Snowlough

A lone snowflake holds out against melting on the glass of a bus stop in Falls Church

A snowstorm + a government shutdown = a snowlough. I can't take credit for this equation as I saw it on Facebook on Sunday morning, but it is an apt description for the current state of affairs. This weekend has seen heavy snow on the east coast of the U.S. In our area, it was predicted that a cumulative total of at least 8 inches (20 centimeters) would fall from late Saturday afternoon to Sunday night. The photographs below show that the forecast was pretty accurate. Here in Falls Church a "snow emergency" was declared at 1000 hours on Sunday morning. My daughter has seen her Saturday evening swimming lesson and Sunday afternoon Chinese class canceled as a result of the snow, with the icing on the cake (so to  speak) being the closure of all public schools on Monday.

Waiting for a bus on Saturday evening

This is all a far cry from when we were living in Vilnius, Lithuania just a year ago this time. There, the policy at Amber's school was classes would continue to be held until the temperature had fallen to below more than -20° Celsius (-4° Fahrenheit), while her swimming coach insisted on having practice unless the temperature was colder than -30°C (-22°F)! In contrast, the coldest it has gotten in the daytime here over the weekend was -2°C (28°F); at the same time, roads have remained open, buses and trains are still running and most stores still appear open for business (except for the local Barnes & Noble bookstore, much to my disappointment Sunday afternoon). Much ado about nothing?

A snow-covered park

A hypothetical question would concern whether or not my Amharic class would be held on Monday. But as you're probably aware, the reason the question is only a hypothetical exercise is that the federal government has been partially shut down since December 22, and I am one of the approximately 800,000 federal government workers who has been furloughed. I didn't mind at first, as it meant I was no longer required to submit daily independent study plans from home (classes weren't scheduled to be held during the period between Christmas and New Year's Day). But now the shutdown has dragged on to the point where it's now the longest in U.S. history, and, more importantly, I'm not getting paid.

Though it may appear to have been taken earlier in the day, this photograph was shot at around 2300 hours on Saturday night. I don't know why camera makes it look otherwise

I'm fortunate in that our housing is being provided for while I'm in training, and that hasn't been affected by the lack of funding (yet). So the financial effects of not having an income won't be felt immediately. But there are many federal employees who are already struggling to make rent payments, pay bills and so on while being furloughed; it must be especially difficult making ends in meet in the Washington, D.C. metro area, where housing costs are among the highest in the country. I can only imagine the impact the shutdown is having on this region in particular, where so many are employed by the federal government, and where tourism, a major industry, has no doubt been effected (all the Smithsonian museums are now closed, for example). There have been a number of media reports on the effect of the shutdown and the furloughs - see here, here, here and here (or just do a Google search).

The view from our balcony as I went to bed on Saturday night/Sunday morning

Considering my employment situation, I'll refrain from assigning blame for the current state of affairs. Let's just say certain promises were made during the last presidential campaign that do not appear to have been kept. Ahem. I will, however, point out that the guidance being given out by the government to its affected employees borders on the offensively oblivious - see here, here and here for examples. Then again, on the advice of a friend, I should enjoy my free vacation and rest assured that a strong border will be my safety net!

The view on Sunday afternoon

I, for one, just wish for this "vacation" to be over so I can get back to learning Amharic. I've tried to keep up with my studies, but without the structure of a teacher and a classroom, it's a struggle just to maintain what I've already learned. On the bright side, I can blame my future failure on the final Amharic exam later this year on the failure our executive branch's leadership (oops).

So can we please end this ridiculous situation sooner rather than later, and stop playing politics with the livelihoods of so many people? Or, as Montana Senator Jon Tester puts it, there's a lot of work to done and that work starts with opening the government.

Fountain at Eden Center

I went for a stroll in the snow after dinner on Sunday evening:

Right after taking this selfie, two large deer ran by me before crossing a creek and disappearing into the woods:

A Monday morning street scene in Falls Church:

The Falls Church Presbyterian Church has some history behind it - the Gothic-style structure with its bell tower was built in 1884 from local granite and was the town's first stone building (modifications were carried out in 1925 and 1966):

Go here for much better photos of the snow in Washington, D.C.

And another one is in the books

Selfie op at the National Building Museum

A happiest of New Years to one and all! No resolutions this year, other than to pass my Amharic exam in the summer so that we can leave for Addis Ababa as scheduled at the end of July. Our departure for our third tour is no doubt the biggest thing on the agenda for 2019. On a more personal level, there's the wish for general health and well-being for all members of my family, as well as to my good friends and acquaintances. Speaking of health, I'm hoping this year will see a lot fewer visits to clinics and hospitals, following a 2018 that included an MRI, a CAT scan, an EEG, an EKG, a colonoscopy and more blood tests than I can (or care to) remember.

I'm supposed to go back to work tomorrow, but the government is still largely shut down and at this point I have no idea when the furlough will end and life can return to some semblance of normality. If you're wondering what one does during these trying times, read on...

Last Saturday my daughter and I went to the local farmers market, where we discovered a tasty Turkish treat called börek (in my defense I've never claimed, nor aspired, to be a foodie):

After our visit to the market, Amber and I were able to drag Shu-E out of the apartment to enjoy a sunny afternoon with a drive into the nearby Virginia countryside. Our destination was the small burg of Clifton, population of fewer than 300 souls, which I had driven through the weekend before while on my way to do some hiking. Clifton is one of those charming small towns that was dying a slow death before gentrification and weekend visitors gave it a new lease on life. We parked near the red caboose on the site of Devereux Station, a railroad siding on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad that supplied Union troops defending Washington, D.C. during the Civil War:

The main thing to do in Clifton is to walk up and down Main Street, looking at the old houses and reading the informative signboards in front. The 1900 Kincheloe House belonged to a local "huckster":

The 1902 Huckbill House was the residence of one Oscar Woody, who went down with the Titanic:

This church isn't much to look at, but as the sign explains is the oldest African-American house of worship in Fairfax County:

In case you were wondering where "Sleepless in Seattle" was written, you now know where to go to pay your respects:

More old residences:

We broke for lunch at the Main Street Pub. Being the designated driver, I had to make do with a bottle of root beer. From Virginia, of course:

This may look like a disgusting doughnut, but not to worry - it was the daily special, a beefsteak hamburger smothered in onions, mushrooms and gravy:

Passing through horse country on the way back to Falls Church:

My wife has a thing for illuminated displays. On Saturday evening we drove to Alexandria to check out the locally famous Collingwood Lights. This year's edition earned the homeowner a $50,000 prize:

We also stopped by another house to see its light show, but as Shu-E pointed out, the bar had already been set very high by the Collingwood Lights:

On Sunday, while my wife settled into her usual spot in the living room armchair, I dragged took my daughter into the District of Columbia to visit one of the sights not affected by the government shutdown, the National Building Museum. The exterior is impressive, starting out life in 1887 as the home of the Pension Bureau:

The frieze depicting Civil War soldiers extends around the entirety of the exterior:

But it's the massive interior, with its towering columns, that truly impresses:

The interior has been used to host inauguration balls, which explains the Presidential Seal set into the floor near the South entrance:

It doesn't cost anything to walk inside and admire the scene, but the museum hosts several small exhibitions that can be visited on one reasonable admission fee. The first exhibit we checked out was Secret Cities: The Architecture and Planning of the Manhattan Project. Prefabricated houses, like this 1934 "Motohome", were coming onto the housing market before the Second World War...:

...but it was the atomic bomb project that spurred the creation of new developments in places like Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington:

The cottage in Los Alamos, New Mexico where Robert Oppenheimer and his wife stayed during the war:

Oppenheimer's famous observation following the successful Trinity test:

The exhibit didn't shy away from what happened in Hiroshima 広島...:

...and Nagasaki 長崎:

The surface of this ceramic tile from the roof of a Buddhist temple in Hiroshima was blistered by the nearly 3300° Fahrenheit (1800° Celsius) temperature of the blast:

An example of the post-war fasciation with nuclear energy:

Another exhibit details the eviction crisis in the U.S. Every year 2.3 million mostly low-income people face being kicked out of their residences as rents rise in urban areas. "Our cities are becoming unaffordable for our poorest families, and the problem is leaving a deep and jagged scar on the next generation" (Matthew Desmond):

Flickering Treasures examines the forgotten movie theaters of Baltimore:

An ornamental lion's head fornice, circa 1915:

The view from the second floor:

Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs - memories from childhood:

Amber looks for inspiration without an app:

Making Room: Housing for a Changing America shows how the building industry is struggling to catch up with changing residential demographics. A nuclear family like mine now makes up a smaller percentage of the housing markets compared to single and childless couple households:

The Open House exhibit includes an example of a modern residence featuring moveable walls and multifunctional furniture. A typical Japanese urban apartment, in other words. The influence is clearly there, but not acknowledged:

The Pilot District Project focuses on Washington, D.C.'s efforts to tackle the underlying causes of the uprising/riot that broke out following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968:

While the weather was pleasant on the weekend, it was rainy all day on New Year's Eve. After seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in the afternoon, my daughter and I walked to the downtown area in Falls Church after dinner to see what was going on. Watch Night was what was happening, but the lousy weather dampened the turnout:

This star was going to drop at the stroke of midnight, but we didn't feel like waiting around in the drizzle to see it. Instead, Amber watched the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort and dryness of our living room:

At one point, we walked away from the festivities to explore the churchyard of The Falls Church Episcopal. The church's origins date back to 1732, and is home to the oldest identifiable grave in the city. The churchyard will be explored in greater detail on a sunnier and dryer day:

Back on Broad Street, where the Sudden M Pac Band was belting out Seventies favorites to a small but enthusiastic crowd:

However, this kid had the best way to see out 2018, with his rendition of "Walk the Line", complete with slick dance moves:

And so 2019 is now upon us. Happy New Year, 明けましておめでとうございます, 新年快樂, С новым годом and መልካም አዲስ ዓመት to you all!

However, a reminder that the Year of the Pig doesn't begin until February 5...