Ripe Strawberries, Ripe

Mount Vernon

Jackie and her parents wanted to get some DC culture and see some of the sights while they were in town, so we started it off with a visit to George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. I've been there a couple times before, but this time there was an actress portraying Martha Washington. And I have to admit, she really seemed like she was Martha Washington. It was an impressive performance. For our picture, she even taught me to stand like a gentleman of the time (though the hand positioning makes more sense when you're wearing a vest and/or jacket like they used to)."Oliver!"

I haven't been to a play or musical in a little while (meaning 2 months), so I was happy that we were able to get tickets to see "Oliver!" by the St. Mark's Players. As a bonus, it turned out that "Oliver!" is Jackie's dad's favorite musical, and he particularly loves the song "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two", which he subsequently sang the rest of their trip.I had forgotten how many great songs are in that production, and I gained a new appreciation for some that I never really cared for (including "I Shall Scream" and "Who Will Buy", from which this blogpost title is taken). Seeing this show kind of has me thinking it's time to find an audition and expand my meager acting experience, but we'll see if that actually happens or not.

Strawberry Picking

It's strawberry season, and I've never been before, so Jackie took me to Shlagel Farms near her place and showed me how to do it right. Plus we both eat a lot of fruit, so this was a cheaper way to get a whole lotta strawberries for mass consumption.

I'm pretty sure she could've picked twice as many as me in the same amount of time, and I was being too picky early on. She made strawberry picking look good! I did pretty well and I'm happy with how many I picked. It should last me a little while, with freezing some for smoothies and such.Rita's Water Ice

The last time I had Rita's was years ago. We were pretty toasty after being in the sun picking strawberries, so snagging some cool refreshment was definitely in order. If you haven't tried it yet, find the nearest one* and I promise you won't regret it.

*Note: Rita's is an East coast thing... at least for now. Sorry, West coast friends. But you have Iceberg Drive Inns and In-N-Out, so I don't want to hear any complaining from you.