"Ode to Sitting in a Booth"

26 March 2021:

"...No matter how loud
this bar, within these three walls we can drop
straight into a very electric flight. We can
pretend we don’t answer to anyone–including
the waitress–& no one even knows where we are."

Oh, do I love this poem. Love sitting in a restaurant booth with someone(s) important to you. The way that little space feels like an intimate fort. The way you can lean back and over and relax. The way you can lean in closer. I have missed it so much.  

Pittsburgh bound!

1 June 2018:

[Catch-up post]

Off for a quick road-trip to Pittsburgh with some of my favorite people: Tim, Kevin, Hannah, and Cory. We go here yesterday (Friday) and are having a blast so far. Just a couple of pictures might suffice for a post?

Pit-stop find: this inspiration to "share a Coke" with my favorite Williams.

Lord, this dinner we had a Lydia Bastianich's restaurant...whew! Delicious from start to finish--and the finish was this limoncello tiramisu. 

Muriale's...

[Catch-up post #1]

2 March 2018: Friday found me on my way to Fairmont, WV with some of our best students to attend the WV Undergraduate Literary Symposium. (Previous posts about the Symposium here, here, and here.) I gotta be honest: I was (and am) feeling kind of rough--a nasty little cold came on starting on Thursday. So driving three hours both ways, sleeping in a hotel (which never works for me--especially when sick), and getting further behind on some work was/is...unsettling.

But...when we got to Fairmont on Friday night, I took the students to this restaurant we've been to before when we visited the town (Muriale's). And it was kind of lovely. Just a good time, you know? 

The perfect relaxed dinner...

28 May 2014: Today wore me the heck out. I think part of it is that I didn't sleep all that well last night (and the night before). Then, after a long-ish day at school (for the summer, anyway), I rushed home to get the lawn mowed before the rain started. (I am a bit pathological about this--about getting the whole thing done in one shot.) And that meant hurriedly mowing the lawn in hot, gross, and humid weather. But I did it--and beat the rain (and it still hasn't rained, which is kind of annoying). I took a shower, did some other work, and then went to meet my friend Anna for dinner.

I found myself a bit worried that I wouldn't be a good dinner companion--I was feeling so tired and mellow and chill. But it was actually a lovely time--the perfect way to spend an evening that I would have otherwise spent vegging out on the couch or something. We went to a pretty mellow restaurant, which helped. More than that, though, I am grateful for a friend with whom I can just be kind of tired and yawn-y (new word?) and still have a good time.

Birthday pictures...

Well, they are about a month late, but here are some pictures from my birthday, when my mom and Kelsie were visiting.


My mom and Kelsie outside Crystal Grottoes in Boonsboro, Maryland (about 15 minutes from my house). Visiting the Grottoes was a nice way to spend an hour or so. It's no Howe Caverns, which I remember vividly from my childhood, but it was still interesting and cool (literally) and our tour guide was excellent.

Below, a bunch of pictures from inside:

For dinner that night, we went to the Bavarian Inn and had a lovely dinner. You can read about the last time I was there here. The food was delicious, of course, but my favorite part of dinner was watching Kelsie develop a crush on our waiter, a Shepherd student who I know a bit from Sigma Tau Delta stuff. Girls got good taste--he is a cutie and he kept calling her "Miss" and "young lady," which she seemed to love. At one point, he asked if he could refill her almost-full water glass and she was like, "Sure!" and took a big gulp when he went off to get the pitcher.

A nice view of part of the Bavarian Inn.

The chalets overlooking the Potomac at the Bavarian Inn.

After dinner, we walked around town a bit and took my mom to see my new office. Kelsie sat at the desk and pretended to be me.

Okay--that's about it for August, which turned out to be a pitiful month for posting. I am making a vow right hear to aim for at least 30 posts a month. (I managed that in July, I think.) I am already behind for September, but I like a challenge.

D.C. with Erin and Kelsie

After Christian and Aidan left on Monday morning, Kelsie and I headed to DC to meet up with Erin and hit some museums.


It was Kelsie's first ever subway ride (well, Metro, technically), so we marked the occasion. Oh and that black stuff on her hands came from her sunglasses case, we think. Cute but cheap sunglasses case combined with sweaty hands (it was HOT out!) made for a mess.

Kelsie on the Metro, making a silly if cute face.

On the National Mall.

Facing the Capitol. See how thick and unpleasant the air looks? That's the heat, not just usual Washington noxiousness.

Our first stop was the American History Museum. Kelsie really enjoyed this one because she's a bit of a history nerd. (I say this as a bit of a history nerd myself.) This shot is of her placing her own hand on plaster casts of Lincoln's hand. Abraham, as she calls him, is her favorite president.

This book in the bookstore made us laugh. Can you see the part Kelsie is pointing to?

After lunch in the American History Museum's cafeteria, we headed over to the Museum of Natural History, which is right next to the History Museum.

Remember what I said in the previous post about my brother's kids and their silly faces? Here's Kelsie posing in front of a display on the skeletons of frogs and toads. Turns out frogs are her favorite animals, closely followed by monkeys.

That's better!

After the museums, we decided to walk over to the Lincoln Memorial, since Abraham, after all, is Kelsie's favorite. It is a bit of a walk, but Erin and I were up to the challenge. Kelsie, though, pooped out on us halfway there. "It's too hot," she said. Since Erin and I were all about the kid having fun, we didn't push her. Plus, did I mention that it was freakin' hot? So we headed back to Erin's place to cool down and wait for Eric to get home from work. Then he took us to Faccia Luna for dinner. Fortunately, they had what Kelsie said she had been craving all day...

...spaghetti and meatballs, which she proudly documented. The grown-ups had some delicious pizza. After dinner, it was back to Virginia for Kelsie and I. It was a good but exhausting day!

Greensboro Visit: Around town...

There are certain almost mandatory stops on any return trip to Greensboro. One of these is, of course, Old Towne. We got there at 5 on Friday and I am pretty sure we left after midnight. Wow.


Vogel, David, and Sara at Old Towne. (It's still light out at this point.) Hmmm...no more pictures from that night. Weird.


Another required stop: Thai Garden on Tate Street. Here's Vogel and David after lunch.


And look who came with me! It's Mini-Jane! (Look for her to be popping up in a few more posts...) Here she poses with my yummy leftovers (Chicken Pad Thai, of course.)

(Who the heck is mini-Jane? Well, she's like our own version of Flat Stanley, handmade by Shannon, and a stand-in for the real Jane, who is off doing great work in Azerbaijan. You can read about some of mini-Jane's previous adventures here, here, here, and here. So far she's been to Northern VA, Richmond, New Jersey and Arkansas. Now I've got her and find that she might be getting kind of bored. My life isn't nearly as exciting as the lives of my friends. I also think I might be a bit crazy, because I think I purposely shielded mini-Jane from the more debauched aspects of the Greensboro visit. That is crazy on at least two counts: 1) it's a freaking doll and 2) the real Jane is all about the occasional bout of debauchery.)

San Francisco, Part III

Saturday was another great day. We did attend the conference a bit, but also hit some more highlights in the city.


Again, we rode a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. When we got off, the driver offered to take our picture. Then he said that because we were the last off, he'd take it from two angles. By the way, check out Kari's pose in this picture. Like she's a professional model or something!



Here's the second shot the driver took. Too bad my hair is in my face!

Our main destination at the Wharf was Ghirardelli Square. Vogel had been telling us that if you went to Ghirardelli Chocolate, you could tour the place and get a free piece of chocolate. She insisted that this was true, and it sounded pretty darn awesome to Kari and me. But then the woman at the information booth looked at us like we were crazy. She told us that there hadn't been any factory there since the 60s. (True: you can read about it here.) "But you get a free piece of chocolate!" Vogel kept insisting. She even kept holding out one hand and tapping it with the other. "They put it in your hand!" Kari and I told her she must have been confusing this place with Hershey Park. From personal experience, I know that's true about Hershey. The information booth lady did tell us that in the ice-cream parlor, you could see some of the old machines. We decided that was good enough and set off to the parlor.

Imagine our surprise, then, when at the door of the store, a worker handed us a piece of chocolate. And then imagine our further surprise when, in the parlor, the old machines weren't just on display, but actually working, making batches of delicious chocolate. So--much to her delight--Vogel was vindicated. The information booth lady, meanwhile, should be more well, informed about the place where she works.


Vogel and Kari pointing to the chocolate machines.

Kari studying a pool of chocolate. We wanted to ask the workers if they ever felt the urge to jump in, but they looked pretty busy.

A happy Kari waiting for our order to arrive.

And here it is--a hot fudge sundae that we split. Yummy.

After our ice-cream, we walked down to the water. Along this way, I took this picture of Alcatraz. Kari and I really wanted to visit the Rock, but it turns out you have to reserve your spot in advance, and we hadn't done that. Maybe next time...

Looking back towards Ghirardelli Square.

Kari and I down by the water.

Later that night, after some conferencing and such, we went to North Beach and walked around a bit before having dinner at this yummy Italian place. We were sure to visit City Lights Books, where I picked up this book and a couple of postcards.

The next day, sadly, it was time to head home. But all in all, an awesome trip!

Quick trip to Philadelphia...

A couple of Saturdays ago, David (who had driven up to WV on Friday night) joined me for a quick visit to Philly to see Vogel. We were only there about 24 hours, but had a blast.


David and Vogel at lunch at Solaris, a yummy restaurant right in Vogel's neighborhood.

After lunch, we headed to downtown Philly, specifically towards Independence Hall.


Independence Hall.


A really great shot of Vogel and David in front of Independence Hall. We didn't actually get to go in since they'd already given out all the tickets for the day, but there are tons of other fun (and free!) things to do in the immediate area, as this very helpful guide in the visitor center explained to us. We decided on two activities right away: seeing the Liberty Bell and visiting Franklin Court.


In line to see the Liberty Bell. Notice David playing with his iphone. He is so in love with that thing. He kept using it to look up where we were and give us background information. He was like a little kid with a toy he wanted us to covet. And it kind of worked...I want one.


The bell. I had seen it once before--way back in third grade, but I don't remember getting this close to it. And hey--I even got a shot of the crack. (Ha ha.)


Vogel wondering why I am taking so long to snap the picture. Sorry. But I posted this one in part because of dude in the back who is making a peace sign. What kind of adult does this in someone else's picture? It made me laugh, actually. I guess he couldn't help himself.


A much better shot.


Not sure what David is doing here. I think it's his impression of Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin holding a shotgun. (He had just watched the SNL clip of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler).


Now the non-silly shot.


After the Bell, we headed down to Franklin Court. On the way, we laughed at this sign. "Check out that funny looking lady!" I said, before my friends explained that it was supposed to be Ben Franklin in a chef's hat. Still...pretty lady-like, we thought.


"Life-size Jellybean Children and Butterflies"? Huh? Sounds terrifying to me. It was an exhibit here.


Soon we arrived at Franklin Court, where Ben Franklin's house used to stand and which today boasts an underground museum (tell me that "underground" doesn't make it sound a thousand times cooler!). Notice the white sign in this picture. It explains that Franklin would have walked through this little alleyway every day. I thought that was pretty awesome and asked Vogel and David to pretend they were Franklin walking through. Vogel, who is always happy to oblige my photo-shoot demands, did her best. David...not so much.


Here they are both next to the sign. Notice Vogel's arm. She still can't stop acting like Franklin walking home.


Franklin's house was torn down about 20 years after he died, but there are some very important markers of the structures that used to be there, like, for instance, his father-in-law's toilet.


Or Franklin's privy!


Inside the the underground (ohhh!) museum we saw lots of Franklin's inventions, including this one that impressed us the most: a chair with a built-in step ladder.


I also liked this one--a four-sided music stand so that a quartet could play.


After the room of inventions, we entered this huge space with dozens of phone and a wall of numbers. You could dial an extension and "talk" to a famous person who was influenced by Franklin in some way. It's a pretty cool way of illustrating just how influential Franklin was and is. We called Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain, among others. Vogel loved the phones so much that it was hard to tear her away.

At the end of the museum there was a little theater showing a Franklin Film Festival--including Ben and Me, which I adored as a kid and would have loved to see again. But we were about 40 minutes away from the next show and David was getting hungry. He was also getting entirely too jealous of Franklin. "Man, how come I never invented anything?" he asked. So we moved on.


After a brief stop for a drink and a snack, we walked through a park where some well...interesting performance art was going on.


Now admittedly, we only stayed for a little while to listen to this guy sing about rivers (represented by the blue tarp behind him), so it could be that the show was very good. But just the part we saw left us trying not to laugh out loud (and getting dirty looks from a Ben Franklin impersonator nearby.) Let's just say he rhymed like Adam Sandler's "Cajun Man" and used works like "olfaction" and "putrification" as his end rhymes. You can read just a bit about him here.

After walking around a bit more, we headed back to Vogel's, crashed for a bit, and then had a lovely dinner here. The next day it was back to WV for me and NC for David. Still, it was a great little visit.