Go Blue!!

Stolen from the Michigan Football Facebook page. Love it!

Sunrise on the Bay

Kent Narrows - Memorial Day Weekend

Shipwrecks

Shawn bought a poster that showed the locations of all the shipwrecks in the Chesapeake Bay at Kent Island Days.

He couldn't wait to use his new-found knowledge to play with his side-scan sonar.

This is sonar image of the Herbert D. Maxwell, a schooner that collided with a steamer in 1910 and sank not far from Sandy Point. Shawn writes about it here on his website. Definitely worth a read.

Os vs. Nats

Shawn went to see the Nats play the O's this afternoon in Baltimore. Thanks to Rich, he had primo seats! Too bad the Nats lost.

What the Festival-Goers Saw...

.... when they walked down East Main Street on the way to Kent Island Days.

Shawn and I worked overtime to get our yard in shape for Kent Island's big day.

Kent Island Days

Crockett meets another Chessie at Kent Island Days & has something to say about it!

The other puppy was not impressed.

Kent Island Days takes over "downtown" Stevensville.

They close the streets and let the Historical Society, vendors, reenactors, authors, food carts, singers, dancers, and pretty much anyone who asks, set up a table.

We've learned a lot about the history of the Eastern Shore, Kent Island, Stevensville, and our house at this festival.

All the old-timers have stories, and when they find out that we live in "Number 4" on the walking tour, they can't wait to share another historical tidbit with us.

One of these days, we'll join the society, dress up in Colonial garb, and man our own booth at Kent Island Days!

Kent Island Days Parade

And the 2011 parade season in downtown Stevensville has begun - today was the parade in honor of Kent Island Days. We watched from the front porch.

Ducks at the Metro

Shawn took the Metro into work today, and was greeted by a family of ducks at the New Carrolton Station.

One down, one to go....

We sold Crockett's Reel this morning for more than a song. Shawn got a little misty as she rolled out of the driveway, but I'm more than a little happy that my yard looks a little less like a boat graveyard.

Now if I can get him to work on the Eldocraft.....

That's One Way to Catch Oysters!

Graduation Day

Waiting for Jake to get his diploma.

Jake Celebrates With His Family. Yea Jake!!

Aunt Suzi Welcomes Jake Into the Michigan State Alumni Family!

Jake Faist - College Graduate!

Aaaugh! Spiders!!

Milton tries to save Shawn from attacking spiders!

Ella's Free Spirit

Thanks to Evie for sharing these photos of Ella's fun day in Knoxville.

Old Friends

Best friends I haven't seen in many years, at a Facebook-inspired reunion on Friday night.

Leta Schindler Howard, Tracey Thomas Pallottini, Janelle Lantz, Sherri Harris Lunow, Lisa Schindler Rodriguez, and me!

Doug Toma

I learned the sad news that my law school classmate Doug Toma died yesterday from melanoma.

Doug was one of the reasons I loved law school as much as I did. He was the heart and soul of our Summer Starter section - the one who organized the infamous Summer Starter bowling league, wrote the almost over-the-top end-of-semester skits, presided over many a circle in the quad, and made sure that everyone -- including an awkward and uncertain farm girl from Leslie, Michigan -- was included in all the fun.

Doug and I stayed in touch after graduation, even between reunions. I visited him in New York when he was an associate at a doomed law firm; in Ann Arbor, when he went back to graduate school and at reunions; in Nova Scotia, where he and his vivacious wife Linda bought a vacation house on a whim while they were on their honeymoon; in Philadelphia, when he was with the Institute for Higher Education Research at Penn; and in Athens, with Linda and their son Jack, where he ended his career as a professor at the University of Georgia.

I'm posting a couple of pictures - one from our 20th reunion in November 2009 outside Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burgers. Doug wanted to get a Blimpy before the game, and led a group of Summer Starters along with him. And one from law school that I'm borrowing from Andrew McDonald. Doug is in the back row, second from the right.

The Chronicle of Higher Education published a very nice remembrance here.

Rest in peace, my friend. You will be missed.

Nats in the Rain

With Mitch, watching the Nationals beat the Giants in the rain.

After the game, we had time to scarf down a Ray's Hell Burger (at the recommendation of the President), before dropping Mitch off at National Airport.

Laughing Gulls

Mitch came for meetings at the National Academies and stayed for a couple of early mornings on the water with Shawn.

I stayed home and made coffee!

Sunrise on the Bay

Graffiti

Mitch sent us an MMS reminder of our visit to Crunchy's in East Lansing over Christmas. He's coming to visit this weekend, after a meeting at the National Academies.

Next Year's Christmas Card Photo?

Easter Picnic in the Smokies

What to do on Easter Sunday?

Instead of cooking or trying to find a restaurant that would take our motley crew on Easter Sunday, we decided to drive out to the Great Smoky Mountains in search of adventure.

After a stop at Kroger to stock up on provisions for a picnic, we drove through Pigeon Forge into the most visited national park in the country.

It was a beautiful day, so not surprisingly, many people had the same idea as us. Every picnic area was overflowing with people and dogs and cars - not quite the ambiance we wanted for our day in the mountains.
As we crossed the border into North Carolina, we started looking for places to pull off. We found a parking area that had been barricaded for maintenance, so we decided to take our chances and see what was up the trail.

Remember - we had a toddler, cooler, and a couple of tote bags full of supplies with us, so any rough hiking was out of the question.


We hit the jackpot, finding a short trail that ended next to a shaded waterfall with a flat space and plenty of good sitting rocks next to the creek - the perfect spot for our Easter picnic.






There was even a tree that had a cross carved into it.

After lunch, we waded into the creek. Shawn built a cairn; Ella went "swimming;" Jacob, Cory, and Michael hopped rocks; and the rest of us got varying degrees of wet.




Daniel couldn't resist jumping into my photo of Shawn's handiwork.

All in all, a pretty perfect Easter dinner!