Arthur Made Up

My Grandson made himself up for Halloween. He greeted Trick 'n Treaters at the door and terrified most of them. He enjoyed himself immensely. (He did spend close to an hour preparing his face.) 

Carissimo Gianluca

You will always remain in our hearts, dear Gianluca. We have many warm memories of you.

We brought an assortment of delicious pastries to your house in 2006.

We spent a wonderful evening with you and your family at your house in 2011.

The Theater with Kate

My sister and I had the great good fortune of seeing Juliette Binoche perform in the title role of "Antigone" at the Kennedy Center. I am a huge Binoche fan and she was fantastic. In fact, the production was truly incredible.

A Summer Day in the Fall

The calendar showed fall but it was a warm (and a bit muggy) summer day. Christine and I enjoyed our lunch outside at T.H.A.I.

 Perfectly attuned to her surroundings, lovely Christine in the midst of lovely orange colors!

I decided to forego my usual Pad Thai and opted for the Rice Bowl with fried tofu. Christine had Thai Basil.

Celebrating George

To celebrate his birthday, I took my friend George to one of my very favorite DC restaurants, Founding Farmers. It is owned by North Dakota farmers and serves fresh, local food. Outstanding!

We had a delicious lunch. For appetizers, George ordered fried green tomatoes and I ordered corn bread, the very best I have ever eaten! For the main course, George had trout and I had butternut squash mascarpone ravioli that were out of this world.

Will we return? Without a doubt!

In Memory of Anne

Our very dear friend Anne was born on September 27. Barbara and I contributed the altar flowers in her memory on Sunday, September 27, this year.

After the service, Barbara and I received the flowers with the following card:

These flowers have been in the sanctuary of St. Christopher's. They have heard the hymns that have been sung, the prayers that have been offered, and the sermon that has been preached. And now they come to you with our love

St. Christopher's Episcopal Church

Masanori Comes to Town!

I was delighted when my old Japanese friend Masanori came to Washington with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. I met them in their hotel one afternoon. Unfortunately, they were here for a very short time only. But it was wonderful to see them I hadn't seen Masanori and Yoshifumi for seven years.

Masanori is on the right. I am standing between him and his son Yoshifumi. 

 

Yoshifumi is in the middle with his lovely wife and adorable son.

The proud father and grandfather is on the right. 

Here I am with Yoshifumi, Masanori's remarkable youngest son.

Arthur and The Poet

Andrea and I took Arthur to Meridian Park on a lovely summer afternoon.

 Arthur in front of the statue of the great Poet Dante Alighieri. As T.S. Eliot wrote, "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world. There is no third."

Dante 

Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc)

 This statue was a gift to the women of America from the women of France. Merci beaucoup!

Andrea listening to the drum concert, a weekly event in this DC park. 

 Christine

 

Andrea

A Dream Come True

I have always been very envious of the children who are given the opportunity to run around the bases after Sunday games at Nats Park. Why not seniors, too? Well, seniors *were* offered this opportunity and I took advantage of it, of course. One of the rules,however, was: No running!

My friends Barbara and Joel and I went to Nats Park yesterday. We saw a great game in which the Nats beat the DBacks 8-3 and then we strolled the bases. What a thrill to stand on the bases! (I had no idea that they were so hard!) The Presidents were on the infield and greeted us warmly - except for Calvin Coolidge. He was rather quiet. No surprise there!

Below you can see some photos from this very special occasion.

 
                               Barbara and Joel

 

 Chris and Barbara

 
        The Stroll began immediately after the game

 
                        Chris on the Field 

 

George Washington is on First and Teddy is bouncing around all over the place

                                     Chris on Second Base with Calvin Coolidge behind her

 Chris on Home Plate with Abe Cheering for her

Exhibit at AU

Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition

George in front of the museum


Christine in front of AU's Museum

George and I went to an exhibit at American University that was very painful to view. It was the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the attacks.

The exhibit included 20 artifacts collected from the debris of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and also six large folding screens that showed scenes of the event.

There was also a wonderful exhibit of children's drawings. All Souls Church Unitarian in DC had sent drawing supplies to a school in Hiroshima shortly after the bombings.The children drew pictures that were then sent to the church where they have been on display ever since.

"These drawings present a story of hope and reconciliation."

They were very colorful and upbeat drawings and showed happy children and adults.

These drawings were very different from the ones I saw when I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 1991. The pictures I saw were drawn shortly after the attacks and were scenes of the terror and destruction. They were horrifying pictures. My visit to this memorial was very painful, particularly because I went with my two dear Japanese friends, Yoko and Yukiko. I felt uneasy because I was American. What had my government done?

George and I found the drawings at the AU exhibit very beautiful but we had trouble looking at the artifacts and the graphic black and white photos of the destruction. In fact, at a certain point we both felt rather queasy and opted to leave to go out into the sunshine. This is not an exhibit that we plan to visit again. We did not regret going, however. It was informative and thought provoking. It was an appropriate way to commemorate this awful anniversary.

Celebrating Two Birthdays

We had a wonderful celebration at Dal's home in Laurel to celebrate his birthday and mine. Those present were Dal, George, Larissa, Ivan, Andrea, Arthur, and Christine. It was a lovely day and a lovely party.

St. Christopher's Book Discussion Group celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. We celebrated this special occasion at the home of Judy Lawson.

The Anniversary Cake

The Anniversary Bookmarks

Those present: Standing - Liz, Rosemary, Janet B, Indra, Kathy, Judy

; Sitting - Gloria, Ginnie, Bobbie, Ernest; Photographer - Christine

An NGA Outing

The Caillebotte Exhibit 

George, Ginny, Larissa, Ivan, and I had a splendid museum outing. We went to see the Caillebotte exhibit at the National Gallery. It is marvelous. Although Caillebotte painted some extraordinary works, especially his Umbrella Painting, he is less well known than the other Impressionists. Since he was independently wealthy, he did not need to sell his paintings. Instead he collected the paintings of other artists.

We definitely plan to return to see this exhibit again.


                 Chris, Ginny, Ivan, and George 

We had lunch in the cafeteria between the East and West Buildings and posed in front of the waterfall near the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the cascading water is not evident. 

 At the bus stop after the exhibit - Ivan, Chris, Ginny, Larissa, and George

[A friendly tourist took the photo!]

Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye

Ginny, Larissa, and I went to a Smithsonian Associates talk on July 29th given by the curator of the exhibit which was very informative. Before the talk we had a picnic in the lovely garden between the African and Asian Art museums.

 Ginny and Chris

 Ginny and Larissa