At the Maryland Italian festival and it’s hilarious how much Pittsburgh sports gear is here (far eastern MD in Harford County) being worn by small old Italian American men. Pittsburgh Italian Americans really spread out everywhere. Also, giant inflatable ricotta.

Question for the archaeology side of Bluesky, how regional is the term schnitting? Does anyone outside of Virginia use this term? Or even know what it means? Based on a conversation with coworkers today it appears to be super regional.

An older man at the pharmacy heard I was there for my covid shot and tried to convince me not to get the "clot shot." He then told me how many times he'd had covid -4- and then asked me how many times I'd had it, which I was able to say 0. He shut up then but why are we still doing this in 2025?

It’s always fun finding out how 3/4 of my grandparents being from Pittsburgh affects my speech despite never living in PA. I just learned “your room needs cleaned” or “the lawn needs mowed” isn’t standard English. I didn’t know slippy isn’t a real word until college. ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/ne...

I had to order a new trowel as mine is lost beneath a large backdirt pile. It came like this. I can’t even begin or want to imagine what that is…#archaeology

On metro in DC on the way to an NWSL game that I had plans for pre-the national guard invasion. I have literally never seen the Smithsonian stop this empty, let alone one a weekend, especially a holiday weekend. It’s almost spooky.

Out of the blue messages from strangers not in academia saying my dissertation has been helpful in their own Rosenwald school project (in whatever form that is) will never not make my day. And maybe provide the motivation to get a few articles written on it.

Cleaning out and organizing my dig bag before heading off for a project and realized I have two full pairs of gloves, four right hands, and one left hand. I had no idea I had so many gloves in my bag and don’t know where any of the partners disappeared to.

It’s bad enough I generally have to buy gardening gloves for work as work gloves are too big, but this is such a blatant pink tax at Home Depot. And the “regular” small fits the same as the women’s medium (still too big for me fyi).

When sweeping the patio ends up leading to removing the grass covering the back stairs that you hadn't realized were so substantial in the four months you've been living here. I also learned, thanks to a bunch of brand new blisters, that brooms and shovels/trowels hit different parts of your hand.

So excited that the Woodville Rosenwald School is one of recipients of the National Grant Program to fund their interpretive exhibits. The exhibits will include artifacts and info from my dissertation research at Woodville. I can't wait to see the final product. savingplaces.org/stories/acti...

Sunday afternoon working on a sponge-spatter embroidery piece. The sponge part on the rim is going to be all French knots, so that will be interesting

No one but my sister has as cute of a cookbook as I do. I love pulling this out to make dinner. (I know how to make meatballs by memory, but still like to double check the spices).

Goal is to get this finished today. The leaves are going pretty quickly so I think I can do it.

Sheltered from a sever thunderstorm in homegoods and came across these lamps. I am confused but yet want to see the room that they end up in.

I forgot to move laundry all day today, but I got a book review written and got half of the hydrangea petals done on this project. And didn’t doom scroll once. So still pretty productive overall.

Decorating rather than doom scrolling. Using my grandpa's art in the kitchen. Some he made for my childhood bedroom, one was on his front door, and the rest were made for my parent's kitchen. The two you can barely see due to angle are an opera singling asparagus and a body builder brussel sprout.

Starting a project embroidering my sister’s wedding bouquet. She turned the photo into a drawing and now I’m going to be embroidering it for her.

Storm rolling in over the lake from my hotel a few minutes ago. The white caps are going like crazy.

Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, specifically the Delmarva Peninsula, are these "new parts." Just as an FYI for everyone else who works around here.

DC (Capital) Pride/World Pride 2025. Festive and powerful despite the political climate. Major drop off in companies with booths and no federal offices (as expected). Shout out to Giant, Wegmans, and Nandos for having their normal big booths and Giant for even making DC World Pride specific swag.

Fascinating article about a part of D.C. history I had never heard of before.

Three window AC units cleaned as best as they can be before 90 degree temps this week. And one very sore and scratched up Colleen. I don't think I'm doing anything else this weekend. Taking suggestions for a new TV show to binge.

Just when the poison ivy stops popping up, you develop a horrid itchy rash from a new moisturizer that you bought to help with the post-poison ivy dry skin. I just want to stop itching...

So happy it’s farmers market zucchini time again and I can get a big enough zucchini to make it worth making my favorite baked zucchini dish (yes there is squash under the bread crumbs, herbs, and cheese).

Earlobe posion ivy is a new one for me this round. Don't recommend. I was way too good at applying sunscreen and got urushiol in all the nooks and crevices on my face/ears. These steroids need to work faster to get me presentable for the wedding. I don't appreciate these new spots still appearing.

I’ve been lucky to never get poison ivy on my face before. Of course the one time I do (face, neck, ears, chest, & hands- I applied sunscreen with it on my hands I guess), it’s a week before I’m the maid of honor in my sister’s wedding. I detest steroids, but I guess it’s off to urgent care tomorrow

Unpacking and found one of the best examples of what doing your dissertation during Covid lockdown was like. Illustrated and detailed notes on each individual glass vessel found at all three schools I dug at. I was so bored and had 70,000 artifacts in boxes in my living room.

Making the choice to repot my plants in this gorgeous weather instead of unpacking all my clothes.

Buying a chair is a funny thing when you never sit in a chair normally, but usually sideways so the arms are most important, and are a fraction of the size of reviewers. 'This is perfect for a 12 year old not an adult" is actually a plus. Gotta get it purchased before these tarrifs up the price.

Move accomplished. Now to figure out where to put things. Also, thank God for soon to be brother-in-laws to help move couches and mattresses

Locked out of my apartment views. At least it stopped raining? Only 35 more minutes till the key arrives.

The last few boxes when packing can be an interesting mix of packaging and contents. But, I am essentially done! And that includes dealing with the mice that have apparently been quietly living in the back of all of the closets and behind the couch. Thankfully they got into nothing, just pooped.

The final MAAC program is up! We have two new sessions added since the preliminary program, one on the future of the journal and one on WTF is happening in the US for archaeology. Check it out. You can register at the door in Gettysburg if you didn't pre-register but you see something you like.

The Early American Pattern Glass Society Pattern Index website no longer exists which is a huge loss for figuring out dates of early pressed glass.

For anyone unsure why having the federal gov involved in education is important, here are photos from 1948 in Gloucester VA. The first two are of bathrooms at Black schools, the second two are in white schools. These are photos from an NAACP lawsuit the Black students won for equalization.

Well, I was about to drive up my my parents' house for a visit. Glad I checked the traffic before getting on the road... wjla.com/news/local/v...

I’m cleaning out things as I get ready to move this month and I have to share the best of the cards from my 96 year old grandmother I’ve collected over the past few years. She is hilarious.

One of the best choices I've made lately is listening to my childhood favorite book author on audiobook. Definitely made my 9 hours in the car today a lot more enjoyable.

While working on some public outreach on schoolhouse archaeology for students, I came across this ad from Dec 1897 declaring that women can now sharpen their pencils. But, by May 1898, the ad said that everyone could now sharpen their pencils. Did they face backlash in the 1890s for the sexist ad?

Its scary how many more protest photos I'm seeing from friends on FB and insta compared the media or places like reddit. I'm grateful for everyone who was able to show up today, even if the coverage is being suppressed. Linked is one of the few articles I found. dcmediagroup.us/2025/02/17/t...

Today I was helping the Descendants Community Committee and board members of the Woodville School set up Black History Month activities for the local elementary school, including a matching game btwn photos of artifacts we found and what they originally looked like, including this pencil sharpener.

I have zero feelings on the Super Bowl or football in general, but half of my crew next week are big Eagles fans. So now I have to hope they win so we can have a good and happy (cold, snowy, and rainy) week.

To add some cute to interrupt everyone’s doom scrolling. This was only a portion of the babies we found. They were all in the screen when we noticed them so the nest couldn’t be avoided. The babies were all alive, unharmed, and already hatched and were safely reburied nearby in a safe spot.

Eating away my stress about finding a rental (and the general country situation). But now I can’t decide how to pronounce these. Ka-lee-dos? Ka-lie-dos? Something else? And why does it sounds like a medication?

Mead & Hunt (formerly Dovetail Cultural Resource Group) is looking for a project archaeologist in the Mid-Atlantic. Full details including salary and benefits in the link. Even if you aren’t interested, please share to your network #archaeology careers.meadhunt.com/jobs/6544?la...

Today’s cutest find so far.

Distracting myself from the stress of the country falling apart with the stress of trying to find a new place to live in one of the cities many who have to return to office in DC are going to be trying to rent in very soon. Oh, and I’m out of town for the next three weeks and can’t tour any of them.

If your Southern university/institution holds LGBTQ and related archives and collections and they become at risk of inaccessibility, censorship, or destruction, please reach out to us. We have developed a long term loan program to keep the materials until it becomes safe to return them.

Was pulling artifact photos for a Black History Month event at an elementary school and thought I'd share one of my favorites artifacts from the Bethel Rosenwald School (1924-1951) in Gloucester Co. VA. This is an ink bottle that was melted in the school stove trapping the remaining ink inside.