On the 21st we began with brunch at this bright and lively place. My daughter's good friend and roommate's family joined us. We were glad to get to enjoy Miss Shirley's with them.
Everything was delicious.
"Breakfast Banana Split" -- yogurt instead of ice cream, and granola instead of chocolate syrup or whipped cream.
Gorgeous fruit plate.
Blueberry pancakes.
Chocolate chip pancakes.
After brunch, we went back to the apartment to get ready for graduation. Many pics of happy girls, which you'll just have to imagine.
Walking over to the stadium. Another gorgeous day. Around 80, dry, breezy. It could so easily have been 20 degrees hotter, and much more humid. We were so glad for the lovely weather.
Having been to many swim meets, we know to sit at the top of the bleachers. There is something to lean back against (other than the knees of the person in the row above you!), you can put up your umbrella without worrying about blocking someone's view, and the breeze is better.
The dark rectangles on the tall things beside the stage are big screens. (One of them is in the center of the right edge of the pic.)
The action was displayed on the screens, big enough to actually see what was going on.
On Thursday afternoon, the colleges of engineering, and arts and sciences were recognized. The engineers marched in first. I was very happy to see so many girls in the engin school!
Here some the arts and science graduates. This was a very diverse class, I am glad to be able to say.
Here comes my daughter!
She is sitting on the far side of that left-most V of seats.
You can see the girl in the yellow boa in the prev as a speck of yellow, so you can tell more or less where my kid was.
My bigger camera's 12x zoom could see what was happening on stage. Here they are awarding honorary degrees. This preceded most of the speeches, and allllll the marching up to get one's hand shaken.
If I wanted to record sound with my video, I needed to be using the bigger camera. So I had to choose, when she actually went up (a long time after the prev!), video or a still....... I went for video, and recorded the image on the big screen rather than the actual event.
You will have to imagine the rest of the afternoon in the sun. It was hot. All those "civilians" on the sides (closer to the bleachers than the kids in those HOT black gowns) are people with mobility issues. Grandparents, mostly. Sitting, roasting......
Thank goodness it wasn't hotter!
My mom spent part of the afternoon in the nice hotel lobby across the street, with glasses of ice water. Very smart!
At least they had two name readers, so the walking up and shaking hands part moved right along. They had somewhere between 1000 and 1200, I think, and got through them all in less than two hours. The whole shebang started a bit after 1:20, and they didn't start reading names until quarter to three, so I was wondering how long it would all take. But we were out of there before 5:00. I guess they've done it before..........
(topical side note: Someone asked me if they still shook hands, despite swine flu. Yep, they did. We didn't know until we were told afterwards, but there was hand sanitizer, and everyone was expected to use it -- just as we did before boarding the cruise ship in Alaska -- before walking up and shaking hands.)
Eventually the very last kid went up, shook hands, and went back to his seat. We stood while the grads walked out of the stadium (en route to the gym to get their actual diplomas -- which are huge, go figure).
We joined my mom in the hotel's a/c and got started on rehydration.
The kid and her dad went to a reception at the president's house. I had been outside longer than I prefer to be outside, so I passed on the reception. My parents and I went back to the apartment, happy to sit inside with glasses of water.
After a while, we went to dinner. A French restaurant this time.
Nice whole wheat bread preceded dinner.
Spring vegetable soup.
Asparagus.
Zuchini.
Duck confit, with spaetzle.
Quiche Lorraine.
Reputed to be the best French fries in Baltimore. Isn't this a cute presentation?
Chevre -- Bouche de Poitou.
Cherry sorbet.
Espresso, with madeleine.
Everything was very good.
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