Autumnal
October 22, 2006 09:00
Boys
As the election nears and winter follows close behind, the desire to hibernate is strong with us this weekend. The fact that there are papers to grade and to write of course makes the shut-in state less pleasurable than it should be, but nonetheless we find time to do all the things that make a gray and rainy October Sunday worth living: popcorn, tea, dvd, and a breakfast of eggs and sausages and more sausages. Nothing new to report, which means more time to cruise the blogosphere in search of the latest october surprise or november prognostication.
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Capital
October 17, 2006 09:00
Home from a lovely weekend in D.C. While Dad conferred with important dignitaries and power-brokers in the corridors of superpowers, we hung out at the Mall and saw everything from a fabulous exhibit of Rousseau’s jungle paintings to (be still my beating heart) the U. S. Postal Museum. Yes, it was a geek fest all around, and we of course loved it all.
Eli and Gideon at the Capital (pre-weapons)
Well, not exactly all. There was the little problem of our outrageously expensive and fairly dilapidated hotel, which would have been perfect nonetheless (a block from the Capital) had it had such mod cons as running water and heat. And then there was the grave disappointment of the Capital tour. Call me old fashioned, but in my day, a tour of the Capital building involved seeing the chambers, maybe meeting a congressman, hanging out under the dome. This tour began with various threats as to what would happen to us should any of us be separated from the group even for an instant (and now that our government has given itself permission to commit torture, we had all kinds of vivid images in mind); and it concluded with a linebacker of an armed guard shooing us off the capital steps with a machine gun the size of a small deer. Never having seen a gun that size, let along one being waved threateningly at me and my kids, I did the only mature and responsible thing: I started crying. Yes, it was a patriotic experience all around.
In a sense, though, it did take the edge off the whole no heat and no water thing.
Eli and Gideon at the Capital (pre-weapons)
Well, not exactly all. There was the little problem of our outrageously expensive and fairly dilapidated hotel, which would have been perfect nonetheless (a block from the Capital) had it had such mod cons as running water and heat. And then there was the grave disappointment of the Capital tour. Call me old fashioned, but in my day, a tour of the Capital building involved seeing the chambers, maybe meeting a congressman, hanging out under the dome. This tour began with various threats as to what would happen to us should any of us be separated from the group even for an instant (and now that our government has given itself permission to commit torture, we had all kinds of vivid images in mind); and it concluded with a linebacker of an armed guard shooing us off the capital steps with a machine gun the size of a small deer. Never having seen a gun that size, let along one being waved threateningly at me and my kids, I did the only mature and responsible thing: I started crying. Yes, it was a patriotic experience all around.
In a sense, though, it did take the edge off the whole no heat and no water thing.