Here's to long weekends!

Saturday's celebration of Independence Day started with a 10:00 concert at NMSU of the Mesilla Valley Concert Band. It rained enough before to soak the music and make us all steamy, but the crowd seemed to not be put off. Stu, Jake and Quincy were all there, but only Jake made the front page of today's paper (above the fold!), perched in a tree watching the concert. Photo is at the right.

We finished the day watching the town's fireworks display at a friend's house.

Last weekend we got a new kitten -- Muse moved in to be a playmate to Widget. Widget has not yet appreciated this to the extent we hope she will, but Annie follows Muse around, totally entranced. Muse is about 3 months old and very playful. She was a pound kitty, but she had been fostered out to the pet food store. As we still get pet food from there, I am now afraid that they think we are suckers for every cat needing a new home...

Other news? Quincy finished up her run as stage manager for This is our youth, a play at LC's Black Box Theater directed by NMSU's CMI screenwriting instructor Amy Lanasa. Jacob will be doing some reseach for a food-safety lab on NMSU campus this summer, and Rosie still snores.

Rainy day at Cape Henlopen

In my child's mind, Rehoboth Beach is dirty and crowded and Cape Henlopen is the place where you can play with cool stuff that comes from the sea.

The Cape was great this morning, if rainy. Life guards huddled under umbrellas. Beach was clean.
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Rainy day at Cape Henlopen

In my child's mind, Rehoboth Beach is dirty and crowded and Cape Henlopen is the place where you can play with cool stuff that comes from the sea.

The Cape was great this morning, if rainy. Life guards huddled under umbrellas. Beach was clean.
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The George from the Lincoln

Night in DC. Thunder overhead and a choir singing by the reflection pool. Because if you are here in DC with a choir, why wouldn't you sing?
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Beautiful days in DC

We have had beautiful weather for touring DC -- yesterday we spent most of the day on bikes with the fattest tires in the world (picture below), following around NPS rangers on a tour of forgotten landmarks in DC. The Grant statue (above) is not so much forgotten, but it was good to be reminded that Grant gazes at Lincoln, his commander in chief (and beyond to the Lee estate in Virginia, confiscated to create Arlington National Cemetery). Quincy elected to not join us but did laundry. (Any advice?)

Also spent time at the Eastern Market and just cycling around the city. DC is a great city for biking.

Today we visit Ford's Theater and the Supreme Court. We also hope to hit Mount Vernon, the Newseum, and other highlights of geekdom.

Biking here and everywhere

Bikers and shoes at Las Cruces' Bike to Work. Oddly enough, what we all had in common was that we were not at work. My feet are in there somewhere.

From the carbon footprint calculator at the Nature Conservancy, I have saved about 6600 pounds of carbon dioxide in my nearly year of biking. I aim to give up breathing soon to try to further reduce my carbon footprint.

Great horned owl at Home Depot.

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