Dawn to Dusk Part Two

It was a full day starting with a respectful stop at the Lincoln Memorial - a slow saunter through the Museum of Natural History with Darwin's much touted spin on ancestry (Pfft!) and finishing with a stroll by glittering nightlight to Chef Geoff's --- Aaron and Catherine's winning recommendation for a final family feastage (word newly coined :)

I have a thing for old vintage movie theatres. Great classic films MUST be seen in great classic venues. It harks back a fond memory of watching Becoming Jane in Hamilton's Westdale theatre with a bunch of girlfriends....a mix that simply 'goes' together ... like popcorn and butter. Y'know what I mean??

I also have a thing for coachlights (especially gas lights) and lamp-posts. I think it has something to do with an image I have of Lucy meeting Mr.Tumnus the faun on her first magical trip thru the Wardrobe into the land of Narnia. Long before the movie ever came out - C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia were part of my highly revered collection of books. The hardcover book I own has a number of crude but obviously memorable ink sketches - the lamp-post figures large in that mental image of mine!

Lewis said that the first Narnia story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, all came to him from a single picture he had in his head of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels through a snowy wood. In that way, Tumnus was the initial inspiration for all of the Narnia stories.

(fun facts from a die-hard Lewis fan)

Here's my beautiful kids --- as I've recorded more than once, the very best part of this birthday celebration was the fellowship I could enjoy with my beloved and our children, together in one place. I am reminded of so much undeserved goodness.

Oh yeah - we sent the riffraff to the far end of the table.

I think this was some kind of a protest pose. I dunno. Maybe he was just hungry.
Our resident family counsellor, letting his hair (??) down.