Thursday, January 21, 2016

Three Beautiful Things 01/20/16: Phone Call to Mom, Exploring Vellichor, D. C.'s Nightmare Commute

1. I called Mom this morning, the morning after her birthday rather than on her birthday because of how busy she was on her very happy birthday with phone calls, lunch with Jane at Sam's, the chicken dinner Christy prepared, and a visit from Carol and Paul.  She sounded strong and happy, eager to have her television dish service installed and looking forward to her second birthday dinner at Carol and Paul's on Friday.

2. I wrote up the prompt for Sibling Assignment #175 a while back and both Christy and Carol wrote their explorations of the neologism vellichor first (here and here), and I spent much of the afternoon figuring out my post, finding pictures I'd taken at Sligo Creek Park to illustrate it, and writing it up, here.

3. In an area as densely populated as the DC-opolis, it doesn't take much to throw the intricate system of roads and freeways and parkways into gridlock and this evening about an inch of snow fell and the roads were encased in ice and the late afternoon/early evening commute had not yet ended at 11:00 p.m.  I couldn't tear myself away from Twitter, reading updates from a variety of feeds I follow about freeways becoming parking lots, city buses stalled, bus drivers abandoning buses in the middle of streets, and commuters reporting two to three hour travel times from, say, Arlington to East Falls Church.  President Obama was not spared.  It took his motorcade an hour and fifteen minutes to travel from Andrews Air Force base to the White House, a trip that usually takes twenty-five minutes.
Prince George's County Public Schools cancelled classes for Thursday, so the Deke has a day off at home.

Living only a five minute drive from where the Deke teaches is a luxury I am most grateful for.

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