Hello Everyone. February sure has blown by, and I’m not upset about that one bit. The end of last week was miserable and cold, and the rain that was coming down was freezing on contact. More than one morning this week I scraped a solid quarter-inch of ice off of my windshield. By mid-afternoon today, though, the temperature was up to 60, and the sun shining down was simply wonderful. The first day of real spring-like weather is always one of the best days of the year for me. As Mason and I were walking around today, I caught a whiff of a barbecue in use and it made me smile from ear to ear. I am really looking forward to the fast-approaching spring.
There has definitely been lots of good news recently on the virus front. The numbers are still way higher than they should be and than they are in most other countries, but at least they are coming down. It was heartbreaking to cross the half-million death mark, all in just a single year, and realize that we’ve lost the equivalent of a mid-sized city like Miami or Raleigh. Sadly, I think we could have saved many of those lives by acting faster and smarter, but I am trying to focus on the positive. We are now vaccinating at a rate of almost 2 million people a day with the potential for even more in the near future. Every day on my social media feeds I’m seeing more of my friends getting vaccinated, and I know that my turn is coming soon too. While I know that this won’t mean we are out of the woods, all indicators are pointing to a great summer ahead. My plan is to be on my own and on the road, exploring the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region of the country all summer long. I can’t wait.
Meanwhile, Mason and I have continued our explorations this week, even in the cold and ice. I took him sledding for the first time at the end of last week (maybe not his first time, but our first time together), and he loved it. He was laughing and squealing with delight as he skidded over the ice in his Flexible Flyer. Oh, to be two year old again! He has been having a blast smashing ice this week as well which I have also been finding quite satisfying. I’m happy to take my frustrations at the ice out on the ice itself! Because of the sub-freezing temperatures though, we’ve been spending more time inside than either of us would like. I’ve started working on teaching him to read this week, which is interesting. He has known most of his letters for a couple of months now, but he’s only 2 and I didn’t want to push him. Recently he has seemed more curious, so I’m slowly edging in that direction. We started with A but vowels are complicated, so we moved on to B. He sleeps in his bed, under a blanket with bunny and big bear after all, so the B sound is something he is both familiar with and able to pronounce. We then went on to read a book, and I pointed out every time we heard that B sound. It was pretty cool when he pointed out the boat in the corner. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on some Ds. Today he started using the phrase “I love…”, and the official list of things he told me he loved today was: mud, pine cones, trash trucks and blueberries. He really cracks me up sometimes. We also had a long and heated conversation this week about whether the cat in one of his books is a cheetah or a leopard. When we started reading it, I thought it was a cheetah, but the book said it was a leopard and I thought we should take them at their word. I admitted I had made a mistake, and we looked at the differences in their spot patterns and body shapes, but he was still convinced it was a cheetah. I think it’s hilarious having these “arguments”, but I also think it’s good for him to have his own opinions.
Here on the home front I’ve continued to plug away at as many projects as I can find time and energy for. I’ve taken the microwave out of my van (because I don’t use it) and that has opened up a nice big space in the kitchen area. I’m trying to figure out what will go in there, but whatever it is it will serve me better than the microwave. I’ve done a few other little tasks as well, but nothing too exciting. I’m hoping that now that the weather is warming up, I can spend a little more time in there getting everything just how I want it. It’s a fun and exciting project, and I’m hoping to make some videos of what I’m doing over the next couple of months before I hit the road.
My folks and I took a break from big parties in the wake of our Mardi Gras blowout last week, but we did still gather on Friday for a low-key Irish Pub night (in the basement). We finished up our homebrewed stout and listened to some great Irish folk music and played some cards.
I spent the weekend mostly trying to catch up on some little things, both in and out of my van, but I also just took some time out to relax. I’m not great at just relaxing and am usually busy doing something, but I know it’s important to recharge now and again.
On Tuesday, my mom and I finally got out of the city again and had a nice trip to Ellicott City up near Baltimore. Ellicott City is an interesting old mill town that was founded in the 1770s and has a lot of history to it. The town is right on the Patapsco River though and has had some serious flooding problems as well. We enjoyed checking out some of the historic buildings and my mom guided us to some of the most haunted places in town (including the home of the apparently famous “cooking ghost” at the Hayden House). I really liked the sister town of Oella as well which was once a company town surrounding a major cotton mill on the Patapsco. Some of the buildings there are great and they’ve converted the old mill into apartments. Both towns reminded me more of Appalachia than Northeast Maryland, and for me that’s a very good thing. It was just great to blow the dust off of my camera and get out of the city for a few hours.
Today, as I mentioned above, the temperatures creeped into the low 60s, which has been amazing. Mason and I both commented on the return of our old friends our shadows after many days of cold and clouds. We tromped off to the creek where he put on his boots and splashed around like he used to be able to do. He got soaking wet, but he loved every minute of it. While we were out there we spotted the helicopter we playfully refer to as “Marine 2” which carries the Vice President (who lives just a few blocks from Mason’s house at the Naval Observatory). It’s always cool that all of these truly “Washington experiences” happen around us all the time, even if we’re not always tuned into them. This afternoon was so nice that we picked up some steaks and enjoyed a few cold beers outside while we fired up our new grill and took it for a spin. It worked really well and our steaks came out perfect and it was wonderful just to spend some time outside in the evening without freezing.
Tomorrow night we will be watching the classic Raiders of the Lost Ark during our weekly Dinner and a Movie as I need a little extra travel inspiration this week. I could really use a few days to myself somewhere other than here, but between the weather and trying to catch up on a lot of things, it just hasn’t happened. This weekend is supposed to be rainy, but I do hope to get a bunch of things done and maybe continue working on my van a little bit. I’m editing some photos of Yellowstone right now and maybe I will get some of them posted this weekend as well. And that’s about all that’s been happening here this week. I hope wherever you are that it is also warming up and that we can all enjoy a little spring weather here sooner rather than later. Have a great week out there, and we’ll see you back here, same time next week.
-Mike