Pictures

Bonsoir!

Time for a biggish, mostly pictures, less-snarky-than-usual-because-I-have-not-been-drinking post methinks. So I had some visitors. Picture bomb!

Kate and Ell in the caverns!

Joke is on us because Kate is gorgeous.

Elliot is a bit nervous underground.

And I think she plays with her hair when she's nervous.

Or she prepares to become She-Hulk. 

Hurry and take the photo before it caves in on us!

Great shot, terrible coloration. My camera was on some sort of super color effect mode accidentally.

Elliot is sort of happy it is time to go!

I love people in period attire! They had a tent with a fire and a bunch of uniformed soldiers, generals and a band, where they waltzed. Awesome!

We also saw a bear. Yes, a bear. A mother effing black bear just ambling somewhat slowly across the divided highway. It was so cute. I didn't get a picture because I was too busy squeeing, so here is a picture of a bear that is not nearly as cute:

That is it for pictures, which kind of sucks, because we did so much other cool shit that it would have been awesome to have documented! We ate lots of delicious food and we also went to this crazy place called Wilson's Wild Animal Park, where there was almost no other visitors and we were able to get up close and personal with some baby lemurs, a lion, and we got to hand feed some adorable baby deer. It was the unexpected winner of the weekend. Took a stroll down by Hawksbill Greenway, which is a little paved path by a creek in a bird sanctuary in Luray, and saw Pirates: Band of Misfits which was also surprisingly entertaining. Overall a superb weekend with great company and many wonderful surprises that I am pretty sure got my sister hooked on Shenandoah Valley.

Then, I had a sort of grouchy week. A lot of driving all the time, averaging about 200 miles on my car per day for back and forth to my new assignment area, not to mention spending hours and hours in the car, was really putting a damper on my chipper carpe diem attitude. Also, it was in the 90's and raining almost all week. And I broke out. And my landlord charged me $500 extra for rent to make up for the taxes, and I realized I needed a passport, birth certificate or social security card to get fingerprinted for my pending West Coast licenses, none of which I will have before I get back to NH on June 23rd or 24th. So, week was not quite going my way. Until.......

Mom's fix everything. She was dedicated to having a totally relaxed, no stress and worry free weekend away. And that is exactly what we did, slept in, treated ourselves to delicious dinners of Indian food and Southern cooking, and we went to Shenandoah National Park/Skyline Drive, a scenic drive that takes you south on the backs of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had only been up on the drive once quickly when I first arrived, but this was much much nicer. I cannot believe I haven't been going here every weekend and just laying in the grass and staring at the wonders of life, such as...

 This dead tree, all alone on the edge of this scenic vista. Nice spot, mom!  We stopped at the gift shop, where I purchased bird and tree identifier booklets, because I'm always looking at that shit and wondering why I don't know more about the shit that I see hundreds of times a day. All ya'll visitors and friends who I will be seeing this summer, get ready for some knowledge dropping, bird spouting, leaf identifying bad assness. Sounds super intimidating, right??

Anyway, mom and I tried to get to the caverns on Sunday, but when we got there, there were about 700 people in line, standing outside in the sun on the pavement. It would have been at least a 2 hours wait, and we decided to scrap it and head to Winchester to go the gardens I've heard so much about.

Photo op on the way, this lovely little farm with the Shenandoah just out of sight. I love the exposed rock cliff and the mountains. Pretty much everything looks like this here.

Gardens at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

I died here. Over and over. It was like that effing Secret Garden movie except minus the snotty little disabled boy (is that the right movie?) plus an obnoxious Lora chasing animals and flower petals, dreaming about all of the weddings I could have here. 

 Some sort of flowering onion plant. Dude, why don't they sell the onion with the flower? I'd be eating that shit everyday. Thanks, Macro filter!

 This reminds me of the scene in Wizard of Oz where they get effed up in that field of poppies. Even though they aren't poppies. Or in a field.

 Hey! Ducks! DUCKIES! Come here!

 Rose garden is preettty

 Hey Geese! HEEY! Why do they always run? I just want to rub my face in their feathers hear them honk. Does that make me a creep? Well eff you geese, I think you are the creeps. All honky and scratching your beak with your webbed foot.
Wait, what?

Ew. Weirdo. Get out of here!

Here, bear! Dinner time!

In the Zen garden, there is a pagoda. A fake pagoda, with recreated fake Chinese furniture. It would be only natural that there would also be a fake snake on the back of the chair.

 Oh. Wow. That is not a fake snake. Actually it is a 6 foot long Black Rat snake, nearly harmless and pretty skiddish. Like the snake, mom and I made ourselves scarce from the Pagoda after this sighting.

Lastly, a picture from the zen garden. Then my camera died. Another lovely weekend!Thanks to Elliot, Kate and Mom who all came the distance to see me and this lovely place I call almost home.

So much visiting has really put me in the mood for coming home in June. I am going to be driving, since I found out flying the cats would be crazy obnoxious considering it is only a 10 hour drive. I have only four weeks left in Virginia, so I'm planning some day trips and outings. Matt comes to visit the weekend before I leave, and we will be doing all the outdoorsy stuff, like river rafting and hiking. Looking forward to that for sure.

In the mean time, it is just me. Sitting around in Basye, drinking small bottles of wine through a straw, which I started about halfway through waiting for all these pictures to upload, continuing to work on getting out of the grumpy funk that has invaded Loraland over the passed two weeks. I'm thinking that all the new music I discovered today may help, including this. Which is Churchill. Love the folksy, slight country rock vibe. Repeat button abuse is happening presently. Also, the plan is for doing more outdoors stuff in the evenings after work to get rid of the too-much-driving blues. Will keep everyone posted on how that goes!

Visitors and Laryngitis... Visigitis?!

Oh, heyyyyyyy!

I'm Badd at posting regularly. I hope this joke goes unnoticed (sort of). You can thank my cousin Justin for any terrible wrestling related postings. Thanks, Justin!

So, first I was feeling very serious. Then, I was sick and whining. Now, I have company.

Three relatively bogus excuses for not blogging? Si, señor, but there they are.

This passed month, I've had my first trip home, which was way too short and spent somewhat unwisely, had a site-seeing-weekend-turned-hibernate-in-fancy-hotel-room-weekend in D.C., and have touristed with Kate, Elliot and presently, Mom. I've been practicing my languages by watching subtitled anime and German films, as well as the Spanish channel, and perfecting the art of sleeping whilest standing upright in the shower.

I'm tired, and should be asleep, but I had to get this out there before it left my brainspace and before I continued to procrastinate.

Without further ado, I bring you an updated version of: A Yank's Guide to Interpreting Common Greetings and Phrases of Virginians

1. Howryewh?
Roughly translates to, "How are you?" could possibly be a duality, meaning more of "Hello." Since often times strangers say it to you in public spaces while passing before one could possibly have the time to respond something along the lines of, "I'm doin' jus fiine, thank ye kindly. Howryew doin'?

2. Wareboutsheeat?
I have come to believe this to mean "Where abouts are you at?" However, also translates to "Where about is she at?" referring to any animal or baby, regardless of gender, a boat, a car, a truck (clearly very different from a car), a fancy television, or any other number of things having to do with farm machinery.

3. Country mile
See earlier posting for full elaboration, but basic meaning is that whatever it is, you live far fucking away from it, but it is still closer than the closest grocery store.

4. Haller, Holler, Hollow
See earlier posting again for full elaboration. Butchering of the word Hollow, used by people to describe areas in East Nowhereseville populated by hallerfolk, or the nicer version of the creepy families you think of in backwoods Appalachia.

5. Low Water Bridge
Concrete slabs thrown across deep, swift moving rivers, wide enough for one car and can withstand the weight of one car with full capacity, plus 5 adult sized human covered in their own excrement, as the thought of crossing the bridge caused them to relieve themselves.

6. Warsh
Self explanatory, and not uncommonly heard in New England, this extra "R" sounds like Thor's Hammer smashing the Allspark while he is wearing The One Ring. One of civil mind would prefer to interupt those who may use this term and use other terms preemptively, such as clean, cleanse, bathe, rinse, launder... or just to say "WASH" extra loudly with clear enunciation to perhaps bestow some wisdom upon the lesser human who was about to assault your eardrums. Is it clear that I am not a fan of this one?

I will be keeping this list updated, so watch for that, and I will definitely be posting post visiting this weekend. Probably Monday, since it will be 92+ degrees and humid. I'll be sitting inside, with a leopard print long-sleeved microfiber adult onesie on, in front of the air conditioner, enjoying my inside time.

O-genki desu ka? Hope you are all well and doing fun shit for the three day weekend!

YOLO Bitches

So, 26, I see that you are right around the corner, shamelessly staring me in the face with your snarky gaze that says, "Yeah, so how does it feel to almost be in your late 20's?"

Well, 26, it feels fucking great! In your face, time!

Thinking about how my time on the earth is rapidly disappearing, I have made at least 5, no more than 10 "Shit I want to Do Before I Die" lists. No, not a Bucket List. A Shiwatodobedi list? Whatever you want to  call them, the aren't for me. Does it really make sense to spend hours and days scouring the internet to manifest a never ending list of things that you may never be able to do because you are broke, or scared, or the ideas are just totally unfeasible? Or worse, totally meaningless to changing your life and the lives of others? I would bet that most people get so overwhelmed by making their own lists that it seems so impossible to "live a good" life that they abandon it within a year, go back mindless day in and day out without a second thought and wake up at 50 wondering where the time went.

Well, now I'll put on my "grow older with dignity" face, which looks like Helen Mirren in my mind, but realistically is more like Boy George circa 2012 eye-poke debacle. To avoid that whole wake up in despair one day far far in the distant future, I figure, why not just do cool, thoughtful shit every day? You only live once, all. Best be getting to stopping by that book store, or donating blood, or something else every day that only takes an hour or two. Or 20 minutes. Or a weekend.

Now with that self riteous, too-cool-for-dying-of-cancer-list said, I'm also naturally kind of a lazy person. Perfectly evidenced by my visit to D.C. this past weekend, where despite that I had ambitious, museum-going, site-seeing agendas, I had a crappy start to the weekend and ended up just straight chillin', eating out and sleeping in late in my 4 star hotel room. But it was pretty nice! Moral of the story, enjoy the mishaps and unplanned plans as well. Sleeping in an insanely comfortable bed and watching The Lion King until I fell asleep is a total appreciated moment of the weekend.

In other news, I went to the midnight premier of Marvel's The Avengers in 3D. Officially there is no better movie going experience than midnight in theater 1 of 7 sold out shows filled with super geeks who have a geekgasm throughout all the previews, which included Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man, laugh for 3 minutes when Iron Man calls Hawkeye Legolas, and nearly shats themselves when Loki gets Hulk Smashed bam-bam style. So entertaining! My love of Joss Whedon glows brighter than the unstable Tesseract. And Mark Ruffalo? Best. Hulk. Ever. No other Hulks. Nope. Don't Google that. NOPE.

Speaking of cheesy, I had cheese grits this weekend for the first time. Disliked and do not recommend grits in general. Also enjoyed some black water. And by enjoyed, I truly mean drank 4 sips and convinced myself it was giving me a stomach ache, which is absolutely 100% unlikely and is a total mind over matter thing. Why did I buy it? Because I had never seen a black bottle before that had water inside. And I still haven't, seeing as the water itself is actually black. Enriched with Fulvic Acid. Fulvic. That sounds like a sex crime committed on or near a volcano. Tastes like water, but I did feel it left me with total cotton mouth. Blegggghh. It is still sitting on my kitchen table, as I'm afraid if I pour it out it will simply burn through wherever I pour it. I went to Pangea Vegan Products on Sunday and bought everything. Best find of the weekend:

Little soy creamer packets! Makes any diner, deli, gas station coffee into vegan deeeelite.

In work news, I did lots o' nurse-y type things today. 36 staples removed from a hip, home removal of PICC line, wound vac...all in a day's work. My new service area is over an hour from where I'm living, which is a little sad for my gas tank. Will be hitting the good ole Hundy Thous on Lady Blade Runner in the next few weeks. Will take pictures of Carpocalypse 2012, as I imagine it is possible that the car may implode. Time will tell.

Leave me comments if you can figure out how to jump through Googlehoops to do so!  Commence end of post with short list of things I will do this year. Not want, but will.

1. Turn 26. Hopefully this one is a given.
2. Travel as much as possible. Ireland in the fall.
3. Seriously look further into Doctor's Without Borders
4. See family in NH and on PEI as much as possible.

Good Finds

2 posts, 1 night. No cups. (Not) sorry.
Quick list of good finds so far:
1. Sharon's Sorbet

Really what they mean is creamy creamy fatty coconut ice cream from heaven. Only found (so far) at Whole Foods in Charlottesville. Which is 2 hours away. Totally worth it. Like, once a month.


2. The Garden Maze at Luray Caverns

I'm sure this sounds lame to some people. Well, some people, you are lame. And wrong. I got lost for an hour and had a great time walking in circles and being stubborn. I totally knew where I was going. Nope! It feels refreshing to be super duper wrong sometimes.

3. Page Theatre

I cannot even believe this isn't some sort of major scenester travel destination. This old time theater is cash only, has traditional rich velvet decor, and all sorts of awesome, kitschy props are scattered about. It is super eclectic and fun, and the tiny rooms, screens and small seats make you feel like you are in your own private screening room. Also, it is hardly ever crowded, which adds to the feeling that you are some posh celebrity with special priviledges of personal screenings. Which obviously you are. I have seen two movies there and have been the only one in both. Only downfall is they have one single showing of each movie every evening. Must be hard to keep open with so few patrons and so many IMAX chain cinemas. I swear if this place was ever going under, I would do everything in my power to save it. This is what love feels like.

4. Chasing fires

Ok, so maybe not a traditionally "good" find, but a memorable and fiercely beautiful one, this forest fire on the southern border of Page County tore up 12000 acres of G.W. National Forest over 7 days. I've never witnessed a true forest fire before, but it was unforgettable. Scary, beautiful and somewhat tragic, no (human) lives lost but a few homes and farms were swallowed by the blaze.

5. Beer

This one has nothing to do with Virginia per say, except that I became rather intoxicated off of it in Virginia. New Belgian Brewing's Prickly Passion Beer is hellllla good. To note, it was followed by a night of embarassing facebook posts, free ticket winning and Zac Efron oggling. Clearly, some sort of magicdrink, this stuff needs to be imbibed by this lady on the regular.

I'm procrastinating again. Time to finish my paperwork and pack for tomorrow. You see, today is my first New Hampshire's Eve. See you soon, New England. Keep a weathered eye on Logan's A9 gate for a fluffy, probably buzzed homesick girl in happy tears.

Keep checking back for more of this shit. If you want. Dooooo iiiit. And comment. I'd like that!

True Story

So I'm just over a third through my stay here in Shenandoah County, and I haven't blogged anything yet. True to style Lora, I've been procrastinating on this, even though it is something I've been dying to do. So now, I will make up for it with a list of all things that I've experienced so far.


WHAT I'VE LEARNED SO FAR LIVING IN RURAL VIRGINIA


1. To a New Englander, Virginia is like a damn rain forest. It is super green and super lush. I'm sure that has to do with the fact that Manchester NH is either frozen and barren or hot as hell and barren. When I first arrived here in March, everything was already green. There were flowers and flowering trees blooming and beautiful blue skies, mountains with hikers and lakes with boats on them. It was still a little chilly, which I appreciated. I also noticed people have some serious yards. And also people have some serious John Deere ride on mowers. Mowing the lawn is more like landscaping a giant field that may or may not house a collection of the following: cattle/sheep/goats/chickens/cats/dogs/deer/raccoon/llamas/alpacas/groundhogs and a large amount of bumble bees the size of softballs.

2. There are not a whole lot of real fire stations. It is mostly volunteer, so when an emergency happens, you call the local dispatcher, who sets off this insane siren that sounds like an air raid or some sort of natural disater is happening. That one got me in the middle of the night. I thought the world was ending. Then I thought I was hearing things. Then I looked it up online, only to find out it was probably a tornado siren. Then I thought the world was ending again. Then a few days later I found out the the long, uninterupted siren that blares 3 times in a row is just a 911 call. It is the short, multiple, not soon ending blares that mean tornado and imminent death. Good to know.

3. People are so fucking nice. I have talked to more strangers, waved at more passing cars on dirt roads, and heard "excuse me", "thank you", and "how are you today?" more in the past 5 weeks  than in the past 5 years in New England. This is definitely something I adore about this place. Also, ever home, and I mean EVERY home I have gone in to, people have been welcoming, hospitable with offering drinks and food, and curious about me. Almost always I end up chatting away long after the visit would have typically ended. This is the number one reason why I am convinced I have not had an episode of loneliness. Homesickness yes, but no loneliness. If I ever feel even a hint of lonely, I walk 1000 feet to the only small store within a half hour and strike up a conversation with someone for 20 minutes. Awesome.

4. Holler. In Yankee speak, it is the word "Hollow". It refers to the small valleys and ravines in between the mountains. Usually made up of "Holler folk", who may or may not have: 1. Pet raccoons, squirrels, skunks. 2. No heat 3. No electricity 4. No running water 5. Outhouses. They also may or may not be: 1. Illiterate 2. The nicest people you can meet 3. the toughest people you can meet. This one definitely makes me feel part of Appalachian culture.

5. A country mile. A country mile is exactly how far away every usual store, convenience and entertainment is from where I live.

6. The difference between a Yankee and a Damn Yankee is that a Yankee is just visiting, a Damn Yankee has come to stay, and I am neither because I don't have an offensive New Yorker or Bostonian accent.

7. Virginia is southern enough for accents and country music, not southern enough for only fried foods and high obesity rates.

8. Every 3rd radio station is Country. Every 2nd is Christian Contemporary.

9. Manure on a hot day is not pleasant, but way better than being stuck behind a chicken truck.

10. Speed limits are mostly just guidelines. Also, I have witnessed more crosses and memorials roadside here than anywhere ever before. This could have to do with the fact that people are much more religious here. Or just the former statement about lack of speed enforcement. It is crazy though, you see 4 or 5 at a  time in one spot. I should Google Virginia death rates from car accidents vs. other places. Done. Ok, so it is due to religious beliefs then. Some of the memorials are quite beautiful, it is very clear that people and the community take good care of a person's memory.

11. Community is very important, everyone knows everyone, gossip abounds. Luckily people in general seem to be gossiping out of concern or pride instead of spite or anger, and there is not a lot of maliciousness happening here. It is just that everyone knows everyone else's everything. This is an exception in 2 places I have been: Charlottesville, which is Virginia's equivalent of Bedford, NH, and Front Royal Walmart. That place is like international waters, or completely un-policed territory. All bets are off as to what you will witness.

12. I go through almost 5 gallons of gas a day going to and from work and doing errands, but it never seems like I'm in the car that long.

13. What is 3G? I have 2 signal bars in this 2 foot area in the corner of my condo! This is so exciting! I can actually talk for about 20 minutes before losing you. Ultimate uninterupted record!

14. What is that slab of concrete in the road? Why is it sitting across the water? It's a what?! A bridge? Seriously?

Don't worry, the width has got to be at least 7 feet, and the curb is at least 4 inches high, and the Shenandoah River is only about 350 feet deep in some places, so set your mind at ease. You'll be fiiine.

15. This cow. I saw him on side of a completely deserted, middle of nowhere road nowhere near any farms or houses, standing in the ravine on the shoulder. My first instinct was, should I call the Cow Police to report this totally lost cow? Then he looked back at me, told me he was gangsta, and that we coo as long as I don't call to poeleece. I took a picture and realized that cows eat grass and sleep on the ground. He's not in any danger. Also, there is no such thing as the Cow Police, and there was no cell reception. So keep it real, cow.

101. Baby goats and rabbits in my front yard.

No better way to finish than with pictures of adorable animals. Good on ya, Virginia. I think you're pretty nice.

Until next time, my friends. Stay tuned!