There are several pics this week, and there’s no real apparent purpose. If you look at them, you might start to think that my old camera stopped working, and I got a new one, and I wanted to play with it.
Late Winter Hurrah
After several beautiful days with temps in the 60s, we got another spate of snow. It wasn’t much. When we got up Friday, we found an inch or so on the grass and nothing on the streets or sidewalks. That’s too bad, because Danita was hoping for at least a late opening.
Danita in her office
I got this picture of Danita in her office because we went to dinner in Catonsville Thursday, followed by a concert at UMBC. UMBC has a beautiful, very high tech music concert hall. The performers were a violin – cello – piano trio performing classical music. They were very good, which was sad, because the concert was not well attended. Students in Music 303 were require to attend (they had a sign-in sheet). They were polite, but it obviously was not their normal genre of music. I think Danita and I might have been the only people in attendance who didn’t have a formal relationship with the UMBC music department. The trio definitely deserved a larger and more appreciative audience.
Smith Island Cake (PB & Chocolate flavored)
As good as the concert was, I don’t want to overlook the dinner, which was also excellent. We went to the Catonsville Gourmet Restaurant the previous week, and we liked it so much we went back on Thursday. The food was still excellent. It included my first-ever taste of Smith Island cake. This is an 8-layer cake. The cake was a little dense and heavy, with plenty of icing between the layers. It was quite good.
Count Down Chain
Danita’s time at work is getting very short. The count-down chain no longer drapes over the door. The pic was for the last day of February. Now it doesn’t even loop back up to the door frame. It just limply hangs on the wall beside the door. Next week will be the last that she works 5 days. We have a road trip planned, then there’s some time off for Easter. Her two bosses are still acting like a deer caught in the headlights. There is a real possibility that Danita will retire before they even decide on a plan for how to organize the office after she leaves. Danita doesn’t mean to be an enabler, but she did give them an out of sorts. Her last day of work is March 31. But she has so much vacation that she will stay on the payroll for two months (keeping her employee medical for those two months). She told them that if they had an emergency, she would come in for a day (and not charge vacation).
Our last bit if news is that we are going to Russia in July. I kept on hearing news that the Ruble was down because of low oil prices. I looked it up, and it is down a lot. Recent historical norms had the Ruble at 30 to the dollar. Now it is 75. So we’re flying to St. Petersburg, staying there for several days, taking a river cruise to Moscow, staying in Moscow for a few days, then coming home. It will be a 2-week trip. St. Petersburg and Moscow are reputed to be two of the most expensive cities in the world. Our hotel rooms will cost less than an equivalent room would cost in Baltimore. How can we pass up this opportunity?
That’s the news for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.