Sightseeing in MD

Last week I didn't post because my mom was here!  I had a great time showing her around town in the beautiful fall weather. 

Wednesday it was overcast and drizzly but that didn't stop us from going to see the historic Dr. Mudd's house.  I forgot my camera so please excuse the bad quality of my iPod photos.  This house is where John Wilkes Booth stopped to get his broken leg set after he jumped off the balcony after shooting Lincoln.  He rode on horse from Washington D.C., so he traveled a good 25 miles before he stopped.  Dr. Mudd didn't know that the president had been shot yet when he helped Booth, but he still received prison time for harboring and aiding a fugitive. 

No pictures were allowed on the inside of the house, but they had many original pieces as well as reconstructed period pieces in the house.  The grounds were just beautiful.  Rolling hills and fields as far as you could see.  The pictures don't do it justice.

On Thursday, we took Casper jogging on a beautiful trail in the beautiful sunshine.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon making my balcony beautiful!  Thanks mom for the beautiful flowers and chairs!

Mums just feel so festive to me, so I'm hoping they last for a little while even though my balcony is shaded and they are supposed to get full sun.

We had a wonderful visit and I was sad to drop her off at the airport on Friday.  Thanks for coming Mom!

Then Friday evening we officially adopted Casper, so he's ours for good now, yay!  We love him, except for the times when he goes crazy and jumps off the couch and lands on your face and scratches it.  We don't like that.  This week I will be signing him up for obedience classes so we can learn to work on some of the behaviors that we don't like.  Such as jumping on faces.  That will be number 1.  To be fair, James got him riled up while playing with him.  We may be working on that too.  ;-)

Thoughts on a Monday Morning

1.  We had a fun weekend at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  I'd never been to one before, and my favorite part was the food.  I had a loaded baked potato, half of a soft pretzel, and dark chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick.  I should have taken a picture, it was awesome!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was fun watching jousting and archery and visiting the shops.  There were a lot of weird costumes though, and a lot of girls seemed to think it was "dress like a slut" day.  But other than that, it was an enjoyable experience.

This picture is grainy because my camera died after 2 pictures so I had to use my iPod, but it's from the jousting.

2.  We are currently fostering a dog from a nearby shelter until he can be adopted (hopefully by us).  His name is Casper and he is a 4-year old American Eskimo.  At first he was really low key because he was sick, but as soon as we got him on antibiotics he perked right up.  He can get a little hyper, but he's really sweet and friendly and we love him.  Once we adopt him, we'll try some obedience school to help him get some manners.

Seriously, look at that face!  I don't know how anybody could have given up this cutie pie.  So far we've noticed very few behavioral problems and he seems pretty smart so a little training will probably help with those.

3.  Today I started week 3 of my running program.  Actually this is the 5th week I've been running, but I repeated week 2 because of a twisted ankle and I'm repeating week 3 because my knees were hurting too much to run last week.  I got running shoes and some cushy insoles this weekend and tried them out today.  I can tell that they are helping, but one knee still hurts, so I don't know what to do about that.  I have had a history of knee pain though since college, so it's probably not caused by running.  I think I may try to see a chiropractor about it if it keeps up.  On the plus side, I can see definite stamina improvement and that is good.

4.  My kitchen is infested with fruit flies!  Apparently they are a problem here.  I tried to set up a fruit trap for them with cellophane that they can get into but not out of, but so far it's not working.  At least they aren't cockroaches!  I'll take fruit flies over roaches any day.

5.  Is Maryland considered part of New England?  If they are, I think they may kick me out because I don't like clam chowder.  It tastes like fishy potato soup.  Eww.

Happy Columbus Day!