More SATX adventures

Today we visited the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston. The quad is full of animals like deer and peacocks.



Sarah had fun feeding the animals:



While Mike tried to find a deer old friend:



Meanwhile in other news, I made the news! We were watching the local news, and we saw the clip that they were shooting at the Alamo the other day. I popped up in some of their footage trying to get a photo of the Alamo cat, but the banner along the bottom might lead one to believe that I am the new Alamo cat. That sounds like an awesome job, and I will take it! (Thanks to Sarah for helping me with my makeup.)

Adventures in San Antonio

Fred and I flew to San Antonio for a long weekend to meet up with Mike and Sarah. Mike is apartment-shopping in preparation for later this summer when he will move here to begin PT school. So mostly we have been looking at apartments, but there has also been plenty of time for sightseeing and eating.

Remember the Alamo!



The big story in town these days is this cat. Bella is the newest official Alamo cat:



Today a local TV news station was out covering the story. I think a good headline would be "Local newswoman mauled by Alamo cat":



After our visit to the Alamo, we moseyed along the Riverwalk and actually ran into one of our neighbors from when we lived in Kansas. Small world!

What DOES the fox say?

We live a stone's throw from a lot of urban chaos, but our neighborhood is pretty tranquil, and we occasionally see foxes and deer but usually just along the tree line. This morning Fred and I were walking the dog and saw this fox right up next to a house:

Meet Maverick

Annabelle and I are catsitting an awesome cat:

Are you there, Judy Blume?

Annabelle and I went into the city after work tonight (did I mention she's interning at my company this summer?) to hear Judy Blume talk about her latest novel. On the way there, we got caught in a torrential downpour, and I photobombed Annabelle while she was trying to take a selfie:



Here's a better shot of our soaking wet selves:



The talk was great:



And we got a signed copy of the book for our collection:

Awesome!

Annabelle doesn't know a lot of people in this area since we moved here about a week before she left for college. Having Christian here is lots of fun and gives her somebody to go do things with. They've been busy exploring the city. Today they went to Awesomecon, which I hear is awesome:

Random pretty flower

The vine that these flowers grow on was starting to choke some of our roses, so we have cut it back and will monitor it more closely in the future to make sure it sticks to its trellis. We didn't know what it was, so I asked my friends on Facebook. It's a clematis:

Mike's room

Mike's room hasn't been very high up on the priority list since he doesn't really live here. We've been motivated in recent days though to get it fixed up, because Annabelle's friend Christian will be staying with us while he does an internship in the city.

Eventually I would like to update the bedding and we want to add an egress window to make it an official bedroom. For now though I think it came out nice and cozy:

Happy belated bourbon!

I saw an article in late April about places to watch the Kentucky Derby in DC, and one of the places that was recommended was the appropriately named bar Bourbon in Adams Morgan. Fred was out of town for Derby Day, which also happened to be his birthday, so I decided that after Annabelle got home for the summer, we would go there for a belated birthday celebration.

This place is incredible! They have a bourbon menu like other places have wine menus:



Fred enjoyed a tasting flight with supper:



Speaking of supper, they have the best fried chicken I have ever had in my life!

After supper, Fred got to try a taste of the much-coveted Pappy Van Winkle:



All in all, it was a fabulous experience, and we will definitely be going here again!

I never promised you a rose garden

The woman who owned this house before us obviously had a passion for roses. We have quite a nice little garden in the side yard. We don't really know anything about roses though, so I hope they are forgiving of any mistakes we might make.

Practically a service animal

Ginger is helping Fred paint:



Good dog, Ginger!

Father-daughter-nephew/cousin dinner

My nephew Ethan is in town for a class trip. Tuesday is one of my late days at work, so I had to miss out, but Fred and Annabelle met up with him at Union Station for dinner and a quick visit:

Look, an airplane!

Today was the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover in the city. It was quite impressive, but none of my airplane photos turned out very well. Here's a selfie at the Washington Monument though:

Who wore it best?

Annabelle sent me a picture today of her wearing a flower crown:



It reminded me of these photos from Stuttgart in 2004:

Supreme Court tour

For many years, the chief clerk of the Supreme Court was a retired JAG. The local JAG spouses' group started doing an annual tour at the Court, and even though that clerk has retired, the tradition lives on. Today was my first time going on the tour, and it was amazing! We got to take a peek in the courtroom from a restricted-entry side corridor as well as visit the library, which is gorgeous! After our tour, we met with the current chief clerk for lunch in the Natalie Cornell Rehnquist dining room. A fascinating day!

Photo highlights:

Unexpectedly diplomatic

Fred is out of town for work, so I decided to head into the city by myself today to visit the flower mart at National Cathedral. I ran into my friend Tammy and her kids in a Metro station though, and they were on their way to the non-European embassy open houses. I decided to save the flowers for next year and set out for the embassies with them. We wound up getting to walk through the embassies of Nicaragua and Botswana.

Who are the flowers in your neighborhood?

I've been collecting quite a little assortment of spring photos from around the neighborhood. Some favorites: