Winding Up

[osprey_archer]

Somehow my six-and-a-half hour drive stretched to eight-and-a-half (I only stopped at Dunkin Donuts once, I swear!) but in the end I did make it to DC! Where Caitlin and I promptly made beer bread and ate it piping hot with brie (the only way to eat beer bread), and now we are going to watch The Great British Bake-Off. (The universe has been conspiring to get me to watch The Great British Bake-Off.)

But before this, I spent a wonderful few days with asakiyume! We baked scones with fresh-picked currants and slathered them with blood-orange marmalade, at which we looked askance at first - it is very brown-looking - but it is delicious, A++ highly recommended.

We also had much ice cream and - and! - visited Emily Dickinson's house, which is delightful and I highly recommend that too. They have Emily's writing desk, which is much smaller than I expected - really only the size of a bedside table - but it sits right by the window, overlooking the garden, in a room all done up with rose-covered wallpaper, and just seems really like the perfect place for Emily Dickinson to reside.

We went over to the graveyard, too - did you know that they carried Emily's coffin over the fields when she died, so that even her corpse could avoid the public gaze that she shunned in life? I thought that extremely thoughtful of the pallbearers. In any case, the grave is now the center of much public attention, and the top is covered in pencils and seashells - and the shells spill over onto Emily's sister Lavinia's grave, too. I'm not sure why (are sea shells particularly associated with either of them?), but it's nice that Lavinia is not neglected.

And we went to the reservoir and took a VERY LONG walk and had a picnic, and read aloud a chapter of The Railway Children (the most sexist chapter, sadly, which is too bad, because most of it is full of refreshingly equal-opportunity adventures) - the modern world could do with more reading aloud in it. I shall have to try to talk my roommate into it when I return.

Which will be on Tuesday! The trip is almost over! Tomorrow is the last hurrah - I'm going to the National Gallery (I always go to the National Gallery when I'm in DC) and perhaps one of the other Smithsonian Museums, although I'm not sure which one. I did Air & Space last time, which was delightful, but I think I ought to branch out.

Comments

[sartorias]

So glad you had an excellent trip!

[osprey_archer]

It has been delightful!

[asakiyume]

The blood-orange marmalade is so delicious, and there's still cream left in the fridge, so I may have to make some scones this morning! I know. Such a cross to bear.

I've just ordered maybe the last affordable copy of The Apple Stone from Amazon, but after I finish it, I can send it to you (or maybe you'll find a library copy, or Amazon will disgorge another cheap used edition), but it sounds, from sovay's recent entry about it, like just the sort of E. Nesbit-ish book we'd both enjoy.

BTW, Wakanomori said he loved watching The Railway Children the other night and now wants to see the 1970s version. I'll tell you what it's like when we do.

It's raining here today--hope it's not in DC, but then again, maybe it'll make being inside at the museums that much more pleasant.

[osprey_archer]

I just did a double-take when you mentioned The Apple Stone, because I saw that post and thought "That's sounds delightful! I must comment!" but I didn't have time right then... so clearly you must have read my mind! Or I'm just predictable, ha.

Anyway, I can probably get the book from interlibrary loan. But - it occurs to me - if you'd like to do a book exchange, I do have a copy of Tam Lin that's looking for a home...

DC was VERY SUNNY when I was there, so much so that I welcomed the brief burst of rain at the end of the day. Very refreshing after all that heat!

And now I'm home! It's clearly been raining here: everything is extremely green. I ought to go down and check on the garden, I think...

[asakiyume]

A trade of The Apple Stone for Tam Lin sounds perfect.

Glad you didn't get captured by a tomato when you checked on the garden (just read your latest entry). The dill sounds like it didn't stand a chance against them.

[osprey_archer]

I shall send Tam Lin with my next letter, then! So glad that it has found a home.

The tomatoes themselves are hard to find among the jungle of tomato plant foliage. I think the tomato plants may in fact be devouring their tomato young without giving us a chance to get at them.

[asakiyume]

Those are some terrifying tomatoes.

[littlerhymes]

Those scones sound amazing... and oh man I wish I'd had more time in DC. So many museums!!

[osprey_archer]

SO MANY MUSEUMS! I've been there at least four times now (possibly more? I can't believe I've lost track) and I STILL haven't seen them all. Or even most of them. Heck, I don't even know what all is there! I only discovered this trip that there's a Postal Service Museum and it was too far out of my way, but NEXT TIME!

[evelyn_b]

Welcome home! I hope the last leg of your journey is as good as the rest. I've never had beer bread, but "piping hot with brie" sounds like a good plan for most kinds of bread. I'm glad you got to visit friends, read books, and eat delicious food.

SOMEDAY I'll go to Amherst - maybe even this fall, if I can get it together. I have such a weakness for people's preserved houses with all their things set out on tables.

[osprey_archer]

Ooooh, I hope you get the chance to go to Amherst! Emily Dickinson's house is one of the nicest preserved houses I've seen (although of course I'm biased: It's Emily's), and the tour was wonderful - knowledgeable, personable docent, just lovely.

I really liked the gift shop too. I probably bought more than I really ought to - but how could I fail to buy that picture book about Emily Dickinson illustrated by Barbara Cooney, one of my favorite illustrators of all time???