This Blog is Over
Yeah, they ran out of the ankle things, so
Aren't you Daniel Radcliffe? 
Shane and I are starting our second Maine vacation of the summer. We're staying at Moose and Squirrel, a house on Little Deer Isle with a spectacular view of Pumpkin Island Lighthouse. Shane is from Maine, and I am hoping that one day we can get married in there. We have purchased land in Maine and we're planning on building a house there when we retire. 
Police in Lancaster, Ohio, got new tasers on Sunday. That was bad news for Daniel C. Wood, 31, who was huffing a substance from an aerosol can and running in traffic. An officer caught Wood, but he was resisting arrest. He allegedly was kicking and biting and"made gestures with his hand as if he were reaching for a firearm in his waistband," according to Lancaster Chief Dave Bailey. That is when Mr. Wood's day started going very wrong. The officer zapped Wood with a taser, which caused him to catch on fire. The officers on the scene were able to pat out the flames, but I'm guessing Mr. Wood suddenly ceased in his resistance.
On the bright side, Shane is coming home from his business trip to Nashville tonight. He's only been gone since Sunday, but it sucks to have him away. On the not so bright side, he is going to grouchy we he finds out we don't have cable. (Actually, he got home as I was writing this and didn't care about the cable -- nix that.)
On the bright side, we only have three more days until we leave for our second week of our Maine vacation. We spent a rainy week in Maine in late June. On the not so bright side, it looks like it is going to be another rainy week and Hurricane Bill is headed that way.
On the bright side, our cactus is breaking out in a crazy amount of new blooms. The not so bright side is that we'll be out of town by the time it blooms.
On the bright side, Shane is home now!
Good Stuff Eatery is on Pennsylvania Ave. near our house in DC. I was walking home by it right after I got the news that we lost the house in Florida on which we made an offer (see below). Anyway, what better way to cheer yourself up than gorging on a burger with fries?
Shirley, you cut the cheese.
We went to Florida this weekend to look for a second home. We used to have a condo in a golf community in Fort Myers, FL, but as the prices of real estate started to plummet a couple years ago, we sold it. Now prices seem to be at rock bottom (we hope), so we thought we'd see if we could find something we liked. We did. We have made an offer on the house above. It is in Port Charlotte and is on a canal. It is an older home, but our hope is that it being waterfront makes this a good investment.
This is the view a few feet from the back of our house, looking down past our dock. Yes, it comes with a small dock. That metal contraption in the foreground is a hoist that lifts boats out and into the water. 
This is the water view from the master bedroom. 
It is a foreclosure. Apparently, the previous owner went broke updating the kitchen with new cabinets and granite counter tops. 
The living room and family room are tiled. This is the corner of the family room with a built-in bookcase. The doorway on the left goes to the garage and the other doorway is to the laundry room.
This is Shane on the dock of the canal. This house needs some work. Some of the appliances are old, it needs new carpeting in the bedrooms and one of the hallways, it needs some major landscaping, and there are some other small problems we can see. We're just crossing our fingers and waiting now to see what the response is to our offer. 
Julian Beever is an English artist who is famous for his anamorphic chalk art on the pavements around the world. Beever gives an amazing illusion to his drawings, so that the objects appear to be 3-D (at specific angles) rather than flat as they actually are. See more at his web site here. He also does nice oil paintings, such as the one below. 
This is all the stuff I took and brought back from the beach. I spent the week at Bethany Beach, DE, and since Shane drove the car home Sunday (he had to go back to work), I didn't have a car. I had to depend on the kindness of strangers... well, actually, my sister. She drove me to my mom's on Friday evening and Shane came up to fetch me on Saturday.
Me on the beach at Fenwick Island, DE, earlier this year.
The Sea, Twillingate
Gros Morne, Newfoundland III
After the Burn
Frenchman Bay, Morning 
In chatting with my Mom on the phone recently, we began discussing the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct. I had written a blog posting about the incident and was curious to know what she thought about it.
Historic Eastern Market 
Above are some photos I took today of our walk over to Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. Built in 1873, the market burned down a couple of years ago. They had a temporary building there for a while, but now the old building has been revamped. It reopened a few weeks ago and this is the first chance Shane and I had of seeing it. It looks great! It is so much cleaner looking than before.
We had lunch at the famous market grill. Shane, as usual, had a burger. Though they are famous for their crab cakes, I had the North Carolina BBQ with coleslaw. My sandwich was messy, but delicious.
Take a few minutes to listen to this National Public Radio report about the reopening here. As the reporter notes, going to Eastern Market is like stepping back in time.
If you live around DC or come for a visit, it is a great place to spend a few hours. There is lots of interesting art, crafts, food, and more.
Photo by Justin Ide, Harvard University Gazette 
Poor Mindy Smith looks very nervous in this video, but I love this version of the song. I discovered it on the bus ride home from New York City. I had to do something to keep my mind off the urine smell on that bus. That's the last time we'll take the bus.
