The End of the Year

It was one of those days today in DC - the kind of day when playing hooky looks like the most redemptive thing that you can do. When being a responsible adult just doesn't fit your idea of what God had in mind for you.

But who am I kidding?

They don't pay you for indulging your childlike whims - the desire to run and play and fall into a pile of leaves or lie on your back and look at the sky. So I did the next best thing - I took pictures.

This image is of the World War II Memorial on the Mall just after sunset. I had no idea it was so beautiful.

I love DC this time of year - partially because the Congress has done us all a favor and gotten out of town so the traffic is lighter - but most of all because it is the time of year when the city looks its best. The air is not as humid as in the summer, and so you can see farther. The colors of the leaves are beginning to emerge, so there is a diversity of brilliant hues covering the city. Even today, some of the yellows were visible in the tops of trees along the Mall.

They had the Library of Congress National Book Festival on the Mall today too. Thousands of people lined up to buy books, hear talks by authors on various subjects like mystery or biography or children's books. But by far the biggest line was for the book signings. And the most popular line was for Bob Woodward to sign his new book about the Iraq war and what a shambles it is. There were a lot of people in line with that one.

Is it one of the tyrannies of our time that you don't appreciate where you are, but always want to be somewhere else? Walking down the street today, I saw people of all kinds, young, old, families, children, all races and all out for different reasons. I was like a mosaic or a tapestry - but all of us were under the same glorious golden sun.

A new part of the Botanical Garden opened today near the Capitol building. (Actually they had the big shindig for it yesterday, with Mrs. Bush there along with several Capitol Police armed with automatic weapons guarding the place). It looks like a landscaper's dream yard. I couldn't get into it today because it had closed, but I will.

Then there was the sunset. Sometimes sunsets are almost sacred. I remember sitting on top of Cooper's Rock outside Morgantown, West Virginia when I was in college and watching the sunset. The sun was a flame orange ball that slowly sank over the horizon. The Cheat River below us turned from a bright green to a dark gray and then the nights this time of year would get cold.
So cold you could see your breath. Wear a sweater or a coat cold. Curl up with your honey next to the fire kind of cold. Not bitter cold like Winter; just cold enough where you knew Summer was over and it was time for fires and wine and friendship.

There was one of those sunsets tonight here too. I didn't get all of it in my camera, but I got a little bit. Like I said - it was one of those days.