Greetings from City Hall

It rained all of Monday morning, so I spent it doing exciting things like laundry, working on a book review, and cleaning the counters. Then the mail came and I got two packages I'd been waiting for from overseas, the Beatles Tarot deck from England via Kickstarter and my own reprints, after scanning and editing, of the Star Trek Tarot deck that Paul drew for me in the early 90s -- they were expensive to print and so very worth it, since I've always been afraid to shuffle the originals or risk smearing the ink with my fingers! 

My afternoon was fully distracted by the MLB trade deadline, before which the Orioles had traded a significant part of the team -- at least Ward is going to the Mariners, my side team, and Rutschman is coming here to the Red Sox, so I'll get to see him a lot sooner than I was expecting. We took a walk and started watching the second season of Citadel after dinner, but it was so insanely violent that after an episode we put on the new season of Futurama instead. Here's Worcester Common, City Hall, the Continental Army cemetery, and memorials:

Lyrics for Saturday and Green Lake

Julia 

By John Lennon 

Half of what I say is meaningless,

But I say it just to reach you, Julia, Julia

Julia, ocean child, calls me.

So I sing a song of love, Julia

Julia seashell eyes,

Windy smile, calls me.

So I sing a song of love, Julia.

Her hair of floating sky is shimmering,

Glimmering,

In the sun.

Julia, Julia, morning moon, touch me.

So I sing a song of love, Julia

When I cannot sing my heart,

I can only speak my mind, Julia

Julia sleeping sand, silent cloud, touch me.

So I sing a song of love, Julia.

Mmm-mmm calls me

So I sing a song of love for Julia, Julia, Julia.

-------- 

I spent a lot of Saturday morning reading the news and listening to people scream about it, which ended up being so stressful that I read some of my latest magical librarian book (What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama), then we got dressed and drove to Green Lake to see Daniel, whose wife is away visiting her sister until tomorrow. We went to lunch at the fabulous new Gao Lhao Bangkok Noodle Shop, which has a full page of vegan entrees, after which we picked up the dogs and walked a few miles around the lake, starting in brilliant sunshine and heading back in rain. In between, we saw lots of waterfowl and raided a few Blacephalons together.

 

We came home in the early evening and ate jacket potatoes for dinner while watching the end of the Seahawks-49ers game, which ended with Seattle winning the NFC West and the top seed in the conference for the playoffs, woohoo! Then we watched Yesterday, the movie in which nobody remembers the Beatles but one minor musician in Suffolk, which we've seen several times before and I love -- particularly the scenes in which Ed Sheeran plays a particularly mediocre version of himself, which makes him very likeable. We were in the mood for that because we've been watching The Beatles Anthology in the evenings; we finished it tonight with its lovely, poignant final episode.

Lyrics for Monday and Maryland Snow

The Long and Winding Road 

By Paul McCartney 

The long and winding road

That leads to your door

Will never disappear

I've seen that road before

It always leads me here

Lead me to you door

The wild and windy night

That the rain washed away

Has left a pool of tears

Crying for the day

Why leave me standing here?

Let me know the way

Many times I've been alone

And many times I've cried

Anyway, you'll never know

The many ways I've tried

But still they lead me back

To the long, winding road

You left me waiting here

A long, long time ago

Don't keep me standing here

Lead me to your door

-------- 

Monday was mostly a chore day -- Paul took the car in early for regular maintenance, I folded laundry, we both got some computer work done while watching the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (WSU beat Utah State, but my favorite participant is the bright blue field at Boise State where the game is played). Then we had lunch and I did some house chores. Because Wednesday is Christmas Eve, Kristen, Laurie, and I finished watching The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended edition in the afternoon, followed by a necessary group encore viewing of "One Funk To Rule Them All" with much squeeing. After a sunny morning, it had started to drizzle by the time we took a walk in the afternoon, but the wind didn't start up till after dark. 

By then we had eaten leftover enchiladas for dinner and put on Chris Hemsworth's A Road Trip To Remember, which is kind of a sequel to his Limitless show in which he found out his family carries a gene that's an indicator of Alzheimer's, which his father has now been diagnosed with. Since it's in early stages, Chris and Craig visit the places where Chris grew up, where they attempt to recreate both physically and emotionally things to spark connections in Craig's memory. It's sad yet surprisingly uplifting, since they've obviously always had a great relationship. Now we're watching the Let It Be documentary, about four musicians who did not always have a great relationship. We only got a bit of snow in Maryland but it's as much white Christmas as we're likely to have this year: 

Greetings from Hanover

On Tuesday we took Daniel and Cahaya to Paul's parents in Hanover for a belated Christmas dinner -- Swedish meatballs (veggie and turkey), mashed potatoes (with and without milk for the lactose intolerant), carrots, lingonberries, Swedish rye and cheese, Christmas cookies, chocolates. We looked at old family photos and read cards and Skyped with Adam, who was in the middle of his workday overseen by his canine supervisor. When we left, we visited Black Rose Antiques, where Cahaya found some treasures and I found a gorgeous pair of glass candlesticks for almost no money. 

We headed home via Gaithersburg so we could drive through the winter lights at Seneca Creek State Park, which were lovely as always and had several new displays. I got home in time to say goodnight to my Tuesday Voyager group, which had already watched "Macrocosm"; now we're watching the second episode of The Beatles: Get Back, which is really demonstrating to me how essential Ringo was -- he's the first one there every day, he talks to everyone, he jumps in with ideas and lyrics and beats without ever worrying about his credit the way George does -- and how brilliant Paul is! 

Greetings from the NGA and USBG

Quickie after another day downtown with lots of fun and lots of walking! We met Daniel and Cahaya amidst the poinsettias at the National Gallery of Art, which was surprisingly crowded for a workday though it was easy to socially distance except in the Impressionist galleries, so we didn't stay long in those. We went through the main floor American and most of the European rooms, including the Hudson River School galleries and Cole's Voyage of Life, as well as The New Woman Behind the Camera, an exhibit on female photographers and how their use of the medium changed both the art and the role of women in general. 

We left Daniel and Cahaya, who were headed to the East Wing, to go visit the trains at the US Botanical Garden, stopping for cheese pretzels on the way. The trains, surrounding farming scenes, are outdoors this year while the indoor gardens are closed, and many of the miniature DC monuments made from plants are on display in outward-facing windows. We met up again with Daniel and Cahaya as the museums were closing, walked to the car, and drove them to shops near their hotel, then we came home, had dinner, and started watching Don't Look Up, but it made me so mad despite the cast that we turned it off in favor of The Beatles: Get Back, which is amazing! 

Greetings from Fairfax

It was a chilly, lovely November day that demanded to be enjoyed outdoors, so after a brief visit to the small, very crowded Icelandic Association holiday bazaar at the American Legion post in Fairfax, we went to nearby Huntley Meadows, where the herons and geese were plentiful despite the chill but we saw only one turtle and it dove before I could get a photo into the unexpectedly high water (the beavers have been busy, there were several new dams, though we did not see the beavers themselves).

We drove home under an amazing fall sky, stopped at the food store, and had stew for dinner because it was that kind of day. Then we watched part of Ron Howard's Beatles series on PBS, followed by the first three episodes of the new season of Jack Ryan, which is more violent than I prefer to watch and the female characters thus far are more types than fully developed people, but I'm sure I'll watch the rest of the season so maybe they will get better storylines. A few pics over the course of the day:

Greetings from Richmond

Quickie, we're in Virginia, where we went to Cheryl's house and headed to Greek Cuisine West End to have awesome food and met Lin, then we all went to the Science Museum of Virginia to see the amazing Pompeii exhibit, plus some quick visits to other displays, particularly the Curious George traveling exhibit (I didn't know the authors were Jews who'd fled Europe while writing it).

Then Lin headed home and the rest of us drove by Agecroft to see whether there were still tickets to The Tempest that evening, but the box office wasn't open yet and it was over 90 degrees so we decided instead to see Yesterday, which is a complete delight and has many laugh-out-loud funny lines including a Harry Potter joke. Here are a few photos -- more when I'm home!