| 26 OCT 2008 at 9:20pm |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5536
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | So, you left the Left Coast and came over to the right one? Excellent, welcome!
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| 26 OCT 2008 at 9:51pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I googled map of American states and it showed me the first 10 of 61,000,000 entries. Good lord.
So now I know where Maryland is. Funny, but I would have guessed the Dakotas were in the middle somewhere and I definitely thought the great lakes were a bit further left. Are you sure you haven't been moving stuff around - you know, just to confuse the foreigners?
Hope you enjoy your new home Stooge. Why did you move?
Andromus will have to adjust his JA'ers map maybe.
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| 26 OCT 2008 at 10:09pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
I lived in Maryland two different times and loved it. The first was as a little kid in Olney just north of Washington, DC in Montgomery County and the other was as a young man in Annapolis. Also hung around Georgetown a lot, sailed all over the Chesapeake Bay and visited every corner of the state.
Have a great time their Stooge and make sure you find a nearby place to get super-fresh oysters and blue crabs in season. The local pan-fried crabcakes and crab bisque (with a shot of dry sherry) are to die for.
If possible, get out and play on the bay too. It's agreat way to meet a lot of wonderful people and get in on the thriving nautical scene. That's how I met Walter Cronkite, Graham Kerr, Mark Spitz and a host of other famous folks that love to sail - not to mention all the big sailmakers, naval architects, Naval Academy grads, and a long list of successful businessmen, doctors, professors and other interesting people (including many attractive girls)
Cheers, Terry
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 12:16am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I love googleearth. I looked up Chesapeake Bay and must say I liked this photo which some kind soul had posted. I do think houses with wooden walls look incredibly cute. Must be cold in winter though.
[img]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8116/mainststmichaelsxl2.jpg
[/img]
The photos of the sailing boats all looked picture postcard perfect, blue skies, flat water, clean boats.... very nice.
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 1:17am |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
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Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
Caroline, you should do a Google Image Search for "Annapolis, Maryland" or "Annapolis Harbor" and take as look at some photos of the town from across the water on a crisp, clear Autumn day.
It's a lot more crowded now (on land and on the water) with too many tourists and weekend sailors. But my friends back there still enjoy the quaint brick streets and old city docks that are much less overrun during the colder months.
You would love walking around and popping into all the little shops, antique stores, pubs and restored historic homes like the Chase Lloyd and Hammond Harwood Houses on Maryland Avenue and the William Paca Gardens around the corner on Prince George Street.
At times you can also still wander the docks and meet oystermen cooking up authentic crabcakes in large iron skillets on their boats and handing them out to passersby.
I think you would also be fascinated by touring the U.S. Naval Academy (right there on one end of Maryland Avenue and America's oldest state house at the other end - as well as old St. John's College just a couple of blocks to the west.
One thing you won't see there are overhead phone or power lines. They were all moved underground years ago when the historic society and city took up every brick from every street, sank the lines and then carefully replaced every last brick back in exactly the same place.
If that all sounds interesting, take a peek at the websites linked below.
http://reservations.annapolis.org/Info.aspx?EventID=%202
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/tour_paca.html
Cheers, Terry
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 2:00am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
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Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I've just had a quick whizz around your old stomping ground Terry. Very nice, very neat, very like the America we see in the movies. And I see you have a sky like ours - big and blue and empty but I know the air's hotter down here.
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 2:31am |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4940
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Interesting facts: Though one of the smallest states in the union both by land area and population, Maryland founded in 1633 was one of the first 13 colonies. It also was among the first to vote in favor of independence from Britain while others had to be dragged somewhat kicking and screaming to the table (eg. South Carolina, New York and even Pennsylvania, where the first Continental Congress came together in Philadelphia).
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 4:23am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | And it was named after Queen Mary Tudor of England who doesn't enjoy the best press I'm afraid.
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 4:48am |
TCPrivate Detective
Posts : 688
Joined: 14 NOV 2005
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Caroline (27 OCT 2008 4:22am)
And it was named after Queen Mary Tudor of England who doesn't enjoy the best press I'm afraid.
You mean she's had the reputation of being cruel? *shocking*. I never would have thought from Bloody Mary.
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 5:50am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
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Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Well, you have to understand her life TC. That father of hers was totally brutal towards women. Her only comfort in life was her religion, in which she was totally brainwashed by male clergy for their own political reasons and by the time she got married she was too old to have babies and her husband hated her anyway. Poor thing. Naturally the only thing she managed to do was attempt to rid England of as many Protestants as possible.
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 5:56pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
Before we were married and before we could afford a real apartment of our own, my wife and I lived in what was originally Samuel Chase's law office on West Street just off of Church Circle in historic downtown Annapolis. It was a wonderful, old, restored two-story building with a converted attic and cellar.
We ocupied the front (streetside) bedroom on the second floor and shared a great room, kitchen and bath with three neighbors.
The first floor was offices and a tiny tea room out back with a nice garden dining area in the white picket-fenced backyard. The attic housed a (very) small efficiency apartment and the cellar was a little pub owned by an Irish friend who loved good beer, music, poetry and chess.
There was also a small, brick-red shack off the backyard where luthier Paul Reed Smith set up his first guitar shop. That same year, I designed his first brochure and refined his logo, which was simply an adaptation of his now famous ivory, bird-in-various-stages-of-flight fretboard inlays.
A few blocks northeast was Justin Martin's shop. He was also a luthier but specialized in fine, handcrafted acoustical guitars and dulcimers (Paul made custom electric instruments). Justin was also a very talented jeweler and the town was full of gifted artists, artisans, writers, poets, musicians and even a few philosophers. We knew them all and counted many as close friends.
Those were good times . . .
Cheers, Terry
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 10:01pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Gosh, that sounds like a very crowded house Terry.
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 10:51pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
Actually Caroline, we usually had the great room and kitchen all to ourselves in the evenings because three out of four neighbors worked at night. The other commuted to Washington, DC very early every day and was gone before we even awoke. So the one bathroom was also free in the mornings.
We often had friends over too and after a short while, it became a regular gathering place for musicians, artists and writers / poets before and after performances, readings, art shows and other events at the little pub downstairs.
Although small and out of the way, the place attracted a wonderfully diverse group of people that included the local bank president, the head of hydrodynamics at the University of Maryland, the state's official poet laureate, an esteemed psychiatrist, some brilliant engineers, numerous St. Johns College tutors and Naval Academy professors, plus many more.
On the artsy side were many very talented folks including published authors, noted musicians and painters. In the middle, we had lots of sailors and just plain old folks that liked good company, interesting conversation and a quiet place to relax and have a beer.
No longer there, it was called The Dove.
Cheers, Terry
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 10:58pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
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Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Well it sounds great. I reckon if you ever set your mind to writing your memoirs you'd discover so many interesting characters, some of whom you've probably forgotten. There's a market for this sort of nostalgia you know.
It's amazing how informally young people can entertain without posh furniture, or caperts, not much money and then something happens and suddenly we need a polished table and fancy china plates and everything moves up-market and there's a whole lot less socialising.... ..... I think kids have a lot to do with that. :
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| 27 OCT 2008 at 11:43pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
Originally Posted By Caroline (27 OCT 2008 10:58pm)
Well it sounds great. I reckon if you ever set your mind to writing your memoirs you'd discover so many interesting characters, some of whom you've probably forgotten. There's a market for this sort of nostalgia you know.
It's amazing how informally young people can entertain without posh furniture, or caperts, not much money and then something happens and suddenly we need a polished table and fancy china plates and everything moves up-market and there's a whole lot less socialising.... ..... I think kids have a lot to do with that. :
Spontaneity at that age was also so much easier Caroline. But Annapolis was a pretty casual place anyway - where the rich and famous hung out all the time with regular folks on the docks, in pubs, out on the bay and at private gatherings like ours.
I suppose it's just easier to mix such diverse people when everyone is wearing topsiders and jeans sipping a beer and making new friends. As I said, the pub was tiny and there was no dress code or other pretenses. So you never knew who might be sitting next to you joining in on a sea chanty or a ballad or listening to original poems on a Thursday night.
It was very cool though when someone like Bill Schustik or Caroline Hester would drop in unannounced and just start singing along in the most amazing voice you ever heard. Neither had a famous face but they were both very accomplished and wow could they sing.
Other times we would be jamming away doing some favorite Crosby, Stills and Nash tunes and suddenly a stranger would join in on an instrument like the violin. How fun that he or she was classically trained at Julliard or Peabody Conservatory and a member of a renowned orchestra.
More often though it would be someone like the world champion fiddler from the Country Gentlemen who had been sitting quietly in the corner until then or just some kid that had immense raw talent and no name yet.
Cheers, Terry
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| 28 OCT 2008 at 2:24am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | I never did cool things like that when I was young. Or at any age since then come to think of it.
When I was engaged (and still not finished my high school matric) we bought a big house yards from the beach that was built in 1881 and we set about renovating it and making it into 10 appartments. Naturally we lived in the largest one on the ground floor made up of the domestic rooms, kitchen, scullery, etc which all needed extensive renovations. The garden was filled with enormous horse chestnut trees and long grass - I don't think I ever walked to the far back wall which must have been 10' tall and built of lovely irregular stones not brick. The rooms had 15' ceilings decorated with deep ornate cornices and big ceiling roses and marble fireplaces. The doors to the two front ground floor rooms (Drawing and Dining rooms) were decorated with deep relief of Grecian ladies that matched the embossed frieze. There were outside sheds for coal that housed a staff toilet etc that gave us grief one winter when the lead pipes burst during a thaw. On a clear day, from an outjutting window in the attic, we could see the Great Orme at Llanddudno in Wales jutting out into the sea. And naturally we could watch all the container ships coming into the new container docks at Seaforth right on the mouth of the river Mersey. It was built there because Liverpool docks were too silted to be of any use to anyone. The new European Union was dragging all the work down south.
Our cellar had been fortified as a designated bomb shelter during the war and still had the rules of behaviour posted there as well as lots of old wicker and mahogany furniture. I wanted to keep that stuff but my Hubby refused - he likes new things - so I made the antique shop owner's day when we decided to emigrate and clear out all this stuff.
So instead of partying in my 20s I worked damn hard. As well as paid employment, on weekends and at night I painted and laboured for my father's tradesmen when he let me have them (at cost). I bought furniture from the auctions and carted it home, manhandling it up stairs and into flats which I advertised and let, selecting only female tenants of course who were mostly older than me.
So when we had our buddies around it was mostly to play cards with monopoly money and we were all so poor that it went unremarked upon that I had newspaper for carpet and shoddy second hand mismatched chairs and that guest had to dress warmly because the tiny electric fire didn't even begin to warm the room. And we thought nothing of walking around the district back and forth for hours hand delivering christmas cards to save on postage. lol
One time we had to work through the night until 6am laying lino and hanging curtains and getting a flat ready for the tenant who was moving in at 9am.
And when we emigrated - we bought a 7 days a week food shop. ear me was I ever a glutton for work..... :-/ I have virtually no memory of the music from the the late 70s-early 80s because I was simply working. I think today's young people have the right idea - they don't marry, they party and travel and have a good time.
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| 28 OCT 2008 at 7:24pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
Sounds like you missed the freedom of youth Caroline and took on a lot of responsibility at an early age.
I worked and studied hard too. But I also played hard, traveled a lot, had diverse interests, and met a wide variety of people from many walks of life.
Someday I'll tell you about the less respectable escapades I had as a young man like the Great Steamship Round of Roast Beef Caper at the Annapolis Hilton Hotel on the harbor.
I didn't instigate it and nobody was hurt as a result. But we did get into a lot of trouble and had to make restitution. Oh well, at least the crabs that lived off the Eastport point were happy because they sure ate well that night . . .
Cheers, Terry
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| 28 OCT 2008 at 7:37pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Well, you could always tell me in a pm if you don't want the whole world to know about your more nefarious exploits. However, I'm not at all surprised that you managed to mention crabs - just about every anecdote of yours involves food somewhere.....
I'm living my life backwards Terry. University at 48 (well, 50 now) actually makes me feel much younger because I'm hanging around people in their 20s. I've grown my hair long again (I had it cut when the babies came along) which makes me feel young even if I don't look it. There are some other oldies like myself, and there is a camararderie between the teachers and the older students who are predominantly women on this campus.
I know I won't be partying though - too old - but I think even the young students don't party as much now as their parents' generation may have. I was checking over my academic record yesterday and I have a grade point average of distinction. Actually only have two grades that are below that. Not bad for an old chook. 8-) Kinda raises the pressure on me though to keep it going. :-/
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| 28 OCT 2008 at 8:14pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
Food, wine, women, art, music, sailing... yes they were all a big part of my earlier adventures Caroline and except for latter, they still are some of the more pleasurable aspects of my life. I hung up my Henry Lloyd foulweather gear a few years back and now only get out on the water once in a blue moon.
Don't travel to exotic places much anymore either but would like to again some day. Or maybe I'll just write about the ports I've already visited - back when "foot loose and fancy free" described me to a tee. If you added some soothing steel drum music and the sound of waves gently caressing a remote, pearly white beach, you'd almost have the theme song of my youth.
Cheers, Terry
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| 28 OCT 2008 at 8:14pm |
| Deleted User | Well, you could always tell me in a pm if you don't want the whole world to know about your more nefarious exploits. However, I'm not at all surprised that you managed to mention crabs - just about every anecdote of yours involves food somewhere.....
Oh, no, Terry- please tell all of us! We promise we won't tell on you! [smiley=lipsrsealed.gif]
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| 28 OCT 2008 at 9:41pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6693
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Online | .
There's nobody to tell Traveler.
We were nearly caught red (as in rare roast beef au jus) handed in the act of pirating the heaping centerpiece of that night's grand buffet at an exclusive gathering of Maryland's Democratic Party leaders.
Hey, we were young, we were brash, we thought the governor was a corrupt old bastard, we had a boat at the adjacent dock and we had consumed just enough beer to think it would be funny to commandeer the juicy, tender steamship round that beckoned us right there by the backdoor of the hotel kitchen.
Why you ask were we wandering around the Annapolis Hilton that evening? Well, my buddy was dating one of the young ladies that helped organize the event and we arrived by yacht. The private dock was right off the pool area, which also abutted the main ballroom and service kitchen, the door to which was ajar and boy that roast looked good. It smelled good too and we hadn't eaten all day.
So after a few beers, my friend decided to pop his head into the kitchen to see if he could rustle up a little grub and there wasn't a living soul in sight. In a moment of rather rash thinking, he turned to me pointing to that succulent mound of simmering cattle flesh and said, "Are you hungry?"
The rest was akin to a bad comedy act with the two of us stumbling across the pool deck and down the stairs to the dock carrying a huge stainless-steel roasting pan under the starlit sky. We did manage to get aboard the boat, stow the loot and push off from the pier just as a flood of angry kitchen staffers, the hotel manager and numerous honored guests poured out of the hotel in hot pursuit.
My friend had started the diesel engine by then we were several feet out into the canal when the manager demanded we return the stolen beef. We edged closer to the dock and he even tried to board the boat. But my buddy threw her in reverse and the guy almost went head over heels into the water.
That's when he decided to be a real a-hole and called out, "You have no authority over maritime law pal. If you want to board this vessel, you'll have to get the Coast Guard." He then added that we would gladly welcome them aboard and offer them a beer back at our slip across the creek.
He then steered the boat out into the city harbor where we (stupidly) disposed of the "evidence" near the Eastport point. A short while later we were met by an intimidating group of law enforcement officers and hotel officials at the marina.
Oddly, not a single person actually witnessed the theft and the yummy beef had been down below out of sight all during our first encounter. So when they boarded the boat to search it, no evidence was found and no arrests were made.
It was dead obvious we were guilty though and we didn't really want to make enemies of all those people. So the next morning we called the hotel manager (who we already knew) and proposed a quiet, out-of-court settlement that included a sincere private apology to all concerned.
That same day however, the local newspaper did run an article with the headline, "The Great Steamship Round Caper" or something like that. Our names did not appear but a description of the "suspects" and the "getaway vehicle" did. I might still have the old clipping somewhere.
Oh yes, the girlfriend...
Her relationship with my firend was not known by anyone at the hotel or any law enforcement agencies. She also stayed waaaay in the background during all the excitement that night. So she was safe but the love affair to say the least was over.
As for the governor, later that year he was arrested, tried and convicted of racketeering and fraud. His name was Marvin Mandel.
Cheers, Terry
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| 29 OCT 2008 at 12:35am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | What a splendid caper! LOL I could see it all as I read your words Terry - like one of those teen comedies. Isn't it amazing how beer can alter a person's reasoning?
Pity you didn't get to have a few bites of the steak though.
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| 29 OCT 2008 at 7:01am |
| Deleted User | My exact thoughts, Caroline - after all that trouble they didn't even get a single bite?
My first thoughts as I started reading was: Ooh, here comes a sad tale of a girlriend soon to turn ex-girlfriend...
...ah...reminds me a bit of the stupid pranks some of my male varsity mates got themselves into all in the name of bravado or politics:
Stealing of mascots, was one of them, but worse to me personally, was "panty" raids on the female residences, which would be perpetrated by spraying the females with powder fire-extinguishers to get us running out of our rooms, and they'd then raid our wardrobes for 'prize panties' [smiley=shaking_head.gif] [smiley=furious.gif] "Pranks" you say? Huh! 'theft' I say! Not to mention who sat with the powdery mess afterwards!
I also remember a raid where I was grabbed and smeared with shoe polish by one group; the other group then came along and "apologized" - then offered to wash the polish off again; which the bastards then promptly did by popping me into the shower..! [smiley=furious.gif] [smiley=furious.gif] [smiley=furious.gif] ahh.. yes.. youthful pranks and all good fun, I hear you say...
There were a few times where the perpetual rivalry of the male residences almost (or actually) got themselves arrested. One lot actually stole an old cannon from a nearby museum, (it was standing outside - heaven knows how they managed to transport it, though..) and kept it hidden somewhere on the ground floor of their residence building. When it was found by authorities, of course no-one owned up to the theft.... [smiley=detective.gif]
Enraged police threatened to arrest the entire building's residents - and everyone else just giggled.
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| 29 OCT 2008 at 7:17am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Traveler, sounds ghastly.
There isn't the same 'going away to university' culture here as there is in America and Europe. Adelaide kids live at home and attend one of 4 Adelaide universities. In England, it's very rare to attend the university in your home city - a friend of mine did so and she needed special permission. Leaving home for another city was an integral part of the experience. Not so in Australia. We do have lots of overseas Asian students who live in share accommodation some of which is supplied by the universities.
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