D-Day Signs

My dad and brother came to see us this one week before we move.  Dad requested visits to Arlington National Cemetery, the World War II Memorial, and the Botanical Garden.  The day we went turned out to be the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
JFK memorial.  Bobby Kennedy is buried nearby, and as we were walking past, Ethel Kennedy (his widow) passed by with roses to put on her husband's grave.

Arlington National Cemetery had some of the very best signs of all time.

Here Rests in Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God

The Mast of the Maine

US Marine Corps Memorial

At this point, the girls were a bit pooped.  We had walked all over creation.  We kept having to talk to Lena about lying on the ground.

A sphinx at the Netherlands Carillon really perked the girls up.

World War II Memorial

US Botanic Garden

The girls walked many miles, often complaining; but surprisingly, they were able to find a second and third wind for their sails many times throughout the day.  Otherwise, we would have gone home after Arlington.  The botanic garden was their favourite part, and their delight and awe there was contagious.

April Showers OF May Flowers

Because we had 10 cubic yards of mulch delivered to our driveway, I kept my car parked on the curb, under the kwanzan cherry.  The lovely tree dumped all of those double blossoms everywhere, and whenever I went anywhere, I had a trail of pink petals blowing behind me down the street.  I had the good fortune to pick Livia up from school early, and when people saw my car parked out in front, they either laughed at the spectacular beauty of it or actually thought someone had punked my car.  I felt maybe I should have written "Just Married" on the side to make it look appropriate.
The pink snow became so deep at one point I almost broke down and made people take off their shoes before entering the house.  (I'm from the South where asking guests to remove their shoes is a huge breach of etiquette.  I may be blunt or without class, but I am not rude.)  (I mean, I'm not a rude Southerner.  I don't need lots of ugly emails from Canada about this.  I know in Canada it's rude to leave your shoes on.   This is not Canada.  We have 4 seasons here.)  

Kwanzan double cherry above, Akebono single cherry below.

Japanese Maple

Bearded Iris

Azalea japonica - we have some sort of Japanese theme going in our garden.  But then, I think that's sort of common out here in the suburbs.

My favourite garden feature -- my man working!

Melting Photogs: Part 2

All of these are Amy's shots from her photoshoot that I liked and cleaned up.  Not only is Amy handy with the camera, but she actually got Lena to smile.  That's why people pay her the big bucks.

I just wanted to point out for posterity that Lena is not my only child with crazy teeth.

Thank you, Amy!

Plowshares into Swords

Nothing profound or political here, just musing on this crazy numbness that has recently come over me.  We're getting ready to move, getting the house ready for other people to live here.  The garden, which was here well before we bought the house, suffered a bit of a smash-up when Terry the Contractor punched out a giant square of foundation onto the beams that made its border.  It was tired and a bit rotten, and I had always questioned why someone planted a garden on the northwest corner of the yard, against the house and shaded by the deck for most of the day.  Last night Ariel and I took out all of the rotten wooden beams and then set about leveling the soil into the lawn.  

How beautiful was that soil!  For the 6 years that we lived here before England, I had cultivated that lowly dirt with compost and back-breaking labor.  Last night it was rich and dark and gorgeous.  I finished up alone, with a gentle rain coming down, and had to fight the urge to run out and buy seeds of squash and watermelon; carrots, onions, and spinach; tomatoes and peppers -- all the lovely things I had grown there and tilled back into that soil.  Instead, I seeded it with grass.

Now I feel all dirty... inside.

Melting Photogs

So Amy, my photographer friend, called and said she needed to take pictures of my kids for her Mother's Day promotion.  She also requested that I bring my camera and she would teach me a few things.  Finally the day ended with a family shot (these are my pictures except for the last).  It was 92-degrees that day.


I don't take pictures of people as a rule.  So I can't resist moving the focus to cool little architectual things like shutter dogs and ancient beech trees.


Amy stood off camera and made faces/poses for the girls to imitate.  Livia, always the ham, really got into it.


I hope to post some of the shots that Amy took if she ever shares them with me (hint, hint, knudge, knudge).

Diplomatic Visit

Before we can go to Mexico, we need to renew our diplomatic passports.  You can't get those at the post office, so we had to go to the passport agency in DC.  We pulled the girls out of school (it was Take Your Child to Work Day) and made a day out of our visit.

WWII Memorial

It's duckling season on the Mall, and on the Reflecting Pool were many of the little darlings.  Lena discovered a lone duckling in one corner of the pool.  The blustering wind made the water choppy, and the poor thing was being bashed against the sides.  Lena swooped in and rescued it, and when the tourists saw that she had a duckling, a number of Russian ladies made her stop and pose.  Livia had to get in on the action, and when it was time to return it to its mother, the girls played a bit of tug of war.  No horror stories here -- Ariel took it and carried it over, where its mother instantly attended to it.  
The ducklings were a big hit for all of the visitors and there was a whole family napping at the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial steps.  Finally the birds couldn't take the attention anymore and escaped to the pool.  One little guy kept sleeping and was left behind, camoflagued in the grass, just waiting to be stepped on.  So again, Lena swooped in for the rescue.  I was waiting for a park ranger to swoop in and give us a good scolding, but Lena maintained her hero status.