Spring!

One of my favorite scents of Spring is lilacs.  They remind me of the Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY when I was little, and our neighbor, Mrs. Fuller's backyard that had a wall of lilacs and you could smell them all over.  These lilacs are on my daily walk with the dog.  Every morning I stop to smell them.  You need to smell them as much as possible while they're in fresh bloom, because when they start to fade, the stink is unbelievable!  :-)

The old and the new

Today I went on a field trip with students in our Environmental Studies department. We took them to see an old grist mill and a new wind turbine. We also got to see an old windmill that was used to pump water. It was part of a greater Earth Day / week festivities in our area. It was interesting to see various types of windmills that ground wheat for flour, pumped water for livestock, and generated electricity for a community college. The old grist mill had cloth sails, but they could not be put on because the winds were around 15-20 miles per hour and that was too strong. The winds had to be between 5-10 m.p.h. Who knew? The water pumping windmill would operate regardless of the wind speed. The modern wind turbine had to have winds over 3 m.p.h. but not more than 80.

Steampunk rat at Etsy

For CK:

Ho Hey

My latest song obsession is this song from the Lumineers. While watching their video on Youtube, I came across this video from two actresses on the show Nashville. I am astounded at their talent. I don't know if this link will embed properly or if you will have to copy it into your browser. Doing this on an iPad limits some things.  3DemVideo link click here

Jaleo

We went to D.C. today. We were planning to see the cherry blossoms, the blooms weren't open yet. We had lunch at Jaleo's, a great tapas place. It had interesting decor, eclectic, yet tasteful. Then I went to use the restroom and the floors were covered with faces, so while you were sitting on the can you were being looked at, also while washing hands, walking in, the faces were all over. I found it a little odd.