October 25, 2026
gem
travel
chiyoda, ginza, japan, meiji-jinga, metro, Senso-ji, tokyo
First thing in the morning, during rush hour on day 1 in Japan, the orderliness and silence of the chiyoda metro is astonishing. It was just after 8:30am when we slipped into the stream of commuters through a side entrance, and filed down the steps, walking on the left side in perfect order, reached a door line, waited 45 seconds, boarded an entirely silent car and made our way in 15 minutes from the Peninsula basement to Meiji-Jinga. There were even seats on the train.
Welcome to Japan, where rumors of smashed commuters confront the reality of perfect order.
Contrast this with the day 12 Ginza line metro ride (unplanned until after breakfast) back from SensÅ-ji on the last day…which was packed with unruly tourists who were noisy, uncouth, and didn’t follow the rules (simply because they didn’t know the rules and didn’t have enough cultural awareness to find out that there even were rules). Take a cab instead of the Ginza line.
We did meet some nice people at the end of the line who snapped this picture of us.
One guess which metro trip we enjoyed the most.
October 17, 2026
gem
travel, wedding
honeymoon, japan, Meiji Jingu, shinto shrine, tokyo
One of the must see Shinto shrines in Japan, Meiji Jingu makes a good first day walk.
Through the gate straight off the silent subway.
Walking to the shrine (through the shrine). How very zen. Be the shrine. You are not the shrine.
Entering properly with respect.
The Divine Trees representing husband and wife. We had some fun with the Italians trading photos.
Listen
The priests process as we buy amulets.
A wedding (there is always a wedding).
The Inner Garden.
We stamped our papers.
And saw a heron…just like home, only more Japanese.
And a gardener…not much like home, unless you are me.
We started in the last cool of the morning. By the time we left, the temperature was in the mid 70s.
October 15, 2026
gem
art
art at the mill, don black, meg caldwell, painting
The Mill itself, transformed into a gallery of sorts.
Our favorite local artist Meg Caldwell.
Cheap banana knockoff
The latest acquisition to the art pile. This one is by Don Black, who is in his 90s now.
October 15, 2026
gem
who knows
blandy farm, gilbey, mary jane, rhine, tom singleton
Gilbey’s owner Tom spent some of his teenage years (in the 1950s) on Bland Experimental Farm while his dad was the Director. Tom is Rhine’s dad.
Gilbey is not so sure about Virginia.
Tom and Mary Jane at dinner.
Tom, early in the morning.
A visit to Blandy.
Tom and his dad.
On the way home, we stopped in on the last day of Art at the Mill.
October 15, 2026
gem
fire, trees, who knows
barn, solar, solar array, solstice fire, tree removal, tree work, winter solstice
Infrastructure for a solar array on the barn roof has been in place for a decade. But there were some nice trees causing too much shade. We decided now is the time to take those trees down. We (or rather JC) are removing a maple in the paddock, and a stand of three smallish trees behind the apothecary shed (namesake alert). We’re also having any overhanging black walnut limbs removed to control the risk of walnut bombs.
It was not an easy decision, especially since solar will not really be cost effective that fast for us. But we are committed to generating our share of power.
This will be step one of three. Step two is installing a battery (there is no reason to do that now since we will never be generating more power than we are consuming with the barn array…and Rappahannock does not allow energy arbitrage on rates yet). Step three more panels, likely on the house or maybe a ground array. Who knows when those phases will kick in.
Before.
During.
After.
One side effect of all the tree work is that the winter solstice fire is completely built! Plenty of time to cure.
October 9, 2026
gem
ocean, travel, who knows
bocce, cocktails, dad, gem, laura, lisa, noelie, ocean isle beach, OIB, romey, stick, the stick
The Stick in the Fall is perfection. This iteration’s fun included dad and laura, and noelie and lisa (from the UK).
First a NEWS FLASH! McGraw wins at Bocce…
(the editors were not paid (much) for this disinformation.)
It all started with a sunset. Or was that a full moon?
The dogs were psyched to be back in the Atlantic.
This is not a dog. It is a bloody margaret.
However, this is a dog.
Full moon walk.
Catoctin Creek in the house.
Cheers.
Fuck All Y’all models.
What? Drinking again?!
Angelic
The flags
Designed to drive the dogs bannanas
Hey look, new table.
Sun goes down.
Moon comes up.
The best one.
Dog at dusk.
Get up and do it again.
Maybe gets surprized!!!!
The great science experiment.
October 7, 2026
gem
concert, film, photography
concert, de la soul, erykah badu, live music, video, wolf trap
From our porch…
To the porch at Wolf Trap.
And then to the show.
De La Soul opened…old school style.
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We had to put our hands in the air.
Testing
You go.
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