Have you seen Pete Correale?

Apparently he's been spying on my marriage.



"Gossip is all we have!" Precisely.

Some holiday snapshots

Last night I noticed that the neighbor two houses down had a roaring campfire going and the tent set up. Their kids were camping out in the back yard amid dancing sparks and lightening bugs. I bet they made smores--I am so jealous.

A "cold" front moved through on Wednesday night and brought with it lower humidity, daytime highs around 80 degrees F, and nights dipping into the 60s. Yesterday was beautiful, but today is shaping up to be gorgeous.

I don't think I have ever been alone before on the 4th of July. But here I am at Fig Point with Mason. And Robb's in Norfolk giving boat tours all day. Yesterday they had over 200 visitors come on board; today will certainly be busier.

None of our 4th of Julys in Ocean City went quite right. The first year we lived there some low clouds crept over the island in early evening and remained past sundown. When the fireworks display started, you could see the streaks of light sail into the air, but then they went into the clouds, which changed colors and muffled the booms into dull thuds. Thud, reddish fog. Thud, greenish fog. After a few minutes we walked home.

Last year Jessie joined us in Ocean City for the 4th. Robb doesn't care for fireworks--yes, something is definitely wrong with him--so he stayed at the condo. Not having a television screwed us up, though. A major electrical storm was headed for the island, so the town decided to start the fireworks show an hour early. Around 8-ish we could hear some booming outside at the old abandoned apartment, but we thought it was just the neighborhood bottle rockets and such. I have to compliment those new Anderson windows and sliding door because they really insulate us against noise.

When Jessie and I walked to the beach at 9-ish, we thought it was weird that so many people were walking in the opposite direction. And then it started to rain. The temperature dropped twenty degrees, lightening sizzled everywhere, and the rain just poured. At first we took shelter under the awning at Coastal Inn. After about 10 minutes we made a mad dash down the block and went into the 7-Eleven. Ice cream was definitely the solution, but the store was full of drunk teenagers, and the clerks were nervous. Regardless of the weather the clerks pushed us all outside. So Jessie and I stood under the overhang in front of the 7-Eleven for 30 minutes with about forty people we never met before watching rivers of rainwater rush down the sides of Coastal Highway. Eating ice cream.

Why didn't we just walk home? It was only seven or eight blocks, but we both had our cameras and cell phones with us and no rain gear. Such was the nature of the downpour that there was no way our electronics would survive the total drenching that walking home would involve. I was frantically calling Robb every few minutes to ask him to come pick us up, but his phone just rang and rang to voicemail. You see, he was painting trim or pulling up carpet tacks with pliers or advancing some other major home improvement project. But I imagine him doing it while wearing roller skates and shaking his ass. You see, the the reason he never heard his phone was because he had the Xanadu soundtrack turned up too loud. Seriously.

The rain let up a little, so Jessie and I sprinted over to the covered porch of the pawn shop. Only surprise! It was sort of covered. The pawn shop was between owners last summer, and the porch roof had fallen into leaky disrepair. We pulled the beach blanket over our heads and tried to wait out the storm there. The blanket was taking on water and kept getting heavier until our arms were exhausted from holding the sopping blanket over our heads. Ah, memories. All in all I think we were outside in the rain for an hour before Emily came by and rescued us in her friend's minivan. I asked Robb if he had noticed the weather and wondered where we were. He said yes he thought about it, but we hadn't called...

Happy 4th of July!

What shall we do with a loooo-ong weekend

1. Are you in Southern Maryland? Tonight is the farmer's market in Solomons from 4pm to 8pm. You can take your family on a Safari all over Calvert County. Wild Things are on exhibit at Annmarie Garden. The Calvert Marine Museum is open for free Friday night from 5pm to 8pm. There's an Independence Day concert at Sotterley Plantation on Sunday from 1pm to 4pm (only $10 admission per car). The River Concert Series continues at St. Mary's College of Maryland tomorrow night at 7pm on Townhouse Green--this week hear jazz vocalist Hilary Kole. Of course there are fireworks, too.
























2. Are you near Baltimore? Swing by Saramar Studios Friday night at 5pm-10pm for the "Birthday Suit" art exhibition kickoff party. I won't be able to make it since I am a dedicated shut-in these days, but you should go. Tell Sara and Marty that Barb sent you! Also featured at the show will be Sara and Patti's nature inspired custom jewelry, Patrinkets. They recently opened an Etsy shop, too.



3. Are you in the Virginia Tidewater region? Visit Robb at Norfolk Harborfest 2009. Robb will be there all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday giving tours of the NOAA Research Vessel Bay Hydro II. His boat looks like this, only with less rain.

That's pretty much all I got. Have a great holiday weekend! Happy 4th!

Googoo for gaga puffs

Oops! Somehow I forgot to include this, my favorite shot from the picnic, in the photo montage. A tray of lemons with peppermint--the epitome of the Clarksville Picnic. You drink the lemon juice through the tiny holes in the center of the peppermint stick. Mmm, refreshing!

Now for something entirely different.

My name is Barbara, and I'm a Gaga-holic. Specifically the song Poker Face. Lady Gaga performed Love Game on Dancing With the Stars and Just Dance on Ellen, so you probably already know of her. I am really late with on the bandwagon this time. Even Robb had heard of her before me. I think I like her because she's both really theatrical and really, uh, crass. She has a delightful combination of calculated artistry and indelicacy. What can I say--I like bawdy things. Robb is mortified. (Adding the "Saint Robert" tag to this post....now.)

Aside: Why do MTV and VH1 bleep out the word "muffin"? Yes, I know what Lady Gaga means when she sings that she is "bluffin' with [her] muffin," but muffin by itself is fairly innocuous.

Another aside: At my old office one of the gals really liked eating Thomas' English muffins for breakfast. She usually heated up a few extras while she was toasting and offered them around saying, "Want some English muff?" like a cockney pimp.

Maybe one more aside: Kristina and I shared an office across the hall from Carol. One day we overheard Carol talking loudly to some realtor on the phone when Brian (my boss) started looking through her filing cabinet to find a blank settlement form. After a minute Carol realized he needed help, so she said into the phone, "I have to hang up now. Brian is digging around in my drawers."

Aside number four: In order to keep Robb's annoyance with my Gaga obsession fresh, I sometimes speak to him in song lyrics to see if he notices. Tap on the shoulder, "Let's have some fun. This beat is sick. I want to take a ride..." And he notices. I told him to think of himself, his brothers, his father, all of his male friends. Okay? Now picture someone who is extremely attractive approaching them and saying in all seriousness, "I want to take a ride on your disco stick." What would their reaction be if this happened in real life? Total hilarity. Come on, disco stick? That's like stolen-from-a-Harlequin-Romance-novel funny.

Let's see. Where was I? Right, bawdy things. True. Moreover, I enjoy Lady Gaga the young female entrepreneur. The problem with most pop princesses is that their career is driven by the machinery around them. Eventually that machine becomes more invested in their success than they are, which leads to the eventual crash and burn. (See Britney Spears, y'all.) However Lady Gaga began on the inside of the music industry as a songwriter for Interscope. She has a broad background in the arts and modeled her Haus of Gaga after Andy Warhol's multimedia factory. In a hive of creative young people, Gaga's mystique comes together as a wholistic art enterprise. They dream up and construct all of her looks, sounds, sets, and costumes right there. And that is how Lady Gaga differentiates herself: Gaga is the engine that drives the machine. She is invested in herself as an artist. She creates a unique product. I find myself wishing her success. And to be captivated by the methods of a pop star, that is certainly refreshing!

Picnic time

Of course, we went to the Clarksville Picnic last year, too. See photos here and here.

Patty cake

Once the thermometer stays above 80 degrees F, our eating habits shift into summer mode which has a series of loose rules.



1. Try not to start the oven.



2. It is okay to serve food lukewarm or cold.



3. Let the weather do some of the work for you.



4. Ice blue Gatorade tastes better out of a fancy pitcher.



5. It is good to keep some treats around for grazing.



6. And to use handfuls of mint and basil from the garden whenever possible because you'll really miss them in November.

Those are all the rules I can make up this morning. :) Here are a few more of the bread making pictures. Someone asked if I use a bread machine, and the answer is an emphatic, "No way, Jose!" A bread machine is the quickest method with which to remove joy from the process of making homemade bread. It completely eliminates the meditative aspect of the making. Either I want homemade bread flavored with contemplation, or I do not want the bread. Period.

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