Sunday, May 18, 2014

Living History


Yesterday I made my initial visit to “the City” to sit for a while at the




Although Historic St. Mary's City has been open since March, sickness, weather, and a variety of other reasons prevented me from docent duty at the Chapel until yesterday.  Although it sometimes seems a chore (gotta get my stuff, put it in the car, drive down there, walk out to the Chapel), every time at the end of the day I am glad I did it.  Yesterday was graduation at the adjoining college so there were lots of folks around.  In my stint from about 11 to 4, I had 45 folks visiting the Chapel, which (unfortunately) is an unusually high number. Some of that number includes kids, who always enjoy the amazing acoustics inside the building.  Meaning screaming at the top of their lungs.  I had one family group with five kids (maybe seven on down), who ran around so fast I had difficulty counting them.  Sort of like the lady in the shoe…

I always enjoy talking to the visitors, at least the non screaming kind.  They have interesting questions about the chapel and its history and reconstruction (“It’s really on the original (1667) foundation?   Wow!”) and most are at least somewhat interested in the colony’s history and Lord Baltimore.  Or at a minimum, they are polite enough to listen to me for a while.  It’s interesting to try to read them and figure out when to shut up.  Loss of eye contact, fidgeting, looking toward the door, single word responses, all indicate that it is time for the docent to say “thanks for coming, enjoy the rest of your tour”.   Some just kind of come into the chapel, quickly look around and leave without asking any questions.  How can you come into a building that looks like



And not be impressed or take the time to look around a bit and learn more?..  But they are the exception rather than the rule.  Most people like to hear about the place.  In between groups it gets very quiet inside the building and I took a few pictures yesterday with the light coming through the windows.  Very calming, but in a way maybe not surprising for a religious site.



I did have one visitor that didn’t stop, as it was being harried by a bunch of bluejays in the trees next to the road.  Eventually a red tailed hawk appeared and departed for quieter quarters.  Hearing the commotion, I knew something was up and kept the camera ready, and was lucky enough to get a quick shot



Finally the flow of patrons stopped and I packed up my stuff, and left the peaceful still life scenes



Inside and headed down the outside path



toward home (well, the parking lot, but that’s not so glamorous.    And I was glad I took the time..  Great place.  come visit sometime

the quiz

I did have a winner in the quiz about “what drink does this stuff make?” posed in the last edition.  Of the hundreds (well, one) respondents, he/she anonymously pegged a Sazerac. which is correct.  The question was asked by them “why Angostura?”.  Good question. While Peychaud’s is the classic choice for bitters, I was surprised to see more than one (there are many) of the recipes calls for both.  “Three dashes of Peychaud’s, one of Angostura’s”.  Part of my exhaustive research will require sampling drinks made several ways. Science is so demanding.  Of course it is highly subjective, but finding what one likes is a good reward for diligent experimentation.  Stay tuned!  Or contemplate while you

DFD


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