**primary news**
DH & I discussed our various options for Spring Break. It turns out the train idea has some merit.
Not all the way to Florida, but the idea of going somewhere by train in general.
We had discussed that this year, for the winter holidays, we might, just might, take the train to NYC for a few days. I think it would be fun to spend a few days there when all the tourist spots are decorated & the boys would love the train ride.
Applying that idea to April we are thinking of taking the train to DC for a day. It’s a 90 minute train ride & it’s be $90 for the 4 of us round trip. Sure we could drive it, save the $90. But there is gas & parking & metro fees, since we won’t drive into the city. Plus the non-monetary costs of sitting in traffic, driving around parking garages that are actually totally full but failed to say so and the associated costs of whatever shops are in whatever strip mall we stop at for supper.
The train gets us into DC at 11:30am & leaves at 6:30pm. Our train station is not near a strip mall, so no consumer temptations. No traffic. No parking problems,
We haven’t told the kids yet. They’ll just spend the next 2 months asking how many days until we leave.
**secondary news**
I find myself, at the age of 43, needing, for the first time in my life, ever, a gravy boat.
True.
Gravy and various pan sauces have been largely lacking in our lives, but since I surrendered on the veggie thing & realized the unitasking nature of my cooking, I seem to be making lots of things that finish off with ‘deglaze the pan with wine’ or broth or cream, etc. I have no idea why stressing over veggies = no gravy for all these years, but there it is.
Suddenly I am regularly making some sort of sauce & decided to show a little class & stop using whatever plastic measuring cup is clean & start using an object designed for the task.
I have three sets of inherited china.
None of them have gravy boats.
So, this is also the fault of my foremothers, this lack of gravy. I didn’t grow up with it. Women in my family OPEN JARS for goodness sake! We don’t deglaze pans! And jarred gravy sucks so we just don’t eat gravy at all.
Wal mart does not sell gravy boats. Target does. But they only had plain white china & I wanted glass. So I got a glass creamer container for the gravy. We use soup spoons for mashed potatoes so it’s all good. Labels are limiting.
**tertiary news**
The photo project is plugging away. It is really really strange still to not take photos every day. I’ve taken 7 out of the 17 topics I did last month.
Got 3 of them done Friday.
The boys had a scheduled day off (along with today) & we went to the park. It was about 72 degrees outside.
Perfect for the playground
I was also able to take advantage of the nice lighting & get a decent Lego photo with white background
I’m working on f-stops, this was the best of about 8 shots.
Know what f-stop that is?
Neither. Do. I.
Probably Lightroom can tell me but I need to make better notes as I go.
In other news, they were going to come for my tower Saturday. But God breathed and the force was scattered (or whatever it was that Elizabeth I said when the Spanish Armada was defeated by storms). The wind once again prevented tower removal. It was only a temporary setback though. The forces of my ISP will be mounting a new attack on my tower tomorrow.
Unless the Divine chooses to intervene once again.
7 comments:
Boo about the tower problems still dragging on... and on... bleah...
Love the cute little Ninja photo - maybe the f.stop doesnt matter, just this once?
The pictures of the boys at the playground are great action shots - worth keeping for ever!
And Gravy Boats... I don't have a gravy boat as such, but my "posh" china set has a jug and saucer set which is handy for either gravy or custard sauce and I bought a nice white china jug, with a wide base and slightly sloping sides, that does great for sauce - just the right size. I seem to have a small collection of useful jugs in different sizes, that I've gradually amassed over the last 20 years - who knew I would "need" so many jugs? The smallest is just right for cream or some kind of jelly / mint sauce, or salad dressing (since I don't own a dressing bottle either!); the next ones up are good for milk for coffees, or cream for dessert, or the bread sauce at Christmas; then there are the middle sized ones, for custard and gravy sauces; then two large glass jugs for fruit drinks (in fact one is clear plastic, but it looks exactly like glass - only difference is that if you drop it, it will bounce! Handy for the garden). Then there are my 3 measuring jugs that see regular use in the cooking department of the kitchen... In all, I think I own 13 different jugs - or maybe even 14. Amazing!
I can imagine your boys excited in the Air and Space and other bits of the Smithsonian - I still remember seeing the starship enterprise - the 'real' space machinery is mroe of a blur
I just learned a lot from iheartfaces tutorials. I usually cheat by setting my camera to aperature priority and then tweaking those setting in manual mode. Looks like your common right along. I'm visiting from SITS!
Glad you got travel plans worked out! Nice pics and jealous of the temp!!!!
Train travel is far more expensive here... a trip to my parents' place (4h by car) is over $200 per adult, $150 per child.
How weird about your primary news - as I am currently researching our options to take a train to NYC as well! We're about a 6.5 drive from there but I don't want to deal with the hassle of having a car in NYC - I can just imagine the parking fees, etc. And flying is out of the question - it's only a 30 minute flight but we might have to sell some kidneys to afford it. So a train seems to be our best option.
OF COURSE you should go to NYC. OF COURSE you should. Hotels are pricey, but you might be able to find a short term sublet or folks that rent out furnished apartments by the week. My mom stayed in one of those when my first was born. Check Craig's List!
Definitely go to New York. ;)
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