To everyone who watched Downton Abbey last night: IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO GET A FLU SHOT FOR THIS SEASON.
Road trip! I’m driving to Balmer for the week. Updates as time permits, very likely involving Old Bay Seasoning and Natty Boh.
Seeya in Balmer, Hon
Cripes Suzette 
Ooooh…..once whilst an undergrad, a “hood” (remember them?) rolled up to me as I was mincing along the sidewalk burdened by 1200 pounds of textbooks. He rolled down his car window, leered, and yelled, “Hey baby, wanna go da Ball-de-more?” Delawareans don’t know how to pronounce anything. Other Balmer, Merlin (aka Maryland) pronunciations that really get to me are “curve” for “curb,” “chimbley” for “chimney” and, the piece de resistance, “see-ment” for “cement.”
Vote Yes on the crabs (although they are currently out of season). The local pit beef is a rather poor variety of bbq, without a decent sauce, and, wisely, the rest of Maryland goes for the more traditional southern style with the ketchup-based sauce. Far superior.
Amusingly, up here stores boast “southern” fried chicken. Down south in Maryland they boast “New York” fried chicken. Go figure.
Still recommending a stay at the Hotel Monaco if you can ever manage it.
Daughter and I watched it.
I said “what? did that skanky smokey guy poison their food?” to which Daughter replied “spanish flu, moron.”
sigh.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Baltimore, but I got a flu shot last fall. I was inspired by Suzette 🙂