Sue and I drove over to Manchester airport on Thursday morning 08/16 to catch an 10:30am flight out to BWI for a 4 day visit with my brother Alan and his wife Abbie in Towson, MD. Alan met us at the airport and drove us up to Towson, about a 35 minute drive.

The weather was so nice, we just hung out on the porch practicing a little Southern Porch Sitting. Some time mid afternoon, we got down to the business of figuring out dinner menus for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Abbie had quite a few of the ingredients and we determined that Alan had sufficient wine stock to make it through Thursday's meal.

While Sue and Abbie took a short nap, Alan and I headed off to do the big game hunting. Errr... that would be off to do the food shopping. But, soon, the great hunters returned, the wine was poured, and dinner was cooked! We had decided that I would fix a Peruvian recipe that we had brought down. It turned out to be a pretty simple process and came out really good. Success! But we were tired and it didn't take us long to fall fast asleep.

Friday we left the house mid morning for a drive up through the Loch Raven Reservoir. It provides drinking water for the city of Baltimore and most of Baltimore County, and is surrounded by deep woods. We had wanted to do this last year when we were down, but the main access road is closed for hikers for on the weekends.

From there, we wound our way further north on the back roads through what is loosely called 'horse country', which just means that there are many large, beautiful farms and horse farms all through the rolling hills.

Our actual goal was to have lunch at The Manor Tavern, a beautiful restaurant nestled into the country backdrop of western Maryland.

Saturday morning Abbie drove us all down to Zeke's, a little coffee shop that Alan said we all just had to see. It was a chance for me to try a coffee 'pour over', which seems to be a method really catching on lately. The interesting thing about Zeak's is that the owner doesn't sell a brand of coffee unless he actually visits the place where it is grown.

We then headed off to the east side of Baltimore just off of Eastern Avenu to visit McFadden Art Glass. Sue had discovered this online and suggested it might be interesting. And was it! We arrived just as the owner, Tim McFadden, began leading a couple through creating their own bowl and vase. Next time we come down to visit Alan, we're going to take one of Tim's classes for sure!

By the time we left McFadden's it was noon. Alan had suggested that we go to the James Joyce Irish Pub for lunch and because he had heard that they had the best Guinness 'pour' in town. That's all I needed to hear and it was a nice experience before heading back to Towson. We did a little Southern Porch Sitting until it was time to start fixing the dinner selection of the night:

Sunday we were up early and out the door to catch our flight back home early afternoon. Now, to unpack and get ready for the week!

As we were sitting out on the porch Thursday afternoon practicing a little Southern Porch Sitting, Sue caught this shot of some deer walking through Alan and Abbie's back yard.

The beach at Loch Raven Reservoir.

A view of the road from the beach at Loch Raven Reservoir.

Sue got this shot of a butterfly (and many more...) at gardens behind The Manor Tavern where we had lunch Friday.

Sue got this lovely view of one of the many horse farms we saw driving the back roads after lunch.

More Southern Porch Sitting practice Friday night.

Me and Alan 'mugging' it at Zeke's Saturday morning.

The front of Zeke's.

At McFadden Art Glass.

Tim McFadden working with customers at McFadden Art Glass.

A water sculpture in the bathroom of Tim McFadden's studio.

A ceiling sculpture in Tim McFadden's studio.

The glass blowing facility of McFadden Art Glass.

The James Joyce Irish Pub where we had lunch after leaving McFadden Art Glass.

Sue got this great shot just up the street from the James Joyce looking west toward the Inner Harbor area.

This is the church that Alan and Abbie were married at in 1954. There's a reason for showing this....

Abbie and Alan poitioned as they were just before leaving the church. We're getting to it....

And this is a reinactment of what Alan's little shit brother tried to do as he and Abbie were walking down the path from the church.

And here's the original picture to prove it!

Alan pontificating to Abbie about some useless piece of information concerning the belated birthday gift that Sue had brought down for her.

And here we see the boys winding down Saturday night's dinner party by finishing off the wine and trying to out lie and tall-tale the other. Off my left elbow is a 3 piece folding picture frame of pictures that Sue had taken when we were vacationing out at in New Mexico in July 2011 at the Taos Pueblo that she had brought down as a gift.