our moonrise kingdom

Suggested soundtrack for this post: Francois Hardy's Le Temps De L'Amour

Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom yet? I hope so, because it's absolutely lovely, and because the title of this post will make a lot more sense if you have. 

The weekend before last Ross and I went on our first camping trip of the year, to Tuckahoe State Park on Maryland's eastern shore. This is Creature on the camping box; I'm pretty sure she didn't want us to leave (the fact that she pooped everywhere while we were gone makes me even more sure of that, but that's a different story). 

I've wanted to go to Tuckahoe for a long time because of its 60 acres of flooded forest. It did not disappoint.

Our canoe rental was only $15 for two hours, and the ranger made it pretty clear that we could stretch that as we wanted. This is a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in the same shot. We saw hundreds of turtles, some small enough to fit in my palm, some the size of dinner plates. 

This is a beaver, who could not have cared less that we were there. We got within three or four feet, and he still didn't swim away or even really acknowledge us. Beaver don't give a s***.

Ross' sharp eyes caught some of our beaver friend's handiwork.

We only saw one other boat the whole time we were on the water. It was a fishing boat helmed by two old guys. If I were writing a short story about this, they would maybe represent the spirit of the river (subtly, of course). That's why I don't write short stories anymore.

This is our Moonrise Kingdom. 

This is Ross. He's whittling a polar bear.

The next day we decided to go to the beach. This is our super delicious breakfast cooked on our super reliable and portable camp stove (thanks John and Diana!).

This is the beach! It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but beaches in Maryland are insanely crowded. I'm from Orange County and I've never seen crowds like this. It was also 90 degrees, which was amazing.

After a completely decadent day on the beach, we stopped in Lewes, Delaware, which now rivals Shepherdstown, WV for the coveted "My-Favorite-Town-on-the-East-Coast" award. Shepherdstown has more vegan restaurants and crunchy folks, but Lewes is smaller and quieter and has the single most elegant bookstore I've ever seen. 

After another night of sleeping out, campfires, whittling and reading, we came home. It was one of the best weekends ever, and it felt just. like. this:

springtime in laurel

It's springtime in Laurel, and the animals (both domestic and wild) are digging it. We are, too. 

P.S. Please note that all of these pictures (with the exception of Creature, obviously) were taken at the river trail behind our house, which is pretty much my favorite thing about where we live.

laurel

Now that we've lived in our town for well over a year, I think it's time that you (my readers) and it were introduced. We live in Laurel, MD. Our town straddles Howard (good schools), Anne Arundel (okay schools), and Prince George's (bad schools) counties. We live in the Prince George's section. Fact: Several of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 (Pentagon) stayed in Laurel prior to 9/11, so, you know. That happened. Thanks Wikipedia.

My point is that Laurel is definitely a mixed bag, but we actually live in a great area with a lot to recommend it. Exhibit A is the Patuxent River, which run directly behind our house. During the winter, when the leaves are down, I can see it from my desk. The river has a trail which runs along it and which is probably my very favorite thing ever.

Aaaaand the river in winter:

Besides geese (and goslings!), we've seen woodpeckers, cardinals, kingfishers, turtles, deer, and fawns near the river. Also, this big-a**, terrifying spider web.

Yikes. 

We live on "Laurel's Historic Main Street," which sounds charming and mostly is, although it's seen better days. Every year Laurel stages a huge festival with food and music and a parade, and it's literally outside our door. Which is pretty cool. 

My other favorite thing about where we live, without question, is the library.

You know that silly book and blog, Stuff White People Like? Well, as it turns out, I really like books that white people like. Because of that, and because our library is just generally underused, books I would have to wait weeks for in Portland I can get immediately here. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, that's Laurel! We like it.

update friday

Hello all. Remember that time in January when I promised that I’d blog more often? I believe 20 posts a week was my delightfully naïve goal. Ah! Something about the plans of mice and men (and graduate students). Please accept my sincerest apologies, and my (mostly sincere) promise to do better. In the meantime, here are some bullet-point updates for your consideration:

CREATURE:

• Loves her hexbug
• Misses her terrace garden
• Is otherwise pretty much the same she always was

ROSS:

• Continues to work extremely hard for the State Highway Administration, making sure that the bridges of Maryland don’t fall down. I think we can all agree this is an important service. Thanks, Ross!
• Had an interesting project lately in which he was checking the plans for a pedestrian bridge that really would have fallen down if he had cleared it. Which he didn’t
• Organized the bookshelf and “the office,” which means the house is pretty much all done. Thanks again, Ross
• Is reading the Harry Potter series in Polish
• Likes Creature a little. Sometimes
• Likes Haylie a lot. Usually

HAYLIE:

• Started working a lot more hours at her job with Kid Power DC.
• Is taking (and mostly really enjoying) classes on Shakespeare, medieval objects, and Virginia Woolf
•  Is presenting at her first ever conference (at GW, on a graduate panel) in a week!
• Is presenting at her second ever conference (in SLC! On a real grownup panel!) in April
• Is flying to Sacramento to visit her dad and family for Spring Break
• Got a summer job with the Institute of Reading Development
• Started a design and style blog which has been really fun (and fairly popular) with Kathayoon
•  Officially became a vegetarian a few weeks ago

ROSS AND HAYLIE TOGETHER:

• Are hoping to have some adventures this summer
• Are planning a co-op garden with some friends (who have a yard and a baby on the way!)
• Can't wait for it to get warmer
• Are really sad about a certain family moving to Seattle :o(
• Miss all of you West Coasters an awful lot

Love, 

Haylie et al    

you stay classy, maryland

There's a couple yelling at each other in the parking lot behind my apartment. Classy.

That is all.