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with Carol Joynt
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DOUGLAS FEITH
"War and Decision"
Thurs. May 15
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"Micotrends"
Thurs. May 22
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June 5
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June 24
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Swimming in Quicksand;
A Daily Journal of Survival
By Carol Joynt
carol@nathansgeorgetown.com
SUNDAY, MAY 11 .... What a nice day, even with the monsoon. Actually, loved the monsoon (particularly since the roof was repaired). Would prefer to be on a boat in a sea, but settled for a highway in Virginia. After a morning of writing my column for NYSocialdiary.com, we got in the car for a wet drive to the west and Mother's Day supper at The Inn at Little Washington. We were treated by dear friend PATRICK O'CONNELL, the Inn's owner, who also was a witness at my wedding on this day many moons ago, and is Godfather to my son. Visits to the Inn always feel like a family occasion.
What made this day more special than other trips was that my son did the driving. I've let him drive us to New York and back - in good weather - and today was a chance to tackle highway miles in miserable weather. He's due to get his license in July and I'm trying to get him ready. I'm not a natural at this, but I have my own way. Since he got his permit I let him do all the driving when it's the two of us. From the start. When he got the permit he right away hassled me one quiet Sunday to "take me to a parking lot where I can drive." I said, "ok. let's get in the car." When we did I made him get in the driver's side and drive, much to his dismay. "What?" he asked? "I've not driven before."
"Well, you want to drive, don't you?" I said. "This is driving. You won't be driving in parking lots. You'll be driving on roads. So, let's drive." Which is what he did - and well enough - and what we've been doing since February. First the streets of Georgetown and northwest, then the parkways, then the highways. So, today in the heavy rain was an A.P. course. But as I said, "someday you will have to drive in awful rain and I may not be with you, and so here's your chance to try it out."
Dinner was scrumptious, as you would expect, and extra cozy, given the mess outside. Patrick's food is just better and better. After dinner he showed us the redecorating they are doing with the rooms, and they are lovely. More lovely than before.
Returned home to this very touching email from a new reader: "good evening, carol...i turned the t.v. on (early) for the bbc news but got distracted. in the kitchen, cabbage soup was simmering and granola was roasting and i kept getting calls from my progeny : a group in michigan, a daughter in seattle, a grandaughter in l.a. and another in tanzania (!) so i was not paying attention to the screen. but then, i picked up the sense of the whitehouse chronicles show and found the little bit that i actually experienced to be extremely interesting. i assumed from your poise and intelligent expression that you were an old hand. then i googled your name and read your blog. it's terrific. hard to believe that you're as old as you'd need to be to have been married thirty-one years ago. and it sounds as though you're an avid mother, which is meet and right. so congratulations on that and happy mother's day.
i'm a widow too but an ancient one. i miss my husband of nearly forty years still, after these sixteen years but it turns out that i really know how to enjoy life on my own too. and i quite enjoy thinking about him. i'm still a kansan but moved to arlington with him just two years before he died. i like living in the d.c. area. also, like traveling.
so glad to have discovered your blog and i hope that you'll put me on your mailing list. best regards"
Talk about "meet and right." What a delight. Welcome aboard on this night of foul weather. We're all in it together.
SATURDAY, MAY 10 ... The interview with RICHARD MOE, head of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is now up on youtube, and you can watch it here.
Politics aside, can't help but have at least a passing interest in the nuptials happening today in Crawford, TX. I admire JENNA BUSH for not having her wedding at the White House. Every bride deserves to have
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