HoodedHawk

Jojo Garza of Los Lonely Boys

Tuesday night I went to see Los Lonely Boys at Ram’s Head in Annapolis, MD. They sounded great! I really enjoyed the concert – the three brothers definitely put on a good show. They only played about an hour and 20 minutes, with no opening band. The short concert may be due to the bass player/lead singer Jojo having some problems with his vocal cords (the band appears to have cancelled some dates last month due to medical issues). But I certainly didn’t notice anything wrong with his voice! I do hope all is well. Definitely a band worth seeing live.

Los Lonely Boys

Los Lonely Boys

Last Saturday Kirsten and I went to see Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest, a play by Tom Ziegler and directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. We absolutely loved it! This coming weekend is the final weekend. Grab tickets and go, you won’t be disappointed. It is basically a one-woman play (Kimberly Schraf plays Mrs. Kemble).

The Fascinating story of Fanny Kemble; one of the most famous actresses to grace the 19th century American stage, an early feminist, and abolitionists. This evening is her farewell tour, as her extraordinary solo performance of the Tempest interweaves with episodes from her own tempestuous life. –(from www.baltimoreshakespeare.org)

Kimberly Schraf as Mrs. Kemble in Mrs Kemble's Tempest

There is another actor (no speaking role, but very good) who plays the part of Mrs. Kemble’s onstage pianist. Ms. Schraf was just wonderful; I’m always amazed when an actor can pull off a single-person play like this. How do they ever memorize the whole shebang? Anyway, I was mesmerized by the story and the acting.

The venue itself is great – an old church (St. Mary’s in Baltimore) with good acoustics and seating.

Mrs Kemble's Tempest at the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival

Monday night after dinner Preston and I enjoyed a game of Kids of Carcassonne. It’s one of the few kid’s board games for which he can sit “still”. A typical game only lasts around 10 minutes, which is just right for him. He even remembered the name of the figure pieces: “Meeples”. The “full” version of the game, Carcassonne, (I think it’s for 10 to adult) is also a lot of fun, but too long for him.

This is a much simpler version – you basically pick a tile from a stack and place it on the table next to another. When you “complete” a road (when it has an obstruction on both ends), you can place your meeple on any same-colored meeple picture on that road. First player to play all their meeples (8) wins. Fun!

The game itself is well-made, with nice wooden “meeple” figures and thick cardboard tiles which hold up well to a 3yr old’s treatment. Not much can stand up to the gnawing teeth of a 1yr old, so we keep Olivia at bay during play. The graphics are very good as well, and Preston enjoys finding all the little animals, etc. on each tile (“Hey! A sheep! What’s he doing there?”).

Not bad for a game without dinosaurs.

Kids of Carcassonne Board

Kids of Carcassonne

Preston and Kids of Carcassonne

Alhambra

Dylan and I had fun playing the board game, Alhambra tonight. It’s basically a tile-laying game where you either lay a tile to build your Alhambra (Spanish/Moorish palace and court), get some money, or buy a building. Allows for 2-6 players; unlike a lot of other board games, it is very playable with just 2 people. We’ll be playing again!

Tonight I went to a booksigning and a panel of SF authors at Reiter’s Scientific Bookstore in DC. Among the authors present were: Dr. Catherine Asaro, Greg Bear, Bud Sparhawk, Tom Purdom, Tom Ligon, Yoji Kondo (Eric Kotani), John Hemry (Jack Campbell), Charles E. Gannon, and Dr. Arlan Andrews. The roundtable discussion topic was “How Science Fiction Changes Everything” – How Science Fiction Serves the National Interest. The Washington Science Fiction Association also sponsored the event.

Catherine Asaro

Some (all?) members of the panel are also members of SIGMA:

SIGMA is a group of science fiction writers who offer futurism consulting to the United States government and appropriate NGOs. We provide a new concept in public service “think tanks”– an association of speculative writers who have spent careers exploring the future. Many of us have earned Ph.D.s in high tech fields, and some presently hold Federal and defense industry positions. Each is an accomplished science fiction author who has postulated new technologies, new problems and new societies, explaining the possible science and speculating about the effects on the human race.

The event was mostly the panel fielding questions from the audience. I enjoyed the evening; it was quite interesting to hear the viewpoints of various SF authors, especially Bear and Asaro, as I’m a fan of both. At the signing Dr. Asaro mentioned that the cover of Alpha was her favorite. The artist was going to go with a flowing gown, but she told him, no, I’d rather look like this:

SF Authors: Bear, Asaro, etc. Roundtable at Reiter's Bookstore

Greg Bear

Greg Bear

 

Preston and I spent a nice afternoon riding some real, miniature Steam Trains run by the Chesapeake & Allegheny Steam Preservation Society at Leakin Park in Baltimore.

Miniature Steam Train

Preston has been a train fan ever since his introduction to Thomas the Steam Engine, and he just loved riding these trains. They are scale miniatures, but are definitely real steam engines (and some electric locomotives). Once around the park takes about 8 minutes. It was a beautiful day, and the only hard part was getting Preston *off* the trains. The Live Steam Club does this (free rides to the public) once a month. We’ll definitely be back, and with a picnic lunch. It is well-organized and just a lot of fun for the kids (both of us!).

Miniature Steam Train

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Miniature Steam Train

 

The US Postal Service will be releasing a set of “The Simpsons” postage stamps on May 7, 2009. Many years ago (as a kid) I used to collect stamps. None were as cool as these! The Simpsons has been on TVfor 20 years now; longest running comedy ever…

The USPS is even hosting a survey where you can vote on your favorite character -guess which one I voted for? Duh!

BAB, the Ikea Baby. From a pdf file the artist created for an expecting friend.

Preston, Dylan and I went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History yesterday. Preston just loved the Insect Zoo. No way was Dylan going to hold a bug, but it was hard to keep Preston away. He also held a big beetle, but I couldn’t get a picture as I had to help keep Preston from squishing it.

Click any picture below for larger slideshow…

The new Ocean Hall is quite good. Even Dylan was impressed by the giant jellyfish (seen in foreground). Full-size right whale hangs from the ceiling, and videos of ocean scenes line the walls. Lots of informative exhibits about the ocean.

A lot more pictures are viewable via the Photography page (Natural History link)

 

I often make little smiley faces when I put ketchup on the kids’ plates, but these caterpillar pancakes (from My Paper Crane site) are just inspiring. I’m going to make these for my kids soon!