Dancing Under the Stars

Sky Stage Ribbon Plant Sculpture

Ward and I went line dancing last Saturday evening to a new venue for us - Sky Stage in Frederick, MD

The Sky Stage building was originally built in 1762 and was used to manufacture gun parts for the Revolutionary War. In more recent history, it was owned by General Engineering Co., which manufactured sewer pipe fittings. In 2010, a fire gutted the building and left the original stone structure with no roof. It sat boarded up for years until Heather Clark envisioned it as an art venue. Today, it has an open roof, concrete floor, bleachers, and a unique ribbon-sculpture garden. It hosts dramas, storytimes, art classes, films, dances, and various other events.

Saturday, it was host to a line dance. Ward and I have been curious about Sky Stage for a while, so we took this opportunity to see what it was like.  

I was too hot at this point and was sitting out for a while.

The dancing was okay, but it was hot! It didn't seem too bad at first, but once we started dancing, the heat and humidity became apparent. At one point, I wasn't sure if it was raining or if that was me dripping sweat. Later, in the evening, a storm blew over with a little rain, but brought a welcome relief from the heat. 

What did we think? Will we go back? For the right program, yes. But not for dancing until it's not so hot. 

Thankful Sunday

 I am thankful for small surprises.

The previous owner planted various flowers around the yard. However, in many of those places, there is now too much shade for the flowers to bloom. That was the case for these day lilies. For the nine years we have lived here, there has been too much shade from this honeysuckle bush and the adjacent crabapple tree for anything more than some leaves to grow. However, I turned around the other day and was greeted by these bright blooms. It was a surprise that made my morning. And for that I am thankful.

Until next time...

This and That

Time seems to fly by without me getting around to a blog update, so I'm going to make it happen this morning. I think I'll do it mostly in pictures because we all know they're worth 1,000 words. 😀

Ward is back from the cruise he took with one of our line dance groups to the Bahamas. He had a great time. Too bad that I'm so prone to motion sickness, or I would have gone along. He was on the smaller ship.

The deer have enjoyed munching on various things.
They really liked this big pot of parsley.

The crows seem to prefer flowers. These were full of blooms until the crows had a meal.

I guess all of God's critters gotta eat, but Ward has built a fence around our garden to hopefully direct them elsewhere.  I have great plans for this enclosed space next year. And maybe this year, the deer won't eat all of our tomatoes. 

I'm hoping this little guy is eating some of the mosquitoes in the yard.

And speaking of the garden, it's zucchini time. Last night I tried some in the air fryer with a little seasoning and Parmesan cheese. It was delicious.

We had several days with temperatures of 100°F or more.
 Finally, we had a storm and rain that broke the heat. Yay!

The heat has kept me mostly inside, so I'm on a decluttering kick. I've gone through everything in the family room, starting with these shelves. Books are hard to get rid of, but we did manage to donate some. Now, I'm working in the office. Decluttering is never a fun job, and Ward hates it, but I will say he is cooperating nicely. 

Well, that's all the exciting news for today.

Until next time...

Happy 4th of July!

Today, the United States of America is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Not to brag, but I am related to one of the original signers of the document. Or at least that's what FamilySearch, a free genealogy site run by the Mormons, says. Not sure about the accuracy of this, but I always say that if you go back far enough, we're all related. 😀

So who is my famous relative? Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who is my 3rd cousin 8 times removed. I'm not sure what that means except I have to go back 11 generations before we have a common ancestor.

So who was cousin Charles? He was definitely a mover and a shaker in the early years of this country. He was born in Maryland in 1737 and lived to the ripe old age of 95. He was one of the wealthiest and most educated of the signers, and he was a member of the Continental Congress, Confederation Congress, and the first United States Senator for Maryland. He was also the only Catholic to sign the Declaration. Later, he was one of the founders of the B&O Railroad. He was one busy man during the establishment of our country, and if you want to know a little more, here's what Wikipedia had to say.

So, after reading about his accomplishments, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know who he was. The county where I go to the library, gym, and Walmart is named after him. There are counties, cities, towns, and schools across the country also named for him. He's mentioned in the Maryland state song, and there's a statue of him in the U.S. Capitol crypt.

His estate and grave are less than an hour away from here, so I thought a field trip was in order. However, it turns out that it's not open to the public. Maybe I'll just have to get a book about him from my library, which is named after him. 😏

Happy Independence Day! 

Live and Learn

In a nod to my byline of Live and Learn, I occasionally share things here that I've learned.

 I am all the time looking things up of no consequence, so I suppose I am learning things all the time. But does anyone care how old a celeb is or what channel a certain show is on? (Yes, I am that shallow) Not really. So I won't share those bits of wisdom I learned this week. Instead, I will share other inconsequential things that were new to me. 

1. Outback Steak Houses are brightening up their decor with murals. Wally and Theo took Ward out to Outback Steakhouse for Father's Day, and Theo pointed out that there was a big mural on the wall by the bathrooms. It was quite striking, with a koala in the middle wearing a Maryland flag, surrounded by other Maryland-themed items. I looked up the artist, The Artist Jones, and he lives in Florida, but is painting these themed murals at different Outbacks all over.

Shown are the MD state flower: black-eyed Susan, the MD state bird: Baltimore oriole, the MD state crustacean: blue crab, the lighthouse from MD's Eastern Shore, and the MD state flag wrapped around a koala. 

2. A muster station is a gathering place on a cruise ship where everyone gathers for safety drills or in case of an emergency. Ward is on a cruise this week with one of our line dancing groups. I am very prone to motion sickness, so I didn't want to go. However, he has been wanting to try a cruise, so this was a perfect opportunity. He texted me that they couldn't leave the port until everyone was at their muster station. I had to look up what that meant. 

3. You can't always find things on the internet. I was chatting with Miss Landers, and she mentioned that she doesn't like the rubber bands you buy these days because they are coated with a substance that makes them bitter. This is to discourage kids from eating them. I thought that made sense, but I tried looking up the details before I mentioned it here. I couldn't find that confirmed anywhere with many different searches. Miss Landers is usually a very reliable source, so it may be true. Or not. Did I mention I was going to share inconsequential things? 

4. More things are blooming in my yard. 

Until next time...