Life of Wry

The Dalmatian suit that Michael made for me (and 8 other would-be Dalmatians) six years ago so we could all parade around in West Hollywood on Halloween (a thing) dressed as Cruella Deville and her 9 Dalmatians, came in handy today!

I wore it to gather signatures on a school board member recall petition drive in Woodland this afternoon (yes I did). And I wore it to hand out candy to neighborhood trick or treaters tonight (as one should).

Because every blog entry needs a photo, here’s one, but please make sure this does not get out into the world (said the person posting said picture to her blog).

Improbable as it seems, nobody — not a single person, and I spoke to many this afternoon — commented on my, uh, outfit. That’s the beauty of Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween… Michael, seamster extraordinaire, is still at it. Though the annual tradition of elaborate group costumes (and West Hollywood parades) is behind him, he’s still producing some outrageously creative costumes for himself and Matt. Here they are this year… on their way to Legends for a costume party extravaganza…

Karim Majdi Abou Najm would have turned 21 yesterday, but he was killed six months ago. Karim was stabbed two nights after David (and Kimberlee a couple nights after that, though she survived) in that very scary week in Davis last April.

The community was invited to honor Karim last night at a birthday memorial hosted by his family.

Karim’s mom, Nadine, shared a beautiful (and tearful) remembrance of Karim, her only son. Of course it was very difficult to watch her read her comments, shaking and emotional, and trying to imagine how devastating it must be to lose a child at the dawn of his adulthood. Both Nadine and her husband Majdi spoke of Karim’s many gifts… his academic successes (the parents are both academics), his enthusiasm and drive, his open heartedness, his kindness and compassion toward other kids who, for one reason or another, felt outside the center. She spoke of how, when they arrived from Lebanon just five years ago, Karim was put in remedial classes at Davis High, which, after having been a high achieving student back home, bothered him greatly. That was quickly remedied and he went on to graduate from DHS with the highest of honors and achievements. In fact, on the night of his murder, he was riding his bike home from a ceremony at UCD at which he’d been given an academic award. He was just weeks shy of graduating with a degree in computer science.

The birthday gathering last night was moving. I estimate about 100 or 150 people showed up to honor Karim and support the Najm family. They placed a line of luminaria from the family home in Evergreen, across the 113 bike overcrossing and along the bike path in Sycamore Park to the point where the stabbing occurred. Nadine and Majdi have been maintaining a memorial in that spot for the last six months. There will soon be a permanent memorial built at the site (which so far has generated more than $40k in support from the community). They served cookies and Karim’s favorite drink (coffee) and played songs from a favorite playlist of his. People wrote cards, placed flowers.. and I’m sure every parent there tried to imagine how they would ever manage such a loss.

The whole thing — the flowers and tributes, the luminaria, the music, the comments, the slideshow and especially the turnout — was so very beautiful. I felt honored to be there. I finally got a chance to speak to both Nadine and Majdi. It’s a bit odd that we’d not spoken before, especially considering we spent so much time together in briefings and in the courtroom at the competency trial a couple months back.. but those were emotionally charged times and it seemed best to give them space. It was wonderful to finally speak with them both.

Here are some shots…

It’s not like me to make chili, especially chili with beans. Not a bean person. And I typically don’t like the spices in chili. But that’s what I’m doing tonight because this recipe caught my eye.. I think it was the pumpkin.

Color me dubious, but curious.

The ingredients… including those [shudder] white beans over there:

Will report out.

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Note: I’m way behind. I’m going to slowly blog the fall trip to the Eastern time zone (and, sigh, the spring trip, also to the Eastern time zone, and the Yosemite trip). I hope.

Kelly and I checked out of our Airbnb in Norfolk, and drove north to meet another of the Sister District statehouse candidates, Lashresce Aird. She’s someone our local SD has raised a lot of money for (and postcarded and phonebanked). She’s terrific and should serve as a Virginia State Senator. We thought it’d be fun, as we passed through her district — a bit north of Michael Feggan’s — to meet for breakfast. So we met at a Cracker Barrel in Ashland, VA. Had a lovely time! (And I did some gift shopping for Diana.. our niece who we’d be visiting later in the trip. Score!)

Then Kelly and I continued north toward Dulles, where I’d pick Jim up and drop Kelly off. We planned that very well!

We had a couple hours to spare, so we stopped in Fredericksburg, VA for a quick tour of an area that George Washington hung out in during his formative boyhood years. He was born elsewhere and died elsewhere and is buried elsewhere, but he spent a good portion of his childhood here (mostly across the Rappahannock River at a place that became known as Ferry Farm).

Fredericksburg is cute and has several stops of a living museum along a main street in town. We stopped at this place and took a little tour. The women there assumed the roles of apothecary workers of the day. The first, for example, welcomed us all (about 10 of us on the tour) and asked what ailed each of us. She then proceeded to recommend an herb or fungus or bark to address our problem. It was cute. The other described how surgeries or tooth extractions worked before anesthesia. Also how leeches were used for bloodletting and for treating rheumatic pains, gout, all types of fever and hearing loss. They had a jar of real leeches.

Some nice buildings, including the home where George’s mother Mary lived:

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The drop off of Kelly and pick up of Jim went smoothly. Then Jim and I drove to our VRBO, about a mile north of the White House.. just south of Adam’s Morgan, a bit east of Kalorama.. a nice location right next to the 14th Street corridor. Lots of professionals, families and bike commuters!

Here’s the hood:

Here’s the place:

It was a super comfy, very clean, well-stocked and reasonably priced place to stay! Would do that again. Along 15th, lots of restaurants to choose from.

We had dinner at a place called Compass Rose.. eclectic, global cuisine. Loved it. This was a Georgian bread dish filled with cheese, called: khachapuri. The server cracks a raw egg on the hot cheese then mixes it up. Full of spice and flavor. Wonderful.

The day started with a mad dash down to Virginia Beach… because: Atlantic Ocean and… gotta see it. It was a Sunday morning and we were advised against canvassing too much before noon because people go to church, which gave us some extra time to while away.

Turns out, Virginia Beach is a pretty touristy place, but heck… we’re tourists, so it was a-ok. We picked a place called Pocahantas Pancakes. As we waited to be seated, we had time to take a walk on the boardwalk and took in the vast view, endless row of hotels, and a landmark statue of the Greek god Poseidon (Roman name: Neptune).

Then, canvassed for a few hours, ate a quick lunch at Panera, spent some time at the headquarters (always fun and interesting), then decided to head back to VB for dinner. Dinner was a fish house called Waterman’s. Not the best meal I’ve ever had, but a nice view.

Some pics:

Nice day to canvass. Sometimes you talk to folks, sometimes you just leave literature. We had a 22% contact rate; pretty decent. They track all kinds of things: number of voters in house, how they are registered, their ages, how often they vote. We also document our experience at their door through an app (Minivan), so campaign follow-up can happen as needed. This is a numbers game and campaigns know how to maximize their time and effort.

Headed back to VB in time for a nice sunset (though the sun doesn’t set over the water!)

Kelly and I started our day at Waffle House (because: Waffle House). We then met up with the Chicago Sister District gang (including another Kari!) and got a quick orientation from the campaign staff at the Michael F headquarters, then out we went for about three hours of walking and knocking. We stopped at about 2 for lunch.

We found a wonderful Puerto Rican restaurant in Virginia Beach. We started with some coconut soda and empanadas (chicken; guava and cheese), and when asked to recommend something light, our sweet server suggested the chicken soup with rice. An hour later, we got our soup, which the chef made from scratch, including running across the street for a missing ingredient (cilantro, turns out). The long lunch break precluded late afternoon canvassing, so that was our day.

Stats show we knocked on 68 doors and made 15 “contacts.” This 22% contact rate is strong, and we were happy with that! We got a little rain, but only at the very end (which earned us a couple of sympathy points from door openers. By and large, a very good day of canvassing.

We dropped our leftover soup at our VRBO, then headed out for some sightseeing before dinner. We went to the old part of town (Portsmouth area?) and loved the vibe! Lots of water in central/downtown Norfolk. Then had a glass of wine beside a big fire pit watching the sunset. We then joined the Chicago gang, plus Michael and his girlfriend for dinner at Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen in a cool part of town (not sure where we were, to be honest). Talked campaigning… so interesting! Michael is fantastic young man and totally deserves this seat. He is all about public service and fits the district perfectly. Feels absolutely wonderful to work on his behalf.

Great, long day. Here are some pics.

(The above was our last house.. which we had to drive to. Kelly did a quick lit drop — you can make her out if you look closely between the drops — and we called it a day.)

Wolf was the first word I got today on the NYT Spelling Bee (letters: FIRAOWL). Virginia is the distination I spent the entire day traveling to.

No wonder I needed a margarita!

I like how the margarita matches my shirt. It was a great Mexican dinner.. a surprise find in Norfolk.

Norfolk is also the North America home of NATO. Who knew?

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And PS on that Spelling Bee: I got 40 words out of 44.. not bad for a day on the fly.

I am, quite certainly, the world’s slowest packer. Packing for a trip brings together every single one of my neuroses…. my ocd; my need to be neat; my need to be thorough; my need for order, organization and process (lots of overlap there, but you see where this is going); my need to solve for every problem and plan for every possible situation.. etc, etc. etc.

So damn tedious.

This trip is a wee complex as it includes some warm weather, some wet weather, and likely some cold weather. Plus clothes for canvassing, clothes for walking around Washington DC all day (including inside the White House and Capitol), clothes for nice, clothes and supplies for hiking at Acadia National Park, and workout stuff. Plus gifts. Plus laptop + cables. Plus toiletries. Plus reading and writing stuff.

This isn’t the half of it, but you get the idea.

And I’d decided to go with my “mama bear” suitcase (as opposed to my giant papa bear or my teeny baby bear). So had to limit my clothing choices. We’ll see how this goes.

Now that it’s done: I’m excited!! Up at 4:30am, see ya.

I’m a fan of the late afternoon sun pouring through our west-facing wall-o-windows, specially when rays bore through the yellow petals of a rose.

So, for the first time in the history of our country, the House today threw out its speaker. All because he worked with democrats to keep the government open. All because of a history of personal animus between the dumper and the dumpee. All because of a psychopath who long ago hijacked and redefined the GOP and, unfathomably, continues to have a stranglehold on the entire party. All because of the tyranny of the minority. All because of a stupid rule that let one guy call the question. So many reasons.

What kills me is that the vast, vast majority of the country does not want any of this chaos. They (we!) want a functioning government. We want our reps to work — together — to address our country’s needs and problems. The majority of us wants that.. and yet.. we get this.

The republicans are a big hot mess.

Today was a sad and even tragic spectacle. But you have to admit, this is funny: