rain write

I'm stuck at work waiting for a rainstorm to pass before I head home. So I thought this would be a good after hours blog opportunity. Right now I'm listening to Cheb I Sabbah on Pandora while the bruised sky breaks opens.

Yesterday we went to Luray Caverns. It was an awesome underground network of stalagmite cathedrals, deep crevices and mirror ponds. It is just unbelievable that this surreal world exists under an unassuming grassy hill. Tashi was a little spooked as it felt like a vicious goblin might appear from behind any of the many wild formations. But all in all we had a grand time.

The drive through the Shenandoah Valley to Luray was about as scenic as can be, with the Appalachian range to the West and the Blue Ridge to the East and the lazy river winding back and forth throughout. And then we had another blissful ride home through the Rappahannock Valley (pictured above). It was perfect dream of rolling pastures, animated mountains, pretty homesteads, horses and cows. The kind of land that makes you want to get off the grid and sell herbal teas for a living. Wait, wasn't once I going to do that? I may yet. . .

On saturday we checked out Lexington, Virginia. Unfortunately I didn't run into Sally Mann. We did roam through a kitschy community fair and eat funnel cake. Afterwards we got lost on some back roads leading to the James River and then we drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway where we enjoyed more stunning scenery and a wonderful sunset.

It was just the kind of Virginia weekend we needed. Even if the car wanted to overheat and was spewing a foul black smoke every so often.

week end cap

hello babes in blogland. it is sunday night and the laundry is in full swing. dan just cleaned the catbox and is now studying chinese. tashi is finishing up a chapter in the fourth harry potter book before showering. my mother is doing the dishes because she insists it is so. luna and loki are having their last outdoor romp of the day. for dinner we ate a free range grain fed chicken cooked in our little baby rotisserie. along with it we had tasty tabbouleh, baked potatoes and corn. today i went grocery shopping, wrote poetry, played at mad libs with tashi, puttered around the house and cooked. that is the sunday update.

yesterday we went to washington, dc, which is mere two hour drive north east. we went because my mother wanted to go to the anti-war march (pictured above). there certainly could be worse things to do with one's mother. dan and tashi went to the national zoo while mom and i joined in the crowd of 30,000 and chanted, "iraq, lebanon, palestine! occupation is a crime!" it was a very upbeat demonstration and i'm glad we attended. the sign i carried said, "president bush, quit the killing of innocent children!"

we met dan and tashi at kramer books and afterwords cafe near dupont circle. it was happy hour and i drank two very dark turbo dogs. we then drove off to georgetown where there were lots and lots of yuppies and expensive restaurants. we ate at a lebanese restuarant called fetoosh. i didn't order the right thing, but dan's kebabs and tashi's kibbees and my mom's gyro were quite tasty.

we arrived home just in time for a saturday night live re-run. i promptly fell asleep on the couch and got a kink in my neck.

desktop doodle

it's a lunchbreak blog update.

ants: thanks to grants ant stakes, there are fewer tiny annoying creepy crawlies in our house.

dust: my mother is making sure to keep it all at bay

hawks: there are still red tail hawks roosting in the tall pine tree two doors down. but the small hawks i've seen in my yard are not red tail fledglings at all. they are coopers hawks who kill songbirds. the other day tashi and i witnessed one pulling apart a bird and feasting. afterwards it made a series of yakking sounds and puffed itself up all proud. and then i had to observe it torment a cardinal and steal her babies from the nest. it was one of the worst nature watching experiences i've ever had.

cicadas: yesterday i found one on its back on the sidewalk, trying desperately to turn himself upright. i helped him out. and then this morning i found one of those cool dried shells stuck to our deck. cicadas are a trip.

mice: oh forget it, way too gross.

tashi: she's in an art daycamp at the mcguffey center. yesterday she drew human figures with charcoal, scuplted with clay, and sketched a camp-mate without either lifting her pen or looking at the paper. did i mention that she read like seven books when we were in cyprus? including the first two harry potter books. who was it that said waldorf kids end up illiterate?

food: we ate at a great new nepali/indian/tibetan fusion restaurant on the downtown mall. the service was slow and the food slightly overpriced (except for the lunch buffet which is very reasonably priced), but i must say the momo's and pakoras were some of the best i've ever had. and the company, it was quite excellent. buddhists are so nice & interesting, ya know.

greetings from the abyss

sorry about the blog absence. i've been catching up with work, sleep, house, husband. the return has been stressful. ants have taken over our dusty abode. one of my cats has decided to mark its territory on any canvas bag in site. and it's hot. hotter than cyprus. we've caved into the politically incorrect way of cooling systems, and installed two window units. wow. they sure make a difference. and a lot of noise. and my mom is staying with us. she doesn't like the ants or cat pee or dust or heat or noise. in fact, i don't think she likes me very much either.

clickety click if you want to see documentation of our one night in london with my cousin david (who was a tireless video taper). some of the "arrival" video is fun central london stuff. we're pretty tired looking in the "epilogue." and "talk talk" is just that, and lots of it. pretty good recaps of our trip to cyprus, which at this point doesn't even seem like it actually happened.

stay tuned for virginia adventures, we hope.

the sounds of war

i just found this and this blog coverage/commentary of the lebanon israeli war. i will add more as i discover them.