Around Maryland #2

Little Town VA
According to the gauge on Charles’ car the temperature got as high as 103 degrees, in the words of his grandmother it was “close.” We headed for an afternoon drive into Virginia to see where Charles and John used to live and have a taste of small town life there. We went up to Leesburg and down through Aldie to Middleburg. It’s horse country. And a dirt road is considered to be prestigious. A change of pace and scenery compared to D.C. and Potomac. It was quaint. In this country people can choose to live at any kind of pace or lifestyle they desire. There is such a broad array of towns and cities. There may be a rather long chapter in the book devoted to it, from Celebration, FL to Loup City, NE to Roseburg, OR, and they all have entirely different climates as well.

Dinner Time
More conversation with America. I would love to start a new project, something that has to do with dinner table conversations. I’m sure you could go to many dinner tables and find people talking about gossip, Grey’s Anatomy or American Idol, and last night’s basketball game. For this dinner conversation I was trying to listen and take in as much as possible. There is Charles and John, both graduates of Harvard and their friends Steve and Kelly who also graduated from Harvard and are now U.S. diplomats. Steve’s parents, Ginny and Terry, were so inspired that they have also become U.S. diplomats. And then there is Dianne, the nanny who looks over the kids, she is from Estonia and left home for a year at the young age of 19. It was fascinating to sit with this folks who have great knowledge of the world coming and going from different countries. So I learned a lot about Bulgaria, Estonia, Russia and a little about the Bahamas from an entirely different perspective.

And one last small story, though I wasn’t there to see it. As the temperature approached 100 degrees Charles and I stopped for some water. He picked up a sample of a new Starbucks drink for me while I waited in the car with Squeaky (who’s the #1 nominee for best dog personality as for now). Well, as Charles was there by himself and picking up two samples, he turned around to see Ted Koppel in line behind him giving an glare of disapproval. But don’t worry Ted, he was just bringing out the other sample to me.