Laundry, History, and Ballet

Well, goodness, since Wednesday morning, much has happened. Most importantly though, I have a new niece, a very cute little girl named Jonna, that was born very early Wednesday morning (April 17th). I've only seen three photographs (that I got via email on my phone today), and I can't wait to meet her in person! Meg sent me a text that morning that I didn't see until after class. I called Mike right away, but he had received it too... I ended up waking him from a nightmare, so that was alright. Dad called as well to make sure I knew, so overall, it was a very pleasant morning.

In the rest of the day, I managed to clean my house (mostly sweeping), re-stock the bird-feeder, trim the grass, eat a sandwich, finish all my laundry, and read the book of Colossians while I waited. It beats watching General Hospital any day of the week. I was subjected to a TV talk show while folding my laundry, though. I felt tangible relief when I walked out the open double doors to my car.

That evening I missed watching a movie because I spent the whole time coming up with an idea for Saturday after I bought a ticket to the ballet for Friday. It was quite an idea, and came to me after considering how far the Tides away games were (central NC and near Atlanta). Compared to those places it wasn't far, but for a day trip it would be ambitious. 9 hours of driving... but you'll read about that in Saturday's post. I was very excited as I told Mike about it that night. It was a beautiful, cool spring evening too, so I went outside to talk.

Thursday after class I decided to go to Hampton (just across the bridge/tunnel). Tried out the Hampton History Museum and Visitor Center... I had reservations about going... thought it would be mostly visitor center. But I was very mistaken! It was a very impressive walk-through of Hampton's early history. I really enjoyed the short film they showed about one of the first photographers of the area who had a studio. Besides the myriads of portraits (the samples of which are always interesting) the guy also documented the area with his glass plates. Fun little surprise. And not only that, but they had a temporary exhibit upstairs of Civil War artifacts from the area. This was also quite interesting and even poignant, with articles such as the frock coat of a local son who was killed in a battle just outside his hometown and brought home to be buried. God, I could not imagine. Something I thought very interesting were two photographs of a church next to a window. One pre-dated the war, the other showed its destruction... and looking out the window, the church stands before you.

I continued on from Hampton to Newport News where I picked up a few things at Walmart (like a stool to put drinks on next to the couches) and had an old-fashioned burger at a little take-out place next door. Then I continued down the street to the archery range where I had the lanes to myself for most of the time.

Friday's class time was practically non-existent. I went home and changed, stopped by the library, saw my ship coming in off shore, and still arrived at the Norfolk Indoor Pool by 10:30. I had all five lanes of that to myself as well! Did a continuous thousand yards for the first time... ever. It wasn't lighting fast or anything, but I certainly enjoyed twenty solid minutes of fine cardiovascular exercise. After taking a shower at home, my friend who just got out of the Navy was on her way back home from taking care of her car in Florida, so she stopped by for lunch. We shared Lipton's chicken noodle soup and a couple grilled cheddar cheese sandwiches for a delightful time together.

After she left, I watched a rather odd 90s movie about the WWII home front in Louisiana that I found at the library. And after that, I watched an old favorite, Ever After, as well. And then it was time to go downtown for the first major performance of the 2013 Virginia Arts Festival: The Birmingham Royal Ballet's performance of Coppelia. This was very colorful and funny too! The sets were gorgeous (and probably very expensive) and the story was unlike any ballet I had ever heard of. A crazy old man makes life-like dolls to confuse the rest of the town and cause distress between a young couple. And everything ends up alright in the end, except for the doll. :) I had a wonderful seat near the back with a full view. Before everything started I noticed a British vice admiral come in, and soon after saw what I found online to be the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, who was also in attendance.

Jw