Shrimp and cheesy grits

 Below are scenes from Annapolis in the evening. A beautiful town. I would like to have seen it before it was dark but then it would have been too hot. A wonderful evening cooled from breezes coming off the water, everything lit up, lots of happy people.  What does one eat in Maryland? Crabs, crabs and more crabs. I have been having crab cakes almost every day since I came here so last night while we sat along the harbor eating our dinner, I had instead that Southern classic shrimp and grits. Yum. Where my brother lives in California, the main thing fished is Dungeness crabs ) but not every single restaurant serves them. Signs for crabs everywhere. I will include at some point the Big Fat Crabs!!!sign.

I left DC yesterday after getting up early to run in his pretty neighborhood. Why drive 6 miles roundtrip to the trail when beautiful running can be had right there? And nobody rushing to work to run me over. Up one street and down another. Lots of miles to be run seeing different rich peoples' houses. Love the crepe myrtle which I never noticed or never was in bloom when I've been here before. I think it is prettier than their famed cherry trees, which I have yet to see in bloom here. But we Michiganders have our own cherry trees albeit the more utilitarian type. I loved to sit on his porch swing while rehydrating or in his nice screened in porch which has a fan, early in the morning catching up on reading the NY Times (my Maryland friends had the Washington Post instead). Keeping me company in the morning was his Swedish spitz, a relative to the Finnish spitz the Russians sent up into space in 1957. Poor Laika! Soulmate is surprised that so many remember the Laika story as people exclaim Laika!  when they see Ruskin.

 

Annapolis harbor at dusk. You can see the Capital building

 Off to a last minute errand to hook me up with this excellent wild blackberry liquor that used to be made in Ann Arbor now in Boulder and distributed just in a few places including this place I had to remember a whole list of states to get to (MA to NE to NM). So fun driving by myself in a very confusing city! Alas no blackberry but they now have cherry. All I can say is that it better be good. I narrowly escaped certain death predicted by Soulmate navigating the worst traffic circle in the Western Hemisphere (Chevy Chase circle). He thought I might survive given that this day was a weekend. DC drivers make the Massholes of Boston seem patient. But off to the far reaches of Montgomery Count to stay with my best friend in high school who lives surrounded by huge trees. So fun catching up! I'd be happy to just sit and talk but so many things to see. First we went to a going away party for a young man headed to Italy for 3 years. Lucky him. A woman showed us photos from a million dollar wedding that took place in a Turkish palace of another friend. Lots of foreign dignitaries live around here. And then an hour trip to the coast to see Annapolis. Very crowded but so nice.  New adventures today.

Window shopping at a glass art store. Lots of cute stores but no time to go in. And by this time, it was very late

I assumed Baltimore was the capital. Uh no!

I have a whole series of under exposed pre-colonial buildings down their many cobblestone streets. I will see if I can save them. Stay tuned!