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.

Dawn to Dusk at the Museum of Natural History

Pfft! and Pshaw!

Remember this picture?

It was part and parcel to my confessional blog entry about having to eat crow on the knitting thing.

WELL! I'm about to write my own I CAN'T BELIEVE version of a knitting experience....

I returned to Mary Maxim in Paris, Ontario this past Tuesday once again in the company of my sister Pauline. We went in for a few more supplies and some help about the provisional cast-on my sis did for me in the current project, which is a funky hat with pleats in the back.

It was Senior's Special Day.

We ambled through that store having to dodge slow moving walkers and their owners with various shades of gray - by the multitude! and that is not an exaggeration.

I was bored after a half hour and went to sit in my car and take messages on my cell phone.

My sister emerged with a triumphant smile and approached me at a somewhat urgent pace.

Before I could ask her about her obvious 'bag-less' state, she foisted her debit card on me and asked if I would go to the till and take advantage of the senior's discount on her behalf.

I stared in disbelief.

This was a joke right? Insensitive and ill-timed none-the-less.

....from my very beloved sister no-less.

But no.

Apparently, signing up for the 'Club 50' card could earn her a 20% savings.

I squelched down a rising disturbance.

Now I want you to understand that I really love my sister.

I would not have numbly followed her back into that store if that were not the case.

But you can sure bet that when the sudden attack of fuzziness to the brain cleared, I went full bore on a rant all the way home demanding to understand HOW a meager, insignificant, altogether inappropriate 20% savings could possibly make up for a 100% loss to my sense of worth and self-respect.

Oblivious to my wounded-ness, the cashier blithered on mindlessly about the new Club 50 being a big hit for drawing crowds.

My sister had the audacity to giggle.

I don't know, words like violation, devastation and despair come to mind.

Knitting suddenly brings GNARLY KNOTS to mind once again.

I pledge to never return to Mary Maxim without the company of my mother - or grandmother for that matter.

And never on a Tuesday.

Julia Childs at the Museum of American History

Yeah. Well, you didn't really think I wasn't going to see the exhibit on Julia Childs did you??

The woman who single handedly changed the way America would look at food and how to truly enjoy it in the fellowship of family and friends?? Seriously. I went nuts.

And now, whether I have your permission or not -

you are going to see the full pictorial glut of my nutiness.

(Don't breath a word of this, but my ever indulgent hubby browsed leisurely

right by my side the whole time! :)

It's like the last line of the testimony below

(on Paul assisting his wife in her new found cooking obsession) ---

"I don't care what it is, I will do it."

*sigh* a supportive husband who can find? He is a rare jewel among the stones.

...uhm....that's a loosely translated bit of scripture. ROTFL!!

I'm a knife freak too and I have sufficient scars and dents (missing flesh long ago healed) in my fingers to prove it. Barry has always feared coming home one day to find me passed out near the kitchen sink - in the midst of a large meal making adventure - pots boiling over on the stove and me - unconcious with a frozen smile still on her face! LOL.

I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the recipe.

Might even have a bearing on my collection of knife accidents.

This clinches it for me. Above all - Have a GOOD time!

Can you hear that delightful robust trademark voice issuing such a remark?

It truly is the whole point.

The Lincoln Memorial

The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service, and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit.

The term "National Mall" commonly includes areas that are officially part of West Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens to the west, and often is taken to refer to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center.

The National Mall receives approximately 24 million visitors each year.

The Smithsonian is an institution that manages a whole range of museums across the city of Washington. The collection of the Smithsonian was originally housed at a castle-like structure, the appropriately named Smithsonian Castle.

Below: A long distance view of the Washington National Cathedral. Amazing that we could have possibly missed seeing this incredible edifice on the landscape!

Arlington Cemetary Hit the link. This place is amazing!

Lovely winter sky below, don't you think? I like the way the sun is

trying to burst through the clouds.

The memorial marking of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech given here on this very spot: I HAVE A DREAM!

I was very moved by this memorial of Abraham Lincoln. It was followed by an hour going through the historical replay of this man's life at the Museum of American History.

Suffice to say, it is one of those experiences that simply cannot leave one unchanged

- plain and simple!