In Which I Get an Autograph

I Have about 5 minutes before I have to leave for orchestra. In my infinite wisdom, I somehow signed myself up to play with 2 community orchestras, one of whom practices an hour away. Ooops. I like both, although I am suffering from a surfeit of Mozart at the moment.

I went to the National Book Festival yesterday. If anyone believes the publishing industry is in danger, and that Americans do not read, they need to attend. There were well over ten thousand people there, all to hear famous authors speak and read excerpts from their books. John Grisham, Judy Blume, Mark Kurlansky, and John Scieszka were there. I stood in line for almost 2 hours to get my copy of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales autographed by Mr. Scieszka. He was only signing for an hour, but people started lining up very early, almost as soon as the festival opened. But I got it signed, and Mr. Scieszka was smiling and greeting every single person in line and thanking them for attending. I am definitely planning on going next year if I can.

In Which My Suspicions are Confirmed

I suspected all year that I live in a redneck suburb of Washington. That was confirmed yesterday when I tried to go for a walk. I started to cross the street to get to the neighborhood where I usually do my circuit, and I watched car after car after Volkswagen Bug go past. Then I noticed the big lightbulb-lit sign up the road: DRAG RACE TODAY ---- PARKING ON RIGHT.
I also noticed the two police cars and policemen in the middle of the road directing traffic.

Are you picturing this? I live in a suburb that has enough people attending a drag race to require a police presence!!!!! The last time there were that many police on that street, Obama was speaking at a pre-election rally in October. Drag races are equivalent with presidential nominees in this town. Maybe I should just give up, buy a pick-up truck, and change my name to Betty Sue.

In Which I Go Back to Work

School starts for teachers tomorrow. I think I am ready to go back. This is the first time in several years that I've had the same position two years in a row, so I'm really excited to have some idea of what to prepare for!

It was a very nice summer. I got to visit lots of relatives and travel to NY, Boston, NJ, Chicago. I had company down, and I bought a new dining room table (which I haven't put together yet). Here are some pictures of what I did in Boston. They were all taken at the Museum of Fine Arts:

In Which I Travel

I drove up to Boston and back with my brother this month. It was a long drive with a lot of traffic. Next time, I will take the train. But we took a lot of pictures of bridges. On my way home, I sat in traffic for hours and hours and hours ( no joke). I took lots of pictures of bridges out the windows. I guess everyone needs a hobby....

Peaches!

My sister came down to visit. I made a peach pie. It was a work of art. Here it is, in a still life I call "Still Life with Peach Pie, Cat, and Goldfish Bowl.

In Which I go Wild

We went to the National Botanical Gardens yesterday. It was about 90 degrees, so we were really hot. It's a very beautiful garden, and there are lots of interesting plants. I was in danger of becoming my Aunt Ruth, who went on tours of Europe and took only pictures of flower boxes and shrubs. In spite of all the plants, I was not able to find an example of a tree that intrigued my father. I was hoping to take a picture and post it here, and hope someone knew what it was. There were no examples in the gardens. I bet someone there would know. However, we did find the rose garden, and saw chili plants in full peppering (flowering?). Here we are in the children's garden.

In Which the Guard Changes

We went on a tour of Arlington National Cemetery. There is not a lot of ceremony in American culture. One of the few places that clings to ceremony is the military. I was glad to see that there was definitely respect shown for those who fought and died while in military service. While I may not always support a war or military spending or arms proliferation, I do respect those who are or were in the military. We went to the tomb of the unknown soldier, and saw the changing of the guard. Pictures are allowed, as long as spectators are standing and are silent.