No news is good news

At this point, no blog updates = good news and the absence of natural disasters. ;-)

The smoldering outside has (seemingly) subsided and the smell both in the apartment and outside is diminishing. You don't even want to know what Ben cleaned out of our air filter, though...

In the meantime, the best news is that we've secured our summer sublet (phew!) and will be happily relocating away from the scorched train tracks and the deafeningly squeaky floor boards at the end of May. We'll have a view of the Blue Ridge from our balcony, professionals for neighbors, and a nice new dining room set.

(not our photo!)

There's even a movie theatre in the complex and a "car care center." What's not to like? Brush fires, please avoid Avemore this summer!

We're (sort of) famous

The local news is reporting on the fire. Check out News 29, which even includes a video. How validating to actually live in a market with extremely local news!

----

[ETA: Special Weather Statement for Albemarle County, VA

Issued by The National Weather Service
Baltimore/Washington, MD
5:51 am EDT, Tue., Apr. 28, 2009

... ENHANCED FIRE THREAT CONTINUES FOR THE MID ATLANTIC REGION...

GIVEN THE RECENT HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS... FUEL MOISTURE REMAINS QUITE LOW. IT WILL AGAIN BE UNSEASONABLY WARM AND DRY... WITH AFTERNOON RELATIVE HUMIDITY DROPPING TO AROUND 30 PERCENT. SOUTH- SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL AVERAGE AROUND 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 MPH. THE COMBINATION OF THE LOW FUEL MOISTURE WITH BREEZY AND DRY CONDITIONS MAY CREATE AN ENHANCED FIRE THREAT THIS AFTERNOON.

IF YOU PLAN TO BURN PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITIES BEFORE DOING SO]

Post script to previous entry

The evening's quip, from Klever Karen:

"First a flood, then a fire. What's next? Pestilence?"

And, yes, Dave, I've learned my lesson in the camera versus phone battle. Though, honestly, the first thing that came to mind was to snap a shot. Maybe it was all that smoke clogging my brain...

Fire on the Hillside!

First, K-Mart, then a blaze...

There I was, diligently working at my computer, when I thought I smelled smoke, probably from a pesky neighbor. I checked out the apartment just to make sure it wasn't the washing machine or something else stupid. Imagine my surprise when I stepped out onto the balcony to see this:

A major brush fire started outside our apartment, just beyond that rain spout, when someone probably threw a cigarette butt onto dry tinder, igniting the blaze.

This morning, as I was writing the earlier pollen post, I read about a brush fire warning because of unseasonably high temperatures and increasingly dry conditions. Wasn't really expecting it to happen here, though.

I called 911 as soon as I took the photo, and immediately ran boxes of our important papers and Ben's computer to the car, and drove the car to a safer spot in the lot. That firefighter above is standing where we normally park (and where pollen-y Koala posed this morning).

Heavy winds spread the fire quickly, all down the hillside and onto the train tracks. At times, flames licked the side of our apartment building and the one next door, but there wasn't any major damage except to the vegetation, and some cars when embers blew in. We were all evacuated from our apartments and stood around making friends; it's a shame it took this chaos to bring us all outside together.

The hillside is shorn of trees, and embers are still smoldering down on the tracks where all the lumber and ties are stacked (I took this photo below around 7:30pm; initial fire began at 3:20, and the first responders were here within ten minutes). Apparently, they're keeping JPA, our road, shut down until the train company comes through to remove the lumber so they can continue to run water hoses from all available hydrants.

What a crazy day! At least I have a good excuse to give the boss man on not finishing my work... Hey, look, buddy, I was evacuated from my apartment... ;-) Now, the next step will be getting the awful smoke out of our apartment and possessions and my hair. Small price to pay, though, given the circumstances. For a while there, as I saw the fire creeping closer to our apartment, I thought we'd lose just about everything.

Proof of Life

Yesterday afternoon, serious thunderstorms threatened our surrounding neighborhoods with rain, but we received not a speck. It would have been nice to get a downpour and flood all the pollen off the cars and sidewalks and railings, despite my usual Charlottesville-rain misgivings. We've got a serious coating of this grossness.

Weather.com says this is oak pollen; we're under a high alert, and have been since Thursday, when the pine pollen alerts were lowered to moderate.

The poor car parked next to Koala had it even worse. Yuck! Wikipedia tells me that anemophilous spring blooming plants like oak typically induce pollen allergies across the U.S. until the end of April. May, here we come!

I don't think I've ever been more tempted to use a hose in my life. I just imagine neon powdery gunk flowing to the ground in rivulets, the water weighing down all possible microgametophytes so they can't fly near my face. Poetic, I know. The limitations of apartment living continue to fill me with fine fantasies of lawn hoses and garages and programmable thermostats. ;-)

A Mid-August Afternoon

In April. In Virginia. Portent of things to come?

We spent our afternoon, smartly, in a movie theatre, where we watched a matinee in a dark, cool theater. That temperature reading above is from about 5pm, on our way home. Oy!

I was chatting with our friend Jordan earlier in the day, and, as he told me all about his juicy evening date to a French restaurant with a lawyer from Capitol Hill, I imagined telling him my day's plans: an afternoon showing of a G-rated children's film (by Disney, no less!) in a beat-down theater with Ben's parents and a box of Milk Duds. ;-) But, for shame, what a pleasant afternoon it was! Matinees -- and copious servings of triptans -- remain the perfect antidote to loud summer weather in my book (and, really, it also worked to soothe the anguish of the mixed-season thick film of pollen our cars, too).

Earth is of course visually mesmerizing, smart, thought provoking, and cute without being overtly saccharine. One older woman in our showing played the requisite "ooohhhh-er and ahhhhhh-er," though it would have been even more fun with an audience of excited, nerdy kids. That said, it's a very self-selecting film; you'll know if it's the way you'd want to spend a few hours. Are you fascinated by digital projection? Planet Earth? Google Earth? Survivor Man, hiking, or nature photography? Well, then, perfect!

After the show, we traveled to a mall across the highway for cool drinks and I spied with my little eye a Civil War Trails marker pointing toward the parking lot.

Ever the displaced New England-trained historian, I immediately made Ben promise we'd investigate on our way out.

This is further proof that reminders of the War of Northern Aggression are never far from hand in this central Virginia neck of the woods. The plantations stand tall, the neighborhoods remain segregated, the battles and flags are memorialized generations later. Even in the parking lot of a low-grade strip mall, it's hard to forget where we are.

Their Flamenco Will Make You Dizzy

We've already spent our share of time downtown this weekend, and it's not even noon on Saturday... The farmer's market this morning was teaming, so much so that I couldn't imagine taking out my camera and fighting with the throngs of women carrying seedlings, kids running around in face paint flailing balloon animals, and their parents meandering and eating meat (there was a LOT of meat at the Charlottesville farmer's market! I mean, I know animals come from farms as much as vegetables, but I still think in my New England mind: Farmer's Markets Are For Organic Produce!). Hopefully, photos next time.

Last night, we saw a very enthusiastic flamenco performance featuring a world-renowned Swedish dancer (I know, the irony is ripe) and local dancers and musicians, including Ben's supervisor's boyfriend, a percussionist.

I was scared to use a flash and disrupt the rhythms (we were warned before the show to refrain from clapping along), so my photos are unfortunately blurry. But I like to think that they also convey the dizzying nature of the Serious Flamenco. ;-)

It was a fun night to be on the downtown mall, too -- steamy warm, very crowded with kids and couples eating ice cream and drinking copiously. Of course, teetotalers that we are, we just strolled around observing. We did enjoy some crepes from this hole in the wall crepe shack (bet you've never associated those two words before!) until I got a mouthful of chicken in my lemon-and-sugar crepe. Second weekend in a row! Is the Universe trying to remind me why I'm a vegetarian? Anyway, one of the highlights of our strolling were the local teenagers, posing as human art, preaching about salvation, and these two cute guys playing their guitars:

You can't really tell in this photo, but the guitar case was FILLED with money. Those kids are probably very, very pleased this morning. Lesson: get out of the garage, teens, and play for all it's worth to tourists and kind-hearted locals. ;-) Maybe everyone was feeling generous as they busily prepared for today's dogwood festival and parade, and were excited by the prospects of thick layers of pollen, crowded throngs of adolescents, sticky cotton candy, and blazing fire-trucks. It's all feeling a bit summer-like, with highs in the mid-90s today, and thoughts of fireworks and Popsicles. Hope it's pleasant where you are.

A Late-Spring Evening's Stroll to Supper

We've lived here--in the middle of the student-tracks wayside neighborhood--too long to have avoided The Wayside, so tonight we remedied that situation. (And, in the process, instructed Ben in the ways of the Hush Puppy...)

We headed out JPA along the sidewalk by the flowers:

And the old plantation on a hill (slave quarters included):

Until we saw Ben's office:

And happened upon the infamous Wayside. It is home, apparently, to the best old-timey Virginia home cookin' and fried chicken (which we did not partake of but bore witness to. Observant, observant witness...).

Also, more importantly, it's home to those hush puppies and coconut meringue pie. Nom, nom, nom. (Plus, the pie came in a pie-shaped container, which is almost as cool as an edible container, a la Meg's current fixation.)

Lovely evening for a stroll and some digestive enzymes! ;-)

Happy Earth Day!

To celebrate our mother earth, I took this photo of her about three seconds before I got drenched for being a loonie taking photos in the parking lot just before it started raining. It felt very dramatic in the moment, like I crossed a whole new threshold of photo-documentation, but the resulting shots hardly seem worth the effort now.

Of course, I was out in the rain to buy freon, so I certainly win no eco prizes today. Actually, it was tetrafluoroethane, according to Ben, which I'm sure is just as bad. It came in a can that relays all the feeling of enviro-disaster and is reminiscent of those floating islands of trash in the Pacific. When he got home, Ben supercharged Koala's notoriously weak air conditioning in preparation for the weekend's forecast (high of 88 on Saturday!). Time to take care of our favorite little vehicle after all his hard work!

I think Ben even Rain-Xed the windows. Sparkly! He probably just wants the car to blend in better at our swank new summer sublet. ;-) I'm sure the neighbors will still smell the Massachusetts all over us either way, but maybe they'll appreciate the effort.

Zombie Bunnies Invade Charlottesville!

Their first victim? Ben. Who said, zombie-like, after I took this photo, "I don't even understand the object of this game! What does this even have to do with anything?!"

Here's his review of Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party for Wii (we're not making this up!), which he received as a pet-sitting present. ** Note: No pets or raving rabbids were harmed in the making of this review.

First thing's first--this video game was made by French people. Now, I haven't actually seen The Triplets of Bellville, but I sorta feel like I have. And now, I feel like I have partaken in some kind of strange Franco-Japanese joke that I may actually be the butt of.
Speaking of butts...

It is important to note that, like most video games, this one can (and perhaps should) be played seated. Unlike most video games, however, this one condones the use of the Wii Fit Board in conjunction with one's posterior as a command-and-control interface. 21st century--no jet pack, but a piece of electronic equipment that is more in tune with my backside than, say, any organic life form ought to be.

Am I saying that my Wii Fit Board is an inorganic life form? No. But I am saying that if you're looking for a dose of nonordinary interactivity, Raving Rabbids may well come to your rescue.

Rain, rain, go away!

Uh oh... maybe C-ville.com has been reading Paid in Sunshine's ongoing weather-related moaning and groaning? We know Don has, but now he has some comfort in numbers. Well, I will agree that this seemingly incessant rain is better than a draught; no arguments from me there. But am I allowed to whine at all about the massive tornado and hail watch we're under this evening? There were golf ball-sized hail thrown about in 30 mph winds a few minutes ago in Appomattox. I'll diligently keep you appraised of weather-related phenomenon in the Charlottesville city limits.

[ETA: The National Weather Service reports a precipitation accumulation of 0.84 inches during the 24 hours preceding April 20, 2009 12:53 a.m. Plenty, I'll say.]

Back from Blue Devil Land

And boy was it a good trip! We didn't go expecting to dislike North Carolina, but we were surprised by how much we liked it, especially Asheville.

We spent this morning at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, part of the Doris Duke Center at Duke University, in the midst of alumni weekend. It was purely coincidental that we shared the gardens with impeccably dressed Blue Devils sipping 9am champagne while listening to a quartet playing Vivildi. Lucky us! ;-)

Of course, a visit to the Duke Center wasn't coincidental; I've studied and written about Doris Duke's cultural significance and her contributions to American research and progress as a model of twentieth century modernity, so a trip to her Asiatic sanctuaries (situated tellingly *of course!* next to a native species exhibit featuring carnivorous wetlands plants) made perfect sense. Duke's father, Buck, created the University with an endowment in honor of his father, so I like to think of it as Lucky Strike University.

Here is Ms. Doris, the tobacco heir, fancifully displayed above a blooming Duke orchid specimen (which she famously hybridized in Hillsborough, NJ). It was a subtle, fitting memorial. (Ben's note: to truly appreciate the unconventional attractiveness exhibited by Ms. Duke in the above miniaturized portrait, please do yourself a favor and take a glance at my Silver Screen birthday twin of yesteryear, Gloria Swanson. --Just because you have a prominent chin for a lady doesn't mean that you can't be smoldering and sophisticated.)

And what proper trip to North Carolina would be complete without some sweet tea, asks the woman who propositioned a colleague's southern wife for her grandmother's recipe last year? The tragedy is that we learned about the wonderful Biscuitville too late in our journey... (on their site, note the historic television ads!) The sweet tea is still too sweet (but oh! that texture of sweet tea!), the biscuits still clog arteries, and the veggie options are limited. Nonetheless, it felt perfectly natural to eat cheese grits and hash-browns on a Sunday afternoon in Raleigh.

Now, it's back to the grindstone, and I will note only in passing that the first raindrops we felt all day came at exit 120 on Rt. 64, approximately six minutes from our apartment. The weekend is officially winding down with some whoppie pies, internet-procured television, and dreams of more happy, busy funventures.

Sunshine in the Tar Heel State

"North Carolina is freaking awesome. It's like clearly one of our favorite places." --Ben, 8:39pm

Asheville! What can we say? We've found one of our spots (.com).

That's the lovely, lovely Grove Park Inn, which is far more stunning in person than it turned out in our photos unfortunately. But we'll be back.

After our time in the mountains, we headed east to Winston-Salem and stumbled onto the historic Salem Village, home to the American Moravian church and Salem College. Below is God's Acre, a Moravian cemetery continuously used since 1771.

What's better than some Yum Yum Better Ice Cream on a sunny late-spring afternoon? Nothing else in Greensboro that we saw, that's for sure! That's probably because we couldn't find Orson Scott Card's house.

Onward to an evening in Chapel Hill. In case you were wondering, there is, yes, a difference between chicken and tuna salad, not that you'd know from the first bite or three of the sandwich. Our server at Jack Sprat, however, graciously apologized and comped the meal. So far, no one is worse for the wear ... except the chicken maybe.

Tomorrow, it's Raleigh, Durham, and back north along the Blue Ridge. And hopefully no more chicken, a little bit of sweet tea, and plenty of North Carolinian charm.

The Answer Man

Well, well, well...

You can't ever tell.

Thank you, psychology!

Well, this explains everything! According to researchers at Cambridge and UT Austin, Virginians are some of the least agreeable citizens in the US, and the state ranks as the 45th most introverted. Hmmmm, all those cold biddies make a little more sense now... North Dakota, on the other hand, has the nation's most agreeable folks. Time for a road trip!

Inconceivable!

After all these months of it languishing in a steep pile, I finally remembered to watch The Princess Bride, which Dave loaned us all the way back in January. Here it is, mid-April, and I just got around to it, but it was probably worth the wait. Cute story, everyone, I finally admit it. Much like my dad considers himself a member of the experiment's control group because he never saw Titanic, I managed to get through all these years without The Princess Bride. It's a fun movie, and I see why everyone was so enthusiastic about it, though I think I'm coming to the party a little late. Many jokes I've heard before make a little more sense now, though! (Let's just say that "marriage is what brings us together today!"--Ben)

Now I just have to get to A Christmas Story so I can return the DVDs before the 2010 swap party...

These are some photos from Sunday, when the sun actually blessed us with her presence. She's fickle, this Charlottesville sun! (Not like Aten-Ra, her great grandaddy!)

In the meantime, at least it's good movie-watching weather, good for bundling up and hunkering down. Plus, the Neon is sold, plates are returned to the DMV, we finally got an appropriate television stand, and about 65% of my to-do list is crossed off. We'll dream of sunlight and think about winter in hoodies while we watch quality programming. ;-)
(Food Network in HD makes watching AB even more enticing than before!
Avocado cake frosting? Inconceivable!)

It is the Future. The Distant Future.

It is the year 3000...Commander Neelloc and Citizen Neb have avoided detection by the security cameras and the Imperial forces of Queen Hannah Montana IV. All that is left of the human race has given itself over to despair...all except those inspired to shake their bones!!! With their advanced circuitry, they bring revolutionary zest to dining rooms across the land. Their well-articulated joints serve as portents of things to come...

http://newlionwebdesign.com/robotdance.swf

Another Weekend in the Shenandoahs

Happy Easter from Virginia!

We spent the holiday weekend settling back into the area, with a day-long trip to Harrisonburg and, today, a holiday hike around the Rivanna River.

Yesterday, after a stop at Eastern Mennonite University, we had a lively tour of the Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center, where we learned about emigrants from Pennsylvania who sought religious freedom in the otherwise unoccupied Shenandoah Valley and were instructed about the many forms of modern Mennonites by our guide, Miriam. It was a surprisingly good museum -- for being in the middle of nowhere -- and even had a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of twentieth-century evangelical Brethren revivals.

Here's the school house at the top of the hill at the site. They had a sunrise service there this morning, which Miriam happily invited us to attend (with folding chairs!); the wind whipping around at the summit was fierce enough yesterday that we instead choose to sleep in. Silly us, though, because when we tried to attend mass this morning in C'ville, we were turned away! Too many people, claimed the fire marshal. Hrmph. Don't hear about the Catholics turning folks away too much these days!

Anyway, back to yesterday. We had a great lunch at the Little Grill Collective (worker owned and hippie certified), and tried Harrisonburg's infamous Kline's Dairy Bar. It was all part of my new trend in choosing foods that come in edible containers, and, regardless of the freezing, rainy day, the ice cream wasn't too shabby either.

We had a short stop at the Dayton Farmer's Market, a Mennonite-Brethren-run grouping of stores a la Lancaster, PA, which specialized in pickled beets and eggs. We opted for the sourdough cinnamon bread, beeswax, and birch beer instead. ;-) Next, on our way south toward Swoope, home of Polyface Farms, we were distracted by signs to the Natural Chimneys Regional Park, which seemed to have all the promise of Virginia's Natural Bridge, but turned out to be more of a camp ground ...

Not much to write home about, folks. Some molten limestone deposits grew into weird shapes in a valley of the Shenandoah... The most exciting part of this place was that it's home to the Jousting Hall of Fame and hosts the nation's largest annual jousting fair on the grass in front of the chimneys, in addition to several weekend Renn faires. All ye knights and fair maidens unite, this June!

Here is the site's other chimney collection:

And here's how Ben felt when he realized, just before we got back to the car, that the Chimney caves were open for exploration:

I was a little less pleased:

Without too much spelunking, we got back on the road and saw these adorable fences at the Fox Meadow Farm along a beautiful stretch of Rt. 42 south.

Thank goodness for Bessie, our trusty GPS, because otherwise, we would have been very lost in the middle of farm land that could have been Kentucky, Iowa, northern California? Finally, after many twists and turns on dirt roads, many swerves away from small children carrying hay, and many, many cattle later, we found Polyface Farms, which will probably only be interesting to my dad (has anyone else read The Omnivore's Dilemma?).

It was closed by the time we got there, though we managed to procure some of their famous eggs for our apropos Easter eggs Benedict supper with local asparagus and imported Hollandaise (I couldn't find the packet at the fru-fru store, guys!). These were the only real Polyface friends we met along the drive:

After a quick stop in Staunton for dinner at the Baja Bean Co., our new favorite place thanks to the ultra-friendly manager and the easy vegetarian menu items, we crashed back into C'ville as the sun set over the mountains.

Another weekend, another funventure for Koala, B & M. Hope everyone's enjoying time with family and friends on the holiday and getting a bellyache from too many jelly beans. ;-)