The Freckled Diaries

Saturday on Friday

So, Saturday. Last Saturday (just catching up!), I woke up early (for a Saturday, for me), at 10 and had two things to accomplish: go to Pentagon City (neighborhood of Arlington--there's a large mall and several other shopping areas there) to pick up a dress they were holding for me at Ann Taylor, and meet up with my potential car buyer and hopefully sell my car. They would only be holding the dress until 3, the car guy (Scott the bartender from Pat Troy's, actually) would be at my house at 1. A morning run to Pentagon City it was.

I took my bike on the Metro the 4 stops to Pentagon City because I wasn't sure exactly where the Ann Taylor was and bikes= getting around a whole lot faster. I made it to store, got my dress (ever so slightly too small, but if I swim more and eat less ice cream it'll fit by my birthday in May) and was about to head back via Metro, when I heard from Scott saying that something had come up and could we meet in the evening instead. Suddenly, my afternoon was wide open, it was 75 degrees and sunny and I was 5 mostly flat miles away from home, I had a bicycle and my regular commute route (Mount Vernon trail) was just down the street. I easily came up with Plan B. 

I stopped and got some lunch, then hit the trail and was back in Old Town in no time flat.  I was a bit of a spectacle on the trail for a few reasons:  the trail is full of "weekend cyclists" on the weekends--casual types out for a fun ride and Spandexies out for training. I was on a Dutch bike in a sundress and sandals and was very likely the only person out at that time of day using the trail to actually get somewhere. I was also, unbelievably, one of the fastest folks out there, which really surprised me. I'm usually on the trail with my electric bike, because that's what I use to commute to work. I've commuted on the Amsterdam many times before, but not since the fall. The Amsterdam is generally the scooting around Old Town/to friends' houses up to 5 miles away vehicle. I passed nearly everyone I saw, and kept up with a pack of Spandexies without breaking a sweat, until they stopped for a water break.  The hills/overpasses that gave me so much grief when I first started commuting (pre-electric bike)....I didn't even notice them. Literally, it wasn't until Monday when I was commuting home did I realize that I'd done that route sans-electricity easily on Saturday. My first few weeks of commuting with the Amsterdam, I pushed that bike up a few of those hills. How amusing.

Anyway, I was back in town before I knew it. The trail cuts through Old Town down by the marina, where there happens to be two competing ice cream shops across the street from one another (three if you count Ben and Jerry's, but I personally don't). I figured: pretty day, just got some unexpected exercise....ice cream (yes, even though I had just plunked down good money on a too-tight sundress). The ice cream shops also happen to be across the street from O'Connell's, one of Old Town's many Irish pubs (in case you've missed that fact in these pages). O'Connell's is a bit different from the rest--it's quite upscale, has no live music, lacks the drunken military dude contingent (for better or for worse...), has a proper restaurant that's not quite fine dining but is certainly in the "written about"/"destination restaurant" category, and is a (rare) rugby bar. As I was parking my bike, I saw someone I know from the parade-planning efforts who said "Hey, Catherine, you here for the rugby?". And it hit me: the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament! I'd been meaning to catch a game for weeks but I kept forgetting (largely because many of the games kicked off at 8am our time...). Ice cream ditched for rugby.

I stated for both the Ireland/Scotland match and the England/France match. I wound up getting drawn into a friendly group of rugby folks (mostly members of the various rugby clubs in the area, and many British/Irish expats), and had a grand time. One in particular was a friendly (and moderately pushy) Welsh woman selling raffle tickets for a fundraiser who insisted that I get involved with the Alexandria club even if I don't play. To that end, she thinks that I should get a ticket for the Rugby Ball (held at the French Embassy) in May. When I told her that I had no boyfriend and therefore one to go with she told me that I'd pull one there you silly girl. I told her she'd have to help me out with that and pointed to a few worthy candidates in the room, knowing that she's exactly the type of woman who knows everyone in the room and who you'd want on your side in date-finding. I'd be lying if I claimed that I didn't purposefully steer the conversation in that direction from the start. If this pans out, I officially have a middle aged Welsh wingman, which is awesome. We'll see where this goes.

I'd had a really nice time getting to know those folks (a few in particular) and wanted to stay and hang out, but I had my belated car-selling appointment. I went home, showed him the car and we talked about prices and the fact that his wife would need to come look and left it at that. We're going to figure this out next week.

After that, I headed to my friends Gabe and Mariah's house to celebrate National Corndog Day (yes, there is such a thing and my friends are the type of people who know of such things). They'd bought some really nice sausages from the farmers' market that morning, made a sort of pancake batter with something related to corn, I assume, and fried them up in a cast iron skillet on the stove. They were amazing. We made funnel cakes with the leftover batter, which was even more amazing. It seems unlikely, if I continue this way, that that stupid dress is going to fit by NEXT May, but it was worth it.

By 9, I was back on the bike headed to Old Town to meet up with my friend Mariel for some late drinks and general catching up. Neither of us lasted long (she had a headache, I'd had an unbelievably full day) so we called it a night at 11 or so.

This week, I kept up the busyness. This week, Congress was still losing its mind (the healthcare bill passed the House on Sunday, but the corrections had to be approved by the Senate, and the protesters got really frothy, even for them. There have been death threats and all sorts of nastiness happening. It's times like those where you really question the wisdom in the 1st Amendment (tongue in cheek!)). 

I bike commuted every day this week (finally!), including during a thunderstorm for the first time ever (the thunder was far away, no lightening risk!). I went to karate twice (and one private lesson), a French language discussion evening, my normal Wednesday happy hour, had a date (a nice one), and then tonight had dinner and a movie (Alice in Wonderland) with my friend Tammy. Busy. And loving every minute :)

Feeling Better :)

So it might have been allergies. One never can tell at this time of year, and I don't seem to own a thermometer, so I have no idea if I was actually running a fever or if I I just felt like I was running a fever (although simultaneous sweating and shivering while feeling as if you've just tumbled down some lighthouse stairs is a pretty good indication). Anyway, I feel functional and have since Saturday (which makes me feel guilty, of course).

Anyway. Some catching up.  The snow melted and then it rained. A lot. A whole lot. The Potomac reached its highest point in 15 years (and we've been hit by some hurricanes since then). Here's what the commute Monday and Tuesday looked like. Monday I didn't even bother trying and here's why: (photo from WashCycle)

 

All of the low-lying parts of the trail (of which there are many--my guess is totaling 1/3 of the thing) were like that, not just this small section. For reference, this photo was taken facing Arlington (the buildings in the distance are the Rosslyn section). The river is the Potomac. Standing at this point, if you were to look right you'd see the monuments of DC, and Arlington Cemetery is across the Parkway to your left).

Tuesday, I ventured out and took some photos in Founder's Park in Alexandria on the way in. These docks (or boardwalks, whatever) are generally pretty high out of the water (though Alexandria is no stranger to flooding, this is just pretty extreme even for us).

 

 

 

Here's what Old Town looked like (Monday, high water). This is (from NBC Washington) King and Union. Anyone who has been here before knows this intersection well-- the Torpedo Factory is there (not pictured), 100 King used to be there (sniff) Mai Thai (the Thai place that overlooks the marina) is just next to the Starbucks pictured. I used to live a mere 2 blocks from here (2 blocks straight up a very steep hill, thankfully).

Cycling folks: Union Street is actually the "official" part of the Mount Vernon Trail as it passes through Old Town. 

In DC, one of the locks on the C&O Canal broke, and the police apparently went door-to-door in Georgetown warning people. The towpath (along the canal), was closed (obviously). I wish I could find a photo of the canal from this spot when it's NOT flooded. This is all kinds of amazing (photo DCist)

Back to Tuesday, as the water went away, it left a huge mess along the trail:

 

(photo WashCycle)

But you can maneuver around a mess, you can't around water.  I made it in just fine. And then fell ill with whatever I had, and was out of work for the rest of the week. 
 

I made it out on Saturday and had a positively lovely day, which I think I'll write about next.
 
 

 

Whirlwind

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I've been busier than usual. Much, much busier than usual. If any of you follow the workings of Congress, you'll know that things are pretty much insane on the Hill right now, and the committee I work for has an awful lot to do with all of it, and in one instance of all the drama (basically, the jobs bill, the healthcare bill and recent ethics charges), is very close to the center of it. It's making for an interesting work environment for sure, but also an extraordinarily stressful one. 

There's filibusters, House-Senate ping pong (I literally had a dream one night in which the crypt of the Capitol--where you can see straight through from the House to the Senate--turned into a giant indoor tennis court, but we were playing dodgeball instead) and parliamentary acrobatics the likes of which are rarely seen.  I just so happen to have signed up for a Congressional Research Service course for Hill staff on advanced legislative processes (Senate processes, I'll have to do House another time). It meets once a week for 2 hours for 7 weeks. Even the person teaching this course, one of the nation's foremost experts in parliamentary procedure, is all atwitter over what's going down. I *barely* grasp it, which is only adding to the anxiety, because I feel like I ought to have this stuff down. 

One bonus is that because our regular conference/meeting rooms are almost always full of meetings, there have been a few occasions in which confidential meetings had to happen in my office space, which means that I've been periodically been told to get lost for an hour. I had a nice long lunch once, took care of some HR business on the House side (and got my shoes shined), and got a hair cut at the Senate Hair Care another time. Here's the cut---after riding my bike home from the Metro with a helmet on in the rain. Making a face demonstrating what I think of people who disobey leash laws and allow their dogs to attack me on my bike, making me swerve, lose balance and have to jump off into an ankle-deep mud pit (necessitating the shoe shine mentioned above):

 

On top of the nuclear meltdown that is work, I was still keeping my regular grad school/dance class/karate class schedule while parade planning kicked into high gear (our parade was yesterday--we do it a week early because many of the bands and other participants are in the DC parade too and we can't conflict). We had a final fundraiser on Sunday the 21st, a long and late meeting on Tuesday the 23rd (we went to the City Council meeting to get a proclamation, then had a normal meeting), then a dry run on Sunday the 28th, then our final-push meeting on Wednesday the 3rd, our Grand Marshal Ball on Friday the 5th (which spilled into the wee hours of Saturday the 6th), then the parade itself, with events (classic car show, community dog show) starting at 10am Saturday. It was a lot. I'll write a bit more about the parade, and specifically our Grand Marshal who is my new favorite person in the world, later.

Me personally? After Friday night shenanigans at/after the Grand Marshal Ball, followed by working the parade all day Saturday, followed by some social time on Saturday (I couldn't stay long, because the pubs are as packed, if not more, as they are on St. Patrick's Day itself, and I just can't handle those kinds of crowds), I went home for a nap. I got up and immediately went to meet up with some librarian friends at the piano bar after which we headed to Murphy's to try to meet up with a friend of mine who lives far away and who I haven't seen in a year who was supposed to be out last night. She wasn't there, but Mr. You Messed It Up was! Awkwardness ensued, but we eventually ran into each other in private, hung out for a while and long story short, we're cool. So he's around, but this is the last you'll be hearing of him because this is just not that kind of blog.

So that's about it. If I disappear again it's either because Congress is still insane or because I'm spending time doing the type of thing that I generally refrain from writing about here. For my sake, please hope that it's the latter!

A Return to Normal

Or close to it, at least. The government opened back up today (2 hour delay though) and Metro opened up half of the above ground stations, including mine! However, they were running on an every-35-minute schedule, which when compared to the normal rush hour schedule of every-3-to-6-minutes....disaster. I don't generally work on Fridays, but I called my boss last night offering to come in if the Metro situation wasn't too bad. She called me this morning just telling me to sleep. I think I'm going to insist on taking this as a vacation day or a leave-without-pay because while I love snow days and all...it's all a bit nuts and I feel really bad for taking my normal day off when I just got 4 of them. So, there you go, American taxpayer. I'm doing what I can.

Trucks are back out on the streets, making deliveries. Clean-up crews and construction crews abound (there's a LOT to fix--awnings falling down, whole pieces of roofs on winding up on the sidewalk, tons and tons and tons of downed trees and branches etc).

Rebecca's still here and will stay through the weekend, even though it's no longer out of pure necessity (or maybe it is--I have no idea what the roads outside of Old Town look like). We're having fun and there's lots planned for this weekend so we decided to just run with the sleepover :). She found a drop-in yoga class to take this afternoon, I went back to karate for my regularly scheduled private lesson and then ran some errands. She's still out there somewhere doing something.

We're going into President's Day weekend, which means that most people around here don't have work on Monday. This whole thing has just been so very odd. Fun, lots and lots of fun. But odd. I mean walking to karate class and to friends' houses (often in the middle of the night on like a Tuesday) in the midst of two back-to-back massive blizzards. That was my new normal. It feels kind of weird now that it's sunny and the roads are passable. Funny what you can get used to!

Day 7--Rumors and Coincidences

There have been tons. The biggest rumor flying has been that the government is considering canceling the President's Day holiday (this upcoming Monday) for Federal workers in an effort to make up for what will probably be this whole week. I have just gotten confirmation from a friend who works at FedLine (the blog of Federal Times, a newspaper for the government) that this is false. Whew? I'm not sure. I'm kind of ready to not be on "vacation" anymore.

Oh, and it goes without saying that there was no work again today. The storm is finished, the skies are bright and blue but it is a MESS out there.

More rumors (slash/ facts?): a quarter of the DC snowplow fleet is down for repairs. Some jurisdictions gave up on plowing on the second day of Round Three because the crews had been working 'round the clock for days and were starting to fall asleep behind the wheel.

Also, the National Museum of American History is (it's rumored) collecting objects and photographs from this storm. It's been history-making in many ways--record snowfall in this area and very close to a full week's closure of the government. Apparently there's a movement to get Capital Weather Gang in there somehow. They have been HANDS DOWN the most accurate, most up to the minute and by far the funniest and most entertaining of any of them. Go CWG boys!

Coincidences? Well, as mentioned earlier, they abound. A good example is that on Saturday night I saw a girl who I've met once before. Turns out we experienced the same burglar this summer. Also turns out that she's friends with a girl who is dating the roommate of a friend of mine. She goes to introduce me to the friend, and she and I say "actually, we've met" which was kind of mind blowing to burglar girl. I also ran into one of the karate instructors while out for the Super Bowl on Sunday. We got to talking a bit, and turns out we know pretty much all the same people (ok slight exaggeration but still). Mostly the Irish-bar entertainer types, but it's odd how we both have a level of familiarity with the same ones. Rocky, for instance. Rocky I consider to be part of my wider circle of actual friends (as opposed to only the friendly guy with the guitar you chat to on occasion, which is many of the rest of them), particularly since the recent passing of our mutual friend Jim. Turns out this karate instructor has been actual-friends with him for years. And always tries to go out on nights he's playing. Which I do, too. Which begs the question why we haven't seen each other before.

Best one is on the Capital Weather Gang's blog today. They've complied a "best-of" of the comments from readers over the course of Snowmageddon (or however we're spelling it). I highly recommend reading it. It's all kinds of awesome (and has a crazy picture of Cleveland Park!). But the funniest part?--The "most personal connection made". Right here in OT. Because this is the Smallest Town Ever (sometimes).

Most personal connection made

@Snowlover2 - thanks for posting those pictures! I recognized the picture of the pool, and if that's from your apartment, we're in the same building. :)
Posted by: oldtowngirl | February 6, 2010 2:35 PM

@oldtowngirl, Yes that was taken from my condo! I was wondering if anyone in my building would be on here and say something :)
Posted by: Snowlover2 | February 6, 2010 2:51 PM

@snowlover2 and @oldtowngirl I'm in the same building too ... I still want to know who built the snowman last night in the courtyard???
Posted by: tidalwave1 | February 6, 2010 2:51 PM

@Snowlover2 @OldTownGirl @TidalWave1: I used to live next door to y'all. I'm around the corner now ...
Posted by: AlexandriaAnna | February 6, 2010 2:57 PM

Most likely to go on a date

@Snowlover2 @OldTownGirl @TidalWave1: I scrolled the messages to see whether there was any new love blossoming ...
Posted by: MikeinDC2 | February 6, 2010 4:09 PM

@MikeinDC2,
No babies for us- I could be wrong, but I think we are all girls- so unless we adopted....
Posted by: Snowlover2 | February 6, 2010 4:14 PM

@snowlover2 I'm a guy!
Posted by: tidalwave1 | February 6, 2010 4:46 PM

Cute, huh?

There's more of this silly/amazing small world stuff but this post is getting long. Rebecca and I are spending the day eating and doing homework (yes, there is a real life out there somewhere). Not sure on how to spend the evening. Every option has been exhausted many times over. I've been trying to cozy up with a book for days but the near total lack of physical activity won't let me concentrate. I even had to watch my beloved LOST in 3 sections because I Just. Couldn't. Sit. Still. for more than 20 minutes at a time!

Off to climb some more walls in an apartment which I cleaned and organized from top to bottom, then decided to organize my clothes--mentioned frequently on here as the major source of disorganization around here--and so now it's all disorganized again (I failed to realize that because of the snow the throw aways can't be thrown away, and the give aways can't be given away and I've just got mounds of everywhere). Grrr.

Day 6--Whiteout

Well, it arrived late (we were getting convinced that Storm 3 was a lie), but it arrived. And how. I'm refusing to go outside, it's like---white. All white, the sky, the air, the ground. The wind appears to be ferocious and it's just---it's like the world is made of nothing else but snow. I don't need to say it but I will: the government is closed again today, my money's on it being closed tomorrow. I don't work Fridays (though if it's open I might consider going in for appearance's sake), and we're going into a long weekend. If it is a snow day tomorrow, and if I don't go in on Friday, I'll have been out of work from the 5th to the 16th.

Rebecca and I went out last night, partly because we knew we'd be immobile all day today, partly because she hasn't been out for this entire storm (she'd been in DC for the first one, an almost purely residential neighborhood, not much to do), partly because our buddy Rocky was on the entertainment schedule at the pub and we hadn't seen him in forever, and finally, because we were both looking to bump into particular people.

Now, I can imagine that most of the non-DC types who read this are thinking "oh, poor Rebecca, hadn't had a night out since Thursday" and rolling their eyes. And I would be, too. But you need to understand that time has gone out the window here. It really feels like this has been happening for at least a month. Did you ever go to summer camp, or something similar? Remember how those first 2 or 3 days felt like a lifetime? Or how the first few days of vacation you can't believe that just 72 hours ago you were throwing elbows on the Metro on the way to cubicle land? It's like that. Times ten.

People I just met on Saturday night feel like old friends. We're telling stories like "OMG remember that time....." for things that happened Sunday.  Man, I wish I wasn't so concerned about how it would make me look for even being involved in some of these stories because there have been some side-splittingly hysterical occurrences. For all records, I have been conducting myself in a manner in which I think, for the most part, would be boss-approved. Meaning if we happened to run into each other in public, I'd have very little to be concerned about. Most of my new snow buddies--eh.....debatable.  So I guess I'm trying to not look guilty by association (ha! And that's the explanation I'm sticking with ;) )

And now for the unofficial snow anthem--it seems to be playing EVERYWHERE and actually, for me at least, captures the mood bizarrely well.

Day Five, or "We're Never Getting Out of Here"

Actually, today mobility was much improved. It got warmish (35?) and the streets turned to snowy slush, which is easier to drive on, apparently. Some of the above ground Metro stations opened, and I actually saw a city bus! King Street returned to a shadow of its former self, particularly around 1pm when everyone was scurrying to replenish supplies for Round 3: "Snoverkill". I refuse to call it that because actually, I'm getting tired of the names and because I secretly am looking forward to it. I mean if you're going to do something drastic, you may as well go big, right? This is also the first vacation I've had in 2 years and I think that that's the spirit I've been trying to describe. Vacation. Everyone's hair's down, having fun, being social, normal life rules don't apply. It's been cool.

So, today, I slept in (shocking, I know), made paprikash for lunch/dinner/leftovers and went off for a make-up private lesson at the karate studio. I missed a few private lessons in December, so it kind of works out. That was fun as always, and the instructor is pretty into the snow thing too so there was giddiness. Or something. Really, I was just happy to be out of the house and somewhere that's not a grocery store or a bar. I've been having fun but, man, variety really is the spice of life.

I returned home, took this picture of me in the alley (the first step of the fire escape is totally buried in snow, I'm on level with the 3rd step--there's a grill behind me and that small piece of metal in the foreground is the arm of a bench):

And did some very necessary laundry. In my bathtub. Because I don't have a washer/dryer and the laundromat is 2 miles away. Not bad on a bike, but bad on foot. And the bikes aren't going to happen for at least another week unless something drastic changes. I actually do laundry by hand fairly frequently so this isn't a new thing for me--I have a rapid washer (a handheld agitator), a wringer, and the largest drying rack ever. I like that it's easier for me, saves money, saves energy etc. But this is the first time I've ever had to do it out of necessity. Crazy. That, plus my home food preservation efforts--I didn't have to do a mad dash for food, I have plenty--is making me wonder if the nutty survivalists are onto something.

Laundry:

 

Tonight: Rebecca's getting snowbound down here with me (there's another massive storm bearing down upon us), there's a new LOST on television and...who knows? I'm starting to wonder why there are so many tourists around here. I love this place and I'm having trouble staying entertained for five days.

An idea....

Click on the picture for a link to a photo album of the Dupont Circle Snowball Fight. I couldn't go because it's in DC, and I live at an above-ground Metro station, and Metro is only running underground. Even if I walked to Crystal City (in Arlington, near the Pentagon) to get to the closest underground station, I couldn't go anywhere. The yellow and blue lines here go over a bridge, not a tunnel in to DC--so that's closed, and the way to get from our lines to the closetest underground station that goes to DC is to go through Arlington Cemetery--above ground, so closed. Basically, if you live in the Pentagon/Pentagon City/Crystal City/Old Town Alexandria section of town---you're here until this shit's done.

That being said, the album is a good representation of what's been going on. My friends and I did NOT meet up for sledding which was hugely disappointing to me (particularity because some karate people were going to be there!), but I got in a much-needed nap after having gone to bed at 6am, only to get up at 10am to head to karate. I got up, had some dinner, talked to people on the phone and then headed back to Murphy's. Lest I sound like a total bar-fly, you need to understand that both Murphy's and Pat Troy's are more or less extensions of the living rooms of Old Town.  Where they also happen so serve alcohol. It was great--just a bunch of locals (as much as I love how non-Old Town people like coming here for fun--there's something really very nice about the place being a locals-only night. Like instead of asking where you're from and expecting to hear Clerendon, Dupont, Woodbridge etc You hear "Duke and Henry" and "Queen and Union", and stuff like that. So I found the group of people I spent the evening with last night, and we hunkered down by the fire (yep, a pub with a fireplace---too cozy and cute to stand), listened to some music, and probably drank a bit too much. But we all decided that it's snowing outside, and there is very little else to do, so drinking and flirting and singing it was! Random aside: one of the bartenders who I'd never seen until last night (I'm not there ALL that often so I don't know them all)--turns out he works on the Hill, too. On the House side, in a Member's office. A Member from the same state as one of the Members I used to work for. Small freaking world. I told him next time I'm over on the House side, I'd swing by and we'd grab lunch.

Anyway, good times all around. I am going to be SO disappointed when this is over. The optimistic side of me is hoping for one more go at the foot-plus snowstorms this season, but two in one winter is such a rarity that wanting anything more than that is basically insane.

But bottom line: pleased to report that this has been the most spectacularly amazing weekend ever, and I love this town more and more and more with every passing minute :)

Wintry Weekend

So, my Saturday night plans were canceled due to the winter weather event we're experiencing. It's nothing like Snowpocoplyse was, but this is still DC, and here we cancel everything once the white stuff starts to stick to the roads. Now, we've got decently good reasons for doing so: our governments are terrible at snow removal, our residents are even worse at driving in the snow and our public transportation system is completely unpredictable and unreliable under the BEST of circumstances. All of this makes travel a little difficult.

So the planned dinner party in Arlington was canceled, and then I got an email that the piano bar also decided to close tonight (I think because of transportation issues for the pianist, which I can really understand) so my two plans (or one plan and one "if things end early" plan) were a wash. I stayed home and slept and watched most of the last season of LOST pretty much all day and evening, venturing out to get pho and chocolate. King Street was lively and packed, and I'm sure the bars were hopping. I just was very much not in the mood for the non-piano bar scene today.

I want to write up about the strange and interesting happenings of Friday, but that will take a while and I don't even know where to begin. But basically, lots of small world/small town coincidences (four, to be precise) happened and even though it was a sad day (the funeral of our friend Jim), it kind of made me happy--I just love feeling that I've got a community. And I do, a wonderful community, in an equally wonderful town.

So I think I'll leave off with a poem of sorts. It comes from the end of "The World According to Bertie", the fourth in Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series. Both Rebecca and I read the series which is about the inhabitants of a small apartment building in Edinburgh, and (eventually) their wider social circle. The characters are of all different ages (from school-aged to elderly), and all different backgrounds, and are (mostly) all friends across the age and occupation spectrum. It really is uncannily like our little group (and the building uncannily like my old building, which I used to refer to as "44 Scotland Street). At the end of each installment, the friends gather for a dinner party and Angus makes up a poem on the spot. The one from "The World According to Bertie" is particularly nice, and Rebecca emailed it out to a number of us shortly after Jim's death. With no further ado....

Dear friends, we are the inhabitants of a city which can be loved
As any place may be in so many different and particular ways
But who amongst us can predict for which reasons and along which fault lines will the heart of each  of us be broken?
I cannot, for I am moved by so many different and unexpected things.
By our sky, which at any moment may change its mood at whim with clouds in such a hurry to be somewhere else
By our lingering hours, by our eccentric skyline
All crags and spires and angular promises by the way we feel in Scotland, simply that.
These are the things that break my heart, in a way for which I am never quite prepared.
The surprises of a love affair that lasts a lifetime.

But what breaks the heart the most, I think, is the knowledge that what we have, we all must lose.
I don’t care much for denial, but, if pressed to say goodbye, that final word on which even the strongest can stumble,
I am not above pretending that the party continues elsewhere, with a guest list thats mostly the same, and every bit as satisfactory that what we think are ends are really adjournments, an entr’acte, an interval, not real goodbyes.
And perhaps they are, dear friends.
Perhaps they are.

I Have A Flower Headband

And I love it and I've been posting this photo all over the internets showing it off in all its beaded floral glory. Ok, not "all over", just Facebook and here. I just really like it, and I'm glad to finally have a reason to wear it, along with a reason to wear the second of the fabulous party dresses I got at Macy's this year. I'd take a photo of this dress, but it's all black and it won't turn out well. But it is an amazing dress and I love it and so does everyone who comes in contact with it.

It's actually this dress (see below)but at the risk of sounding totally conceited, it looks way better on me. (Those who know me well, know that my tongue is fairly firmly planted in my cheek right now but for those who don't recognize the new party clothing excitement-boarding-on-outright-narcissism, I swear I'm not nearly as big-headed as I'm going to come off here....). For starters, I kept the bow off to the side, and that plus the headband made it look more flapper-ish, which is cool. That and blondes just wear black better, somehow. Sorry, brunettes. You can pull off pink like no one's business, though and that should more than make up for black.

I also wore my black patent leather super-pointy party shoes with the extremely slippery soles for the first time in.....let's see....two years and seven days. (Catherine from Texas/Alaska should be familiar with them, as their long stint in the closet is tied directly and I fear permanently to her wedding). All in all, the look was great!

 

Moving on....

I was going to a Christmas party that had been Snowpocalypsed out on the 19th, rescheduled to the 2nd. I am nothing if not vain when it comes to parties (see Exhibit A, above) so it took me 30 minutes longer to get ready than I had planned on. That meant that suddenly I was in a hurry to get to the Metro, which meant that standing around waiting for the trolley or a bus was off the table, and really so was walking. Bike it was. 

Forget that it's 19 degrees out there, with gale force winds (wind chill--8). Bike. Bike is the way to go! What's that? More clothing? Protection for the feet? Bah--it's not far! Half a mile, if that! I want to arrive in style, not with a hoodie, some wool socks, boots and helmet and/or hat flattened hair! So what did I do? I went out in to the freezing [fracking] cold wearing nothing but that dress, some nylons, black patent leather shoes, the flower headband, some dress leather gloves and midweight winter coat (this one, actually, photo taken on a significantly warmer night with almost no wind, and with half the distance to go:)

 

Period, full stop. No hat, scarf, socks, helmet or really, proper clothing of any sort.

Result? Within one block, I was considering a return trip home for, you know, clothes. Or at least socks.  But I am nothing if not stubborn when it comes to...well...everything, so I persisted. Within 5 blocks, my feet were frozen solid. Like, literally solid. By the time I arrived at the Metro (10 blocks), my entire body was shivering uncontrollably, my whole legs felt like frozen lead weights, I had to walk propped up on my heels because the rest of my feet were in too much pain to come in contact with the ground and I was fairly well convinced that I'd never be warm again. The elements, it appeared, had won.

[warning: DC geography coming up]...

I spent 4 minutes waiting for the Blue Line on the platform at our above ground station in abject misery, mentally trying to figure out where the most Metro-accessible hospital was so I could get my hypothermia and frostbite treated (ok, ok, dramatic. I knew I wasn't hypothermic, but I was in real fear for my feet, no joke, they were a strange whiteish shade of gray and that was WITH the nylons that make me look slightly tan on. And my conclusion was George Washington University Hospital...on the Blue Line and all!). 

Finally, the train arrived, and I got on, took off my shoes and cupped them in my hands. The boys (err, young men? men?) in the seats next to me looked at me like I was nuts and I explained that I, like an idiot, had ridden my bike to the station and damaged my feet in the process. Turns out, they were both military and had training in such matters (as do I, but theirs is probably more recent). I wasn't about to take off my stockings to let them have a better look, but the color was telltale enough even through the nylon veil. Pretty much, the only thing to do was what I was doing and NOT placing them against heater which is all I really wanted to do. Oh and "you really ought to have worn better shoes". You don't say. So, really, military training for frostbite= fail (when it comes to public transportation at least). I personally have heard that the best thing to do is place the affected area against someone else's stomach (under clothing), but I was (a) not in THAT much pain (b) not about to suggest it (c) not about to do it if it were suggested. (actually, I lie. I probably would have. I was really, really hurting AND I have a proven (and medically observed) insanely high tolerance for pain...it was actually really bad.).

So, I spent the 15 minutes between King Street (Old Town Alexandria's station) and Rosslyn (part of Arlington right on the Potomac, directly across from DC's Georgetown) thawing out my poor feet. By the time I got to that transfer point, I was able to walk using my whole feet, which was an improvement, but I was still walking as if my feet were cement blocks, which is exactly how they felt.  Luckily, I had another 25 minutes to get to Vienna (a just-outside-the-Beltway Virginia suburb) to continue the healing process. It worked. I now had to figure out just exactly how I was getting home. I had visions of borrowing my host's (my ballroom dance instructor and new friendly acquaintance) shoes and socks, of getting my cabbie (ride to/from Vienna Metro to the party) to stop at a 7-11 for those warmer packet things, of taking a cab all the way home, leaving the Amsterdam at the Metro overnight (a bad idea from prior experience). Anything to save myself and my feet from the return trip.

I still hadn't figured out what to do by the end of the party when one of the Catherines from dance class and her boyfriend offered me a ride to the Vienna Metro. Somehow that turned into a ride all the way to the King Street Metro (the darlings.... though it's not actually that significantly out of the way for them, who were going back to Capitol Hill) which turned into a "shove the bike into the back of our SUV and drive you all the way home". Bless them.

So what have I learned from this?

"Vanity is the quicksand of reason","with men, as with women, the main struggle is between vanity and comfort; but with men, comfort often wins" and if I'm not careful "Vanity dies hard; in some obstinate cases it outlives the man". I'll dress (begrudgingly) for the occasion next time.

 

ETA: This is officially the most edited post in the history of The Freckled Diaries, here or at LiveJournal or GreatestJournal. I don't know what my problem is (I had two glasses of wine at 9pm and then Diet Coke from there on out), I just keep deleting key words or misspelling things or....who knows? Generally mucking up the post. If this has appeared on your Google Reader or similar 16 times, I sincerely apologize.