To make by hand:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
3. Chop/cut in the butter until it’s the consistency of coarse cornmeal.
4. Add egg and three-quarters of the milk. Stir quickly and lightly. Add more milk if needed to make a soft dough.
5. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead about 15 times.
6. Pat dough into a round shape about 1/2″ thick. Cut into 8 wedges.
8. Glaze with more beaten egg if desired
9. Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

To make in food processor

1. Put dry ingredients in processor and run processor until well mixed.
2. Cut cold butter into approx. 1/2″ cubes and add to processor. Pulse three or four times until butter is about the size of grains of rice.
3. Combine egg and about 5/8 c of milk and add to processor while it’s running. Stop processor as soon as ingredients are moistened. If you mix it longer, dough may get tough. Dough will be very sticky.
4. Turn dough out onto generously floured surface and knead lightly 12 times.
5. Pat into a 1/2″ thick round, cut into wedges and bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Hints:

1. Use unsalted butter. Decrease the salt if you use salted butter.
2. Add enough milk to make a very moist dough. The scones will not be as light if the dough is dry.
3. Handle dough as lightly as possible so the you don’t activate the gluten in the flour.
4. A pastry scraper is a great tool to cut the scones - just press the edge straight down into the dough. A knife sort of tears the dough. They taste just as good either way.
5. Use an insulated cookie sheet if possible to avoid burning the bottom of the scones. No need to grease it.
6. Check scones after 10 minutes. If they are brown, they are done. Some like them better slightly underdone than overdone.
7. Preparation time is 10-15 minutes. Total time start to finish is 20-30 minutes.

Patapsco State Park, MD
April 2009

Arlington National Cemetery
April 2009

Calvert Cliffs State Park, MD
April 2009

Calvert Cliffs State Park, MD
April 2009

Calvert Cliffs State Park, MD
April 2009

Birchbark
April 2009

Arlington National Cemetery Amphitheatre
April 2009

Subway 1
Spring 2009

Escalator 1
Spring 2009

Subway 2
Spring 2009

Elevator Outage
Spring 2009

Escalator 2
Spring 2009

Towpath
Mar 2009

Lock gate
Mar 2009

Pool
Mar 2009

Kids at the falls
Mar 2009

Side channel at Great Falls MD
Mar 2009

Lock
Mar 2009

Spring
Mar 2009

Lock
Mar 2009

Side channel at Great Falls MD
Mar 2009

Lock
Mar 2009

Turtles
Mar 2009

Lock balance beam mooring
Mar 2009

Dark pool
March 2009

A view of the falls
March 2009

Lock
March 2009

Foam in the water
March 2009

Traversing a hollow
March 2009

Graffiti meets its maker
December 2008

Dogs who hate you
January 2009

Stating the obvious on the bike trail
February 2009

Seedpods
February 2009

Post office
February 2009

Expert fence repairs
February 2009

Used to be these dreams were about losing my children. This morning, the dream was about taking a college exam. I wasn’t prepared for the exam, then couldn’t find the page with the question, then suddenly was somewhere else and couldn’t find the exam book. Futile frantic flipping of pages instead of running, but this was the same old dream. Children are gone, but now I’m filling out job applications . . . go figure. You just have to laugh.

(By the way, in real life, the children never got lost and they grew into smart and capable adults.)

I was laid off a week ago from my interior design job and the prospects of finding a similar job in this economy are dim, seriously dim. As a result, I kind of gave up on getting a design job and spent the week looking to my past asking: What knowledge and skills do I have? How can I repackage those skills into a new job? I found a wealth of experience in that past - lawyer, writer, policy wonk - and completed a number of applications for jobs that would use those skills. But it wasn’t sitting right and I kept stumbling against the fact that those past experiences were past for a reason - I just didn’t love the work.

The first friend said: Don’t accept a job you know you’ll hate just to get the income. You can do better; you’re worth much more.

The second friend said: Don’t think about repackaging your past, think about repackaging your future. Figure out how to do what you really love to do.

I really needed to hear the first bit of advice. I’m anxious when I’m not in control and am strongly inclined to jump into the first thing I’m offered just to be employed, just to feel safe. I’m not afraid of starting over, but don’t always remember that I have a lot more to offer than entry level.

But it was the second piece of advice that made me think. My friend asked: What do I really love to do? Well, the answer is design - it’s what I’m passionate about, what I can do for hours without getting bored or distracted. Approaching my future by retreating to the past sure as heck isn’t going to get me closer to this and is, in fact, very likely to prevent me from doing it at all.

Maybe I still need to have my resume in order and write endless cover letters, but maybe I can explore a more forward-looking approach as well. This is the next challenge.

The architecture/design field is in shambles. Those of us who’ve been laid off may well have to repackage ourselves and move on if we hope to have any income in the next couple of years. This is the stickler. After 5 years of design school and 2 years as a designer, what can I be next? Shall I try to be a lawyer again? Would any employer consider me as a technical writer? How about an environmental or health policy expert? I’ve got extensive experience in all these things, but, except perhaps for the writing (thesis), it’s been a while. Sure, I can get up to speed quickly - I haven’t lost my smarts - but there are probably plenty of people competing for jobs who are already up to speed.

So, I plug away, discovering what treasures my beat-up file cabinet in the basement might hold, recalling bit by bit what I actually did in those previous careers, perfecting the resume. It will come together. It will.

The last two years were exhilarating. I was fortunate to work for a large, well-respected firm with a true commitment to excellent design. I teamed with top-notch designers, befriended terrific clients, and learned a tremendous amount. I learned how develop and communicate a design vision, produce well-crafted and complete construction documents to bring that design into reality, and work with builders through the construction process. I am sorry it’s ended, but I understand. The current market has hit the architecture/design industry hard.

The next task, then, is to find another job and I don’t for a moment think it will be easy. Too many of us have been tossed overboard. However, as with any change, it will be a learning experience, an adventure, and maybe even the start of something better. Stay tuned.