Hi there -- catching up....

Ok, I've been really, really busy, and work has been the .... well, it has not been the most pleasant place on the planet. They did round 2 of layoffs last week. I'm still fine... for now. Bets are that the next time they'll just shut down completely. Please, economy, turn around. Pleeeeeeze.

On nice notes, I have a short while before the Usual Suspects arrive for a stitch-in. Judy and Allison are bringing a salad and brownies. Jenn's probably bringing munching veggies and possibly bread. I've got carnivorous vegie lasange and more brownies. In short, I doubt we'll faint from hunger. Wanna come? Before they all arive I thought I ought to do some long overdue updates. I'm not sure what yet, so we'll just see what happens.

Ooo, let's try and finish up Christmas this afternoon. Then maybe I can move to Resort Living tonight.

So, in no real order I bring you my final days in DC:

My sister and I wandered through Alexandria for an afternoon. Very senic place, Alexandria.
We went to Eamon's for fish and chips. Apparently they are famed for the fish and chips. Mind you they are quite lovely, especially with their homemade tartar and/or curry sauce), but what's really cool is that they decorated for Christmas in such a festive manner--


This is Christ Church, George Washington's church--


I'd have more pictures but we were waylaid by a wonderful member of the congregation who told us stories about the church's history for nearly an hour. It was absolutely wonderful, but I got so enwrapt in it all that the photos lapsed. Sorry. Sometime maybe later I have to tell you the best sotry about one of their pastors from the early 19th century -- absolutely hysterical!

I just love the old tradisitons with a little bit of new.... LED lights lol


Here's George Washington's in-town house--

You can kinda make out ole George in the window.
And in George's side alley --

If you squint hard and ignore the blur-- look George has got a Razor!!!! lol

It pays in life not to take your work so seriously:


Bear with me, I like taking architecture (1. It's cool. 2. It doesn't wiggle around while I'm shootting it.):




Alexandira's town center getting ready for New Years--


Before I left I spent another couple days just wandering around Washington, DC (and stopping in museums to thaw since it was pretty darn cold for my little ole CA self).

DC getting ready for the inaugural:


The Old Executive Office Building:




Whilst driving about the city with the sister early in my stay I say this sign and I HAD to go. I swore then and there that I WOULD go to this exhibit no matter what. S, on the coldest day of my stay I got there:

In 2008 they have a special display on confidence on stability. OMG You see, I absopositivelylutely had to go! lol
It only took 20 minutes to go through and I did read every display, but it was all worth it for that sign. OMG! And it was actually kinda neat. I found out the steps in bank take-overs... Did you knw that when the FDIC takes over a bank the vault is locked OPEN .... until they can get one of their approved vault lockers guys to come and chamge the combination?

Spotted this just down from the FDIC--

Do you see that it's HUGE. Really, really huge. And to me the funny thing was it was on the back of the building, away from where Obama or Biden would travel. Oh well, nice thought. Bad execution, but nice thought.

One of the roof guardians on the Corcoran Museum:


I dropped by the First ....



And Second Battalion Memorials-- laregely because I'd always wondered what they were and I'd never gotten over to find out:



....Dear Joshua, stay the frickin hell of all memorials you pea-brained pig.

I got to see them take the lights off the National Christmas Tree--

I wonder if George watched?--


And they wonder why folks look confused when trying to park in the District:


Jeez, it's like a word problem. I thought we'd all escaped high school math????

No trip to DC is complete without a picture of the Smithsonian castle, right?:

Ok folks, it's 30 something degrees with a wind and there are people riding the carousel!!!

Ack! Must be from Minnesota, North Dakota, or Lapland!

I wandered past the Hirshorn--

And the Air and Space:

those diamonds turn in the wind....

The following it the top of the giant spire in front of the Air and Space Museum. When I was shooting it, I had no idea about the dove lol--


He looks pretty darn cold don't you think?

Air and Space now has a planet walk! You follow these poles--


And they tell you about the planet and show the relative size and distance of the planets based on the amount of ground they have for you to walk.

Turst me. It's really cool.

I dropped by "my" Indian museum--

where I lunched (Yes, the best food of the museums, but only Indians should make fry bread. Trust me. Have the salmon or the roast turkey.) and visited a special exhibit on/of Fritz Scholder. Very cool. Very interesting. The layout of the exhibit was cool in a thoroughly bafflling sort of way. You'd think you'd come to the end only to find passages to places that you were certain couldn't be there, or windows into rooms that you would swear hadn't been there a minute ago. And, no, I was not drinking anything besides soda with my defective fry bread. No pictures were allowed in the exhibit, but I knew they had one of his pieces in the permanet collection so I took that instead. I am wily in the ways of museums.

Here's his obelisk:


Apparently he and his wife were in Egypt and he was so taken with the obelisks that he wanted one. The Egyptians wouldn't let him have one so he built cast his own... he even had an Egyptian transcribe he and his wife's names into hieroglyphics and put them on his piece.

I met local wildlife outside in the Museum's pond:


I'm calling this Duck in Motion:


And I explored the medicine wheel they have in the garden. I have to check, but I think they have it alligned strangely--

And yes, those are oyster shells it's set in:


From the NMAI to the Air and Space, the Castle, and the Washington Monument:

In case you couldn't tell, it was a very grey day, but still it was beautiful in its own dour way--

I just fell in love with the clouds. This may not come out well, but I hope you can see how beautiful it was --

It makes me think of Jupiter.

And finally for now. I'm calling this pair of pictures "Freedom"--



Talk to you later.......