Happy Halloween!

It is autumn again in Virginia. Sunny, cool, colorful autumn. Yesterday I went hiking. I tried to go to Great Falls, which is supposed to be really amazing. However, there was a very big rally in DC on Saturday (the Rally for Sanity, which was insane), and traffic was backed up for almost 30 miles in every direction going toward DC. Totally crazy. So I turned around and went to a local place instead.

I made a Halloween feast for a friend who had never ever had Halloween fun-food before. We made mummy hot dogs, witches' fingers, ghost potatoes, and monster mouths. The food came out pretty good!

In Which the First Lady Speaks

I went to the National Book Festival a couple weekends ago. It was, of course, incredibly cool to be surrounded by 130,000 other book-lovers. I walked around, collected bookmarks and posters and tote bags. But really I went because Laura Bush, the former first lady, was speaking. I had to wait in line to have my bags searched by the Secret Service before I could enter the tent. It was just like on tv --- the guys in black suits, with earpieces in their ears, constantly eyeing the crowd for threats. I was almost as entertained watching them as hearing Mrs. Bush speak. She was very good. She read an excerpt from her autobiography, and then answered a couple questions from the audience. She seems like a very gracious lady, and I admire all she has done for literacy efforts in this country. It was a very memorable event!