Tis the season to paint your lawn green

Around here some lawns at this time of year get sprayed green or pink. We first saw the green last year while browsing real estate web sites, so we thought it was a miss-guided attempt to make the house more appealing during the brown winter time. Then we saw the pink one. Was that supposed to be festive, perhaps for Christmas?

Turns out it's just winter fertilizer treatment. There are two lawn treatment companies in town--one uses pink, the other goes with green. So a mundane explanation, but it just goes to show how seriously people take a good-looking lawn. Because, you know, that stuff is expensive.

I was actually glad at about the end of October when everyone's lawn turned brown all at once one morning. Because then they matched mine. And then the weather turned colder, and even the weeds died. Yay!

I wish I'd taken Hilary's advice in the spring and just spent the money for a spreader and the stuff you spread with it. But I went with the cheaper alternative and chose the weed n' feed that you attach to your hose for spraying. Guess you get what you pay for. And I wish I'd taken Marisse's advice to check out library books on lawn and garden care a little earlier. It turns out lawns really do need more care than just mowing--although, seriously, that should be enough!

About mid-summer I was seriously looking for weed killer. The crab grass was taking over, along with a pot pourri of little disruptive plants whose names I don't know. I tried weeding by hand, but it felt like a task from a Greek myth--you know, like Aphrodite telling Psyche to separate the mountain of mixed seeds. I'd work for a good hour and only clear a few square feet. And it didn't improve the look of the lawn. In fact, it just looked scarred, like an acne-ridden face that's been picked at the way the dermatologist and your mom say you shouldn't.

So when manual labor doesn't work, you turn to better living through chemistry. The only weed killing options I could find were (1) weed n' feed spray, which sounds good except the instructions claimed it shouldn't be used more than twice a year (clearly inadequate), and (2) Round-up type herbecides, which kill ALL plants. Guess that's for getting rid of sprouts in your driveway or rock-and-gravel bed. So I just suffered lawn envy through the late summer and fall.

In the fall I finally got around to reading a couple of library books on the subject. Apparently a lawn doesn't really need weed killer, other than that spring pre-emergent stuff for crab grass. It just needs water and fertilizer to stay strong. When it's strong it keeps out the weeds on its own.

So if I were a really dedicated home-owner, I'd take this opportunity to get a jump on a good, healthy lawn for next year. But since we may be moving, I'm not so motivated to spend the money. On the other hand, I could go cheap with home-made remedies. One of the books I read was all about homemade, organic lawn treatments, for every kind of lawn ailment. The thing is, the treatments I'd need call for beer or whiskey. Uchenna didn't think I should buy those kinds of ingredients, even if not for personal consumption. I was just as glad, since I didn't want my yard smelling like a brewery.

And anyway, the snow has fallen now so we can't even see the lawn anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. We'll just shovel the walk and call it good.

A Trip to Philly, part 2

The Abbott kids at the Museum of Natural History. Sharks and elephants and mammal exhibits, oh my.

So a loo-oong Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas preparations, Facebook, and various other concerns have distracted me. But let's get back to the story, especially since I left off right in the middle.

We figured since we were on the East coast, we had to visit people we never get to see. We had two options: Josh and Megan's family in Washington, D.C. or Uchenna's sister's family in Brooklyn. His dad is staying with her, also. Two destinations, roughly equal distance in opposite directions. Only time to visit one. We picked Josh and Megan.

Probably we should have got everything set up long before we even went to Philly, but there were so many variables we didn't know--like how the conference would go, did he need to stay to the very end?--that it was hard to pin down arrangements too early. And besides, we figured we could set up things online at the hotel. Except it turned out we couldn't get online at that hotel. We even ponied up the extra fee for Internet access, but somehow their network didn't work with our computer. Fortunately the hotel does have excellent customer service, along with their fluffy towels, and they didn't charge us the fee after all.

Bless Megan's heart, she helped us get our train reservations, and she stayed flexible and accommodating through all our "well, I'm not sure, let's see how it will play out" dilly-dallying.

Can I just say I love trains? We need more trains in this country. We decided to take the train from Philly to D. C., because it was less time than driving but less expensive than flying. We got to the big 30th St Station early, because obviously we're used to dealing with airports, but we didn't need to stress. Security and check-in was very low key. I was also a little worried because I'd heard trains can run late. But this one left at the scheduled minute on the dot.

One odd little thing--someone was shooting some kind of movie there in the cathedral-like station. A couple of times we tried to cross to the other side, and people posted around the perimeter would herd us back out of the area. Then a pack of guys dressed in riot gear with FBI printed on their backs would go trotting across the station with great purpose, then stop and meander casually back. The other passengers were saying to each other, "I thought something big was going on when I saw all the FBI." It was funny to watch.

Another good thing about trains: space. Plenty of space for luggage, wide seats, good leg room. All very comfortable. And we were just in coach class, nothing fancy.

Josh and Megan and the kids met us at the D. C. station. It was too cold to browse the monuments, and we were trying to decided what to do when one of the kids REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. So the parents dropped us at the Museum of Natural History and went to park (they'd had to bring both cars to fit us and them). Cell phones are great for meeting up again--except when you don't hear it ring. Josh and Megan were looking for us for about 20 minutes, calling the whole time, before we saw them. They were probably thinking, "Great, my children are here somewhere among the crowds and sharks and woolly mammoths."

I love the D.C. museums! Cool plus free, how can you beat that? I was so shocked when we moved away from D.C. and realized that most museums, especially the good ones, ask you to pay them before they let you in.

We stayed the night with Josh and Megan. And by the way, if you haven't been to see their house yet, you're missing out. Craig and Ellen came over, too. We had a great night of visiting and catching up!

The next morning Josh got up way early to get us back to the train station, so we could get back to Philadelphia in time to make our flight. Thanks Josh! Going from the relaxed, spacious train straight to the tense, cramped flight only served to highlight the contrast between these two forms of transportation. I'm asking, seriously, what's keeping us from becoming more of a train-going people?

After our 8-day trip, plus our day of trains, planes, and automobiles (don't forget the two-hour drive from the airport), we were glad to get home. That's when we noticed that our oven had fritzed out. But hey, the rest of the house was still standing, so we can't complain.

A Trip to Philly, part 1

(Uchenna looking at Independence Hall, and wearing the hat I got him. It was cold in Philly!)

You know how Grandpa likes to say that flight is still an experimental form of travel? Most flights go very smoothly, but some seem more experimental than others.

Our flight to Philly got delayed by weather. In fact, it was raining so hard in Philadelphia that we (and a couple other planes we could see out the window), circled for over an hour, then had to make a side trip to Scranton to refuel. Then we came back and circled some more. The turbulance tossed us around a bit, of course. As we were enjoying a rollercoaster-type drop, I saw the guy across the aisle reviewing his safety information card.

Fortunately, we didn't have to put it to use, and we all stumbled gratefully off the plane about two hours later than scheduled--and made a bee-line for the bathrooms. They wouldn't let anyone use the plane bathroom because we could be cleared for landing any moment, for two hours. Also fortunately, in front of us was a group of loud women from New Jersey who had great humor and boisterous laughs, so the trip seemed more like a good story to tell and less like an ordeal.

So why did we go to Philadelphia when the DeMarcos aren't there? Because Uchenna had a conference, which is really our main excuse to travel anywhere. It's a great deal, since we only have to pay for one flight ticket, one person's meals, and no hotel. That said, the trip is still not free, so I guess we won't be getting a big T.V. this year. Uchenna is trying not to be heartbroken.

On the topic of costs, we've noticed an irony about hotels: the more expensive the hotel, the less they give you. A lot of basic chain hotels these days provide free internet, breakfast, and a fridge and microwave. Big, fancy hotels don't. They may have some nice details, snazzy lobbies, and perhaps more comfortable beds, but the rooms are basically the same (at least the ones we book; I'm sure they have amazing suites up somewhere near the top floor). So let's see--higher price tag for thick, fluffy towels or lower price for internet and breakfast. Hmm, tough decision. We're just more practical and cheap than classy, I guess.

Anyway, we thought Philly was dang cool. I think Uchenna wants to move there--but he might be happy to move to any city after living in a small town. We were right downtown on Market St. (okay, that justifies the hotel's cost), and I loved walking by the river, looking at the stores and sampling all the restaurants. In fact the trip sort of turned into a restaurant tour of City Center. Plus, there's this great Reading Terminal Market just a couple blocks away--a lot like Lexington Market for those of you who remember Baltimore.

(In front of the Benjamin Franklin bridge and the Delaware River. Can you see the scarf Mom made me while she was here? Total life saver!)

I called one of my former college roommates who's from there; she invited us to dinner on Sunday and told us how to navigate the subway (it's called the Septa System, which to me sounded too much like septic system. Do people say the words out loud before the inaugurate a new acronym?). Then on Monday showed me the Penn's Landing, took me along the quirky shops on South St., and introduced me to Philly cheese-steak. You know, the important things.

(That's the real Liberty Bell, crack and all. Somehow I thought it'd be bigger, and encased in glass)

Of course one day Uchenna took the afternoon off from conference sessions and we toured the historical sites. Uchenna hadn't been there before, and the last time I went I think I was 12 or 13. As with that first trip, I was struck by how small everything was--such as the room where they drafted and signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But as the park ranger for the Liberty Bell said, these were things and buildings created for everyday use. They may be small, but the ideas are big.

(For a smallish room, a lot of big, historical things happened here.)