the road!
-in relation to lightning -  a lightning strike is 50,000 F degrees in temperature - when it hits a tree it literally blows the bark off.   

*******   

 Metro announcement of the week occurred on my commute home....     the driver was having trouble getting the doors closed.    With absolute frustration the driver announced:   
"People!  People!   - Keep your body parts out of the doors!"
You could just hear in his voice what he really wanted to say.

*******

Another storm is coming through now and we're under all sorts of flash flood warnings....   at least I won't have to water the veggies tonight! 

Another storm coming - 6.15pm

Two Things on Thursday.....

~

*  At 5.30am this morning the weatherman said that there was a 60% chance of an afternoon thunderstorm.....  as I was leaving the house at 6.40am he said there was a massive thunderstorm coming through Montgomery County in Maryland right now!!

" Well", I thought,  "I live in DC and I'm going to work in Virginia,  I'm not going to take my fancy windrella umbrella that's supposed to withstand a near hurricane,  I'm just going to take my emergency umbrella that's usually in my bag".   You know the sort that has a radius just slightly bigger than your head. 

 When I got out of the underground in Virginia at 7.30  it was as though I'd had a time warp and gone back into night.  It was incredibly dark - but no rain at that stage.   For a second I wondered if I should go into the Starbucks and wait it out - but as  "it"   had not started yet I thought I should just hustle the 3 blocks to the office.   Before I'd gone one block there was a scary transformation  -  buffeting high winds, thunder and amazing devil's lightning!   

Oh please, don't let me be struck by lightning!     Then I thought "no self respecting lightning would attack this pathetic umbrella!". 

I arrived at work with everything along the back from the my neck down to my ankles totally drenched.

So jeez!  First we had record snow falls; then record heat and now an entire day of really damaging storms.   Wonder when the locusts will descend! 
 
I learnt a couple of little factoids today (according to my weatherman):
-in relation to flash floods -  it takes less than 18 inches of water on the road to float a vehicle off the road!
-in relation to lightning -  a lightning strike is 50,000 F degrees in temperature - when it hits a tree it literally blows the bark off.   

*******   

 Metro announcement of the week occurred on my commute home....     the driver was having trouble getting the doors closed.    With absolute frustration the driver announced:   
"People!  People!   - Keep your body parts out of the doors!"
You could just hear in his voice what he really wanted to say.

*******

Another storm is coming through now and we're under all sorts of flash flood warnings....   at least I won't have to water the veggies tonight! 

Another storm coming - 6.15pm

Two Things on Thursday.....

~

*  At 5.30am this morning the weatherman said that there was a 60% chance of an afternoon thunderstorm.....  as I was leaving the house at 6.40am he said there was a massive thunderstorm coming through Montgomery County in Maryland right now!!

" Well", I thought,  "I live in DC and I'm going to work in Virginia,  I'm not going to take my fancy windrella umbrella that's supposed to withstand a near hurricane,  I'm just going to take my emergency umbrella that's usually in my bag".   You know the sort that has a radius just slightly bigger than your head. 

 When I got out of the underground in Virginia at 7.30  it was as though I'd had a time warp and gone back into night.  It was incredibly dark - but no rain at that stage.   For a second I wondered if I should go into the Starbucks and wait it out - but as  "it"   had not started yet I thought I should just hustle the 3 blocks to the office.   Before I'd gone one block there was a scary transformation  -  buffeting high winds, thunder and amazing devil's lightning!   

Oh please, don't let me be struck by lightning!     Then I thought "no self respecting lightning would attack this pathetic umbrella!". 

I arrived at work with everything along the back from the my neck down to my ankles totally drenched.

So jeez!  First we had record snow falls; then record heat and now an entire day of really damaging storms.   Wonder when the locusts will descend! 
 
I learnt a couple of little factoids today (according to my weatherman):
-in relation to flash floods -  it takes less than 18 inches of water on the road to float a vehicle off the road!
-in relation to lightning -  a lightning strike is 50,000 F degrees in temperature - when it hits a tree it literally blows the bark off.   

*******   

 Metro announcement of the week occurred on my commute home....     the driver was having trouble getting the doors closed.    With absolute frustration the driver announced:   
"People!  People!   - Keep your body parts out of the doors!"
You could just hear in his voice what he really wanted to say.

*******

Another storm is coming through now and we're under all sorts of flash flood warnings....   at least I won't have to water the veggies tonight! 

Another storm coming - 6.15pm

July input towards the 50 in 52 weeks book challenge

1. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest  by Stieg Larsson -

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

very good - wrapped up any previously unanswered questions one might have had during the first two books.  I think each book was better than the last in this trilogy. (we recenctly watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on netflix - if you are going to watch it,  read the book first.  You won't know you have gaps but you do as there are things in the book not in the movie which I think are fairly integral.

*********************************************************************************

2.   Blood Spilt

The Blood Spilt

  -  2nd book by Asa Larrson which starts where the 1st one (Sun Storm) left off with character Rebecka Martinsson.  Rebecka finds herself caught up in another murder mystery involving religion.  There is a sort of sub-story involving a wolf which I didn't feel added anything to the story.  This was a good fast metro train read.   

**************************************************************************************

3.  The Secret Speech by Tom Robb Smith.  

The Secret Speech

This is the second book in a trilogy featuring Leo Demidov an MGB Officer in the first book, Child 44, but now a homicide detective.  This book is about paranoia and the instability of Soviet Union in 1956.... The "secret speech" referred to is the speech made by Khrushchev in February 1956 in which he attacked the crimes committed by Stalin and associates. There's a lot going on in this book.  It was a fast paced book  but more concentration was required than my usual metro books -  a lot of names and locations to remember and a lot of distractions on the train!    I'd read that Smith hadn't intended to write a trilogy - he was somewhat surprised that the first book was so successful.   I'm looking forward to the third one being published.

******************************************************************          *           *           *           *

4.  The Black Path -  3rd book by Asa Larrson 

The Black Path

- continuing on with the development of Rebecka Martinson who has now become a part-time prosecutor as she continues to recover from injury & trauma she suffered in the first & second books.  This was really hard to put down!   

********************************************************************************

5.  Jack Wakes Up - a novel  by Seth Harwood  

Jack Wakes Up: A Novel

  I'm not sure how this book got onto my to-read list. Going by the reviews on Amazon (of a total 84 - 68 gave it 5 stars and 6 gave it 4 stars), I think I got a different book to those reviewers.  It started off ok but then the writing got pretty dreadful and I felt no connection to any of the characters. I got bored; I cheated; I went to the last chapter to see if anyone survived.   I'm not interested at all in seeing what Jack does next.

********************************************************************************************

6.  Fresh Kills  by Bill Loehfelm.   Fresh Kills refers to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.  I'm not sure whether I liked this book or not but I certainly got emotionally involved in it (think many tissues) and it gave me a lot to think about.  The theme of the book is domestic violence and the reach it still has on the main characters even after the execution-style murder of their father.  

Fresh Kills

 

July input towards the 50 in 52 weeks book challenge

1. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest  by Stieg Larsson -

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

very good - wrapped up any previously unanswered questions one might have had during the first two books.  I think each book was better than the last in this trilogy. (we recenctly watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on netflix - if you are going to watch it,  read the book first.  You won't know you have gaps but you do as there are things in the book not in the movie which I think are fairly integral.

*********************************************************************************

2.   Blood Spilt

The Blood Spilt

  -  2nd book by Asa Larrson which starts where the 1st one (Sun Storm) left off with character Rebecka Martinsson.  Rebecka finds herself caught up in another murder mystery involving religion.  There is a sort of sub-story involving a wolf which I didn't feel added anything to the story.  This was a good fast metro train read.   

**************************************************************************************

3.  The Secret Speech by Tom Robb Smith.  

The Secret Speech

This is the second book in a trilogy featuring Leo Demidov an MGB Officer in the first book, Child 44, but now a homicide detective.  This book is about paranoia and the instability of Soviet Union in 1956.... The "secret speech" referred to is the speech made by Khrushchev in February 1956 in which he attacked the crimes committed by Stalin and associates. There's a lot going on in this book.  It was a fast paced book  but more concentration was required than my usual metro books -  a lot of names and locations to remember and a lot of distractions on the train!    I'd read that Smith hadn't intended to write a trilogy - he was somewhat surprised that the first book was so successful.   I'm looking forward to the third one being published.

******************************************************************          *           *           *           *

4.  The Black Path -  3rd book by Asa Larrson 

The Black Path

- continuing on with the development of Rebecka Martinson who has now become a part-time prosecutor as she continues to recover from injury & trauma she suffered in the first & second books.  This was really hard to put down!   

********************************************************************************

5.  Jack Wakes Up - a novel  by Seth Harwood  

Jack Wakes Up: A Novel

  I'm not sure how this book got onto my to-read list. Going by the reviews on Amazon (of a total 84 - 68 gave it 5 stars and 6 gave it 4 stars), I think I got a different book to those reviewers.  It started off ok but then the writing got pretty dreadful and I felt no connection to any of the characters. I got bored; I cheated; I went to the last chapter to see if anyone survived.   I'm not interested at all in seeing what Jack does next.

********************************************************************************************

6.  Fresh Kills  by Bill Loehfelm.   Fresh Kills refers to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.  I'm not sure whether I liked this book or not but I certainly got emotionally involved in it (think many tissues) and it gave me a lot to think about.  The theme of the book is domestic violence and the reach it still has on the main characters even after the execution-style murder of their father.  

Fresh Kills

 

A bit of a whiff

`

Summer brings out some really disgusting smells:-

- sloppy dog poo on the footpath

- rubbish bins sitting in the sun close to pick-up day.

- full rubbish trucks idling at pedestrian crossings

- the drain of the nursing home near my office

- people in confined spaces (think peak hour afternoon trains).

I've also noticed a frightening increase in the number of people who have really bad breath riding the trains!