English Nerdiness in Washington

Eating Lebanese
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Andrea is here this week for a librarian-type conference, so she came out a day early to hang out with us. Yay! We had the type of Saturday that two former English majors should have, including a tour of the Folger Shakespeare Library and a visit to Politics and Prose.

We did a couple things that were less nerdy (but still quite fun!), like paying our first visit to Eastern Market this year and, of course, introducing Andrea to Lebanese Taverna. Again it was supposed to thunder and shower on Saturday, but, again the rain held off until we had dropped Andrea off and walked back into our house. Perfect.

It did pour down rain on Sunday, but after a day of sun (and even a little hint of scary humidity) and walking, it felt pretty good to curl up on my favorite chair with a good vampire story and read the day away. This activity (reading the day away, not reading vampire stories. Oh, but have you read "Dracula?" You so should.) has become habit again lately, ever since I stopped doing homework a few weeks back. It is really nice not to have homework hanging over my head...even if it should be, well, hanging over my head... Don't worry, tonight is the last class of the semester, so one more night of faking it and I'm home free.

The Snow Queen

I know we've been posting a lot of pictures of flowers (hey, it's spring!), but over the weekend the dogwood in front of our house burst into bloom, and now the view from our bedroom and living room is a collage of petals. I think we might be living in a fairy land...

Touristing with Parents!

The weatherman is 0 for 2 in accurately predicting downpours for Saturdays. Such a losing record is good news for us! Two Saturdays of gorgeous, warm, springy weather have been delightful. To make things even better, we got to share this past one with Jason's parents.

On Saturday, we had breakfast at home then went to visit Lincoln's Cottage, where President Lincoln spent about a fourth of his Presidency and much of his time during the Civil War. We had a good tour and a great view of downtown before heading to lunch/dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill, an iconic DC dining destination near the White House. Parking being what it is, we were required to walk across the Ellipse to get from our car to the restaurant and back--with tulips blooming and a few cherry blossoms hanging on the trees, it was more than pleasant. It is fun to have an excuse to be touristy.

On our way back, we stopped by the Japanese festival, the swan song for this year's Cherry Blossom Festival. I must confess that this year I only saw the cherry blossoms on my drive home from work, but it was fun to be down with the masses for a little while. We finished off our day with a show by the Capitol Steps, a funny political satire that we all enjoyed.

We don't get to see Mom and Dad Small nearly as often as we'd like, and we had a wonderful, full-but-relaxing day on Saturday. Sunday was church, dinner, and rest, and then goodbyes and drives to the airport. We're already looking forward to the next time!

Visiting Parliament

Visiting Parliament
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

On Monday a colleague and I spent the day in Ottawa to visit an ethanol company that wants to build a new plant in southern Idaho. We had a great trip, despite the snow still piled on the ground, but our highlight was definitely visiting the Canadian Parliament. I have to confess, we both agreed that it was nice to get a tour of the capitol instead of giving one!

We also got to watch the questions session in the House of Commons, which was especially cool to two semi-nerdy legislative staffers. If your not familiar with the Canadian style of government (and I wasn't), it is very similar to the British government. Rather than having separate executive and legislative branches, the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet are elected from among the majority party (or, in Canada's case, the party with the most votes, which is currently not in the majority). The Prime Minister is still a sitting Member of Parliament, so during the question period, the opposing party hurls questions at him and his cabinet about their policies, looking for answers.

When we were there last week, the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet were actually present. We watched them yell and cheer and boo and do all sorts of things you don't get to see on C-SPAN. Of course, I spent part of most days yelling, cheering, and booing at C-SPAN myself, so I wholeheartedly approved.

Tulips in a Row

Tulips in a row
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It has been a rainy spring (as lawn-owners, we appreciate rain on a whole new level!), but Saturday was an absolutely perfect April day. We have a lot of company coming (yay!) in the next few weeks, so we wanted to pull our yard out of hibernation and in to spring in whatever time the rainy weekend would give us.

We planned big on our trip to Home Depot, knowing we might only get a fraction of our list checked off between the expected morning and afternoon showers. Instead, the sun shined all day, and by afternoon we had given the lawn its first haircut, edged, weeded, and mulched the tulip beds we created last fall, and planted pansies near our steps.

Most importantly, we finally planted geraniums in the window boxes I've been antsy to put up since we bought the house almost a year ago. On our honeymoon, we stayed in an adorable Parisian hotel with red geraniums--in full August bloom--in the window boxes, and I don't care if it is cliche, I want Parisian window boxes this August. Thanks to George for helping us put the brackets up in November!

We were achy and sore when we woke up on Sunday, but by then the promised rain was falling hard and our house was looking so. cute. The dogwood in front is about to burst into bloom, and we are so glad to have so many friends coming to share it with us!

Onion Farming?!?

Onion Farming?!?
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Check out what we "harvested" yesterday when we weeded the flower beds. Seriously, the yard smelled all oniony when we were done. Whoever decided to scatter wild onion seeds throughout our yard, we appreciate the gesture, but we are not farmers!