Blog

It is festival season here in Baltimore. Once summer temperatures begin to make their way into the scene, it seems there is a festival every weekend. This past weekend was no exception. The Hampden neighborhood played host to the annual HonFest. HonFest is an ode to the Baltimore Hon along with beehives, cat-eyed glasses, flamingos, and plenty of pink. Each year there is a Hon contest in which Miss Hon is crowned.


After last year's tainted festival due to controversy in the festival organizer's trademark of the term "Hon," we just couldn't quite make ourselves go to the festival. It just didn't seem right somehow. But after the organizer's restaurant, Cafe Hon, began doing so badly that she turned to Kitchen Nightmare's Gordon Ramsey, she finally gave up the trademark and apologized. Thus, much of Baltimore felt they could once again celebrate HonFest in true fashion. And it was pretty fabulous, hon.

Hi friends! I'm so glad you're still reading because quite frankly, if I were you, I would have thought that I had ditched you by now. Let's just say that it's been quite the eventful past four days. And with only three more days to go to summer break, I'll most likely see you all here on my blog a little more often again.

One of those busy days last week happened to be Thursday. After a long day of end of year paperwork at school, I stopped by Andrew's office to pick him up and headed to the nearby park by the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon. Every first Thursday of the summer months, WTMD puts on a free concert in the park. I've told you all about these shows before here. This month's big act was JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, a post-punk soul band that I was not going to miss. You may have remembered me writing about this group previously. They did not disappoint in any way.

JC Brooks, the obvious front man of the group, is by far one of the best entertainers I've seen in a while. I don't know if he uses the same one-liners in each of their shows or if he's really that good with the improv, but he most definitely could entertain. That being said, his commentary as well as his shimmying and shaking, only comes as a distant second to his incredible vocal talent. The guy has got some pipes! And the Uptown Sound has this great funk crossed with Chicago-style Blues Brothers band thing going on. If you ever get the chance to see these guys, you have to know that dancing will be inevitable.

It began as a perfect night for a show with beautiful weather for the first two acts and great sunlight in the park.


Andrew was stoked for some good music. Cue over-excited happy face.


Then it started to drizzle. We were worried for a bit, but then didn't care as it let up and JC Brooks and Uptown Sound hit the stage.


And to make the evening that much more fantastic, as the drizzling rain disappeared a rainbow formed over the park.


Good music AND a rainbow?! Doesn't get much better than that, now does it?

Last night while I was working in my studio, I glanced out the window for a brief instant. I am so glad I did! The sunset that was taking place was one of the best so far this summer. The sun had lowered just perfectly above the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus and created a glow in the clouds that was spectacular.
 I grabbed my camera and headed up to the roof deck to snap a few photos when I realized the effect that was taking place on the other side of the house was equally as awesome. A glow through the clouds was creating a pocket of sun on the Johns Hopkins Bay View Campus Hospital (yes, we live equidistant between them both and they just happen to be great landmarks to provide an idea of where things are when looking from a bird's eye view). All said and done, the view last night was breathtaking as the sun lit up buildings and created shadows.
And while this photo may not be nearly as breathtaking, I still had to include it because even Mr. Boh was glowing in the distance.
Last night's sunset made me feel even more lucky that we are able to have such a spectacular view of Baltimore. Now I can hardly wait even more so for our new roof deck furniture that is arriving on Saturday! I know that it will be put to good use while we enjoy many more sunsets like these to come!

Some songs are meant to be happy songs, but they can't be happy all of the time. I remember my mom telling me once that she couldn't listen to the Pink Floyd album Division Bell because it was too depressing. Depressing it may be, but sometimes good music is just good music even if it is a bit on the dark side.

Case in point, one of the songs from The Shins' newest album Port of Morrow. The title track The Rifle's Spiral is such a great song. And the video, just as awesome. But listen to the lyrics and it's definitely a bit on the dark side. Some recent interviews with James Mercer, the lead singer, revealed that the song was about religious violence. However, despite it all the title track of this album immediately propels us into a great set of tracks.



What have you been listening to lately?

Sick of my weekend hiking photos yet? These were just magical and I had to share. They're a week old from a fabulous day in Gunpowder Falls State Park on Memorial Day, but sadly I've been so busy that I was unable to even take a look at them until now. As of late, hiking has been the perfect get-out-of-the-house-and-forget-about-the-rest-of-the-world activity that I've been greatly in need of as the chaos of the end of the school year quickly consumes my life.

Despite the horribly hot and humid conditions last weekend (which was also the weekend our central air decided it had leaked all of its freon) we decided to get away for the afternoon. Lucky we did because the light conditions were just perfect for photography at the time we went! Aside from the beautiful outdoors there are a few spots of interest as well including a covered bridge and old buildings from a historic mill.


I love living in a city, but I have also found that there is a necessary balance that I need to find between the city and our natural world. We are lucky to have so many places surrounding Baltimore to enjoy.

How do you escape the daily grind of life?