Hello Everyone, it’s hard for me to even fathom that this is week 20 of this post series. I was hoping when I arrived home in the beginning of April that I would only be here for a few weeks and then I would be back out on the road, but here I am 20 weeks later. I’m still enormously grateful to have a place to weather this storm, especially knowing that things could be much worse if I didn’t. I just wish I knew what the end date to all of this was so I could make some plans. It’s been a quietly busy week here in Washington and I’ve actually done quite a bit which has been really nice. I’ve also had some good news in my feed this week which also helps. One of my best friends welcomed a new baby boy to the world this week in New Orleans, so welcome Theodore. Another friend of mine from grade school has announced his wife’s pregnancy this week as well. These are both reminders to me that the world has continued to turn even if my wheels have stopped doing so.
Last Thursday I began a new role which I’ve really enjoyed, even though I’ve only done it a couple of times. My friend James was called back to work after a few months of furlough, but his two year old son’s daycare is still closed. So I’m going to be spending some time with young Mason over the next few weeks or months so they can work and we can play. Mason is a sweet kid, and it’s been a real treat to watch him. His smiles and laughter are such a counterbalance to the challenges we are facing in this country and in the world, and it’s a welcome change. I’ve always loved working with kids, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to spend some time watching him grow up. It’s been great to experience the world through his eyes and I’ll be gladly helping out with this for a while until things change. That could happen tomorrow or a year from now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Last weekend was also a lot of fun here. After celebrating the “holidays” the last few weeks, we settled in on Friday for a quiet “pub night” of wings, nachos and beers. It was nice to have a relaxing night, listen to some good music and enjoy our time together. Saturday my mom and I headed out to check out some of Washington D.C.’s oldest firehouses for an upcoming photo essay I’m putting together. It was a fun day of exploring the neighborhoods and we both definitely ended up in some areas of the city we’ve never been in before. It never ceases to amaze me how we can keep doing that – it’s really not that big a city. Since I was getting some of my information off of the National Register of Historic Places, I found a couple of other cool buildings to check out while we were out there. One of them was the beautiful Franklin School – a really stunning old building and apparently where my grandmother went to middle school. That was a neat bit of family history to learn. Sunday I made us some quiches – a new thing for me. I love quiche, but I’ve never cooked them before. They came out pretty good and I learned a lot about the process, so next time they will be even better. We spent a nice bit of the afternoon playing Carcassonne – definitely my favorite board game of the year.
On Monday I went and took a few more photos around town for some projects I’m working on and then I spent the afternoon working on them. I’m really enjoying looking at some of DC’s oldest houses and especially interacting with some of my local Facebook groups about them. That evening my folks and I went next door to our neighbors’ yard for a few socially distanced beers. It’s always nice to catch up with them and hear their perspective on what’s going on. It always lasts way longer than planned.
Tuesday was a beautiful day and my mom and I went out to follow the trail of John Wilkes Booth from the time he assassinated Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater to where he was gunned down himself two weeks later in Virginia. After our extensive look at the Eastern Theater of the Civil war, this seemed like the last chapter that really needed to be explored. To me, the assassination of Lincoln was one of the greatest tragedies in the history of our country and one which still impacts us today. Lincoln was not much respected in his time, but somehow he managed to win an unwinnable war and save and unsavable Union. As difficult as the war was, the peace that followed was even more so. I don’t know if anyone could have made Reconstruction work, but it seems that if anyone could have, it would have been Lincoln – with charity for all and malice toward none. We’ll sadly never know. It was an interesting day for us, and took us to some really great historic sites. While we were out, I also picked up 5 pounds of half-smokes, our local DC area sausages found nowhere else (they are our “food thing” – Boston has baked beans, Philadelphia has cheesesteaks and DC has half-smokes). They are half pork, half beef sausages, ideally in a natural casing, and they are wonderful but sadly hard to find in the city proper. I got mine at BK Miller Meats in Clinton – a really great shop right across the street from the Mary Surratt Tavern. We also loved all of the history and colorful antique shops we saw in Port Royal, Virginia. On the way home we stopped and picked up a couple of dozen steamed and seasoned blue crabs from Moe’s in Accokeek. When we got home we chowed down on the crabs, which were excellent, and will keep the half-smokes for the weekend.
Today I’m back watching Mason. He’s taking a nap while I write this, but we had a fun morning playing with trucks and riding his bike. Tonight at home we’re doing Dinner and a Movie and we’re looking forward to watching Robin Williams in The Birdcage. I’m going to cook some beer-can chickens and make some cool chocolate bird’s nest desserts for it. It should be a fun night.
I don’t know what the week ahead will hold (do any of us really?). I do want to get out and take some more firehouse photos this weekend and do some work on that project and continue with my historic homes project. I had planned on getting my podcast restarted this week, so maybe I can kick that into high gear and get the first episode of Season 2 done as soon as possible. I definitely want to keep working on my book and I haven’t played any music in a few days. Other than that, I’m happy we’re two weeks into August and I can see cooler weather on the horizon. I’m definitely looking forward to fall colors and not sweating quite as much. I hope y’all are keeping cool and safe out there wherever you are, and I hope to see you right back here next week. Have a good week and thanks for reading.
-Mike