Washington Memorial

The Washington monument , made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss , is the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing at 169 m. Its construction began in 1848 but not completed until 1884, almost 30 years after architect Robert Mills' death, due to the co-option by the Know Nothing party, a lack of funds, and the American Civil War.

I ask a ranger : why the difference in shading of the marble? visible about 50 m or a quarter up.

The builders ran out of local marble so the materials changed+for years the obelisk remained half-built. When opened in 1888 it became the world's tallest structure, a title previously held by the Cologne Cathedral. The monument held this designation until 1889, when Eiffel's tower completed.

Madeleine, after seeing the Washington Monument: "We came all the way here to see that?"

Me:

Madeleine: "I don't mean it as a bad thing."

National Archives, D.C.

Here we are , at the National Archives, to view the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The kids' attention elsewhere.

From New Yawk we catch the Silver Bullet to Washington DC, which is the only district of America to pays taxes with no representation in Congress. Conflict of interest, dude. I am told by a bored ticketing agent that this the only Amtrak line that does not lose money. Hey, she has a job.

The National Archives created by Congress in '34 and has 9 B records including the census from 1790 to 1930, ships passenger lists and naturalization records; not surprisingly, then , it is most often used for geneology research.

The Constitution is 4 pages on over-sized parchment , all on display, which was not the case before 911 when only the first page on view. Following the attack, it was felt that we, the people, should see our government in its entirety. I notice that there are only 12 signatures and wonder- where's the 13th states? The security women informs me Rhode Island withheld their John Hancock for two years until certain ratifications. I learn that it was all rather tenuous whether the states would sign the darn thing. When Massachusetts gave the fifth signature, all assured positive.

Eitan: "Look at that little bird . ."

Me: "It's so hot, he's rolling in the dirt."

Madeleine: "Really?"

Me: "It looks that way anyhow."

Madeleine: "If it was a Husky I'd feel sorry for it."

"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States."

--Article II, Section II, of the US Constitution

Madeleine sees the gift shop at the National Archives: "Can we go there instead?"

Anne And The Peace Corps

Anne, pictured, in Peace Corps #1 with Moe and Grace from 1961 to '63; they met , with a group of about 20, in Syracuse, New York, for training before Malawi, where Moe and Grace stationed , teaching French, maths and history. Anne now an artist , living on 36th St. and 9th Ave., in one of those impossible open spaces that covers half a building-floor that we all know exist somehow. She is warm and energetic and it is nice to hear a few new stories+Madeleine grooves on the creative.

By '61, upon graduating DePauw University, Indiana, Grace wanted out of 1950s America : cheer leading and bobby socks and wifehood, motherhood and limited career prospects which were second class at best (NB Grace put on hold a writing scholarship from Washington U). My mom's ambitions pre-dated the women's movement but very much a part of it.

Moe, for his part, contemplating his legal career and finishing a law degree from the University of Michigan. In '60, on the Michigan campus across the way from Moe's dorm, at speech Moe did not plan to attend (Joe Kennedy an anti-Semite) , JFK announced a "united corps for peace" and, then and there, the Peace Corps was created. Moe was all-in.

My parents met because of the Peace Corps, got to know each other in Africa, and have remained true to themselves, each other, and their youthful exuberance over a lifetime that I have shared for 44 years. Not a bad deal.

"To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower."

--Executive Order 10924 on March 1, 1961, and authorized by Congress on September 22, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act (Public Law 87-293).

So Busted

Sonnet: "The kids have to take a shower. Can you help me out?"

Me: "It's vacation. Let them go without a shower."

Sonnet: "They stink. They have to take a shower, Jeff."

Later, Me: "Eitan, you have to take a shower."

Eitan: "What?! I took one yesterday."

Me: "Your mother says you stink."

Eitan: "I don't stink."

Me: "Ok, tell you what, go upstairs and turn the shower on and just wet your hair a bit."

Eitan: "Really?"

Me: "Go, but be quick about it."

Later, Eitan: "I was so busted, Dad. Mom came into the bathroom and caught me wetting my hair. "

Me: "Did you tell your mom it was my idea?"

Eitan: "Yeah, I said you told me to do it. "

Me: "You couldn't keep me out of it?"

Eitan: "I'm not getting into trouble for something you did."

Me:

Sonnet: "I cannot believe you told the kids to do that."

Arms And Policies

I am free for a couple hours to take photos and amuse myself sans familia. I snap this couple on 33rd St - hand-in-glove.

Roger completes Microsoft's "wide Standards of Business Conduct Training" including:

-Reminder about Microsoft’s Anti-Corruption Policy

-Update you [Roger] of the revised FY 2012 OSD PO Approval Process & MOI PO Approval Process including Yahoo! related expenses

-Closing all FY11 PO’s

-Ensure you [Roger] are aware of key Microsoft Procurement policies

-Remind you [Roger] of our [Microsoft's] OSD Accrual policy and internal guidance

-Ensure you [Roger] are aware of the existing OSD Discretionary Spend Policy

I would last less than a moment @ Microsoft.

Lips

Eitan @ Katie's apartment.

The art behind Eitan by Katie circa 1992. The oversized frame a gift from my old girlfriend's father, a small-town orthopedic surgeon and real dickface, who gave me two over-sized framed photos of Mount Mawenzi (5149 meters) which I took from Mt Uruhu (5896 m), the highest peak of Mt Kilimanjaro. Of course he lost the negatives and made my mom cry , so I was going to throw the photos out along with a bunch of bad memories, post break-up , but Katie saved one frame from the dumpster and turned it into something good.

In real time : It is hot-as-hell in New York : the Central Park South tower, whatever it is named, tells us 104 F but when humidity included it is more like 115F. Air conditioners hum, baby. The underground unbearable but the cars air-conditioned joy. New Yorkers take it all in stride, of course : the men ditch their suits or, at least ties; women, their bras. God, bless. My deodorant quits after two hours but who notices ? Everything stinks. The tarmac melts. Everybody sweats. It's a jungle, man, but no place compares.

The Wizard

Katie takes Madeleine to breakfast at her Broadway local , chica to chica. Afterwards, she owns Eitan and madeleine for the afternoon treating them to Central Park, ice cream and hot dogs - as much as they can take. I often consider Katie's lost presence on the Shakespeares - every kid should have a cool Aunt who lives in Manhattan.

Madeleine: "Will they let lizards on the plane?"

GW Bridge

We drive under the George Washington Bridge which I once ran over weekly training for the '97 NY City Marathon. And here is a factoid : As of 2007, the GW has the greatest vehicular capacity of any bridge in the world, carrying approximately 106 million autos a year, making it the busiest car bridge in the world (according to the Port Authority of NY and NJ).

Here is what Le Corbusier said:

"The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world. Made of cables and steel beams, it gleams in the sky like a reversed arch. It is blessed. It is the only seat of grace in the disordered city. It is painted an aluminum color and, between water and sky, you see nothing but the bent cord supported by two steel towers. When your car moves up the ramp the two towers rise so high that it brings you happiness; their structure is so pure, so resolute, so regular that here, finally, steel architecture seems to laugh. The car reaches an unexpectedly wide apron; the second tower is very far away; innumerable vertical cables, gleaming against the sky, are suspended from the magisterial curve which swings down and then up. The rose-colored towers of New York appear, a vision whose harshness is mitigated by distance." (Source: When the Cathedrals were White)

"

Father, Son

Back in action. To all my Dear Readers : You may relax. Here I am with my father on the Upper West side.

The Orenstein-Stanfill family circus departs Vermont, cruising along the Taconic for 124 miles, then Bronxville. I do not get lost which happens every time - and I do mean every time - I visit my Aunt and Uncle. There was the evening, for instance, when Dan and I procured the family car, against Larry's will who cautioned we would never find the Bronxville exit, to hit the Palladium and disco clubs. This was '85, two weeks before freshman orientation, and no way were we going to miss the action nor be constrained by the Metro-North . So, of course , we get lost and end up God-knows-where at 4AM. So upset are we that I flag a driver who says "Follow me!" and takes us on a goose chase. We eventually break away and somehow stumble upon Sarah Lawrence College (in Bronxville) and home. Sunrise. Marcia notes the fuel tank empty. It took me about 20 years to earn that one back from Larry.

Orenstein Stanfill Lee Manning Bahr Schady

Madeleine, at dinner: "Why do squirrels swim on their back?"

Me and the table: "Why?"

Madeleine: "To protect their nuts."

Eitan: "That's my joke!"

Madeleine: "Is not!"

Eitan: "Is to!"

Me: "Look, I think it is MY joke so knock it off please."

Madeleine: "Yeah, Dad, but what makes it funny is how you tell it."

Boner

John Boehner, Republican, 8th District of Ohio. Minority Leader of the House of Reps (photo NYT)

Remarkably, for the first time since in US history, Uncle Sam may default on his sovereign obligations as Congress battles itself to raise the debt ceiling from $14.5 T to whatever. Americans mostly agree that the national debt not sustainable and we need to get it down. Democrats willing to do so with cuts to military and some cherished entitlements (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) and via taxes, mostly eliminating loop holes to corporates and the rich (NB In the USA, the top 10% pay 90% of all taxes; 50% of Americans pay no taxes at all).

Republicans want to go by cuts alone , protecting the military and, mostly, entitlements which keep the Elephants in office. Everybody else, go fish. Recall how Republicans argued debt okey-dokey during Bush's two unfunded wars and his ruinous tax cuts.

Believe you me I agree that we must reduce entitlements whose escalating costs will destroy the country inside a generation. Nor can we dream the problem away with more taxes so in this regard I side with the Republicans. Yet the debt ceiling no place to leverage policy. Unfortunately 250 Repubs have signed Grover Norquist's no-new-tax pledge and this, Dear Reader, threatens America''s future.

"Traitor: A person who is guilty of treason or treachery, in betraying friends, country, a cause or trust, etc."

--Webster Dictionary

Quarry

From Larry and Marcia's house, pictured. Their property dates to the 19th century when it was a sawmill cutting marble; the water powered a turbine that cut the stone which was drawn from the nearby quarry. Now it is an evironmentally protected area.

Plaque at the marble quarry, one mile down route 7A:

"First Marble Quarry

Oldest Quarry in the U.S., 1785.

Here, near Mt. Aelus, Isaac Underhill opened the first marble quarry in 1785. Dorset quarries were most active in the early 1800's when small slabs were used for for hearths, doorsills, and headstones. With better transportation and saws, larger blocks were quarried.

"

Holiday Dad

I have not considered London nor work since leaving, well, London and work. Sure I have a few telephone calls to make and some emails to answer but it is mostly hard to be overly concerned. Europe, we know, shuts down for summer from about now: for the Nordics , it is July while everyone else, August. Not a bad life for them and us , for sure, but we are falling behind in the global league tables : difficult to compete with China given a 1% eurozone GDP growth and Greece. Still, Germany tries. And Britain pulls her weight. Italy has lovely pizza and Ireland - well, she pays us with Guinness.

Me: "What do you think of our parenting?"

Madeleine: "Parenting?"

Me: "Yeah, like how are mom and I doing ? What can we do better?"

Madeleine: "I don't know.. ."

Me: "What are some things that I have done well?"

Madeleine: "Hamster. Fish. Dog."

Me: "Is there anything else I can do?"

Madeleine: "Gecko."

Me: "Got that. Do you think I'm too strict?"

Madeleine: "Yes, like, all the time."

Me: "Oh, really? Give me an example."

Madeleine: "Like when I spilled powder on the floor and you sent me to bed. Without dinner."

Me: "I did?"

Madeleine: "And I was only five."

Richie @ Laguna Beach

Richie shreds it up, pictured. We were the two Californian odd balls at Brown - I was a swimmer and he played water polo. Why on earth we went to the East Coast for college who knows ? Richie, at least, returned to his heritage and now, when not making films, finds himself inside the bowl or on the big wave.

"All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine. "
--Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Katie ~ Eitan Falls From The Bunk Bed

Auntie Katie on the way to Lake Emerald, Vermont.

3AM: Sonnet and I awaken to a loud "thump". Eitan, who is on top of the bunk bed, falls out. Sonnet moves like greased lightening to find our hero dazed but in one piece. He is sleep-walking, Dear Reader, and unable to grasp what has happened nor the dead of night. It has happened before, on occasion, and I recall the night when Sonnet home late from work to find Eitan missing and his bedroom window open. She f-r-e-a-k-s, dials the police and reports "kidnapped child", and generally goes into hysterics. Who can blame her? Me, I walk downstairs to find the boy curled up on the coach peacefully asleep. The cops understanding and everybody grateful for the conclusion. Thank, God, really.

Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness.

--Wiki

Eitan: "You're not actually writing on your blog. That's a miracle."

Me: "A miracle, indeed."

Kristy McN

I first met Kristy McNichol in "Little Darlings" where she and Tatum O'Neal, both 15 but from different sides of the tracks, compete to lose their virginity. While at summer camp, of course. This 1980 so I am about 12 and duly impressionable. The film undoubtedly rated "PG" since I cannot imagine watching it with my mother. McNichol (who wins the bet BTW) a teen sensation, winning two Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in TV weekly "Family," which aired from '76 to '80; she also appeared in Starsky & Hutch, Bionic Women and Love Boat and recorded Christmas specials with The Carpenters. Her re-doing of The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" hit #70 on the billboards. She had Sean Cassidy hair. Do not doubt, Dear Reader, that Kristy McNichol had my attention.

Sadly, McNichol's acting career petered out by the mid-1980s as erratic on-set behavior caused the studios to lose confidence. Making movies like "The Pirate Movie" and "Just The Way You Are" didn't help, either. In '92 she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and disappeared from public life more-or-less completely.

Today, McNichol lives in LA, California, where (according to the NYT), she has taught acting at a private school and devoted much of her time to charity work.

"You're supposed to get turned on, stupid, not pass out. "

--Angel, played by Kristy McNichol, in Little Darlings, 1980

Three D

Madeleine picks up a "3-D" puzzle at the "awesome" local book shop : "So I have to describe it? It was very hard to build. It's yellow. It's delicate. When you rub your finger down it, it feels like brick." She gets everybody hooked on "Mad Libs" and we spend an afternoon filling story-lines with adjectives, nouns, verbs, pronouns &c. I have to remind myself what these things are

"Every morning they spend 253 hours stretching their tits and touching their bums."

--Mad Libs

Mt Equinox And A Bit Of The Revolutionary War

Sonnet, Katie, Eitan and I go for a "gentle walk" and end up climbing 3,800 ft Equinox Mountain instead. Equinox the highest peak of the Taconic Range. Starting from Manchester, it is straight up followed by straight down , leaving us perspired, exhausted and achy - the downward trek taxes muscles I knew not of. The peak marked by an ancient hotel which, Larry tells me, closed 15 years ago. On a winter's day it might be the Overlook Hotel. Me, I follow up with a three-hour nap (not 30 anymore dude) and go to bed at 9PM which vexes Sonnet at 4AM as I wake her to discuss house-design. Instead of fighting me, we go for a sunrise walk.

A signage at the trail head in Manchester:

"The Revolutionary War. Ethan Allen crossed Lake Champlain to capture Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775 for "America's First Victory." Allen's expedition passed through here on May 5, 1775. Nathan Beman from Manchester guided the expedition into the fort: John Roberts of Manchester was the head of the expedition's largest immediate family. In 1777, after evacuating Ft. Ti and Mount Independence, Gen. Arthur St Claire traveled to the Saratoga area via Manchester. The first meeting of the council of Safety (Vermont's initial government) were at the original Marsh Tavern (on site of the south wing of the Equinox). In Manchester, Gen. John Stark declined orders from Gen. Benjamin Lincoln and opted to go to Bennington. Stark's NH troops and Seth Warner's "Green Mountain Boys" camped in Manchester prior to the battle of Bennington victory on August 16, 1777.

--Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 2011

Chillax

Madeleine requests a few photos for her "summer journal", as required for school. This replaces the usual cajoling or bribing now the norm when my camera trained on the Shakespeares.

VT

The Orenstein family circus arrives in NY where we meet Gracie and Moe at Herz and load up an SUV that stretches across the inter-state. Yep, holiday in America. We spend our first night in Bronxville (joined by Auntie Katie) and a day in New York , where Sonnet takes Madeleine to Alexander McQueen at the Met - Sonnet tells me that it is the most popular exhibition in the museum's history. I see a few friends, and now Vermont with Marcia and Larry and Susan and Joey and Julia. The last time our together ensemble was Diane's wedding two years ago.

Madeleine: "Dad can I sit in the back seat?"

Gracie: "I want to sit in the back with Madeleine."

Eitan: "Can I sit in the back seat, too?"

Sonnet: "I think you have to climb over the middle seat, Grace."

Eitan: "Why does Madeleine get the back seat with Gracie?"

Sonnet: "Maybe we can turn one of the seats back so Gracie can get in. .."

Madeleine: "I asked first, Eitan, and besides there is only room for me and Gracie."

Sonnet: "I am sure there is plenty of room."

Grace: "Can you move the seat back so I can get in?"

Me: "Get. In. The. Car."

Grace: "Jesus."