Lexi ⁽⁹²⁾

Brian Bilbrey September 1, 2019

1 September 2019

The eighth month is over, and the hottest temps around here are beginning to fade. It's a three day weekend, *and* I got out of the office a bit early on Friday. So I got the lawn mowed when I got home that day, leaving the weekend for relaxation and a bit of inside chores. Lexi, however... Lexi just lays around on the bed, worrying about kids setting off firecrackers on holiday weekends, and wearing my socks to fend of the coming of Winter. Still in holiday mode, but it's going to be Labor day tomorrow. Is Labor paying attention…

Brian Bilbrey August 25, 2019

25 August 2019

After several miserably hot days, we've had a couple of days transplanted from mid- to late September - highs in the mid 70's. Lovely weather. Earlier in the week, we made it down into DC to meet up with Pat and Nathan. They were in town from California, and found some time in their family-full schedule for us. A lovely late afternoon and early evening, we had. First, a couple hours at the Philips Collection, including their wonderful, moving, and occasionally horrifying exhibition: The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement. The exhibition uses art and narrative to bring…

Brian Bilbrey July 7, 2019

7 July 2019

As holidays go, this one was less than stellar. We started by trying to get out fishing early. Sadly, our local favorite hole had a "Gate is not operating" sign up. Perhaps they just didn't want to deal with holiday crowds while on holiday staffing (it's a pond on a local preserve, requires special permits, etc). Meantime, right after breakfast, we'd found out that the flush mechanism on the main floor toilet was busticated, so a new flush handle was on our list. So we left the failed fishing hole, and dropped by the poor second choice hole. Once there,…

Brian Bilbrey May 5, 2019

5 May 2019

We had all of the above grade windows in our house replaced on Friday. It's been a really busy week. I came home Thursday after a half work day, and spent the balance of my waking hours preparing the house for window replacement to start early Friday morning. All the window coverings (but for the master suite, which I held up until 7 AM Friday) were remove, cataloged and set aside (there's a story there, hang on...) Everything not nailed down was mostly moved at least three feet away from all the window openings, to facilitate the work. A fragile…

Brian Bilbrey March 17, 2019

17 March 2019

But first, here's hoping that St. Paddy's Day brought you joy today, whether you're Irish, Irish-adjacent, or just ... I dunno ... human. On the entertainment front, we attended opening night for Pride and Prejudice at the Annapolis Shakespeare Company last night. The show is a real joy, and introduced us to some new actors, including a superb Mr. Darcy being portrayed by Daniel Beason. Old friends on stage included the marvelous Laura Rocklyn as Elizabeth Bennet, Dexter Hamlett as Mr. Bennet, and Ian Charles playing the unpleasant Mr. Wickham. My secret joy of the show was Kitty Bennet, played…