34. free to a good home.

we have this designated table in the break room/kitchen at work for giveaway things. people put out whatever they bring in that's free for the taking- old magazines, tiny bottles of hand lotion, random housewares (i scored a basket once), etc. the other day it was looking particularly library-ish:

clockwise from upper left:
1. bookmark
2. can of organic cat food
3. a bracelet with the words, "some like it haute"
4. avon catalogs
5. early reader copies from the public library association conference in philly

around christmas, things were a little bleaker:

33. pistols at dawn.

history!

spotted on my first bike ride around town. the site is in bladensburg, maryland, conveniently located outside a cvs parking lot.

Dueling Grounds

On this site, now part of Anacostia River Park, more than 50 duels were fought during the first half of the 19th century. Here, on what became known as "The Dark and Bloody Grounds," gentleman of Washington settled their political and personal differences. One of the most famous disputes was that between Commodores Stephen Decatur and James Barron. Decatur, who had gained fame as the conqueror of the Barbary pirates, was fatally wounded by his antagonist. Although Congress passed an anti-dueling law in 1839, duels continued here until just before the Civil War.

decatur: namesake for the illinois town, war of 1812 hero, bad at shooting.  

barron: old man, duel winner.

bladensburg's popularity as a dueling site was purely geographic:

Dueling was banned in Washington, but not in Maryland, which was a short carriage ride away. Irate legislators could simply shuttle out to Bladensburg and fire at will.  (PBS)

and fire at will they did:

In June, 1836, 22-year-old Daniel Key, a son of Francis Scott Key [Star Spangled Banner composer], was killed in a senseless duel with a fellow Annapolis cadet, of the United States Naval Academy, John Sherbourne, over a question regarding steamboat speed. (wikipedia)

fascinating stuff, but i didn't see any ghosts. 

maybe they were inside cvs.

32. trike post, the prequel.

this is the box it came in, fresh from picking it up at the store:

the kind gentlemen who loaded it in did a little "yes!" when it fit-after-thinking-it-may-not-fit-just-by-looking-at-the-car. go hatchback!

and from the rear driver side door:

the box weighed about 75 lbs., so i pried it open, slashed a bunch of zip ties, and removed all the pieces out individually to bring them into the house.

a portion of the home library/bike shop:

coming soon: jc hits the road (preferably with her trike, and not her limbs)

31. assembly.

trike is coming together!

this is the most number of tools i've ever used on one thing.
i still need to attach the fenders, back chain, and basket. then just a few brake adjustments before it's actually road ready.

30. chinggis, not genghis.

http://genghiskhan.fieldmuseum.org/

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

good thing i'll be visiting home before september.
maybe i should bring my catalog from the chinggis khan exhibit i saw in mongolia.
THE COUNTRY.
what's funny is that they have things on loan from the national museum in ulaanbaatar, so it's possible i will have seen the same artifacts, in two different museums on complete opposite sides of the world, within one year of each other, the second time being quite near my place of birth.
let's all go!
they probably won't be selling any of this though: