Alvis Curves

This beauty was sitting by sitting by the curb near church this morning. It's a car, in case you're wondering. But what a car! I'd never heard of the English Alvis motorcar, nor ever seen anything like this 1937 beauty before.

Hubba hubba!

The Mall at Night

I still find Washington and its classic monuments achingly beautiful.

I shot this photograph on the mall when Abbie and I were going to hear Roz Chast speak at the Smithsonian.

To Boston

Family obligations take me to Boston Sunday and Monday. Please have a good thought for us.

The Party's Over

Apparently I am not as good a poker player as I thought I was. This is useful information. Wish it had been acquired slightly less expensively.

I'm returning on the red-eye this evening. I plan to spend much of this afternoon and evening strolling the strip, taking photos and generally chillin'. Looking foward to being home.

More Vegas

There's this thing that people do here, which I'm going to call the Vegas Drift.

No one walks in a straight line here. There's so much eye-candy, so many bing-bonging bells or exclamations of victory, so many people to ogle, that no one actually looks where they're going. It's impossible to make a bee-line from one point to the next. If you try, you will find people caroming off you, wandering into your path in an unavoidable way, or clumping up to rubberneck at some critical juncture.

Give it up! Realize that you, too, have inevitably perpetrated Vegas Drift in your own way and time.

On a different note: the most pathetic sight I've witnessed on my stay so far was a family having a meal at about 10:30 at night at a mid-scale burger joint. Mom and Dad were chowing down. Tow-headed youngster, maybe ten years of age, had literally done a face-plant on the table from exhaustion. He was passed out leaning forward in his seat, with his arms dangling from his shoulders, and his parents were bovinely masticating their forage while the poor kid drooled into his linen napkin. Call me judgmental, but... WTF are they thinking?!?

Scenes from Las Vegas

It's 8 am, and the self-professed night-owl (who woke, wide-awake ~ to her horror~ at 6 am) is wending her way through the Mandalay Place walkway-cum-shopping-mall in search of coffee. In the middle of the carpet, boogieing unselfconsciously to the dance beat piped in for our listening pleasure are two dorky white boys. They have clearly been up all night and are still inebriated. They are having a wonderful time. I could not help laughing in delight.

There are wheelchairs everywhere. Say what you will, but the Americans with Disabilities Act has clearly made life a whole lot better for a whole bunch of people who used to be shut away, immobile and invisible. Now they are out and about, and they are gambling and gawking and eating to excess just like the rest of us.

I am perpetually chilled here. I didn't bring any long-sleeved shirts, and so I have to wear my jacket all the time. It's a light-weight jacket, and it's not doing a whole lot for me. Being indoors all the time, in artificial light, is adding to my confusion. My body doesn't know what time it is. I went outside once, and the sheer blast of heat and sun served only to disorient me furhter. As always after an airplane flight, I have sniffles. Basically, I suspect I'm going to be a complete basket-case by the time I get home.

Still 'n' all, Vegas is fun!

Home Again

It's gonna be wearying to do all this traveling, three weekends in a row. I love to come home to DC though.

April Flowers

Just because it was such a beautiful day.

You Just Know This Was Earned

Driving along this afternoon, I was stopped by a traffic light in front of this house, and had just enought time to snap a couple of quick frames through the closed car window. I'm astonished that this image came out as well as it did.

The most amusing thing about it, however, is that at a block away from my destination (another mile or so), there was ANOTHER house equally festooned. Must be something going on in this community.

An eyesore and aggravation for the occupants, no doubt. But strangely beautiful and compelling nonetheless, especially on a windy late afternoon.

You know you want me.

That's what every orchid on the planet says.

Some of them whisper it chastely, with wimples as smooth and white as a nun's. Some murmur it demurely, with the grace and artistry of a geisha. Some of them trill it like a belle, all ruffles and frills and bright make-up. And some trumpet it brazenly, harlot lips pouted and veins throbbing.

In the language of flowers, orchids are the come on.

(If you're looking for a break from winter, visit the Botanic Garden and enjoy the flowers of the jungle, the succulents of the desert, the hothouse creations, and the green green green everywhere you look. It's a mini-vacation.)

See a bunch more orchids here.

Think YOU had a bad day?

There is a superstition that having a bird poop on you brings you good luck. All I can say is, whoever drives this car ought to be really, really safe from accidents.

I could hear the large flock of birds in the bare tree above cackling fiendishly as I took this photograph.... Quickly.

McAlpin is Surprised

I've been taking photos like crazy in this very photogenic town. When I get home I'll make an album page with the choicest of the bunch.

Until then, please enjoy this friendly, but perhaps slightly panicked fellow.

Another Relaxing Getaway

...courtesy of Abbie's generous and tolerant Mom and Step-Dad. A gaggle of us descended on Lake Anna, where we ate, played dominos, and yakked. Another totally no-stress experience.

Thanks, Abbie!

More pictures here.

Mini-Golf: Sovereign Remedy

Rare is the evil mood whose clutches can't be weakened by the whole-hearted kindness and generosity of dear friends and a game of mini-golf. I had a lovely time in Rehoboth.

See more pictures here.

Home Again, Again

No more traveling for awhile, mmkay?

I am TIRED.

There's a pile of Dad's financial stuff sitting on the desk waiting for me to deal with it. I'm hoping to go for a long run on Saturday. And Sunday, I'm basically at church all day, what with one thing and another (search committee, healing ministry retreat, etc.). Monday, it's back to work.

I had an interesting time in Austin, along a variety of different dimensions. I feel pleasantly stretched.

Except for the part about being TIRED.

Sleeping late tomorrow. Wake me at your peril!

Toasted

The conference is over. I can now stop substituting calories consumed for sleep missed.

I had nine hours of sleep last night (although it was interrupted early this morning by a staff colleague calling to ask if I wanted to share a cab to the airport, grrr, I specifically told him last night that I wasn't leaving today, why can't anyone ever remember anything?).

Looking forward to the R&R portion of the program now.

In Austin

Rising from the crypt this morning at 5:30 am after a scant two hours' sleep, I schlumped onto a plane at eight, and six hours later I find myself in Austin, Texas. DC had finally cooled off to what looked to be a beautiful weekend... here, it's a sweltering 100 degrees. Thank god for air conditioning.

I have a heavy work schedule while here, but there are a few intervals of socializing mixed in, and I'm tacking one extra free day on the end. On Wednesday and Thursday I'll be having two get-togethers at wildly different ends of my personal spectrum. It should be a fun exercise in compare and contrast.

Home Again

So glad to be back.

Despite having maintained a stiff upper lip the entire time I was in Boston, when I saw the National Cathedral in the distance as I returned by cab from the airport on the GW Parkway, I started to cry.

The work has just begun. My Dad is really falling apart. Any anger and resentment have pretty much crumbled in the face of his extremely pitiable state.

I brought home one of ~ if not the~ last drawings he ever did. It's a tender little sketch, slightly vague and shaky, of a tendril sprouting out of an egg in a nest. So tentative, so hopeful. I asked my sister to give it to me (it was up in their bathroom), because although it breaks my heart, it also reminds me to be gentle when I think of my father.

In Boston

Exhaustion.

Some positive steps.

Steps that seem like mere milimeters compared to the miles to go.

You can only do what you can do. Even if it seems utterly inadequate.

Boston Bound

I'm off to Boston for a week in the morning. It's hardly a pleasure trip: the goal is to try and bring some stability to my father's situation. My brother will be there too. I don't hold out much hope that we'll get everything resolved, but I hope at least that the three of us (my sister, brother, and I) will at least be able to agree on what needs to happen next.

I wish this weren't necessary, but it is. Perhaps once I get up there some of the dread will dissipate and I'll be able to get on the with the business of coping.

Wish me luck.

Unsunny Florida

Pictures from the trip are here; some of them are even worth looking at, I think.

There aren't any of Andrew, because they make me cry.

Shelter Island Trip

It was too many hours uncomfortable travel to get there and back, but our visit with Annika and Aaron to the Shelter Island home of Kim and Aimo (?spelled how?) featured absolutely beautiful weather on Sunday. The place is gorgeous.

See some pictures from the trip here.

AIDS Protestors at the Bush/Cheney Campaign Headquarters

NAMI has the third floor of a building largely occupied by Republican zombies, otherwise known as the Bush/Cheney Re-election Campaign.

Today there was a bit of excitement as a protester infiltrated into their "secure" area, several more chained themselves to the front door, and a whole bunch shouted, chanted, and blew whistles in the plaza area.

Check out the pictures here.