Two Houses and Cake

Yesterday, May 29th, Washington was on vacation. It was Memorial Day and very quiet. The girls had both had sleep over birthday parties the night before so the first job was to get them from their respective friends' houses. Then we drove through quite deserted streets to Mount Vernon, Virginia. There we visited Woodlawn. This was a 2000 acre wedding gift from George and Martha Washington to Martha's Granddaughter, Nellie, and her new husband, Lawrence Lewis, who was George's nephew.

Much of the 2000 acres have been sold off over the years by Quakers and such, but it's still a beautiful piece of property and house overlooking the Potomac River. There were many original pieces of furniture and all of the floors and doors and decorative trim are original. Mr Lewis proved to be a very inept manager and Nellie was an expensive date. And so the farm and businesses were pretty much run into the ground before the couple sold up and moved somewhere that I forget.

On the same piece of land run by the National Trust we find the Pope- Leighy House. This is a house designed by Frank Lloyd  Wright. 

This house was built in Falls Church, Virginia for Mr Pope. Mr Pope was a true fan of FLW. He heard him speak in Washington and fell head over heels in love. He approached Mr Wright and asked if he would build him a house. To which Mr Wright responded, "I build houses for people who deserve them." Mr Pope wrote a pleading and, as Liam noted, obsequious letter and Wright agreed to build them a modest, 1200 sq ft house for $5500, which ran over budget to $7000.00. This was 1939.

The Popes stayed in the house for 5 years and then outgrew it's rather small dimensions. The house was sold to the Leighy's who discovered, in 1960, that a freeway was going to run through their house and it was moved to the National Trust site. Mrs Leighy remained in the house until her death. 

I found the house claustrophobic which apparently was the point. Containment and release. 

It seems that Mr Wright always considered the houses that he designed to be his. We heard a story of a house that he built in Chicago where the lady of the house moved all the furniture around. Mr Wright heard of it and brought in a team of movers and put it all back and told her never to move anything again. So there. 

It was a fun visit. and after we finished we went to the first on a list of burger places that are to be the best in the Washington area. There Shush and I chowed down on peanut butter bacon burgers. Just burgers with a generous shmere of peanut butter. Well, we were glad we tried it, but we decided that once was enough for that idea. But the cakes were outstanding and big enough to bring a goodly hunk home for future reference.

Ramen Cooking For Dummies

With Liam and Janelle having a night to themselves, the girls took the opportunity to give their Grandparents a lesson in the art of Ramen. Everyone, students and teachers enjoyed a delightful and exotic lunch.

Another Long Weekend

Last weekend and this weekend have brought joy to our scholars' hearts. Days off school.Thousands of people have come to Washington to celebrate Memorial Day on Monday. There will be parades and concerts and special ceremonies honouring the nation's military. But in our little corner of the capital, all attention is on "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Beatrix is playing the title role. Janelle is in charge of all things off stage. Anyone coming within 10 paces of the front door is assigned a job. As for those living in the house, well.....

The big night is Thursday. And it will be amazing!

Science Fair and Foul

Beatrix was one of the winners of a science fair competition sponsored by DCPS and the Washington Nationals baseball team - the team stolen from Montreal. Her prize was 3 tickets to last night's game between the Nats and the Seattle Mariners. Two proud grandparents accompanied her.

Her science board was in the main concourse of the stadium and before the game she explained her project to the arriving fans. She did a fantastic job and had a steady stream of interested people lending their ears. Her grandfather tried to catch a baseball and her grandmother took pictures.

Just before game time the heavens opened. All the winners were taken out onto the field to be acknowledged. Somewhere in this group of wet bodies is Beatrix.

We left after the 4th inning (and a hot dog). The Mariners (our team) were being trounced and we were wet and cold. When you next see Beatrix, ask her to explain her project on the importance of young ball players rotating between positions to cut down on injuries. She has that topic at her finger tips.

Art In The Capital

Today, it poured. Sheelagh had the best in rain protection. (In my defence, it looked like a normal umbrella when I pulled it out of the household stand. When I was forced to open it on the walk to the National Art Gallery, I discovered that it was one used by the girls in their made up game of "Capture the Umbrella" and had suffered accordingly.)

Da Vinci's tears.

Um.

Oh well I was trying to be artistic but not tonight I guess.

This morning Shush and I boarded a #32 bus and went down to the National Art Gallery in search of Vermeers. But, alas, they are all away on a tour of somewhere else. So we made do with the only Leonardo painting that is on display in the USA. It is reportedly worth over $400,000,000.

We thought her much more attractive than the "Mona Lisa". She wasn't behind bullet proof glass and we didn't have to battle the hoards trying to take selfies.

Then we had a look at the work of Luca Della Robbia. He was a chap who developed a set of opaque glazes on ceramics that were a huge hit in the 1400's and 1500's. This one of the meeting of Elizabeth and Mary was life size and very beautiful. Done in four pieces, it's held together only by gravity. Others were very colourful.

We had a coffee/tea and a cranberry scone before hustling back to Beatrix's school to give Janelle a hand with the scenery and props for Willie Wonka, the upcoming school play. Bea is creating the character of Willie.

Art art art. All around us here in the capital.

Hangin' In DC

We don't have a lot , or any, exciting news to date. Since we arrived at Liam's place we have just been spending as much time as we could with our girls. There have been fortuitous school breaks. Thursday was  half day, and Friday was off. That was nice.

On Thursday afternoon Sheelagh and I were  given French lessons in Le Papillion Violet. This is a French Bistro set up in the Stone basement. Our two waitresses welcomed us and took our orders and corrected our French usage. Very helpful for what lies ahead.

On Friday morning we got on the yellow line and went to Alexandria to see a movie about animals born in China. This was followed up by a meaty lunch. There was no French here.

Yesterday we had an eclectic day involving chocolate chip pancakes, fencing, thrift shops, street festivals, rollerskating and a Dr Blake video. The rollerskating was a tense affair where 70 year old bones were put at risk. This free rollerskating has been going on in Georgetown for many years. It's a noisy fun filled family affair.

Today the old rollerskater is home while the others go to church. The cold is still with him. He may, later, attend a Blue Jays baseball game in Baltimore.

We'RRRRRRE Back!

Hi to any of you who take the time to read our musings. We left Vancouver on May 16th and flew to Washington to meet up with Liam at the Reagan Airport just after midnight. George, the poor little trooper, has a bad cough and cold. But fear not. He shall soldier on.

This our first 12th birthday trip with one of our Granddaughters. We will be here in Washington until June 10th when we all drive up to Toronto and Ngila, Sheelagh and I will fly off to Paris for two weeks. The girls have both been told to choose a place in the world that they would like to visit and we would do it for their 12th birthday. Sheelagh has been booking things and it looks as if it will be a great time.


Yesterday, the 17th, Sheelagh accompanied Janelle and Liam down to the Kennedy Center to hear Ngila sing with her school choir in the DCPS music festival. I hear that it went well.

Last evening we all went to her school to hear the final music night of choirs and instrumental groups. We were very proud of Ngila. 

As we walked back to the van, we thought that we might take any bets on how long before Mom will be the shortest in the Stone family.