Celebrating through the Sadness

                            Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

Like many of you, I was saddened to learn of the tragedies in Paris on Friday evening.   My heart aches as I think of the families whose lives are forever changed.
I look to the words of others seeking comfort.  

From "Praise Song" by Barbara Crooker:
" . . . Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees;
though they are clothed in night, they do not
despair. . . .
Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy
fallen world; it's all we have, and it's never enough."
 Psalms 119:28
"My soul melteth for heaviness:  strengthen thou me according unto thy word."
Though our world faces darkness and despair, I'm grateful to join fellow bloggers
as we continue to praise, to celebrate, and to turn toward the light. 

Our Veteran's Day holiday was spent traveling to DC to visit Blake and Stefi.
I celebrate our family time together.

1.  Lance and I explored three "new to us" museums on Thursday. 

I wanted to visit the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, but it didn't open until 11:30.  We scanned the street signs and saw that the National Building Museum was nearby, and it opened at 10.   What's not to love about a museum with this byline?  "Telling the stories of architecture, engineering, and design."  Then we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art with one objective in mind - to see James Hampton's installation that inspired Shelley Pearsall's, The Seventh Most Important Thing, one of our Mock Newbery possibilities.   After locating Hampton's work, we spent several hours enjoying the museum.  We chose our last stop, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, because we had heard they had the best museum restaurant on the mall.  We arrived after 2 and made a beeline to their cafeteria.  We even managed to see most of the museum after our late lunch.  And then we headed for the metro and even managed to snag the right shuttle back to our kids' place.  

  2.  We enjoyed family time with Blake and Stefi on Friday and Saturday.

We enjoyed great meals together, hiked the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail, took in two movies, and visited several points of interest in Old Town Alexandria including the Saturday Farmer's Market and the George Washington Masonic Memorial.  Blake joined the club of family and friends who have waited patiently while I insist on a stop to photograph a tree.  

3.  Our quick trip concluded with an early flight

home on Sunday morning that arrived an hour early.

And that's something worth celebrating!

"The Throne of the Third Heaven"
James Hampton, folk artist


On the C & O Trail

Great Falls Overlook

Majestic tree on the grounds of the George Washington Masonic Memorial

 Promised pic from Pie Night at the Passeys last week 
- cutting pies into 16 slices is serious business!