Stormwatch, Sandy & Squash.

"We had rain last Thursday."

 So spoke my colleague the other day. That's pretty much been the norm since I arrived two weeks back. My introduction to Fall still necessitated the wearing of skirts, flip-flops, even sun-cream on the Saturday before last day, if I'd had any to hand. 
   No longer. The lead-up to Hurricane Sandy started from Friday as temperatures dropped about 10° along with spitting rain and grey, overcast skies. We were forewarned from last week that it'd be Friday.. Saturday .. Sunday - now finally Monday when the storm's expected to arrive inland, hence its other irreverent moniker, "Frankenstorm".
   Sandy's headed straight for New Jersey at present. New York has as good as shut down for the day. So far there's been flooding across Delmarva, snow flurries in WV & Southwest Va. & up in Central, we're expecting wind damage, power cuts & possibly some snow to follow. (Although J-Ward rarely has power outage so there's a major plus side to this district.)
   It feels a bit odd really. Rather disaster movie-esque as there's just this major catastrophic force pending & all you can do is prepare, be ready - stock up on provisions, batten down the hatches - & wait it out. 
   Today's stormwatch as we checked on the radar reminded me of winter days in Edinburgh checking on the likely snowfall. We shut up shop early so my colleagues could get home safe before the wind became any more forceful. It's certainly dreicht today.
   
Had a drive over to 'posh' K.Roger in Carytown last night with my roommates. Provisions bought for 'in the event of emergency'. (I'd been told about the trend to panic buy bread. Managed to rein it in though. Just the one loaf, Mrs. Wembley...) 
  I turned the corner to find the World Food aisle with a Mediterranean section & right there, in front of me this dazzling array: 

The Best of the British.

Oh happy day!

  
No, no... not that sort of American Squash, which takes the concept of Butternut but then adds in altogether redefining its vegetable relations, boosting up the family with all sorts of courgette-type (or, zucchini) foods.

Squash.  

    Right there, on the bottom shelf, on the left. 
 
                                                              Ribena!


I made the girls be excited for me although they had no idea what I had in my hand. 

   (Lauren: "... Yay!?! ... You crazy Brit.")
 
I mean, Richmond water tastes okay but bring me your diluting juice!  

$8.13 later, I had in my possession 600ml of normalcy. (I know. £5 seems like silly money when Tesco could showcase an entire aisle of bottles for less. But it's so worth it.) Carytown Kroger, I ♥ you!

K.Roger's own brand oatmeal on the other hand is not a patch on yer Proper Scottish Porage Oats. Peaches & Cream? Really? I eschewed that choice & went down the route of Maple/Cinnamon/Blueberry varieties instead. Think I'll be doubling up on their estimated portion sizes though. My stomach was growling like a lion by 11am today. 

American is redefining my tastebuds though. Take for example, the notion of Breakfast. I had the Morning After (The Night Before) Breakfast of Champions on Saturday. Not quite hangover-dispensing but certainly "feed me now!" stuff. It's all about the sweet & savoury combined on one plate. Waffle House has changed me for good. 

Eggs & tater tots & toast & jelly & blueberry muffin. Mmm.

Zombie Walk.

From Monument, left into the Museum District, up Boulevard, towards Carytown.

Quoting RZW quoting Wikipedia:  

(also known as a zombie mob, zombie march, zombie horde, zombie lurch, zombie shamble, zombie shuffle or zombie pub crawl) 

I arrived mid-procession. An impressive procession indeed & a truly bizzarre sight to see all these bloodied-up stumbling folk waiting at the crosswalks, by the shops & processing along the pavements. I had been disdaining for weeks the concept of pre-bought Halloween costumes. This event just didn't allow for that. There had to be some level of creativity to disarray the fabric & add in the gore. 

They came and in their droves. We saw. They stumbled. 

 I didn't take a whole load of photos because there was so much to take in. 

 Costumes to look at, characters to identify. 

Some had adopted a Halloween approach (Zombie Harry Potter, Zombie Flintstone), others had gone for an everyday character-turned-zombie: a USPS man, a schoolgirl.
All ages represented from babes-in-arms to whole zombie families through to zombie gran.

 With hands outstretched; moaning & mumbling
& playing right into the pointing cameras.

Note lurching hand.

I liked that couple for their period approach & the man below for his excellent make-up: 

But my all-time favourite winner?

.

.

.

.

 . 

.

Zombie Dog.  :)

Fall.

With the impending hurricane due to visit, I wanted to make the most of the time whilst leaves still on the trees before the winds came & the weather changed. Even so, I still started late into the season,

Fallen Fall

As previously mentioned, Monument & the Fan has some of the most impressive autumn colours in the city. So that's where I headed - to Monument, beginning from where North Meadow intersects with the avenue. I'd only been along that way as a passenger before so it was good to walk the length of it down to Boulevard.

I made a friend here on my travels. A leaf-loving puppy who, for once, befriended me first.
"Human - Fun! Leaves - Fun! Yay for Great Outdoors! Yay for Fall!" *bounce, bounce*

 

 

And like the bad ass I am, I ignored all sidewalks & instead, walked right down the middle,
kicking up the leaves & crossing the circles as I arrived at each new section.  

Stunning colours.

 How Monument so became: 

  Robert E. Lee & steed

Jefferson Davis Monument
an arc which spans the width of the street.

 

& the man himself, Stonewall Jackson.

 Also spotted....   :)

Bootleg.

Tavern.

 I was out in Hanover County last Sunday with Emily & Joey to see our production of 'Baskervilles, a fun & fast-paced detective spoof. 
    Sherlock was played by Matt Mitchell, a well-loved RVT actor (& Artsies winner for Best Actor in 'Spring Awakening'). Matt's Sherlock veered somewhere between Scottish, English & German as he also pretty much played every other part going (when I get my playbill in hand, I'll rattle off his many roles ... Ah, here we are: 
  Sherlock Homes. Guard. Yokel. Stapleton. Mr. Barrymore. Mrs. Barrymore. Hermit.
Cecile, Stapleton's "sister" in drag - intended to be Brazilian, sounding somewhat French.) Certainly a contrast to the well-clipped tones of our beloved BBC's Cumberbatch!
  So many key props & accessories as they swapped between characters & settings! They certainly did good. Their 'speed scene' at the start of Act II (to replay the entire first act but faster) had the audience laughing so much. (Emily spent the majority of the show in the fireplace on set & ripping off Watson's trousers at two key moments.)
    
So, the Tavern:

Its exterior unlike any other theatre I've attended previously.

 ... Evening light meant for some tricky photography.

And the courthouse opposite, which
  I mentioned from my First Day: 

(I found an old rusted tap in the grounds. 

   Anyone else see this & think 'seahorse'?) 

Bit more local history:

Route.

Shadows.

It was a beautiful evening.
__________________________________

 It was only last week as we were sat around the kitchen table eating rosemary bread (Manager's Choice!) from K.Roger that I pointed out to the girls how the Tavern was actually hanging on our kitchen wall. Points for observancy!

Conversation at a Fitting:

Actor: "So where in England are you from?"

Me: "Yorkshire" [pause] "Does that mean anything to you?"

Actor: "Well, my mom was from London..."

Me: "Mmm. South. That's not Yorkshire."

Actor: "Isn't Downtown Abbey set in Yorkshire?
            I thought that was more like your accent."

Me: *laughter*

God's Own Country

Neighborhood Wall Art

Richmond is a city rich with street art and murals. It was one of the first things I noticed & loved about it when visiting this summer. 
   These are three which I pass on the walk to K.Roger, along West Broad:

 

Angry Pandas.

Neighborhood.

Today was a late one so I'll keep this brief. Tiring but productively busy so good. Lots of lovely fittings throughout the day which means that the pile of Notes is stacking up nicely. We're getting a better idea of what's left to get through in the remaining time. Re-fits start next week.

I wanted to share photos I took on Sunday (feat. the *grand reveal* as to our lovely apartment's whereabouts.)    

 

Jackson Ward, our district. It gets a bit of a mixed reception. It has its history, the murals; the Arts District which overspills from West Broad: the theatre, museum & art galleries. But I reckon it's known more locally for its residents generally being of low-income (rather than people actually giving two hoots over what race they might be.)



But it's also undergoing some changes.
The old Dairy has now been converted into apartments & there are restaurants shaping up around the area too. 


You can see this view of the Dairy from the backstage doors of VRT. Looks pretty good. Wee bit of history on it here.

"Home Sweet Flat"

So this is Us, that white door just there (& that's Lauren's adaptive phrasing above. I like it.)
 7 ½, the theatre admin buildings, are round the front facing directly onto W.Marshall. Just as Google Streetview would suggest, we do effectively live in a parking lot. Not that rough gravelly one to the left of this picture - oh no, we're all tarmaced & smart. Or something. 
  I've given you the Real Estate view. The one without the garbage bins ready to be emptied. Thought I'd leave the station wagon in however as that car is a classic! It even has a "rumble seat" in the boot area, facing backwards onto the rear window.

Because re-branding is Fun!

Close-up of our lot's Wall Art.

Oh, & there's this Cheshirey guy on the garage door.
Sort of friendly-looking, if you don't stare for too long.

The Four Minute commute.

That's the alley on the south-west of the car park. Past the edge of the white building, eight strides in and you're already at backstage. It makes being on time a doddle. (I slept in 'til 8.52 am earlier this week as Roommate was off work, we usually wake up to her alarm at 7am - & still made it over by 9.06 am. Score. Still an infinitely warm reception on arrival, "Well, we are glad you are here." I love 'em.) Makes the evenings impeccably longer too, usually home by 5.05.
_________

Richmond scored another visitor today. We are popular.
  Well said, Senator Mark Warner:

"In 2008, we changed the guard. In 2012, we need to guard the change."

 

"I got mail!" (& other tales)

Two blogposts in one day to mark the occasion of the First Post. 

First up,

I can now charge like an American.

No more plug swapping between phone & laptop. Hurrah!

But far more interestingly, 

I got sisterly post from England! 

The Customs label declared "fancy goods". 
A very worthy description of my Gift/Cadeaux.

As if this not the cutest wee 'gifty-gift' ever?!   :D

Words of the week:  

- Suspenders  (braces, 

         although "Sock Suspenders" are garters, which sort of figures.)

- Inner-sole, as in Insole - again, same but different.

Confusingly, Sue does refer to a handbag as a handbag and not a purse. And tights happen to co-exist here, alongside panty-hose (more of a stocking), when I thought that they didn't. 

- Faucet, as in Tap.

I'm still holding out on Kitchen Roll. The roommates will be Educated.
________

Is "Have a good one!" a standard farewell greeting? My linguistic memory fails me. It seems to fit right alongside the bright & breezy "have a Nice day!" I certainly heard it here last week & found myself deploying it today, before taking a long, hard sideways glance at myself. Worrying. 
______________

M. will likely be here in... seventeen days. Yay. Talking & texting in Real Time is quite something. Better phrased as "a bit surreal (in the most wonderful way!)"  There's still a logistical element to our communications whilst we work to make our juxtaposed working hours intersect & find time to talk. But an imminent visit! Can't wait.  :) 

Celtic Fest.

The internet went wonky but now it's back to normal. 

Hence I can present you with..

Saturday:

The day dawned bright. We reached the RIR at noon. Hot & sunny. Sunny enough to get sunburnt; sunny enough to make me question the Celticness of the occasion. 

Ye wouldnae gae these blue skies a' a real Celtic festival, eh?

We joined the U-Turn of drivers trying to get in at Gate 8, only to be sent onto Gate 6. 
An Henrico County policeman took a shine to Emily and/or the station wagon so she got to have a special personal conversation of re-directions with him. Nice. 

The sound of bagpipes on arrival was enough to make me a wee bit homesick. The same sound I've spent the last seven years dismissing as background noise & overlooking along Princes Street but nonetheless. Enough to harken to the heart.  
 
Just in through the gate, a welcome sight for Celtic eyes: 

 



Plus a lot of little Meridas running about the place. 

   What a wig!  >>



 (I'd already given our fellow intern & adopted roommate, Joey some food for thought with reference to "tossing the caber". Cue a small amount of giggling. 
I then proceded to set the pace for Lauren with renditions of Mary, ma Scots bluebelle & Here in Bonnie Scotland, where the grass grows green (aye, that old but ne'er forgotten tune.) )


Walking through the Clan stands added further to the feeling.  Clan Sutherland, especially with familiar names like Golspie & Dunrobin Castle. Long way from home.
   

First Stop.

 It being a festival based around the British Isles, I reserved the right to use as many Britishisms as I saw fit, starting with Queue. 

Our first port of call was for Beer. I tried valiantly to Queue. Standing in an orderly dignified fashion with a clearly defined sense of purpose. No matter, the Americans about me just got into another one of their lines. Och, they just don't get it.
Truly, no-one can queue quite like the British.
 
As far as imported Guinness goes, this was nae bad. 
I even threw in a cheeky "Cheers pal" to boot on receipt.


 The Games themselves were held on the competition field but the piping bands were playing so we took a wee wander around the demonstration stalls, meeting the blacksmith, two 1750 Scottish re-enactors, ending up at the axe-throwing. 

 We persuaded Joey up first. Despite the advice given, "you just throw it like a hammer on a nail", Joey didn't do so well. Which is worrying when you know he's the Carpentry Intern; hmmm. He did improve with his next round though. 
   
Lauren then attracted the attention of Chicken Hawk, the instructor, scoring free tokens to participate. 

 I followed suit,
more free goes
for the girls! 

(We did both & separately mistake token-passing for fist-bumping at first. Ooops.)

 Missed my first shot, scored on the second with the "lady axe" (lighter in weight) & got to graduate up an axe but back a line for throwing: hit one, missed one. Two out of four, I was happy with that.
Chicken Hawk took my successes as proof of his great instructorship.  :)

Onwards to listen to "Seven Nations", a great band complete with fiddler, piper, bass & drums (excellent combination), play over on the music stage. They made me want to ceilidh. Bit tricky when you're the only one who knows the moves. Although such thoughts didn't seem to stop the lone guy in the crowd cracking Lauren up by his playing 'air fiddle'.

The girls decided they wanted a snack.
   Time to take in the food vendor's     
            far-ranging options: 

Although Lauren's legit. question of "What is 'Bangers & Mash'?" made me laugh the most.

I found Irish soda bread. 

Bought in Virginia. 
Baked in Tennessee. 

Brilliant.




 But back to the Games...

       Weight Throw. I liked this one for the way it lent itself to a ballerina-style twirl.

The Caber makes its entrance.

The sheaf toss was also interesting to watch, in which:
A pitchfork is used to hurl a burlap bag stuffed with straw over a horizontal bar above the competitor's head.

But it was finding these cute pitchfork "keepers" afterwards, which really made me smile.

Lastly, some festival fare for tea. 

Indeed.

 My discovery of the day was that American fish & chips come complete with homage to the Brits: a mock-up mini newspaper. 

"London Times: a jolly fine day to enjoy fish & chips."

That's kind of cute of them.  But for me, chips & curry sauce won out entirely.
Definitely worth the extra dollar for that accompaniment!

Aye. Sure makes for a fabulous day out.