Hello Everyone. It’s wonderful to be back with you this week. I hope you didn’t miss me too much last week, but it was nice to take a little break from this weekly post and get away from the city for a few days. I had a wonderful time over the holidays with my family here in Washington, and enjoyed a few days away at Cape Henlopen State Park on the coast of Delaware. This week I’m back hanging out with my 2 year-old buddy Mason and trying to get some things rolling here as I stare out across the year ahead. I feel good and feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and for me that’s good enough for now.
Our Christmas was a good one filled with cooking, carols and Christmas movies. We made some wonderful meals together over the Christmas weekend and definitely didn’t go hungry. It was nice to be home to catch up on some sleep and have a few lazy days around the house. Shockingly, we even got a few flakes on Christmas Day. It was far from a white Christmas, but it was nice to see nonetheless.
That Sunday I packed up Shadow Catcher and headed west across the bay and into Delaware. It was so nice to be on the road again, and especially on my way to the beach, even in the dead of winter. I sang island and beach songs the whole way there. It really is only about 2.5 hours between here and the ocean when there’s no traffic, and I really enjoyed the ride. I made a beeline for Rehoboth with the hope to have a little wander before the sun went down, and still get into camp before dark. I was surprised at how crowded the boardwalk was, and it wasn’t a good surprise. Regardless, I enjoyed my short visit there. Rehoboth was the beach we went to when I was a kid, and there is always something special and nostalgic about your childhood beach. I was sad to hear that Dolle’s Saltwater Taffy is closing down on the boardwalk and moving, because their sign is probably the most recognizable feature in the whole town. It simply won’t be Rehoboth without it and I was happy to be able to take some photos of it before they go. I also grabbed some delicious boardwalk fries from Thrashers and enjoyed them looking out over the sea. I was only there for about 2 hours, but it was a fun walk down memory lane.
The rest of the time I spent at Cape Henlopen State Park which is about 15 minutes north of Rehoboth. The campground was pretty empty which was great, and I had a nice end-spot which was even better. It was about a 15 minute walk from the campground to the beach, but it was a nice wooded site and it was out of the wind which was good. Monday I took a nice long walk around the cape which was fantastic. It was a cold but sunny day and I enjoyed the sun and wind on my face as I made my way around. My walk started with a stroll through Fort Miles, an old World War II base which protected the route into Wilmington and Philadelphia. Many of the old watchtowers and buildings have been preserved and I really enjoyed learning some of the history of the base. From there it was all beach as I walked around The Point with great views of two lighthouses as I went. The walk took most of the day, and I enjoyed a truly magnificent sunset from the fishing pier to top it off. My last full day there was colder and cloudier and not much of a beach day, but I enjoyed reading my book in camp and some time to myself. I definitely had some time to check out how Shadow Catcher is holding up on the inside and came up with a decent but not overwhelming list of projects I want to tackle before setting out again. Of course it was tough because I didn’t really want to “move in” for just a few days, but I enjoyed sleeping in my old bed and having my own space again. I’m really looking forward to being on the road again, but in a more long-term capacity.
I spent the rest of the year relaxing at home here in DC. My folks stayed up to watch 2020 go and welcome in the New Year with a bang. We watched the ball drop on an eerily empty Times Square and then had champagne and hors d'oeuvres and chatted into the night. It was fun.
Since then, I’ve been taking it pretty easy. I was very happy to be back with Mason again starting this past Monday, and he seemed pretty happy to see me as well. We’ve spent a lot of time playing with some of his Christmas gifts, especially his construction trucks which he would probably sleep with if his parents let him. We have been getting outside a bit as well and today found quite a cache of mushrooms which we both thought were fantastic.
My mom and I got out a little bit this week as well, visiting the National Arboretum which has recently reopened to the public. It’s a pretty cool place in the east of the city with a huge diversity of trees. Of course it’s still winter so it’s definitely not in its full glory, but it was a nice break from the neighborhood. We also began something new this week, finding our first two geocaches in the city. For those of you unfamiliar with geocaching, it’s basically like a worldwide treasure hunt or scavenger hunt where you hunt down hidden markers using clues and GPS units. I thought it would give us something else to do for the next few months, and it was pretty fun to track down the caches we found. There are so many layers to each place, and it’s been an interesting year discovering the different layers of my own hometown.
While I usually talk about politics at the beginning of a post if I’m going to at all (which to be honest I’d usually rather not), while I was finishing up this post today protestors have stormed inside the U.S. Capitol Building 5 miles from my front door. I have to say how truly disgusted I am by this act of aggression, and I hope those involved are jailed and punished to the full extent of the law. Too many people have enabled this militant faction of the country for too long, and this should be viewed as it is – an act of sedition against the government and an attempted coup. When all three branches of the government have accepted the outcome of an election (and I’m including the Vice President in the Executive Branch to make this statement), then we should believe that that outcome is the lawful one, whether you agree with it or not. And when the President does not immediately and forcefully defend the United States Capitol from an unlawful intrusion, he should be immediately removed from office. This has gone from words to action very quickly, and it’s both scary and very dangerous to our democracy. I don’t know if anyone is considering how weak this breach makes us look on the world stage and how vulnerable we may be at this moment. I knew things had taken a serious turn when all living former Secretaries of Defense wrote an op-ed warning the military not to become involved in this. It’s time for congress to step in and do what they have to do to protect our institutions, which is in every sense what our checks and balances are for. The President has failed the country today and his actions are inexcusable. I know I have plenty of Republican friends and followers, but it’s time for the GOP to act and reclaim their party. Enough of the winking and nodding at these so-called “militias” (not even to mention the White supremacists) – the party must immediately and forcefully condemn all of these actions and rebuild itself. While I am socially very progressive and liberal and politically more centrist, these fringe elements are dangerous and tremendously un-American. It’s time to stop going down this path where Q-Anon gets a seat at the table. It has to be done before it’s too late, and what is going on today in my hometown shows that we’ve already gone too far without putting an end to it. What happened today is a national disgrace and an embarrassment. We need to get our house in order, and I’m looking at the Republicans to get that ball rolling. The Democrats also have plenty of work to do, but the fringe elements on the left are far less dangerous. This has been a truly upsetting day.
That being said, I now have no idea what this coming week will hold. I was looking forward to talking about 12th Night and the beginning of the Mardi Gras season which is happening today and what I’m looking forward to as the days get longer, but I’m pretty upset so I think I’ll just close this here. Please stay safe out there and for my American readers, it’s time for us to pull together and end this horrible behavior before it’s too late. Take care and I hope for better days ahead for us all.
-Mike