Rolling out the first week

Week one feels like a vacation - floating with no Sunday deadlines, puttering on deferred chores, and a good bit of family time. By Thursday, I didn't know what day it was -- evidence of some needed rest.

In the middle of the week, I took daughter Meg to Washington D.C. for her orientation at American University, with her sister Katie in tow. We got over to the zoo to check on the relatives (see right), and to give Meg a chance to try out her Parseltongue with the serpents. Dinner was a Thai restaurant in Meg's future neighborhood.

As she moved on to her orientation sessions, Katie and I vowed to see every museum on the Smithsonian circuit (four down, a hundred to go). We climbed the steps to chat with Honest Abe, descended into the Viet Nam memorial, and paused to check out the WW2 monument. If that weren't enough, we ate ice cream sandwiches as we ascended Capitol Hill, and arrived just in time to see a bill defeated on the floor.

At the end of the day, our feet hurt and we loved every minute of it. Meanwhile Meg was developing crushes on numerous male specimens. She is really looking forward to college.

We arrived home this evening and will regroup. A really, really nice beginning to this extended Sabbath.