November 2004

I Touch the Clouds (11/28/04, Virginia) Walking to the car today, Henry jumps up and down and grabs the air. "What are you doing?", I ask. "I try to touch clouds, daddy".

(11/28/04) We have lunch with our friends Missy, Gerry, and Jake Jovel, at their new house in South Riding. Jake and Henry have fun playing together, and Henry has a chance to get outside.

After leaving the Jovel's house, we drive to Round Hill to see the farm that we almost bought five years ago. We are stunned to see that the once beautiful hillotop farm, called Windover, has been gutted. Six homesites have been carved from the property, and the big red barn torn down to make way for a new road. Most of the fencing and old rock walls are gone, too. New developments are going in all around this once-rural area.


Visiting the Riggenbachs (11/27/04) Today we drive through the countryside to meet Bill, Sharon, Will, and Kate Riggenbach. Bill and Sharon are old friends of mine from college. Bill was in our wedding. We meet at a country inn outside Culpeper, where we take over the pub room for a couple of hours before sharing a delicious dinner.


On the way to Culpeper, we drive through Warrenton, where we have lunch at the Frost Diner, a place that is extremely popular with the locals. Henry, wearing camo pants and a red henley shirt, fits right in--he looks like he just came in from a deer hunt. On impulse, we detour to Washington, Virginia, known as "Little Washington", and visit the tiny church (Trinity Episcopal) where we were engaged in 1995.


Santa Claus (11/26/04) In line minutes after Santa arrives at the Dulles Town Center mall for Christmas 2004, Henry has his turn on the big man's lap. What does he want Santa to bring this year? "A Christmas tree," he tells us. Henry is lukewarm about actually meeting Santa, but he is very excited afterward to take a spin around the mall in a race car/shopping cart.


Mark Stewart (11/26/04) Mark and I have a nice long lunch at the Dominon Brewery, where we begin with "sample packs" of the house brews and move on to a pint or two of various ales and lagers. I believe at this moment Mark pontificates on a history of beer that he says stretches back in time for about 8000 years...

Thanksgiving 2004 (11/25/04, Purcellville, VA) We spend a great Thanksgiving Day at Bruce (my cousin) and Mary Arnsbarger's house, a restored early 1900s house that is beautifully furnished and perfect for a big family Thanksgiving. All of my cousins are there with their kids, Mary's children and their significant others, and of course Aunt Betty and Uncle Chuck. The food and company are outstanding, and a happy Henry passes out in the laundry room near the end of the evening.




Vacation in Virginia (11/24/04, Virginia) We start our trip today with visit to our old house at 43174 Tuthill Lane in South Riding. It's still there, looking almost exactly the same. Then we drive to Middleburg for lunch and a stroll in the autumn rain. We spend the evening with our friends Mark and Wanda Stewart (not pictured??!!) , first at their home in Reston and then with Mark's cousin Kelly from Ireland and sister Sheila at the Sweetwater Cafe.


Family Hike at Ellwood Mesa (11/20/04) We had a fun family Saturday that started with breakfast at Tres Luna and continued with a hike to the bluffs and back at Ellwood Mesa. Henry picked up every stick he could find, and was busy trimming trees with his "saw". We saw an egret, some bird eggs, a hawk fighting with a crow, some Monarch butterflies, and a few horses. Henry was fascinated with the "horse poopie", and we had to remind him not to touch it. Later, at home changing his diaper, he confided that "I touched horse poopie on our hike, dada". I asked him what it felt like, expecting "icky" for an answer. "Like dog poopie", he said.


First Train Ride (11/19/04) Henry and I took the train to Carpinteria today. We left a busy Santa Barbara station at 1:59PM and arrived at the Carpinteria platform sixteen minutes later. Jill parked at the Olive Mill crossing in Montecito and waved to us (she and her car are visible below). Then she drove to Carp and still arrived there before we did. Henry enjoyed himself, but his favorite part of the trip was the snack bag full of crackers and chips. The ride was beautiful. Most of it was right on the beach.




Sunset, Seen From Our House (11/14/04) Autumn brings our best sunsets, and tonight was as good as they get. Early on, the water turns steely blue and looks as flat as a sheet of glass. Then every craggy canyon on the Channel Islands glows with purple light. Finally, all that's left is a fiery glow in the southwest, this time with the moon looking on.

	Garage Camping (11/12/04) The boys - Henry, Case, and I - went camping in the garage. We set up the tent, foam pads, sleeping bags, Henry's favorite stuffed animals (Pooh, Snoopy, Lion, and Bunny), brought lots of books to read, and hung a lantern from the top of the tent. We read by flashlight and sang songs, and finally fell asleep around 11. When we woke up, we drank "coffee" (water) from camp mugs and then went inside to have breakfast with Jill.

Veteran's Day Flying (11/11/04) After breakfast I watched Andrew Swart lead a formation of vintage T-28 aircraft in three passes over the city, in honor of Veteran's Day. The first photo is the view from Stearn's Wharf (my vantage point), before the aircraft arrived. The other photos show the diamond, the line, and the "missing man" formation.



Breakfast at the Beach (11/11/04) We met Dee Anne and Hilary for blueberry pancakes at East Beach Grill this morning. It was our one year anniversary of Dee Anne working with Henry. We didn't get much work done but we had a lot of fun, as we always do.

Hank's House (and Garage) (11/09/04) While were in Paris, Dale and Maxine helped Henry change an empty box into his playhouse, a.k.a., "Hank's House". Later he started smashing play-dough balls ("rocks") on the top and it became his "big rock crusher". Then Dale tied a bucket to it and it became his "big crane". Lately it's "Hank's House", again. He added a "garage" (an empty tv box) and parks his car in it. Proud of his house, tonight he takes his hammer and makes a few improvements.


Happy Birthday, Katelyn (11/6/04) Our friend Katelyn turned two today, and her parents had a party at their house. It was a great success--with two "jumpies", songs, toys, games, lunch, and cake, which was soon spread across most of the toddler's faces. Henry, in his party hat, joins the fun.

It's Fun To Get Wet (11/05/04) If you take the long way home from Henry's school, there's a spot where Cold Springs Creek washes over East Mountain Road. Henry often asks if he can play there, so today we brought his rain boots and splashed around for a few minutes, enjoying the warm afternoon.


The Drive To Lompoc (11/3/04) I picked up Henry from school today and we drove to the Sea Smoke winery in Lompoc to bring home some wine. On the way there, we drove along the bluffs, right above the ocean, before turning inland and having fun yelling and screaming as we drove through the Gaviota tunnel. In the remote countryside along highway 1, he had fun spotting cows and horses. He amazed me with this sentence: "I see horses, on top of mountain, eating grass". He can express so much through words now. At the winery, we lingered and watched a forklift moving big containers through the warehouse. On the way home, we saw this big freight train, with dozens of boxcars, heading north.