Virgens, Virgens Everywhere - Part I

Hello, Old Friend -

Yikes - I know. April 18th was the last Virgen you saw, which is close to a month ago. There was some travel in there (D.C./PA, Tucson) and plenty of just general busy to keep me away from the Ladies.

Because even I of the Long Entry can't bring myself to post all 19 Virgens in one entry, plus add pictures of our Lately, I'm going to break this up into three postings - Virgens I and II and shots of our Lately. So, for those who look forward to these entries, it's like winning the jackpot after weeks of no cash flow. Fantastic.

Let's talk about these Virgens and see how good my memory is...

The one above is from April 19th and I have to assume we did some sort of manual labor that day, based on the image. There was a time recently when I worked the garden bed a bit, so we'll call this that.
April 20th - Alpine lake - just good for your eyes. No reason needed.

April 21st. We had some more snow, which had me wishing that all of our paved surfaces were a wee bit more porous, allowing all that good water to work down into the soil and underground reserves. This shot of some new fancy porous paving is in honor of that.

April 22nd - off to travel. I flew from Denver to BWI and then took a bus and two trains to catch up with my honey at 15th St NW and M in D.C. My Mom is from the greater Bawlmer area (Riviera Beach - said "Rah-vera Beach" by the locals) and, while I've never visited the city with her, I feel a deep kinship for it and a familiarity not explained by my two tiny visits to the Pearl of the Chesapeake (I don't think this is an official nickname, but do rather like it myself...).

April 23rd - play day in D.C. In years past, we've been known to blaze big, big trails across and around our capital during play days, but we actually kept this one pretty mild. Breakfast out, a stroll down to the White House to see Michelle's garden and beehives (thus the Virgen), more wandering, some urban hiking, then some good dinner. In posts past, this might have all sorts of links to the places we visited, but it's not a heavy linking sort of day. Just imagine. Fill in the gaps from your own cabeza. It'll be fun.

April 24th - we relocated from D.C. to Lancaster, PA this day to spend a long weekend eating our way through the County and visiting my partner's friends and family. Most of our drive through Friday evening D.C. traffic was spent debating the exact location of Lancaster from D.C. (the main highways were clogged and I thought we could be creative with smaller state highways). We had no map, but I felt that if Baltimore is on the water and Lancaster is not, it would be safe to travel northwest away from Baltimore.

Nope. It is with reserved humility that I hang my geographically savvy head and say that Lancaster is pretty much due north of Baltimore - and maybe even a tad east. I point to two factors in my misjudgment - the east coast is riddled with all these little specks of states that are easily forgotten and get in the way of reaching the water (Delaware, New Jersey, etc.) and aid in incorrectly assessing where the water is as one moves up the coast (previous to visiting Philly in person, I so wanted it to be on the water, completely ignoring New Jersey), and I set my compass in a neat little rectangle of a state with four 90-degree angled corners, smooth lines connecting them and a giant spine of granite running the length of the state. Whoever mapped out the east coast could have learned a thing or two from those western conquerors - brutal and oppressive as they were, at least they could make a straight line.

Our first stop once we settle into our friend's house in Lititz is always Nino's Subs for dinner - except for this year when we arrived to find the Nino's surrounded by the local fire department.

Happily (in that selfish sort of way) it was the apartment next to Nino's and not the actual sub heaven that was ablaze, but we still had to find other dinner that night. This is a mostly German area, but the few Italians there are in the town seem to be concentrated right on Main, so we just walked half a block down to Roma's (? - I don't remember it's exact name. "Not Nino's" is what we called it) and got our cheese-steak. And you know what? The world didn't end. We ate subs other than Nino's and the earth continued to spin about as She does. Miracles, miracles, everyday.

April 25th - a lovely day taking two friends around who were down from NYC for an unplugged, pastoral weekend. Lovely.

April 26th - As I was leaving the local coffee shop this morning with two steaming cups of Shot in the Dark (drip coffee in the County is woefully weak, and the best one can do is pump it up with some espresso shots), I saw an Amish buggy click-clacking up the street. After a few years of visiting the County with my partner, this sight no longer surprises me, but what did surprise me was the scowl and pursed lips of the patio patrons at the coffee shop as the buggy passed.

Really? You're going to direct that much energy and hate to people who are just trying to do their thing? I know the Amish are real, and so have plenty of clay feet among them, so it is not with a romanticized view that I say to those with pursed lips, "Come on. Drink your coffee. How is that young man with his horse and buggy such a threat to you?" Honestly.


April 27th - last full day in Lancaster, perfectly capped with dinner at the Country Table with our Host with the Most. This place is so particular to Lancaster County - how can I translate? Let's see - included in the list of vegetables one can choose from are "mac 'n' cheese" and "pickled eggs". Butter flows like water and a "small" plate of the deep fried cod consists of four giant pieces, rather than six. I have to suspend most of my food beliefs to pull up to this table, but the flavor of things eases that spin of the moral compass until "organic", "fair trade", "local", "sustainable", and "humanely raised" are a distant blur and all I taste is butter and love, County style.

Here's to that. Here's to butter, here's to love, and here's to always stepping easily over dogma without getting any on your shoe.