Bittersweet

Doug, my 84-year-old cousin recently moved to the Beth Shalom assisted living facility in Richmond.  I last saw him in Roanoke, five years ago.  He said the funniest thing when a staff member asked him why so many people love him so much.  "Don't stay too long!"

Bolt Bus got me as far as DC's Union Station where Christine lent me her trusty Toyota Acura to make the rest of the trip.

After seeing Doug, Cathy and Scott, his children and my first cousins, once removed, took me to lunch at an Italian restaurant.  We don't know each other well, but we had a good time reminiscing about our parents and grandparents.  Doug is the only one of the group still alive.

Back in DC, Christine and I went to the Kennedy Center to see Bowie & Queen.  The less said the better about the performance.  Balletomanes may have appreciated it more than Bowie fans.

You can't go to Washington without passing a few monuments.

 I'd never seen either the FDR or Martin Luther King Memorials.

I'd hoped to indulge my passion for cemeteries at Arlington, but time constraints forced this dyed-in-the-wool peacenik to settle for the Iwo Jima Memorial.