Stinky corpse flower

The highlights for this week are:

• stinky corpse flower
• joined the gym
• library of congress
• cooked at the Amb residence for a bbq
• the first 'laddie' fashion review

I went with my friends to see this stinky corpse flower thing. The stinky corpse flower is blooming at the U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory. It is the first bloom of this particular plant, which is six years old. It takes quite a while to create enough energy for a bloom as spectacular as this one! There is a live video feed on it so you can watch it from home - well just watch it like the photo looks, until it blooms.

The magic of the titan arum comes from its great size - it is largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom. When it went on display, the plant was around 3.5 feet tall. Referred to as the corpse flower or stinky plant, its putrid smell is most potent during peak bloom at night into the early morning. The odor is often compared to the stench of rotting flesh. The inflorescence also generates heat, which allows the stench to travel further. This combination of heat and smell efficiently attracts pollinators, such as carrion beetles and flies, from across long distances.

The titan arum does not have an annual blooming cycle. The plant blooms only when sufficient energy is accumulated, making time between flowering unpredictable, spanning from a few years to more than a decade. It requires very special conditions, including warm day and night temperatures and high humidity, making botanic gardens well suited to support this strange plant outside of its natural range. This plant is native to the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, and first became known to science in 1878.

So we are checking the video feed several times a day to see when it blooms - we're then going to go down and have a look...and a smell. Standby for next week's blog, hopefully it will have bloomed.

My friends also took me to the Library of Congress. It is quite beautiful. You can view the library floor from the top and see people working, reading, researching. The roof reminds me of the Vatican. It is the nation's first established cultural institution and the largest library in the world with millions of times including books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. But I have to wonder if there are any DC Comic books in there with Batman??

  

I got a phone call through the week asking me if I would cook a small bbq for the Amb at his residence. The staff are all on leave and they couldn't find anyone so yep, they were reaching for the last cookie in the jar = me. I said yes as surely a bbq couldn't be that hard. There was enough meat for a small army, thank god as I needed to cut up a sausage or two to check they were cooked. I hate cooking kebabs so they were a little over-done. Nearly lost a snag off the plate but caught it in time. Dessert was fun. I was trying to be creative with the lemon tart and berries and ice cream - how do you plate them to look masterchef'y.  I ended up googling images my phone to get some ideas. I didn't get a final picture but here was my picture text for Deb. asking her for ideas...she didn't reply. Note to self, don't call her as friend on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.

So I had the plumber visit this week. The hose tap outside has been leaking slowly. The landlord organised him to come last Tuesday - he didn't show did he. So I called again to ask when he'd be back. The landlord said that he came on Wed but no-one was home and there were dogs out the back. I said what? Of course I wasn't home Wed, I was expecting him Tuesday!! Anyway, he was to come back this week. So he came as expected this time. Goes out the back, pulls the hose off the tap, does some magic and in his little latin accent says ' Yeh, the tap leek'. OMG, no shit sherlock - really, that's why I called you here. Do you have washers etc, can you fix it now?  Oh no, he had no such thing in his truck. He'd have to go buy stuff and come back another day. My eyes are rolling and rolling and rolling by now.

So he comes back the next day with a buddy. They have decided to replace the whole tap fixture. So I'm sitting inside and they're doing god knows what outside. One went inside the house stairway which is behind the tap. I see a square chunk of wall cut away in the stairway that gives them access to the tap outside. I run away as if I've seen something bad. I hope they know what they're doing. Jibber jibber ola ala ola speedy gonzales….can’t understand a word they say. I walked past 20 minutes later and there's a second square hole in the wall. Hmmm, I'm glad this is not my house, run away again. Later on he pops up and after a strained conversation, I decipher that he needs matching paint for the wall as they patched the holes. Yeah, in the garage there's a bunch of tins. Anyway, an hour later, they fixed the tap, patched the holes, painted and cleaned up. Crikey, I'm amazed. The tap leak has actually stopped and the wall hasn't fallen over. Touching wood right now.

This week the Democrats had their convention which is where they all get together and formally confirm their presidential nominee. It was Hillary of course. It was quite spectacular to watch, so positive and uplifting. Compared to Trump's circus, this was a rockshow. Bill Clinton gave a speech and how funny the next day an article appeared covering what he wore !!  He's going to be the first 'laddie' so he best get used to fashion reviews. 

He's what he review said. Note that he wore a Shinola watch. You may recall Deb's Shinola watch purchase in Detroit so she felt somewhat cool knowing Bill wears one too. But Bill's was half the price so he clearly got a Pres discount !!

Bills's stately-but-approachable appearance and middle-of-the-road fashion choices make him a terrific candidate for the supporting role of first spouse of the United States. (He was also the 42nd president of the United States.) He may lack current first lady Michelle Obama’s upper arm strength, but he makes up for it with a nice head of hair.

We’ve yet to read an interview with the person who styled Bill’s silver locks for last night’s DNC appearance, or even see a brief in Women’s Wear Daily or GQ crediting the designers who dressed him for the occasion. Did he buy his suit online, like Melania Trump’s Net-a-Porter-purchased Roksanda last week? Did he go to a store? Work directly with a designer? We just don’t know, which means it’s going to be really difficult for this particular navy suit to sell out, as so many of the dresses worn by Michelle Obama have over the past eight years. Was it Hickey Freeman? Hart Schaffner Marx? Again, we just don’t know.

Here’s what we do know: Clinton’s suit was navy blue, and he wore a tonal cobalt tie in a shade similar to the Christian Siriano dress Michelle Obama wore the night before. (Some noted then that the dress matched the stage’s background. Clinton’s tie did too!) The suit had three buttons, a notch lapel, and full-cut trousers that broke substantially over his shiny black dress shoes. One might have even called it a “pantsuit.”

The LA Times’ Adam Tschorn noted that although we don’t know who made this suit, “if you stare at it long enough, a subtle tone-on-tone stripe becomes apparent.” Clinton accessorized with a watch Tschorn identified as a 47mm blue-faced Runwell watch by Shinola—a $550 Detroit-made timepiece. (It’s apparently patriotic enough for Clinton, although the FTC has its doubts.) The potential first gentleman also adorned his lapel with a Hillary campaign button. For jewelry, he wore his wedding ring.

As a fashion moment, it might have been a little underwhelming, but as a historical one, it was not. Clinton’s look stated clearly: I’m with her.


The weekend was quiet, had our usual Sat morning run with the local ladies. We seem to be getting more new faces each week and hopefully we'll get a good posse together. I seem to struggle in the humidity. I usually carry a little water bottle cause it's such a sweat fest. We are gaining some Amercian friends on Facebook now so we feel pretty chuffed with that. 

We joined the local gym today. We figure it's time. It seems good, not too busy and very friendly. Different to home, it's a really natural genuine friendly. I hope to have Lara Croft guns by Xmas so I can shovel that bloody snow and not have a heart attack.

I start work this week, a three month block but the third month is taken with 3 weeks leave. So I have to get out of bed in the morning and I need to find somewhere to nap during the day. I've become accustomed to a certain lifestyle lately. The dogs will be shocked to spend the whole day outside on their own. 

Anyway, enough for this blog. A couple of random pics to finish with. Can't believe August is here. Note the deer pic - there is a family of deer that frequent our street, a couple were there in the morning as we went for a run.

when are we going for walk?

researching the next road trip

Slugging, Sam and Shoe'fie's

It’s been a great few days of sport but before I get into that, let me tell you about this ‘slugging’. This morning we met a lady for a run. She lives about half an hour out of DC and either gets the bus in to the city or ‘slugs’ it in? We looked at her with frowny faces and said ‘slug’?  She proceeds to explain this concept and we were quite entrigued that this exists. It’s been around for about 40 years apparently and is very much alive and slugging today. I found this info on google.

Slugging is a term used to describe a unique form of commuting found in the Washington, DC area sometimes referred to as "Instant Carpooling" or "Casual Carpooling".   It's unique because people commuting into the city stop to pickup other passengers even though they are total strangers! However, slugging is a very organized system with its own set of rules, proper etiquette, and specific pickup and drop-off locations.  It has thousands of vehicles at its disposal, moves thousands of commuters daily, and the best part, it’s FREE! Not only is it free, but it gets people to and from work faster than the typical bus, metro, or train.  I think you'll find that it is the most efficient, cost-effective form of commuting in the nation.

The system of slugging is quite simple. They have High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes here = you need minimum 3 people in your car to use a certain quicker highway lane. A car needing additional passengers to meet the required 3- person HOV minimum pulls up to one of the known slug lines. The driver usually positions the car so that the slugs are on the passenger side. The driver either displays a sign with the destination or simply lowers the passenger window, to call out the destination, such as Pentagon, L'Enfant Plaza of 14th & New York. The slugs first in line for that particular destination then hop into the car, normally confirming the destination, and off they go. (I’m laughing as I read this, it’s just incredible and I’d love to see this in action !! )

No money is exchanged because of the mutual benefit: the car driver needs riders just as much as the slugs need a ride. Each party needs the other in order to survive. Normally, there is no conversation unless initiated by the driver; usually the only words exchanged are "Thank you" as the driver drops off the slugs at the destination.

There doesn’t need to be any discussion about the destination , such as giving directions, because the drop-off points are generally understood. "Rosslyn" means the Metro station in Rosslyn, not at some other point along the way. The "Pentagon" means the curb along Fern Street, not the North Parking Lot. However, there are a few places where the destination drop-off point is not understood; in these cases, the slug must state where he or she wishes to be dropped off. For example, at "Tackett’s Mill," the driver usually asks "New or Old Lot?" because the driver will take you to either. And there is Crystal City, where drivers drop off slugs anywhere between 12th Street and 23rd streets.

Apparently our friend said the term ‘slug’ came from the busdrivers because cars would pull up next to the bus lanes to pick up people (steal bus passengers) so they called them slugs. While slugs used to be a term for counterfeit coins in the early days (to pay for bus fares), it has taken on the more derogatory meaning now I think. I have never heard of this concept but it just fascinated me. It seems way too friendly, helpful and smart to be true. But here it is. Maybe it’s in Australia, I don’t know but there you have it – slugging. It seems to be safe and very popular but we were both thinking of safety. As Deb and I walked away, Deb said she nearly asked the girl had she not heard of Ivan Milat? Thankfully her inner voice worked today.

So enough of slugging, lets talk sport. The Citi Open tennis tournament is on this week. It would be equivalent to the Brisbane or Sydney International at home. Best things is the tennis centre is 5 minutes from home. So my Aussie mate Bob and I grabbed some tickets and headed out for a full day and night of tennis. Sam Stosur, Bernard Tomic, James ‘Ducky’ Duckworth’ were playing along with a few other Aussies. There was little shade but we managed to score a seat in the shade for most of the afternoon. It’s a small tournament and tennis centre which makes it very personal to watch – so close to the action. The games were excellent, really good tennis. Deb arrived after work as we were all excited to see Sam Stosur. We managed to watch Tomic warming up (Bob wished him good luck) and Guiccioni and Sam Groth. Big guys. The night drew on and the games went for ages so Sam’s game-start was getting later and later. We watched Ducky play and get flogged by the US #1 seed and then watched Tomic beat his US opponent. Bob and I are pretty vocal supporters but we were clearly lonely wolves in the stands. I yelled out to Bernie to ‘get your Aussie on mate’ – to which Bob and Deb looked at me and said what the hell does that mean??  Who cares, it’s better than Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi !!  So I’ve created a cool Aussie chant – get your aussie on mate !

Anyway it got to 10pm and we decided to leave - had a 5am start next day for a run. I would have stayed otherwise.So Sam had still not started. She would be a while (1045 as it turned out). Bob stayed, the tennis die-hard that he is. He saw Sam warming up in the gym and was mesmerized by her muscles. She’s one toned chick. He watched her play for 15 minutes but had to get home himself. He managed to take some good photos and I am very disappointed not to see her play. I could go another day on the weekend but the temps here will be up around 38c so sitting the hot direct sun is not appealing. I'll wait for next year.

So back to our running friend this morning, she taught us a new word - shoe'fie. Apparently this is what runners do ! So our shoe'fie is below.

A shoe'fie

Get your Aussie ON !!

Today, Bob and I followed up our big day/night of tennis and went to our regular baseball game. Nats played LA Dodgers today who are high on the ladder and in reputation. Nat lost Tuesday, flogged them last night but lost today 6-3 (games are played 3 or 4 days in a row). Crikey, I just can't seem to see them win (except for that one time with extra time). I am clearly a jinx to this team when I watch them live.

Another hot day so a cold cider went down well. It was also 'camp' day = lots of kids summer camp groups come to the game (no it wasn't gay day, not that kinda camp). It was like being at a school sport carnival with lots of different coloured shirts grouped around the stadium. And they were LOUD. It was great, kids really know how to get into the game. Baseball is such a good experience for kids.

And of course, the Republican convention is on and Trump has made a prized dick of himself, as well as his wife and other supporters. The convention has been a lot of speakers basically telling supporters to hate Clinton more than Trump. There is not one shred of decent leadership or strategy stated - just negative slander. Let's see what the democrats bring next week.

Frederick - Maryland

This week has been incredibly hot with some highlights and low points = another flat tyre. On a good note, I rode my new deadly treadly (commuter bike) to the post office and managed to not get run over. Earlier in the week we had just left home for our early run in the city. Long story short, we got another flat tyre. It was a slow leak so we managed to get home. I changed the tyre and couldn't see any nails, screws or offending pieces? The mechanic rang later to tell me it was a pinched sidewall and I would need a new tyre. Shit, $250 gone. This is the second flat tyre we've had. The roads are so bad but with a 4WD I would have thought the tyres would cope better than they have.

The highlight this week was working at a work function. It was a long long long day, about 12 hours. It was the hottest day this week (36 deg) and I helped setup (outside !!) the tables, chairs and layout the cutlery etc. We were drenched and drinking water bottles every 10 minutes. I then showered and got my masterchef gear on and helped the chef in the kitchen. It was great. When the function started in the evening, and the food service started, it was such a rush. I looked, learned and helped out. I totally enjoyed the day but was shattered when I finally got home. The people were super nice and I can't say enough what a great day I had. I hope to get the chance to work a few more functions.

Relaxing out the back in the afternoon

The other highlight of my week was getting a coffee pod machine and a good knife set. The knives are fantastic (Victorinox) but the coffee machine is a bit disappointing. I didn't realise it was NOT expresso (like the Nespresso machines). Rather, it is like brewed coffee. However, I got a cheap little milk frother and I seem to be able to make a decent latte. We are experimenting with the different pod brands and flavours so hopefully when you all visit, you will have semi-decent coffee to get your fix.

We continue our Saturday morning runs with the local ladies and enjoy breakfast afterwards. We're quite excited to have American friends !! We also organised our first massage since arriving here. It's more expensive here than home but it's a big business and they also do home visits. We both enjoyed our massages today and will try get back into a regular routine.  

Next week is Skippy's Happy Hour at Deb's work and I'm planning the hot snacks again. I want to have hot dogs but they normally grill their 'dogs'. So I bought some today and 'boiled' them - they tasted fine and will go down well with sauce and cheese. Have to admit, I would have a sossy roll any day over a hotdog. I am also going to make Thai Chicken Balls. The recipe says to cook them in a frypan but to save time, I hope to bake them in the oven. I trialled them at home and they seem to work ok. I also made some crumbed chicken wings and Deb gave me the thumbs up.

There is a big tennis tournament here in DC - Citi Open. The best bit is that it's about 5 mins from home. It's a big event with big names. It runs for the next two weeks and I'm planning to go to a few days. Some Aussies are playing (including Sam Groth, Sam Stosur, Nick Kyrios). Got a busy week ahead with another baseball game on Thursday so have to organise myself to get to the tennis. Ho hum, the challenges of my social life. I'm hoping Deb and I will go next weekend.

Now a-pparently, unbeknownst to some, the third Sunday of every July is National Ice Cream Day — a holiday declared by President Ronald Reagan back in 1984 to promote the economic well-being of the U.S. dairy industry. It was a nod to the fact that the frozen treat is produced using nearly 10 percent of U.S. dairy farmers' milk supply. 

We took a drive to the lovely town of Frederick (in Maryland). It's about an hour away and has some civil war history behind it. We had lunch and walked around a bit to see a few sights. We grabbed a stack of info from the visitor centre as there are lots of bike trails to ride and see the area. We will definitely be going back. Frederick is the birth and resting place of Francis Scott Key. This guy wrote the lyrics (which was actually a poem) to the Star Spangled Banner (US Anthem). There is a bridge in DC named after him too. He wrote the lyrics in 1814 as the British ships bombarded Fort Henry in Baltimore Harbour. He was inspired to write the poem after the American victory when the Star Spangled Banner flag flew high. We went to the cemetery where his memorial stands above where he was laid to rest. One of the information boards had a button you could press that would play the anthem. Yes, you know who pressed it don't you ! We couldn't leave, we felt compelled to stand there until it finished. Note to self, keep Deb away from buttons at information sites.

 

Frederick was a nice little town. Lots of nice eating houses and antique shops. There are lots of festivals including some bike rides and tours. It's a pretty fun time so maybe we'll check it out one year. The photo below is from the Pop Shop - I've never seen so many soda bottles in my life - they even had ginger beer !!

 












And here's a couple of funny shots. Look closely at the 'Munster's' car window.

 

To finish off, some shots from the week including a trip down memory lane for Macey.

Skype'ing with CS

Flashback - Macey @ 9 weeks

4th July, Masterchef and a new Bike

The week started with 4th July Independence Day celebrations. We went to the baseball with our good friends and once again, the Nationals lost (so I've only seen them win once!)  The weather was very average and we dodged the rain with it pouring just after the game finished. There was a special national anthem sung for Ind Day and a massive flag brought onto the field. While I had studied the Star Spangled Banner song the week prior, I only managed a few lines and a lot of hmmm, brrrr, hmmm, hmmm's. We enjoyed the game regardless of the loss and the atmosphere was great as always. 

Other friends went to the 4th July parade in the city so next year we will try get to that. I think the big fireworks went ahead despite the weather but I heard they were affected by the low cloud. 

This week I prepared for the work social club happy hour. I have volunteered to cook the hot food and provide a mix of homemade and Costco snacks. There were about 250 people and the Canadian's were invited guests. My aussie mate Bob helped me and I could not have survived without him. We served up zucchini slice, sossy rolls, ham/cheese toasties and roast lamb sliders. I was stoked with sossy rolls as they were the best I've ever done - taste and look. They were all well received and the lamb was divine. The rest of the food was good ol' pizzas and other frozen snacks. I proposed they call the Happy Hour 'Skippy's' as it gave the function an Australian identity and it was a catchy name. Hopefully it will stick and continue to be a success. 

 I'm using this as a great opportunity to practice cooking, try new things and all while the social club pays for it (for the food anyway, I do this for free). Besides, it’s not like I have anything else to bloody do once a fortnight. I had to go to Costco a second time to get extra food. Christ, it’s a big place. It’s a bit like home really, not much bigger but still, it’s huge. I will go back and get some stuff for home as it really is much cheaper to buy bulk in some things. It opened at 10am. I got there just before 10 and there were people lined up in about 5 separate lines for 100m with their trolleys !!  I thought it was going to be a race or something. I nearly took a photo as it was very grand prix like. I have to admit in my head I was revving the throttle as I had visions of boxing day sale madness. But, it quite civilised and I managed to get in safely with no trolley’s clipping my ankles.

There were more shootings this week, terrible, in Texas 5 police were killed and 7 others wounded. It was in retaliation for police shooting a black person which honestly, was pretty bad and caught on camera. But here they seriously think this (shootings) is ‘normal’ around the world. Most of the US have never been to Australia so find it hard to believe daily shootings are NOT normal outside the US. I haven’t followed the news on it too much but it’s bad enough from the bit I have seen.  While I am very conscious of it, I don’t stress about it. Deb had a weirdo black guy come up to her at the train station this morning and started yelling at her. We wondered if he was being that way because of the black/white clashes at the moment. 

I bought another bike ($280). Just a cheap second hand commuter bike to ride to the shops and into the city. Deb has the car most days which is fine as I can use the bus and metro to get around. But a bike is helpful to get to the local shops or ride to the city for fun. I prefer a cheap commuter rather than my good bikes cause bikes get stolen a lot apparently so this bike will be perfect for riding around instead of my good bikes. It's near new and half the cost of what a new one was going to cost. Very happy indeed. 

I ordered some goodies from Amazon. Am bringing some money from home over as we need to get a few things – we are living on a tight budget and I finally decided to get a few things once and for all. Bought a good knife block, coffee pod machine and some bike bits.  I miss coffee so the little pod machine should alleviate some of my withdrawals – although I think I finished cold turkey phase months ago.  

We've been following the election results at home and well, have to say I'm glad to be out of the country for a long time while Pauline has done a a boomerang and returned to spit hate and bullshit at the Australian public. I am very ashamed to be a Qld'er knowing they voted her in - AGAIN !! I enjoyed watching an interview on the 7.30 report earlier in the week where a pollie said they had learned they need to listen to the electorate as this was part of their dismal result. WTF?  Thankfully the interviewer (very smart chick this one) said to the pollie - but shouldn't you be listening to the people anyway, isn't that you're job?  Gold star to the interviewer there.

We have enjoyed an easy weekend at home to get some rest. It has been a busy month or two and we needed the down time to sleep and chill out. I went for long bike ride today exploring the bike paths. There are two main bike paths/trails to the city about 15k long, one is straight through but the second one has a small section that has no bike path - you need to use the road. There are walking trails in the bush but you can't take bikes on them. So I went to confirm they were dirt trails and not paved. It's not safe on the roads in that area so I won't be able to ride that section during the week (the road is closed to cars on weekends so that's great, but opens again on weekdays). So, I'll ride the other route and brave my way through the city to work in a few weeks when I start a 3 month block of work. 

Something funny, in Safeway the other day, the checkout chicks and guys were chatting to each other as always. They were asking who was working the weekend. One guy said he was. He then said, you know how it is, don't you know what Safeway means backwards??   You Always Work Every Friday And Saturday.  I had to laugh. 

My song of the moment is Justin Timberlake's 'Can't Stop the Feeling'. They play it at the baseball and everyone gets up and just dances. Love it.

President William 'Bill' Taft

Annapolis, Maryland

This weekend we took another footprint towards our 50 states goal with a day trip with friends to Annapolis, capital of the state of Maryland, pronounced with a drawl like 'Marilan'. It's not Mary-land as we aussies would quickly think. It's about 40 min drive from DC. Before I give you the trip review, let me first explain how DC fits in with Maryland and Virginia states. 

DC is not a state. There is a state called Washington over the west coast but DC is known as DC = District of Columbia. It is NOT a state. DC is a square section of land that overlaps Maryland and Virginia. If you live inside the square, you live in DC. If you live outside the square, you will be in either Maryland of Virginia. So DC folks are not in a state and have no rep in Congress which they are shitty about because they pay taxes but have no representation - fair enough I think. While they vote for President, they don't vote for a Congress rep. Their number plates firmly state 'Taxation without Representation'. So, I'm telling you this because we have travelled around Maryland (and Virgina) as part of normal life here in DC but I thought it was cheating to consider that a footprint. Now that we have visited Annapolis, I consider this is a footprint. Later we will go to Baltimore which is nearby and a larger city in Maryland (with an airport if you fly into there). So back to Annapolis.

We wanted to visit the Dutch Farmers Markets first which is also known as the Amish Markets. Other friends said the food was fresh and lovely and they had fantastic donuts !  Sadly, my research the night before revealed the markets are closed on Sunday. NOT HAPPY JAN - all of us had been hanging out for a donut !! So we drove direct to Annapolis, saw the street markets were starting up. We parked the car and found a coffee shop as first stop of the day.

Annapolis, used to named Providence back in the 1600's, has a population around 38,000 and is located on Chesapeake Bay. It's had a few names over the centuries including Anne Arundle's town. There was a significant Catholic versus Christian period and when the Catholics were overthrown, the governor moved the capital of the royal colony to Anne Arundel's Towne and renamed the town Annapolis after Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway, soon to be Queen of Great Britain. Annapolis was incorporated as a city in 1708.

 



We took a walking tour which was fabulous and helped explain the history of Maryland who claims pride in having 4 (of the 56) signatories to the Declaration of Independence. The building on the right is State House which is their legislative house with an Upper (Senate) and Lower House. It is the oldest legislative house in the US. It's well kept and had a lot of historical info and artefacts in there. The Treaty of Paris (cause it was signed in Paris) was the end of the American Revolutionary War which recognised the US to be a sovereign state. After this was signed, Annapolis became the first peacetime capital of the US.
There is also a room that has been restored to look like the room that George Washington famously resigned his commission in 1793. They even have his paper speech framed in special glass.  

One of the Dec of Ind signers was a dude called Samuel Chase. His nickname was 'bacon face'. Pretty unfortunate really. I goggled at home as to why he got the name...I found 'No doubt because of his florid complexion that suggested he imbibed excessively'. In short, he drank too much and had a red face !  Probably just an ugly bugger I guess.

Annapolis was a lovely little city. Very pretty and full of restaurants near the water. We were able to walk to most things as it was not a large area to navigate. 

Deb not impressed at my naval?

 

Of great interest was the famous and prestigious US Naval Academy = equivalent of ADFA for only Navy cadets. They have separate academy's for Air Force and Army (West Point). At the USNA, midshipmen do four years of training to achieve their degree and commission. They commission Navy and Marine officers. Our tour guide told us about life as a midshipman and the first year cadets only arrived 4 days ago. There was a lot of yelling, yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am  no ma'am   going on around the base and Deb and I watched with relief that it wasn't us. Our days back in Air Force recruit training  are not fond and we both cringed a bit watching these poor little buggers marching around still trying to get into step. The academy features much history and like most navies, it is deeply rooted in tradition. The museum was full of extraordinary model ships, naval history and academy history. There was a special exhibition celebrating 40 years of women in the academy. It's refreshing to see that women made 28% of this years intake of about 1200 recruits. 

Check out the Fallout Shelter sign - this was on the old post office. Scary to think of what times used to be like. We enjoyed Annapolis and being so close, I think we might be visiting there again for a day trip to a nice place near the water.

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful aside from watching the election results live on ABC streaming. Like you at home, we are pretty disappointed with the likely hung parliament outcome. 

It's 4th July Independence Day tmrw and everyone is quite happy and excited being their national day. They tend to say "Happy 4th" everywhere and there are flags up on houses and lots of fireworks for the past few nights. We are going to the baseball tmrw but the forecast is rain so it might not be a great day. There is talk the big fireworks in DC might get cancelled. 

Funny story...driving home tonight we use Connecticut Ave - a major 6 lane road like Northbourne Ave at home but the outside lanes often have parked cars so it's 4 lanes until the double parkers with hazard lights stuff your drive home. Anyway, it's a busy road all the time....this girl is pushing her bike across the ride, no sense of urgency to the cars approaching (like me), loses her soft shoe, stops, puts the bike stand down, picks up her shoe slowly, slips shoe on, kicks up bike stand and casually finishes the walk across the ride. Meanwhile, we all stop, wait and watch. She waves to say thanks. Deb and I burst out laughing - seeing her kick that stand down on her bike and leave it standing there on the road. Had to see it I guess.

We did our Saturday brekky run again but no-one else joined us give it's a long weekend here. Our brekky stop was a bagel place. We took note of the sign outside the bagelry.









And one last pic to show a beef slider. I don't know how we managed to eat this thing but it was messy I can tell you.