Light show

Oh yeah, did you hear about the somewhat-mysterious light and accompanying boom that terrified the residents of Norfolk? 

We could see it from our neighborhood! We were almost home from visiting Joe's family and I (the driver) was pretty startled to see what looked like a strange sort of orange firework, or perhaps a meteor, coming down above the trees.  Joe saw it, too, though he took it in better stride, and we talked about what it could be as we turned onto our street. We figured it was just a few miles away, though, and not across the Potomac River and 100 miles further on south! 

Anyway, it was probably a meteor, seems to be the latest conclusion. What a world.

Vertical!

Hey, it's my keyboard!

I believe that, while I worked at the Dispatch, I got more comments on this keyboard than I did on the actual quality of my work.

It had been used before me by a co-worker with wrist problems until she switched to a position that required less typing and more keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard sat unused until I asked if I could maybe use it, and everyone said yes, please, because it scared them. And no one ever borrowed my computer again.

It took me about a day's practice to type fluently on it, and soon I was back up to 90 words a minute or so. 

The side mirrors are mostly meant to help you with the numbers and the function keys, since all but the most adept touch-typers like to peek when they punch those. The text on the F and # keys is even inverted so it shows up right in the mirrors.

I got to take the pricey keyboard with me when I left the Dispatch, and no one was sad to see it go (except occasional kids who came through the newsroom on job-shadowing days, for whom it was definitely a highlight). The mirrors got broken off in the move, but it still works great. 

Now I use Joe's computer and keyboard more often than I use my own. I miss the lovely vertical, which is sitting quietly next to me.

With child

For April Fool's Day I tried to convince Joe I made him a Veggie Meat Experiment for dinner, but he didn't fall too hard for it before he saw his soup and turkey melt (like a tuna melt). I had just the soup, yum.

Then we were talking about times I've been fooled before, including the time Steffie had us all on LiveJournal thinking she was pregnant -- classic. Joe said I could tell people that we're having twins, which would have been genius had I actually remembered to do it before the day was up. 

Anyway, yesterday probably wasn't the best day to tell people that I'm pregnant since I actually am. (Wahoo!) And I know some people know already, but some don't, so! The baby is due August 29th or so, which is the day before our first wedding anniversary. That means I'm at the beginning of the fifth month of pregnancy, which means the baby is almost the size of a large mango and I'm getting nice and round in the belly. 

Joe and I are really excited. Sometimes it feels like the whole world is excited, especially people at church! When we told the people who go to daily mass at the monastery with us, they cheered, and they told us, "Your baby's going to have 150 godmothers and godfathers!" On our way out today, they told me to enjoy my dill pickles and my strawberries. Mmm... both sound good to me, but maybe not together. 

I have been sick at times, but I'm more often really hungry... much of the time I'd like to spend posting on here has instead gone into endless rounds of making snacks and eating them. And since I know someone will ask: yep, I've craved some things, mostly salty snacks like french fries and potato chips in the beginning, and also Indian food. I have now memorized the location of every McDonald's in the area, though I didn't visit any of them. There are no Indian restaurants nearby, alas.

I might have felt the baby move yesterday, but I'm not sure. And I should get to see it again today, since we're having our second sonogram! I'm hoping it goes well. We're planning to keep the gender a surprise, though I've had a bit of a premonition. I'll let you know if I was right! And Joe will probably let you know if I was wrong. :~)

I'm guessing I got most of any questions you have, but if you have any others, ask away!

Here is a picture from sonogram number one, taken a month and a half ago. You can see the head on the right, the belly to the left, and the teeny, tiny hands.

The baby

Music made for sharing

If you don't mind tapping your feet a bit, you can listen in here and tap along with me: 

The thing that entrances me about this video, besides the way the song builds, is the bass player, who apparently has a tiny baby in her backpack. My favorite comment from the YouTube page: "I'm guessing the baby is going to grow up to be a musician."

World waking up

At the monastery on weekdays, there are daffodils and cherry blossoms, and it is shawl weather again. Today Sandy was wearing something light red with sparkles.

At Mass on Sunday, we noticed a number of little girls in new pink jackets, and a few older women, too!

Yesterday I bought tomato seeds

And today there is snow covering the backyard.

One more thing

I asked the internet how many tomato plants it takes to feed a family. The numbers recommended for a family of four range from 6 plants to 24. Ack.

Dreaming of greening

I've spent much of the morning planning this year's garden. It is not a big yard, but I got down to mapping it out, and there's a lot of plantable space. More than I can probably plant this year, actually! I hear the way to do it is to expand the garden a bit each year, and that does seem the most manageable way, but oh, I wish I could just fill the yard with flowers and fruits and vegetables.

A corner of the yard doesn't drain very well. I'm going to try to see if I can get things together enough to make some raised beds, but it will still be wet underneath. Are there any plants that like such conditions? Other than rice, I mean...?

I'd have thought I was too young for this

When I worked at the Dispatch, writing obituaries was one of my favorite things. People are so interesting. But aside from the few "glory obits" we ran -- the long staff-written pieces usually reserved for community leaders and accident victims -- there weren't many obits worth reading. Most of the paid ones (those in tiny type in the back of the local section) were written like mad libs: 

[Name] [euphemism for "died"] [date] [location]. [He/she] was born to [parents] [location] [date]. [Military service info, if any, plus small flag icon.] [List of survivors.] [Etc.]

Our favorite euphemism for "died" may have been "was carried to heaven by the Lord's angels." 

But HERE! Not only is the type of the obituaries bigger, but they are full of interesting details. A fellow in Wednesday's paper "enjoyed gardening, farming, spending time with his family and grandchildren, playing poker and dancing with his wife." I imagine his wife liked that! Then there was the woman who got her purple belt in karate at the age of 67 (I think). There was the man who, in addition to many other interests, developed a habit of driving to the local store, parking, watching people out the car window for hours and eating cheese curls. The employees of the store even dedicated his usual spot to him!

No one here is "carried to heaven by the Lord's angels," though -- or if they are, the obituaries don't mention it in as many words.

Singing praise

The weeds in the backyard have purple blossoms now.