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Today is yet another anniversary of those horrible attacks in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. I live just a few miles away from one of the sites of the terror attacks (the Pentagon) and I have friends who knew people who were on board that particular flight that hit the Pentagon. The one thing about frequently watching new horrors unfold in Ukraine on a regular basis is that I no longer feel as emotional about September 11 as I used to be. With Vladimir Putin hellbent on conquering Ukraine while unleashing his troll farms on the US in an attempt to affect next year’s elections, I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing becomes even more monstrous as time goes by.
On a better note, I’d like to share a couple of photos that I took last month. One late afternoon day I had to run a few errands. It also happened to be raining that day. By the time I finished the last of the errands that I needed to do it was sunset. I saw some incredible cloud formations mixed with the setting sun so I snapped a couple of pictures.
Last year the locally owned liquor store in Beltsville, Maryland that I used to occasionally visit was sold to someone else. In the process the name changed from Old Line Fine Wine Spirits and Bistro to LAX Wine and Spirits. I went back to that store for the first time since the change in ownership because I was looking for some inexpensive champaign that I could drink on New Year’s. While I was there I took a few photos.
I’m sure you must’ve heard of those Keurig coffee machines that can brew individual cups of coffee in a variety of different single-serving flavors. Well Keurig has a machine called Drinkworks where one can have a machine produce different types of alcoholic beverages. It’s kind of like having your own personal bartender that’s on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
LAX Wine and Spirits still sold a variety of alcohol at a variety of prices ranging from very affordable on a low budget to very expensive. Boy, did I find some very pricey alcohol, which were all behind locked cabinets (unlike the cheaper inventory that were on shelves for anyone to grab). I love this green egg-shaped alcohol container because I thought it looked very pretty. I had to make do with taking this picture because this bottle cost $1,299.
Then there was this gold egg-shaped container that looked like something that would’ve fit in with the decor at Donald Trump’s Trump Tower penthouse in New York City. (If you’ve ever seen pictures of that place, you’d know what I mean.) This one was more expensive at $1,799. Personally I thought that the green egg-shaped bottle was prettier while this gold container was simply gaudy (just like Donald Trump’s Trump Tower penthouse).
But the most expensive bottle of alcohol I found in that store was this bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII, which costs $7,299. There’s a part of me that is curious as to what a bottle of alcohol that expensive tastes like but I’m not curious enough to spend that much money so I could find out.
Anyway I found some actual French champaign that was on sale for $6 and I found that it didn’t taste bad. I thought it tasted pretty nice. As I was leaving the liquor store it was the beginning of sunset where I saw these pastel colors start to emerge.
It rained a lot that day and quite heavily at times. The rain had stopped by the end of the day and the weather had resulted in this really cool looking cloud formation.
I barely celebrated Halloween this year. Even in previous years my home is modestly decorated where I hang the ghost from the Scream movies on the front door and hang a rubber bat from the outdoor light fixture. I would place the candle holder shaped like a black cat’s head on the doorstep, place a candle inside, then light it. To top it all off I would go to a store, purchase a couple of pumpkins, carve jack o’lantern faces into them, place either candles or battery-operated lights inside of each of them and I would consider my decorating to be done.
This year I couldn’t be bothered with any kind of decorations. I also didn’t purchase any pumpkins either. It felt pointless because the local officials were discouraging trick or treating this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. What’s more the Halloween parties, festivals, haunted houses, and similar events were canceled.
October is also the month where the German Oktoberfest events take place throughout the Baltimore-DC area where people feast on German food, dance to German music, and drink lots of German beer. Oktoberfest didn’t happen anywhere in my area this year.
In my neighborhood there were a few families who decided to give out treats but in a different way. Some households had put treats out on outside tables so kids could pick up something without having to knock on a door. I heard chatter on the neighborhood Facebook group that I belong to but there were parents who were still leery about letting their kids trick or treat. I decided not to participate in giving out anything this year.
I feel like it has been non-stop Halloween/Day of the Dead/All Saints Day/All Souls Day since February. My mother died from multiple sclerosis in early February. The minister who officiated at my wedding died a few days after my mom. The following month a friend who lived in my neighborhood and whom I knew through various local art shows and events that she and I had participated in over the years had died a month after she suffered a massive stroke. (She had moved to New Mexico five years earlier but I still kept track of her on Facebook.) Then three longtime friends from my church congregation died over the next three months. (One from pancreatic cancer, one from diabetes complication, and one had been in ill health over the past few years that his body had simply given out.) So a total of six people who were in my life are now gone. None of them had caught the Coronavirus but they are still dead so it all sucks the same.
But then the pandemic started just a few weeks after my mother was buried. I haven’t done much mourning for my mom or any of the other recently deceased people in my life because I’m more focused on avoiding this deadly virus as much as possible. As of this writing 231,000 Americans are now dead from the Coronavirus.
I’m starting to know of people who have that horrible virus. One is a longtime member of my church who is 104 years old. She was tested as having the virus but she has been miraculously been largely asymptomatic so she hasn’t felt any worse than usual. Last Monday I went to a virtual Zoom meeting of my support group for people who are separated or divorced and one participant who was dressed in a bathrobe admitted that she has COVID-19 and she is dealing with it. I think she ended up leaving that meeting early because she grew very tired. There is a woman in that virtual job training program that I’m currently involved with who has the symptoms of COVID-19 and she’s waiting for test results to confirm if she has that virus. There are times when she can’t even talk because her throat is so sore.
I’ve been wearing masks whenever I go outside so the idea of wearing a mask on Halloween is not really much of a novelty these days.
I didn’t feel in the mood for Halloween until the day before. I went to Walmart to pick something up when I saw this cheap mask shaped like Joe Biden.
I didn’t buy that one but I made an impulse buy while I was there. Remember Bop It! the electronic game? I saw a version of Bop It! that was based on The Child from Star Wars The Mandalorian (who is also known as Baby Yoda). It only cost $15. I took it home and took a couple of shots of the outside box.
I also made a short video where I get to engage in a little child abuse for fun. (LOL!) I uploaded it on to TikTok and YouTube.
Afterwards I went to Total Wine & More so I could buy a couple bottles of wine because, with the way this country has been split in half over the past few years, I anticipate tons of drama next week with Election Day and whatever aftermath happens. While I was there I noticed some raptor wine stoppers. (I have a friend who is so totally dinosaur-mad that she would go crazy if she ever sees them.)
There was a temporary Spirit of Halloween store that had opened in the same area. I stopped by briefly but I didn’t buy anything mainly because there was this huge line of people who were waiting to make their last-minute Halloween purchases. I also didn’t bother with taking pictures this time.
I stopped by the new Royal Farms store that had recently opened so I could buy a fried chicken box meal to take home. There was this statue of a chicken outside of the store.
The following day I was getting a little bit more into the Halloween swing of things (especially since it was the actual holiday itself). I cobbled together a costume for myself by putting on a Stitch face mask and a Japanese imported Stitch hat that I purchased at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC years ago (back when I was still married and I could afford the occasional expensive indulgence). I also put on a black cloak that my then-husband purchased for me at the Maryland Renaissance Festival years ago. Here’s the resulting picture.
The local shopping mall was giving away treat bags full of candy and they allowed cars to pull up during a two-hour period while people were encouraged to wear costumes. I ended up parking the car and walking over because I wanted to take photos of the Halloween decorations.
I was given a free bag full of candy, which was nice. A couple of people were walking a dog that was dressed in a hot dog costume. A dog dressed as a hot dog. How cute is that?
A few more people were admiring the dressed dog and that dog immediately rolled over on her back and was encouraging people to rub her belly.
Afterwards I drove to Third Eye Comics in Annapolis. I saw a pick up truck parked outside that was all decked out for Halloween.
They were having a special event where they were giving away free sample comic books and they encouraged people to wear costumes. I haven’t been in that store in a long time so I drove down and looked around at the merchandise, such as this dinosaur-themed board game.
There was also a board game version of the classic video game that I used to play a lot during my college days, Joust.
There was a large statue of The Child (a.k.a. Baby Yoda) from the hit Disney+ series Star Wars The Mandalorian.
There were Funko Pops versions of Bo Peep from the Toy Story movies that were available in regular and a blank DIY version where one can do his/her own design on Bo Peep.
This Dumpster Fire toy is a perfect metaphor for the way that the year 2020 turned out.
In short there were a whole variety of cool stuff that were on sale yesterday, including a graphic novel about The Rolling Stones, a giant Funko Pop Batman statue, action figures based on Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix, vintage plastic Halloween masks (which were the ones that I used to wear as a child when I went trick or treating),giant figurines from the Gremlins movies, and tiny Mickey Mouse figurines.
They had a 20% off sale on graphic novels and I was going to limit my purchases to just those. But then I saw that they had what is considered to be the most anticipated toy of the year. It’s an animatronic version of The Child (or Baby Yoda) from Star Wars The Mandalorian series. Amazon was taking pre-orders for $99 a few months back but Third Eye Comics was selling this for only $60. I played around with the robochild and I was smitten. I ended up buying him. I made a quick video of The Child while he was still in the original box that I uploaded on to TikTok and YouTube.
I’ve since freed The Child from his box but I’m going to make another video of The Child at a later date because I have other things to do at the moment.
As I was leaving Third Eye Comics from the back entrance I saw this painted mural next to the door that said “NEVER GROW UP.”
I took another selfie in the back parking lot because of this really ominous looking cloud formation in the background.
Here’s the cloud formation by itself.
On the night before Halloween someone had posted in my neighborhood Facebook group a map of all of the houses who were participating in this more detached form of trick or treating. I found that a couple of friends of mine were participating so I decided to head over to their place in full costume while carrying the animatronic Child with me.
They had enlisted a couple of other friends who played ghosts but it was a far cry from previous years when they had more people to help out with turning their home into a haunted hollow. Everyone was socially distanced from each other. I showed off The Child to the people who were there for a few minutes but I ended up leaving soon afterwards because another family of trick or treaters were arriving and my friends wanted to keep everything as clear as possible so social distancing can be observed.
I didn’t see too many costumed trick or treaters out wandering the streets this year. I think too many parents were leery about giving their kids free range in the middle of a raging pandemic.
Today is the Day of the Dead. I thought about traveling to Baltimore so I could see my parents finally buried together in the cemetery since it is traditionally the time of the year when many people believe that the veil separating the living from the dead becomes thinner so living and dead people could interact. I had to cancel that plan due to heavy pouring rain today.
So I managed to snag some free candy and I now own two different Baby Yodas—one is an electronic game and the other is a lifelike animatronic. The irony is that I still haven’t seen Star Wars The Mandalorian because I don’t have a subscription to Disney+ and I really can’t think about subscribing to any streaming services until I find a way of getting more reliable Internet that’s affordable. (At least I’m familiar with the original movies. I have a friend who confessed to me that he is one of the few people on this planet who have never seen any of the Star Wars movies. He also hasn’t seen Star Trek or Doctor Who for that matter. This is despite the fact that he is a super computer geek and usually such people are into science fiction.) Everything I know about Baby Yoda is based on the various Internet memes and tribute videos that have been uploaded online, such as this one called Baby Yoda Song – A Star Wars Rap by ChewieCat.
I spent a few days taking my newly customized Pink Flamingo Mermaid doll to various locations in search of some proper backdrops that I could use as a photo that I could submit to the big video project that was being put on by the YouTube channel Dollightful. Among the places I visited was Lake Artemesia, located in College Park, Maryland. Here are some non-doll outtakes I shot while I was there during twilight. Enjoy!
So I ended up spending the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Baltimore. I originally intended to spend the entire time at the annual Christkindlesmarkt that was held at Zion Lutheran Church. But then I got stuck in a horrible northbound traffic jam. I reached the North Linthicum light rail stop and I had to wait a bit for the next light rail train. I transferred to a Metro subway train and I had a long wait. So I managed to make it to the Shot Tower Metro station and walked through the area. By the time I made it to the church I only had 45 minutes left to enjoy the sights and sounds of Christkindlesmarkt.
As I left the church I took a photo of this magnificent cloud formation that was over by Baltimore City Hall (which is literally located just a few steps away from Zion Lutheran Church).
As I was walking away from the church, I couldn’t help but take a picture of this sign for an apartment building that should be of interest for anyone who knows anything about Edgar Allan Poe.
As a consolation for not spending as much time at the Christkindlesmarkt event as I would have liked, I decided to hop on the next Charm City Circulator down to the Inner Harbor, where I went to an annual event that’s similar to the one at Zion Lutheran Church except that it’s bigger—Christmas Village in Baltimore.
It was the opening weekend for this event and it’s currently running on a daily basis until Christmas Eve. (This year is the fifth year that it’s operating.) I took a lot of pictures while I was there.
The next photo shows the Advent wreath. The electric candles were dark when I was there because Advent wouldn’t begin for another week.
The woman with the long golden curly hair and the gold clothes was the Christkind who came from Nurenberg, Germany to help with the opening ceremony of the Christmas Village in Baltimore.
There was live entertainment inside of the tent.
There was a variety of stuff available for sale.
I was there on the first day that the Christmas Village in Baltimore opened for the first time. Even though most of the lights were up, the Christmas tree was dark because the tree lighting ceremony was scheduled for the following night, which I wasn’t able to go to.
As I walked away from the Christmas Village in Baltimore towards Harborplace, I saw these signs pointing in the direction of the place I had just left.
I ate a bratwurst platter with sauerkraut for dinner while I was there. The only other purchase I made was a pack of lavender scented incense that I bought from the Käthe Wohlfahrt area of the tent, which sold a variety German handcrafted items ranging from tree ornaments to nutcrackers. (I don’t have any pictures from that area because it had a “No Photography” sign posted on the outside.)
So after I left the Christmas Village in Baltimore I headed over to Harborplace, which I’ll write about in my next post.
Beltway Plaza in Greenbelt, Maryland is basically a typical suburban shopping mall. It is anchored by a Target at one end and a Giant at the other end. It is a thriving indoor mall despite the fact that other malls similar to Beltway Plaza has succumbed to the phenomenon known as dead malls or the retail apocalypse in recent years. Beltway Plaza has such staying power that The Washington Post did an article about it last year.
The mall has a Southwestern-style motif on the outside that has gotten pretty grimy over the years. But a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be at the mall right at the point where it was briefly transformed into a total visual marvel. Outside there were some dramatic looking clouds that had come in that looked threatening but it didn’t rain at all. At sunset both the sun and the clouds combined to create this awesome effect.
This visual effect started to reflect off of the exterior of Beltway Plaza, which added a very warm glow to the mall that contrasted with the dark clouds in the background.
Here’s another shot of the clouds that reflected the glow of the sunset as it contrasted with the mall in the foreground.
Previous in This Series
The Day Before the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival
I really got into shooting a bunch of photos with my new Canon PowerShot ELPH 190IS camera (which I purchased used on eBay for $80) throughout the entire weekend-long Greenbelt Labor Day Festival. My time began when I submitted my artwork to be shown at the Art Show portion of the festival.
The one thing I noticed about this year’s festival was the weather. Usually the weather tends to be on the warm to hot side with some years being in the 70’s with low humidity while other years the temperature rises somewhere between 85-95 degrees with high humidity. This year’s weather was really unusual in that the temperature was in the 60’s and it was so cool outside that I wore long pants for the first night instead of the usual shorts.
On my way to and from submitting my art I shot the very early phases of the festival as it was opening to the general public for the very first time.
The most memorable food booth was this one which not only sold funnel cakes but also fried Oreos, fried Rice Krispies treats, fried cheesecake, and even fried Twinkies.
For the many years that I’ve appeared at the annual Greenbelt Labor Day Festival, the one thing I have never done before is sit in on the opening ceremony. I decided to finally do this for the first time ever. As I sat in the stands, I took a photo of these nice textured clouds that were floating over our heads.
The opening ceremony included an appearance by the color guard and we all stood as they played the national anthem.
Here’s a photo of one of the photographers who was shooting the opening ceremony.
I managed to figure out how to use the zoom button on my new camera so I can take a few close-up shots of the stage, which was just in time for the next part of the opening ceremony. For the first time I actually saw the awarding of the annual Greenbelt Outstanding Citizen. Paul Downs, a local artist and environmental activist, won this year’s award. Here he is on the right receiving the award.
Paul is flanked by Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan (second from left) and the members of the Greenbelt City Council.
Paul’s friends and family were invited to go on stage so they can have their photograph next to him.
Paul Downs gave a short acceptance speech.
The general public was invited to a reception for Paul at the nearby Greenbelt City Hall, which would begin in about 15 minutes after the opening ceremony ended. I killed some time by taking a few more photos of the various festival attractions at twilight.
I arrived at the reception, which was well attended.
Cake and punch were served at the reception.
Paul Downs can be seen taking to a well-wisher on the right in the next photo.
Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan (on the right) hosted another ceremony to honor Paul Downs.
Paul was awarded a miniature replica of Greenbelt’s iconic Mother and Child statue.
Paul Downs posed with some of the winners of the previous years’ Greenbelt Outstanding Citizen award.
Here’s a closeup shot of Paul with his miniature Mother and Child replica.
Up until this point I had the camera set on the automatic function. By the time I stepped outside again I found that the sun had set. I decided to change the camera settings to night so I could continue to take pictures of the festival.
I spent some time at the bingo table while I played a couple rounds of bingo.
This next photo shows a bingo variant where the winner was required to simply spell the letter “P” on the bingo card. Instructions were handed out on the acceptable way of spelling that letter.
Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan (left) stands next to a couple of Greenbelt police officers.
I purchased two items at the festival that night. Both of them were at the used book table that was run by the Greenbelt Elementary School PTA. One was a DVD set of the first season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which I only purchased for $4.
The other is this book titled Songs of the Gilded Age. It’s a music book full of songs that were written between 1890-2000 that I only purchased for $2. I can’t wait to plug some of these tunes into MuseScore, just like what I did with a few vintage sheet music that I purchased for 25 cents each at a yard sale last summer. This book also has some very lovely watercolor illustrations, such as what you see on the front cover.
Next in This Series
Greenbelt Labor Day Festival (Day 2)
Greenbelt Labor Day Festival (Day 3)
Greenbelt Labor Day Parade
Greenbelt Labor Day Festival (Day 4)
Here are a couple of recent photos that I consider to be the last summer ones. (I shot both on August 25.) Here’s yet another nice sunset twilight photograph complete with some nice clouds.
Here’s another twilight photo of some Black-Eyed Susans in full bloom.
This really violent storm went through my area one hot and humid summer day (a.k.a. normal August weather in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area) which not only cooled everything off temporarily (the hot and humid weather returned the following day) but provided these really dramatic pictures.
I saw this really cool rainbow. I rarely see rainbows and, when I do, I only get to see just a portion of that rainbow. This photo documents the first time I’ve seen a full rainbow in recent memory.
That rainbow was short-lived because the sun tended to dart behind the clouds. But that storm provided some really dramatic looking clouds.
Those dramatic clouds provided a backdrop to this really cool looking sunset.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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