On being a woman...

I have had this post partially written for awhile, and I have not had the energy to complete it because it has not been a priority in my life.  I know I have not updated in a long bit, I have been back in California and in Santa Barbara a good chunk of this time, I was not in town for the recent big news story, but as I had this mostly already written (back in March, it is a hard post to write) and with the recent events making me think on it more I do want to finish and share it.

There are many differences between being a female math teacher and a male math teacher, that I have realized many people do not see or understand.  And I do know it is not just in this one subject but as this is my field, it is where I have the most experience and friends that I have discussed their experiences with.

Women will get comments about their appearance from students, when student evaluations happen. The male instructors I have talked to usually get none at all.  I have gotten many different comments over the years from being told to lose weight, to cut my hair, to grow my hair, to wear makeup, to wear more stylish clothing, to lose the glasses and many other variations.  These comments can usually be found in the section that is for how do you think your instructor can improve this class.

I realize that in society today, both men and women are judged on their appearances.  But to me it looks much easier for the man, he showers, maybe puts some product in his hair and puts on a nice suit and looks good.  For a women, she has to shower, shave, put on a name brand dress, makeup, do her hair, try to smush everthing she might need for the evening into a name brand hand bag designed to hold a tube of lipstick because we can not put pockets into women clothing and even if we did you wouldn't want to put anything into them because that would make her look heavier.  And don't forget the name brand shoes that are not comfortable, require serious coordination to not fall on your face in but she wears them because they do make the calves look good (and on me they make my three littlest toes fall asleep and then not wake up for two or three weeks).  Now suppose these people plan to go out again, he puts on the same suit with a different tie and is good, she needs to have a different dress with it's own matching shoes and handbag.

I get this same thing in the classroom.  As a women I am expected to look good, I need to show some skin but not too much because that would be inappropriate.  A male math teacher shows up to class regularly wearing shorts, t-shirt and sandals and no one notices or would ever comment on it, whereas if I showed up in the same outfit, I would get told that I ought to dress more professionally (yes, I have been told this by my department head back when I was a graduate student teaching associate and my usual outfit was jeans and nice shirt, and one of the male grad TA's wore the previously described outfit and didn't get any comment.)  I'm tired of it, I'm tired of living in a culture that is so image obsessed that I get judged on my ability based on the way I look.

I work in the math tutoring lab and I listen to the comments that students make and when talking to fellow students about who to take as a math teacher the following year.  When discussing a female math teacher about half the comments were about her appearance.  Whereas for a male math teacher, it was a lot less and there was only one male instructor that I ever heard comments about his appearance.

The recent event here in Santa Barbara, and reading some of what the perpetrator said, really got me thinking.  While I was out on the road the comment I got the most was, "Aren't you afraid?" and I would jokenly reply with something along the lines of, "I feel safer locked in the back of my truck asleep than I ever felt in the classroom." And every joke does have a grain of truth to it.  I didn't feel safe in the classroom, I had too many students that felt the world owed them something and that I was to blaim for all their problems.  Every time I had to assign a student the F that they had earned in my class I would wonder is this the student that will come back and be physically violent toward me because of it.  I luckily didn't have any physical violence against me.  Although, I did get verbal abuse in email, in person and with the online professor evaluation tools (which is when I stopped reading them.)  And this crime does show that I did have something to be afraid of, the perpetrator was a (fake, in that he registered for classes and rarely finished them) student at the school I taught at, he was the angry, world owes me something young adult that made me afraid to go to work.  He might have lashed out at the sorority, but it is not that much of a leap to lash out at other aspects of life, like the teachers that have failed you.  As a single women traveling alone I was much less afraid.  And truthfully, on the road, I was not afraid, and one of the reasons for that, is that I am not what Hollywood says is beautiful.  I am not the kind of women that gets hit on in a bar because of the way I look.  I wear jeans and a t-shirt, so I am not the kind of women people look at and think that I'm asking for it.  Why wasn't I afraid, because I am not a beautiful women.  I am not the type of women the young perpetrator of these crimes wanted for a girlfriend.  And for that there is a part of me that does feel safer, and unfortunately there is a part of me that does not fully understand the full extent of what is being referred to as rape culture, because I have not experienced it, as much.

But wait one minute, let's get back to the question itself, "Aren't you afraid?" A man would not have gotten this question.  Why have we as a society taught women to be afraid and men to be fearless?  Why should I be afraid, as this question implies?  I have lived too much of my life being afraid, scared to show the real me.  I refuse to continue living in fear, and that was one of the things the road trip was for to help me show myself that I am not afraid, I can do anything I want. Women should not need to be afraid.  Every person that asked this question is unfortunately buying into rape culture. By asking this question people are saying that I as a single female ought to be afraid and I am not ok with that.  I will admit that at first I didn't realize this, it was the first time someone asked me, "Aren't you afraid being a single women on the road?" that I finally figured out why I was suppose to be afraid.  I refuse to be afraid.

So here is the newest double edged sword for women, don't worry as much about your appearance and get treated like shit because you don't buy into the society norms of beauty or worry about your appearance and get treated like nothing more than an object for a man to posses?  Personally I have chosen the first, mostly because the other is just too much work.

Anyway thank you for reading my little rant.  Hopefully soon I will get the post about why I came back to Santa Barbara and what I have been doing since coming back written.

Mississippi Back woods

Pretty little lake

Monday was spent on the internet, looking at things trying to decide what I wanted to do, where to go, all that kind of thing and a bit of the annoying pay bills, get annoyed by Verizon again, fix my internet on the go box (working again, unfortunately Mississippi has almost no coverage unless I’m within about ten feet of a major freeway).  I had made no decision by the time Starbucks closed so I meandered down to the nearest rest area.  Tuesday morning I got up and looked at the information available to me and a decision was had.  The light bulb flashed on again and I decided to go spend some time in the woods with myself, finish a couple unfinished projects and just relax.  There was a free campground (small, but with running water) not too far and some cheap ones not far from there (one even had a shower).  I decided to stock up on some supplies and headed to the free one first.  There were only a couple other people at it and it is a pretty little place next to a lake (fisherman, mostly safe, don’t need to worry as much about hunters), so I found myself a flat spot to park and I was set up (have I mentioned how great it is to have set up be so easy.) Then WAR PLAGUE hit.  Every war has one, it goes around, people go home sick and this war was no different but this war plague was worse than most.  I thought I had gotten clear but no, just when I thought I was safe, boom.  It was all I could do to crawl into bed and sleep.  I slept for the next 28 hours, only waking long enough to drag myself to the restroom, make sure I still had water and go back to sleep.  I was definitely running a fever.   Wednesday afternoon I awoke to feeling slightly better and my temperature had gone back to normal and I wanted a shower.  So I decided to go try the campground nearby with a shower.  Everything about the place creeped me out, from the completely deserted campground to the controlled burn happening just across the main road (at the only road in or out).  Reading the signage it appeared no fee for day use, so I took a shower and got out of there again.  I went back to my cute little lake that was free.  Wednesday night had me running a temperature again so I went to bed early.

By Thursday I was mentally ready to be up and about but my body laughed at me.  So I sat by the lake and read a book.  It was quiet, the only invasion being by the ducks.  But I relaxed and basically now only felt like I had a really bad head cold.  Thursday night I slept ok, but my body was really not happy with the distinct lack of movement that I had had since leaving war, and my internal thermometer could not decide what it wanted to be at.  Friday, I awoke a bit after the sun, and really wanting a shower again, but I was not going to go back to the creepy campground, so I had a wonderful COLD sponge bath in the bathroom sink (there was a drain in the floor)  and even succeeded in washing my hair in a sink that is smaller than most.  Once I was feeling like one of the living again, I did go into town to get a few more supplies (really for ice), and then returned to the lake to read a book.  I had heard a rumor that on weekends the camp gets inundated with boy scouts, and it is true.  My little flat spot at the top of the hill is fairly far from them so I can just sit back and watch and laugh.  If there is anyone that can rival us SCAdians with shear amount of stuff being brought to a weekend event than it is the boy scouts.  If my left over war plague (now just a head cold) didn’t make me so short of breath I probably would have fallen out of my chair giggling as they unloaded the trailer.  Less than a dozen people most of them half sized, and yet 8 large tents, 2 large day shades, 3 large things of propane, 4 extra tables and all your usually accruements including fishing poles and a boat (the lake, if I can call it that, is small, it took me 15 minutes to walk around only because I was going slowly because dude sick), and then the flag, yes they too brought a flag this one being a US flag but it made me want to pull mine out and put it back up.  I didn't but mostly because I didn't have the energy.  Then a family showed up, who believes that to use the car powered air mattress pump you need to get the car next to the tent, and not that you take the mattress to the car fill it up and then take it back.  I’m too much a people watcher. Another group of adult boys showed up Saturday morning, and since they camped much nearer to me I could listen to them make fun of the boy scout group all day.  I spent it wondering and how are you guys any better.  Saturday also had a couple backpackers head down the trail and some just day hikers.  A car of Californians that give us such a bad name also came in; they had dreadlocks even, asking people for food as soon as they arrived.  Only about half the normal weekday fisherman stopped by.

Cute man made lake in the woods, with ducks

If I knew what was next for me, I would have vacated myself on Saturday.  But I didn’t have the energy for it (the vacating is easy, the where to go instead not so).  Really all I had the energy for was reading my book (I finished all the light pleasure reading I brought with me and I don’t have my sister’s library to read, whatever should I do?)  My symptoms are down to nose cold, annoying but my box of Kleenex and I have become frienemies.  Plus I came out to the woods to enjoy some alone time and hopefully learn to smock.  The first has definitely happened but the second is still in the just theory state, maybe Sunday?  It’s not like I have to go to church.

Sunday I awoke to a sprinkle, and most the other campers trying to vacate quickly, So I opened up the back and started making coffee under the overhang.  Over hang is not water tight when the rain turned into a downpour, but coffee was had and everything put back in before the lightning started, I enjoyed it inside and stayed mostly dry.  Only lasted maybe 30 minutes and then it was gone as quick as it had come.  I dried off the little bit of wet, did dishes and started learning to smock.  I am currently taking a break from the smocking to go into town and buy a few supplies (bread and ice, always the freaking ice, I need to figure out a better way of having a fridge).  Anyway, I'm feeling better and am now looking forward to some more quiet time in the woods.

Gulf Wars

Sunrise, Sunday morning, heading to war.

I have found a flag pole

War was awesome.   Arrival on Sunday went without a problem, and I found the non-hook-up RV area.  I parked myself on what I thought was the side, only to find that it wasn’t.  I was also the only one actually camping out there and where I was ended up became a parking lot, not as nice as I would have liked.  Still, I had a wonderful time.  Gulf wars has a permanent site and some actual permanent buildings, which I find very cool.  And so many classes, I took 2 or 3 each day.  It is interesting to see how other people have interpreted the same information.  It is always fun to take two similar classes from two different people and get conflicting information.  I took many costuming classes, including one on Central Asian coats that explained the weird armpit gusset and exactly how it is supposed to fit, now if I can find some fabric I might have to make one (or I’ll just make a mockup in the plaid I have with me and then start with the under layer in the white linen. At this rate I’m going to come home with more garb than I left.  I think I’m ok with this.)  I need to work on my Italian dress and fix some issues it is having after I wore it 3 days of war (new chemise is perfect).  Walked all over the place, and as normal with war a lot of people got sick, and I was not one of them. 

My encampment, trees do not make good tripods

Unfortunately the threatening thunderstorms Saturday night scared everyone away, and I was slightly concerned about being stuck in the mud, so I also vacated, helped transport a whole lot of gear to a friend that lives nearby and then Sunday went on a mini New Orleans adventure (in someone else’s car), dropped one friend off at airport, then went into the French quarter for food (yummy, but my skin will hate me this week), and then dropped the other off at the airport before heading back to Mississippi.  We stopped at site for the last of the gear, and now I get to figure out what I want to do now. 

I went to an awesome class that helped me make pretty hair.

Still not sure what I want to do but kind of at the point where I must figure it out.  First is figure out the internet issues I have been having.

Then I don’t know, but I'm going to figure it out right now.

Last of Florida, Wandering toward Gulf Wars

Thursday had me awake around dawn because that is when all the truckers are leaving the rest area.  So I was up and going also, and heading north with the threat of rain to come.  As mentioned before, truck butt cover totally water tight, truck bed is not so water tight.  Rain means find a place to hole up and not be driving, so time to get some things done.  First that Oil change, hey look there is a ford place, stop and get oil changed, maybe a hour spent not driving in the rain, but the free wifi does tell me that not far uo the road is a denny's and those usually have free wifi. So once the truck was done (and they made sure to tell me that I will need new tires soon because mine are at the just enough that they are still ok, but any less and they would be trying to get me to buy new tires right now.) I went a mile down the road and spent some time relaxing in the old familar but slightly different Denny's using their electricity, wifi and updating this blog.  It was nice to just avoid the rain and sit and relax.  I had nowhere to be and no time frame to be there in.  I waited out the worst of the rain, used the internet to find a nice looking campground a few hours north in the National Forest, this one having a shower (dude, I wanted a shower after the stickyness that was southern Florida, and I hadn't had one since Sunday and had been doing a lot of hiking/other exercise.)  So the rain was not looking like it would actually stop anytime soon but the worst was over, so I put a towel in the worst culprit for leaks and went off toward the north.  I had a wonderful drive long not the interstate.

Making the turn toward the campground, I discovered the problem with flat states, dirt roads and rain.  The first stream crossing wasn't bad and I went for it, the second was a little deeper and I went for it, the third was deeper still and I didn't go for it.  I didn't want a shower that bad.  So I turned around and headed back toward the main road.  I then headed toward the interstate because interstates have rest areas and my app told me there was one only a couple miles down from where I would hit the interstate.  Unfortunately that meant no shower for me.  I gave myself a moist towelette bath and called it a night.  Even though along the way I had suddenly gained an hour by entering the central time zone.  I was tired and it wasn't even 8pm and I was in bed and asleep very quickly.

Friday had me up with the sun (6am local time).  There were a couple state parks very near me that could be interesting, but those don't open until 8am, so what to do with an hour or two? Answer: Laundry.  Nearest laundromat is about ten minutes from the first of the state parks, so off I went.  Got there about fifteen minutes before they opened, which was just enough time to gather up all the dirty clothes and strip the sheets off my bed (woo hoo clean sheets).  Laundry went well and took just over an hour, I got lots done of my German chemise.  Then I went off to Florida Caverns State Park.

Look me in a cave.

Swamp of northern Florida

Spelunking is fun.  Unfortunately this was a developed for tourist cave.  In that otherwise no one can actually see it as the average height was only a couple of feet before they took out a bunch of limestone to make it walkable.  This is one of the first times where I went spelunking and the temperature inside the cave was considerable more than outside.  It was a cold day for Florida.  After my cave tour I did some walking around outside, which with the rain from the day before was just a bit damp.  And very pretty.  I got some really muddy feet and wasn't wearing the right shoes, so my I want a shower desire started up again.  It was still before noon when I had walked as much of the park as I wanted to, and gone on my cave tour, so off I went to the next state park.

Learning how to use the camera to take selfies the right way.

The next park was only a few miles down the interstate, so off I went.  Looking at the map it looked really easy, so off I went toward the interstate.  The road I picked took me to the interstate, and then up and over it, without any way to get on to the interstate.  I ended up on some back roads and eventually made it to Falling Waters State Park.  There might have been a couple dirt roads involved; these did not have streams crossing them, just many mud puddles.  Came to the park with the truck a little dirtier than if I had used the interstate and it took me at least twice as long, but I had fun.

This state park has a campground, so I got a campsite (Tent only was all that was available, but I was told this is because of the size of the parking space, and as I am a normal sized vehicle, I had no problem.)  I parked myself in my campsite, and went off to see the waterfall.  I would post a picture except that my camera had not turned off properly at the last stop and had eaten all the battery life, so no pictures for me.  This is one of the coolest waterfalls as the water is actually at ground level and then falls into a sink hole.  It is also Florida's tallest waterfall at 73 feet.  (Did I mention this state is flat?  In case you forgot, Florida is flat.)  The walk took maybe an hour and by the time I had gotten back to the campground I had exhausted the trails of the park.  Therefore shower time.  A now cleaner Vivian was able to put clean clothing on a clean body.  I then took some free afternoon light time to actually put my laundry away from the morning, make my bed and in general just clean my room.  I also put duct tape over any of the holes that were letting in light.  Realized that I need more foam between the door and truck bed at the bottom of the back of the truck, maybe that would help the water issue.  Noticed that the campsite had electricity, and it worked so I charged up my electric devices. I wanted another chemise for my Italian, so I cut one out, since I really didn't want to learn smocking yet.  Decided I didn't have time to actually sew it before the sunset, and went to bed because it was cold and dark and I had had a very productive day.

I can sew and appreciate nature at the same time.

I was up after sunrise, not much after but enough that I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day.  Out came the sewing machine, and a chemise was sewn.  I did all the machine work, and then packed it back up.  Decided to wait on the hand work and headed west.  Left the park around 11am and was on my way to war.  Florida took a couple hours to get through, Alabama was only about an hour, and now I have made it to Mississippi.  I haven't bothered switching myself to central time as I discovered it is time change weekend so I would just have to change all my clocks back tomorrow. War opens early tomorrow morning, and it looks like I'm going to be rest area sleeping again tonight, as at this point I'm only about an hour out and have had really good luck so far with rest areas.  None of them have felt unsafe and they let me sleep as much as I want.  I am appreciating the cooler temperatures up here.  I don't sleep well when the nightly low is above 65 degrees, I like snuggling into the covers.

War here I come.  I still need to do some sewing, as I tore one of the straps of my Italian and didn't realize it until trying to make it a new chemise this morning.  I also have some finishing work on said chemise and there is also the smocking on my German chemise.  I realize I only had one decent chemise back when I packed for this road trip and I am so glad I thought to just throw in the roll of light weight linen.  Soon there will be three chemises.

I'm going to try to be out of touch until after war next Sunday, so no worrying about me.

Florida Keys

Tiny rainbow

Wednesday morning started out before first light, this going to bed because it is dark and I don't want to waste my batteries means I'm up really early (just after 5am on this morning) and me worrying about if I let myself get to low on gas driving around the park, my biggest worry as I head out is will I make it to the gas station without having to call AAA?  Yes I did.  And I'm not sure how much further I could have gone but I wasn't yet coasting in on fumes which is good.  Filled up the tank and on my way south, Florida keys here I come.  First bridge and my low tire light comes on, so first gas station I pull off, can not tell which tire it is so I add air to all of them (which reminds me I haven't gotten a oil change since before leaving California and it's due, I should do that latter this week.)  Whatever I did made the light go out and stay out so I'm happy.  Continue down, watched an unimpressive sunrise over the ocean.  Then it decided to sprinkle a bit and I saw a little chunk of a rainbow.

Pretty islands

Where does the land end?

The keys are not just a string of islands like it looks on the maps of Florida, those are just the largest.  There are actually many islands between the main land and the string.  And florida/gulf of mexico here is so flat that one could basically walk from the keys to the mainland.  You would get wet but the water is not all that deep.  Which brings me to the question of where does the land end and the water begin.  Most of southern Florida is marshland in that it is covered by a couple feet of water, and most of the gulf here is shallow in that it is flat and less than 6 feet deep, then there are the plants that grow in a couple feet of water, like the mangroves.  So some of the islands of plants that look like islands don't actually have any ground above water so is it land or not?  Wow Florida is flat and the gulf of mexico is flat and just a foot can mean a very different habitat and different plants that can grow there.

This extra toed cat let me pet him for a long bit.

The drive from the mainland is 100ish miles along the keys, this is 100 miles of tourist town, you have the little shops trying to sell you anything and everything under the sun.  Because this is kind of close to the Caribbean there are some that throw in the pirate theme, but for the most part it reminds me of Santa Barbara except that there is less Spanish influence and more southern feel to the architecture, no red tile roofs here but we do have wrap around porches and fans.  I made it to mile 0 of highway 1 in Key West.  Found myself some parking and went to the Hemingway Home and Museum.  It was interesting to learn more and I got to pet many cats, some of them even had extra toes.  I had been feeling a bit cat deprived so I sat and petted as many of the cats that would let me until I felt less kitty deprived.  I walked along Duval street. I had a piece of real Key lime pie for lunch, it was good.  And had had enough of the tourist town, I mean really if I wanted fabulous beach tourist town I would have stayed home.  And with the humidity (everyone claims it was nothing, but more than I'm use to) and the eighty degree temperature I was hot and sticky and ready to head back to cooler weather.  So I was on the road heading north again around noon.  Stopped along the drive back to the mainland and tried to see some key deer but they were not out, but had a nice walk anyway and saw some turtles at the watering hole.  The ranger claimed that the watering hole was both salt water and fresh water with the fresh water sitting on top of the salt water and that they didn't mix so the bottom of the lake had salt water fish and the top had fresh water fish, I need to do some research but I don't quite believe that is possible.  On my way out, I got stopped by the drawbridge and then I continued out of the keys.

Look I'm at the front of the drawbridge line.

 Once out of the keys I was going to stop for the night at a hostel the internet had told me about (I wanted a shower) but the place looked really bad, so I decided not to go there.  I had a back up plan of going to one of the free campgrounds in the Water management district (there are bunches of them) but when I got there I found it was closed for general camping for hunting season (bad internet, no cookie) so I found a very nice rest area somewhere outside Orlando and called it a night.

Everglades

Sunday, I drove straight down the center of Florida and made it to the Everglades National Park.  GPS took me on the scenic route, including one dirt road (only a couple of blocks worth).  What is there to say about the drive Florida is FLAT and wet, there is water everywhere so he plants are lush.  I arrived at the campground after dark and went to sleep early.

Monday, Sunrise, Long Pine key Campground, Everglades

Me dressed for a bike ride, Everglades behind me 

Monday morning after enjoying a beautiful sunrise, yes I turn in to a morning person when camping, I went on the ranger led bike hike, yes I got on a bike again and realized after I was on it that the last time I was on a bike was when I broke my arm in Berkeley.  I do enjoy bike ridding on flat surfaces, and the everglades are flat.  Just a foot difference in elevation can mean the difference between habitats and if it is a wet marshland or a dry forest ground.  I took another ranger led hike in the afternoon, this time I saw some alligators.

Alligator, posing for the camera

Look, alligator in the water

Wetlands.

Sunset, Campground again

I also did a bunch of trails on my own just walking.  So many signs to read and so much cool information.  I learned a lot about the everglades and just took in some nature.  Drove all the way down to the gulf and saw some keys off the coast, considered for a bit the question of where does the land end and the ocean begin (more on that one later).  Went to the ranger led campfire program, got eaten alive by the mosquitoes and went to bed early.

Look Keys off the coast.

Tuesday I got up really early and drove through the mist down the road, to go enjoy Nine mile pond.  It is not a nine mile long pond it is just named that because of how far it is to some point that no longer exists, and the name stuck, it is just a little pond.

Tuesday, before sunrise, Nine mile pond

Tuesday Sunrise, Nine mile pond

Look I got to Kayak the pond.

I then got to go on the ranger led Canoe hike, which was a blast, I got to kayak because I didn't have a buddy to canoe with (besides I would want to be at the back of the canoe and that would not have been good with all the extra guys needing to be manly out there.)  Had fun paddling through the mangrove bushes and I was the fastest one out there.  Also the only one that got wet, no I didn't fall in, it is just hard to stay dry when in a kayak. I had a blast and enjoyed the nature, and was the only one who wasn't sore at the end, which surprised me.  I have been one of the youngest people at most all of the ranger led programs, except for one of the rangers, and the rest are at retirement age.   After kayaking, I did another little walk and saw a turtle, than just sat and relaxed and sewed before going on the ranger led starlight walk where we got to see all the 'gator eyes, just like in the cartoons where they shine back at you.  It was so cool, still went to bed early because I had done lots and was really tired.  You know that if you get up early and do lots during the day, it turns into a really long day unless you go to bed early too.  I don't feel like my usually nightowl, what getting up at 6am and going to sleep before 10pm.  I did enjoy all the pretty nature and exercise and am feeling much better than I have in a really long time.

Turtle and fishes

Just go south

So the sca event only had maybe a dozen people stay overnight, it was really a designed as a day trip event.  When I left this morning I very quickly made a wrong turn (the nearest city was not the way I went) and I didn't realize it for a bit so I have been doing the just go south plan for a couple hours.  I finally needed to not be driving so I am taking a break and figuring out where am I going tonight?

SCA event was fun, I enjoy the let's make fun of ourselves a bit type of court.  And I'm leaving the event with more food than I arrived, which I always appreciate.  Mead is still a delicious and evil nectar.  I finished the second sleeve of the chemise and have started on the body.

Look at the pretty river, that was flowing past the SCA event.

So I have decided, Everglades National park tonight, all day tomorrow and then the keys Tuesday or Wednesday.  I hear there are gators, but have yet to see one.  I also hear there are bears and they don't hibernate, haven't seen one of those yet either.  Anyway, I'm off, and probably out of touch for a few days.

Last week on farm

Monday after a long day doing farm work including sewing a curtain for the bathroom, I got all my laundry done.  I finally put all my winter blankets away and cleaned out everything in my truck and reorganized, realized yes I do need a shelf/bracer under my table and dried out all the places that had small issues with water (truck bed is not water tight when doing 60 miles an hour in a downpour. Note to self: stop driving when raining hard, or at least add some towels in key places.)

Tuesday after pouring honey basically all day, I went to home depot got the materials needed to add the shelf/bracer, put in said shelf/bracer (just slightly tighter than I was going for, took some pounding to get it in), made and ordered business cards for my wandering costumer alter ego, and went to the store to get some food so that I don't feel quite as beat up at the end of the week.

Wednesday, rain, rain and cold continuous rain.  Started making new chemise for german dress, being silly and doing it entirely by hand, oh those curtains were .  There will also be smocking, at both the cuffs and collar.

Thursday, dry but cold, normal day of pick and wash vegetables.  Worked on chemise (first sleeve is sewn, finished all edges and seams, and is ready to be attached to body) and picked up business cards.  I'm not really a business but I think I might do better at getting a sewing gig if I actually have business cards.

Friday, last day at farm, a very short day, am leaving and going to another SCA event and then to see the Florida keys.  Florida is very flat.

Having a lot of fun at this sca event, everyone down here in Trimaris is super nice and it is one of the few places where I've had lots and lots of just random people say hey I don't know you, who are you?  Still trying to figure out heading down to the keys.  Continuing the work on german chemise.

After the first week on the farm

I'm not minding the farm much, it just is at the it doesn't quite seem worth it.   With the food situation, we are suppose to be provided food, there is a whole list of what all is provided, anything that is not actually grown on the farm is rationed out and not all of it is actually provided.  Lunch is always done as a group and I can only eat about half of it as the common (only beyond salt and black pepper) seasonings are the peppers.  So I have been eating a whole lot of vegetables.   While good for me and making me feel a lot better than living on carbs, I do need some pasta/grain/protein/fat in my life.  I really realized this when I went to the SCA event this weekend and couldn't stop eating all the non-vegetables, I even ate my whole piece of salmon and I usually don't like fish especially salmon.  This combined with the lack of communication is really starting to annoy me and make me think that I won't be staying beyond my two week trial period.  Expectations are not clear, and since everyone else has been here 2-3 months, it is even worst, in that they know, and I'm clueless, with no one really willing to tell me what I need to know.

I did go to a wonderful SCA event this weekend, down here in Trimaris, it definitely has a different feel than events back home but still the same.  The it really doesn't matter what the door says, the bathrooms are unisex does take some getting use to.   They did an amazing job trying to dress up the ymca camp to feel less like a camp and more medieval. And they feed you for the entire weekend, and almost all of it was me friendly.  And yummy food too.  Also there are cabins available, much like black oak lodge back in Caid, but I get the impression that most the events here are like this.  Anyway I had fun and forgot to take pictures and learned how to do needle-binding, and now I want to make myself warm wool socks that don't run if they get a hole.

Since I'm thinking I won't stay beyond my two weeks here, the question is what next?  I'm still trying to decide, but if I had to answer the question today I would say Friday head out to another Trimaris event, and then from there head south toward the florida keys.  I still want to see the oversea highway.  Then slowly meander to Gulf wars, still really want to go.  Probably go to Everglades NP for a little bit.

More on Florida

Yes I was planning to talk more about the farm, I am at Orchard Pond Organics, they do pesto, honey, grass fed beef, and organic vegetables mostly as a CSA.   Yesterday when I got here I got to work right away, first helping put together the CSA bags and then spent the rest of the day weeding, not really all that interesting.  My hands were not prepared for this, no calluses in the places I need them.  Some muscles are very sore but nothing more than expected  Today was a little more interesting, I got to gather some broccoli (one of the weird varieties), make pesto (yum) and pour honey (so much honey).

The Cabin (office) with the honey hut (silver building)

Look farm fields

The hot house

Florida is covered in pretty trees like this.

I have not yet seen the honey bees or the cows, but I am told they are around here somewhere. Temperatures are in the nice area, low last night was high 40s, high to day was high 70s, I can do this.  I can stay as long as I continue working and not doing anything stupid and looking at average/record temperatures I should be comfortable for at least a couple months.  So I suspect I'll be here for a bit (and Rachel, I'm not sure of the mail situation, but I can ask, or you can send general delivery to the nearest post office that does that and just let me know so I can go pick it up.)

Looking at SCA stuff nearby, I hope to make it out to an event this weekend.  In general, I'm doing ok and having fun.

Florida

I'm in Florida now.  It was over 70 degrees today, I got to run around in short sleeves, very much like it.  And it's not going to freeze tonight, also a very nice thing.  So glad to be out of the snow, 18 ish inches in just 3 days.

Glasses finally arrived on Saturday.  And then yesterday, I had to dig the truck out of snow melted to refreeze into very solid chunks, before I could go anywhere.  Spent most of the drive trying to adjust my glasses to comfortable and make them so I don't look under the rims.  My regular drinking water is nicely defrosting, and after one day it's too soon to know but I think I'm going to enjoy myself.  Already have lots of dirt under my fingernails.  I didn't get enough sleep on the road so I am now exhausted.  I also get to learn new ways of cooking because what I think of as staples is not the same as what others think of as staples.  Coconut oil instead of butter and way more from scratch.  Plus a never ending supply of vegetables.

Antsy

You know how when something happens that is unexpected and messes with your plans and then you have to spend time waiting, sometimes one gets antsy?  That explains my mode for the last week.  My new glasses are taking forever to arrive.  I finally got a tracking number, so they should arrive this week.  I am ready to move on, go somewhere, I was really only planning to stay with my sister for maybe a month and then find something else to do.  I was starting to make plans, I was going to leave here last week but then I broke my glasses, and since then I have been waiting for the new ones to arrive.  And that makes me antsy.

Also I think my little sister is torn.  She likes having me around because I cook and clean and I am really not that much of a bother.  On the other hand, I am an extra person in her space and just another thing to deal with at the end of a long day.  Although I do make it better in that I am willing to cook her dinner and will even make some of the what should we eat decisions when she is in the I don't care type mood.  Not sure about the brother-in-law, but get the feeling it is a very similar extra person in our space but she cooks for us internal debate.

Overall, definitely time for me to move on to something different and today I made plans.  I am leaving soon, I have signed up for a volunteer position working on a organic farm in Florida.  I think it will be interesting.  I will learn a lot and hopefully it will help me on my big quest to figure out what I want to do with myself in general.  It will also help me not spend money, as I will get food while there, which is exciting to me.

My quilting project is coming along.  I have finished all the embrodery on my blocks and am currently sewing them into a quilt top.  Very exciting.

Things I've learned by visiting the cold...

... that are common knowledge.

Doesn't matter how much traction your shoes have that ice hiding under the snow is slippery.

Snow can hide some very uneven ground, and fresh snow will let you sink straight to it.

Below freezing weather is fine if you are outside in less than five minute intervals.

Watching people drive on ice is hilarious.

When the roads are clear get out and do stuff, or you will regret it when the roads are not clear.

Any amount of snow or low temperatures can cause issues if it is more than usual for the area.  (ie, eight inches of snow in Maryland is bad and people don't get out; eight inches of snow in upstate New York, they don't notice and everyone goes about their daily routine.)

Wow salt is amazing.

Ice/snow sublimate in dry cold weather.  (Although, salt will make it melt, then pretty puddles.)

Memory foam is very solid when cold.

If the daytime temperatures don't spend much time above freezing, my drinking water will be frozen solid. Need to find some warmer weather and thaw out all that water.

Wow, bad me, no cookie...

...but there are brownies.  I keep not blogging.  Not dead yet.

Thursday and Friday of last week continued with the I'm not sure I can actually get out of here with the ice and stuff, so I read a book (or two.)

Saturday, I went out to an SCA event.  This wasn't an event I would drive all that far to and as it was only about 30 minutes away I thought why not.  It was a little event, a few merchants, a few classes, and a feast.  A nice person was doing henna, so I have a pretty design on my hand.  I couldn't eat the feast, as most everything had paprika or other nightshades, and I was thinking I might stay for the merriment and whatnot at the feast, unfortunately my tummy had other ideas.  It did not like the smells.  Someone had definitely bought new paprika and by the time court was over the entire hall smelled very strongly of paprika, or I'm just really sensitive to that smell.  I went to a couple classes, learned about a museum I want to go to (they have a byzantine collection).  Realized I have one giant flaw in my plan of being a wandering costumer, and that is the which name should I go by problem.  Blog is Vivian, SCA is Theodosia, which are not the same and thus I won't ever get a hey I read your blog type comment (which a little part of me secretly hopes for from someone I have just introduced myself to).  The other problem is they are different faces of me.  So I need to decide do I want to try and change the name of the person that is this blog author (looks like a ton of work) or do I want to try to introduce myself differently in the SCA.  I realized very quickly that in out in Caid, I did not want to go by my real name, so picked an new name, not so sure my real name would have the same problems elsewhere.  I don't know, need to think on it some more, before I go to another event.

Sunday, went to brunch with my sister and her Jewish grandmothers, adopted because everyone needs a Jewish grandmother.  They of course tried to fix my life, I realized I'm not quite ready for it to be fixed.

Monday, broke my glasses, ordered a new pair because the ones that I have left are the ones that make it so I really need to really pay attention when reading and doing close work because I will look under the lenses instead of through and then get eye strain headaches. After that was kinda in a mood and didn't really want to get out, so read a book. I really miss reading for fun.  And I am staying in my sister's library surrounded by books, so I am doing a little bit of it.

Tuesday, I did get myself up and out and I finally made it back to the zoo.  I drove to the nearest Metro station and took the metro.  Unfortunately after I got off the metro, I found that the escalator up was broken, I decided to go for it and started climbing it.  Things for future reference: it was probably equivalent to four or five flights of stairs with no landings, dude there is an elevator, dry plus cold plus exercise equals asthma attack, oh and escalator steps are higher than normal stairs.  I made it up, hit my inhaler, caught my breath, and had no problems then walking up the hill to the zoo.  Which was worth it because I got to see all three Pandas.  The new little one was curled up in a bowl and sleeping, couldn't see much, Mom was eating.

And the third was pacing.

I went and saw more of the inside animals as it was a nice brisk 20ish degrees out and a bunch of the animals are not let out when it gets that low, as they are not designed for the cold. 

From the zoo, I walked to the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.  The walk was nice and cold.  I appreciated the beauty of the area I walked through.  And after the escalator earlier appreciated the mostly downhill. 

Rock Creek Park

I was walking through Rock Creek Park and Potomac Parkway National Park, by my map reading I thought it was just another park, but then I saw the sign.  I would have appreciated the beauty anyway.  I really liked the way ice froze near the surface of the stream.  Appreciate the pretty picture above.  

This is a floor mosaic,look purple, green and white
together in art work.  

About Museum, small but awesome.  Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures, low light, plus no flash, means bad pictures.

Simple bead on wire necklaces.

One of the things that the collectors did was they collected things that they liked because they were different, then later they donated the entire house to be a museum.  So it is one of the more random collections, but also one of the more fun to me museums.  

Amethyst graduated biconical necklace  

Really were else can you go from Byzantine floor mosaics and jewelry to Mayan masks and sculpture to renaissance tapestries to Indiana Jones collectibles.  I went for the Byzantine stuff because I have a byzantine SCA name and want to know more.  The tapestries were a nice surprise because I do love them.
The first piece that I really liked was the floor mosaic above.  Not only is it my colors, it is also fun and spirally, and I looked at it and thought this should be a quilt.  I then read the blurb about it and it says that the middle section is how they represent gingham, which just makes it so much better.

Pretty Tapistry

There was also some nice simple jewelry that would be appropriate.  And then the tapestries, so hard to photograph, but the one I looked at and went, all you people that SCA in hot places need to see the sleeves on this houpelande.  That's right, she has none.  Just a short sleeve and then the blue sleeve is her underdress.  It is hard to tell in my picture, but looking it it in person I am almost certain that she only has the one sleeve on most of her arm.  I think I need to find more of these small collections where I can go and not get quite so overwhelmed.  Anyway, if you are in the DC area and need someplace to go for a couple hours the Dumbarton Museum and Gardens is a good choice.  Unfortunately the gardens were closed something about icy paths.

After the museum I walked down to the nearest metro station, it was a pretty walk this time through a neighborhood, some of the houses have cute little courtyards and then through town, past some of the embassies.  Nothing interesting going on there.

Wednesday and then today Thursday, I spent going ouch, I walked over five miles on Tuesday up and down hills, my muscles are not use to that, plus that stupid escalator equals one sore me. I thought I would try to get out and do something today and technically I did, I went to the grocery store.  It was needed and then I did more fun cooking.  Tonight was broccoli and cheddar quiche, yummy.  I also made more box brownies which are always good.  Been doing more reading and relaxing.   I should sew, I have a quilt to make and only half my blocks have their embrodery.  Need to find something on hulu to watch while I stitch.

Cold

Today was cold but as it isn't suppose to get above freezing this week, I decide to just bundle up and go out.  Also having woken up before the crack of dawn, I had time to figure out my day.  Unfortunately, the roads were still very icy and if it was only 5-10 feet to get out of the parking lot sure no problem I'll at least try, so I walked out to the main road and it had a nice packed layer of snow (also known as sheet of ice).  My truck doesn't get to go play today.  So an indoor day.  Not quite, as we kind of needed to at least make it to the store, my sister and I got into her car (all wheel drive) and went.  I felt it slipping along the road and am glad I didn't try with my little truck.  The cars external thermostat claimed it was a nice balmy 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside and this was the early afternoon so really not going to get much higher.

Me, I'm going a little stir crazy as I had big outside adventure plans that got canceled, so this evening I went for a little walk.  I bundled up in multiple layers of pants, extra layers of hat, nice long many wrapped scarf, snow boots and made my way down the road to the lake I heard tell about.  I learned the delicate balance of keeping nose warm and not fogging up glasses (no you don't get both.)

Look a path and sign, don't know what the sign says but I think there is a lake back there.

Look there is a lake, I think the surface is frozen, and I'm losing sunlight quickly, wind is getting stronger, and temperature is dropping, appreciate pretty winter and get back to the warmth of my sisters place. 

Appreciate the pretty art that mother nature gives us

Again more pretty, The Art of Winter.

Anyway as stated COLD, so trudged back up the hill, wanted to have snow shoes, because there can be a lot of uneven ground hiding under 8 inches of snow.  Successfully made it back to the house without falling, or getting too cold.  The kitty had not moved since I left and I leave you with this fun picture taken as I trudged back to my sisters place.

On the right, you can see my truck and the lovely not icy parking lot, and my sister's place in that row.  On the left the very icy main road that I would have to take to get out, and behind me (where clearly you can not see it) is more of that road and looks even more icy.  Maybe I can try again tomorrow.

I also worked on my quilt today.  I have been doing the embrodery step, I already did all the piecing, so of my 12 blocks all of which have some embrodery I now have 5 blocks completed, and number 6 is well on it's way, and will easily be done today.  I'm hoping to also get number 7 done today.

Math Conference plus things and stuff

I enjoyed the conference and listening to people talk about math in ways that excite them (even the dull talkers that I didn't understand most of, I could tell that the person talking very much liked their subject, even if they had absolutely no stage presence.)  My favorite talks were the Math and Art talks, with the history of Math ones coming in a fairly close second.  I also went to a wonderful talk about pi, yes the mathematical pi not the edible kind.  I now have many great ideas of things I want to do in the near future to bring more math into my own crafts (art, whatever you want to call it.) I also got a lot of hand work done.  I finished my crochet hat and worked on the embrodery of my quilt until I ran out of embrodery floss.  I then spent most the day Sunday sleeping as I hadn't gotten enough sleep the four days earlier (out of house by seven and not back until after ten means not enough sleep time.) Monday was spent in a no can not process new information state of need to play stupid computer games.

Today I'm back to normal (at least normal for me, which isn't very normal) and doing some more cooking.  Tonight I did some slow cooker bbq chicken (with my persimmon based bbq sauce, and I think it is delicious and there are left overs for sandwiches, yum.  I also made some lemon currant muffins, which I'm not sure I like the recipe I found online.  The batter ended up very dry and I had to add just a little more liquid just to get it to mix, plus it called for a whole tablespoon of baking powder, which just sounds like too much.  Zesting lemon with just a knife is hard.  Also could only find a six muffin tin so there are muffins and a mini loaf.  I am down to only one lemon of the bag I brought with me so I don't think I'll be trying again, as I am very much liking lemon water to drink.  The end result, DRY.  Not sharing the recipe as they turned out much more like a scone, and when I eat my left overs I will keep that in mind.  

I also was a lot tired at the end of the week and that means will power was at a low, so I ate foods that I really should not have eaten.  Things for me to remember, yes nightshades still make my insides unhappy, and my skin very itchy.  And really it's not worth it.  I had been getting so nice and not itchy by avoiding all trace amounts, and now I itch.  So my back to normal is except itchy at this point.

I still dislike the cold, and am really glad that there wasn't any snow during the conference.  It is back today and snowing very nicely at that, enough to get my sister sent home from work.  It's very pretty but not much fun.

For those curious, the truffles turned out good.  I am in love with the almond ones and want to try to make Nutella except with almond instead of hazelnut (wait the internet informs me Hershey's has read my mind before I even thought of it, they have a chocolate with almond spread, how do they keep doing that? I mean I at one time put some of their cinnamon baking chips in oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and it added a whole new dimension but chocolate almond spread is just genius, I'm going to have to try it.)  The orange ones are yummy, and I was not as lazy when trying to make small balls of the inside goo, so turned out the most regular shaped and the right size.  The vanilla ones have a bit too much vanilla but over time they have mellowed well or I just have gotten use to it.

Anyway I'm need to get back to hiding from the cold, figuring out where I'm going (the answer is south, Florida looks good, anyone there, or at least south of DC, need some garb sewn?) and doing embrodery.

I like cooking

I like cooking, especially if people have ideas of what they want.  I don't mind all that much if they have no idea and are the type that eats whats in front of them either (as long as it meets dietary restrictions).   I am trying my hand at many different things.  The no nightshade thing makes it really hard to go out to eat, especially for me and the trace amounts.  I have been doing so much better now that I have been avoiding even trace amounts (much easier in "own" kitchen, and not going out as much.) Dinner tonight was an experiment, I found this recipe online and I just had to try it.  I have had something similar at an SCA feast a few years back, and I knew there must be a recipe somewhere, so I googled and found one.  I do prefer recipes where I'm not leaving something out or making a substitution on my very first attempt.  It turned out fairly good, next time I want to make my own whole wheat crust (I cheated and used store bought crusts) and toss all the filling ingredients together before putting in the pie for a more flavorful chicken.  Tomorrow we get to see if it is as good cold, as the recipe says it is good either hot or cold.

When I first got here I made my Vivian safe BBQ sauce this time using persimmons that I had brought with me, from a friends tree out in California (at least the ones I hadn't eaten during the drive out.)  I think I like it better with apricot but since it is not stone fruit season the persimmons make a decent substitute, and now I have enough to last me until summer.  The texture just isn't as smooth, and I pureed those persimmons, then let them cook and then took the immersion blender to it, which helped a ton.  I also made some Meyer lemon marmalade with the lemons from my mom's tree, canned up a bunch and still have a decent sized bowl in the fridge, unfortunately my impatience got the better of me and I didn't quite allow it to cook long enough.  Still delicious but a tiny bit more of the bitter taste than I like.  I'll still eat it and the stuff I canned is still going to go on the road with me and get eaten because marmalade.  I had a few lemons left over and have slowly been using them to give a little flavor to my water.  OMG am I drinking a ton more water, the air is so much drier than I am use to.  Squeezing just a little lemon into the water makes it taste so much better to me that I am keeping hydrated.

I'm also trying my hand at the Field's family truffle recipe that was shared with me before I left California.  Today I made the insides, and have set them to cool.  Tomorrow I get to dip them in chocolate and decorate, I'm hoping it goes well.  As it is chocolate there is very little I could do to make it so no one around here would eat it, and have had to tell the humans to not eat my chocolate until I have finished making them.  Maybe if they turn out pretty you will get pictures, but I'm not a big believer in taking pictures of my food type person so I might forget.

Quilting and the Zoo

This weekend my sister and I have been quilting.  For a bit early on Saturday I was helping her with her quilt, but then I finally went and dug out the box of unfinished projects that I brought with me (the rule was any unfinished project that I don't work on before getting home, will have to find a new home.) And started working on my quilt project.  It is one of those Joann's quilt block projects that I bought on super clearance when one of the Joann's near me was going out of business; It has twelve wonderfully spring filled blocks that are full of applique and embroidery, but not a lot of piecing.  Yesterday I got all of my applique bits traced and cut out and placed and ironed down.  Today I did all of my piecing.  This week embroidery, I might even take it to the math conference.  We did take some time out of our quilting to do something else; we went to the zoo.  Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to go back because the Panda exhibit was members only today.  But look a bear (and me):

First day actually in DC.

Smithsonian Castle

So yesterday was scheduled to be a nice crisp sunny winter day, and thus I planned my first excursion into the city.  I got my brother-in-law to drop me at the nearest metro station and took the metro into town.  Coming up out of the metro tunnel, I only knew basically where I was.  I was somewhere near the national mall and a couple blocks south.  My directional sense can get messed up down in those tunnels on the train, so I follow the crowd to the outside world.  I head in what I think is a northernly direction, only to discover that it was actual east when I caught a quick glimpse of the top of the capitol building.  Woohoo now I was oriented.  And I made my way to the national mall and the Smithsonian Castle.  It had a small sampling of a little bit from all the different museums which was somewhat nice, also since it was a bit before ten yet the other places weren't open.  Then I started down the mall, the first museum was the Hirshhorn Museum.  It had an interesting display about The Art of Destruction.  I was slightly disappointed in that a lot of it was more Destruction as art.  I find that there is a large difference here, the first is the looking at an accidentally destroyed piano and seeing the art to how it fell and the second is going out and destroying a piano with a sledge hammer and calling it art.  I like the first much better than the second.  It did have an interesting display about Hiroshima.  Unfortunately half of the museum was closed for renovation.

So on down the mall I want.  I spent the rest of the day here (close to six hours):

Air and Space Museum

They have some interesting things from the Wright brothers original flyer to an entire exhibit on the history of navigation; The parts I enjoy the most are of course are space related.  Just outside there was a group of volunteers looking at sunspots.  Unfortunately the clouds were not cooperating, although I did catch a quick glimpse of some nice spots.   I was reminded of why museums on weekdays are not necessarily a good thing; all those children running around.  I very much giggled at all the little changes that they made to their exhibit on the planets after Pluto got demoted to a Dwarf planet.  Only some parts of the exhibit have been completely reworked, and it is much less noticeable, whereas others have just had a sentence added or the spot at the front of the exhibit where there are pictures of all the planets plus an empty space for Pluto.  One spot it looked like they decided to add all the other dwarf planets and remake Pluto's tag, as these parts appeared much newer. I really tried not to giggle out loud.  Also the scale model outside still includes Pluto, now as a dwarf planet; I hope they add more about the Oort cloud.  Overall a great day was had.  Also we need to make it more socially acceptable to wear layers on our legs, as my legs were cold from where my sweatshirt ended, all the way down to the tops of my socks when I was outside, but if I had long underwear on I probably would have been too warm while inside.
 
After I was finished I appreciated the pretty sunset from the mall, realized I had had enough standing and walking for one day (plus the other museums I want to go to are closing soon) and took the metro back to my sisters.

Capitol Building at sunset

Washington Monument at Sunset

Clearly I like sunsets, but the temperature was dropping fast, and my nose was cold.

Today has been spent as a quite day at my sister's letting my feet recover and curling up under the covers with a kitty and a book.  There is just enough rain to make me not want to go out in it.