Spring Break--part two

Rainy last day in D.C. and some doors in Georgetown. . . Erica and I visited the National Cathedral and spent the rainy afternoon in Georgetown. We ate soup and lemon Madeleines at one of Erica's favorite restaurants here aptly called le Madeleine. We got out of the rain, dried off and did a bit of people watching as well.


A few trees were in bloom on the Cathedral grounds: small magnolia, flowering crab and one or two early cherry trees. We visited the herb garden and greenhouse. Also there was a small thrift shop run by the Episcopal parish where I found a beautiful vintage Vera scarf and, of course, books.



Earlier in the week the three of us visited on the Mall at the new National Museum of the American Indian and the Hirshhorn Museum. I was particularly interested in the exhibit of handmade women's dresses called Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women's Dresses. It was an amazing collection that included very old and very new designs with most Nations represented, including the Shoshone-Bannock tribe from my part of Idaho.
Inside the Museum I caught the prism reflection from the rotunda's stained glass.


Facing the mall, there is a 'natural' waterfall that comes out of the Museum. In the distance in the taller tree you can see the Washington Monument in the distance.

So we were waiting in lines for our lunch in the restaurant within the museum that is laid out geographically to highlight different food by regions of the Americas. I passed up the frog legs but had wild rice & watercress salad from the great lakes Objibwa's; fry bread from the plains and west, and a black bean tamale from the south. At the register the check out person kept fiddling with her machine and it kept spitting out something that wasn't right. As the line behind me got longer, I told her it would be o.k. as it was and she said, 'I just want to make sure you get your discount.' The discount exists for members of the museum and for Native Americans. She didn't ask me if I had a membership and it occurred to me later that she though I was, in fact, an American Indian. . .because I have always resembled one. This all made me smile from ear to ear.

While Audrey was in the Hirshhorn book store I walked around the extensive sculpture garden that runs in a circle around the building. I was smitten by these bronze sculptures by



Juan Muñoz part of a series called Last Conversation Piece 1994-5. My kind of guys--tough yet light on their feet!

Washington, D.C., a city of questions and reminders . . .

Split by a tendril of revolt

stone cedes to blossom everywhere.
Muriel Rukeyser

and where Erica works and plays hard. Always willing to take life at its word, she will be in the Georgetown Medicine Class of 2010!