YEP, THE SEASON'S TURNED-THE WEEKENDER

JUST WAITING

   I remember hearing a Harry Reasoner commentary many years ago where he said "Labor day was like a new, new year."  His logic was that everything sort of stars over then.

   Well, he was right that with summer ending there is a kind of final lap of the year, but as I got older, raised daughters, discovered more home owner chores and lived in the country I found that fall is something different than Reasoner's idea.

    As my friend Frank now does, I put up wood for the winter and put Hatteras shutters on a screened porch, and styrofoam around foundation, basement and/or crawl space openings. And I got out the snow shovel.

    Each step along the path toward winter reminded me, the summer party is over, the beach is closed.

     A lot about this time of year is an homage to waiting.  Maybe some fitness or travel dreams are put on the shelf until next year as we go about preparing for the oncoming end of the year holidays, a distant patch of light.

    Again, my friend Frank had a "wisdom" about the time from Thanksgiving to the New Year.  He said "nothing gets done."  
    At the time he and I were journalists who were looking to improve our lot by developing and producing a television series. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have quoted him over the years.

   But I've also learned there is a special quality to fall.  It seems to be a natural frame for reflection, gathering with family and friends, contemplating a kind of intellectual or spiritual pre winter-hibernation preparation.  

   Putting up wood, winterizing, cleaning a garden and the like are all cues for a recognition that we have about completed another circuit of the sun.  But the older we get, the more quickly the beach seems to open again. Even our waiting seems to fly by.

THE WEEKENDER VIDEO

Please take six minutes to see this

fascinating display about the real wealth 

distribution in the US.  I suspect that regardless of

what you think, you'll be amazed.

See you down the trail.

OF OBAMA, CRUZ, SPOOKS AND FALL NOSTALGIOU-FUN TIME-THE WEEKENDER

WANTING TO KICK THEM AROUND

     While in the Washington DC area this week I took special interest in the fallen leaves, pleased by our liberation from raking and bagging.

     I confess now I hated to rake leaves.  As a kid I'd complain to mom and dad about the pointlessness of it.  "Just let them rot and fertilize the grass" I'd plea, unsuccessfully.

     Leaf raking and bagging is not an activity in our California lifestyle-fortunately.  So while these shots may be old hat to some of you, it is a sweet reminder to others of the positive of an absence.

LINGERING MUMBLES

    Overheard laments and lash outs from the Halloween party circuit.

     "I'm so over Obama" a liberal friend complained. "I almost came in black face but I still know what's wrong!"

     "I'm the affordable care web site" said a tilted box, strung with blinking lights and wires.

      "I came as Ted Cruz" said a friend in street clothes. "So now I'm going to be an ass hole all night!"

      Singer Jill Knight won my award.  Dressed as Captain Morgan complete with long curly tresses, mustache and appropriate attire, I couldn't believe it was Jill, even when she spoke right in my face.  But then proprietor Lyn Nanni was unrecognizable as well in her Mistress of Darkness attire and face paint. I'm slow on the uptake I guess.

THE OBAMA APOLOGIES 

    If anything, the Snowden document leak has given the State Department and or White House protocol officers plenty to do.  With revelation after revelation about who the NSA has bugged or tapped or snooped on, it seems the President has been as busy with world leaders apologizing and parsing words as anything else, other than maybe kicking some tail to get the web site working.  

     As a satirist said, everyone had to know we were doing it, we just didn't want talk about it.  And that is crux the matter isn't it?

INDULGENCES

    For Weekender foodies-a few snaps grabbed during our own journeys into delicious adventure while back east.

      Our dear friends Frank and Sandy have long raved about LAuberge Chez Francoise up in Virginia Horse Country at Great Falls.  It's been repeatedly rated the best and most romantic French Restaurant in the Washington D.C. area.

    Our magnificent 3-hour lunch was dream like.  Frank says when he was there once with his late father, a newspaper editor, he was told back in the old days it was a place where CIA executives used their expense accounts. At least it was money well spent.

AND THE HITS KEEP ON COMING

    A delight of the nation's capitol is the diversity of great dinning options.  Neighbors pointed the 4 of us to a nearby Asian Fusion spot.  The special rolls were edible art and the Pad Thai was the best I've tasted.  Sorry all I can offer here on the net are pictures.  They can't give the credit the place deserves.

    And then there was this crazy Asian take on baked Alaska

     Kenji Fusion is the name.  If you are in the DC area, around Falls Church Va., it should be on your list.

AND FINALLY

A VIDEO TREAT

In the spirit of the international diversity of the Washington DC area, here is something my old friend Bruce, aka The Catalyst, found.  This is amusing and a bit amazing

for a number of reasons.  Enjoy

See you down the trail.

    

GRATITUDE IS UNDER VALUED

LOOKING FOR IT

      I'm grateful for a walk my mother took with me one autumn day as the oaks, sycamores, elms and maples were resplendent.  She said it was one of the most beautiful falls she had seen.  It was an unusual thing, a hike in the park with my busy and laboring mom. As we strolled beneath old and ancient trees ablaze in red, orange, yellow and crunched over the leaves on the path I noticed the world, maybe really for the first time.

     Natural beauty stirs a deep awe in those who are sensitive to it. 

 PIER LIGHT

Seeing it again

subtle changes in seconds

     Thank you to the cosmic set designers!!
     See you down the trail.