A Day Outside: Berry Picking, Orioles Game AND Concert in the Park!

What a day!  I basically just spent the whole day outside.  What could have been a cloudy rainy day according to the forecast on Friday turned into a hot and humid day in the sun.  I brought my big sunhat, sunglasses and lots of sunscreen... still got a bit of of a sunburn but not as bad. Now on the aloe treatment.  Next time more sun screen!

Today started early with a trip to Larriland Farms were I met one of my friends and we picked raspberries.  They have both red and purple variety at this time of year and even blue berries.  We stuck to the raspberries and got over 5lbs worth that we split between the two of us to take home.  It was getting to be really hot out with the sun overhead so we didn't stay much past noon.  I have already eaten a bunch and the rest are in the fridge waiting for me to blend into a nice smoothie that may turn to sorbet if I decide to freeze it.  Seeing that the rest of this week is looking to be another lovely heatwave, having some sorbet might be perfect use for the berries... Boiling them down into jam is a great way to help preserve them, maybe even a fruit pie, but I enjoy quick and simple so blend, drink, freeze.

Right behind home plate!

 Midday, after I sorted and cleaned the berries I brought back I went to the Orioles vs Blue Jays baseball game.  I traded in the tickets (thanks Grandmom) for a seat that was in the lower level and with some shade.  Turns out I got a great seat, just a few rows below the press box and right behind home plate.  Of course there was a tall guy sitting in front of me who blocked my view a bit, but otherwise really good seats... My brothers might be a bit jealous, but I can't control that.  Because I didn't have too many distractions of other people I actually was able to pay attention to the game... O's won!

Panorama view from my seat

Even a dragonfly wanted to watch the game (it's on the wire)

The panorama view is from the game midway through. I took it from my seat above the head of the tall guy you see in the above picture to the right of the frame. My standard baseball game snack is cotton candy but I also got a fruit smoothie as a nice healthier drink choice that also is very refreshing in this hot weather.

After the game continued on to phase 3 of my day outside in the sun... interestingly enough it's a Sunday.  I moved on to Patterson Park for their summer concert series.  Today's musician was Ellen Cherry.  The concerts are held outside on the eastern lawn of the Patterson Park Pagoda.  Bring a lawn chair, picnic blanket, kids, dogs, munchies, whatever and chill out to some awesome music. Concerts are free and open to the public from roughly 6:30p-8:30p. 

Before the concert by the Pagoda

I tried to get a group of people together but only one person found me, it was pretty crowded.  There was a nice ambiance, for lack of a better word. We picked a nice shaded area below the Pagoda to sit and listened to music.  I brought munchies... including some of the berries I picked.

The picture on the left is from before the concert.  I was walking over a bit early and stopped in the shade a bit before climbing the hill.  Did I mention it was hot outside?  People do climb up inside the Pagoda to see the skyline view of Baltimore.  I prefer the ground level maybe a hill view as you can see in the picture below.  I guess you can call it the "after picture" because the hill is filled with people and you can see Ellen Cherry in the white dress on stage singing. The Pagoda is behind me.  As the sun got lower into what photographers "Golden Hour" which is when everything seems to have a nice golden glow at sunrise and sunset.  I wasn't quiet able to capture that effect in my own pictures, but I was able to observe it from my spot on the hill. 

After my long day outdoors I am happy to be relaxing indoors again wondering where my next adventure may take me.  Stay cool everyone, Meet Me Outdoors.

Little purple flowers

When I came home from work today one of my neighbor's kids was out riding her trike along the sidewalk.  She stopped when I pulled up my car and couldn't wait to tell me about some flowers that seem to have gone missing from the lawn of my house. Earlier this spring, maybe around late February or early March (I know spring is technically end of March but it was a mild winter) there were these nice little flowers that popped up around the lawn. They had broad petals, a light purple in color and were relatively low lying along the ground, should have taken a picture.  Anyways, my neighbor was eager to point out that they not there anymore, and wondered where they went. My answer was that the flowers may show up again later but for now there are yellow flowers in the lawn. She pointed to some other smaller purple flowers on her lawn that were near some yellow ones. I was happy that she was noticing all the different plant life in our area, even if most people would identify them as weeds. 

Between when I last saw the purple flowers of a few months ago and today there have been a series of mini-snow storms that could have frozen some of the early bloomers. However the daffodils in the median of our road toughed it out despite the bit of snow and are now in full bloom. Also in bloom are cherry blossom trees, I passed a few with white flowers and pink flowers on my drive. I hope to go out and take some pictures.  Keep exploring your neighborhood green spaces, Meet Me Outdoors.  

A Tampa Vacation: Downtown

I spent the day walking around in Downtown Tampa, FL. There is a walking path along the Hillsborough River including a great stretch of green space at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.  Since I came in winter holiday time the park has a tented public ice skating rink, but that goes away after New Years. I noticed that the waterfront park is family and dog friendly, even has a playground!

The weather was great.  I decided to walk along the river and explore between stopping at various museums in the area.  Across the river I found the Henry B. Plant Park which is a historic park from 1891 which was a part of the Plant Museum.  Not knowing the area or the history of the Plant Museum, I originally thought by its name, like some of you may have as well, that it was going to be some sort of botanical garden.  Turns out it was a hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel built in the Moorish style as a luxurious stop along the Plant system of railways, steamships and hotels and named for Henry B. Plant. Right now a part of the building it has been preserved as museum to show what life was like at the time it was built, the rest of it is part of University of Tampa.

Tampa Bay Hotel now the Plant Museum and University of Tampa

The Henry B. Plant Park has twisting paths and sculptures among some amazing trees.  IT was the garden for the visitors of the Tampa Bay Hotel. While the University was closed for the holidays and students not around at the time, I could imagine it to be not only a great place to sit under a tree and read a book or to get a few friends together and toss a frisbee.

The picture on the right with the squiggly sculpture is part of the park. The sculpture is in the park and the building on the right side is on the other side of the river but from where I stood they looked the same heights. I thought it looked cool so I took a picture.

While walking around in Plant Park I saw some interesting plants that I have yet to identify but I noticed there were roots that were coming out of the stem. Only other time I saw that was on orchids, however they aren't the only plants that have these types of roots called aerial roots.

The picture here is a closeup of some of the details of the Plant Museum. The top part the looks like a weird cone shape is called a cupola, there are 4 on the top of the Plant Museum and they standout in the skyline because of their unique design.

It was lots of fun to explore the downtown area of Tampa, FL, especially the green spaces along the river.  The architecture was also nice to see along the way. There is only so much one can do in a day.  If you live in a city or visiting one take a look at some of the pockets of green space.  Meet Me Outdoors.

Moon over the Science Center

I was taking a walk the other day along the Baltimore Harbor and noticed the Moon was out.  I got a picture of it over the Maryland Science Center. (It's the bright object over the arching roof of the building.)

On Friday nights, if it is clear out, they open the observatory to the public.  When the Moon is out, and isn't a full moon, they look at the craters. Sometimes, they even aim the telescope at the planet Jupiter when it is visible in the sky. Even in the city you can see some stars in the sky, you just have to have to scan the sky on a clear night.  But if you want to see more stars you will have to leave the city for that. 

Next time you have a clear night or one with few clouds go outside and look up. (If it's winter you might want to grab a jacket, mittens and a hat so you don't freeze.)  Go explore the sky, Meet Me Outdoors.

Welcome Signs and Road Signs

This is a look back at some of the places I have been on my recent road trip.  While I created separate blogs for some of the big stops and finds I wanted to compile some of it, and can go back and add other highlight days in the future as my memory untangles the past 2 weeks.

A suggestion from a friend of mine that I got before the road trip was to take a picture in front of each "Welcome to..." sign along the road.  While we did start in Vancouver and went through Seattle, WA, we didn't get the "Welcome to Canada" or the "Welcome to the USA" signs, otherwise, each state is shown for the first entry, as some we left and returned.  With that in mind... here it is:

Since we went through Route 66 for part of the drive we had to get a pic with the sign as well.  It was not an easy sign to find, especially since it was getting dark out. This was just at sunset.

While at first I thought stopping to take a picture at every welcome sign would be a bit of a hassle, it turned out to be quite fun.  Looking back through all of the pictures of me standing on the side of the road pointing out the welcome signs did make me laugh, but mostly because my friend kept taking my picture at an awkward moment when I was goofing off waiting for the picture to be taken. I'd recommend this road sign journey for other road-trippers as it is not only a great way to stretch after lots of driving but it also shows a record of where you been.  Let the good times roll, Meet Me Outdoors.