Bao Bao

We dropped by the National Zoo on our way home Saturday, and stood in line for an hour to see Bao Bao, the panda bear cub. We had read that panda bears sleep 20 hours a day, so we were thrilled to find him awake and munching on a piece of bamboo!

We were rewarded for our patience by getting to see the mama bear pick him up and drag him across the rocks. Everyone oohed and ahhed, us included!

The mama picked up little Bao Bao by the scuff of the neck and brought him down from his rocky perch. I guess it wasn't dinner time yet. After that, Bao Bao picked himself up again and started the whole performance over again!

Hillwood Estate

On the very good advice of my friend, Jannet Downs, we dropped by Saturday to see the Hillwood Estate Museum near the National Zoo.

We enjoyed seeing the beautiful home, completely furnished, with the table set, wating for company!

The estate was replete with treasures collected by Marjorie Merriweather Post (heir to the Post Cereal company) over her lifetime. 

She had a special love for Russian art, and collected many items while living in Russia with her ambassador husband. These Fabarge eggs were beautiful!

It was fun seeing the kitchen, which was preserved in the style of the 1950s.

The gardens were beautiful, despite just barely thawing out from our long cold winter.

The Japanese rock garden was fun to walk in, as you got to cross the water over different bridges.

I loved the musical figures at the entrance to the garden.

This was a woman who loved her pets, and had a beautiful pet cemetery dedicated to them!

The greenhouse housed a variety of beautiful orchids.

We enjoyed the visit so much and hope to return at Christmas and see how they decorate for the holidays!

Goddard Dinner

Ed and I went to DC Friday night to attend the Goddard Space dinner. We enjoyed spending the night at the Hilton so we wouldn't have to drive home late at night. We had great seating right in front of the speakers. It was an awards ceremony for a lot of scholarship winners. The keynote speaker was an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University. I wondered if she knew my brother David. She made her school proud and delivered a great speech.

A Dog Like Brandy

We found a stray dog in my back yard after band. It looked just like my sister, Verlene's dog, Brandy. I felt like she was an old friend! Suzanne tried to help me find its home. We asked the mailman where the dog lived, and he told us he thought it lived on a street around the corner. I took the dog over there, but no one was home. I just left the dog on the front porch. This turned out to be a mistake....

An hour later a neighbor dropped by and told me the mailman said I had his dog. I did not have the dog, but we drove over to the house where I had dropped her off. Someone was home and said to try the neighbors behind them. They also have a golden retriever (the one the mailman sees regularly). We went to the neighbors, and they had found Roxy and put her in their back yard! Hooray! They day was saved and the dog was reunited with her owners!

Band Birthday

We had a great day at band, today, as we do every Thursday! We actually finished all our songs in just 3 hours! We amazed ourselves! We love our new songs and are enjoying getting our arrangements down.

Jen had a birthday this week, and Suzanne dropped by at the end of band to bring her a cake. The rest of us got to share in the joy, as we had cake and ice cream while we sat around and visited. It was the best! Thanks, Suzanne for the cake, and thanks Jen for getting old!

Fire Road in the Snow

Suzanne and I took the dogs on the fire road yesterday. We're so sick of the snow! It makes it hard for us to walk, but the dogs don't seem to care. I put Coda's little red booties on. They look like little balloons. She did real well with them till she went walkabout (wandered off into the woods by herself). She came back with just one bootie! What was she doing! The booties came in a twelve pack. Hopefully, she'll have enough to get her through the rest of the snow season!

Two Book Clubs, Two Websites

I've been working on a website for my Colorado Book Club, as well as my Maryland book club, and although they still need some tweaking, they are now presentable.

The Colorado book club started in 1996, and has over 150 books reviewed on it. You can visit it at http://www.highlandbookies.com/. We don't meet as often now, but we've read a LOT of books together! And we've been through a lot of experiences together. The books were just an excuse to share the journey together.

My brand new Maryland book club site can be visited at www.bookitsisters.com. We've read and reviewed ONE book together, but it's a nice group of ladies and I look forward to reading and sharing with them each month. Let the journey begin!