21. take a trapeze class (50 x 50)

 While hiking a via ferrata is not taking a trapeze course, per se, there are elements that qualify it into the same kind of category. Mainly, a) my body was attached to something stable with bungee cords, and 

b) it required a rejection of a fear of heights. 

Xy and I went to NRocks over fourth of July weekend last year to their via and it was AMAZING. There are "shark fins" of sandstone in Seneca Rocks, WV. It took us about four hours to hike about a mile of fixed-anchor, professionally-guided rock climbing. We gained 1085 feet in elevation, crossed a suspension bridge that is 150 feet high and 200 feet long, and reached exposed heights of 280 feet.  

35. grow tomatoes (50 x 50)

We bought the house in Anneslie Historic District in February 2021. We moved in, in May 2021, but were living with Grime for a minute in WV and in an one-bedroom AirBnB apartment in Charles Village (which was a #mistake) while the floors were refinished, the walls' plaster reskimmed to get rid of 90 years of paint on top of stucco (easier than scraping), the gutters repaired, the house power washed, and the walls painted. We finally started unpacking in May, and I promptly began growing vegetable seedlings because our yard grew about five times in size from what we had on Calvert street and Julie had put in a great vegetable planter with 100% full sun. 

I didn't think through the timing of our summer travel plans and the endeavor to be a gardener. We spent most of June and half of July with Grime in Timberlost and then came back to Baltimore for two weeks in July for Stella's Sleeping Beauty Camp with the Baltimore Ballet Company  before heading back out on the road to Fenwick for August.

What this meant, logistically, is that I was not at home to tend to these vegetables once I got them in the ground. What didn't get scavenged by squirrels and rabbits, became completely overgrown and almost inedible. The tomatoes were in the latter category. Here are some of the vegetables of my (lack of) labor:

37. go blueberry picking (50 x 50)

Roddy and I went blueberry picking at Timberlost last summer. Timberlost is the name that we've given Grime's (Roddy's way of spelling "Grammy") house in Canaan Valley, WV. There are wild blueberries all along the Yoakum Run trail. 

The blueberries are small and tart, the bears eat most of them before hooomans get to them. Grime made a pretty good blueberry spritzer drink with them when she went picking.

We put ours in blueberry pancakes, which none of my picky-eater kids ate. It's the journey, right?

23. get a library card (50 x 50)

We've moved four times in six years with a variable count of kids from Baltimore City to Arlington County to Baltimore City, and hopefully finally, to Baltimore County. We've gotten library cards everywhere we've moved, but I don't think that makes it count more than once for my leap list. 

Originally, when I set this leap list item, we were living in Baltimore City, and the name of the library system is very unique: Enoch Pratt Free Library. I wanted to research it (read: look it up on wikipedia and dive into a clickhole, which did not disappoint. Most of the information about the library has to do with the architecture and the buildings and trash talk by HL Mencken). 

When we lived in upper Fells and when Roddy went to the New Century School, we would often walk by an old branch on Ann Street. We never went inside, but the building is gorgeous.

This week, I've been taking a staycation to watch the kids while Jason races the TransVirginia550. Grime (Roddy's spelling of Grammy) came out from Timberlost to help me, because I know that Jason's job is a two person job. I've taken the week to get some personal stuff off my plate that I haven't been able to take care of over the weekends. First task was to reapply for a passport. Turns out that the Baltimore County Public Library system can help you complete the forms, take the pictures, and mail away the applications, in lieu of going through the post office! 

While we were there to reapply for my passport, Stella and I got signed up for library cards.