Category: Around Richmond

In this past post and these comments, the subject of the glass (h)armonica came up. I'd never heard of it before. However, in the comments to this post, my mom posts a link to some good information.

The Glass Armonica/Harmonica

In 1743 the Irishman Richard Pockridge constructed and performed on an ‘Angelic Organ’ (a set of tuned wine glasses) with a repertoire that included Handel’s Water Music.

Franklin was a prodigious inventor, and never became interested in anything without putting the whole force of his inventive genius to work.

So it’s no surprise that he devised an elegant design that simultaneously eliminated the water tuning (and the problem of constant evaporation), increased the playability and reduced the size of the instrument. Franklin called it the "armonica", after the Italian for "harmony." Working with London glassblower Charles James, he eliminated the water tuning by having each glass made with the correct size and thickness to give the desired pitch without being filled with any water, and made the set of glasses more compact and playable by nesting them inside each other, mounted on a spindle which was turned by a foot treadle.

Cyndi and I once again visited WIlliamsburg yesterday. We have some more pictures posted. To see them, click here.

By the way, in a previous post, David–a guy we know from Columbus–asked about the glass harmonica. I've never heard of any such thing. Anyone have any ideas? David, want to chime in?

Cyndi and I went for a drive this afternoon and came across the James River Park in Richmond. It looks like a nice place to go hang out, swim, have a cookout, etc…. Possibly some good opportunities there to go witness.

Cyndi and I walked down this afternoon to the Richmond Greek Festival. It was very interesting. We took a tour of the Greek Orthodox Church, ate tons of Greek food–Randy, I avoided the stuff wrapped in green leaves. The food was very good. We forgot the camera, so we don't have any pictures to show you. Bummer :^(

Cyndi and I went to Colonial Williamsburg on Memorial Day. Here is a link to the pictures we took. Enjoy!

To see pictures of our new house in Richmond, go to http://techs4jesus.dynup.net/webpics/200505RichmondHouse/. Enjoy!

Since Cyndi and I are renting a house, we had to buy a lawnmower. I debated buying a cheapie or a good one. I decided on a good compromise…. I bought a Troy Built 21" Rear Bag Push Mower.

Mowed the grass for the first time Friday. The mower did a good job. Our yard is so small that it took me about 15 minutes to mow the entire thing!

To see pictures of our move (packing, loading, unloading, etc…), go to the flickr set. Enjoy!

[Update 2012-12-26 06:08:24] The link was bad.  Updated to point to the flickr set.  Also added picture.

Well, we are really in Richmond now. Cyndi left Columbus on May 19th and arrived in Richmond on the 20th. I left work at NiSource early Friday afternoon and arrived in Richmond late that night. We took pictures of the move, and I will get those posted once I get a chance to play with the computer at home.

We rented our house with the knowledge that it was dirty–very dirty. However, we knew that a tennant had just moved out, and the landlord sounded like he would get everything cleaned up. Well, what he said and what happened were two different things. Cyndi and my mom arrived the afternoon of the 20th to find the house was in a mess! They haggled with the landlord and were able to get some money to clean the place up. However, the work still had to be done. They spent all afternoon on the 20th cleaning. When my dad and I arrived at midnight, they were still cleaning! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the City of Richmond–they provide gas and water–showed up but couldn't hook the stuff up because we weren't there! So, Cyndi and my mom had to buy water at Wal-Mart simply to clean the place!!

Once my dad and I arrived, we had to unpack the fish, get the fish tank set up, etc… Well, once that was all done, it was 2am. Cyndi had gotten us a room at the AmeriSuites–remember, no water–so once the fish were up, I was beat. Cyndi and my mom were tired because they had been cleaning all day. We went back to the hotel, took showers, and crashed.

We woke up the next morning at 7am–the alarm didn't go off–and had to rush to get ready because the driver had told Cyndi he would be there at 8am. We show up at our place at 7:40 am, and the driver is already there! We were hoping to have a little time to clean some more before he showed up, but we were able to deal with it.

So, the movers got the truck unloaded, the house was mostly clean, and we simply had to unpack. That afternoon–this is Saturday–we went out and bought window AC units. My dad helped me put those in (THANKS Dad!). Saturday was my dad's birthday, so we had him a Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream Cake. We were planning on watching Revenge of the Sith Satuday, but that didn't work out.

So, to sum everything up, the house was a mess when we moved in. Cyndi, my mom, and my Dad all worked very hard to get everything in shape. Cyndi is working at home unpacking stuff while I am working at the IMB. We still have some things to do; however, everything is coming together nicely.

Here are the pics of the house we rented in Richmond. Sorry…I thought I took more; however, all I have are these two. Enjoy!