Hiatus Interruptus

Washington Monument. Courtesy of Rachel at photo.intensify.org

My goodness! Where has all the blogging gone? Mea culpa for such a long break in my entries. Events sort of got ahead of me. You see, this is the Spouse and my first summer as homeowners in Washington, DC. I realized DC was a popular summer destination with tourists; I just didn't realize that they'd all be staying at my house. And for some reason which escapes me in hindsight, I felt the need to try and redo our ancient, cabinet-free 1920s kitchen before everybody arrived. Sadly, writing, reading and blogging were forced down my list of priorities. Like somewhere well below lead-paint abatement, somewhat below sleeping and only slightly ahead of grooming (the Spouse says the smell is not too bad if the wind is blowing right).

Lest you think I exaggerate, allow me to enumerate for you my visits to the more popular cultural, historical, and altogether significant venues since I last wrote (or thereabouts) in this here excellent dumb bardblog:

• World War II Memorial: Five times
• Lincoln Memorial: Four times
• Washington Memorial: Zero (they are renovating it so you can't get very close, and getting inside and up it is complicated)
• Jefferson Memorial: Two times
• FDR Memorial: Three times
• Vietnam Memorial: Two times
• Vietnam Women's Memorial: One time
• Korean War Memorial: Three times
• Educational IMAX films: Five times
• The Smithsonian Natural History Museum: Five times
• The Smithsonian American History Museum: Three times
• The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: One time
• The Smithsonian National Zoo: Three times
• The National Archives: One time
• The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Sculpture Gallery: Two times
• The National Gallery of Art: One time
• The International Spy Museum: One time
• The Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Asian Art: Three times
• The Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building: One time
• The United States Holocaust Museum: One time
• The Library of Congress (temporary exhibit on Winston Churchill): Two times
• The Smithsonian American Indian Museum: Not open yet, but I have timed-entry tickets for myself and nine of my closest friends come September...
• Total - 49!!! (This may possibly be over one visit for everyday so far of summer. I don't feel like doing the math at the moment, but please feel free to calculate on my behalf and let me know.)

Something happens to you when you visit that many memorials, museums and attractions that many times. You begin to see things differently. Things aren't distorted, exactly. More magnified. Or skewed. Or you begin to see things like Rachel, who took the photograph I include at the top of this entry. The above photo is the post-card representation of how I feel now walking amongst the tourist destinations of DC. They are big and grand. And I know their shades and contours by heart without feeling emotionally close to them, somehow.

I have developed my own little tour, replete with witticisms, sly allusions, broad humor and fascinating DC-insider anecdotes. Next year I might publish brochures, and loiter about Reagan National Airport's baggage claim to pick up fresh-looking, befuddled tourist families from the heartland. Probably one of my favorite stops this summer was with 3 of the Spouse's 7 year old cousins and their aunt (aka, my mother-in-law). I took them to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden on the National Mall, and told them to find the sculpture that most reminded them (physically or spiritually) of my mother-in-law. The cousins ran themselves ragged while we sat on a bench in the central courtyard. I'm not sure what Rodin would have to say, but I found the whole thing pretty darned amusing. (see photos in "Is that You, Auntie?" below.) And by the end the kids were so tired they had almost no energy for a good hour and a half afterwards. This is the tour-guide's definition of "respite".

Anyway, I'm back. Refreshed, revitalized, and intimately familiar with the tourist destinations in Washington, DC. With a renewed appreciation for the free-entry to the Smithsonian venues. And ready to kick some Shakespearean butt!!!

I have one more essay to write about King Henry VI, Part I, and then it is on to Part II. Today, I leave for Detroit for visits with the same cousins and many more relatives of the Spouse. So this is not a sure end to the bardblog hiatus; it might just be a brief pause before the DC interruptions are replaced with Michigan ones. But you never know. I'll take the laptop and the Bard-tome with me, and we'll see what happens between all the carousing and cousins. Needless to say, I am scouring the web to find a sculpture garden in metro Detroit. Wish me luck!