July 17, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Returning Home.

Coming home to the Washington area comes as a real shock to your system. Many things are so different then when in Nova Scotia. Take the weather for instance. In your mind, you know that the air is cooler and cleaner up north by the sea, but it doesn't feel so different until you come home and you step out of the terminal and wend your way home on the Metro. This air in Washington is hot and humid and polluted. no doubt about it. The next shock is the number of people. Everywhere you look you see people. I have seen more people since I got off the plane at 4:30 than I did the whole two weeks in Nova Scotia. And the people are all different, from every country in the world I think. Lots and lots of tourists riding the subway dressed in the latest casual clothes. Now we were in rush area, so the train cars were crowded, which meant that we got to see the working folks and the tourist folks. It was fun. But goodness, what a shock to your system, the first day home.

There seems to be a new fashion trend for older men. Several times today I saw men wearing business attire, complete with jacket and tie, and wearing a baseball hat. I also saw a man wearing a long sleeved shirt and tie and wearing a baseball hat. This seemed weird to me. Why the baseball hat? GQ must have written article about the well travelled older man wearing business clothes and wearing a baseball hat. It certainly must be trendy because it certainly does look ridiculous.

Tonight we dined with Christina and the girls at a little Italian restaurant close to home. Molly has lots of new tricks and is laughing and chortling out loud. Every one talks to Christina about Molly. It's funny how babies bring out the best in people. Christina and Andrew lived in Italy for a few months when Kate was a baby, and they reported that everyone travelling in Italy should come with a baby. The Italians love babies, so they talked to lots more people because they had the baby with them. Now Kate is eleven and almost as tall as me, with Mary Frances not far behind. Now we will soon be together in Nova Scotia, and that will be nice.