(no subject)

[rivka]

I woke up at 4am this morning to take papersky to the train station. Is it naptime yet?

We had a lovely visit. She arrived on Wednesday a mere two hours after she'd expected to, exhausted and a bit frazzled after two nights on the train coming from the Denver Worldcon. We had a nice relaxed dinner at home (chicken, prosciutto, and sage roll-ups with white wine & sage sauce; rice; barely-cooked sugar snap peas). I had wanted to cook something quintessentially American - well, first I'd wanted to cook something quintessentially Baltimorean, but that's difficult given that papersky is allergic to Old Bay seasoning - and I hit a home run with some zucchini bread, which we had for dessert Wednesday and breakfast Thursday. I haven't made zucchini bread since I was a kid, but it turned out really well.

Yesterday I took papersky on a mini tour of Baltimore: Mount Vernon, the Inner Harbor (just a drive-by), Fell's Point, and Federal Hill. In Fell's Point we walked out onto a pier to look at the harbor and were lucky enough to spot two gorgeous large white jellyfish. From top to tentacles they must've been more than two feet long. I wanted to show papersky one of Baltimore's old covered markets, but the Broadway market in Fell's Point doesn't seem to be doing very well - half the stalls were empty. Then we swung back around to the other end of the harbor and climbed up the back side of Federal Hill, which has a surprisingly moderate number of stairs. I always forget how spectacular the view is from up there. We sat on a bench and looked at the water for a bit, and then I dropped papersky at the train station so she could visit friends in DC and I went to work.

We picked her back up in the evening (and she brought me a present from mjlayman which ZOMG I have to take a picture of and post because it is AWESOME) and went back to Federal Hill to meet jonsinger and lisajulie for sushi at Matsuri. Our dinner was delicious, and underlined the difference between the perfectly good sushi we get at our neighborhood place, and really high-quality sushi. (Then again, our neighborhood place has $1/piece sushi on weeknights. We can afford to eat there a lot more often than we can afford to eat at Matsuri.)

Came home for more lovely conversation, sadly cut short by our need to get to bed before 11 so that we could get up at 4 and go to the train. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that I kept waking up wondering if it was time to go yet. It's always hard for me to sleep the night before I have to get up unusually early. But after I dropped papersky off, I was able to come home and get a couple more hours of sleep before Alex woke up. So that was good.

papersky is highly recommended as a houseguest. She showed excellent taste by admiring our house, our kid, and Baltimore, and, as one would expect, is much fun to talk to. It was a great visit, marred only by being way too short.

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

papersky is highly recommended as a houseguest. She showed excellent taste by admiring our house, our kid, and Baltimore, and, as one would expect, is much fun to talk to.

This completely matches my experience as well. I'm glad you had a fun visit.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

Jo is someone with an absolute talent for friendship and conversation. As I grow older I begin to think that these are the fundamentally important skills.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Manny doesn't want any pictures online, so she took pictures of the other three of us, one where Jo said something (http://misc.mjlayman.com/unstat2.jpg) and we turned to listen.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

I cannot even begin to address how tired I am of people who don't want pictures of themselves online.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it! Did she tell you that type of bead is called a "niblet"?

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I only know of two offhand, and you have to ask Vicki if you're going to use a flash.

[redbird]

Sure, but that's a comfort issue: if the photos have been taken without causing me pain, I have no issues with where they appear. (Conversely, as I think you realize, being promised that nobody else will see the pictures doesn't make a falsh less painful.)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was just trying to think of the people I knew who had picture-taking restrictions.

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you all had a perfectly wonderful time! I'm so excited papersky got the chance to see Baltimore!!