http://juliemangin.com writing my way to awareness Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:41:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I took a day off in the middle of the week to go on a nature hike with Lynda at Calvert Cliffs State Park. We both find our jobs stressful, and this was a welcome relief. We asked each other a couple of times during this lovely day, ... http://juliemangin.com/calvert-cliffs/ This is a report of a trip I took to Crumpton, Maryland, on July 16, 2003. I'm going to try to get back there soon. This is the $5 yard, meaning that the minimum bid for anything is $5. You can't see it in this picture, but the items in ... http://juliemangin.com/dixons-furniture-auction/ I can't let it go without mentioning that it was ten years ago today that I broke up with Marty (see Ten years ago part 1 and Ten years ago part 2). It felt like the worst day of my life at the time it happened. It's easy ... http://juliemangin.com/ten-years-ago-part-3/ There’s a wild time going on in West Virginia this weekend. The Appalachian String Band Music Festival is a mecca for old-time musicians all over the country. I’d guess a good 3,000 people are crammed into every possible camping space at Camp Washington Carver in the little town ... http://juliemangin.com/music-festivals/ I cannot believe my good luck today. I was driving down Main Street in Laurel, Maryland at just the right moment to witness the delivery of a seven-foot fiberglass chicken to the front of a butcher shop. An even greater stroke of luck was that I had my camera with ... http://juliemangin.com/lucky-chicken-day/ New experiences seem to jazz me up. I've just gotten off a three day weekend and had some good ones. Bob and I went t the Takoma Park Independence Day Parade. What a wide range of participants! There were the usual politicians, public service personnel and veterans, the ... http://juliemangin.com/fourth-of-july-weekend/ Chris and Lars are two old-time musicians who like to play practical jokes. If you go to an old-time music festival and see a campsite with a bust of Elvis, it just might be them. Ten years ago, I had a party at my house, and many of ... http://juliemangin.com/ten-years-ago-part-2/ You may have noticed that I have written two essays that end with "part 1," but there is no succeeding "part 2," at least not yet. That is not to say I won't write them some day. But at this point, I'm wondering about it just as much ... http://juliemangin.com/part-one-part-1/ Harrisonburg, Virginia is “the Friendly City.” We were there this weekend mainly because Bob has a painting in a show there (see http://www.bobcantor.com/ for details). We drove in on Route 33 (where we’ve been told you can get HALF your kicks), and ended up stopped at the intersection ... http://juliemangin.com/harrisonburg-part-1/ Last night, Bob and I woke up to a sound we couldn’t quite identify, not quite a dog barking, not quite a cat yowling. It was more like a raspy howl. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window to see a fox in my driveway, howling ... http://juliemangin.com/wildlife-in-my-yard/