March

Wednesday the 1st Nina had her spring school picture taken. That evening we went over to Dominion High School to see the Dance Team that is coached by two of my coworkers, then stopped at Baskin Robbins on the way home. The next night was the Terraset basketball challenge, a fundraiser where teams of teachers and students played each other. Nina and the rest of the chorus sang the National Anthem before the game.

Nina

Friday to Saturday, Nina was camping with Girl Scouts at Camp Winona. She came back with a cold and was out on Monday. Jill and I took advantage of Friday to try Mattie & Eddie’s Irish Bar and Restaurant as it was Cathal Armstrong’s new placew in Crystal City – great fish and chips. Also Monday, I saw the video for Extreme’s new song Rise and mentioned that Nuno’s solo is just incredible. Tuesday we had ATR Appliance Repair to look at the dishwasher, the washer, and the dryer (aka the homeowner’s trifecta) for 2 leaks and a fail to dry properly (who knew the heating coil cold break?).

Nina

Thursday the 9th Nina and some of the chorus sang the National Anthem before the School Board (before the board had a very busy session), then they all got ice cream at the McDonald’s across the street.

Nina

Tuesday the 14th was Pi day, and Nina’s class celebrated by using math on pies. Wednesday I went to see Aoife O’Donovan at The Birchmere with Hawktail opening. Aoife started the evening by performing all of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. Yasmin Williams joined her on “Used Cars”, then Hawktail came on for “Reason To Believe”, as well as all of the encore.

Nina

Friday was St. Patricks Day, and I had to share Banshees: The Game. My mom and Jeannie came down that night and I made the traditional corned beef and cabbage (plus lamb for me). The next morning, Jeannie, Mom and I drove down to Fredricksburg where we met CJ, who’s a volunteer with PetHarbor. Mom had wanted the 3 year old Husky that PetHarbor had, but after Sharon, Jeannie and I tried to convince her to change her mind, the lady in charge of PetHarbor told her she couldn’t have it, so instead we met the 10 year old Claire. It was love at first sight, so we went in the nearby PetSmart to sign paperwork and get food for the dog, soon to be renamed Cece.

Nancy Cece

That night Nina had friends over for dinner. It was Jill’s idea, which was good, as I had tickets to see Yonder Mountain String Band at the Barns at Wolf Trap. I’d only seen them previously play one song (Shakedown Street) at the Dear Jerry tribute. I was a little surprised when I walked in and the floor was GA, as that’s very uncommon for the Barns. But they came out and started jamming right away, and I got caught up in the groove. Lots of great covers, including Tom Petty, The Beatles, Grateful Dead and Talking Heads? Weird, but fun.

Yonder Mountain String Band

Sunday the 19th Jill took Nina and several other Girl Scouts to a babysitting class out near Winchester. So after chores I had nothing to do, but I’d seen that Todd & Ryan Wright had a pop up gig at the Starr Hill Biergarten (on top of the Capital One Hall). It was surprisingly cold that day, and I was happy that the outdoor bar was enclosed – until they said they were playing at the outdoor stage. So I was literally the only one in the audience outside for the whole show. Luckily, they took a couple breaks to warm up, and it was a fantastic cover heavy set.

Todd & Ryan Wright

Tuesday Nina field trip had a field trip to Smithsonian American Art Museum. Friday Jill had a dinner out with coworkers. Nina and I looked on Yelp to see what we could eat, and settled on The Lobster (Thai street food & seafood). We both got lobster, of course – she got the “Pasta Lobster”. Saturday Nina’s friend Celina came by to hang out. I’d been plant shopping the day before during Nina’s flute lesson, and since veggies weren’t available yet, I’d purchased blueberries (Nina’s suggestion) and strawberries. I planted them and found two baby turtles burrowing in the dirt, and called Nina and Celina down to check them out.

Celina Nina