Derecho

We learned a new weather term this summer: “derecho.”  That’s what the meteorologists called the severe thunderstorm system that swept through the Washington DC area on the night of June 29^th.  According to Wikipedia: “Derecho comes from the Spanish word for ‘straight’ . . . in contrast with a tornado, which is a ‘twisted’ wind.”  Derechos are fast moving, straight line thunderstorms; they also can be very destructive.  The derecho that swept through Washington overturned trees, knocked out power lines and led to several deaths.  Many folks in the region were without power for several days, and in some cases, for over a week.  To make matters worse, the region was experiencing an extreme heat wave, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees over multiple days.  We were fortunate: we suffered no real property damage and lost power for only 24 hours (although even that was fairly miserable).  To stay cool, we camped out in the basement (which was about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house) and filled up a wading pool in the backyard.  By some minor miracle, the local Starbucks retained power, so we were well caffeinated during the blackout.  You don’t realize how much you depend on modern conveniences—air conditioning, light, refrigeration, the internet(!)— until you have to live without them for a few hours.

Below is a composite radar image of the summer derecho. The system covered 600 miles in 10 hours, moving at an average speed of 60 mph:

Green Thumbs

The composter mentioned in a previous post was for Elise’s vegetable garden.  Last year we planted a small garden in the backyard, but a lack of direct sunlight and not-so-benign neglect led to disappointing results.  This year, Elise was determined to do some serious gardening.  We prepared a bed along the south side of the house, which gets much better light, and planted cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants and strawberries, along with some herbs.  So far, everything has been doing incredibly well: the tomatoes and cucumbers, in particular, have been growing like crazy.  The only challenge has been keeping the squirrels from eating the produce before it ripens.  Bryant constructed a makeshift net for the garden, but only time will tell if it can keep the determined little rodents out.  Below are some photos of our summer crop:

 

 

Father's Day 2012

So far, Bryant and Elise are both keeping up with their respective hobbies.  Elise is continuing to train for the Marine Corps Marathon in October, and has been taking longer and longer runs.  Bryant continues to experiment in the kitchen, cooking mostly French recipes.  He has become a devotee of Laura Calder, which will be the subject of a future post.  All that Bryant wanted for Father's Day was a few hours alone in the kitchen to cook a special meal: blanquette de veau (veal stew).  So, Elise took the kids to the playground, and when she returned, we all celebrated with a nice dinner on the back deck.  Check out the new beard!

Cousin Regan's Baptism

Bryant and Henry traveled to Huntsville in early June for the christening of our newest niece/cousin, Regan Alexis Morris, born to Kevin and Templa on February 10th, 2012.  Henry was a bit mischievous during the ceremony (that's him crashing the family photo at the very bottom) but had a great time hanging out with his cousins and visiting with Mimi and Paw Paw and the rest of his extended Alabama family.  Below are some photos from the christening.
 

 

 

Scenes from a Birthday

June was a busy month for birthdays.  On the first weekend of the month, we had four (4!) birthday parties to attend, not to mention swim class and Spanish lessons.  Gone are the days of simple backyard birthdays.  Today's kids expect something more elaborate.  The festivities in June included a tour of the Falls Church Volunteer Fire Station, a "snake party" at the Glen Echo Park Living Classrooms, an indoor moon bounce party, an outdoor moon bounce party (with a pirate theme), pony rides, and Vivian's personal favorite: a princess dress-up party.  The princess party was for Sara Powell, daughter of our friends Brad and Tonia Powell.  Vivian absolutely LOVED this party and has been talking about it ever since.  She's already made very clear that this is where she wants her next birthday party.  Below are some pictures from the afternoon:

 

 

And it wasn't just kids' birthdays that we celebrated.  Paw Paw had a birthday in early June, and Mimi Pauline drove down from Michigan to celebrate her 70th birthday with us in Alexandria.  To mark the occasion, Bryant cooked a special meal: beef tenderloin, accordion potatoes, green beans with hazelnuts and creme fraiche and, for dessert, "chocolate framboise" (basically, chocolate mousse cake with whipped cream and fresh raspberries)...and, of course, Pauline's favorite red wine, Tempranillo Rioja.  Happy Birthday, Mimi Pauline!

 

Memorial Day in Michigan

Escaping the 90+ degree heat of Washington, we visited Mimi Pauline in Michigan over the Memorial Day weekend.  The kids had a great time riding Mimi Pauline’s Green Gator, looking for frogs in the pond and watching the horses from the nearby stables.  Henry even helped Mimi Pauline feed her 14 labradors one morning!  Remembering Henry’s fondness for dog toys, Mimi Pauline had a whole basket of squeaky (and sanitized) rubber bones and chickens waiting for the kids.  While in town, we also visited the Hands-On Museum in Ann Arbor (after lunch at Zingerman’s Deli) and caught up with our friends the Macys in Plymouth.  Sunday was Elise’s birthday, so we celebrated on our last night with cake at Mimi Pauline’s.  In case you’re wondering, for her birthday Elise received an heirloom clock from Aunt Pauline, a spa gift certificate from her in-laws, and a garden composter from her loving husband (hey, it’s what she asked for!).  Below are some photos from the weekend:

 

 

Spring Activities

Henry and Vivian have been keeping themselves (and their parents) busy with a variety of “extracurricular” activities this spring.  In May, Henry started an afterschool soccer program with his classmates from St. Anthony’s.  The program is run by Khary Stockton soccer and meets in the park across from the school.  The focus is on introducing basic skills rather than actually playing soccer, which is probably best given the attention spans involved.  Henry has certainly enjoyed running around the field with his classmates, though his technique at times has seemed closer to rugby than soccer.  By the last few sessions, he started to actually dribble (as opposed to run with) the ball.  In any case, we’ll likely do more classes this fall.  Around the same time, Vivian started swim lessons at the Mount Vernon RECenter.  Elise has been attending class with Vivian and reports that she’s done a great job in the water.  A few times, she even asked to stay behind and swim more!  Vivian is especially proud of her kicking skills, which she likens to those of Ariel (The Little Mermaid).  Next up for Vivian may be ballet dancing, if we can get her a spot in Alexandria’s popular Tiny Dancers program.  And it hasn’t been only athletics for the Morris children: Henry has been attending Spanish class on Sunday afternoons at the local Language Stars center.  Somewhat to our surprise, Henry has really enjoyed the 1.5 hour, Spanish-only sessions.  We’ve signed him up for more classes this summer.

Below is a photo of Henry receiving his soccer t-shirt and trophy from Coach K: