i was spinning 'round a dead dial

I’m constantly amazed at how much I enjoy listening to radio shows. No, not “The Big Party” morning show blasting out of Omaha on 94.1 FM. Listening to Prairie Home Companion or This American Life when driving home from work stills puts me in a solid state of mind. Give me some David Sedaris with a story and I’m doing just fine. There is a local show in D.C., The Big Broadcast, which is four hours of old radio serials and which seems to align the shows with my drive so that I always get replays of “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar”on the way home. I’ve become quite fond of Johnny Dollar, but am still amazed that the idea for a show about an insurance investigator on the road solving ‘crime’ actually came to fruition. The tagline….”"the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account — America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator,” is priceless. Action-packed expense account? Sweet. Of note, it’ll be pretty sad when Car Talk wraps up next year – what I know about cars, and that’s precious little, I learned from that show. Sort of like what I know about religion I learned from Dogma.

best...

I drove by an auto shop the other; a shop I drive by often and always think about giving my custom. The Versa that I use for commuting needs a tune-up,  just a run-of-the-mill tune-up that will probably sort a few little things that bother me. The shop, Japanese Auto Repair Specialists, was at one point named the “Best in Arlington,” so that’s promising. What I wonder is this: are Japanese cars any different these days? There must have been a time where Japanese cars were built with square screws and trapezoidal axels because ever since I was young there have been Japanese auto specialists. I don’t actually understand how the original Honda Civics and Datsun B210s differed, but I am willing to bank that there’s precious little separating the mechanical needs of a Camry and a Lumina (do they still make those?). On the other hand, there is clearly something different in working on a Mercedes, primarily what appears to be a massively inflated exchange rate.

We are in the dead zone run-up to the summer’s vacation in Vermont. Not quite close enough to do serious menu and packing planning just yet. I think the three-week mark is when it all starts coming together. The plan is up through eastern NY start – the Binghamton/Schenectady route – and then ferrying over to South Hero. Return will be via Vermont so that I can bowl. We do have to sort which kids are flying up and back since Galactica can’t comfortably carry what are now five adults.

Last night, as you do, we gathered the gang and went to pick up a pile of rock out in Vienna. Someone was feeling a bit lost at the cube of bricks have gradually disappeared from the driveway. There was a deal on hundreds of pounds of stones that seem to be destined for a corner rock border. This was a perfect scenario for having three teenagers accessible. Didn’t take long, and we all got ice cream afterwards...

duck!

At some point about a month ago I got duckpin bowling on my brain brought on by a local NPR story about a house and its owner. He'd started out as a pinboy (a term I'm making up), eventually moved on to manage a number of houses, and then bought White Oak Lanes in Maryland. I've bowled - lots - but have never seen duckpin bowling. (As an aside, some research led directly to the New England cousin  - candlepin bowling - of which we will partake next month.) On my off day, the 51 headed north to Maryland for a few lines of duckpin bowling at White Oak. Our reward was one of the coolest games ever - better than regular bowling. Sure, it's basically the same sport,except you get three balls per frame with the same basic scoring requirements, but it's a much more technical game. Add in the fact that these lanes are such a throwback to the great days of self scoring on paper, pinball machines, and that bowling alley feel, and I was in heaven. L. was quite impressed by the entire situation and was right up for the challenge of three games - the final two being a pitched battle between us for high score. It was more than one could hope for, and we'll return often.

After our expedition we snuck back into DC for a first visit to the (somewhat) new Union Market in NE.  Since it's only a block from Litteri's ("Kings of the World"), we knew we could get a two-fer. The market is nice, particularly on a quiet Thursday afternoon with no crowds, and it stands out for the new (to me) cheese place, Righteous, and a branch of Peregine Coffee (best DC coffee, hands down). Righteous hooked me up with long-lost and hard-to-find Sofia goat cheese (from here); Peregrine treated me to a lovely latte. The rest of the market is acceptable enough with a cool kitchen/home shop on one end, and a knife/monger that caught my attention. Beyond that there are some wine places, eating place, butchers, and a few other unmemorable businesses. It's nice, but not stunning - I'll drive to Florida Ave. for Litteri's, probably not for the Market. That said, they'll get some collateral visits.

Oh, there they are.