Has it really been that long?
Well, we made it through the dark days of February and March, into April and fast approaching May. Brian got a nice job offer at Glenville State College in Glenville, WV. Things are going well at work. I finished the last of 4 final draft Natural Resource Assessments for the National Park Service (200+ pages each) with a lot of help from colleagues. Deliverables, data organization, and 4 more parks in Virginia to go.
Which brings us to VPI Cave-Club spring picnic. This is really a full weekend camp-out with some really unique and great people.
Katherine caught Brian and me in the middle of some mountain dancing, camping finery and all:
And let's not forget the cow pasture golf and tyrolean. Karen and I also survived the 51-mile bike-ride out there. Great time!
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Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Johns Hopkins and Whitehall Locker Plant
This is a round about story, but here goes. I was in Maryland last weekend visiting my family for Easter. Unfortunately just before leaving for Maryland, I found out my uncle had a heart attack. He's doing fine, but that put us at the main Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, visiting for a bit on Saturday. While visiting, Mom decided we should check out the dome which is part of the original hospital. New buildings have sprouted up all around this historic building:
The most obvious and first thing to admire as you walk into the main entrance way is an immense statue of the resurrected Jesus (fitting for the Easter weekend):
There was also a plaque that gave a concise bio of Johns Hopkins, who unknown to me was a Quaker, entrepreneur, and great philanthropist. One thing I did know was that he was born not far from where I grew up in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Coincidentally my uncle who was then being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital recently moved just across the way from Johns Hopkins birthplace:
Talking about all of this brought back some memories for my Mom. Mom told me a story about stopping near Johns Hopkins birthplace as a child to pick up frozen foods they kept at the Whitehall Locker Plant. I found this interesting and didn't quite get the concept. Apparently back when she was a young child, home freezers to preserve food in did not exist or were very uncommon, so they rented space in a large walk-in freezer they called a locker plant. There were individual lockers they had a key to within a large freezer. Apparently they still exist, but not common. Probably due to folks not buying meat and other frozen things in large quantities as often and now you can easily have your own large freezer at home to keep food.
This was a very interesting story to me, which brings me to a talk we went to on Wednesday by Greg Mortenson. He is an inspirational and humble man who has done so much to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I recently read his book, Three Cups of Tea. One thing that really rang clear for me in his talk was how in this country we are missing out on stories from past generations. He asked how many in the audience had conversations with their parents and grandparents about how they lived and past world events. Usually 10% of hands within the U.S. go up. If he asks this same question of students in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 90% of hands go up. His point was, we're missing out on so much if we do not have respect for and learn from older generations. One thing my parents have always been good at is telling a story, or talking about relatives, and where we came from. I think this has been a great influence on my life.
This brings me full-circle, back to family and how important they are. Stay happy and healthy, exercise, eat well, and be good!
The most obvious and first thing to admire as you walk into the main entrance way is an immense statue of the resurrected Jesus (fitting for the Easter weekend):
There was also a plaque that gave a concise bio of Johns Hopkins, who unknown to me was a Quaker, entrepreneur, and great philanthropist. One thing I did know was that he was born not far from where I grew up in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Coincidentally my uncle who was then being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital recently moved just across the way from Johns Hopkins birthplace:
Talking about all of this brought back some memories for my Mom. Mom told me a story about stopping near Johns Hopkins birthplace as a child to pick up frozen foods they kept at the Whitehall Locker Plant. I found this interesting and didn't quite get the concept. Apparently back when she was a young child, home freezers to preserve food in did not exist or were very uncommon, so they rented space in a large walk-in freezer they called a locker plant. There were individual lockers they had a key to within a large freezer. Apparently they still exist, but not common. Probably due to folks not buying meat and other frozen things in large quantities as often and now you can easily have your own large freezer at home to keep food.
This was a very interesting story to me, which brings me to a talk we went to on Wednesday by Greg Mortenson. He is an inspirational and humble man who has done so much to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I recently read his book, Three Cups of Tea. One thing that really rang clear for me in his talk was how in this country we are missing out on stories from past generations. He asked how many in the audience had conversations with their parents and grandparents about how they lived and past world events. Usually 10% of hands within the U.S. go up. If he asks this same question of students in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 90% of hands go up. His point was, we're missing out on so much if we do not have respect for and learn from older generations. One thing my parents have always been good at is telling a story, or talking about relatives, and where we came from. I think this has been a great influence on my life.
This brings me full-circle, back to family and how important they are. Stay happy and healthy, exercise, eat well, and be good!
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The ball winder is my Nana's (Dad's Mom's) old ball winder. My Dad made this swift from these plans I found:
SewUseful: Portable Tabletop Yarn Swift (for winding yarn) - More DIY How To Projects
They work very well together. Thanks!
SewUseful: Portable Tabletop Yarn Swift (for winding yarn) - More DIY How To Projects
They work very well together. Thanks!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 07, 2008
The tree was decorated this week with help from Ginger, Ken, and Brian.
I finally made a Pumpkin-chocolate swirl cheesecake I've been wanting to try. . . yum!
(I used 1 regular cream cheese and left 1/4 cup of brown sugar out so not as sweet. Also had to transfer mixture to large bowl after adding second ingredients and finish with hand mixer since my food processor was not large enough to hold all ingredients. This is a tall cheese cake so make sure your springform pan is pretty deep.)
CHOCOLATE CRUST
* 1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
CHEESECAKE
* 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
* 2 cups low fat cottage cheese
* 2 (8 ounce) packages neufchatel cheese, softened
* 2 cups light brown sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1/3 cup flour
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
* 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
MAKE CHOCOLATE CRUST: Coat 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.
MAKE CHEESECAKE FILLING: Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium power, stirring every 30 seconds to heat evenly. Set aside.
In food processor, blend cottage cheese until smooth (about 3 minutes). Add Neufchatel cheese, brown sugar, eggs, and flour. Process until smooth. Add pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Process 1 minute, or until smooth.
Whisk 1 cup of the cheese batter into the melted chocolate. Pour remaining batter into crust. Spoon dollops of chocolate mixture onto batter and swirl with a knife.
Bake the cheesecake for 1-1/2 hours, or until the top is firm and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Chill well before unmolding and serving.
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