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D.C. Chronicles Volume 52

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 52

Hello Everyone! Welcome to the last weekly installment of D.C. Chronicles as Episode 52 will bring us to a full year discussing life at home for me here in Washington D.C. in the midst of the worldwide pandemic. If you’ve been following closely, you know that this is actually a bonus week since I did do one installment of This Week on the Road in the midst of it all when we went to visit my brother in New Hampshire. It’s been a year of ups and downs, highs and lows, but we’ve gotten through it together. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to those of you who’ve stuck by me through all of this. I hope that in the next couple of months I can get back to the journey this was supposed to be all about and I sincerely hope you’ll come along for the ride.

It seems like a fitting week to end on as by this time next week I should have my second vaccine dose in my arm and be ready to turn my attention full-time to getting myself and my van ready for a June 1st departure. Most of the people in my inner circle of family and friends have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine and I know it will be available for everyone who hasn’t very soon. On the other side of things, I lost a very old friend of mine this week to complications due to Covid. He wasn’t a close friend, but someone I had worked with at summer camp over 20 years ago who I stayed in contact with via Facebook. When I got the devastating news of his death (he was only 53), I sure was happy I had made an extra effort to go to his 50th birthday party and catch up in person after many years. I hate that this happened, and so close to the finish line, but it has definitely reminded me that life is precious and to live it while we can and to make the effort to attend people’s special moments whenever possible. In the future, when I look back on this past year, it will be impossible not to remember that this pandemic took the lives of my Aunt Jayne and my old friend Mike (who we all knew as “Mud”). May all of those we lost this year rest in peace.

While I can and will mourn the lives claimed by the pandemic, I will also look back at this year with a great deal of fondness. I got to spend the year with my mom and stepdad, celebrating what we could, when we could and as often as we could. I know that Washington D.C. is not where my destiny is and it will soon be time for me to go, but we’ve made the most of it and I’ll never regret the time I’ve gotten to spend with them. I’m especially glad I was here to help them with my mom’s recovery from her recent hip replacement. I know they would have gotten through it without me, but it was still good to be able to lend a hand. My mom got me out of the house 2 months into the pandemic when I was losing my mind and we took a quick trip to Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia. That trip inspired an in-depth exploration of the eastern theater of the Civil War, a look at Washington’s oldest homes, and winding trips down Maryland’s scenic byways. We’ve always been able to go on trips together and explore and chat and have a good time and it’s been wonderful to do that as often as we have this year. I will miss our weekly adventures together. This past week we journeyed out to Point of Rocks, a small rail-town in Maryland. It has a beautiful Gothic-style train station, sits on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and saw some action during the Civil War. It was fun to walk around the area (slowly on her new hip), and have so much background knowledge to the things we saw and read.

Of course, as you know, the most wonderful part of the last year was spending so much time with young Mason. We’ve been together pretty much every weekday for the last 9 months, and we make quite the team. I’ve taught him a lot this year, and he’s taught me at least as much in return. He starts each day with a fresh slate and seems to live completely in each and every moment. He’s not regretful of the past or scared of the future, he lives for today. He’s insatiably curious about everything we come across in our daily adventures, and hardly ever complained as we ventured out in heat and cold and snow. He loves books…

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 51

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 51

Hello Everyone. It’s been a year now. A year this past Monday to be exact. A year at home here in Washington D.C. That wasn’t the plan, but life is what happens when you’re making other plans, right? I don’t regret coming home and it’s actually been a great year, all things considered. It’s been a year of exploring the region with my mom and learning a lot of things I never knew about my own hometown. A year of Friday night parties in the basement, movie nights and watching the seasons change. I’ve spent 8 months of that year watching Mason grow from 2 to 3 and laugh and learn and fall down and get back up. I’ve also been able to watch the young man I tutor build his academic confidence and helped in some small way to move him toward his goals. It’s been a year of rethinking and retooling my plans going forward and deciding to put my own personal happiness above any other measure of success (more on my plans coming soon). It hasn’t all been great, though. My personal health, both physical and mental, has suffered through all of this. My van sat unused for many months because of a broken brake line, but has gotten a lot of love and attention since. My podcast has gone dark for over a year now, but I hope to revive it in about two months. Looking back at the end of the year, though, this time will only be somewhere between 1-2% of my life – just a flash in the grand scheme of things, another chapter of many from a very blessed life. Also at the end of this year I’m very aware of just how fortunate I am to have had what I’ve had this year. It’s certainly been a strange year to try and run a travel blog. I’ve travelled when and where I could and tried to share those trips with you here, but it certainly wasn’t what it would have been without the pandemic. I certainly appreciate you all for sticking with me through all of this and while next week will mark the end of this series, soon thereafter I will start fresh with new features and plans for my upcoming departure. Pandemics and politics will disappear from this space and be replaced with beautiful photos and interesting history. I can’t wait.

This week Mason and I welcomed the bumblebees back into our lives. We’ve been talking about them since they left us last October, looking forward to the day when they returned. These last few weeks it’s been “almost” and “not yet”, but on Friday we walked out into a beautiful sunny morning and there were a half-dozen bees right there in the front yard of his new house. That same day we saw a butterfly, a spider and some water-bugs as well, all very good indicators that spring is upon us. He’s learning the names of some of the flowers that are coming out, too, and I’m happy I have a great consultant (my mom) to make sure I get them straight myself. He’s starting to make some associations, too, which are pretty cool – he called buttercups “cups butter” and dandelions simply “lions” (which they resemble when he pointed that out). We were able to get into the water that day, too, and we both had so much fun watching the fish, throwing rocks and enjoying the sun. The day before, Mason got his first time-out from me though. He hit me in the face in a less-than-accidental way which I couldn’t overlook, so I sat him in the corner facing the wall for 5 minutes. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen and broke my heart, but I think that it’s a lesson he has to learn. We talked about it afterwards and hugged it out, though. Growing up sure is tough.

This week, we’ve returned to his old house for a while so their new house can get some necessary work done before they can move in for good. It’s been good to be back in the old neighborhood, see our old friends the stone animal lawn ornaments, and visit our old haunts now heading into spring. Today he was back in the water, splashing around and throwing rocks and as happy as a clam.

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom here in Washington, which is always one of my favorite times of year to be here. While the ones everyone wants to see are downtown near the monuments, there are wonderful cherry blossoms all over the city. They make me feel happy. In addition, the magnolia in our front yard has bloomed magnificently this year. Some years the cold and wind will keep it from a full bloom, but this year everything came together just right.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 50

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 50

Hello Everyone. I’m officially halfway to being fully vaccinated! I’m very happy and excited about that and it certainly has been the highlight of my week. I got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday at the Washington Convention Center, and it was smooth and easy and I already have my second dose scheduled in just three weeks. I feel very relieved at this having happened and just a week shy of my one-year anniversary of being home here in Washington. I was happy to read today that one in four Americans have now gotten at least one dose of a vaccine and was overjoyed that this long year will soon be behind us to some degree. Beyond that, Mason’s parents sold their old house this week, Mason and I continued on our adventures in Barnaby Woods and spring is most definitely in the air here in Washington.

This week, Mason’s parents and I began discussing the inevitable end of our adventures together. He’ll be 3 in less than two months, and with my pending departure from the city it will soon be time for us to go our own ways. As happy and excited as I am to be back on my own and back on the road, it won’t be easy to leave him. Spending the last eight months with him has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Challenging, yes, but rewarding beyond my wildest imagination. On Monday, he and I were down by Rock Creek and he pointed and said “Uncle Mike! Ducks!”. I asked him what kind of ducks they were and he told me they were mallards and that the daddy had a green head and the mommy had a brown head. It was a pretty awesome moment and caused me to reflect on how much he’s learned and how much we’ve experienced together this year. We have only had our books and the park as inspiration, but I think we’ve done pretty well together. Just today, we were sitting on the front porch swing at his new house and he pointed to a wind chime I hadn’t seen before and showed me there was a deer on it. He then showed me the antlers and it made me smile because I know a lot of adults who don’t know the difference between horns and antlers, and he does. He can also tell the difference between a dog track and a cat track, between a cherry blossom and a magnolia and between a red-headed and a pileated woodpecker. We’ve watched the changing of the seasons together. And while I’ve taught him many things about nature, he’s taught me a lot about construction and big trucks and reminded me how magical the world can be when you’re experiencing it for the first time and your eyes are only 3 feet above the ground. Somewhere in there he’s learned to count, learned his ABCs, and how to use a toilet. All-in-all, I’d call it a year to hang our hat on.

For the last few weeks, whenever Mason hears his parents walking around the house, he looks me dead in the eyes and says “I hear cheetahs”. It’s the funniest thing and makes me laugh every time. His parents have set up a sandbox for him in their backyard which is definitely a winner. He loves shoveling sand from one place to another and then dumping it out. He also has his own slide and swing set back there which we’ve been making good use of. This week he’s started using one of my catch-phrases “how wonderful” which comes out as “how won-de-duh” but still makes me laugh and I think it’s a great expression for anyone. I’ve also been reading him some Disney books this week which my parents read to me as a kid and the images bring back a lot of memories from my own childhood. We’ve carved out a special nook in the attic to read on rainy days and it’s been amazing.

The weather has been pretty great this past week here in Washington. The cherry blossoms have started to bloom in this part of the city, though they are still in their buds downtown by the memorials. My mother’s magnolia in the front yard is about a week away from full bloom. Her forsythias are out and the daffodils are doing well too. Spring is such a wonderful and hopeful time, this year more than most. I’ve spent as much time as I could outside this week, enjoying sunny days, later sunsets and the fresh air the season brings.

I’ve also been spending some time this week making real plans for my June departure, with Michigan set in my sights as my first destination…

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 49

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 49

Hello Everyone. In less than a week I have an appointment to get my first shot of the Covid vaccine. I am very happy and very excited, as this is the best news I’ve gotten in a while for myself (it was always more important that my folks got it and now that my mom and stepdad and my dad’s partner are fully vaccinated and my dad has his first shot, I’m happy for me). Beyond that, Shadow Catcher got new brakes this week so my van is edging closer to being “departure ready” as well. Mason and his parents have moved into their new house and he and I have spent the week exploring their new neighborhood. My mom’s hip replacement is healing well and she’s moving around a lot better. And in other awesome news, my very good friend Jorge and his wife have welcomed a beautiful bouncing baby girl this week. All told, it’s been a pretty good week here in Washington.

With my vaccine news and my van’s last big repair (hopefully), my plans for an early June departure may actually come to fruition. That probably means it’s time for this particular weekly update to come to an end. I plan to continue it for the next three weeks to bring a full year of DC Chronicles to a close. After that I’m going to spend a few weeks doing some revamping of my website and social media platforms to try and prepare for Departure 3.0. When I began this adventure back in 2017, my plan was to share my life with the world as I traveled the country and lived in my van. Unfortunately the reality at that time was that I was in a pretty dark place mentally, being in the midst of a long and painful breakup with someone I wrongfully believed was my soulmate. I couldn’t share my feelings or thoughts because they were all about her and that wasn’t what this journey was supposed to be. So I leaned away from me and leaned into taking photos and sharing my trip on a very impersonal level, which was all I was capable of at the time. Over the past year, I haven’t traveled much at all and I’ve been able to open up more about me and my life here in the midst of a global pandemic (such as it was), and I’ve really enjoyed that and the interactions with you all that have come with it.

As I get ready to leave for the third time, I expect a much more personal interaction to come from this blog. I want to show you my van, how it works, what my days and nights are like, where I go and what I experience. I’ve retooled some of my operation so I can work from my van and be able to utilize my time and resources better. I’m also in a far better mental state to be able to do so. In short, I guess I’m hoping to bring the personal side of DC Chronicles together with the travel/photography side of This Week on the Road and add a little more on the vanlife in the process. I think this time it’s all going to actually work out the way I had hoped it would in the first place! I also plan on starting my podcast again which takes a look at the history and culture of the states that I visit and is something I’ve really enjoyed. Much more to come on all of this in the next 10 weeks, but that’s a brief preview of what to expect. I’m super-excited about the whole thing.

So last week Mason and his parents moved into their beautiful new house in Barnaby Woods on the far northwest edge of the city and, if you had a good arm, a stone’s throw from the Maryland border. Mason and I have been talking about it for weeks to try and prepare him for the move. I know his parents had a lot to do and think about and I wanted to help with Mason’s transition as much as I could. On Thursday morning, as the movers were getting ready to come start their work, Mason and I headed outside for an adventure. I told him we’d find a new creek to throw rocks, new construction sites to watch, new mushrooms and berries and new birds and other assorted friends. Before we left that morning, I walked to the side of the new house and got my walking stick which I had moved over from the old house, and his face lit up at the familiar sight. We set off to the Pinehurst Tributary of Rock Creek and played in the water there all day (it was 70 degrees and perfect). It was a good first day for us both.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 48

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 48

Hi Everyone! It’s 70 degrees and sunny out and my window is open here and that alone has really picked up my spirits. It’s been a long and dreary winter and I’m very happy that it’s finally coming to an end (although somehow snow is in the forecast for next week). I’ve gotten myself on the vaccination wait-list here in Washington, so now I’m just waiting to hear back from them which will hopefully be sooner rather than later. I’ve been doubling my walks this week, trying to start losing some of this weight and bring my blood sugar back down to a reasonable level and the improved weather has really helped motivate me for that. My mom’s hip is improving every day since last week’s surgery and Mason and I are both happy to have our feet back in the water. It hasn’t been the most productive week in the world, but it’s been pretty good.

Mason and I have been spending longer and longer outside every day and it’s much easier on both of us to not have to get geared up in the morning. Yesterday I brought a pair of shorts and his water shoes for him to change into, and even though the water was still pretty chilly we both got out into it – me up to my ankles and Mason to his knees. Standing in the creek, pulling rocks out and throwing them – he looked like the happiest kid on the planet. We’re watching signs of spring emerge all around us as the buds are coming out, the geese are flying north and the robins are everywhere. Mason’s cousins taught him that the early flowers blooming now are crocuses, and he happily points them out in all of their beautiful colors. We’ve seen deer in the park on two separate occasions this week, which is a real treat for a city kid, and we keep our ears tilted skyward to listen for woodpeckers. Mason is pretty awesome at identifying birds for a two year-old. We also saw a mounted park police officer this week which was pretty sweet as horses are also not a part of our daily experience here. The list of things Mason has randomly told me he loves has grown to include: blueberries, napkins, pandas, the moon, crocuses, raccoons, jellyfish and airplanes. His vocabulary continues to grow and his sentences are more complete every day. Tomorrow I am off to meet him at his new house for the first time which I think we’re both looking forward to. I went and scouted out the woods nearby over the weekend and have found plenty of places for us to get our feet wet, touch mushrooms and explore.

Last Friday, my folks and I had to move our weekly celebration up to the second floor because my mom was still in a lot of pain from her hip surgery on Tuesday. I was hoping she could come down to the first floor and we could enjoy some Swiss culture in front of the fireplace, but she wasn’t up to it so we came to her instead. I made us some delicious traditional fondue and we listened to some Swiss folk and alpenhorn music. I have spent a fair bit of time in Switzerland in my life, and it was nice to think of some of the beautiful places I’ve been there. I hope to see more of it sooner rather than later.

Saturday was a really wonderful day outside and I spent a lot of time in my van. A lot of the things I’ve been working on are small things, but it was nice to get a bunch of them accomplished and cross them off my to-do list. I’m going to spend some time showing y’all the inside of my van soon and will try and explain what everything is and how it all works when I’m on the road. It really is an interesting process and lifestyle and I’m eager to invite you all over for a virtual look in the months to come.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 47

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 47

Hello Everyone! March has arrived and winter is quickly turning to spring here in Washington. We’ve had a couple of cold days this week, but some really nice ones as well. It got up to almost 60 today and I really enjoyed being able to spend some time outside just sitting and soaking it in. My mom got a new hip yesterday, which is definitely the biggest news of the week, but it’s been a busy week for me as well.

News on the virus front continues to be hopeful as this week President Biden announced that with the addition of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and with Merck stepping up to help with production, every American should be able to get a vaccine by the end of May. That is simply wonderful news and I really hope I can get mine going even sooner. Sadly, some states are rushing to open everything back up and “get back to normal” and while I know we are all ready for that to happen, rushing it now when we’re so close to the finish line seems absurd to me. While the news is good, we are still losing around 2,000 people a day to the virus in America. That means that we lose the equivalent of the total number of Americans lost during the Vietnam War every month. Please remain vigilant out there and know that the light at the end of the tunnel is close, but we’re not there yet.

In the political realm, something I haven’t delved into on this blog in a while, I’ve been pretty disappointed with what I’ve seen in the last few weeks. One of the things which upsets me most is voter suppression and disenfranchisement, and these are issues this country has struggled with from jump. It is my personal belief that every single American adult should have the right to vote and should have that vote counted fairly and equally. For a number of reasons, none of which have ever been good ones, this is something which has constantly been challenged from this country’s founding. If you cannot win elections when everyone has the opportunity to vote, you need to change your messaging, not try and disenfranchise thousands of people so that you can win. Every time there is an election in this country, election commissions will find a few hundred fraudulent votes, never the thousands or tens or even hundreds of thousands that people claim. For me, a few hundred fraudulent votes in a country with over 350 million people is a very small price to pay for extending the vote to as many people as possible through as many means as we can. In my opinion, voting should stretch over several days and include a weekend with long hours and many polling stations. When I see lines stretching for hours, and attempts to limit voting to business hours, it makes me sick. It’s just like the disgusting gerrymandering we see – it’s trying to game the system instead of trying to win people over with your ideas. This year has certainly shined a pretty bright light on so many things that are wrong with this country, and I sincerely hope we can find some people who are willing to try and fix them. Any attempt at voter suppression should be met with serious questions and a hard push back.

In other news, I had my annual physical this week which I’ve been trying to avoid but finally had to go and make it happen. It was hard to see in black and white the weight I’ve put on over the last year and that my blood sugar is as high as it’s ever been. It was actually a real kick in the stomach to get that information. I feel like the last couple of weeks I’ve been crawling out of a pool of winter depression, my hands getting a hold on the bottom rungs of the ladder I want to climb and slowly pulling me up. Right when I was about to swing one leg up and get a foothold, someone comes and starts stepping on my hands from above. It sucked, and I slipped down a rung or two real fast, but I kept hold of the ladder and I’m proud of myself for that. It’s been a really hard year for me (and for us all), and while I watch everything I eat and have since I was 12 and have been trying to keep my drinking in check, I have had moments of weakness in what I’ve put into my body. The fact that I haven’t been able to go to the gym in over a year hasn’t helped one bit. I try and walk 3-5 miles every day I can, but it’s just not the same and the ice and snow recently has kept me from even doing that. It really sucks sometimes when you want to be doing better, but outside forces are keeping you from doing so. On the other hand, sometimes I need the wake-up call these results have given me to get motivated and get moving again. With the spring weather and longer days I need to be getting more exercise and I plan to.

Mason and I continue to enjoy our days together, going on adventures and learning from each other. We’ve been on a quest for woodpeckers lately as they’ve been pretty active in the park these last few weeks.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 46

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 46

Hello Everyone. February sure has blown by, and I’m not upset about that one bit. The end of last week was miserable and cold, and the rain that was coming down was freezing on contact. More than one morning this week I scraped a solid quarter-inch of ice off of my windshield. By mid-afternoon today, though, the temperature was up to 60, and the sun shining down was simply wonderful. The first day of real spring-like weather is always one of the best days of the year for me. As Mason and I were walking around today, I caught a whiff of a barbecue in use and it made me smile from ear to ear. I am really looking forward to the fast-approaching spring.

There has definitely been lots of good news recently on the virus front. The numbers are still way higher than they should be and than they are in most other countries, but at least they are coming down. It was heartbreaking to cross the half-million death mark, all in just a single year, and realize that we’ve lost the equivalent of a mid-sized city like Miami or Raleigh. Sadly, I think we could have saved many of those lives by acting faster and smarter, but I am trying to focus on the positive. We are now vaccinating at a rate of almost 2 million people a day with the potential for even more in the near future. Every day on my social media feeds I’m seeing more of my friends getting vaccinated, and I know that my turn is coming soon too. While I know that this won’t mean we are out of the woods, all indicators are pointing to a great summer ahead. My plan is to be on my own and on the road, exploring the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region of the country all summer long. I can’t wait.

Meanwhile, Mason and I have continued our explorations this week, even in the cold and ice. I took him sledding for the first time at the end of last week (maybe not his first time, but our first time together), and he loved it. He was laughing and squealing with delight as he skidded over the ice in his Flexible Flyer. Oh, to be two year old again! He has been having a blast smashing ice this week as well which I have also been finding quite satisfying. I’m happy to take my frustrations at the ice out on the ice itself! Because of the sub-freezing temperatures though, we’ve been spending more time inside than either of us would like. I’ve started working on teaching him to read this week, which is interesting. He has known most of his letters for a couple of months now, but he’s only 2 and I didn’t want to push him. Recently he has seemed more curious, so I’m slowly edging in that direction. We started with A but vowels are complicated, so we moved on to B. He sleeps in his bed, under a blanket with bunny and big bear after all, so the B sound is something he is both familiar with and able to pronounce. We then went on to read a book, and I pointed out every time we heard that B sound. It was pretty cool when he pointed out the boat in the corner. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on some Ds. Today he started using the phrase “I love…”, and the official list of things he told me he loved today was: mud, pine cones, trash trucks and blueberries. He really cracks me up sometimes. We also had a long and heated conversation this week about whether the cat in one of his books is a cheetah or a leopard. When we started reading it, I thought it was a cheetah, but the book said it was a leopard and I thought we should take them at their word. I admitted I had made a mistake, and we looked at the differences in their spot patterns and body shapes, but he was still convinced it was a cheetah. I think it’s hilarious having these “arguments”, but I also think it’s good for him to have his own opinions.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 45

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 45

Hello Everyone! It’s been a busy week of celebrating Mardi Gras here in Washington with plenty of eating, drinking, music and good times. It was a great weekend to stay in and let the good times roll since it was so cold and windy and icy out. Mardi Gras has definitely been the name of our game this week, but I’ve still been hanging out with Mason and we continue to spend time outside despite the cold weather. His parents have bought a house, which everyone is very excited about, and while that would definitely qualify as the best news of the week, my folks also got their second vaccine shot this week which comes in a very close second.

The weather has been the big topic of conversation this week, as snowstorms have dumped their loads across the country. We haven’t seen our share yet, but it’s supposed to hit overnight tonight and leave us with 6 inches covered by a layer of ice. We’ll see what comes, but we’re ready for it whatever does. We got a shipment of firewood in today, we’re stocked up on salt for the sidewalks, our shovels are at the ready and Mason has a brand new sled to enjoy it with. In contrast to what’s supposedly coming, today has been an absolutely brilliant day out, despite the cold, so at least we got a little sunshine to lift our spirits.

Mason and I have been on a woodpecker kick this week as there have been a few flying around Whitehaven Park near his house. We will wait and listen for them and then try and follow the sound and spot them. We’ve only managed to see one this week, but I think it’s an interesting experience for him. He has wonderfully perceptive hearing and will often hear ambulances and helicopters at quite a distance, and that has helped in our woodpecker quest. We have also found some wonderful groves of mushrooms this week due to all of the moisture which we’ve both really gotten a kick out of. The buds are starting to blossom on some of the trees and we spotted some cherry blossoms pushing their way out today which was really special. We’ve started talking about his new house, which he’s excited about. I’m thrilled there are some good parks nearby for us to explore and am looking forward to a change of scenery myself. His sentences are getting longer and more complete and he’s a really neat little kid to spend time with. It has its challenges sometimes, but he’s a wonderful little companion and I enjoy our adventures together as much as he does.

This past Friday, we kicked off our Mardi Gras weekend with Happy Hour in the basement. There was music, a variety of Abita beer, and a fun game of dominoes. Then we moved our celebration back to the living room so we could enjoy the fireplace and shifted our theme to the Lunar New Year. I cooked up some longevity noodles and some spring rolls and then we played a few rounds of the board game Lattice Hawaii. It was a nice evening as usual, and a great end to the week…

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 44

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 44

Hello everyone! It’s been a pretty cold week here in Washington and it’s been tough to get out and do very much, so this will probably be another short post. We have begun our Mardi Gras celebration in earnest and are looking forward to a long weekend of food and music to come. Mason and I have continued our adventures in the woods, mostly smashing anything and everything made of ice. And I sorted through a bunch of pictures this week from my two years in Japan which was an interesting trip down memory lane. Other than that, I’ve been sticking pretty close to home this week.

Mardi Gras is early this year falling next Tuesday, February 16th. Mardi Gras is one of my absolute favorite times of year, and I always try to celebrate it with as much vigor as I can. My first Mardi Gras was in 2008 when I was living in New Orleans and it was such a wonderful experience that the following year I encouraged my folks to come down and celebrate with me although not actually on Fat Tuesday which is a bit hectic and very expensive to get a room. For me, the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras are a bit quieter and more enjoyable anyway in New Orleans, with parades mostly for the locals. When I left New Orleans and moved to Japan, I had a big Mardi Gras party at my apartment for all of my friends, many of whom had no idea what Mardi Gras was, and when I lived on St. Thomas I celebrated with my friend, Will, who was from Louisiana. I’ve been lucky to have been back to New Orleans for it several times since. Since starting this blog, I celebrated Mardi Gras in tiny Marshall, North Carolina (which they called “Marshall Gras”), and then spent the last two in New Orleans, one of which my folks once again joined me for. This year I’ll obviously be home for it, but we’re going all-in to celebrate. Our house is decorated with all the beads, lights and masks that we have and we’re going to have a great Mardi Gras weekend which we’re all looking forward to.

As I mentioned, the week has been a cold one but that hasn’t stopped Mason and I from getting out into it and seeing what we can get into. We’ve found a lot of puddles iced over and he takes great delight in smashing through the top layer of ice and watching the splash. We’ve found some really cool places in the woods where something iced over and then the water underneath either ran out or absorbed into the ground leaving wonderful ice bubbles which are incredibly satisfying to smash through with our walking sticks. He’s having a great time and getting a good dose of winter, although we’re both starting to notice the buds on the trees and are looking forward to the return of our friends: the bumblebees, caterpillars and ladybugs.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 43

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 43

Hello Everyone and Happy February! This is going to be a short post this week because there really hasn’t been too much going on. We had a pretty decent snowstorm this week here in Washington which has kept things pretty quiet and close to home. I’ve enjoyed the visual change of pace the snow has brought and also enjoying it with my little buddy, Mason. I’ve been struggling with depression this week though, which I’ve managed to keep at bay for much of the last few months and I can’t say I’m thrilled by its reappearance. All in all, though, it’s been a pretty quiet week.

Towards the end of last week, Mason and I went on some really long walks around his neighborhood which we both really enjoyed. On Friday we zigged where we normally zag in one spot and 20 minutes later found ourselves on the shore of a massive (by D.C. standards) pond. It had been pretty cold, so the surface was frozen solid and we stood there and talked about ice and water for a long time. Then we threw some sticks which skittered across the surface to our collective delight. Big rocks managed to crash through the surface, but only to make a divot. While I was holding both of his hands above his head with my feet planted firmly on the boardwalk just in case, Mason took a few slippery steps across the ice. For a kid who loves the water, I think this was a really cool experience.

Our week ended with our usual end-of-week basement celebration. Last Friday we celebrated Up-Helly-Aa, the Scottish Viking Fire Festival. We started with drinks and sea shanties in the basement and then played a nice game of Muggins (dominoes). Then we came upstairs and had a nice fire in the fireplace. I had made a delicious Scottish potato-leek soup and some bannock (skillet bread), and both were perfect for a cold winter night. It was another successful celebration! These next two weekends we’ll be bringing it home to Louisiana to celebrate Mardi Gras before seeing where our virtual journey takes us next.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day here, but really just bitterly cold and windy. It was a shame to not be able to go and enjoy it somewhere, but it really was unpleasant to be out in. Late Saturday night it began to snow and continued through much of Sunday and on into Monday. It was a very nice, dry, light snow which was easy to shovel but made for a pretty scene outside. We were all a little surprised at the amount of snow we got, but as I mentioned it is nice to see something a little different looking out the windows.

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In Focus: Glacier National Park

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In Focus: Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park, in far northern Montana, is my very favorite place in the world. Jagged mountains, quiet turquoise lakes, abundant wildlife, cascading waterfalls, amazing trails, awe-inspiring vistas and beautiful historic park lodges come together to form an alpine paradise straight out of a dream world. Glacier’s remote location keeps it from becoming as severely overcrowded as many other National Parks have become in peak summer months, although every summer visitation seems to grow. Glacier forms one half of the extensive Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in association with neighboring Alberta, Canada. I’ve been very fortunate to visit Glacier National Park many times over the last 20 years and always look forward to my visits. Here, I’ve assembled some of my favorite shots I’ve taken of this beautiful park over the years. I hope you enjoy these photos from stunning Glacier National Park.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 42

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 42

Hello Everyone! This is the last post for January, which is hard for me to believe. The time really is going quickly here. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that my political opinions won’t be making an appearance today. It’s been a rough couple of months, and being in Washington it’s hard to escape it, but I’m sure going to try. I have enough things to focus on without getting mired down in something I have very little control over.

The most exciting thing that happened this week is that my folks got their first vaccine shot. This is wonderful news and we’re very grateful to the folks at Howard University for making it happen. I’m really hoping the federal government will ramp up the vaccination as promised and that we can all have ours before the summer.

Young Mason continues to make me smile with his good humor and big smile. Last week we were sitting at breakfast and we were discussing each other’s shirts, which is a common occurrence over his morning meal. I had on a shirt from the amazing total solar eclipse I got to lead a trip to see in Wyoming a few years ago. He pointed out what looked like the moon to him, but was actually the sun so I explained what the eclipse was and how it worked and what it was like to see it. Once I was done explaining it, he hopped up and went and got one of his books about space and we looked at the sun and the moon together. It was pretty cool.

On one of our walks this week we were out in one of the parks in his neighborhood which has a grove of bamboo in it. He always points out the bamboo, and I ask if he sees any pandas around which he never does (but growing up in Washington, I know he will see them often at the National Zoo). A few minutes later he picked up a huge log and told me it was a panda and carried it all the way home. The next day we took his panda to “the lake”, which is really just a small pool along one of the creeks we visit, and he hurled it in. He really loves throwing things in the water, even things he seems to really like. I definitely don’t understand everything he does or says, and he would probably tell you the same about me, but we sure do have interesting adventures together.

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