Rowing and more family time!
Monday, May 15
The honeysuckle popped this weekend. I caught a big whiff of it heading towards the boathouse. You can smell it on the river in places. It's intoxicating. I've had Drivin' and Cryin's Honeysuckle Blue in my head all week.
Mondays are technical work in singles. I'm still focused on my rollup and getting the oars in before the drive. It seems simple enough, but my timing is off just enough that I'm still missing water and leverage. Getting better though. I think.
Got some work done during the day, then Mike headed back to the airport. This time he's going to a conference in Denver. He'll be back Thursday. I'm weary from a packed weekend and the mental challenge of practice. I spend some time writing, have a healthy dinner (something that's been lacking lately), and go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Tuesday, May 16
Tuesday I wake up feeling refreshed, or as fresh as you can feel at 0410. I'm in a double today with Maris bowing. We work on speed and power. Five minute pieces building up to a 30 stroke rate. Trying to stay clean on all the strokes is still difficult. I have power; I'm searching for finesse. It's great rowing with Maris. She's a lot of fun and allows me to work on all the things.
I'm taking a half day and Cath is coming in town! I'm excited as I haven't seen her since our girls' trip in January. She and her sisters are some of my favorite people in the world, and they have adopted me into their sisterhood.
Cath doesn't arrive until later in the afternoon. I booked myself a return trip to Air and Space. There's time to see the exhibits I missed a couple weekends ago. There's lots of cool stuff here and they're still adding more. Next year will be even better.
I'd like to take a quick deviation and mention this stewardess uniform from the 1950's. Can we just agree that women's pockets are useless. Zoom in here. Those little chevron-shaped things are open, not just decorative. Though honestly, what are you supposed to keep in there? Your secrets? That's the only thing that could fit. Anyway...
After Air and Space, I make my way towards the Smithsonian Natural History museum. We visited last year, but it's so vast I missed sections of it. Along the way I stop into the cafe in the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden. The fountains are on and it's a gorgeous day outside. This is the perfect way to drink your coffee.
Most of my time is spent in the oceans section of Natural History. They have some great fossils here. Fossil history knowledge has grown since I was a kid. I love to see the newest found creatures they didn't know about before. Which dinosaurs are new and which of my beloved creatures turned out to be a portmanteau of other creatures.
Cath arrives at her hotel and we agree to meet at Tonic. I loved the vibe at this place and am happy to share it with my sister. It's great to see her again. We discuss life and happenings and all the things. We have dinner reservations at 845 with Grace. For someone getting up at 4am everyday, this is more like a midnight snack. But Grace is in college and that was normal when I was as well. We have a snack and a drink at Tonic and then head towards Capitol Hill.
We're heading towards Cafe Berlin when I realize it's not open on Tuesdays. So we hop out and go to the Dubliner. I remember their Irish Coffee from last year and that sounds delightful right now. The place is filling up quickly. There are two seats at the bar but the two guys in front of us are eyeballing them as well. One goes to talk to the bartender. "Those are not the seats you are looking for," I whisper to Cath. She puts her hand on the guy's shoulder in front of us and says, "You really want a table." He turns around to see stunningly beautiful Catherine, and asks if we want to sit at the bar. Then to his friend says, hey they're going to take the bar, we'll wait for a table. Catherine uses the Force well. We laugh hysterically over drinks at the bar about the look on the other guy's face when told to wait for a table. We laugh about everything. It's fantastic. And so are the Irish coffees.
When it's time, we pick up Grace and her friend Chambers, head to the Wharf and Mi Vida for dinner. All of the food is delicious: tacos, empanadas, and the sauces, mmmmm. We laugh more. I am blessed with many wonderful women in my life. So happy I got to spend the evening with them. It's getting late for me by the time dinner is finished. Catherine is a mench and drives me back to Capitol Hill. I'm not sure I would have made it up the hill this evening. I go straight to bed. Early row tomorrow.