Today (yesterday) was a milestone: Rachel took her first steps. The best part was how ecstatic she was at finding she could walk.
Quotidian
Mostly blew leaves today, after a delicious tongue sandwich at the Parkway Deli. Rachel had a kosher hot dog and was ecstatic over the tropical fish in the wall. What really made Rachel's day, however, was a trip to the supermarket and the drug store. Besides cruising the aisles, she was particularly enamored of the balloons at the Giant and the Christmas decorations at the CVS.
Save the Opossum Bay Jetty
My good friend Peter Shaw is trying to save the jetty in his native Opossum Bay, Tasmania. He has written the lyrics and music to a song about his boyhood memories of fishing on the jetty. Go to http://www.opossumbay.com/ now to cast your vote as part of the worldwide campaign to save the jetty!
First Time
Gayle just showed me my first lunar eclipse, which was quite spectacular since the moon was full and the eclipse was total. We watched a black arc pass over the moon, gradually obscuring the golden crescent at two o'clock. The moon was not completely blacked out; it was more as though someone had painted a gold disc with charcoal paint; you could still tell the disc was there, but it was covered with a thick, grey, grimy coating.
Absent
I am off to West Virginia for an EEOC hearing. Back in a few days.
A Day with Rachel
Rachel learned to kiss this morning. She was eating her breakfast, and she just puckered up her lips and started to blow kisses for the first time.
Later in the morning, we went to swim class. Rachel does not much like floating on her back, but she kicks like a champ when I pull her along on her stomach.
When I blew bubbles in the water, she was not imitating me. Gayle told me after the class that the problem was that I needed to put Rachel's mouth in the water. (She was not going to do it herself. Duh!) I was hesitating because (obviously) Rachel does not like getting water in her mouth, but my hesitancy kept her from having a chance to imitate my bubble blowing. I guess I always have to bear in mind what she is and is not capable of: I tend to be surprised by both. Clearly, I have my assignment for next week.
We then went to a community fair sponsored by the Comcast cable network. Most of the booths were geared to children older than Rachel, so it was just as well that Rachel slept through it all. I was not sorry to be spared waiting in the block-long lines for a chance to have my picture taken with lifesize cartoon characters Sponge Bob and Dora the Explorer.
The fair was not a total loss, however, since we managed to grab a couple of chili dogs and some Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
Before hitting the grocery store later in the day, Rachel and I stopped at the Barnes and Noble, where I grabbed a latte and a chess book. Rachel was able to indulge in two of her favorite activities — riding the escalator and ogling the "bookmarks" sign. (The sign is shaped like a large wooden flag, and it never ceases to amuse.)
Memory
A memory I would like to carry into my old age is Rachel cradled asleep in my arms in the rocker, upturned face peeking over the "piggums" clutched in her arms.
Luck in Unexpected Places
J-A opines on the iconic significance of upside down Chinese characters. By inverting the "good luck" sign when it is on display, one evokes the Chinese character for "arrival." The visual pun on "luck" and "arrival" signifies an expectation that good luck will arrive. J-A sounds overdue.
You Can Never Be Too Rich or Too Thin
Fitness Over Thinness for Hearts (washingtonpost.com)
Being fit appears to be far more important than being thin for decreasing the risk of heart disease, while the opposite seems to be the case for diabetes, according to two new studies in women.
So far I am making some progress on getting thinner: the concierge at our building actually mentioned today that I appeared to be losing weight. My next goal is to get enough sleep, so that I can get up in the morning and do a little bit of exercise before leaving for work. If I can build a little muscle mass, it will have the added bonus of elevating my metabolism and helping me lose weight.
So Much for Dieting
I just got home after a late night filing, fueled by four Krispy Kreme donuts — almost a thousand calories in one fell swoop.
Diet Blues
The Big Backslide (washingtonpost.com)
Call it diet fatigue, burnout or simply boredom.
Losing the weight is only half the battle. Keeping it off is the really hard part. In my personal battle, I'm down to 167.4 pounds.
Long Way Home
In the latest chapter in the decline and fall of Washinton'sMetro subway system, the red line was running trains in both directions on a single track in order to perform maintenance on the line. The ride home was three times as long as usual, in hot, overcrowded subway car. Fortunately, I was in good company. I played over a chess game with Irving Chernev, and I let Ibn Batuta regale me with stories of his adventures in the courts of the 14th century Indian Moguls. (Some of which, such as accounts of Mongol conquest, dynastic murders, and wife burning, were admittedly rather grim.)
Losing It
Weighed in at 174.8. Goal: 145 by Christmas. Program:
Moments
Rachel and I made a couple of trips to the bookstore today. She loves the bookstore, and kept asking what the elevator is called. (Remember, she's only 15 months old). She was equally fascinated by the conveyor at the cleaner's; it is always a plus for her when I am picking clothes up rather than just dropping them off.
I am making Norwegian whole wheat bread tonight, and it is going to keep me up. The dough is quite stiff, so it needs extra time to rise. I kneaded to Beethoven on WGMS, and my father did a nice tribute to Olympian Paul Hamm later in the evening.
Greek Examples
If one were looking for inspiration to try to get into better shape, watching the men's gymnastics competition would not be a bad start. It's no wonder that the Greeks, with their admiration for the human form, were the orginators of gymnastics.
Congratulations to gold medal winner Paul Hamm, the comeback kid.
Cow Moo Me
We took Rachel to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair for the first time this past weekend. She liked the cows, loved the rabbits and chickens (particularly the roosters), was ambivalent about the pigs (but liked the piglets), and was frightened by the sheep. To which I can only say, Ba!
Makeover
We hired our neighbor, who is a landscaping genius, to make over the beds around our house, and the result is remarkable. My small contribution (apart from a sizeable financial investment) was to festoon the yard with soaker hoses to water the new plants.
I also received a long awaited copy of the third volume in Michael Holroyd's biography of George Bernard Shaw. I couldn't resist skimming the pages, which only confirmed how thoroughly crazy Shaw became in his later years.
The Mix
Blondie, Fairuz, Paul Simon, Saut El Atlas, Isabelle Boulay. Write on!
Journey to the Hebrides
The New York Times > Travel > An Ancient Scottish Isle
I heard the name of the Outer Hebrides, a chain of islands 40 miles off the northwest coast of Scotland, as a siren's call. Once, as a young reader, I had briefly confused it with the Hesperides, a mythical garden at the edge of the world famous for its golden apples. Ever since, I had thought of those Scottish islands as magical places.
Next time I go to Scotland, I would like to answer the siren's call.
Portland
Portland was beautiful, a milder version of Maine. The ceremony was very simple and very beautiful, a quick exchange of vows in the evening on the banks of the Willamette River. After the ceremony, we devoured a spit roasted pig and watched fireworks.