I am currently in San Diego working on a project for my employer. This trip I am here over a weekend so I made plans to explore at a greater distance than I have in the past. As luck would have it A friend of mine who lives in L.A. was free this weekend. We coordinated a meeting at a favorite spot of Amy’s where it was my pleasure to spend the afternoon with her.

We spent the majority of our time exploring the botanical gardens on the grounds of the Huntington Library & Art Collections in Pasadena CA. What a great place! We walked the grounds and also visited a photography exhibit featuring images in and around L.A. There were lots of interesting images large and small, new and old. Although in L.A. "old" is a relative term. Back home in Maryland my county is celebrating its 350th anniversary this summer. The city of Pasadena CA, where the Huntington Botanical Gardens & Library sits, incorporated just over a hundred years ago in 1886. L.A itself incorporated less than 50 years before that. Of course our European friends find all U.S. history fairly brief in the big scheme of things but more about them (Europeans) later.

It was a scorcher in L.A. Saturday. 105 degrees by the time we finished our walk around 3 p.m. Although, IMHO, the lack of humidity here made it not so bad. There are days back in D.C. where at 95 degrees I want to swallow my own tung to make it end because the humidity is so high.

The grounds are wonderfully done and I enjoyed walking them almost as much as I did the conversation with my host.

Near the end of the afternoon we ended up in the book store to brows and soak up some air conditioning to bring our core temperatures down. It was there that those Europeans will re-enter my story.

I noticed a poster of Johan Gutenberg in the book store. Hmmm, interesting I said to myself. It seemed a bit out of place among everything else I had seen this day. Inside the book store I had seen nothing else near the rolled Gutenberg posters that linked them to anything else. So I went on looking around and chatting with Amy. Next we went into an outdoor courtyard where we took on some delicious and I might add super chilled iced tea. Gulping at my tea I stood reading items inside the display cases at the edge of the courtyard. An item I read mentioned Johan Gutenberg's printing press... The thought hit me. Amy had mentioned to me at the beginning of the day that Mr. Huntington had an obsession with books, and the Library before it was a public place was Mr. Huntington's personal library. Could it be true? A wealthy book lover…. There was a chance…. Had I been all day within steps of an original Gutenberg Bible, printed by my ancestor Johan more than 600 years ago! I had never seen one in person. I had to know. I walked with purpose up to the information desk in the courtyard and said to the gentleman there "this may be a dumb question... but is there a Gutenberg bible here on display?" His response, "why yes there is" "Please direct me to it" I said eagerly. "Down the sidewalk to the right just inside the door by Neptune" And that is where I found serendipity in L.A.

Amy and I stood and looked at this more than 600 year old book, the first printed on a moveable type printing press. The invention of the moveable type printing press is the event that signifies the dawning of the information age. Sorry to my techie friends, but it was not the PC or the internet. (It could be argued that the internet is a sign the sun is setting on the information age *wink*) It was pretty amazing to see that book up close. Looks great btw.

Thank you Amy for the wonderful afternoon, I enjoyed your company very much.

Hello Son. George and I went for a drive in California tonight and we took pictures for you. I miss you and will be home soon to see you. ~love Dad.

If you know me well, or even at all, you likely know I am not what would typically be classified as a sports nut. I don't have anything against spectator sports it's just I am more the type of guy who goes out and does exciting things rather than to sit and watch others do exciting things. One of the many great things about having kids is that they challenge everything you ever thought you knew about yourself. I am really enjoying going to spectator sports with my son. Soon he'll be playing them and I expect that will make them even better.

We have a new professional baseball team (The Blue Crabs) here in southern Maryland with a brand spanking new stadium just 10 minutes from my house.

Saturday I took my 5 year old son to his first "professional" baseball game. He loved it! I loved it! Firstly, the scale of going to a local baseball game verses say a Washington Redskins game is just huge! The Redskins game he and I went to last fall had 90,000 people in attendance! At the time I said a NFL game in a stadium is something everyone should do once, its a hell of a spectacle. In contrast the Blue Crab game last night had 5,000 in attendance! Much better on a human scale if you ask me. The stadium has seats for 4,200 with a grassy hill catering to families which several hundred more people can watch from. This is something I will do again. There were tons of things for kids, with attention spans shorter than an inning, to do. And the best part... At the end of every Saturday night home game, FIREWORKS! And they spared no expense on the fireworks either, these were the big boys worthy of any hometown 4th of July display I have ever seen short of those on the National Mall. Thats another spectacle that should be done once ;-)

I took, as always, a few photographs of the boy. There are a set of three images I took of him eating cotton candy that I am particularly fond of. I present them to you below, they are hyper linked to a proper viewing resolution (for your enjoyment).

As we were leaving my son looked up at me and said, thanks dad this was super fun!

You just can't beat that!

If you care to see more they are located in my spring 2008 family gallery.

Good weather is back providing ample opportunity to enjoy down time outside. Traffic can be a nightmare on Fridays, this Friday I bailed out and headed downtown to pull up a piece of Potomac River shore front.

I prepped for this evening by visiting Chipotle and my Virginia tobacconist for carry out snacks (yes I have a Maryland tobacconist too). With dinner, a cigar, and my MP3 player I was good to go for hours.

The sunset fizzled out just as it was about to get good as clouds rolled in. But no worries, the temperature was 85 degrees so I sat in the warm breeze and listened to music until after dark leaning on that tree. Within eyesight of my chosen position were, Arlington cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, Air Force Memorial, Washington Monument, and several Potomac River bridges. A very good spot despite the photo ops being slim this night.

A fellow 5 year old came to play with my son tonight at the house. These two play so nice together. I have not pestered them with my camera in the past but tonight I could not resist. Although these images depict a general sense of calm enjoyment between the two I assure you these are but fleeting moments captured in time. The two 5 year olds you see here are full throttle, high octane, go getters! Good grief the constant bouncing and talking and running and just being five... to have a tenth of that energy again :-) In less than ninety minutes they consumed 2 apples, 1 banana, 1 cup of dried banana chips, and 2 glasses of water. This food consumption occurred between coloring with crayons, chalk board pictures, a game of go fish, playing grocery store, playing space man, driving cars, playing ice breaker, playing lets go fishin', trying on a chest full of hats, and reading one story. In 90 minutes..... and please to remember I am a single dad which means I am working without backup :-) ... It was great fun and I would not have it any other way!

This Veterans Day weekend I traveled to Arlington National Cemetery. I wanted to walk and reflect on the grounds where so many veterans from throughout our nations history are interred and memorialized. It is not my style to visit such places on a tour-mobile, although I do not cast dispersions on those that do. I chose this day to deliberately walk the grounds away from the more heavily trafficked areas of the site. I entered the cemetery by a little used entrance on the north side only open to foot traffic. I was immediately rewarded as I walked alone in the gently rolling landscape, with not another sole in sight, as a group of 5 deer presented themselves to me. It was a crisp and beautiful mid Atlantic fall day. I will keep my reflections from this walk to myself but I do want to share what I feel are unique views from that walk inside Arlington National Cemetery this Veterans Day weekend.

You May View Images From My Walk By following The Link Below

Just a simple shot of life from my front porch. A very nice weekend after a very busy work week.

I love this view.