Blacksburg

We did a weekend trip to Blacksburg to visit Josh and Gwen.

Drove past the Virginia Tech Quidditch Team, which I found bemusing. The whole point of the game, in the book, is that you're flying...running around clutching a broomstick just can't be the same.

Went to the Farmer's Market and bought apples.

Went to Boudreaux's, where they don't grasp the concept of "sweet tea". I said "sweet tea", I saw the waitress write "sweet tea" on her pad, what came to me was suitable for tanning leather. I had to tell the server to look behind the bar for Simple Syrup and add some of that. However, they did a decent job of the biscuits with andouille sausage gravy.

We walked a couple of miles in and around Heritage Park, including exploring a couple of shortcuts which totally did not involve multiple instances of trespass in any way.

At a consignment shop, bought them a table, and Josh found a couple of paintings of hussars in parade dress, which he promptly pounced upon.

Josh and I were discussing miniatures, which escalated to a 1/32 scale Santissima Trinidad, then to a 1:2 scale Santissima Trinidad, then to a full scale HMS Victory. With a huge air compressor in the hold, feeding the cannon, so they're not technically "guns", but we could still sail off Somalia. But we'd need modern engines and bow thrusters. The thought of Victory pivoting in place on thrusters was amusing. That led to the idea of Victory's hull above, a hydrofoil below. You see this sailing ship proceeding along...hm...it's sailing pretty quickly...it's really moving right along...it's rising up out of the water!  You'd need the sails to be holograms so they don't rip the masts off at that speed.
Of course there would be no possible justification for building such a ship (except "Science!"). You'd need.to be...wealthy! And insane. But "wealthy and insane" is "eccentric", and that's okay.