Denver Airport

Awaiting the over-night long-haul flight. These are words , Dear Reader, I do not like to put together referencing me.

Since most everywhere interesting, even an airport, here is Denver :

By land size, at 53 square miles, DIA is the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world after King Fahd International Airport and Montréal-Mirabel International Airport. Runway 16R/34L is the longest public use runway in the US. Denver clocks in as the ninth-busiest airport in the world with 12,873,681 passengers. It is the fifth-busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements with 606,006 movements in 2009 (source: Wiki).

Summer Groove

It has been one great , long, month as we pack the SUV for one last trip : DIA. Been here before, I feel. Our flight departs 8PM so we go to Whitney's pool club to burn off energy (kids) and sunbathe (Sonnet) before the long-haul home. Me, I swim some laps and contemplate my office and the future : summer almost over and another year nearly gone by somehow.

Me: "Looking forward to going home?"

Eitan: "I am looking forward to seeing my friends and Elm Grove [new football team]. I can't wait for Elm Grove. Also the Premiere League and seeing Manchester United on the TV.. and baking a cake. And swimming, and school I guess.

Me: "Cool, it's nice to have those things before you. And you, Madeleine?"

Madeleine: "I've got one word to say , Dad."

Me:

Madeleine: "Gecko."

Forest Rd

We head to Denver - Beecher and Whitney, pictured - where we enjoy a Sonnet family reunion : Robin, Bill, Bill, Martine, Frank, Maire and Turk and their tots. This has not been a year without cancer and loss but we are together and happy to be so. Bill's cancer has caused cracks in his upper vertebrae which require cement fillings : The good news : His mind sharp as ever and his doctor allows him to ride. Bill a photographer and we compare notes on practices and places to shoot; his backyard not so bad. Beecher makes a huge spread followed by strawberry shortcake and ice cream; the kids chase each other around the backyard despite the heat.

On Stage

Madeleine and I at a local park inside Moab.

Madeleine gets a hair-cut (feathered, like Sean Cassidy, I tell her) and (continues to be) mistaken for a boy. Waiters, cashiers, strangers overheard calling her "pal," "bud," and "dude" . , which gets a raised eyebrow from Eitan : to laugh or be respectful to an adult? Conundrum. As for Madeleine , she enjoys the recognition: Tom boy. I have been calling her "Milo" this trip, a name, we both agree, boyish. Unclear whether this will stick in London. She ditches her one-piece swimsuit for trunks and a black "Quick Silver" top; she buys black Nike trainers. Yep, that's my girl, and I could not be more proud of her. I drive her nuts with practice times-tables and various commands, teasings, and orders but she still wants my attention which, I note to Sonnet, may not be the case in a few years.

Me: "Do you think I look fat?"

Madeleine: "No, Dad, you don't look fat."

Me: "Thanks, Madeleine, that's very nice of you."

Madeleine: "If you shave off all your hair than you would look even more fit."

@ the pool.

Eitan: "Can I go on your shoulders Dad?"

Me: "No."

Madeleine: "Can you give me an underwater ride?"

Me: "No, not now. Just let me swim."

Eitan: "Let's play chicken. Or shoulder ride!"

Me: "If you don't get off me, I am going to take off my swimming suit."

Madeleine: "Quick, Eitan, let go of Dad."

I drop my swimming trunks.

Eitan, Madeleine: "Aaaaaahh!"

Balanced Rock

4AM, hello!, and I am up for Arches National Park. Eitan, who beforehand agrees-interest in joining me , immobile and snoring , so I leave him be. It is pitch black upon exiting Moab, Sunday morning, and not a car on the 191. Since 70 degrees I am in shorts and a tee-shirt and have the air conditioning "on" as I pass the deserted park-entrance (Arches open to the public 24/7, 365 days a year ) and curve up a windy rd on to the mesa. Adding some drama , my SUV informs me with a loud "beep" : no gas. I figure the fumes can get me to where I wish to be, and back , but my calculation based on nothing other than a hope , and a prayer, with a slight anxiety expressed in my mid-section.

And so here I behold Balanced Rock . The height of this magnificent ancient geo formation about 128 feet, with the balancing rock rising 55 feet above the base. The big rock on top is the size of three school buses and weighs 3,577 tons. Until recently, Balanced Rock had a companion - a similar, but smaller balanced rock named "Chip Off The Old Block", which fell during the winter of 1975/1976. It is a spiritual place and I remain in darkness , awaiting sunrise. To pass the time I do some deep breathing and yoga exercises. Magic, man. Plus I make it to a gas station.

Dead Horse Lookout, Utah

View of the Colorado River and Canyonlands National Park from Dead Horse Point.

The plateau, where I stand now, surrounded by 2,000 ft cliffs with a narrow neck of land maybe 30 yards wide connecting the mesa to the main plateau. It was easy for cowboys to fence off the neck and round up wild horses. Legend has it that one group of horses left fenced and eventually died of thirst in view of the Colorado River - hence the name. This where final scene of Thelma & Louise filmed.

There is a fabulously designed Ranger Station which offers the American flag, a look out deck, and, of course, all the stuff Madeleine has come to expect from a well stocked gift shop. We spend about an hour here awaiting the sunset , which disappoints thanks to a horizonal cloud layer that lessons the hues anticipated from this hour. I meet a retired couple, from Georgia, who return to this spot after 40 years; now they spend their life in a Winnebago visiting National Parks and filming, with a 16mm, what they see "for posterity".

The strata measure geo-spatial time covering 75 M years at the top to 250 M years at the band rising ten feet from the river bed (visible on the left side of the photo)

Grand County

Our first night in Moab, >100 degrees, Sonnet, Madeleine and I explore a local park behind the fancy part of town (Eitan remains in the room, smartly, to watch TV). Our reward : a brilliant sunset followed by the moonrise, pictured, which otherwise appears much bigger than my camera records

The Biblical name "Moab" refers to an area of land located on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Some believe the name used because of William Pierce, the first postmaster, believing that the biblical Moab and this part of Utah were both "the far country". However, others think the name has Paiute origins, referring to the word "moapa" meaning mosquito. Some of the area's early residents attempted to change the city's name because in the Christian Bible, Moabites are demeaned as incestuous and idolatrous. One petition in 1890 had 59 signatures and requested a name change to Vina. Another effort attempted to change the name to Uvadalia. (Source: City of Moab website)

La Sal Jnct

La Sal Junction, pictured, connects routes 191 and 46 in San Juan County, Utah, 5,886 feet altitude.

I order Eitan, who idles, to write one full page about something he has seen in the past 24-hours (mind you, Dear Reader, that we are in Arches National Park and the Canyon Valley) :

"I saw a really cool breakfast bar. It had really nice food. I had fruit salad, a blueberry muffin and hot chocolate and a really delicious cream cheese pastry and chicken sausages which I unfortunately couldn't find any ketchup for. All in all , it was a delicious breakfast that I would recommend to all my friends for the Hampton Inn breakfast bar. Plus they give out free peppermints in the lobby."

--Eitan

"Serves you right."

--Sonnet

Flume

Behind the mesh, pictured, is a 1,500 foot vertical drop to the Colorado River, whose wide swathe chisels the red sandstone.

"In need of water to work the Dolores Canyon gold claims, the Montrose Placer Mining Company built a thirteen-mile canal and flume to deliver water to from the San Miguel River. The last five miles of the flume clung to the canyon itself, running along the cliff face below. Constructed between 1888 and 1891, the four-foot-deep, five-foot-four-inch wide "hanging flume" carried 23,640,000 gallons of water in a 24-hour period. Its construction dazzled mining pros with its sheer ingenuity. The placer claim, unfortunately, dazzled no one; after three years of indifferent yields the company folded, abandoning the flume to the ravages of weather and time. Now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this engineering marvel symbolizes the twists of fate so often encountered in the pursuit of Rocky Mountain gold."

--US National Parks plaque

"This work will show how easy it is, when backed up by engineering capital, to bring water from and to points which were always thought to be inaccessible."

--Engineering and Mining Journal, January 1890

"We're looking pretty good for mid-40s."

--Sonnet

Gateway

Gateway Canyon Resort, and its surrounding area, owned by John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel (Hendricks got his start, in '85, with a $5 M investment from Allen & Co, whose partner - Botts & Co. - my first opportunity in London. Allen's investment worth $ billions ). Hendricks' father, a home builder, knew of the area and , since public land, told his son that, should he ever have some money, he must own it. The rest of the story, as they say, history.

Rte 90/141 takes us by Ridgeway (where John Wayne's "True Grit" filmed), the 17,000-acre Ralph Lauren ranch, Telluride, Naturita, Uravan and other postage stamps which make me wonder : how do people live in small towns with a gas station , liquor store and US post office ? There is charm to the beauty but services narrow to non-existent : schools, grocery stores, Pete's Coffee and public amenities a long drive - 20s of miles, maybe. Cowboy country , I would last a week. Naturita has one of the best libraries in the state, Stan tells me, and Silver checks it out.

"Ma'am, I don't know much about thoroughbreds - horses or women. Them that I did know, I never liked. They're too nervous and spooky; they scare me. But you're one high-bred filly that don't. 'Course, I don't know what you're talking about half the time."

--Rooster Cogburn

“I've had three wives, six children and six grandchildren and I still don't understand women”

--John Wayne

44 Road

Photo from 44 Road, of Route 141, in Gateway Canyon, mid-day.

The Orenstein-Stanfill roaming family circus picks up sticks and heads for Utah via Route 141/90, taking a scenic detour to Gateway Canyon Resort, on Stan's recommendation. We caravan with Stan and Silver and Marcus.

As the Shakespeares' changes shall be upon us, their transition discussed (or ignored) by the family. Thackery gives us guidance, Dear Reader, below, which I read to the kids, who cover their ears:

"James Crawley, when his aunt had last beheld him, was a gawky lad, at that uncomfortable age when the voice varies between an unearthly treble and a preternatural bass; when the face not uncommonly blooms out with appearances for which Rowland Kalydor [anti-zit cream] is said to act as a cure; when boys are seen to shave furtively with their sisters scissors, and the sight of other young women produces intolerable sensations of terror in them; when the great hands and ankles protrude a long way from garments which have grown too tight for them; when the presences after dinner is at once frightful to the ladies, who are whispering in the twilight in the drawing-room, and inexpressibly odious to the gentlemen over the mahogany, who are restrained from freedom of intercourse and delightful interchanged of wit by the prescience of that gawky innocence; when, at the conclusion of the second glass, papa says, 'Jack, my boy, go out and see if the evening holds up', and the youth, willing to be free, yet hurt at not being yet a man, quits incomplete banquet. . . ."

--William Thackery, "Vanity Fair", 1848

Storage Drums, Cascade St, Montrose

Silver recounts Quaker boarding school - The Grove, in Maine, before Vassar : 9:30PM lights-out! No matches (cigarettes!). No boys (heaven, forbid!). Students achieving certain minimum exceptional performance allowed to pursue extra-curicular studies and Silver chose . . vocabulary. She learned one-hundred words a week and has not forgotten one.

Gassing up at Conoco, the following sign: "Pork N Hop Tickets R Here".

We say good-bye to the Red Arrow , Presidential Suit , visit the Coffee Trader one last time, and head for Utah.

Russell Stover

We visit Russell Stover Candies factory in Montrose ("America's Favorite Chocolate Store"(R)) and, as Silver says, "kids in a candy store".

For those few unaware, Stover sells 60% of all boxed chocolate in the US of A or 100 M lbs of chocolate annually. Who hasn't, at some youthful moment, bought their most successful product : a heart-shaped box of Valentine's chocolates ?

Me: "How long does a gecko live?"

Madeleine: "It says 20 to 30 years."

Me: "That's nice. So who is going to take care of your gecko when you go to college?"

Madeleine: "I don't know. You, I guess."

Me: "You can always take it with you."

Madeleine: "The only way they are going to let me have a gecko in college, Dad, is if they are going to dissect it."

At Russell Stover

Madeleine: "I don't like chocolate, Dad."

Me: "Oh, really?"

Madeleine: "I only like four kinds: eclairs , Mars, Snickers and twirlers."

Me: "What's a twirler?"

Madeleine: "It's a kind of chocolate that has caramel in it. It is sooo nice."

Eitan: "I got a jaw breaker . [Eitan thrusts a radioactive blue ball in my face] "The women said her son had one and it took him two months to finish."

Me: "Oh, great. What do you do when you're not sucking on it?"

Eitan: "You can't break it with your teeth, either."

Madeleine: "Is it like chewing ice, Eitan ?"

Eitan: "Yeah. It's stronger than ice."

Madeleine: "Woa."

Me: "That's disgusting. Just don't let me see that thing anywhere in the house when we get back."

Eitan: "I bet I can finish mine in less than a month."

Madeleine: "Woa, Eitan, that is so wicked."

Self Portrait XIX

Trailhead, entering Mount Sneffels wilderness, Uncompahgre National Forrest, Colorado.

Blue Lake

We hike into Sneffel Wilderness while our trail takes us to the first of three Blue Lakes : this one 10,980 feet. The lake unnatural blue , filled by a stream from the towering Mt Sneffels, which has some scant snow. The water freezing cold - I last a few moments before too painful - while Eitan does a full-on cannonball then scrambles out, Dear Reader, in something near shock.

"Mount Sneffels is a fourteen thousand foot mountain peak located in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness of the northern San Juan Mountains, about 5 miles west of Ouray. The mountain named after the volcano Snæfell, which is located on the tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland. That mountain and its glacier, Snæfellsjökull, which caps the crater like a convex lens, were featured in the Jules Verne novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth. An area on the western flank of Mount Sneffels gives the appearance of volcanic crater. Seen from the Dallas Divide on State Highway 62, Mount Sneffels is one of the most photographed mountains in Colorado."

--Wiki

Madeleine: "Can we get a Gecko, Dad? Can we? Can we? When can we get a gecko? Will it go on the plane? I know, I will buy the cage and you can buy me the gecko."

Me: "What does a gecko eat?"

Madeleine: "Crickets."

Me: "Where will we keep crickets?"

Madeleine: "The garage. We can keep them there."

Me: "No, way. Your mom won't go for that."

Madeleine: "And if we feed him crickets we would have to take off every one of his last legs."

Me:

Madeleine: "So the ghecko can catch him."

Me: "Crickets: Out."

Madeleine: "Ok. We can feed him meal worms and wax worms as a treat. You keep those in the refrigerator."

Me: "Sonnet: Are you on board with this?"

Sonnet: "Is there a choice?"

Drive By Looting

The riots : like everybody, I am upset by the ransacking of London and other UK cities. This is violence fueled by boredom and opportunity : looters can do it, so they do. There is no Great Cause, like suffrage or the Arab uprising, motivating these people. Where is the imagination? Thatcher's coal miners thuggish yet fighting for their livelihood . Blacks in America , equality. We see criminals stealing electronics. We hear inarticulate, bored , yuf who believe they are owed yet fail to get educated or working. They contribute nothing yet receive health care, opportunity, and roads to leave. Cameron has it right, quoted in the NYT : "The sight of those young people running down streets, smashing windows, taking property, looting, laughing as they go, the problem of that is a complete lack of responsibility, a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals."

“This is the uprising of the working class. We’re redistributing the wealth.”

--Bryn Phillips, a 28-year-old self-described anarchist

"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

--Martin Luther King

Lovin' It

Me: "We can go to Sonic for good hamburgers or Mexican or pizza . . ."

Eitan, Madeleine: "McDonald's!"

Me: "Are you sure? You can do that all the time in London."

Eitan: Yes, Dad, but they don't have the playroom."

Madeleine: "Plus we go, like, only once a year."

Me: "McDonald's it is."

Both: "Yes!"

Later, entering McDonald's, both: "Mmmm, ohhh .. that smells so nice.. ."

Me: "Good to be home?"

Eitan: "I'll have the 20-piece Chicken McNuggets and chips.

Cashier:

Me: "French fries. Madeleine, you're up."

Madeleine: "I will have a cheese burger, six Chicken McNuggets and chips."

Me: "Knock yourselves out."

Later, Eitan: "Are you writing that down?"

Me: "Yeah, so?"

Eitan: "Dad! You are making me look piggy on the blog!"

For the record, from the McNugget box:

Stack 'Em & Dunk 'Em" : Golden & Juicy Meet Saucy.

Take a crispy coated Chick McNugget(TM) made with white meat and dunk it into one of our delicious tempting sauces. It's the perfect combination.

I'm lovin' it(R)

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 460 % Daily Value

Total Fat: 29g 44%

Sat Fat 5g 25%

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol 70mg 23%

Sodium 1000mg 42%

Total Carb. 27g 9%

Dietary Fiber 0g

Sugars 0g

Protein 24g

Vitamin A 0%

Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 2%

Iron 8%

The Shakespeares Sleep In ~ Riots And Cleaning

Madeleine, tidying room: "So, really, Dad, it's always me scratching your back."

Me: "Hey, do you know there are riots in London?"

Madeleine: "So?"

Me: "Good point."

Madeleine: "You are always making me do things I don't want. Can't you do it yourself for once?"

Me: "What fun would that be?"

Madeleine: "Can you at least pick up your clothes?"

Me: "You do it."

Madeleine: "You're just being lazy. All you're looking for is a slave."

Me: "They are putting 16,000 police on the streets."

Madeleine: "Why?"

Me: "Riots."

adeleine: "Where are they, Dad?"

Me: "Northwest London. Not near us."

Madeleine: "Oh. It is so unfair."

Me: "The riots?"

Madeleine: "The cleaning."

Corn Festival, Y'All

We return to the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival which celebrates its 20th anniversary with all-you-can eat corn and everything else American: corn dogs, country bands, US flags, slushies, military and religious booths, SUVs, corn-eating contests, enormous families, tatoos, cowboy hats and boots, iPhones and apple pie. Teenagers slink about; couples hold hands ; girls wear ripped jean-shorts up to their fannyline despite the family theme of it all. Despite a cloak of self-perceived invisibility, the young people on display, as it always is.

Last time , the headliner was Shania Twain and, since I had never heard of her, we did not stick around. Twain has sold over 40 M country albums. This year it is '70s rock band "Guess Who" , famous for '70 #1 "American Woman" which the band has lived on ever since. Richard Nixon invited Guess Who to the White House as long as they did not play "American Woman."

We find a morning spot underneath a canvas umbrella and watch the Shakespeares run back and forth and back and forth to the various food stalls - popcorn! Water Mellon! Hot dogs! Ice creams! Lemon sluice! Meat legs ! It's all a bit overwhelming in 100F+ heat so I read and observe. This an honest effort, a successful festival, and good vibe place.

"In 1992, a few insightful people in the small western Colorado town of Olathe, decided to celebrate the community's agricultural jewel... "Olathe Sweet" sweet corn, by organizing the first Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. This hometown crop was and continues to be more than just another of the many agriculture products of the region. Sweet corn is the crop that has kept this rural American community alive when other efforts were failing. Indeed, the citizens of the Town of Olathe, Colorado had cause for celebration."

--Olathe Sweet Corn Festival" Official History

Feeling 44

As I am up at 4:30AM for some horrible reason , I rouse myself from bed to sneak from the hotel to the SUV to drive to Black Canyon. The temperature a perfect 70 degrees , despite the hour , while HW 50 deserted. I turn into the National Park and curve along the mesa, passing the empty ranger station, a number of look-outs, the closed visitor center and eventually Painted Wall , pictured, where I set up my camera and await pre-dawn. The gorge, cut by the Gunnison River over millions of years, puts my balls into my stomach : one slip and it is a long ways down. I jump about the rocks with my tripod in a reckless fashion that would make Sonnet scream.

"At a sheer 2,300 feet, the Painted Wall, a prominent segment of the Black Canyon's north rim, is Colorado's highest cliff. The darker rock is Black Canyon Gneiss. The bold white and pink bands are granites and pegmatites injected during Middle Proterozoic (1.4 Ga) through Cambrian (~510 Ga) intrusions. Large books of white mica (muscovite) and crystals of pink potassium feldspar and translucent quartz give the pegmatites their lustrous pink look.

Just as Precambrian joints and faults controlled the placement of these igneous intrusions, the current regional jointing system now controls the locations of the side canyons cut by smaller streams left behind as the mighty Gunnison cut through the Gunnison Uplift.

These views look west from the Chasm View Nature Trail overlook, which is across the canyon from Chasm View on the South Rim. "

--Colorado Geology Photojournals

Painted Wall @ Sunrise

More words from Washington D.C.:

Me: "I'll give you five bucks if you can name five things about the white House."

Madeleine: "Really?"

Me: "They have to be good ones, too. I'm not paying for baloney like the White House is white."

Madeleine: "Barack Obama and his wife and his dog live on the 2nd floor."

Me: "Good."

Madeleine: "That the British burned down the White House in 1812."

Me: "Yep."

Madeleine: "There are 35 toilets. And five kitchens. That counts as two."

Me: "35 toilets?

Madeleine: "Four, dad, one more."

Me: "Go for it."

Madeleine: "There are eagles everywhere."

Me: "Dig deeper."

Madeleine: "The eagle is the symbol of America."

Eitan: "Mom told you that! "

Me: "I'll take it. Here's $5."

E: "What! Can I do that?"

Me: "Nope, you had your chance."

Eitan: "How about 5 questions for a dollar?"

Me: "No."

Eitan: "50p?"

Me: "No."

E: "A quarter? I'll do it for free, even."

Madeleine: "Washington: Museums, museums, museums."

Me: "Your worst nightmare?"

Madeleine: "Yep."

Eitan on the Jefferson Memorial : "Do we reaaallly have to go here?"

Eitan: "You know we burned down the White House? "

Me: "Oh, really?"

Eitan: "1812. It says right here the British burned down the White House."

Me: "Well I'm glad to know what side we're on."

Eitan: "I do like it when the British win."

Eitan: "Bye Dad! Bye Daaaad!

Me: "Get off that escalator right now!"

Madeleine: "What if the train comes?"

Me: "Then we will leave him."

Madeleine: "You would want to see some dumb old statue instead of keeping your own child?"

Sonnet: "I remember our trip to Washington D.C. when I was your age. I recall feeling the same way as you."

Madeleine: "Gee, thanks Mom, for making me feel really bad."

Soccer Camp

And no vacation would be a vacation without football for Eitan. Thanks to Stan, Eitan joins 75 kids, ages 10 to 14, for three hours of evening action, Wednesday to Friday. The well groomed pitches offer sweeping views of the mesa and Rockies. Two-thirds of the players female. Photo by Sonnet.

Me: "I noticed there are a lot of girls playing football."

Eitan: "Yeah, so?"

Me: "What's it like, playing against a girl?"

Eitan: "The same, I guess. .it's not like I care or anything."

Me: "Do you know what a Trojan Horse is?"

Eitan: "No."

Me: "It's from the Illiad. A bunch of Greeks hide in a giant wood horse which is left for the Trojans as a gift. The Trojans take the horse inside their city and, at night, the Greeks sneak out and open the city doors. Boom! They sack the city."

Eitan; "Why are you telling me this?"

Me: "It's kinda like playing with girls on the football squad."

Eitan: "La la la la lalalalalalala . ."

Big J

Big J's Pawn Shop on Main Street across from the Coffee Trader, the best coffee in Montrose. The founder-proprietors Fong and Will, both gay, from Las Vegas where Fong responsible for Harrahs Hotels entertainment and Will same for MGM Grand. In short, better than a sitcom. The duo moved to the Western Slope twelve-years ago, buying a derelict house, and turning it into their vision : a stately Victorian with a lovely coffee garden filled with flowers, tables , a few lounge chairs and a happy vibe. Many new proprietors followed their lead and, today, downtown Montrose celebrates a Main Street festival every Thursday evening of summertime.

Silver Is Purple

Eitan: "You are not going to JC Penney with Mom, Dad."

Me: "Oh? Why's that?"

Eitan: "Real men don't shop at JC Penney."

Me:

Eitan: "Real men only buy BBQ grills and sports stuff."

Me: "Thank you for clearing that up for me."

For the FYI: Founded in 1907, JCP's 1,106 stores produced $17.8 B of turnover and $389 M of net income for the 12 months ending December 2010. The company employs 156,000 people. While not particularly my style, JCP offers good basics and many a young man bought his first suit here. Many still do.

Texas Wedgie

Sonnet prepares dinner at her parents house.

Me: "Have you ever had a Melvin?"

Madeleine: "What's that?"

Me: "A wedgie. ."

Madeleine: "We call them a Texas Wedgie."

Me: "Oh? What's that then?"

Madeleine: "It's when you grab both sides of someone's pants and do this" [Madeleine puts both arms above head]

Me: "Have you done this in school?"

Me: "Yes, the last time was Harry. And only when he needs it. Billy had to put his hair back in school and Harry was laughing at him so we chased him across the yard. I caught him, Nathaniel held him. And Alex gave him a Texas Wedgie."

Me:

Madeleine: "And he never laughed at Billy again."

Sonnet: "Harry got a Texas Wedgie? That's mean."

Madeleine: "That's life, Mom."

Emma Watson Goes To Brown

Following seven books, 3,408 pages, 1,090,739 words and eight movies : Harry Potter comes to an end at the Fox Cinema Center where we see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2". Sonnet began reading Harry P to the kids when they were 5.5 and 7 years-old, replacing my Spider Man bedtime stories. Unlike the wizard, my adventures included, like, real characters such as the "Giant Green Cricket" and the "Spider Killers", a series of deathly spider rob0ts, controlled by Kingpin, which scaled buildings to slay Our Man. But, hey, I am not jealous : We all have to move on I am sure.

Eitan, at the end of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows": "Oh, God."

Highway

We cross the Rockies on familiar tarmac , heading for the Western Slope and Montrose.

"

Eitan's List of things we have to do in Colorado. By Eitan

1. Montrose swimming pool every day.

2. Dairy Queen at least once.

3. Make a cake or a pie/ tart.

4. Go shopping for a snorkel and camera.

5. Go watch Harry Potter.

6. Take lots of pictures.

7. Go for a late nigh dip in the hotel pool.

8. Go to McDonald's Playland.

9. play lots of football.

"

Summer Reading

Eitan: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

Madeleine: "Wolf Brother," Michelle Paver

Sonnet: "Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West", Dorothy Wickenden

Me: "Vanity Fair", William Thackery

High

Obama, whose prior experience not much to crow about, fast losing my attention. No doubt he has the hardest job in America (as Leno quipped: "a job only a black man would take") but has failed to stand against the bully Republicans. Even following the debt-ceiling "negotiations" where Obama caved on his single request - revenue increases - he takes the hit from Bahner who blames the White House for a S&P downgrade; Quoth Bahner : "Unfortunately, decades of reckless spending cannot be reversed immediately, especially when the Democrats who run Washington remain unwilling to make the tough choices required to put America on solid ground."

The reality that our national debt spiraled out-of-control thanks to el presidente Bush and his Republican controlled Congress who increased US debt by $5 T. Obama, by 2010 year-end, has added another $1.6 T mostly to save the financial system and address the economy he inherited. To suggest the Democrats responsible for the debt a bunch of baloney.

So when will the President wake up ? The story now told by the loudest to the dumbest. Dullards must be met head-on. FDR , in similar circumstances, relished the battle and welcomed the hatred of his adversaries. Obama's instincts , and decency, have set us back.

Eitan, from the air: "Chicago is neat."

Me: "Neat?"

Eitan: "Neat and tidy."

Madeleine, at a bookshop in Chicago O'Hare airport: "Look, Dad, I've found the comics you used to like. Want to see?"

Me: "Sure."

Madeleine: "See? I like the X Men. They are my favorite."

Me:

Madeleine: "Can you buy me some?"

EWR

Up and at 'em, 4:45AM, to the Newark Airport. We watch a spectacular sunrise over the Empire State Building. Kids pretty good about it, too, while me : I just drink more, and more, coffee. Does anybody else notice that the more you imbibe the more you need ?

We cross the Holland Tunnel into New Jersey and already rush hour traffic in the other direction. Our cab driver plays Miles Davis. New Jersey's first impression : swamps, industry , elevated railroads; most of the Manhattan skyline hidden behind a ridgeline but eventually, there she is, beckoning. I consider those who live in marginal or small towns on this side of the Hudson : not easy.

I've never hesitated about Berkeley, a place I am proud of, from the freakiest hippie-dippies of the '60s to the liberal moderates of now. Sure, it ain't Civil Rights nor Viet Nam but maybe equally bad given three wars and the no-compromise Tea Party fools. We need voices, and radicals, in the streets, out there fighting the system, man. Where is our ipad-addicted, video game obsessed, yuf? My mom notes that today equally depressing, and scary, as during Viet Nam.

Shaw Memorial

Shaw Memorial, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1900, Gallery 66

"The gigantic, golden full-scale plaster model of the bronze memorial erected in Boston to young Colonel Shaw and the African American soldiers of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment is not to be missed. In their valiant effort to preserve the Union, they also overcame prejudice about their military ability. Their heroism inspired the film Glory."

--West Building Highlights, National Gallery

I disagree with the enthusiastic description of Shaw, above : African Americans, I am sure, wished to destroy the South; any thought of saving the Union a secondary consideration.

Forced walk

Sonnet: "We are going to see the Washington and Jefferson memorials."

Madeleine: "Aren't they just statues?"

Sonnet: "Yes, they are."

Madeleine: "We're going to look at them for, like, 15 seconds."

Me: "Maybe you will learn something, then."

Madeleine: "Oh, Dad. Why do you always have to do that?"

Ziggy

Eitan, whose eyes are about to disappear along with his ears, at (or underneath?) the Hirshorn Museum. We have just come from the Smithonian Air and Space Museum.

Eitan eats NASA "space ice cream": "That's infinitely delicious."

Eitan: "Which do you think is better: heat when you are freezing or air conditioning when you're boiling hot?"

Eitan holds up his Smithonian ID card, purchased for three dollars: "Eitan Orenstein, average intelligence."

Madeleine: "Dad, do you mind if I run, frolic, and play on the jungle gym?"

Federal Reserve Building

The Fed, the US central banking system, created in 1913 in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907. Sound familiar ? Over time, the Fed's role has changed in response to things like the Great Depression. Its duties today "are to conduct the nation's monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, maintain the stability of the financial system and provide financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions" , according to their charter.

The Fed's structure composed of the presidentially appointed Board of Governors (or Federal Reserve Board), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, numerous privately owned U.S. member banks and various advisory councils. The FOMC is responsible for setting monetary policy. The Fed designed to serve the interests of both the general public and private bankers. The result : a unique structure among central banks.

The Fed independent inside government, ie, "its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government." However, its authority from Congress and subject to congressional oversight. Uncle Sam receives all of the system's annual profits, after a statutory dividend of 6% on member banks' capital investment is paid, and an account surplus is maintained. In 2010, the Federal Reserve made a profit of $82 B Band transferred $79 B to the U.S. Treasury. (Source: Wiki &c.)

Lincoln Memorial

From Jefferson to the Lincoln memorial, pictured.

Eitan: "What are we doing today?"

Sonnet: "Lincoln Memorial."

Eitan: "What?! Another memorial? No way!"

Sonnet: "Oh, come on, Eitan."

Eitan: "I thought this was going to be a fun trip."

We approach the Lincoln Memorial. Eitan: "Where is he?"

Sonnet: "Be patient. All will be revealed."

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... it expects what never was and never will be."

--Thomas Jefferson

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. "

--Abraham Lincoln

White House To Capital Building

We start our day, 7:30AM, w/ a tour of The White House which Sonnet secures via her Alaskan Congressman. The first floor open to the public and used for state dinners and formal entertaining. The President occupies the second and third floors; secret service guard the chambers. I ask one armed dude about his qualifications and he informs me : "military combat+six months 'special training.' "

From there, our 16-year old friend Michael gives us a special inside tour of The Capital Building including seats to the House of Representatives and the Senate (Michael the son of London friends Diana and Simon+interning for New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen; he attends London's Westminster School). Since a Saturday and the US 72 hours from defaulting on its sovereign obligations, there is a .. festive mood on the house floor. The Congressmen huddle - look, there's Nancy Palosi talking to Barney Frank!- and gossip (Michelle Bachmann in over-sized pearls!) and chatter away (accept for Harry Waxman who is by himself and all business!). At the Senate we see John Kerry and listen to Alaska's Senator Mark Begich, which makes Sonnet happy. The highlight : bumping into Harry Reid, shuffling along a side-corridor, huddled over his papers that seem to spill from his satchel. Exactly what one would expect of the Majority Leader.

Me: "What building is that?"

Eitan: "The Capital Building."

Me: "And that one?"

Madeleine: "Washington Monument?"

Me: "Good. And what are walking on?"

Madeleine: "The ground."

Me:

Eitan: "The Mall."

Me: "Do you think the President ever suffers from trapped wind?"

Eitan: "Dad! No, but I'll bet the Queen does."

Sonnet: "I'm not part of this conversation."

"The lucky thing for us is that we are in a race with Europe and Japan for 'most financially irresponsible Super Power'. And, for right now , the European and Japanese have substantial advantages in that race."

--Walter Russell Mead, Bard College

Ginevra

Sonnet and the kids give me one - ! - at the National Gallery of Art so I head to the information desk and a Senior Gal gives me a memo: "Less Than An Hour?" which includes the West Building's twelve must-see highlights.

Ginevra de Benic, c. 1474/1478, Leonard da Vinci; Gallery 6

Ginevra's face displays the delicate translucence of porcelain. Behind her, the misty landscape assumes a soft, atmospheric effect. Perhaps an engagement portrait, this is the only painting by Leonard da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere.

Eitan, in backseat, overhears us discussing Wagner : "Do you mean the guy on X Factor?"

Me, Sonnet:

All American

Dad (goofy hat) with three healthy girls. He's got his work cut out for him. The flags half-mast following the death of a FEMA officer in the AZ forest fires.

While considering this perfect family in our nation's capital, think of this : home ownership in America 59%, the lowest since '65. The peak, prior to the financial crisis, was 69%; today it is 67% but 7.5 M are in arrears on their mortgage. Exclude them from the official count and it is dire - but is renting so bad? Perhaps like a flat-screen TV : nice to have but not necessary. More critically, Eric notes Americans get what they deserve.

During our visit we stay in Alexandria, just outside DC, with Sonnet's cousin Jacqueline , her husband Jay and 5-year old daughter Ingrid. Jacqueline the daughter of Shelton and Bridgette. Jay is an IT engineer whose firm currently engaged by the Federal Government, the largest employer by far in the area. Jacqueline works for a communications and PR firm representing energy and some of the largest companies in the US.

Sonnet: "What are two things George Washington is famous for?"

Madeleine: "Battling the Portuguese?"

Sonnet: "No. You're just winding your father up."

Eitan: "Fighting the Germans?"

Me:

Eitan: "I am sooo tired."

Me: "You've got a long day ahead of you then."

Eitan: "Can't we just watch TV or something?"

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)

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