Farewell, Red Car

We sold Red Car on Thursday. Actually, I sold it and Kevin provided moral support over the phone. It's the first time we've sold a car and not traded it in, which was kind of fun. Gotta love those zero-interest car loans that allowed us to have a ton of equity.

Anyone have an extra $30 million lying around?

When we went to the National Archives last week, we saw the Magna Carta. (OK, so it's really a Magna Carta, as there are four copies.) But when we went back this this week, it was gone.
This story explains why. Dang Ross Perot. But oddly enough, I don't remember hearing a sucking sound in the archives building.

Obviously I need a tripod,

but I saved this picture of Courtney, Laura and Jennifer anyway.
Nicole, Jennifer and Courtney left this morning. It was a busy three days that concluded with a quick trip to the Washington Temple last night. (Quite obvious from the photo, I guess.)
Meanwhile, many of our friends are shipping out to their respective posts now that the passport task force has been mostly disbanded. There'd be tons to do to get us ready to leave anyway, but we're also going to Disney World for six days starting Sunday. So there's even more work than usual. Am I crazy? Was there any question?
And we've gotten down to crunch time for selling Red Car. Anybody want to buy a 2003 Mazda 6 with very low miles? It seems like only yesterday I was hitting my head on its doorframe when I got out and in in Mugglemom's driveway to drop Laura off on my way to work. And now we're saying goodbye.

Where did all of these people come from?

On Sunday, Laurie, Jonathon, Liam and Joy (Bubba's sister) arrived for a visit. We had lots of fun doing things Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and they left Thursday morning.
Now, Nicole, Jennifer and Courtney are getting here tonight and will stay until Wednesday or Thursday. So it'll be a family filled week and a half.
One of the good things about it all, though, is doing things we haven't done before. For example, it was the first time Laura and I had been to the Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, White House and RFK Stadium for a Nationals game. (That's Jefferson inside the memorial above.)

A good reason to go to New York

Not that I have any time for a trip to New York, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art's The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be a good reason to go if I could. There are five Vermeers, for starters, including Study of a Young Woman, left. Plus Rembrandts and other 17th-century paintings (228 in total).
The New York Times also has a cool interactive graphic to go with its story. And the demise of TimesSelect means we'll be able to view it forever.

Chocolate milk, the wonder drug

Laura's lips have been quite chapped the past few days. Tonight she was drinking chocolate milk, and she said to me, "Chocolate milk makes my lips not hurt anymore!" Something about it being wet and making them less cracked.
What she doesn't know is that this isn't going to let me increase her chocolate milk consumption.

Galloping around the National Mall

On Friday, Laura and I paid a visit to the National Mall. That in itself wasn't unusual. But there were a couple of museum exhibits I wanted to see, one of which was closing this weekend, and we're really running out of time for such outings.
We also rode the charming yet overpriced Mall carousel.
Today was its last day, but Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries at the Sackler Gallery was immensely interesting. The maps and paintings were great, but there was a very large -- and very gold -- incense burner that was quite impressive. And there were a lot of items made of ivory that, although they'd be frowned upon now, must have been quite technologically advanced in their day.
At the National Gallery, we saw Desiderio da Settignano: Sculptor of Renaissance Florence. It will be there through Oct. 8, and I'm hoping to get back to see it again. It's a pretty small exhibition -- it takes up two gallery rooms -- but it also has photo displays from Santa Croce and San Lorenzo in Florence, where some of his larger works are. I've been to both, and they definitely are worth a visit, too. But since Washington is more attaintable than Italy for most people, this exhibit is the next best thing.

But sometimes they're actually good!

This story from today declares London to be the most expensive capital city in the world for dining out. Although it was pricey, we had the best Chinese food ever there in 2001. We also went to Rules, which is in Covent Garden and opened in 1798. I liked it OK, but the waiters were snooty. Oh, and they brought out Kevin's food -- I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was a game animal -- pretty much raw.
But all this reminds me of a funny story from that trip ...
We were in the Imperial War Museum, which I highly recommend. There's an exhibit where they re-create the Blitz; you're sitting in what's supposed to be someone's basement as the bombs crash down around you. I've never been bombed, obviously, but I imagine it's pretty true-to-life for those few minutes.
Anyway, there were three teenage Australian girls who were in the bomb shelter with us. One of them turns to another and says, "Who's supposed to be bombing us, exactly?" Her friend responds "The Germans!" in a rather incredulous voice. So the ditzy one who did the asking turns to the third girl and says, referring to the friend, "I think she's lost it."
Yes, this all really happened. And I swore then and there that my children would learn all about World War II when the time came. (Laura was a baby at the time and wasn't with us.)

Laura repels the Confederate onslaught

We made a quick trip to Gettysburg on Sunday. (Yes, we skipped stake conference for anyone who's keeping track.) The park is interesting, and I think they do a good job of explaining what happened where and when, although it's kind of hard to visualize.
We took the auto tour, which involves driving one's car around in circles through fields and woods. We skipped some of the stops/markers because a lot of the information repeats itself along the way. But that does make it easier to keep track.
Among other things, there's an observation tower that overlooks the area where Pickett's Charge took place. We climbed it, and Kevin was explaining something on the map. Laura turned to me and asked, "What did they use this for?" Meaning the observation tower. "It wasn't here then," I said.
Yet another example of small children not being able to comprehend the world without modern-day technology.

Something I hadn't considered previously

Laura just asked why her name is Laura, and I explained we liked the name. Then she asked, "Why didn't you name me Little Bo Peep?"
I must admit I didn't really have a good response to that.

We humans are a strange bunch

In Denver, I'd always come to work with strange stories of things I'd overheard on the train in to work. My friend Kathye always said I should keep a list, and I think I did start one somewhere. I'll post some examples from it if I ever find it.
They all were things along the lines of what you'll see on this blog, which I just saw on the scroller on the Blogger home page. It really is hilarious.

More copy editor humor

Monty, one of my partners in crime at the Houston Chronicle, and I often have exchanged examples of the unnecessary use of quotation marks.
So I was overjoyed last night when Deirdre sent me a link to this blog, which has all kinds of examples of the maddening practice.
And then today I bought Laura a floor puzzle that shows our solar system. And this is on the side of the box:


Among other things, I'm wondering what makes it easy to clean. (It doesn't seem to have any unusually stain-repellant properties.) Also, what do most people get on floor puzzles that needs to be cleaned off?

C goes on strike

Somehow the C on my keyboard just isn't cooperating these days. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I have a bad angle or something and need to redo my nails a shorter length.
I wonder how far I'd have to extend my vocabulary to find substitutions for every word I use that contains a C ...

A blog made just for me

My cheap and craft nerd sides often collide. But I guess my third, New York Times-obsessed personality has found a way for them to live in harmony. This blog is full of ideas for using objects from Ikea in ways other than those originally intended.
I especially like the Lack side table with the mosaic glass tile top that was posted Aug. 28.

The reality of age hits

I recently read a British novel called The Yummy Mummy. I found it a bit depressing, although it was well-written. Some humor along the lines of Bridget Jones but less fragmented.
One of the funny things about the story, though, is the characters' liberal use of Botox. I have decided recently that my face looks every bit of its 34 years-plus. But I switched to age-defying makeup instead of resorting to Botox. (As if I would do that anyway.)
And if you do happen to read the book, notice that Niccola is a copy editor (what the Brits call sub editors). I've had very few co-workers over the years who wore tailored clothes, though.

Me and my power tools

A few weeks ago, I bought a Cuisinart. And of course it's a nifty little high-powered thing. Tonight I needed to shred some gruyere, and it did the job in five seconds. For real. It took me longer than that to put the blade in the bowl.
Of course, the cheese led to a recipe that led to the smoke detector in our apartment going off. So it's doubtful I'm going to be making those little French cheese puffs again since I followed the directions and still wreaked havoc.
Darn Sunset magazine and its oversimplified instructions.

A milestone we're missing

Yesterday I got an e-mail from a friend at church whose kids are much older than Laura. But in passing she mentioned at the end, "Remember to do the momma victory dance come tomorrow when our cherubs get on the bus. Woo hoo!"
Yes, school starts today in the city of Falls Church and Fairfax County. But because Laura's not going to start school here -- I thought switching schools after five weeks had the potential to be trauma-inducing -- she won't be getting on the bus today or any other while we're still here.
She does look forward to being in first grade in Port of Spain, though. She'll be in the same class as our friend Sophia, whose family left for Trinidad a few weeks ago. It's good to have someone blazing a trail for us.

We're baaaaaaaaaaack

Or at least we will be Sept. 30.
Yep, on that day we'll be returning to Disney World. How exactly that will work with moving out of the country less than two weeks later remains to be seen. But if any of you will be in the vicinity of Orlando the first week in October, feel free to stop by for a visit.

If we were in Trinidad,

today we would have celebrated National Day. It's the equivalent of Independence Day here, although Trinidad and Tobago weren't free of British rule until Aug. 31, 1962.
I guess the big award there -- similar to a Congressional Medal in the United States, I assume -- is the Hummingbird Medal. I suppose I'll have to do some research to figure out how someone came up with that name, but I do know there are gold, silver and bronze designations.
Since it's a national holiday, there was no school today. That's more than can be said of Thanksgiving, when Laura will have to go to school half a day. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

More light reading

I'll probably never get a Ph.D. in art history, but I've really enjoyed reading The Secret Language of the Renaissance: Decoding the Hidden Symbolism of Italian Art. I'm sure I learned a lot of what's in it while on Study Abroad -- Madison Sowell, who was the head of the French and Italian department of BYU at the time, seemed to know everything and to want us to know, too -- but it's still a fascinating read.

One of my favorite paintings discussed in it is Carlo Crivelli's Annunciation. It's in the National Gallery in London, and I've been to see it twice. And probably will go again the next time I'm there.