DC Parting Shots, Again!

This is going to be one of those self-absorbed posts wherein I talk about what I did and not about what I've made. Week before last, TC's mentor asked him to come to DC to work on his house, and TC insisted that I accompany him. We both worked, a lot. While I pulled days in the office with significant overtime, TC put his mentor's house back together (not a small exaggeration there).

 

Before we left, we saw these two kitties in a dusty window on Main Street.

 

I learned that two of my fancy dresses were machine washable and thus they were washed.

Last look at the mountains from I-25 towards Denver

Ugh, humidity!

It's Bandit again!

 

I recall saying at one point, in Scarlet O'Hara fashion, that I would never commute in Beltway traffic again. Guess I was wrong, but at least I wasn't driving.

When in Arlington, always visit the old place of employment, and take a selfie in the bathroom. Just like old times.

 

And buy some bun-buns:

 

Had dinner with the fam at Legal Seafood in Chinatown. Legal has changed their vegetarian option from the Vegetarian Box to the Korean Rice Bowl (bi bim bap, basically). Both TC and I felt nauseous from the poor air quality in DC and lost our appetites; the lack of VGF protein in this dish didn't bother me at all.

 

More Bandit being way too cute photos. If you asked five year old Ownie Q whether dogs were cute, the answer would be no. Then I got to know some nice doggies...almost twenty years later.

 



 

Instead of pie, I made s'mores bars for Pi Day. I used applesauce and nondairy milk instead of soaked dates, water, and flaxseed for the liquid-gelly part of the recipe, and I also used the Glutino boxed GF baking mix. I'm not a fan of the boxed mix since even at sea level and slightly underbaked, the bars dried out very quickly. Too many starchy (tapioca, potato, arrowroot...) flours in a mix makes for dry cake.

 

Brunch at Franklin's before we attacked the house (I cleaned while TC and Will worked on the basement flooring project). The Mediterranean Flatbread Thing sans flatbread was pretty tasty.

 

 

 

 



 

I got a new Jellycat at Franklin's General Store, Small Squiggle Kitty! My cat collecting slowed down significantly when I lived in the DC area. Not for lack of trying, mind you, but for lack of plush cats available in general. I return on one trip and get a cat and three bunnies; what's up with that?



 

Random note from one of TC's sketchbooks he found and wanted to get rid of.

 



 

The Uber driver who drove me to the airport gave me a carnation for St Patrick's Day.

 

 

Workers on the roof of the Pentagon City Mall.

 

 

It was so refreshing to return home to friendlier drivers, natural "big things on the skyline" instead of man made monuments, and dry, clean air. Oh, and the zero commute. I get so much more done--both for work and for myself--when I don't have to waste two hours of my life each day in passive transit. Now I remember why I stopped exercising consistently for six months; that commute from Southeast to Rockville SUCKS the life out of ya.



When TC and I first arrived on the 12th, we took the metro from Reagan to Eastern Market. All the passengers looked so beaten-down and defeated, just not an ounce of spirit left. I seem to remember feeling the same way for much of the time that I worked in the DMV area DC proper. Most of my friends may still be in the DC area (or the East Coast) but I plan to stay put where the air is clearer.