Steph the Sailor (kind of... with oysters...)

So in the last days of October, I left on the Godspeed from Jamestown, sailing with her to Urbanna for the 50th Oyster Festival. Urbanna annually has its big oyster hullabaloo, the official oyster hullabaloo of the commonwealth. We left on a Monday morning bright and early to sail down the James River to Hampton at the mouth of the James before heading the next day up the Chesapeake Bay to Deltaville near the mouth of the Rappahanock River and on Wednesday just a smidge up the Rappahanock to Urbanna. I'd never been sailing and was a bit nervous, since my little bit of sail training had been months earlier, but the crew all helped me extensively, and before being more than a few miles from Jamestown, I was climibing the rigging for the first time getting the sails ready to be set.

Being on the ship, we were split into two watches and assigned to one of the two larger masts. When my watch was on duty, we all rotated keeping lookout for little boats that might forget to not hit us (and other things in the river that might be dangerous to us), taking our turn at the helm, and generally being useful on deck. Also, when we were setting, taking in, or adjusting sail, my watch was assigned to the fore mast and spritsal (the front half of the ship, essentially). Also, we had our basic duties of helping to come into port, clean the ship both above and below decks, etc. On the way, it was really neat to have all the bits of info that I'd only been slightly exposed to be put into such practice, helping me to understand and remember the setting of sails and function of a ship more than ever. When at the helm, I got to steer the ship past the Elizabeth River and Norfolk on the first day, into a small fleet of sailboats in the bay on the second day, and into the Rappahanock (under the direct center of a bridge! that one got me the first beverage of the evening) while doing sailing maneuvers that the captain had me order. In all, it was a lot of fun and I'm quite hooked! (photos: The view up the main mast of the sails and the King's Colors; Little John keeping watch on the bowsprit; Gene and Little John at the helm; the compass (and some cool reflections); and John and Julie in the galley.)





(photos: Doug, Julie, and Todd relaxing while our watch was off duty; the captain and me steering the ship; the view from the quarterdeck; Jack as he looked on Halloween, ready to scare kids at a haunted house; and the hold of the ship where most of the crew stayed for during the sail.)





Coming into Urbanna, while trying to quickly furl a sail but furl it well, I jammed my thumb pretty well. Jack of course made fun of me to no end for that one, only a couple of months or so after having bruised my finger on the same hand. That night we went up into town looking for a place to celebrate Halloween, but apparently everything closes down around 8pm on a Wednesday night in Urbanna. Bummer. The next day, we had a few hundred school kids come through for programming, and in the afternoon went on a short promotional sail (which I was determined to go on, injured hand or not) before going out on the town that evening for dinner and live music. Jack was staying on a boat in the middle of the river, but the owners had taken the dinghy and Jack had to sleep in the tent on a pile of blankets (I was staying on the ship, so no problem there). (photos: Dan the Man awaiting the school kids; Mike giving a group of kids an orientation to the ship after I taught them all about navigation and exploration; the Northern Neck Chantey Singers; the view from my bunk on the ship in the morning; and Jack in the morning after having spent the night in the tent.)





Friday started the public programs for the Oyster Festival, so it was pretty busy with about 1500 people coming to the ship that day, though it was mighty cold and windy from the Noreaster blowing off the coast. We saw their massive fire engine parade that eveneing (over 80 firetrucks from all over the state) before again going out that evening. Saturday was the last day of the festival and I actually got to go out to explore and try some of the oysters. It was super crowded, especially with the big parade (a 45-minute parade, half consisting of shriners in every kind of mini automobile possible). After the day with over 2000 visitors, we waited until they opened the streets to traffic so that we could go to a big post-festival party where I slurped my first oysters (both raw and scalded) and Jack showed me how to eat my first crab (which parts to eat, which parts to pick off). Finally, after the next day cleaning up, it was back home to completely unwind and take sleep -- a lot. (photos: The giant oyster from the parade on the final day of the festival; hillbilly shriners; and a shriner in his mini semi.)



I was home for a few days, a couple of which were spent at work, before prepping to go back out to another festival in Charles City (between Williamsburg and Richmond). The first day there was more ridiculous amounts of school kids followed by a day of public visitation on Saturday (albeit pretty darn cold). Friday night was Steph's birthday, so some of us went out for a late night BBQ and bowling. Regardless, when I got back Saturday evening, I fell asleep almost immediately. (photos: A really excited David for a rather massive banana pudding at Steph's birthday dinner; Steph, Lindsay, and David at dinner; Lindsay bowling; and David feeling a bit nerdy.)




Fall has indeed arrived at last with leaves falling and frost advisories abounding. My tomatoes are still trying to pull through a bit longer and the interpretive staff in the Indian Village are decked out in furs too. Sally and I have been using our wood stove a TON and have even spent an evening making curtains to better insulate our house (my motivation, at least). I've been also trying to plan where I want to go work-wise, etc., as well as organizing my plans for the holidays. Again, busy, but when is that new? I'm loving the cold though!

Visitor from the North -- Amongst the Fun!

So coming into the later part of October, it was still hot though getting into the 60s at night and leaves were only hinting at changing still. However, little bits here and there showed signs of a coming fall, like the sale of cider and fresh donuts at a concert in Charlottesville to the fact that I actually could wear my leather leggings and furs at work and not be super uncomfortable. However, I was still adament about dressing for October and not for the weather at hand and was often made fun of for my wishful thinking.

A really exciting part of the month was when Jenny came down to visit for a few days. She came down on a Monday evening and we began a few days of extreme fun, complete with activity checklist. Tuesday we went to both Yorktown and the Jamestowns, complete with biker bar and a cookout in the evening. Jenny enjoyed bonding with Jack's new hedgehog Norman, who we apparently wore out with the excitement for days afterward. Wednesday we ventured to Berkeley Plantation (home of Col. Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independencen and father/grandfather of two US Presidents, site of the first Thanksgiving, site of the composition of Taps, and about twenty other firsts). A storm blew in during the middle of our tour of Berkeley and continued through most of our day trip through Richmond and movie outing that evening. The next and final day we spent seeing the final orientation video (in all, we'd watch a total of five museum orientation films in three days) at Colonial Williamsburg, a 1950s 45-minute VistaVision saga. After a quick visit at CW, we stopped at the home-cooking deliciousness of the Carrot Tree before taking Jenny to the airport. (photos: Me, Pocahontas, and Jenny at Historic Jamestowne; Jenny loves John Smith; Jenny and I beating that steadily beating drum; also later doing the horrid smell dance moves from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; and Jack and Norman.)





(photos: The recycle bin at our house the morning after our cookout; me on the lawn of Berkeley Plantation; Jenny doing a kartwheel on the plantation lawn due to her excitement; looking up the terraced gardens to the main house; and Jenny touching a tree hundreds of years old!)





(photos: The bathroom sign at Colonial Williamsburg; showing our love to Thomas Jefferson in Merchant's Square; and Jenny in front of her favorite house in town.)



After Jenny's visit, I had to go to get cracking on assembling my Halloween costume since Lindsay's big Halloween party was the next night. I went as Tippi Hedren from "The Birds" and had to find both a 60s-esque dress and lots of fake birds. After work that Friday, we assembled our outifts, rendezvouzed at our house to carpool down to the party, and had quite a good time and we've still been piecing together stories weeks later. The night after the Halloween party, it was back to Don's house for another burger burn/haunted house expedition. The local Claremont-ites went all out on their haunted house, though after six days in a row working, plus the tremendous pace of Jenny's visit, followed by more work and active evenings, I was getting to be exhausted. Unfortunately, when my day off came around, I was to be heading to Urbanna for the Oyster Festival with work, but this time by boat! (photos: Heather and Morris as Jack Frost and some sort of WWI fighter pilot; David and Mark as Skeletor and Nacho Libre; Callie and me as Elastagirl and Tippi Hedren; Joe as Fabio (complete with goose and bloody nose -- an incident that happened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg); and Lindsay and Sally as Mugatu from "Zoolander" and Jessica Biel from "Flashdance".)





(photos: Jeff and Varia as Miami Vice and Varia; Callie negotiated a ride on a scooter from Lindsay's friend dressed as Hansel from "Zoolander"; and Jeff, David, Lindsay, and Varia.)

Oktoberfest in the Mountains

Early October was spent mostly waiting for Fall to actually arrive. First off, Kai and I went to a small town in the Shenandoah Valley to a winery for an Oktoberfest party. From all the descriptions, it was supposed to be quite fun with a polka band, German food, and all. We left early that Saturday morning and drove the three or so hours to the winery, beautifully nestled in the northern part of the valley. We were some of the first ones there, so we explored some of the vendors (German product booth, blacksmith, quilter, cheese maker, baker) and sampled some of the wine. Soon, after many of the dedicated Germans/German fans arrived (many in lederhosen and dirndls), the polka band started to play and we got our plates of yummy sauerkaut, red cabbage, and knackwurst. I very much enjoyed the band and their polkas, some of which they got the audience to sing along. At one point, a woman started to have an attack of heat stroke (since it was indeed that hot, even in early Oktober), though she was taken care of while the rest of us started to do the Chicken Dance (apparently not German, but Dutch). (photos: Our souvenir Oktoberfest cup, Virginia apples, and the German flag under the festival tent; me with my cup (note the tank top in October -- last year there had been the early snow storm on the Island); my yummy German food; the Alp horn guy with his lederhosen; and Kai in front of the festival site at the winery.)





Kai and I left in the early afternoon and decided to take the scenic route back home through the Shenandoah along Skyline Drive. Little did we know that, being Columbus Day weekend, everyone was out trying to get a taste of what they thought would be one of the last weekends of summer and the drive took forever. We did catch some great views of low-lying clouds coming over the mountains and at last got through Charlottesville and back onto out highway heading East. Instead of going home, we were actually heading to a burger burn at our coworker Don's house and were really trying to move to get back. At long last, we made it and I was thrilled to get out of the car, and a couple of hours later, to be on the ferry back home. (photos: A tree along Skyline Drive with the low clouds; a view looking North on the other side of the mountains from Skyline Drive; and the view looking South from the same spot.)



A couple of days later on that holiday Monday, some of us had decided to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving at the home of our resident Canadian couple, Heather and Morris. I made a fantastic apple pie and some mashed potatoes to add to our actual turkey, stuffing, and even poutine. Morris had prepped their apartment for us that day by getting out anything Canadian that they had, including their Canadian action figures and also by his alternating between his two Canadian shirts. (photos: The Canadian action figures; Stephanie excited for poutine; Morris carving the turkey; more of Morris' holiday decorations; and the final array of Thanksgiving food.)





The following weekend, I went up to Richmond for their final year of the National Folk Festival. I had a ton of fun watching everything from a family of Guatemalan marimba players, amazing blues music, African dance, all sorts of bluegrass, a DC go-go group, and apparently a revolutionary of autoharp music. A day in the sun (yup, still hot in mid-October) with marvelous music, food, and Guiness. October was a busy month, and the first half was full of weekend trips, hanging out (as always, and of course work. (photos: Some Ivory Coast dancers at the National Folk Festival; a dancer dressed as a traditional god come to give his blessing; part of the Richomond skyline over the festival; the Holmes Brothers playing some of their terrific blues music; and leaving the Folk Festival.)





(photos: Jeff, Varia, and me from an evening hanging out in the 'Burg; fun artwork; more artwork; even more fun artwork; and me from when we went to see "Superman: The Musical" at William & Mary.)