After our fun trip to Rehobeth Beach, we spent another day at the farm, and then John & Bonnie chauffeured us to Washington to meet Erin, not an easy task given DC’s well-known traffic congestion. Our trip this time was no exception.

Rather than make John drive all the way into the center of town, we opted for parking at the New Carrollton Metro station and Ubering into town. Little did we know that since last visiting the station, so much construction and redevelopment has taken place that it was going to be a trial of our patience. We missed the turnoff for the station, forcing us onto the Capital Beltway and a twenty minute (3 mile) detour, and once we arrived back at New Carrollton, the signage was so bad it took us three trips around the block to finally find the parking garage.

Fortunately, the Uber ride to the Old Ebbitt Grill, where we were meeting Erin, went smoothly, and we enjoyed talking with our driver, Stanley, who hailed from Ghana originally. Sue & I shared with him how much we had enjoyed visiting Ghana, some 25 years ago, when Erin was spending her semester abroad at the University of Ghana at Accra. Stanley tells us that Accra has grown and changed so much that we wouldn’t recognize it. I am sure that is probably a good thing for Ghana, but we enjoyed our time in what was then a sleepy tropical capital and remember it fondly.

Erin feted us all at the Old Ebbitt Grill–we feasted on oysters and delicious crab cakes. Maryland crab cakes are the best, at least in our opinion; fortunately these met our high expectations. In addition, they offered a wonderful dessert menu from which I chose a seasonal peach bread pudding. It arrived with a candle and everyone singing Happy Birthday. It might have been the best bread pudding I have ever had. This was the first of three birthday celebrations for me…each one better than the last, perhaps.

The next day, Friday, July 18, Sue and I met up with some longtime friends and colleagues from my Library of Congress days. Barby & Howard Morland made the arrangements for all of us to meet at Poets & Busboys in Shirlington. For us it was a great and long overdue reunion.

We were seated at a long table accommodating all seven of us, including Barby & Howard, Abby Yochelson, Tori Hill, and Kathy Woodrell, and us.

We spent more than two hours eating and laughing, with only occasional digressions on our concerns about the current state of affairs and the damage being done to the Federal workforce. Back in the late 1980s, Tori & I hired Abby and Kathy, along with a number of other young librarians, after a long hiring freeze. It was a great decision, especially after Barby joined us, and my experience working at the Library was a highlight and joy of my career. We are all retired now, but we still hold dear the time we spent working or researching at the Library of Congress, one of the World’s great libraries and research centers and a national treasure .

But even treasures need to be cherished and nourished and can only function and prosper with a dedicated workforce and management. Like so much of the Federal work force, however, the Library of Congress and its employees are under siege. Most recently, the Librarian of Congress was fired, without cause. The reason given was ,that children were being exposed to unsuitable content about transgenders and drag queens. The White House clearly isn’t aware that the Library of Congress is not open to anyone under the age of 18.

Later that evening, Sue & I, along with Erin & John, met up with our niece, Susie and her husband Gerry at the Bangkok 54 Thai Restaurant in Arlington for my second birthday celebrations–how lucky can a guy be? Another fantastic meal & a great time for visiting and catching up. I ordered a Whole Fried Flounder, which was perfectly prepared, but also almost too much, even with everyone sharing.

It was our last event with John as he was heading out the next morning for a wilderness camping trip with friends in Colorado, but we enjoyed being with him for even a limited amount of time. We miss Erin and John not being in Denver, especially as it has proven next to impossible for us to visit them in Cuba.

For our time in DC, Erin booked us into the AKA White House, a residence hotel where she and John were staying. It provides roomy and comfortable apartments and is a great retreat in downtown DC, just a couple of blocks the White House. Several mornings, before the heat of the day set in, I was able to take a walk around the neighborhood usually walking through Lafayette Park and by the White House. There are surprisingly few tourists around at 7:00 am.

All good things, though, do come to an end, but before we left town on June 21st, Erin took us to the Taverna del Albardero for one final delicious meal to commemorate my birthday a third time. We can’t recommend the restaurant too much. All of us ordered an “arroz” (think a Spanish version of risotto) with lobster and shrimp–melt in your mouth delicious. Flan de la abuela was the chosen dessert to share, although I ate the lion’s share. The next morning Erin went off to training, and Sue and I finished packing and ubered to National Airport for an afternoon return flight home.

And thus ended our lovely Summer’s Interlude.

Sue and I recently spent ten days visiting with family and friends on the Maryland Eastern Shore and DC. We had a great time, but after more than a week in that hot and steamy climate, we definitely know that we made the right choice when we decided to settle in Denver more than decade ago; although weather was not the sole or even main reason.

First stop after arriving at BWI airport was a crab feast with Sue’s family, the Roschy Clan (14 of us) at Fisherman’s Crab Deck, Kent Island, MD. Like riding a bike, once you learn to pick crabs, you never forget. After one, though, Sue decided to go for a Maryland Crab Cake—there’s nothing better anywhere, but I stuck with the crabs and managed to clean off more than a half a dozen. Surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of other diners, the atmosphere was incredibly loud, but also convivial. By moving around and switching chairs, we caught up with everyone’s goings on & happenings.

The gathering included Sue’s brother and sister-in-law, John & Bonnie, and other members of the family; Susie & Jerry Kavinski & their daughters, Abby & Evelyn; Dean & Anita Roschy, and Ann & Dusty Eastman & their daughter, Hannah, and finally Sue’s youngest brother, Tim Roschy. Not all of us made it into the post dinner photo below.

Sated and content, we drove back to John and Bonnie’s Eastern Shore Anchor Rest Farm for a restful few days. It’s definitely a place to chill and relax. John & Bonnie were, as always, the consummate hosts. In addition to great in-laws, John & Bonnie are good friends and great traveling companions, as any one familiar with this blog well know. It is always good to be with them, and we much appreciated their warmth and hospitality this time and always.

The Maryland Eastern Shore is made up of mostly small towns and family farms. You drive through miles of flat, but beautiful countryside dotted with green fields of corn, wheat, and soybeans before arriving at their lovely home. Sitting on their front porch on a summer’s eve is a gift of serenity.

One afternoon we decided to visit the nearby Tuckahoe Maryland State Park, which was created more than 60 years ago through the efforts of Bonnie’s father, Robert Dean, who was a Maryland State Senator for many years. He loved this land where he was born and grew up. This summer John & Bonnie’s granddaughter, Hannah Eastman, is working at the camp, and she was delighted to show us around and talk about how meaningful for her this beautiful gift to the people of Maryland is and will be for many generations to come. We were all charmed by her tour and narrative.

Having rested and rejuvenated at the farm for several days, we moved on to Rehobeth Beach, DE, which is a little more than an hour’s drive from John & Bonnie’s farm. Throughout the year, but even moreso in the summer, thousands of city dwellers from Baltimore, Philadelphia and DC, flock to beach towns all along the Atlantic Beach front of the Delmarva Peninsula. Beach traffic often chokes the roads leading from these metropolitan areas to the shore, and wherever you go it is sure to be a topic of conversation.

Rehobeth Beach, with its milelong board walk, lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, and small hotels, is the quintisential Delmarva beach town; caramel corn, saltwater taffy, and ice cream are always necessary purchases you stroll along of an evening. Those who are familiar with famous beaches around the world might find it a little underwhelming–the Atlantic Ocean waters can be chilly even in the summer & the beach with its choppy waves, quickly drops off to deeper water, making it difficult for people of a certain age to venture in and remain upright. But locals love going to beach and having it so close.

The sand is soft, and we enjoyed just lounging near the waterline and people watching–especially the children who alternate jumping in the waves with making sand castles on the shore. We were really impressed with the lifeguards stationed all along the boardwalk; they were ever diligent in monitoring the water and whistling cautions to the swimmers who ventured too far out. On our second day there at about three-thirty, they whistled everyone out of the water, and then a half hour later, we were all told to clear the beach–a thunderstorm was fast approaching, and they wanted to avoid anyone getting struck by lightning.

Another day we found ourselves sitting beside a gregarious and friendly man, Miliam and his family of four. Talking with him, we learned that Miliam had come to the US more than a decade ago, to escape his war ravaged country, Kosovo. He settled in Lancaster, PA and quickly found a job as a mechanic in a factory there. Welcomed by his new friends and neighbors, he decided to return home to marry his childhood sweetheart. They returned to Lancaster where they bought a small home and are raising their two American born children. The entire family loves coming to Rehobeth, which they do every summer.

We all really enjoyed learning Miliam’s story; the story of millions of Americans like him who have added so much to our nation. But this story is now closed off to people around the world. We have let fear and nationalism blind us to the good that immigrants have brought and still could bring to our country. Now we have heavily armed and masked thugs patrolling our streets and intimidating people who don’t look like “Americans.”

Is this really who we are? I hope not.