In Which I Head North

Hi y'all. Yup, I've picked up a southern accent. I'll be flying north again for Thanksgiving. It will be strange to be cold. I need to find my boots.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

In Which I See the Capitol Building

Today I went into D.C. to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. (I must say that the Metro system is really convenient. The biggest problem is living 30 minutes away from it.) The weather was supposed to be rainy all day, but though it was certainly quite gloomy, there was a brief time when it was almost sunny. I took advantage of this and went to see the Capitol Building, which is about 1/2 mile from the museums. It was strange to see it in real life. I've seen it on tv and in movies, and there I was, seeing it for real.

I went to the Air and Space Museum, which was fantastic! First of all, it's free. Secondly, it has all these replicas of various space shuttles and stations. There is so much to see and so many buttons to push! I love pushing buttons. There also was a big exhibit about the history of stewardesses, complete with a panel of visiting retired stewardesses from the 60's. I must say, some of the uniforms from that era were crazy --- pink mini-skirts with paisley hot pants, orange ponchos, bright yellow mini-dresses.... Yikes! Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, it was impressive.


I also went to the Freer Gallery. It has a large collection of paintings by Whistler, of Whistler's Mother fame. It does not actually have that painting however, which I believe is in Paris. It also had a room Whistler's Peacock Room. Only at the Smithsonian would there be an entire room devoted to decaying green velvet, gilded peacocks murals, and shelves of blue Chinese pottery. I think it would have been more impressive 5 hours earlier in the day. The Japaneses screens were really quite beautiful, though, and I could have sat and looked at them for hours. I was also impressed by the variety and quality of Asian art exhibited. There were some exquisite pieces.

In Which I Hear Opera

I got an e-mail today from the Metropolitan Opera announcing that streaming video of HD performances from the Met are now available. I am very excited. I love opera. I don't get to attend live performances often, but over the past two years, I've been able to attend the Met's Live in HD broadcasts at a movie theater. Now that I have moved, that is not as easily done. This is not quite as good as going to the movie theater. However, it is much more convenient.

I highly recommend the performance of Eugene Onegin, which I saw two years ago. It was fantastic. I recommend skipping Peter Grimes. The voices were good, but the sets are dreadful. I am looking forward to watching The Magic Flute, one of my favorite operas. It has a singing parrot, a lost princess, a melodramatic queen-mother, a prince, and a stretch where the characters are not allowed to make a noise. How could it be anything but fun?

In which I go to church

I went to the battlefield park again today to see the fall colors. The weather was quite warm. I do like the weather here so far a lot better then up North. I saw a deer. I even got a couple blurry pictures (see above). It let me get fairly close. There was a family at the park flying a kite. It looked like fun. I remember going to the beach in New Jersey when I was a kid and flying kites.

Ah, and back to the title of my post. I went to church today. This is not note-worthy in itself. I usually do go to church. However, this is the third week I've gone to the same church. It's quite friendly. I put my name on the "Visitor" list, and last week and this one, a pastor has contacted me later in the day just to say, "Hello, thanks for coming to our church". I appreciate that. That's what churches should do. There was also a very large hornet in the sanctuary today. It made the sermon quite lively. If your church is in a rut, I recommend introducing a gigantic flying insect to liven things up.

I am sorry to say that I got not a single trick-or-treater on Halloween. It was disappointing. Now I have 3 bags of candy sitting on my refrigerator. If you ask nice, maybe I'll send you some.

In Which I Bowl

Happy Early Halloween everyone! I was supposed to write progress reports tonight (well, ok, I wrote some), but got distracted when I opened my e-mail and was sent a link to a website that was pure stress relief. Click for Cat Bowling!!! I love cats. I always had cats growing up. I hate cruelty to animals. However, this was fun and silly. So bowl away. Have great Halloween!

In Which I See Prada

I went to Tyson's Corner Mall today. It was a luxury shopping experience. I did not quite realize what that meant until today. I'd never been to Neiman Marcus before. I should have dressed up. Next time, I will wear nicer shoes. I also went into Saks Fifth Avenue, and stores I've never heard of that sold evening gowns for more than I earn in 3 months. It was kind of fun to look. I do have to admit; really expensive clothes look and feel very nice. Cheap knock-offs are not quite the same.

What amazed me was the sale bins for handbags. My current purse cost $11 from JC Penney's about 5 years ago. The prices on the sale bin purses were crazy. These are the purses that are just thrown into a bin, with no order. They are not displayed on racks or shelves or anything. Just thrown in a bin. Check it out. There were lots of shoes that I've only heard of from movies, television, and those chick lit books where the main character is addicted to shopping. Like Prada. I felt like I was in a television show.

After 3 hours, trying on a few rediculously priced jackets, and rubbing elbows with elegantly-clad sales staff, and admiring evening gowns that were works of art, I was almost tempted to spend $750 for a pair of shoes. Almost. I really did like this handbag, though. Now I understand why the people in those books go bankrupt over shoes and clothes. There really is a difference between a $80 dress and an $800 dress, especially when you are surrounded by people wearing $800 dresses.

In Which I Watch Television

My new favorite tv show is The Big Bang Theory. It's on Monday nights at 8:00. It makes me laugh because the characters are like my students. It's like watching what they will be like in another 10 years. Well, some of them. Not all of them. I just have to laugh. If you've ever been friends with a nerd or been a nerd, or known someone with Asperger Syndrome, or owned a comic book collection, you should definitly check it out.