Winter!

It's now April 2010 and we only made one trip in the past few months, to Columbus during the incredibly cold weather of January. So called that the windshield washers froze in the mountains and didn't defrost for four days. We had a fine visit with Ben's sister.

Since then we have had visitors from all over the country and done lots of theater, entertaining, and enjoying life. We had the pleasure of seeing a friend dance in a ballet, enjoy new friends from Florida, see our friend Elaine before she headed off on another of her world cruises. Along the way we dealt with three feet of snow in one storm, and another slightly smaller blast. That closed up the alley and left us without car transport for more than a week. Not a problem, we closed the door and enjoyed it.

We enjoyed and recommend several restaurants from the last few months:

Veranda at 11th and P NW. Very pleasant on two occasions. The food is very good, the crowd quite pretty and young. We enjoyed both fish and meat dishes there. I do not recommend the bartender's gibsons. I shall stick with beer or wine next visit.

Corduroy, 9th Street, NW near the Convention Center. Exquisit restaurant specializing in American food. From the oysters to the pork bellies, just wonderful. We enjoyed our evening there with our friends Mike and Lamar. Expensive but worth every penny. Even quiet enough to hear people talk!

Cacao on Massachusetts Ave NE between 3rd and 4th. Owners took over Two Quails and have updated the menu. Fine brunches twice with friends John and Jon from NOLA, Elaine from RI and their family here. I particularly enjoy the hamburgers with the frites, Ben the eggwhite omelette.

Zest Bistro, 8th Street SE across from the Marine Barracks: Good fun in a funky, loud atmosphere. Nice wine list, good food from the open kitchen. Noisy but we will go there again.

Theater was also big on our list: We enjoyed Sweeney Todd at Signature, a dark rendition of the opera, Armide by Gluck at Kennedy Center to celebrate, magnificently, the fifteenth anniversary of Opera Lafayette, a local ballet group at Atlas Theater, and I Am My Own Wife, at Signature.

The highlight of Spring was the enactment into law of same sex marriage for DC. Finally after 28 years together, we were able to get married:

Now we are preparing for our "honeymoon," a trip to North and South Carolina, with stops at Congaree National Park and Great Smokies National Park, two days of being pampered at the Biltmore in Asheville, a couple of nights in West Virginia at the New Gorge and then a few days in Pittsburgh seeing family and friends. Reports will begin soon.