Paris Baguette

A new location of this chain bakery cafe opened up across the street from my office last month. Now that the novelty has worn off and the lines have gone down, I ventured across the street this morning to pick up my lunch.  I loved my salad!  Korean BBQ.  It was spicy, but it was good!

I also sampled one of the tarts. It was so very cute, and so very delicious!  While I may not have been over there today, several of my coworkers have gone on investigative expeditions and brought back the very tasty results.  I have to say, this little tart is my favorite.  It's just enough to give me something sweet, without being an overwhelming amount of sugar.

Look at all of the beautiful cakes!

My Veggie Garden

 It has been a very chilly spring here in the Mid-Atlantic. I have attempted to plant a veggie garden.  It has been a massive failure to date.  A late frost has wiped out just about everything.  I started some tomatoes and peppers in the house - and they are still in the house.  It hasn't been warm enough to take them out and plant them, yet.

I think the biggest sign of just how odd this growing season has been is to show you a picture of my snap peas.  I planted them on March 17.  I've always planted them on March 17.  This is the middle of May.  Usually at this point in time, I'm looking at some beautiful big plants.  Instead, this is what I have.

I filled this box full of peas.  What is going on here?  I was digging through that box yesterday and found a lot of peas that have yet to sprout.  The peas were new and packed for this year.  At this point, I'm wondering if I'll ever harvest any peas.  The vines sure are pretty! 

Fort Frederick State Park

 Over the weekend we explored Fort Frederick State Park in Big Pool, Maryland.  This delightful spot is out in the panhandle of the state, on the Potomac River and 15 miles south of the Pennsylvania border.  It is the only Stone Fort built by the British in North America.  It was built before the French and Indian War (Fun fact: The French and Indian War is considered to be the very first "World War".)  

The site itself is full of history.  It was used as a POW Camp during the Revolutionary War by the American Army.  George Washington slept here at least twice.  It was bought by a black family - the Williams family in the 1800's. The Williams family used this land as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and later it was the site of one of the first Black Schools in Washington County. It was sold in the 1900's, and bought by the state.  It was the home of a Civilian Conservation Corps campground during the Depression.  Eventually, it was turned into a  State Park.  

In addition to the fort, this state park also has several beautiful hiking trails, and it intersects with the C&O Canal trail. 

This is one of the points inside of the star of the fort. According to that nifty sign,

there was an earthen fill around the top that was high enough to hold a cannon.

 

Entrance to the Fort.   The only way in/out was through this door.

 

One of the lovely trails.

 

This was my favorite trail!  In the picture below, you can see the beaver  dam.

 

Author Ellen Oh

 It was a great honor to attend a talk held by Ellen Oh last month.

Ellen has written many books for both middle grade and young adult readers.  I adore her stories.  I've read most of her books, and each time I find a new one, I feel like I've found an undiscovered treasure.  My most favorite book of hers is Finding Junie Kim.  While Ellen was born in New York City (also where she grew up) her parents were from South Korea.  This book tells the tale of her mother as a little girl.  During the Korean War, her parents disappeared.  Junie Kim and her siblings began to walk across the countryside.  The story is captivating.  It is haunting.  It is a beautifully written tale of human resilience.  

I have always read a lot of Fantasy.  I love the world building. It is difficult to write a captivating fantasy novel, and when an author does it well, it can change your world view.  During Ellen's talk, I learned of a Young Adult Fantasy novel that she wrote that I have never read.  (And I thought I was pretty good at keeping up with Fantasy, so I am ashamed to admit that I missed this title. It was published in 2013.  How did I miss it?)  It's called Prophecy - it's a novel of the Seven Kingdoms. I put the book on hold at my local library - but it is only available as an e-Book.  I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive.  Rest assured, once I finish devouring that book, I will review it here!

Ellen is also the founder and CEO of We Need Diverse Books.  How to sum up the mission of WNDB in a quick sentence when an entire hour would not be enough to talk about what they do?  I know - I will copy and paste directly from their website: At WNDB, we’re creating lifelong readers and a more compassionate world through the power of diverse books. We support marginalized creators, publish inclusive stories, and provide readers with books that reflect our world.

website: https://www.diversebooks.org/

Ellen Oh Author Website:  https://www.ellenoh.com/

Founding Mother

I went to a book launch party earlier this week for the book Founding Mother, by Laura Kaye and Stephanie Dray.  Set in Revolutionary America, this book follows the life of Abigail Adams, who was the wife of second president John Adams and mother of sixth president, John Quincy Adams.  The book is based upon thousands of hours of research into her papers and letters.  The book was officially released on Tuesday.  

The authors spoke to us about their book, their research, and Abigail Adams.  I learned more about Abigail than I had ever known before in my life.  I am enjoying the book!  It's a good read!

Below are a couple of pictures from the event.

Both photos were taken by Park Books on Main, the sponsor of the event.

Random Photos

 A random collection of photos that have accumulated on my phone over the past couple of months...

We went to see Patti LaBelle in concert.  The woman is absolutely amazing!  What a treat!

The Beach on a chilly April day is delightful!

Who doesn't need dinosaur sand toys?

And below - two different varieties of flowering cherry trees from around my neighborhood.

They were so pretty this year!

2026 Goals - May Update

This has been a busy month.  The husband had cataract surgery on both eyes this month.  The surgeries were a week apart.  He is seeing so much better now.  Even better, for the first time since he was 10 years old, he is able to see long distance without his glasses. He wasn't able to drive for a while during the recovery.  And he hadn't been able to drive at night for a while.  All in all - I'm really glad that everything is over, and he is on the road to recovery.  

At the end of the month, I went to a crop in Delaware where I found myself catching up on the many photos that I had converted from Dad's slides at the Preservation Station in Baltimore County.  I feel like I have accomplished many of my goals! 

1) Lose 25 pounds.

Weight Lost This Month:  1 pounds

Total Weight Lost to Date: 4 pounds.

Slowly making progress! They say that slow weight loss is sustainable weight loss. I sure hope so.

2) Visit 1 new to me state.

Hawaii

I'd love to visit another new to me state this fall!

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 lateley. 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.

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

Total to date: 10 boxes

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.

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 something.  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!

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!

I made it into Washington DC earlier this month and walked around the National Mall.  I added several stamps to my passport!

11) Clear out the storage unit.

Almost.  Husband can't haul out the last of the trash until his doctor gives the go-ahead after his cataract surgery.  We are literally 2 dump runs away from being finished.

 

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

When I went scrapbooking with my friend - I count that entire weekend as irresponsible!  On the way down, I stopped at several places that were of personal interest to me.  Barnes and Noble.  A new to me library branch.  The outlet malls at Rehoboth.  The beach, the boardwalk.

Oh, let's not forget the food!  Crabby Dicks. Panera.  Agave.  Fishers Popcorn.  We ate well!

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

This is a Bucket List item. 

14) Visit 12 new to me bakeries.

        1) Eli Mochi Donut

        2) The Reister's Daughter

        3) Leonard's Bakery (Honolulu)

        4) Tour les Jours