Our two sons in Washington DC

James and Morgen

Piper and Scott

 We flew back from Guatemala to Washington DC to visit first my sister Paula in northern Maryland and then our two youngest sons, James and Sean in DC itself. James has just recently become engaged to his wonderful girlfriend Morgen Pavlovic. They met at Marlboro College in Vermont and have been dating for 3 years. We love her and her family. They live nearby so we went over for dinner on Saturday night. A beautiful conservatory juts out into their lovely garden in the back of the house and that's where we love to hang out.

Will and Sean

Courtney

 ewe gathered for brunch with Sean's great friends and former room mates Piper and Courtney. Over the days to come we saw an interesting play at the Woolley Mammoth Theater, "Dead Fucking Bird" a modern interpretation of "The Seagull". We had a long walk along the Anacostia River Walk, still being extended and in places, brand new.
We ate Himalayan dumplings at Mad Momos on 14th St. NW (quite good and fun) and the Chinese versions at Ping Pong Dim Sum (lots of choices and interesting). The Belgian Waffles (like with duck confit!) at Belga Cafe on Barracks Row, 8th St. SE were all fabulous and sitting out in the sun while we ate them priceless.

Will, Sean and Heather

James and Morgen again

Will, Courtney, Piper and Sean

If looks could kill...

Morgen with Mom Kris

Karl, Morgen and Kris Pavlovic

Will, Sean and Scott at Belga Cafe

New landscaping along the Anacostia River Trail

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And sculptural bridges

Former Presidential Yacht

Will, Sean and Kathy, Will's Mom in their new apartment

Kathy, her sister

A visit to Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala

Santa Maria de Jesus sits on the side of Vulcan de Agua, rising above this central square

We took a public van from near our B&B to a small town up the slopes of the volcano that looms over Antigua, Vulcan de Agua, to Santa Maria de Jesus at the suggestion of our host Daniel. As he promised we were the only tourists there and we doubt they see many at all. Despite it being a Monday the market in the town square was bustling. After a while people got used to us and I was able to take pictures and just sit and watch this vibrant scene. Hope you enjoy this photo visit.

Multi purpose checkered cloths serve as head coverings

Dried Fish anyone?

That's various herbs on the right

The vegetables looked very fresh

Children help out their mothers or

Scott towers above everyone

Another use of the cloths is carrying children or parcels

Notice the ubiquitous flip flops

This little girl is helping with the weighing

While this one is fascinated by her diapers

And this lovely little girl by my camera and myself

Blouses on display

I bought a blouse very similar to the one on the left

These women are filling their clay water vessels to bring home

A big celebration was planned that night

Many of the men in the town were lined up outside

The local laundromat

Wood for the cooking fires

Another view of the hard work of cleaning clothes

Kids everywhere have fun

A wide variety of skirt material

That's a selection of belts on the rack

Everyone needs toilet paper and paper goods

This looks like a selection of modern clothes - one women appears to have already succumbed.

These are 17th Century towers at the gate to the square

Vibrant colors are everyone's favorite

scarfs or cords are used to bind up your hair

Tomatoes anyone?

Sundays are the big market day but this was busy enough

It seemed most of the town was there

These women got a kick out of Scott and I

As did this woman - we bought some of her fried potatoes

Behind the scenes as they get ready to serve lunch

Too bad we weren't provisioning for the boat

I'm sorry I didn't buy any aprons to complete my costume