Flee North by Scott Shane

Flee North, written by Scott Shane completely changed my world view and challenged some long held beliefs and assumptions. This book is a Non-Fiction History, written by a newspaper writer who has written for both the Baltimore Sun and the New York Times.

In this book, set in Baltimore and Washington DC, we learn the true story of some of the people behind the Underground Railroad in the Mid-Atlantic.  

Thomas Smallwood was born into slavery in Prince George's County Maryland in 1801.  In the 1830's, he educated himself and bought his freedom.  He moved to the Navy Yard area of Washington DC and opened a shoe repair shop. By night, he spirited entire households out of slavery and moved them north towards Canada. In his spare time, he wrote dispatches to an Abolitionist newspaper in Albany, New York, taunting the enslavers and police - using the real names of the enslavers and those who he helped escape.  Most notably, Thomas Smallwood penned the phrase "Underground Railroad" to describe how abolitionists were helping enslaved people to escape.

Scott Shane is a gifted author who captures the story of the men and women involved in this previously unknown story of one of the most significant players in the Underground Railroad in the Mid-Atlantic. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.  

Scott Shane website: https://www.scottshane.org/

New York Times article about the Underground Rail Road: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/man-who-named-underground-railroad.html?unlocked_article_code=aT-JOE56I-XYNjVAR34FNCbfozz964z9f5SdOR2J6LIUlXAZPuA7ZoR4A0ZzSb_IrTe3-LF2XA4uMbAsVvOabWA1WxHF8xSEcWodmId7LsOt2uHXnv6WsrN6Gn8SlEHUAP-l5y-9DiGje4bPD44mNBQFbVvAPg6OdnTCinhq77l1O5Z2o_jNxIZw1pIbzhtRVclYjo5N8mShG4sm0C96NzcsIEXm0Lolvs1VaddsQa-TnqNAt9hGxC4YPDZ8DXx-HfGPaw4FzZoSYcsMEzgwgu3lK3BUpq5PyjivZocoxxd3BMcxf7pKwEslEGJLyWFkzSUx_CEYkYitTzd819kyPjor12q8h_5gX4P95Q&smid=url-share

Random Pictures

 Some random bits and bobs from this summer!

I hosted many library programs this summer.  It's summertime at the library.  For one program, I froze a lot of plastic toys in ice, and then the kids had to get the toys out of the ice.  In the picture below, you are looking at yellow building blocks encased in ice!  This was part of a larger Dog Man program.  This particular activity was entitled "Save the Town"! (If you've read Dog Man, you know.)

Bubblepalooza!

We found this old movie projector at a museum.  

It's a Kodak, and at one time, it was in a small movie theater.

Modern projectors are so large, this one kind of blew my mind.

Obligatory July 4 fireworks photo!

The welcome to the World Cup Games at the Kansas City airport.

I Ran Away for a Day

Okay, not so much ran away as "abdicated adult responsibilities for a day".  It was around my birthday.  My Mom passed away 2 years ago - 2 days before my birthday. So, I went out to visit the cemetery on the day after my birthday.  The cemetery is out in the mountains of Frederick County.  It's a lovely, beautiful spot.  I took a lunch with me, sat beside her tombstone and caught her up on all of the things that have been going on with me and the kids since the last time I was out there.

It was a gorgeous day!  When I was finished, I drove home the long way.  I stopped by a couple of orchards and picked up Apple Cider Donuts, and the absolute BEST peaches I've had since this time last year! 

When you drive home through the mountains of Maryland, you know you're going to have a great time!

Birthday cupcake!

View towards the mountains from the cemetery.

I stopped by the covered bridges on the way home.

2026 Goals - September Update

How is it already September?  How did this happen?  

BTW, Happy Birthday to my sister!

1) Lose 25 pounds.  Gain 10% muscle mass.

I changed this goal last month.  I am concentrating more on gaining muscle and worrying less about the stress of losing weight.  For right now, that goal is gaining 7 pounds of muscle by the end of the year.  

2) Visit 1 new to me state.

Hawaii

We thought about visiting a new to us state this fall, but we are going to take a staycation.  Prices are up everywhere.  Once we worked out the cost of hotels, airfare, car rental, etc, it was difficult to justify the expense for just 5 days.

3)  3 repairs/improvements to the house.

Project #1: Add surge protectors to the heat pumps and the house.  It's not a sexy fix, but it will definitely keep the heat pumps around for a longer period of time!  We've noticed an increase in the number of power surges we've had lately. The newer HVAC systems are very sensitive to power surges and they can damage the equipment. Honestly, who wants to spend to replace an HVAC system?  They are not cheap. I want them to last as long as possible.

Project #2: We are getting the basement waterproofed.  We've had leaks in the basement for a while now.  We currently have standing water in one corner. The contractor who remodeled the main floor was supposed to fix that, but ended up not doing it.  So now, another not so sexy fix.  But, it's important to the overall health of the house! 

4) 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

It's been a while since I've done this.  You get 40 bags or boxes of stuff out of your house over the 40 days of Lent.  I did NOT get 40 boxes out over the course of Lent.  I got rid of 6 boxes.

I'm beginning to realize that I did this a little backwards.  My goal is to empty out the storage unit - and I'm making excellent progress on this particular project.  Once I get everything out of the storage unit and really begin purging things, then I will get the 40 boxes (and then some) out of the house!

Boxes out of the house during March: 6

Boxes out of the house during April: 4

Boxes out of the house during May: 2

Boxes out of the house during June: 6

Boxes out of the house during July and August: 21

Total to date: 39

Just 1 more box to go.  One of those is a box of shredding, waiting for shred day at our local library this fall.  Seriously, I've got a LOT more stuff that will leave this house over the next few months.  I think I'm going to keep tracking this number through the end of the year.  It reminds me that I am accomplishing things!  (Even when it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything!)

5) Organize old correspondence/letters

I found a treasure trove of old letters and notes from high school.  I have them in a box to sort through next month.  The bigger question is - what gets kept and what gets thrown out?  Do I really want to save any evidence of high school me?  Most likely, NO.

On the other hand... I was given a box of old papers from a historical organization that I volunteer with to organize.  I was in my happy place, organizing that mess!  Many of the documents were of historical value, and there were a lot of photographs.  The photographs have been placed into acid free albums and labeled to the best of my ability.  The documents were sorted and organized into binders in acid free pages.  The next step - for someone else - is to digitize those documents so that back up copies exist somewhere.

Update on this: the letters are somewhat sorted.  I thought I would put them in binders and shove them away somewhere.  Some of them have been organized and put into binders.  This is a much bigger task than I originally anticipated.  I'm not certain I'm going to get this finished this year.  This might be a 2027 project.

6) Big backyard garden project.

I want to put in some sort of shelter for the local pollinators.  I've been searching through the garden catalogs for just the right thing.  I saw something when we were in England a couple of years ago that really tickled my fancy!  I have thoughts.  I just need to make some things happen!

I found the first part of my thoughts on this while in Old Ellicott City last month.  Once the weather cools down a little bit, we're going to look at finding a way to install this in the backyard.

7) Finish the cross stitch project I've been working on for 3+ years.

This is finished! Well over 3 years after I started, the project is finally finished!  I need to block this out and get it professionally framed later this year.  

From the end of February.

End of March

Finished!

8) Transfer Dad's slides to digital.

See my post here about transferring the slides!

9) Put those images into an album.

See my post here about the album.

10) Fill my America 250 Passport with lots of stamps!

Gettysburg - the Battlefields and the National Cemetery.

We went and heard the Lincoln Brigade play taps as the sun went down one Friday night.  No, I didn't take any pictures.  The moment felt sacred, and I wanted to be present.

11) Clear out the storage unit.

Done and done.  4 years after we started clearing out the house to get "a little" work done, we moved most of our possessions out to a storage unit.  And now, almost 2 years after the work was finished and we moved back into our house, we finally got all of the detritus out of the storage unit. Much of what was left went directly to the dump.  Rodents had been all over what was left, and there was mouse excrement everywhere.  It's all gone now. 

Being perfectly honest - there is still some stuff laying around on the carport.  Okay, a lot of stuff.  And no porch pirates have bothered to relieve us of our miscellaneous junk.

12)  Do one totally irresponsible and fun thing each month! 

I took a basket weaving class!  Oh my goodness, that was so much fun!  

13) Go see Falling Water. (Frank Lloyd Wright) 

This is a Bucket List item. 

14) Visit 12 new to me bakeries.

I think I'm falling behind on this.  I need to put in a concerted effort to rectify this sad situation!

        1) Eli Mochi Donut

        2) The Reister's Daughter

        3) Leonard's Bakery (Honolulu)

        4) Tour les Jours

        5) Paris Baguette

        6) The Bake Shop - Williamsburg, VA

        7) Raleigh Tavern Bakery - Williamsburg, VA- not new to me - it's a lifelong favorite!

What I Did This Summer

Do you remember writing these essays back in the day?  I do!  While I have a lot of content in here about random things that tickle my fancy, I don't think I've honestly tackled what has been going on in the Real World. 

We went traveling at the beginning of summer.  We went to Colonial Williamsburg.  We visited Yorktown and Jamestown. I love visiting those historic sites and understanding how we came to be where we are now.  We went to Kansas for the 4th of July.  Not only did we get to see the fireworks, we were there in time for several World Cup matches.  We did not attend the matches, but we did enjoy a watch party, and we had so much fun meeting people from all over the world.  The breakfast area in the hotel lobby was a very fun place to be!

One of our children has gotten engaged! They have chosen a venue!  I got to go to the tasting with the caterer, and soon I get to tag along for the dress shopping.  I did not have a wedding planner back when I got married, I did all the work myself and forgot many things until the very last minute.  These kids have the benefit of having a dedicated wedding planner who is helping them out with all of the details big and small.  I enjoyed planning my own wedding, but my gosh, a wedding planner makes such a difference.

Bulgogi-Mushroom Bowl from the tasting.

We emptied out the storage unit - onto our carport.  Most everything has been sifted and sorted.  I now have several very large empty plastic bins that I need to deal with.  I'm honestly not done yet.  Now that we are about to deal with the water in the basement, we are going to have to clear out the basement.  OK - at least pull everything 5' away from the wall. So... I might be packing up stuff.  AGAIN.  I still have stuff down there that I have put off sorting through the first time.  Before all is said and done, we really will have significantly downsized.

We've been to see a play: Mean Girls.  Which, in some ways, reminded me more of being a mom of young children in the hyper competitive world of children's soccer than my high school. Don't get me wrong, my high school definitely had those cliques, but this band geek was completely out of the loop of that drama.  

We've been to a couple of free outdoor concerts this summer.  My favorite summer activity is taking a picnic dinner out to some outdoor venue and listening to free music!

Picnic with Banana  Pudding!

I've worked a lot. Too much.  I'm trying to work harder on work-life balance.  It hit me this summer that I don't have that.  I really need to improve that!

I've worked out a lot. The front desk staff at the gym knows me by name now.

Oh, and I've had a couple of incidents where I've been sick this summer.  Once with Heat Exhaustion (that wasn't fun) and once with food poisoning. (also not fun)  I have to say, both times, the cat has decided that she is my mother in those instances.  She comes over, runs her paws through my hair and grooms me just like a mama cat would with a kitten.  It's both very sweet and very disconcerting!  

How was your summer?

 

Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop

 Located in Colonial Williamsburg, behind the Raleigh Tavern is the bake shop.  Loaded with all of the carby goodness your heart desires while roaming through Williamsburg, there is one perennial family favorite.  I discovered this on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg back in the 1970's.  It's a Ginger Cake.  Fresh out of the oven, hot and delicious, these things are the best. Everytime that we have been back to Colonial Williamsburg since that initial trip, I have made it a point to stop and get a couple of these delicacies.  Don't let the name fool you.  They are less than a cake, and more than a cookie.  They're very dense and hearty and so good!

Somewhere along the way, I started adding Root Beer from the tavern.  They have other food at this little Bake Shop. I looked at it.  But to me - this taste is the taste of Colonial Williamsburg.  

Honestly, there's a part of me that loves to think that our founding fathers nibbled on cookies just like these!

Colonial Williamsburg

We spent a long weekend in Colonial Williamsburg in June.  We happened to be in Williamsburg the same weekend that the tall ships were in Norfolk.  While we did not make it down to Norfolk for the Tall Ships, we did discover that it happens to be the perfect weekend to visit Colonial Williamsburg.  People flocked to Norfolk, and we had the historic area to ourselves.  We were able to spend a lot of time with the Historic Interpreters - we had a great conversation with Patrick Henry - no waiting for any of the buildings, tours... it was a great experience!  

Have you been to the Museums at Colonial Williamsburg?  For the first time ever, we roamed through the museums and stopped at the Museum Cafe for lunch. 5/5, would recommend that experience!  The food is fantastic, and the staff is lovely.

A handful of pictures from our trip:

The Witching Hour!  We were sitting at a patio, just outside of the Historic District.

The Capitol.  The tour guides were great!

The Governor's Palace.

It rained a bit while we were there!  Loved the rainy adventure!

The absolutely awesome lunch we had at the Museum Cafe!