It's a gorgeous weekend and 3 days long, so we took a Saturday drive to Great Falls, MD. The plan was lunch at Old Angler's Inn, then a walk along the canal.
I had soup de jour followed by omelet de jour. That was a smoky celery soup with bacon and pear. Who knew celery soup could be so yummy? "And it would have been even without the bacon," says the vegetarian me. Then a spinach and goat cheese omelet with salad, and a glass of chenin blanc. The omelet was so-so, but by then the waterfall and wine made up for it. Finally, I had the sort-of-cheesecake, which is really a cream cheese hazelnut cannoli. Delish.
We listened to the water fall, wondered what it looks like lit up at night, brushed away the occasional stink bug (why must they follow me everywhere?) , then headed to the trail parking lot. But wham to that plan. The lot was full as were both sides of the road. Cars were parked everywhere, people were walking or biking everywhere, and we were clearly too late to get a parking spot.
So, we went to the Mass Ave Crate and Barrel to daydream about red sofas, then to Johnson's to buy mums for the balcony. Then home to pull up the summer's herbs, pot up the mums, and make some Moosewood Roma Soup (not the original name which is politically incorrect and I doubt that there is much authentic to the name anyway but it is a great soup and deserves an entry of its own). It was great with a piece of Firehook zuccini bread.
A two-great-soup day is always a good day. We'll have to go back for the walk another time.
Here's my pic for another Music Monday post. Since I've done two music posts on a Monday now, I can say that this is a regular feature of my blog, right?
This is Baaba Maal. He's Senegalese, sings in French and Pulaar, has been recording music for 20 years and performs all over the world. Here's one from his newest cd "Television" or "L'homme dans le television."
Baaba Maal says about this song, "The television set is like a stranger you didn’t ask for coming into your living-room. You don’t care about who he is: he just seems to come from nowhere and gives you information."
Baaba Maal is touring the U.S. and was just here in D.C. at the Lisner Auditorium. His 2009 tour included this performance of "African Women" for Mandela Day in New York.
He says, "I use that song to talk about how women can be much more powerful in Africa, which can be really helpful for the entire continent. We should encourage that, and I sing about it to give them more power." If you want more (I sure did) you'll find Baaba Maal on youtube and his official website. You can buy his music just about everywhere and of course, study up on wikipedia.
Today the snow has stopped and the sun is shining. Snowpocalypse is now officially the biggest DC snowfall on record. We beat 1889's butt! We're number 1! We're number 1!
Some important tips gathered from local news for DC-ers inexperienced with big snow. We are number 1, but apparently we don't have a clue.
Don't drive around with a ton of snow on your car roof. It'll slide off and really bug the people in the cars behind you.
If you are worried about your house roof collapsing from the weight of all that snow, don't get all your friends together and walk around up there with brooms and shovels.
If your windshield is covered with snow, don't just roll down the driver's side window and take off with your head sticking out.
When having a great big snow ball fight in Dupont Circle, it's bad form to throw snowballs at cars, passersby, newscasters or police.
And during my hibernation I discovered more good news...
Cherish the day there's a new Sade album. I instantly bought it from itunes and it is great. It was released on the 9th, called Soldier of Love and you can read all about it here. I liked the "making of the album" video. It confirmed some of the things I read in reviews. Sade has made six albums in 26 years. It's been ten years since her last album. The other three members of her quartet now have careers on different continents and get together only to make music as Sade (that's also the name of their band). When they start making a new album, they don't have written music or lyrics. They just work out each song together for as long as it takes.
In 1979, Sade was a student of fashion design when she agreed to sing back up vocals with some friends. In 1981, she started writing songs and performing with a band, Pride. She was singing Smooth Operator. Soon she was offered a recording contract, but the offer did not include the rest of the band. She declined. Eventually she agreed if the contract would include three of her band mates, the three who still play with her today. Sade hit the charts with Your Love Is King in 1984. She made plenty of money from early albums, so she's not struggling. But she could have just kept pumping out the hits. Instead she waits until she thinks she has music worth giving to people. Her songs are always about the different stages and kinds of love. In the "making of" video she says making an album "is like a mission. You have certain rules, limitations and a terrain that you can operate within." After lots of stories about the struggle to get it right, she says, "it's fun, you know, because we love each other."
You can see the video for Soldier of Love on her website, but smoke-and-fire concept videos don't do much for me. I just want to listen to her voice, appreciate her band, and in a video I just want to watch her sing. Here's a live performance of Cherish the Day.
Snowmageddon. Snowoverit. We're calling the DC blizzard of 2010 all of these. The big news is that a week of cabin fever provoked me to revive this blog. We had our first snow day a week ago. That was a minisnow, hardly worth mentioning now. Then last Friday we got this - the first 20-ish inches.
A tree fell at our edge of Rock Creek Park.
The instantly traditional DC 30-somethings snow fight was on in Dupont Circle. On Sunday, neighborhood friends walked over for chili, cornbread and the Superbowl. Go Saints! My favorite commercial was Punxsutwaney Polamalu. Go Steelers!
Monday was a day with no new snow. We went out to check out the neighborhood.
Other people had fun with shovels.
Fortunately I didn't have to use my bus stop.
We had burgers and fries at Nanny O'Brien's. The big news there is that they are completely out of veggie burgers and running low on ketchup. Let's hope for a delivery soon! (Just pretend this terrible photo is a great special effect.)
Everything stayed closed on Tuesday. And now, the Wednesday whiteout and another 10-20 inches. A news report says so far DC fire fighters have responded to five fires, 20 collapsed roofs and delivered 6 babies.
Okay, this morning we got dressed by noon. Any minute now we'll head out and start Christmas shopping. After yesterday's contemplative musings on the holidays and the economy, it's time to shop.
Here's a bit of inspiration to prepare for traipsing about the town.
If little Brain Storm can do it, so can we!
Now make a list. And check it twice. Avoid the distracting bits of junk. No shopping for yourself along the way. Keep your focus on the goal and your eyes on the prize. So, we're definitely going to Wake Up Little Suzie and the National Gallery and maybe the Smithsonian and the National Building Museum. And if they don't complete the job, it's on to the Torpedo Factory.
Sarah Palin says Washington is full of elite insiders who need a touch of "main street Wasilla." Really? Guess what, Madame Governor. Members of Congress, the White House staff, lobbyists, and federal bureaucrats aren't city people from Washington. They come from big and small towns all over the country. Geesh. Duh. How dumb can... oh, never mind.
But if Sarah Palin says one more time that Washington (and New York, California, Boston, New England...) is out of touch with "real" America, I'm gonna scream. Oh wait, I don't have to! Thank you, Joe Biden, for saying that we are all tired, tired, tired of this crap. Just how much of America does she not like? How much of America does she not count as "real"? How exactly would that work as Vice President?
So here's a bit of Washington reality for Main Street. Washington residents are regular people, living in an American city. Politicians in Washington are elected legislators who work here and live somewhere else. Anne Applebaum wrote a nice response to Palin's anti-Washington talk in the Washington Post.
"Although there are plenty of native Washingtonians working as doctors or cabdrivers or bank managers, most of the people who actually control the city's most famous institutions -- Congress, the White House, the federal government -- weren't born in Washington. Like Sarah Palin, they are from "in the heartland," in places like Wasilla, and it is the values of the heartland and Wasilla that they must be therefore presumed to embody."read more...
What happens in Washington when there is a political shake up? Well, right now real Washingtonians are watching as a pack of visiting, elite, political insiders from Texas go back home.
Karl Rove the primary author of President Bush's two successful national campaigns and perhaps the most influential and controversial presidential strategist of his generation, became the latest Bush adviser to head for the door, announcing that he will resign Aug. 31.
Alberto Gonzalez' departure means that almost none of the Texans who came to town with Bush still hold influential positions in the administration. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, his education adviser in Texas and a former White House staffer, is the most prominent exception.
David Dunn will be leaving his position as Chief of Staff to the U.S. Department of Education effective October 3, 2008 to serve as Executive Director of the newly formed Texas Charter Schools Association (TCSA)
Lawrence A. Warder will be leaving two positions he has held—acting chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid (FSA) and chief financial officer—effective October 10 and returning home to Texas.
