The Sisterhood

The Sisterhood was a great title for a book club called the Book it Sisters. It was an ambitious book spanning several centuries. Some of the ladies thought there were too many characters to keep straight, but it was an interesting premise. Megan hosted us Monday evening and gave us some very yummy tapas in honor of the Spanish setting of the book. Check out our review at:

http://bookitsisters.com/posts/

New Balusters

We've been thinking about getting wrought iron balusters for the house for several years now. One of us has been thinking about it more than the other one, however, but we finally got around to it.

Look what a difference it made in the back stairs! It's like we have a new house. It makes the hand railing itself look even prettier!

We have a lot of balusters but our contractor, C&S Ornamental Iron, did the entire job in a day and a half.

 It did, however take them 8 weeks to fit us into their schedule. We think it was worth waiting for.

It made the biggest difference in the front staircase.

It's so dramatic that is takes me by surprise when I walk out of the bedroom door in the morning. Even the one of us that was dragging his feet is happy about the result! And I'm completely out of any more ideas on how we could spend any more money on home improvement!

Dog at Dusk

Coda and I were all dressed up and ready to walk when it started to sleet a little--just enough for Suzanne to cancel. However, Coda could not be put off!

By the time we got down to the end of the street it was getting dark. I took a nice picture of Coda looking over the reservoir in the waning light of day.

Scripture Pictures

In Activity Day on Wednesday we had a picture taking scavenger hunt. The girls divided into teams and were given one camera per team. They were sent out into the church to take pictures from a list of scriptures they were given.

Some scriptures were easy to think of ideas for--like prayer.

Other scriptures took a little more creativity. This looks like the water of life to me!

The winning team was rewarded with a pat on the back and their picture was taken while posing victoriously in front of the blackboard. They had an appropriate picture for 15 out of 17 scriptures!

Obstacles in our Path

There's always something new on the fire trail. Today it was a giant tree with a lot of branches. It took down a couple of other trees when it fell in our path. Luckily, we were not there when it fell, but we'll be climbing over it for the next 6 months at least. The City of Baltimore only comes about twice a year to clear out the dead trees. The good thing about this one is that it is at the base of Dead Man's Hill, which we skip when we're short on time. We'll only have to climb over it when we're serious about getting our 5 miles!

We switched dogs for the picture!

Hospital Benefit Dinner

Saturday night Ed and I went to a dinner/fundraiser to benefit Carroll County Hospital. We got Ed a new bow tie to go with his tuxedo. Thanks to YouTube we were able to figure out how to tie it, too! It was our first foray into the world of the no-clip bow tie.

The gala had a Downton Abby theme, and they even had a bagpiper call us to dinner. The dinner had two main courses, salmon and Cornish game hen, the kind of feast you'd expect in a manor house.

The ladies' maids added an air of elegance that made you feel like you'd stepped back in time. It made me want to ask them to arrange my hair! Sadly, if I'd lived back in those days I would have been on the wrong side of the hair brush!

Happy Halloween, or Dinner and a Show

Ed and I went out to dinner at City Cafe in Baltimore last night. It was a very good restaurant, that had a very scary waiter dressed as a clown from the series American Horror Story. I'm glad I haven't been watching that!

Afterwards we went to a house concert for Charm City Junction at Brad Kolodner's row home in the Hampden district of Baltimore. They are a terrific band, and we enjoyed them very much. They asked everyone to dress as their favorite fiddle tune. Brad was Cotton-Eyed Joe, Patrick was Whisky before Breakfast, and Alex was Forked Deer. Sean, the button Accordion player was an Adjunct professor--no fiddle tune there. Check them out at:

http://youtu.be/SeidaPGGYPo

End and I went as Harvest Home.

The second set was performed by Hoot & Holler, a fiddler and guitar player from Boston who sang as well as played. They did such a great job on their original song, Cigarettes and Coffee that we almost wanted to pick up a couple of new vices!

Check them out at:

Cigarettes and Coffee