Brownie Beach Fossil Hunt!

Happy Memorial Day!

Today's adventure was to go look for shark teeth fossils in the Chesapeake Bay. We did some research and decided to visit Brownie Beach, which is just north of Chesapeake Beach. It was about an hour drive from our house.

今回はサメの歯の化石を集めるため、家から約一時間位で行くことのできる、ブラウニービーチに行ってきました．

It was a beautiful day, so naturally parking was tricky. We did succeed and walked through the woods to get to the beach.

お天気がよかったので駐車場を見つけるまで苦労しました。浜辺までには森林を抜けて行きます．

The exposed cliff you see is from middle Myocene period, which is about 22 to 8 million years old. That boggles one's mind.

メリーランド州のチェサピーク湾内の浜辺には約８千万年〜２億２千万年位前の地層が露出しており、化石等がアマチュアでも発見できる浜辺です．

We got to swim too! The ocean floor was bit silt like and felt like clay, but it was all right. I promptly found a crabby friend.

ブラウニービーチは公共の浜辺で、ほとんどの人はビーチを楽しんでいました．砂浜と言うより粘度状の海底でしたが、遠浅で波も少なく、泳ぐにはもってこいの場所です．早速かに（メス）を発見しました．両者ピースサインの記念写真です．

Blue crab female. I love the scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, which translates to "Beautiful swimmer who is tasty". mmm.

Then we dug. and swam a bit. Then dug again.

メリーランド州で有名なこのブルークラブの学名は”美しく、美味しい泳ぐ物”　と言う意味です．ふーん。

浜辺を一生懸命掘りました．

Intermission

And here are the find! 23 in total. Most of these are shark teeth, and the rectangular-ish ones are fragments of skate teeth.

一時間ほどで見つけたサメの歯の化石は合計２３個でした．ほとんどが１センチに満たない小さい物ですが、ちゃんと歯の形を残したまま化石化されています．

写真右下の四角形に近い化石はエイの歯の化石の破片です．

Fun day! Then we went into a restaurant in Bowie and had a pound of shrimp. mmm. shrimp.

ビーチと化石発見で充実した日を送りました．夕飯はエビをたらふく食べました．

Atl Visit

I renewed my passport last December, and I had to go pick it up at the Japanese Embassy in Atlanta. I conveniently thought that they would be able to send the passport up to the DC office without any trouble, but after an irritated phone call from the ambassador, I flew down to the good old ATL.

Also, it was a perfect occasion to check out my sister's new apartment, now that she's all professional and all.

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I inspired some flight attendants with my knits, and told them about ravelry. They were REALLY excited. :) I think plane rides are one of the best places to knit (I guess not for projects that require lots of different colors of yarn).

I landed on time, enjoyed the new atrium, and called my sister.

Me: "I'm here."
Sis: "OK. I left work about half an hour ago. I'll see you in 1.5 hours."
Me: "What?"
Sis: "Well, I had to go back to my apartment, pick up recycling, and drop it off at the recycling center. I'm not sure of the best way to get to the airport from the recycling center, so I'm going back close to my apartment, and then I'm going to go to the airport."
Me: "What?"
Sis: "Well, we had to work really hard to clean the apartment, and there's lots to recycle"
Me: "What?"

Well, I noticed that there were lots of flaws in her way of thinking, but I suppose the future of earth is more important than me wasting time at the airport. I can sort of understand that. So I sat around, working on MY SISTER'S ARMWARMERS until she finally came. I'm a good sister, no?



She drove up in her new-to-her car and off we went:


to her apartment complex. Pretty nice.



Then to see her new place. As you can tell, she's really excited about comics and animation.





It also happened to be one of her nights to go karate. Fancy-pants. Their teacher approached me with ideas to illustrate his book he's working on, and that's still a work in progress.






While watching them practice, I casted on Melissa's socks:



We dyed the yarn together last month, and I finally got around to start knitting it.
Yarn: Valley Yarns Franklin Natural/Undyed MC dyed in food color/vinegar and undyed for CC.
Needle: US1 DPN

This day she cooked me 2 kinds of pasta, before and after karate.

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The next day she went off to work, and didn't think that I needed food. Sad. Because I was hungry, it made me angrier. I convinced her to bring back some food for me from a nearby mall, and I felt better.

After she came home early, we went off to go pick up the passport...they wanted me to tell them when I was coming. I joked that they need to know when people come so they look like they are working. Just kidding. Everything went well, and now I don't have to get a new passport until I'm 37. Yuck and Cool at the same time.

After that we went shopping--well, sort of. I haven't been in a shopping mall in Atlanta for so long, I forgot what a big city it was.

When I mentioned Olive Garden, my sister and her boyfriend got really really excited. I mean really. Apparently they go there all the time! Woo, that's nice I called out their favorite restaurant, but wouldn't they want to try something new? something different? well, apparently not. The two are pretty picky with food.

So we went there, and they were really happy. They ordered the same meal. Very cute.



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The next day I finally finished the armwarmers for her. She was pretty pumped. I actually "finished" these in 2008, but I missed a repeat and the two were different lengths. I also didn't understand the concept of peasant thumb, and made the gusset without making decreases for the thumb. I corrected all these things, and now they fit her well.



Pattern: Burtonesque by Jacqueline Landry
Yarn: Domy Heather in Ecru and Lava
Needles: US4 and US7 DPN

I really like the Domy Heather yarn. It feels like Shetland, and it creates a nice halo. I should try making a jumper out of this yarn.

Now that I had one project bag empty, I quickly casted on for the Norwegian Mickey hat I mentioned in the Disknitty group on ravelry:



Pattern: Mickey Mouse hat adapted from a Mickey sweater at Disneyland
Yarn: KnitPicks Telemark Cream, Garnet Heather, and Brass Heather dyed black
Needles: US2 and US4 circular

The sister was further impressed that you can knit a hat with a brim. She really wanted me to make one (hey, didn't I just make a chullo hat for you last month? and these armwarmers just now?). Then she offered to drive me to a yarn store and buy me yarn to make the hat. I concurred.

We went to Strings and Strands on Roswell Rd and got this:

Malabrigo Chunky yarn in red/pink
The pattern I have in mind is the Captain Hat made with bulky wool. I hope one skein will suffice.

We even found these really cute buttons for the hat at a fabric store nearby:



Then we went to go see an indie film at a gallery in Atlanta. Some of her friends were in it, and it was indie indeed. Apparently my sister was also approached to be a part of this movie, but she turned it down. Well, my sister would rather sing than act. And that's what we did:



Thanks for the fun visit. The hat can be expected in about few months. :)

Broadway Show

Today was a weird day at the museum. I applied makeup on turtle fossils so that it will photograph better. After finishing the photoshoot with the supermodel fossil, I took away makeup by applying deep cleansing lotion on it.

Joe, my fellow colleague asked me whether or not I had plans, I thought I should go see a Broadway show.

Whilst knitting on Marie's scarf in the subway, I really decided to go see a Broadway show. Instead of taking the bus, I went out to the BIG SCARY Times Square.

"Times Square is dangerous!" "Don't walk there alone at night!" that's what my mom told me.

.....but I lived in dangerous and scary Baltimore for 2 years, and I lived to tell the tale. I can pretend to look and act tough when needed.

So I proceeded straight to 8th Avenue and 47th St. to get a discounted ticket

to

go

see...

The Little Mermaid!

Wow wow it was SOOOO GOOOD! There were certainly moms my age, and they were as pumped as their daughters. Wow it was really great! I'm inspired to go see more...when I get more funding from my jobs.

AMNH

This museum is BIG. I found my way all right. It even has its own metro stop...ahem the subway.

People kept telling me how there were going to be elephants when I first go in, but instead I was greeted by dinosaurs. A Brontosaur and an allosaur to be exact. Cool!

It's a really beautiful and HUGE museum. I hope I can find my way around. :)