Playing tourist

James and Meredith are in town for a few days with their boys, and Fred and I took today off from work to accompany them on their journey through the city. Here are some of my favorite photos:

My new favorite wall

Finally got the kids' portraits up in the family room!

The incredible shrinking mulch pile

Three days ago, this enormous pile of mulch appeared in our driveway:



Here it is today:



It seems to be melting. In other news, Fred's back sure is hurting.

Eat this

On March 16, I saw a Facebook post by Fine Cooking for an amazing looking cheesecake to make for St. Patrick's Day. I don't know about YOU, but I don't have 2 pounds of cream cheese just hanging out in my fridge, so I had to take the weekend to get my supplies together. It was totally worth it though, as I think this is probably the best cheesecake I have ever eaten:



Can't wait to make it again!

Home improvement . . .

. . . or one of Dexter's kill rooms?

We are finally getting around to fixing the ceiling after the Easter Flood of 2015:

Mess transit

Oh, Metro!

WMATA announced late this afternoon that they'd be shutting down train service at midnight tonight and keeping it closed for all of tomorrow in order to do emergency inspections. Gotta stop these tunnel fires!

The Internet comedians wasted no time getting funny. Some suggestions for new Metro maps:





This is actually a real website that monitors Twitter for reports of smoke or fire on WMATA property to predict whether Metro is on fire:



Here's another regrettably useful website.

Guess I'll be working from home tomorrow!

Returning to music

I had a French horn for my departure; I returned to banjo music.

DeLand: Last-minute Florida fun

Some people come to Florida for the beaches or the theme parks. Me, I like a yard sale:

DeLand: Big plans (and a visit from Canada)

Mom and Dad are signing the papers and getting excited for their new kitchen:



Meanwhile, Annabelle and Christian are having fun with friends in Toronto for spring break:

DeLand: Gator hunters

Jenny and I started off the day with pancakes at DeLeon Springs and then headed for Woodruff Wildlife Refuge, where we hoped to see an alligator or two. We got ridiculously excited over a couple small ones and then found this big boy (girl?):



We took some selfies:





Such a beautiful place:

DeLand: A couple of lizards

We stopped south of town today to take pictures of a dinosaur that is decorated for St. Patrick's Day:







Just down the road we saw an alligator hanging out on the banks of a retention pond. The fence kept us from getting within selfie range:

DeLand: Work hard, play hard

We spent part of today cleaning out the garage:







You can work up quite a thirst that way! Thank goodness for Chili's and their 2-for-1 drinks: