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Yearly Archives: 2011

Orange Line to Vienna

Sat, 7 May 2011, 09:23 AM (-06:00)

We were standing shoulder to shoulder in the orange line train. Trudy was behind me. A man in a suit was in front of me. He had a black nylon business case on his shoulder. It was embroidered with Deloitte. He was reading the Washington Post. The train stopped and more people came in thru […]

The Man from Flint

Sat, 7 May 2011, 08:50 AM (-06:00)

We met him at Rosslyn station waiting for a train. We had moved to the far end of the platform from where we were originally standing, because a crowd of 8th graders had poured off the escalator and were making such a racket we could hardly think. And after we had been standing there a […]

Mr. Rahman

Fri, 6 May 2011, 11:38 PM (-06:00)

We were waiting at Dulles airport for the Metrobus. We had just dropped off a rental car and planned to take the bus to the first Metro stop and then take the Metro downtown. It was a multi-model transportation day. A man in a suit with a suitcase walked up and asked us if this […]

Rustam and Rakhsh

Thu, 5 May 2011, 07:11 AM (-06:00)

A family stood in front of a centuries-old illustration of Rustam and Rakhsh. The grandmother with a scarf on her head peered at the picture with a magnifying glass. The father was reading the Persian script in a hushed voice. The grandfather embellished and explained the story, speaking in Farsi. The granddaughter listened from her […]

Flying to DC

Wed, 4 May 2011, 12:27 PM (-06:00)

Wait, wait! I’ve got the order of things all messed up. I need to tell you a story about our flight into DC. No matter the order of things. You know we’re back home know, so this is not real-time, anyway. So don’t worry about the chronological order of all this. Let’s just do a […]

Starting Our Vacation in DC

Wed, 4 May 2011, 07:52 AM (-06:00)

1. A parking place Our original plan was to forego a car, but the last minute plan to have dinner with Ben in Chinatown late on Saturday evening made our plan of using buses and Metro untenable, at least for that day. So we had a rental car on the first two days of our trip, […]

We’re Going to DC

Wed, 4 May 2011, 12:15 AM (-06:00)

1. We’re Going to D.C. “Ok Ben,” she said. “We’ll be leaving for D.C. on Saturday.” Trudy and I and Ben had been chatting on the phone for a while: one of the rare times when we get caught up with what he’s doing up there in northern Ohio. “You’re going to D.C., too?” he […]

The Dog Event

Tue, 3 May 2011, 11:10 PM (-06:00)

I saw a man yesterday running with his dog. He wasn’t very fast, and his little black dog was stopping at various trees and shrubs to investigate. And I watched as a loose dog came trotting out of nowhere from across the street and started to pick a fight with the man’s little black dog. I […]

Mr. Know-It-All

Tue, 12 Apr 2011, 08:20 PM (-06:00)

Phone home, I texted him.  (I wonder if he got the reference.) Ok soon, he responded. Hours later he did. We talked about his classes. We talked about his friends. We talked about the weather and his plans for next semester and for the summer. It always makes us smile ear-to-ear to hear him talk […]

Running at Arbor Trails

Tue, 12 Apr 2011, 08:08 PM (-06:00)

1. What Does He Think He’s Doing? We were eating breakfast tacos at Torchy’s, sitting outside in the sun watching people come and go, watching the traffic, watching the joggers running on the Arbor Trails trail. I was really enjoying my bacon, egg & cheese, captivated by the taste, by the protein coursing thru my […]