Theme of Spring 2008: Rain

I'll bet you thought, when you saw my title, that I was going to express my solidarity with all of those soggy folks in Iowa and Wisconsin who are being forced to wring out and rebuild their dampened lives. The support is there, to be sure. But False Reckonings is hardly the repository of my selfless virtue. This post is really more about how rain has gotten in the way of my recreational weekend activities.

We went to NYC yesterday to see Vampire Weekend in Central Park. Fun, no? We made it even funner by stopping first in Brooklyn to see the latest show at ArtBreak Gallery (if you are in the neighborhood, check out some awesome mixed media triptychs that feature graffiti caricatures of Rove, Rice, Cheney et al in trash-filled subway tunnels) and having drinks with friends Matt & Megan.

See the lovely outdoor beer garden? Well, it didn't last. We were driven inside by the rain. That was OK. We got to admire these lovely, handmade tiles, harvested from old buildings being torn down along the Amalfi Coast of Italy (or, at least that is the very colorful yarn spun by Matt).

The rain let up a bit and we headed for Central Park. We got about as far as Hunter College and were driven under their awning by another downpour. We could see a mansard roof through the raindrops. That was some consolation.

We finally got to the concert in time to see all of the true fans hanging around in the mud, their clothing soaked to their skin, and hear "Out of Cape Cod." That was it. And then we headed back to Brooklyn for supper, and were treated to the dramatic sky you see at the top of this post.

Guess what happened while we were walking from the subway to M. Shanghai for supper? Another downpour. This time, our rumbling bellies won out over our desire to stay dry, and we arrived sodden. May herself, who was sitting with Matt & Megan, graciously seated us despite our looking a little obscene and leaving a wet trail to our table. Here's Johnny, slowly drying and digesting pork dumplings with peanut sauce:


Summer starts next week. And I want the solstice to usher in mild temperatures and sunshine.

Heat Wave

OK Buddy, enough with the drama. You are not melting.

Soggy, Soggy Mt. Monadnock

This past weekend, sloth and indulgence won out once again over vigor and industry. We camped at Mt. Monadnock State Park in New Hampshire, and despite the hard, cold ground and the cacophony of the dozen 12- to 14-year-old boys who were our nearest neighbors, we waited to get up until the morning was good and ripe. By the time we had our coffee made, the campground was empty ... all of the more conscientious hikers were already headed up the mountain. As we were gathering up our Gorp and dabbing our temples with a refreshing application of DEET, the rain came. We did what any dedicated outdoor enthusiast does when presented with this circumstance. We scurried back into the tent.

We thought ourselves quite the crafty hikers. We waited the rain out and, using our inner doppler, predicted fair skies by the time we reached the top of Mt. Monadnock.
Not so much. In fact, right as we reached the summit, the clouds really thickened, and when it started to rain, it was actually a little scary (yeah, I realize it's not Mt. Everest, but it was cold and it got a little slippery). And, strangely, no one else was up there. This struck us as a worrisome given that people claim that the hike up Mt. Monadnock is the most well-trod in North America (the entry on Wikipedia says it's second only to Mt. Fuji for international wee mountains). Fear not, however, gentle readers. We survived the descent. By the time we got a bit below the timberline, the trail was elbow-to-elbow once again ... back to looking like a line at Six Flags.

Sunday we actually got a few spots of sunshine, and enjoyed a much more mellow, pleasant, foresty hike out the Birchtoft Trail to pretty little Gilson's Pond:
The camping area there is closed, apparently, so it was pretty much just us and the pond. Too bad. They should really clear the area out and put in some nice vacation rentals ....

Precious Freedom and Democracy

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Washington, DC and Virginia hanging out with my old man and his special lady Ann, a native of the beautiful state of Virginia. This is the Dogwood tree on the front walk of Ann's townhouse (and an homage to people with better cameras who take nicer photos of flowers and such: Noam, Rachel, Andy).

We started off our visit with lunch at Union Station, and then we took in some of our nation's treasures at the National Gallery:
Nothing against Rolling Thunder or anything, but we had a hard time with the idea of a group of veterans honoring George W. Bush on Memorial Day at this particular moment in our nation's history. So we headed away from the big city to Shenandoah National Park. This has nothing to do with the fact that my father in November bought a national parks annual pass, although we Leitermans find it hard to pass up a good deal. Here's the Shenandoah River (doesn't it make the Willie Nelson song just pop right into your head?):
And another view from the Skyline Drive of the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains. Oooh, I can't say that enough. Shenandoah, Shenandoah, Shenandoah!