150th Anniversary of Gettysburg

Tom and I hit the road by 6 AM Friday morning to spend his birthday at the 150th anniversary of the Civil War Reenactment of the Battles of Gettysburg.

Once there, we parked at the community college and hopped a bus that took us up to the field.

 Climbed the hill to the festivities.....

All kinds of "shops" for authentic clothes, toys, supplies, etc.

 There were 2 big activity tents with speakers but we never were able to get in and get a seat!

 It was plenty interesting to hear the history from just individuals.....

 The re-enactors are supposed to live authentically while they are there so they do their cooking, washing up, and everything else.....(well there WERE port-potties and we did see one woman on a cell phone)

 It was in the 90's with 50% humidity.....big open fields with plenty of sun....finally bought a big floppy hat.  Yes, mom....I should have just kept the ones you bought for my wedding.

The first battle was at 11 AM but all the grandstand seating was sold out so we just stood along the field to watch.

Custer

 The battle itself was out in the middle of the field so it was pretty hard to see anything.  There was no falling off of horses (well, except the one guy who got thrown by his horse who clearly didn't like the cannons or gun fire) or playing dead.  It was kind of hard to really get what was going on. This story includes a video that gives a perspective.  An actor portraying Lincoln performed the Gettysburg Address over the loud speaker and then after the battle they all did a loop around so we could see them close up.

 We left the battle area and walked to the camps where the soldiers were just returning from battle.  Can't imagine how hot they were in those uniforms.

 Tom chatted with this young private who was guarding headquarters.

 We liked this campground because of the shade!  Met some interesting folks there.  An engineering troop was camping and a few of them chatted with us about their responsibilities....building bridges, cutting down trees, etc.  We met a woman who was there cooking for the troop and she said that during the war each of the men would pay 50 cents a month to a cook who would make 4 meals a day.  That meant she would make more money than most of those men. She had venison stew over the fire with slabs of bread.

 Some tents were nicer than others.....this one clearly had been laid out by a woman!

 This little group was playing as we came up.  They sounded great.

 We ran into this couple who were on their way to a wedding ceremony in one of the tents.  They opened it up to anyone who wanted to renew their vows as well.

We finally found a covered tent to just catch some shade with a drink and two couples recommended some books by an author who had spoken earlier and was there signing books.  Jeff Shaara was his name (I guess if you're a fan of historical novels you would know him or his father, Michael) so we headed to the authors tent to check out the books.  While there, General Custer himself showed up!

 They had postcards and banners they were sending overseas to the troops for us to sign......

After 7 hours in the sun, we opted against staying for the second battle which wasn't going to start for a couple of more hours.  We headed back through town and towards home...

 This guy had a miniature diorama of the battlefield on his head.  Wish I had gotten a better shot but I was in the car.

Always has to be a protest!

 After we saw how long it took us to get out of town because of traffic we were really glad we didn't wait to leave with the thousands of others!  Would like to go back in cooler weather when it's not so crowded.  A happy day for the birthday boy though........

4th of July

Had already cleaned and done most the cooking for our little 4th celebration so we went to the indoor pool to swim laps then headed outside for a little sun.  The Fuhrmann's arrived around 6pm for dinner.

 Menu:  Bocca Burgers for the vegetarians/ BBQ ribs/ potato salad/ fruit & veggies with dips/ baked beans/ lemonade/ cupcakes and blueberry pie.  Pretty All-American!  See that cool blue pitcher & basin set. Tom made that when he was in the service!  Washington crossing the Delaware. Pretty cool huh?


We visited and had dinner then decided to take walk.  They wanted to see our community garden to we headed there first.

More scraps for the worms

Worm juice for the plants.  Ick.

 We circled down around the wharf when we were approached by a young girl who was lost. She was 21 but seemed to have a little bit of a disability.  We stayed with her for about 30 minutes or so, walking her around and retracing her steps. She was very scared and on the 4th there are thousands of people wandering around which didn't make it any better.  Found a DC policeman who couldn't help because he couldn't leave his post. Finally, we heard someone shout her name and her family came running up.  The mother seemed like maybe she had some issues as well.  Anyway, she was safely back with her family and we were on our way.

 Walked down the National mall which was covered in very hot (and I mean temperature) people!

 Got back to the apartment literally just as the fireworks started.  We stood on the balcony and watched them over the Jefferson Memorial before having our dessert.  Overall, a very good day!

Tom, Dalliss and Jalene

WikiLeaks

So Tom has been spending a few days every other week or so at Fort Meade for the Bradley Manning Court Marshall.  Tom and other members of the public affairs unit makes sure the media get on base and have everything they need, etc.  Since he was only going to be there Monday/Tuesday, I decided to go and hang out at the hotel or wander the giant mall.  Tom suggested I could sit in on the court hearing so I opted to do that instead.

 So I took Tom to the building housing the media then did a donut/coffee run for the public affairs folk. I had some time to kill before the hearing started to I just cruised the base which I'd never been on before.  As I arrived at the parking lot adjacent to the court house I could see a group of people congregating just outside.  Tom had told me Manning has a very vocal support group so I assumed it was them.  Their tie dyed and/or black TRUTH shirts and long, wavy grey hair gave them away.  Reminded me very much of the folks who we always see in Berkeley, CA.  They all seemed to know one another and seemed very much on the same page politically so I was reluctant to join them in my little sundress and a-political sensitivities.  Frankly, I didn't know much about the case but it's hard to imagine that in any kind of security job you wouldn't have signed a "non-disclose" preventing you from sharing information with the world.  Especially in a high security military job, I think there's a very fine line between "oh, I think y'all should see these 720,000 records" (which is the largest security breach in US history) vs. treason.  So basically, the US govt. is accusing Manning of assisting al-Qaida and leaking information to WikiLeaks to "gain the notoriety he craved" while the defense is describing him as "young, naive, but good intentioned".  Apparently he thought he was making the world a better place.

So.  I finally go stand in line because we have to go through security to get in.  I already had a public affairs badge but tucked it in my purse.  Interesting conversations and characters I observed:

• Gentleman asks if I've ever been to a military court marshall before.  I tell him no.  He says it's pretty boring but he tries to come for the morning session.  He'd stay all day but has a disabled wife at home.  He feels that the media is being manipulated and that the govt. is making it difficult for them to cover this important story.  I don't tell him that actually the media is right down the street in a very comfortable bldg. with a pitched lecture room lay out.  They watch the trial on the big screen so they can have their laptops open on the table in front of them (which they couldn't in the courtroom), they can get up and use the restroom whenever they need to (which they couldn't in the courtroom) and they have a military expert who comes out during recesses to answer questions and explain anything they don't understand.  They can't transmit info as the hearing is happening, but apparently it's fairly simple to get credentialed and the majority of the media there are bloggers and are pro-Manning.
• Cindy Sheehan (activist who lost her son Casey in Iraq and camped out at Pres. Bush's Texas ranch) arrives and proceeds to tell this story to our little group of 15 or so people.  I stand quietly and listen and am surprised at her difficulty as the giant WikiLeaks truck (see above) is on base every day during the trial and yes, probably has to go through the same protocol as does anyone who doesn't have military ID to get on a military base.  Her description of the in-court antics....the "Oh, I love Bradley Manning", "Isn't Bradley a hero?", "Bradley is truly one of America's heroes"  in a very big and obnoxious voice was actually chastised by Manning's defense attorney during a break.  Someone else in the group actually stood up and said "Your honor, I have a question" during an unofficial break.  The judge didn't acknowledge him but he was taken out and told he couldn't just shout out things in court. He apparently wanted to know why there were two men standing between us and Manning, thus blocking our view of him.  Turns out they're there to protect Manning.  Anyway, during a break, his defense attorney came out into the holding room and told the group he was happy for their support but would they please notice that he showed nothing but respect for the court and the judge and that anything they did that didn't do likewise was not beneficial to Bradley.
• Other interesting characters.....woman who isn't a courtroom artist but is a supporter and comes to sketch Bradley and others during trial.  She pulled out a sketch she had done of him during a break and they all oohed and awed over it.  She's apparently gathering email addresses so she can share her art with others. Another woman complaining that capitalism promotes doubt as it makes us not trust communities to care for us.  For example in her situation, she only has a "peace" community that she is a part of but has no "physical" community.  Hence, she is currently living in someone else's house who is allowing her to be there. Hmmmm, I'm thinking maybe get a job and stop being a full time peace activist.

So yeah, ultimately this probably wasn't really my crowd.  My sense was...quite a bit of paranoia going on and a group of people who consider THIS their calling.  My very moderate self kept thinking that there are probably more beneficial ways to spend their time where they could be REALLY helpful in changing the world.  Sheehan was patting herself on the back for having been arrested at the CIA offices with 5 others the day before.  She proudly announced they were calling themselves the CIA Six.    Hmm. Catchy.  Wondering how they support themselves or if others are contributing to their bike trips across the US to hit every protest.  I don't know.  Feed the hungry.  Help the poor.  

Needless to say, when the court broke for recess, I hit the road.  Seriously, I had a little bit of a stomach ache going on.  I just didn't get those people.  Felt anxious around them.  Went back to the COVERT media bldg. and shared my experience with Tom then went to visit the base commissary and PX.  Took my apple and cheese, found a beautiful place by Lake Burba to relax and read.

 Too hot to do that for long so went to library on base to check emails then headed back and sat in the car waiting for Tom.  Very interesting day. Needless to say, day two I spent happily cross-stitching in the hotel room.

Packing NJ

We have had to hurry things along because Joe and Karen are moving to North Carolina.  Joe has a new job there and is living on their boat while Karen has stayed in NJ to get the house sold and finish up her work.  We spent a day helping them paint before an open house and then in one of those awesome real estate miracles, they had multiple offers on it's second day on the market.  They had just redone the kitchen and the house did show really well so that was a great thing.  

 We spent another day helping them load u-hauls and clean the house (Karen's foot is still a problem after her stepping off a ladder onto a paint can mishap) as their closing was the following morning and they had to be out!  They had already been in a hotel for a couple of days and they have stuff in storage in NJ AND North Carolina until they find a house.  Fortunately the boat is big enough to stay comfortably there until they find a place.

We were richly rewarded at the end of that long day with burgers on the grill and Marie's famous blueberry pie.  Victor came over to join us.

 After much discussion we finally decided to pull the carpet up at their mom's home as the old carpet isn't a great selling point.  Tom and I spent the next day doing just that and fortunately, the floors underneath were pretty wonderful!  We pulled up staples all day and moved all the furniture outside for the thrift store (still sick about all the stuff that is being let go).  We did the entire ground floor and put out a Craigslist curb call where people can come and pick up stuff for free.  It worked well the weekend before! Marie came to help later in the day and I think we may still go back to paint.

          This pretty much summed up how we felt after two days of lifting, loading and pulling.

Took off for home as soon as we showered and found this little ice cream joint on the way.  NJ is known for their blueberries so we had to try their fresh blueberry shakes!  It was okay....not as good as raspberry shakes from Bear Lake.

 We had a rainy drive through Philly on the way home.  Yeah, right THROUGH Philly as Tom had us on the slowest route possible!  This sky shot was almost worth it though......