Magic on 34th Street

A restorative antidote to the pressing crowds at malls all over America, Jim and I were part of a different kind of flash mob this past weekend in our hometown of Baltimore...

Sending you all Beauty, Blessings and Creativity for Christmas and the New Year!

Flag Making in Baltimore

There once was a flagmaker named Mary Pickersgill who lived in Baltimore with her daughter Caroline.  Caroline was born in 1800 into a family of important flagmakers, her grandmother having sewn flags for General George Washington's Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

In 1812, the United States was at war with Britain.  One day the flag shop was visited by Major George Armistead and two other military officers from Fort McHenry, a star-shaped fort that protects the mouth of the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.

They requested that Mary make the largest flag possible...so that there would be no way the British could miss seeing it should they sail into Baltimore harbor.



Over the following weeks, Mary, Caroline, a couple of nieces, and an African-American indentured servant sewed approximately 350,000 stitches over four hundred yards of wool bunting to make the 30'x42' flag that came go be known as the Star Spangled Banner.



Since there were no flag standards at the time, the flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes.

The stars were two feet wide from point to point...



And the stripes were each two feet wide, making this young lady just over 4 feet tall...



The flag became too large to contain in the flag shop so the women moved it to the floor of an alehouse where they could lay it out to complete work on it.  It took them six weeks to complete the flag and Mary was paid $405.90.

Two years later, Baltimore watched as Washington D.C. fell and was burned by the British.  They prepared themselves to fight.  As expected, the British sailed into Baltimore harbor on September 13 and 14, 1814.

And it was Mary's flag that flew that night over Fort McHenry, the same flag that Francis Scott Key saw in the dawn's early light and the same flag which inspired him to write the Star-Spangled Banner which became our National Anthem.

The Maryland Historical Society is following Mary's path and re-stitching that same flag in the same six weeks in honor of the Battle's 200th year anniversary.



They have enlisted many quilting guilds in the area to do the bulk of the work but they are holding public stitching days so that anyone who is interested can go and take a stitch...

I found a couple of hours to zip down there on Saturday...

And put my stitch into this ginormous flag!

The next and last public stitch day is on Sunday, August 11, 2013 from Noon to 3.  

If you're in the Baltimore area, I highly recommend you stop by.  You can pre-register here...but if you forget, I think they would still welcome you.

They have re-enactors in period costume...

Who share all the history of this important flag...

People of all ages and sizes came to stitch on the flag that will fly over Fort McHenry this Defender's Day on Saturday, September 14.  

Though I was by myself, I had fun capturing the joy of this family that was next to me...

I don't know what it was about putting a stitch in the flag...

But everyone who did so seemed to love it!

You can see the original Star Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian's American History Museum in Washington, D.C.

And you might be interested in a prior post I wrote about Defender's Day in Baltimore here.

JOY!

My favorite moment from the Superbowl...

The city is ON FIRE with Excitement and Joy!  The entire city has been purple for weeks.  Another fave was seeing a 70 year old women doing the Ray Lewis dance.

Just a quick reminder that Harikuyo: The Japanese Festival for Broken Needles is this Friday, February 8.  Let's have a blog hop on Friday where we all share our special ways of honoring our fallen needles.  I'll set up Mr. Linky on Friday's post so we can go visit one another...so consider posting about your broken needles, your needlebooks or anything else honoring your needles this Friday!

See you again tomorrow after we've come down a bit from this post-game HIGH!

A Day for the Dads

For the past week, my home town of Baltimore has been holding a Star-Spangled Sailabration, honoring the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore in the war of 1812 ~ the battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled banner, our national anthem.

Over 40 tall ships and naval vessels have sailed into the Baltimore harbor and many events have been held to celebrate the bicentennial of this famous battle.

Yesterday on Father's Day, my family went to Fort McHenry. I've posted about the wonders of Fort McHenry before here.  Even though the event was free, we had to pre-register and get tickets. The tickets stated that all attendees had to be in the park between 8am-10am even though the show didn't start until 1pm.  They were expecting crowds of 25,000.

Here's DH Jim and my sister battling the crowds to enter Fort McHenry at about 8:30am...



Thanks to our early arrival we did excellent seats and settled in to read, do puzzles, and play cards while we waited...

  Even though we were perfectly situated, I'm not sure this picnic area was...
 

The wait wasn't too bad for the adults...

But some of the adults were forced to get creative in keeping the kids occupied...

Finally at 1pm, the Navy Seals performed a demonstration of an Extraction.  Evidently there was a Highly Valued Individual (an HVI) hidden in the crowd.  Undercover Seals came onto land to locate and extract the HVI.  They used the Zodiac boat to come into shore...you can see it below being hauled onto a Navy Mark V.

The whole time they were attempting to extract the HVI, there was simulated combat with resistance on  shore.

The Zodiac was protected by the firepower of Navy RIB (rigid inflatable boats)...

I have to admit that it was cool to watch these amazing boats and men in action.

Let's just say that the testosterone was flowing.  It was the perfect machismo event for Father's Day.



After the mission was complete, the air show began and there were non-stop aerial demonstrations which led up to the entrance of the Blue Angels, the Navy's flight demonstration team...



The show was an amazing demonstration of flight skill and talent...

Check out this picture below.  Though it looks like the profile of one plane...



It's actually two fighters flying on the same horizontal plane, one inverted.  You could see the two better as they flew away...



Honestly, they were a delight to watch...



And the idea of pulling Gs, flying inverted, all while flying in formation mere feet from one another...



Well, it's just hard not be excited and impressed.



Add a HUGE second dose of machismo to the day.

Jim and Jack loved it.

My brother loved it too.  But I think he liked photo-bombing my pictures even more...

Hey, I'm just amazed that he can still jump that high.  He's not 7 feet tall...he was just jumping up and down behind Jim and Jack hoping to make it in the shot.  He's the same brother who did assisted handstands in front of the Eiffel Tower...



After the show was over, we all came back to my house for a cookout.

Sorry I don't have too many pics from the event, but I was busy being hostess.  It was my goal to do everything so that Jim could relax with all the Dads.  Thanks to my sister and my SIL, we succeeded!  That's not easy to do since Jim is one of the biggest helpers in my entire family and hates to sit still while others are working.

That being said, he did insist that he still Man the Grill...

After dinner, all the Dads piled into the old car that Jim inherited from his father when he passed away. That's my Dad in the front seat and my two brothers in the back.

Any my BIL Jim on the other side of the back...

It's a 1953 Silver Wraith Rolls Royce.  Now.  I know what you're thinking...Jim must be from a pretty wealthy family, right?

Actually, his parents were Department of Defense school teachers and spent most of Jim's childhood living on a base in Wiesbaden, Germany.  His father bought the used Rolls at a great price and they drove it for years as their family car...traveling all over Europe in their free time.

Can you believe that?  Their family car.  When we got it a few years ago, it needed some restoration.  It's finally up and running.

Well.  It was running when Jim put it in reverse to back out of the driveway.  The engine died when he switched to the forward gear.  A quick crank and a jump start...

And they were underway...

See that little flag light sticking out of the side of the window?  That's actually the right turn blinker.

When they got back from their joy ride, the men all sat down and finished watching the U.S. Open.

All in all, I think it was a very macho day.  Navy Seals, guns, fighter planes, old cars and golf.

Jim said he had a Great Day...

That's good because no dad deserves it more than him.

The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim 2011

Yesterday morning, the forecast was for a hot and humid day with a high of 90 degrees F. The water temp in the bay was 78 degrees F and the 20th Annual Great Chesapeake Bay swim was going to be the hottest one ever on record. Oh boy.

All the swimmers came into Sandy Point State Park, making their way toward registration. Two of my teammates and my friend Maura would be doing the swim for the first time.

Yesterday was my third.

We checked in and got our packets which had our timing chips for our ankles, our swim caps and race numbers.

Then they mark the race numbers on our arms and hands so if we die out there, they can figure out who we are and who to call with the bad news...Of course, we've already signed a waiver that says if we die, no one is responsible but our own stupid selves.

There were 10 of us from the Central Maryland YMCA Masters doing the swim this year.

It's always great to have a team of people to share tips and knowledge about the race. Luckily, we found a bit of shady real estate along with the 660 other swimmers...all huddled under the 12 trees of "forest" near the beach.

There are two bridges that span the 4.4 mile crossing of the Chesapeake Bay.

The goal is to swim from the beach, between the two bridges and stay there for the majority of the race. If, at any point, you pass underneath either of the two bridges, you are disqualified and the Coast Guard picks you up. No arguments. No second chances.

Toward the end of the swim, we cross back under the far bridge and swim to a beach on the opposite shore. It's a fairly straightforward swim except for the current in the big main channel. That's the tough part.

Luckily we have a coach to give us strategies for swimming the course and to answer any questions.

This is when the first-timers are thinking..."Now, why am I doing this?" I remember having that same thought.

So I came prepared with just the right antidote to that nervous anxiety. Miracle Bubbles.

And War Paint. War Paint make you feel stronger and tougher and faster....

Next, we put on Body Glide...it's used to protect the skin from abrasion from the wetsuit after swimming for multiple hours. Can you tell which part of Maura's body typically gets sore from her wetsuit?

And my BNF (blogging needle friend), Judy had sent me a four-leaf clover that she had found for good luck. Thank you Judy! I stuck it in my swim cap and it helped me many times along my way...

And our friend Laurie was there to cheer us on and help us to get into our rubber sausage casings.

I mean...wetsuits.

In fact, because of the high air and water temperatures this day, the big decision was whether or not to wear a wetsuit.

Many swimmers chose not to.

Though we had never experienced this warm of a race day, neither one of us felt comfortable not wearing it -- it gives a lot of buoyancy to your body making you glide more easily through the water.

It does, however, make you hot. After all, it's meant to be worn in cold water conditions... So we drank a lot of water, put on our wetsuits, kissed our friends and family, and headed out...

To the beach...

And the starting line...

Where we took sight of the buoys we would have to swim through to get in between the two bridges.

And we were off.

And we left behind all the advice...all our friends...our water...our sunscreen...

For the next 2.5 to 3.5 hours, it's just a long swim. And you have no idea how well your friends are doing until it's all over.

For me, it was by far the hardest of my three swims.

I'm not sure exactly why.

Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was because I'm heavier and less in shape than I was two years ago, or maybe it was the current in the Big Bad Channel that did me in.

The Big Bad Channel almost kicked my butt. As I started across, I was already dangerously close to the South span and the current was threatening to push me under the far bridge which would disqualify me. So I swam harder than I've had to swim before...in a horizontal direction, trying to fight the current and stay moving forward.

By the time I got through there, I was exhausted. And I wasn't even halfway. I felt nauseous and spent and I still had a loooong way to go.

So I closed my eyes...and drew energy from all your well wishes...from the shamrock in my cap...and from this man who I knew was waiting for me on the opposite shore.

He was also my camera man. Didn't he do a good job?

Anyway, I kept wondering if I could actually pass out while swimming? And how long would it take the Coast Guard to pick me up if I did? Then I put those thoughts out of my head and kept going...telling myself I couldn't faint until I got to Jimmy. Funny, the thoughts that come to you in the middle of torture.

Meanwhile, Maura won her fight in the Big Bad Channel and was having an awesome swim.

This is what you look like when you come out of the water feeling awesome!

And this is what you look like when you come out of the water, looking for your husband and ready to pass out...

It's not pretty, I know.

Not all days can be good ones. And not all posts can be pretty.

But I guess, when it's all said and done, of the three Bay swims I've done, I think I learned the most from this one.

1. I learned that next race I need to be in much better shape so that I can choose not to wear a wetsuit if it's too hot.
2. I learned that I need to be in much better shape period.
3. I learned that I shouldn't get lackadaisical about my race strategy or my training just because I've done a race before. I think I was a little too laid back this time...
4. I learned that I really loved my husband and he was really who I wanted to see when I was feeling so bad. The only other time I felt that way was when I was in labor having Jack.
5. I learned that having four leaf clovers in your swim cap, and emails and cards from your friends really do work when you need them to...
6. I learned that it's not really about whether or not it was a good swim or a bad swim...what it's really about is getting off the couch, putting on your war paint, and just showing up.
7. I learned that having friends who have awesome days helps to wipe out my bad ones. And, last but not least...
8. I learned that War Paint works.

Today, the pain and torture of yesterday's swim is beginning to fade...and good memories are surfacing, erasing the bad. Just like in childbirth.

I guess that means I'm going to do it again.

Tomorrow, I'm back to stitching. Notwithstanding two sore arms and shoulders.

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck. I used it!