Introducing . . . the small boys!

 So we spent last week at the beach in wonderful Nag's Head, North Carolina.  This annual family get-together is a trip we look forward to for the entire year.  Sometimes we have a full contingent of cousins, aunts, grandfathers, uncles and grandmothers.  Other times a cousin or two has work obligations; last year the tall boy was unable to make the trip, but we were happy that the not-so-tall boy (the soldier's West Point pal) was able to take his place.  This year, although my sister's three oldest urchins all had obligations that kept them away, we were thrilled that SHE was able to be part of our shenanigans for at least part of the week.  Uncle Doctor does his best to stay out of the on-call rotation so he can join us (the nerve of some women!  Daring to go into labor while Uncle Doctor is trying to log jet ski hours!).  My fairy god-sister is always up for a week at the beach, and so are Carolyn and her husband the preacher.

And this year, the newest cousins joined us!  You've met the tall boys -- so now:  meet the small boys!  These pumpkin pies are my sister's new sons!  She and the preacher are in the process of adopting them, and how swell is that?!

 

 

Lucky small boys!  Lucky mom and dad!  Lucky family!

God is good!

Guess who came home last night?!

Clue #1: his family has been missing him for a long time.

Clue #2: His Giants pulled it off
just as he arrived at the airport --
a welcome home gift!

Clue #3: He makes us all proud to be Americans!

Clue #3: He and the missus love them some Proseco!

Clue #4: We turned our Christmas lights
back on in his his honor!

Look who it is!
We're so glad to have him back!

Remembrance Day

Everybody is home from school today, since it is Veterans' Day in the United States. When I was growing up, my dad (a Vietnam veteran himself) liked to remind me that its original name was Armistice Day. He is a history buff, and never has forgotten that the day originates with the Armistice that ended World War I ("at the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month").

But I really like the name for this day used by so many of our Commonwealth nation friends -- I feel like "Remembrance Day" sums up what we should be doing today -- remembering and honoring the fact that there are people who are willing to go to war for us.

Around here we are specifically lifting up one veteran in particular -- currently deployed to Afghanistan -- and are so grateful to him for his fierce love of our country. We miss him just about all of the time on our happy little cul-de-sac. He is the cruise director of all of our neighborhood bashes -- they just aren't the same without him. And on weekend mornings we miss him stopping by for a cup of coffee while he's out raking leaves. He even has his own mug stashed in our cupboard!

This year the husband and the fabulous neighbor will miss their annual date to the Redskins v. Giants game for the first time in I don't know how many years; this would be sad except for the fact that the Redskins suck so bad this year that the husband is frankly relieved to skip the humiliation. We will miss our friend at Thanksgiving, but it will be fabulous to have his family at our feast.

The good news is he will be home soon -- and as always, his mug of coffee will be here waiting for him.

We interrupt this Friday morning . . .

See the tall boy. See the tall, tall boy. See the tall boy wearing a patriotic tie. The tall boy is off to work. Go, cranky not-a-morning-person tall boy, go!

See the bus. Look at the big, big bus. The bus will take the tall boy to the Pentagon. The tall boy is happy because he will sleep on the bus. Go, bus, go!

Look at the Pentagon. The Pentagon is a big, big building. The Pentagon is battle-scarred but strong. No al Qaeda bad guys can keep this Pentagon from re-building itself even stronger. Go, Pentagon, go! The tall boy will get on a train at the Pentagon. He will go under the ground. He will sleep on the train. Sleep, cranky tall boy, sleep!

See the police officers. "Good morning, officer! Thank you for protecting us here in the nation's capital! Thank you for keeping my tall boy safe!"

Oh! Oh! What has happened? Why has the tall boy's bus stopped in the middle of the busy, busy highway? How will the tall boy get to work on time? Look! Look! A douchebag has left a scary backpack. The scary backpack makes the police officers sad. They must stop all the cars and buses and workers. Bad, bad douchebag!
Finally the tall boy is happy. The bus can move again. Soon he will ride the train. The tall boy will ride the train, but only after the sniffer dog at the Pentagon makes sure that the tall boy is not a douchebag. Good sniffer dog! Thank you for not biting my tall boy!

Thank you, police officers! Thank you, soldiers and marines and sailors and airmen! Thank you, sniffer dogs! Thank you for keeping us safe. Thank you for making us late for work but not in trouble for it because our bosses were late too. Thank you, thank you!

But not you, douchebag.

Intrepid reporter -- until I ran from the scene

So the drama around here last Saturday was pretty dramatic; our part of the world seemed to burst into flames in every direction all at the same time. Dry, dry air and high, high winds combined to create a day just ripe for combustion. Pals from California or western Canada might laugh and say, "how quaint!" But fire fighters throughout the Washington D.C. area were working it all day long.

Well, I shock myself that I took these pictures: I am never on the scene when drama occurs, or if I am, the drama is occurring to me or to one of the urchins -- so photographing the historic events is usually the last thing on my mind.

tangent: When the sunny girl was born we had to borrow a disposable camera from the midwife who helped her into the world, because by the third child we were not so much about checking and re-checking the "Baby Being Born" hospital bag to make sure we had everything. So: camera -- yes; batteries -- not so much.

But I took the sunny girl and a pal to the movies, and we drove into smoky air that was thick enough that I turned on my headlights and the sunny girl reached for her inhaler. After I dropped the two girls off at the mega-cineplex-o-rama, I decided to check out the source of the smoke.

Plumes rose from a wooded area right behind my beloved Borders Books. I kept thinking, "How hard would it blow to be one of the stores that escaped the corporate bankruptcy axe, only to see one's entire inventory go up in flames?"

tangent: Pipe down, book lovers -- Borders is all right by me. Yes, yes -- we should all support our local independent booksellers. They support the new, the quirky, the overlooked. But you know what? So does my Borders. And I can tell you right now -- there ain't no independent booksellers in Prince William County, Virginia; if Borders goes, we are SOL. Virginians all know that stands for "Standards Of Learning."

OK, so the fire caused businesses up and down the suburban strip malls to evacuate, as it spread north and east through a large wooded area. These woods are bordered by things like a Home Depot, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Best Buy, and -- scary -- an animal hospital. All evacuated their customers (and patients).

As always, the firefighters walked forward to fight the blazes (and yes, I do mean blazes; these brush fires were everywhere) while everyone else fled. As I took these pictures I was shocked at how quickly I stopped needing the telephoto feature on my camera as the fire raced through the woods towards my vantage point; I kept thinking, I should not be here . . . I am where I should not be . . . this is really, really stupid . . . . I am not Christiane Amanpour -- or even Brenda Starr . . . . I need to go now . . . . And the firefighters geared up, and did what they had to do, and stopped my town from burning.