Wednesday in Washington, DC

I love this city. I love the energy, the fact that I can walk places, the sheer grandeur of the buildings - as if they had no limits. Soaring ceilings? Why not. Banks of marble steps? What the heck. It's a great place to watch people - young women in the latest styles and impossibly high heels (how many times have I fallen over my own feet in this city, only to see my briefcase contents spread over the sidewalk?) Young men in ties, even at 9:00 at night. And the many, many colors of people - brown, black, white, Asian, soldiers, government workers, pierced, with strollers, with bicycles. The 40+ papers you can get out of the banks of machines at every Metro stop. The sight of the Capitol at night - it's beautiful. Even on a Wednesday, sidewalk tables are full of laughing people. Some places I recognize - the Dubliner will be here forever - and others are new. It's the kind of place that makes you want to go places, if only to be a participant in the flow of motion, endless motion, that is this city.

This was a difficult place to live, but it's a wonderful place to visit.

A Delicate Balance

Well, I thought I was getting up early so I could lead BOTH of my lives today. I got out to the studio by 8:00 a.m. - already hot, but tolerable. Reloaded the big kiln, unloaded the baby kiln, and listened to the comforting on/off click of the mechanical relays in the kiln that was still firing. All good. Worked on one of the bowls and daydreamed to NPR.

Back in the house by 10:00 - drip, drip, drip - to turn on my computer for a webcast of the House Appropriations hearing (labor-hhs-education markup). It's not webcast?? So I call the Committee. Not only is it not webcast (something I depend on now that I'm here in Florida instead of the BIG CITY of DC) but it's OVER. I MISSED IT. Committee says it started at 8:30, other sources say 9:00. It couldn't have been a very intense hearing, if it was only an hour, but I still feel like I let myself down. What's posted on the web is just the headlines, and I'm always looking for the subheads. I turn on CSPAN and there's Chairman David Obey, arguing on the House floor. I guess the hearing really IS over...

Most days, I really like combining my lives. I get a lot of thinking done with my hands in the glass (and that thinking isn't all about glass, either!) Occasionally my typing is impeded by the bandaids on my hands (pinkies are especially annoying). But on days like today, I really wonder about how best to combine these two very different worlds.

Meanwhile, I'm hard at work on a window for the LeMoyne. It's due on the 20th. Heck, I might even be early.