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So this is what I’ve been up to . . .
Okay, so all the Irish-y stuff happened before I went MIA, but I never had a chance to show you!
Discovery flew by my window not once, not twice, but three times as it made its way to Dulles International Airport. It was so thrilling! And the planes (you can see the jet escort in the top left portion of the frame) were flying so low! It looked like any minute they would drop on top of Arlington.
A co-worker took this photo during one of the passes. Thanks for picture Claudia!
The past few days:
-Dear young people of London, shame on you! Sounds like you all need to be sent back to the nursery for a lesson in manners.
-My roommate and I hung pictures around the house, it looks so cozy!
-There was a trio next to the Ballston Metro Station: two violins and a cello. They were playing Canon in D. It was so lovely! I wanted to stay and listen, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to miss my bus.
-I did make my bus, but then when I got off the bus, I was caught in an unexpected downpour, without and umbrella. Completely soaked would be the best way to describe my person when I arrived at home. I should have stayed and listened to the music. Lesson learned. Always stop to listen to the music, smell the roses, drink the coffee, or enjoy whatever good thing happens to be at had so long as its not detrimental to health, soul or someone else’s schedule.
-While we are on the metro topic, the machine gave me $5 in coins that looked like the picture below. I felt very european with a pound of change in my purse. I prefer paper money, its easier to work with and carry, and I don’t ever think Americans will take to the $1 coin, its just not us.
-I am reading Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge, its good, but I am frustrated with the main character. Read it and you will see why.
-I have been delighting in lots and lots of watermelon. And smoked salmon. And garlic stuffed olives. And tonic water. I like plain tonic water, its really refreshing when its hot outside.
-My mint plant has come back to life, I guess it likes the front porch better than the back porch. Either that or it couldn’t take the excessive taunting from the basil. Anyway, its happy now.
-Went with a lovely group of friends to see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on the Mall for Screen on the Green. Fun! We had the best picnic by far. . . I don’t think the other picnickers knew there was a competition, but they lost. 
-Tonight my roommate hosted a group to watch the movie The Swan with Grace Kelly and Alec Guinness. Its really sweet and the costumes are are a lot of fun! Apparently it was Grace Kelly’s last film before she became a princess. (I stand corrected, that would be High Society!)
He is usually coming down the escalator stairs as I am going up them at Ballston Metro Station. Lately he has been wearing a pith helmet in addition to his tailored suit. I believe this is too keep the sun off his head, but why he is wearing it in the metro is beyond me. He looks like he should have lived in India 100 years ago: minus the red English uniform, of course.
Yesterday Rip Van Winkle got off at Ballston Metro Station! (I would have told you yesterday, but I forgot until just now.) And his beard was shorter. I wouldn’t say it was trimmed, but it was definantly shorter. His hair was even longer.
But why did he get off at Ballston? He never moves from he stop next to the door. What could he possibly have to do at Ballston? Visit the Mall that has nothing in it? Watch the Capitals practice? Meet Mrs. Van Winkle for drinks at Chilies? What was he doing?
I see him every now and then, and if I could do it without being obvious, I would get a picture. Rip Van Winkle rides the orange line of the D.C. metro. No joke. He sits in the same corner of the second car to the end of the train in the direction of New Carrolton around 4.30 p.m. on weekdays. The best way to find him is to go to the Ballston Metro Station and find the grafitti on the short platform wall (the side that is in the direction of New Carrolton) that asks the questions “Who is John Galt?” When you board the train from that point you will find him immediately on your right in the corner seat.
I first started riding the metro (almost two years ago) his hair was shoulder length and his beard might have been deemed “trimmed.” Now his hair is longer than mine, and his beard is definantly of the Van Winkle variety.
The funny part of it all is that he can’t be much older than me, of course it is hard to tell with the varitable birds nest growing on his face, but there isn’t a streak of grey to be seen. He is such an odditiy in the stark black and whites of the normal commuter crowd. And from the looks of his clothes I don’t think he is homeless. So why the long hair? I am convinced that corner must be like that corner of the woods that Rip Van Winkle lost himself into a 100 year sleep.
