Red Nose

Sorry for the gap in updating on the Photo-A-Day deal, but I have an excuse. Another bout of bronchitis. I started feeling symptoms on Wednesday, but chalked it up to allergies. (Spring has not just sprung around here; it has exploded, with the accompanying uptick in tree pollen.) Thursday I started coughing a bit. Friday I started wheezing, and I knew it wasn't allergies at all. I have been through this before, and I know... Read more →

Late spring has arrived early in DC this year. The trees have burst wide open, daffodils and forsythia are carpeting the median strips and highway embankments, and the temperatures are in the high 70s. Unfortunately, my allergies are also in full bloom. My throat starting itching and my nose started flowing, so hello, Benadryl! Well, this too shall pass. Today was the first day in the new office space. The move went off without a... Read more →

Today's Photo-A-Day theme is "sign." I thought about being creative on this one, but ultimately I just snapped a picture of this helpful piece of user documentation near the Silver Spring Metro stop. The reason for this sign (and many others like it on the surrounding blocks) is that the county (or maybe the state? I don't know!) is building a brandy-new transit center that will consolidate buses, subway trains, Amtrak trains, MARC trains, bicycles,... Read more →

The Photo-A-Day theme for today is: Fork. I took the easy way out: This serving fork belonged to my mother. It's nice and hefty, and it reminds me of two stories. Story #1: When I was a little girl, my mother taught me how to set the table in this novel (and outmoded) way. The plate is the home. The front door is on the right of the plate. The spoon is the little girl... Read more →

For Day 11, the Photo-A-Day theme is "someone you talked to". Well, meet Ron, our favorite beer guy at Verizon Center. We made friends with Ron our first year as season-ticket holders for the Caps. He disappeared last season -- we know not where -- but he came back this year. He always gives me a big hug. It's like being enveloped in a big friendly blanket. We joke back and forth and talk about... Read more →

Today's theme for the March Photo-A-Day is LOUD. Y'know, hockey is a loud game. The crack of the puck on a stick or of bodies on the boards punctuate the action; the airhorn or siren wail signals a goal or the end of a period. The crowd can be amazingly loud, especially home team crowds when they're cheering on their favorite team, exhorting the skaters to unleash the fury, or hollering at the referee for... Read more →

Well, the results are in. I have moderately severe degenerative arthritis in my neck. It's affecting the C3 through C5 vertebrae, with nerve impingement in C3 on the right side and in C3 and C5 on the left. No wonder it hurts. The doctor asked if I played sports when I was young. (Note that he said "young," not "youngER." Ahem.) I admitted that I did not; however, I did take an acrobatics class in... Read more →

As I mentioned here, I have a very nice cube right next to a long bank of windows. These windows look down on Connecticut Avenue, one of the major thoroughfares in DC. I have a great view of this street, so I can watch people, watch for desirable food trucks, watch motorcades of Important People, watch the weather, and generally stare out into space. It can be a little noisy, particularly when the occasional motorcade... Read more →

Today's Photo-A-Day prompt is "something you wore." Behold: my favorite shirt in the whole entire world. It is an Eddie Bauer men's waffle shirt, and it is the softest, most comfortable shirt I own. It is the perfect "loaf around the house and fall asleep on the sofa" shirt. I bought two of these shirts for Joe and SonnyeBoy for Christmas and was so jealous of them that I bought one for myself. Why did... Read more →

The March Photo-A-Day prompt for today was 5 pm. Here's my photo: This is my kitchen clock, and yes, I was late. But I was late because I was at the clinic at 5 pm, finally getting my painful neck checked out. I wrote about this back in August. At that point, I called the advice nurse to make an appointment, but the advice talked to doctor, who advised her to advise me to apply... Read more →