The Bishop's Garden

 Just outside the cathedral is the bishop's garden  Flowers, lots of herbs, old trees and just gorgeous greenery.  Nothing much to say except that it's peaceful, beautiful and a perfect place to just sit and reflect.

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National Cathedral

 One of the great blessings of being in the DC area is the National Cathedral.  We've seen it on tv during funerals, Christmas services and other honorary functions but it really just takes your breath away to be on these grounds.

 I just happened to get there around 11:30 and they were having a noon service so as I was needing a little soul fulfilling I decided to sit in.  Very small group, maybe 15 people and we sat up here in what they call The Great Choir. A lovely, 25 minute service with prayer, a touching sermon that included grief over the Navy Yard shootings, thanks for the constitution (as it was constitution day), a brief reminder of John 3:16 and ended with communion.  Perfect and just what I needed.  Mostly just sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet of this gorgeous place.

There is a seating area where each of the chairs has one of these needlepoint kneeling pads honoring famous Americans.  This was John F. Kennedy.






In the children's chapel in which all the chairs are made for the size of 6 year olds, the needlepointed pads have animals.

 It was also in the children's chapel that some of the paint was thrown earlier this summer.  There are several small chapels off the main one in the cathedral.

 The Pentagon Cross is made from fragments of the face of the Pentagon from 9/11.

 Statues of both Lincoln and Washington.  The bags near Lincoln are non-perishables for the poor.

 You can go up to the 7th floor to the observation tower.  There are photos of the earthquake damage of 2011.  This is the pinnacle that fell from the top.

DC Garden Update

 Um, yeah.  Not the most impressive garden ever planted.  Not sure what the problem has been.  If the soil is bad, not enough water (clearly that is an issue in this photo), not enough feeding....who knows.

 The fact that no one's garden seems to be flourishing says it is more about the soil.  And Taylor's magic worm juice hasn't done anything special either.  We're still trying to convince him we should just set them loose in the dirt but so far it's a no go.  He really thinks we're going to cart them back home to live on the deck through the winter.  Yeah, that's not going to happen.

 This is the extent of our harvest thus far........so much for making salsa.

 So yes, this experiment was a bust.  Could have easily purchased way more fresh produce with the amount  I spent on just getting the garden in.  Alas, we won't be doing this again next year.  On the upside, there have been some pretty flowers around the outside of the garden that I've helped myself to occasionally and the herbs have done okay.  So there's that......

Civil War Century

Getting Pre-race info and maps to carry on their bikes

Tom signed up to ride the 100 mile Civil War Century which rode through 5 Civil War battlefields.

Prepping Pre-Race

 They started around 7 AM but could really start whenever they wanted; they just had to be finished by 6 PM.  Tom was riding with some Coast Guard guys and they got kind of a late start.

I decided to sign up to volunteer so I dropped him at the starting line and drove out to my post.

 We were at the Fairfield rest stop in a firehouse which was about the 75 mile mark. We set up the area for snacks, fruit, drinks, pb and j and tomato sandwiches which the other volunteers kept telling me the bikers went crazy over.

 So basically we built tomato sandwiches all day and yes, the cyclists were crazy for them.  Tomato sandwiches.  Like, we had invented the thing.  Some said this was the only reason they rode the 100 miles.....so they could have a tomato sandwich.  Some asked for the recipe and I was told to tell them it was secret.  I will however share it with you.

 A slice of wheat bread, spread with a little mayo and 2 slices of tomato.  Yes.  THAT is the recipe.

 If they wanted the special version they added salt and pepper themselves at the table! 110 loaves of break, 5 tubs of mayo and endless bushels of tomatoes later we were done.

 We were lucky we were in the shade all day but it really was a gorgeous day for riding.

 Tom, and everyone else was pretty beat by the time they got to us.  Some pretty big hills completely wiped them out.  Fortunately, the last 25 miles were mild so the ride home from our rest stop was much easier.  And, Gettysburg was between us and the finish line so they had that to look forward to.

After I helped clean up our area I drove back to the finish line to pick Tom up.  Overall he rode 104 miles in 8 hours.  Crazy!  Got there in enough time to grab an ice cream with him then we loaded up the bike and started the 90 minute drive back home.