I’m getting really bad about sharing the pictures I take. This was taken at Ashley’s baby shower a few weeks ago. I understand the blue, since we know the baby will be a boy, but I’m a little confused by the leather boots. I wasn’t actually invited to the shower, but I was able to take a few pictures before and after and had an able assistant planted with a camera to take all the pictures in between (thanks Linn!). If you were at the shower, the rest of the pictures can be found here.
This is part of the greenhouse complex at Longwood Gardens that supports the conservatory. You can see the tropical room of the conservatory in the background of this photograph.
One great thing about a visit to the Longwood Conservatory is the multitude of things to photograph. I take my share of flower pics, but particularly enjoy the detail and juxtaposition of the exotics in the greenhouse. I was with a group, and didn’t have time to find the name of the tree with the prehistoric looking thorns on its trunk.
Show of hands! How many people have been to St. John? Hmmm… Quite a few. I understand that. It’s a beautiful place, largely untouched by commerce and technology. OK, how many have been to Salt Pond? Hmmm… The numbers drop off. I understand that too. It’s on the other side of the island and pretty far from the Westin!
So, you’ve stayed too long at Salt Pond. It’s early afternoon and you should’ve left before the sun turned and it got really hot. But you were diverted by that hike to Drunk Bay where you made a nude coral replica of your wife, and spent too much time in Salt Pond snorkeling for turtles, conch and squid. You make the trek up that hill, jump in the car, crank up the AC, and head for wherever home is for the week.
Big mistake! What you should have done is drive for about 30 seconds (as advertised) and pull into the St. John oasis known as the Tourist Trap.
Run by a New Hampshire expat named Larry, the Trap is a well-decorated shack from which delicious food mysteriously appears, protected by a wooden table laden with the makings for traditional and Trap-inspired island drinks. Customers sit under a pole-tent in front of the bar. The seating area might accommodate 30-40 people, but someone would probably be out in the sun. Pretty laid back, as an island drinking and eating establishment has to be!
Although out of the way, The Tourist Trap was good enough to visit twice. Everything we had is to be recommended, but if you only stop once, you have to try the pulled pork, either as a sandwich or as a topping for the Trap Dog (personal favorite). Fish tacos were the best on the island and the lobster roll was over loaded with very sweet crustacean. Finish the meal with the ice cream, homemade locally using a secret recipe.
If you can’t visit in the near future, you can follow the comings and goings of the Trap on their Facebook page.
My old Mac keyboard was full of crud with sticking and unresponsive keys. I had some real writing to do, so I dug out an old circa 1990 Northgate Omni mechanical keyboard that was stored away.
Couldn’t get it working with the Mac, but the attempt reminded me why I kept this keyboard around for over 20 years. It’s a mechanical keyboard with excellent tactile feedback that makes touch typing so productive – there’s never any doubt when you’ve engaged a key. It’s a very satisfying typing experience that I’ve been missing for a long time. The mechanical switches do make a bit of noise however, but I find that pleasing as well.
After a little research an reviewing the reviews, I found a current generation mechanical keyboard that is built for the Mac! Das Keyboard (for Mac) takes its place in a line of keyboards for typists that includes the IBM Selectric typewriter, The IBM Model M keyboard that came with the original PC and the Northgate Omni that improved on the Model M.
If you’ve in the market for a new keyboard, never used a mechanical one, and if you’re more than a casual writer, do yourself a favor and give Das Keyboard a try. Stop by and try mine if you’re in the neighborhood. I’m a happy typing camper.
P.S. – It’s awfully shiny
It took awhile, but I finally have a porcelain replica black-and-white plate. For those not from Delaware, they’re a bit tricky to get with a reasonably low number unless you know somebody (thanks Terry!). Folks in Delaware are a bit obsessed about these things, with low numbers sometimes going for six figures.
Corn is going to be the death of us. About seven years ago, I was told to change my diet for health reasons. In particular, I was told to significantly reduce my intake of omega-6 fatty acids and increase the omega-3s. Where do these omega-6 fats come from in the American diet? Predominately from corn, which is massively subsidized, making it cheap to feed to all kinds of animals and incorporate into all kinds of food products, thereby passing it along to us.
The solution is to avoid foods from the agribusiness behemoths and opt for small farms producing grass-fed beef and pastured eggs. Which brings me again to the recently opened Whole Foods Market. Until the opening of their new store, it has been near impossible to find a pastured egg in northern Delaware (If you know of another source, let me know). Except for the occasional dozen from down-state friends or buying them while on vacation at the beach, I’ve pretty much avoided eggs. Whole Foods sells pastured eggs from Vital Farms in Texas, a producer that received a top-score five-egg rating from the Cornucopia Institute. Pastured eggs address the omega-6 problem while being a much healthier food choice overall. Bring on the Omelettes!
Instead of the cold and mist that usually accompanies St. Patrick’s Day, we were able to open the deck early and enjoy warm weather and drinks on the porch.
I’m a bit of a foodie, so I love the fact that a Whole Foods Market is now in the neighborhood! You can’t beat their variety, although I may need to pick up a part-time job to shop there. As you probably guessed. this is their mushroom display.
Cleaning this moss off the garden shed might be a spring chore. I say might be, because I kinda like it. The yard here is so heavily shaded that I have more moss than grass at this time of year. The moss requires less maintenance. Maybe a nice moss lawn is in order…