An Early Fall Evening

Janet and I metroed into the District to attend an event at the Smithsonian, "T.S. Eliot: Daring to Disturb the Universe."

Before descending into the depths of the Ripley Center, we enjoyed our brown bag dinners above ground on a table in the beautiful garden between the two museums of African and Asian Art. Janet is pointing to the sign in the garden that indicates the temporary exhibit of "Plants in Pots." (I forgot to take photos of either the pots or the table.)

Then we went inside to a marvelous presentation by author Daniel Stashower, who explored the life and legacy of T.S. Eliot, and actor Scott Sedar, who gave dramatic readings of a selection of Eliot's poetry (including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land").

Our friend Ginny arrived just in time for the beginning of the presentation.

Stashower began by talking about Eliot's friendship with Groucho Marx. I didn't know anything about this relationship! I also heard that, although he was very much an Anglophile, Eliot said that he was fortunate to have been born in St. Louis and this city (and especially its river) had shaped his character. The 20th century can be called "The Age of Eliot." Not only was Eliot the greatest poet, he was also the greatest literary critic of the century.

With the 3rd line of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' - "like a patient etherised upon a table" -
there was a seismic shift and this is where modern poetry began.

Stashower also talked about the great influence of Dante and Shakespeare on Eliot's work. I knew this and remembered Eliot saying, "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world. There is no third."

It was apparently his friend Ezra Pound who convinced him not to return to the US but to remain in England where he would have more success. "Old Possum" was Pound's name for Eliot and it was used in the title of Eliot's well-known poem. Pound's name was "Brer Rabbit." Both nicknames were taken from the Uncle Remus stories.

The ashes of Eliot were interred in East Coker with a plaque bearing two lines from one of his poems, "In my beginning is my end" and "in my end is my beginning."

After the presentation we stayed for the reception. Delicious cake was served. Ginny immediately went  for a big piece of scrumptious chocolate cake while Janet and I eagerly chose delicious pieces of white cake. None of us, however, partook of the sherry. We also had the opportunity to chat with Sedar about his recordings of Eliot's poetry. You can listen to him reading "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Hollow Men" on his website, http://sedarthestudio.com/actor/.

Ginny is trying to be silly!.She succeeds! 

(Unfortunately, it was a very windy day and it made my need for a haircut seem even more desperate.)

We were all very excited after this marvelous event. I have been a huge fan of Eliot ever since high school. One of the highlights of my life was seeing Eliot in person and  listening to him read from "The Four Quartets" on November 25, 1961 in New York City. Here is what I wrote in my copy of this book:

A dream come true! On Saturday evening, November 25, 1961, Judith Raymond and I heard T.S. Eliot read selections from his poetry. As a memory I bought this book which will always bring to mind this wonderful experience. Eliot's last selection was "Little Gidding" which, he said, "is perhaps the best thing I ever wrote."

Focus on Kim

It seems everyone is talking about the latest Ken Burns documentary. I was delighted when I received an invitation to a special event at the WETA Headquarters in Shirlington:  "Screening and discussion of the series The Vietnam War."

I was surprised and excited to see that my friend Kim O'Connell (daughter of my dear high school friend Denny) was going to be a participant in the event as a panel member.

Kim's father was American and her mother is Vietnamese. She has written a book about Little Saigon, which flourished in Arlington for a while after the War and then disappeared. It remains, however, an important part of local history.


                       Kim's book

As I was walking toward the WETA Headquarters, I was very surprised to see my friend Marie sitting in the window of a Vietnamese restaurant. Her after-lunch destination was also the WETA Headquarters!

In the photo above,  Marie and I are enjoying the refreshments provided prior to the event.

Kim talked about her American and Vietnamese heritage. Her father would have been very proud of her. The other two panelists were a man who had volunteered twice to go to Vietnam as a medic and the other a man who has written an important book about the war (sorry but I don't have the title right now).

The audience participation after the screening and panel discussion showed how our country is still divided about the War. Some members of the audience said the US did the right thing to go to Vietnam and others said it was a huge mistake. No surprise here but the comments were interesting. It was an intelligent audience as one would expect a group of PBS viewers to be!

 Lovely Kim sitting at Peet's

Afterwards, Kim and I deconstructed the event while drinking chai tea lattes. She will be appearing at additional events including a television special, "Vietnam in Washington." (For you locals it will be on Channel 26 at 8:30 pm, immediately after Washington Week, on Friday, September 29.)

DCDC Outing

The DCDC (aka DCEC) finally managed to get together for a cultural outing. The destination was the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Cedar Hill.



I had been wanting to visit this site for many years. I was very pleased to have finally made it! I  had read Douglass' Autobiography and found it amazing. What a remarkable man Douglass was!

We had a private tour of the house and were very impressed with the excellent guide. We learned quite a bit about Douglass that we had not known prior to our visit.

Left to right, Ginny, Mary, Jodi, and Synthia

                                                Left to right, Ginny, Mary, Jodi, and Christine

Here are the ladies walking up the hill toward the house after visiting Douglass' Growlery. (Mary in the white shirt, Jodi in the turquoise shirt, Synthia in white, and Ginny in black and white.)

For more information, go to http://www.frederick-douglass-heritage.org/cedar-hill-house/

After our visit to this interesting historical site, we went to the Hill for a Mexican lunch at Santa Rosa (315 Penn SE).

Meeting in Italian

The Amici Italiani di Fairfax met at my home. Si parlava solo Italiano, naturalmente!

We had a nice time. The meeting began with an interesting slide presentation by Caterina of her recent trip to four European countries, Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland.

I then gave the assembled members an Italian cultural quiz. The first place team was made up of Claudio, Adriana, and Betsy. The second place team consisted of Carlo, Alessandro, and Caterina.

 Refreshments

 Four cheeses representing the four countries Caterina had visited. The lovely little flags were  created by Arthur! (French goat cheese, Gruyere from Switzerland, Provolone Piccante from Italy, and Montego from Spain)

 Alessandro (aka Alex) speaking Italian like a native!

Betsy and Carlo, the Meet-Up Founders and Coordinators 

Claudio (an authentic Italian) and Adriana (not an Italian yet) 

Caterina, Our Presenter

[No photos of the hostess? Meglio cosi'!]

My Ancestor Clara

Clara Barton is on my family tree! She is also a descendant of William and Johanna Towne who left England in 1637 and settled in Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Barbara, George, and I had a very special private tour led by Kenneth, the very knowledgeable and enthusiastic director of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum.

               Christine, Clara, and Kenneth

After the tour George rushed home to see the daily installment of the Ken Burns' series on the Vietnam War. Barbara and I went across the street to Jaleo's for a delightful lunch of interesting conversation and delicious grilled cheese sandwiches.

Barbara drinking gazpacho!

Our dear friend Marie was supposed to be with us but she couldn't make it. 😞

Birthday Lunch with George

I took George to Proof for his birthday lunch. Much to my surprise, he had never been to this restaurant, one of my very favorite DC restaurants.

 George and Christine at Proof (located directly across the street from the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and the Portrait Gallery)

Entrance to the exhibit

After lunch George rushed home to see the latest installment of the Ken Burns' series on the Vietnam War while I went to see "The Face of Battle: Americans at War, 9/11 to Now." It was a very moving exhibit of photographs.

What moved me the most was a room with very large photographs of the bedrooms left behind by soldiers who went to war and never returned.

The words of Emily Prince were on the wall:

"How can we make the absent present? What is the presence of absence?" 

My mind wandered away from this exhibit and from thoughts of war to my own home. I struggle continually to keep Andrea present in my home.

Going Mexican

Arthur and I had a wonderful dinner out. We went to El Paso in our neighborhood. We enjoyed the food very much and were able to bring a lot of it home for the following day!

This photo does not really look like Arthur!! Is it the angle or the lighting?

Dinner Group

The St. Christopher's Mini Dinner Group met for dinner at the Afghan Bistro in Springfield. We had wonderful food and wonderful conversation!

Indra and Rosemary 

 Chas, Christine, and John

 Butternut Squash and Basmati Rice - Delicious!

Rose Water and Cardamom Egg-less Custard - Absolutely heavenly! 

More Italian

Another opportunity to speak Italian! I met my friend Antonella at the cozy Uptowner Cafe in Alexandria and we had two and a half hours of friendly conversation in la bella lingua.

I had a chai tea latte and she had bubble tea, a strange mixture of I am not sure what! I must say that this latte far surpassed Starbuck's.

I forgot to take a photo of her. Too bad!

She did give me a book so I have taken a picture of it. Every blog post needs a picture!

Old Friends

I was very fortunate to have run into Shelley, an old friend whom I had lost touch with, at the Kennedy Center a few weeks ago. We met today for lunch at the Swiss Bakery and Cafe and had a delightful time catching up many years of our lives. She is as young and peppy as ever! I was especially impressed with her tales about her singing all over the world (Rome, Italy, and the Kennedy Center, to name a few) and about her becoming an intuitive artist.


We both had the Cafe's wonderful grilled Gruyere cheese sandwiches.

 When I discovered it had recently been her birthday, I knew we had to have something sweet. We each chose a cookie, the chocolate leaf for her and the school apple for me.

We plan to stay in touch and have more enjoyable outings together.

One should really never lose touch with dear friends! But somehow it happens in the midst of our busy lives. But sometimes one is fortunate to find those dear friends again. What joy!

The Big Four

I am a huge fan of the programs offered by the Smithsonian Associates and I attended an excellent lecture tonight. What had appealed to me at first when I read the description of this particular lecture was the name of T.S. Eliot. I have been a great admirer of his ever since I read "The Wasteland" in my junior year at Washburn High.

This lecture focused on the four major writers to introduce modernism in 1922 to the literary world. The other three in this important quartet were close friends of Eliot: Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, and D.H. Lawrence.

The speaker was Bill Goldstein, who had just published his book entitled The World Broke in Two. He took the title of his book from something Willa Cather had said,

                                       The world broke in two
                                       In 1922.

It was a watershed year in which these four writers reacted to the writers before 1922 and invented the language of the future.

New Home for Dear Friends

Larissa, Christine, and Ivan in front of their house

Arthur and I went over to see Larissa and Ivan.They have a wonderful new home! It is beautiful and very well organized.

(I think I will see if they will rent me a room there!)

Not art for everyone

My friend George and I met at the National Gallery of Art to see the Edvard Munch exhibit (that I had seen with Ginny two days before).

George was not very enthusiastic about the exhibit. Can you tell from this photo?

We did have a very nice conversation over lunch, however, in the Cascade Cafe. It was a wonderful outing despite George's lack of enthusiasm for my fellow countryman (yes, I can say that!).

My Docent Friend

It is always stimulating to go to an exhibit with my friend Ginny, who is a docent at the Kreeger Museum and knows how to analyze and talk about art. She is a professional!

We met at the Edvard Munch exhibit and spent an hour in the two small rooms looking at the 21 prints on display. It was a stimulating and fun time!

Afterwards we went to an ice cream truck, bought ice cream sandwiches, and  sat on the curb to enjoy them!

A delightful NGA  visit despite the fact that the exhibit was packed because it was a Sunday, a long holiday week-end, and opening day of the exhibit. But I wanted to be there on Day One!

Two hours of friendly Italian

My friend Matt and I met at the National Gallery of Art's Cascade Cafe for lunch and spent two enjoyable hours chatting in Italian.

After lunch, however, I couldn't convince him to join me and Ginny at the Edvard Munch exhibit. He may not be a fan!