A Ransom for Stanley

It's been over 24 hours since Stanley was snuck out of the house in Kate's capacious bag while her pet peacock distracted me. Stanley was spotted Friday night at a Capitol Hill night spot in the company of two young damsels and a congressional staffer. According to his captors Stanley is in good spirits - "He even smiles when he's sleeping" - and will be returned to me as soon as the ransom demand (three loads of laundry) is met.

Meanwhile, somewhere in East Texas, James is celebrating his 23rd birthday at a friend's wedding. He is once again in possession of a working cell phone and swears we'll be seeing him in DC sooner rather than later.

Stanley Rides the Metro

The first thing Stanley asked when he crawled out of his envelope this morning was "Where is Big Matt?" Between squeezing oranges for his juice, churning butter for his toast, and ironing a linen napkin to tuck under his chin, I reminded Stanley that today is a school day. Stanley wondered what it would be like to ride a subway to school so off we went on our first adventure. We rode the subway to the East Falls Church station just like Matt does every school day. The subway went through a long, dark tunnel underneath the Potomac River and suddenly we were in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Stanley liked riding the Metro and thanked me for letting him sit next to the window even though there wasn't much to see until the train came out of the tunnel just before we reached the station.

"Would you like to meet my book club friends?" Stanley trembled with excitement (although maybe I'd just propped him against an air vent). "They meet at the Silver Diner in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It's a few miles from here so we'll have to take a taxicab." That sounded more than fine to Stanley, especially since the cab was bright yellow just like the pictures in some of his favorite books. We forgot to take pictures in the taxi because one of us got a little carried away playing 'Let's Pretend We're Movie Stars.'

An Unexpected Guest

Our current houseguest used my favorite mode of transportation to travel from Lake Orion, Michigan, to Washington, DC: the US Postal Service. He arrived while I was gadding around SE Virginia and looked a bit dehydrated by the time I released him from his envelope. "Dehydrated? Welcome to our world!" purred CC and Minerva who had almost reached the point of lapping up toilet water -- and I don't mean the perfumed variety -- by the time we got back from Puerto Vallarta.

We've taken care of the hydration issue (see above) and are ready to visit some of DC's more famous landmarks and prepare a report for Stanley's father, my grandnephew Will. Will deserves extra credit for his impeccable timing. I was trying to think of a fun way to spend my weekend while Mike competes in a duathlon in Richmond and Matt vanishes into his alternative reality. Stanley gives me the perfect excuse to roam around town and strike up conversations with strangers. "Could you please hold Stanley so I can take a picture?"

Road Trip

Virginia Garden Week is more about traipsing through exquisitely decorated homes than wandering around rich people's flower beds. You'll have to take my word on this as the host garden clubs prohibit photography and sketching inside the tour homes. Not that I could have produced, let alone figured out how to upload, a legible sketch of any home interior.

The Garden Club of Virginia has raised more than $14.5 million dollars over the past 76 years from Historic Garden Week tour events. The money is used to restore scores of historic properties in Virginia, including Monticello, Mount Vernon, and Montpelier. The oldest and largest program of its kind in the nation, "America's Largest Open House" was listed recently in an English travel advisory as among the very "Hip and Historic" things to do in the spring. This year 33 different communities participated.

My friend Lee never says no to an adventure, especially one that involves Virginia Beach and Norfolk. She hardly blanched when I insisted on driving my car and I restrained myself from teasing her about the GPS she positioned on her lap five seconds after she buckled her seat belt Tuesday afternoon. That GPS came in handly about two hours later when the fuel light on my dashboard started flashing.

The GPS also helped us find JoAnn's new house in Virginia Beach, a lovely manse with about 78 bedrooms and 105 bathrooms. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little but JoAnn will verify that the house is so huge her son Ben calls her on the phone every morning to let her know he's up in time for school.

The three of us did the Virginia Beach tour on Wednesday, and Geraldine joined us in time for lunch. Today Lee and I oohed and aahed our way through six homes in Norfolk's new East Beach neighborhood on the Chesapeake Bay before heading back to D.C. One of the docents at the Norfolk tour was my old neighbor Kyle. Another docent who looked hauntingly familiar turned out to be the twin brother of Kyle's husband. Virginia Garden Week made me a little bit homesick for Norfolk. I'd be even more homesick for Norfolk if I could figure out how to swap our Larchmont house for one of the East Beach gems, most of which feature water views and quaint little guest suites over their garages.

Have You Seen This Couple?

Look for this photograph on milk cartons in South Texas starting tomorrow.

Our plane was late leaving Puerto Vallarta. Dave and Sandy were right behind us when we cleared Customs in Houston but they were still searching for the Northwest Airlines baggage chute when we scampered up the escalator to the Continental gates.

That was yesterday afternoon. They called this morning. From Houston. Where they had spent the night in the airport. On cots. I handed the phone to Mike but not before a giggle escaped my lips. The sound our brother Jerry made when he heard this story was more of a chortle. Kate's reaction was sort of a combination giggle-snort-chortle.

Velas Vallarta Part I

Mike is always full of surprises. This time it's a jacuzzi on our private veranda. We are NOT ready to return to reality.

Sew What?

So what if I haven't done any serious cross-stitching since the mid-90s? So what if I have a half-finished yellow bulldozer in my drawer that was intended for the bedroom wall of a 5-year-old who will turn 23 this month? And 17 pristine patterns crammed between two plastic cases holding embroidery floss in hundreds of gorgeous colors arranged by
DMC number?

Mary Jo is moving to Japan next month. Her husband Kevin is slated to be the next XO (executive officer) at US Naval Hospital Yokosuka. They were in town this week so he could receive his final marching orders from Navy Medicine. Mary Jo wanted to stock up on cross-stitch supplies so I took her to a shop in Alexandria, not far from Mt. Vernon. I clasped my hands behind my back and wandered up and down the aisles for the first two hours but my resistance caved somewhere in the middle of Hour #3 and I am now the dubious owner of a big swatch of linen, three intricate sampler patterns, and 20 new skeins of floss in shades I probably already owned.


Peer pressure is a terrible thing.

The Metro Masters

Jim, Jane, and the girls saw more of D.C. in seven days than I've seen in eight months. Thanks to them, I now know that it takes two minutes and 40 seconds to ascend to ground level on the Metro System's longest escalator (in Wheaton, Maryland). And did you know that the National Cathedral boasts 122 gargoyles? Or that 300 American schoolchildren painted the tiles on the Holocaust Museum's Wall of Remembrance?

She Said Yes!

Captain and Mrs. Michael Krentz

are tickled as all get out to announce

the engagement of their nephew, David James Valkuchak,

to Ms. Erin Chojnowski (and hope they spelled her surname correctly).

Erin's engagement ring is encircled by the diamonds David's maternal grandmother received from his grandfather on their 50th wedding anniversary.

David's relatives toast his sentimentality and good taste in women.

Erin, a dancer, recently choreographed the SRO production of Grease directed by David's Aunt Sandy (shown above toasting the happy couple). The entire family hopes to be cast in a Bollywood-style dance number at the wedding reception.



David is the second of Kathy's three nephews born in the winter of 1978-79 to pledge his troth to an Erin, following the lead of his cousin Brian.

Another Spring Break Adventure

Washington, DC, is even more impressive by night than by day. So I packed the Smiley Way family into the car and did a couple circuits of the National Mall last night. "This is the first time we've been in a car in a week," remarked Jane. "It's the first time I've been in a car in three weeks!" responded the driver. Everyone was pretty quiet after that.