katie

On Friday I went with newlyweds elwing2000 and Brian for a day sail across the Chesapeake Bay aboard the Schooner Sultana [my pictures]. We left Chestertown around eight in the morning and motored down the Chester River, whose banks remain relatively undeveloped. There were seven crewmembers and six of us passengers, if I remember correctly. Except for the sound of our motor (without which it would've taken days to get down the river), it was quiet, with the captain handing us the binoculars every few minutes to get a good look at an eagle or other bird. elwing2000 took a turn at the tiller during this part of the trip, keeping us between the red and green navigational light structures along the river. Once we reached the bay, the crew unfurled the sails. The weather was nearly perfect. We leisurely ate our lunches amidships, got a tour belowdecks, peered at nautical charts modern and antique, tried our hands at using a quadrant to determine our latitude, learned how "knots" were used to measure the ship's speed, heard about oyster farming in the Chesapeake, read a copy of the original ship's log, witnessed the firing of one of the swivel guns, and helped furl the foresail as we approached our destination, Annapolis. Once we crossed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Friday afternoon leisure boat traffic became noticeable, as smaller craft would approach us to take pictures. I took my turn at the helm around then, under the crew's guidance about where to aim. There weren't a lot of fine adjustments made in either direction or sail trim so far as I noticed, but then my prior sailing experience has been mostly in smaller boats on small bodies of water under rather more variable wind conditions. Upon reaching City Dock at Annapolis—the first place I saw the Sultana when I paddled by it last year—we said goodbye to our gracious crew and disembarked. We stopped by Capital Teas (cardamom tea for me!), dined at Middleton Tavern, and indulged ourselves at two different fudge shops before gathering our cars—a nontrivial task with one of them on the other side of the Chesapeake bay—and heading home.

There was no sleeping in for me the next morning, though, as I joined co-worker (and veteran climber) Mark and several other people for some beginners' rock-climbing at Sugarloaf Mountain. I'm so out of shape that just ascending the mountain to the climbing area was a trial. We started out at Boy Scout Ledges, where Mark set up his rope for two people to climb (each with a belayer) simultaneously, one on "Highway" and one on "Bypass". I climbed "Highway", which is a bit easier, and really enjoyed it. Several participants had climbing shoes, which remind me of Vivo Barefoots, the minimalist shoes I've been considering buying as a next-best alternative to barefootedness. It was a shame that so much broken glass littered the trails in this area; I think it would've been interesting, if not actually easier than in my generic athletic shoes, to try climbing barefooted.

After a couple of hours, we ceded Boy Scout Ledges to some actual Boy Scouts and moved on to Middle Earth, which was much more daunting to my beginner's eyes. There were a number of climbers already there, but by the time we'd eaten lunch we had a spot. It went more slowly here, between the single rope, greater height, and tougher climb. It looked frustrating enough that I didn't attempt it. The others did, but they were getting tired, and I was giving myself a sore neck from looking up so much. So I pretty much just chilled out. It's a beautiful area, and I wished I'd brought a book. As it was, I'm glad I brought my camera; here are my photos from this climbing outing.

I'm going to be vacationing in Montréal next month, May 23-26. Anyone have any recommendations on things to do and see, places to eat, that sort of thing? So far my list includes Tea House Camellia Sinensis and the Montréal Botanical Garden. I understand that Cirque du Soleil is based there, but there don't appear to be any shows in Montréal.

I had a decidedly unadventurous weekend doing things like mowing my backyard for the first time this year, doing five (!) loads of laundry, grilling dinner on Saturday, and sewing. Things on the to-do list but not done: look into my car's again-not-working air conditioning, start a bunch of seeds, go bicycling, and dig a planting bed in my backyard. I've got a ridiculous number of projects laying around, to the point that it's overwhelming sometimes.

Mood: quixotic

I've got some free, as-yet-completely-unscheduled time on my hands April 19-20 (Saturday and Sunday). Any suggestions? Anyone up for an adventure?

I'm feeling mostly better. Now for some cute Japanese logos.

Yamato Transport's Kuroneko logo is ubiquitous in Japan:



I just saw this one for the first time the other day:



It appears to be the logo of Manekiya (招喜屋).

Mood: sick

I think I may have the flu (aches, nausea, dizziness, weakness). Bleh. Not having the energy to prepare a decent meal for myself is probably not helping. I suspect there's still some frozen homemade (by my mom) chicken noodle soup in my freezer, but it's hiding, and sorting through the contents of my freezer is taking more energy than I can summon.

I dreamt last night that I was thrown a surprise wedding in which I was the bride, and the identity of the groom wouldn't been known to me until the wedding ceremony itself. It was an intense experience, emotionally—who would I be afraid to see come down the aisle? Who would I say "yes" to? Was the potential to find a lifelong partner worth the vulnerability I felt? Would the groom be someone I already knew but never suspected of any particular fondness for me? Would the "groom" be a woman? For whom am I meant, and who is meant for me?

If you're in the DC metropolitan area and you think space is cool (and you're over 21 years old), you might want to join me at Yuri's Night DC on the night of April 12 at Goddard Space Flight Center.

My weekend was tea, tea, and more tea.

Tea the First: regular chanoyu class. I practiced a thin-tea ceremony using this shelf. We'll continue using the sunken hearth to heat water for another month or so, when we'll make the seasonal switch to a portable brazier.

Tea the Second: tea at Punitha's place as part of elwing2000's multi-stage bachelorette party, which also included dinner at The Melting Pot and drinks at Cafe Citron. With so many of my friends getting married, buying houses, having kids, and traveling around the world, I feel like the only one with nothing in particular to look forward to. Foreseeing those friendships dying away as the years go on and the friends with new families insulate themselves—not to mention looking back to my party-less wedding and the friends I've lost since then—is frankly depressing. So I'm trying to concentrate on celebrating elwing2000's marriage.

Tea the Third, a Cherry Blossom River Tea along with my parents, my brother's mother-in-law, seelevarcuzzo, Justin, and Eli. It had seemed like a good idea, but in practice, the cruise was overbooked, the service was poor, the view (through sheets of plastic because the air was too chilly for true al fresco dining) blurry, and the diesel fumes nearly sickening. On a different day, it might have been a completely different experience. We did see lots of gorgeous flowers blooming around the National Mall area, though, and we saw "the Castle" and a little of the Hirshhorn.