Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday in Mt. Vernon with Matt & Tara

The weather vane is a 'dove of peace' chosen especially for the cupola atop the main house at Mt. Vernon by George Washington himself.

These lanterns are hung all over the propery at Mt. Vernon. I thought this one was particularly "Halloweenie" with the spider webs all over it...and it was all Mother Nature's doing, no
special effects here.


Ron and Matt snuck off in the gardens, while Tara and I were taking pictures, to check their fantasy football standings...I guess a guy can only take so much history and culture, eh?


Some berries growing in the HUGE gardens...



"Sunday in Mt. Vernon with Matt & Tara


OK, that was my really lame take-off on a Sondheim musical, "Sunday in the Park with George", which was based on a painting of closely the same title by Georges Seurat...ANWAY.

The next few blogs will be an out- of -order account of our LONG trip, that took us to
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Martha's Vineyard, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington D.C.

WHEW!


This post is of the 6 days we spent in DC with Matt & Tara, and they were great hosts. Among other things, we had some fun meals out together, went to a driving range where the golf balls are digitized (that's probably not the right word, but whatever) and their distance and landings were tracked and displayed on a screen in each individual driving area (again, I'm sure there is a word for that too...could someone please respond to this post with the right terminology?). Tara fixed us a gourmet salmon dinner, I spent several hours (as opposed to my fantasy of weeks) in the Smithsonian Museums, Ron and Matt went golfing on a course with a close up view of the Washington Monument. We saw Mount Vernon, the US Printing & Engraving headquarters, a midnight- practically- private- tour of the Jefferson Memorial and Roosevelt Memorial, saw the actual White House, and the Holocaust Museum. Not to mention my harrowing adventure in a Hospital ER somewhere in Viriginia; the only good thing about that experience was my gallant ambulance drivers: Matt & Ron. Thanks guys! I believe later that same evening there was a televised presidential debate...I highly (that's a pun folks) recommend watching those things AFTER being heavily medicated for a migraine.
(see my previous post.)

That's all you can take for now I'm sure. Watch here for another random chapter in the account of
Debbie and Ron's 30th Wedding Anniversary-Vow-Renewal-Adventure!











Wednesday, October 8, 2008

What I did on my DC Vacation...





The Scream(Norwegian: Skrik)
Edvard Munch, 1893
Oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard
91 × 73.5 cm
National Gallery, Oslo



Actually, this is not ALL I have done on my vacation, just the most recent in memory. Yesterday, after a trip to the National Holocaust Museum (excellent, more later), and the National Bureau of Engraving and Printing (aka. the money factory), I unfortunately was struck with a horrible migraine. Matt and Ron rescued me to a Virginia area urgent care, hours later we were sent to a hopsital ER, where, finally, they gave me something to interrupt it's progress. I HONESTLY believe that Edvard Munch MUST have been a migraneur himself, because that is the only thing AWFUL enough to have inspired such a work. I'm just sayin...