Vagabond

Gainesville is a lovely place and I´ve met terrific people there, but why stay in one place when you have nothing tying you down? The visa application continues to be marked "En tramitactión" which I´m pretty sure is Spanish for, "Hold your horses, missy, and we´ll get around to reviewing this in our own sweet time." So I packed the car and headed on a month-long tour of the East Coast. 

Returning to DC reminds me of all the delightful friends I have here. There are always people around willing to do a bike ride or have lunch. Last week I organized a bike ride with nine people, three cars, and two bike racks that included stops for cake and French fries. We wanted the kids to only ride downhill (ie the fun part), and that required some complicated project management. Here my old biking group, G, N, and R, relax with beers in the freezing cold afterwards.

I spend a long weekend in New York City with my best friend M. We dressed up to go see the Macy´s department store spring flower show. I also made a delicious corn and tomato panzanella salad with her daughter J, who is a avid cooking apprentice. 

I focused on some of the smaller sightseeing attractions in NYC this time. The flagship public library is a beautiful turn-of-the-century architectural masterpiece. A free tour lets you see areas that aren´t easily accessible to the public. These carved wooden ceilings are actually painted plaster. 

In the fine tradition of roadside attractions, I found this noteworthy statue in front of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes known as St. John the Unfinished, since the cathedral is decades in the building and not done yet). The Archangel Michael casts out Satan while standing on a double helix and a crab, surrounded by peaceful giraffes. I don´t think I´ve ever seen so much symbolism crammed in so densely into one piece of art.