No Future?

An exercise in futility?

The Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, New York. The Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California. Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. All recent scenes of horrific, senseless gun violence. Despite the hopes and prayers (or because of them, as they serves as pathetic excuses in the absence of real action), these incidents occur with greater frequency, in what is becoming a sadly uniquely American phenomenon. And they continue to take place because nothing is done to prevent them from recurring. Other countries that have seen tragic shootings have taken concrete steps to ensure they won't happen again anytime soon. Here in America, every time children are massacred in schools, the gun nuts double down on their so-called "rights", claiming their misinterpretation of the Second Amendment is more important than the snuffed out lives of dead kids. I have friends and relatives who, frustrated with their smaller than average genitalia (or frustrated with their partners' tiny, malfunctioning packages), maintain that what this country needs is more, not fewer. Their terrifying vision of a fully-armed society is one that I don't ever want to live in. And thanks to the serious flaws in our system of government, we'll be hampered by a Congress and Supreme Court that do not represent the will of most Americans, and regression will take the place of progress. 

In normal times I would be looking forward to fleeing the United States to work abroad again. Only these aren't normal times, and we're supposed to be going to China. Since leaving Shanghai 上海 in the summer of 2015, Xi Jinping 习近平 has tightened his grip on an already-authoritarian government. By all accounts, the dynamic, relatively (stress on the word "relative") open China that we experienced on our first tour has been changed to a more closed-off (the Great Firewall), nationalistic and xenophobic society. Never a warm, fuzzy system in the best of times (just ask your average Hong Konger, Taiwanese, Tibetan or Uyghur), the Chinese government's insistence of maintaining a "zero COVID" policy means we could be facing months of possible lockdowns if and when we finally arrive in Beijing 北京, despite virtually the rest of the world learning to live with the coronavirus. 

Our fate is out of our hands, so for the rest of this post allow me to focus on the mundane and the ordinary, beginning with this Memorial Day evening deer encounter in the local cemetery:

June 17 marked the 50th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex  (a set of buildings constructed in the 1960's and '70's that haven't aged well, as my daughter likes to gleefully point out). The detection and arrest of the perpetrators that night set off a chain of events that would expose the depths of sleaziness of the Nixon administration, and of course led to the resignation of an American president, and causing millions of Americans to lose faith in their government (the Vietnam War also had something to do with the erosion of trust in public institutions). The scandal is also the reason why the suffix "-gate" is attached to virtually every suspected case of governmental misdeeds.

I may not have had a clear understanding of the story at the time, but Watergate news dominated the latter half of my elementary school years. For me the downfall of Richard Nixon was an almost personal affront - back in second grade I had written a letter to the president as part of a class activity, and in return received a nice little booklet on the White House that I treasured up until Tricky Dick resigned in disgrace. So when I read that one of the current exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery covers the scandal, I used a free afternoon to go into the district to have a look.

Right off I was confronted with all the key figures. Check out this BuzzFeed Unsolved Network video for a brief overview of Watergate and its players:

Poor Martha Mitchell. The socialite wife of Attorney General John Mitchell was actually kidnapped on the orders of her husband in an attempt to keep her from talking to reporters about the break-in:

Watergate bingo. Nixon never faced a judge and jury for his actions, thanks to Gerald Ford's infamous pardon:

The Credibility Gulf Stream:

Rose Mary Woods and the infamous 18½-minute gap:

On August 8, 1974 my father took me to get a haircut. I remember my dad and the barber discussing whether the president was going to announce his resignation that evening. As it turned out, he did:

And as we all learned, he was indeed a crook:

Martha's husband John, among the slimiest of those in Nixon's swamp:

The saddest takeaway for me from the exhibit was the loss of bipartisan outrage. Nixon was a Republican, but members of his party such as Howard Baker and Barry Goldwater put the interests of the nation first in urging the president to step down. Contrast that with today's Republicans, who shamefully refused to do the right thing when Donald Trump was impeached not once (over Ukraine) but twice (the U.S. Capitol attack). 

MAGA, Fox News, the upcoming overturning of Roe v Wade and so on. This country seems to be heading in the wrong direction half a century after Watergate. Perhaps that's why after leaving the National Portrait Gallery I first went into Washington's sad excuse of a Chinatown to purchase a milk tea, then took a leisurely stroll along 14th Street to the National Mall, where I turned left and headed over to my favorite of all the Smithsonian institutions, the National Museum of Asian Art. A few weeks ago Amber and I had visited to see the Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan exhibition in the Freer Gallery. Well, to be honest, I was the one who wanted to go; my daughter didn't really have much say in the matter. This time I was alone on a weekday, so I had more time to appreciate the paintings, scrolls and sketches:

Although I wanted to be back on the subway before rush hour began, I was intrigued enough by Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia's Sacred Mountain to visit the exhibit, hidden in a corner of the second-floor basement of the Sackler Gallery. The Krishna on display is a restored sculpture around 1500 years old, "liberated" around the time the Khmer Rough took control in Cambodia and started its genocidal rule:

Phnom Da, where the statue was originally located:

One recent Sunday saw a rare phenomenon occur, namely my semi-reclusive wife joining Amber and me for lunch at one of our favorite local restaurants, the Borek G Turkish café and market. To go along with my doner on pita, I had a Mythos beer. I used the opportunity to annoy my daughter with a stream of "it all tastes Greek to me" Dad jokes:

For dessert Amber tried carrot cake for the first time in her life. I didn't have the camera ready to capture her initial reaction, but it was very similar to that of the man on the right around the 5:18 mark in this video:

Shu-E was in a very special mood indeed, for she also went along with us to Northside Social for a post-lunch refreshment (she can't be described as a café aficionado). Her reward was to visit a Thai grocery store in Arlington in search of the spiciest chili powder she could find:

The onset of warm temperatures in the region brings with it thunderstorms, but the occasional payoff is rainbows, even double ones:

I've never been one to play by the rules...:

This chair inside an "accounting and business service" company. I've never seen anyone inside - according to the signs out front, this establishment operates 24/7, but "by appointment only":

At the final band concert of the 2021-22 school year. Our daughter enjoys playing the flute, and intends to continue doing so at her next school:

We couldn't be prouder of her:

Towards the end of May temperatures took a sudden upturn. So it was only a matter of course when, on one muggy Saturday morning when it was already 81°F/27°C (and would eventually get to 95°F/35°C), I told the girl we were going outdoors to do some walking. The chosen locale in which to work up some sweat was the interestingly-named Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve in Leesburg, about an hour's drive from Falls Church:

Though not far from Washington, this part of Loudoun County felt very rural:

Amber looks online to see if the long, black snake we had just startled was venomous. If it was, in fact, an Eastern Ratsnake, then she had nothing to worry about. Actually, Amber was more concerned with ticks and Lyme disease, an obsession going back to when she was 6 or 7 - we had gone for a walk at a park somewhere in Maryland, during which we had to walk through an overgrown section, the flora brushing against our arms and legs. A couple of hours later, we were sitting down to have dinner at an Elevation Burger when I noticed there was a bloodsucker crawling around on her clothing. Fortunately, it hadn't yet burrowed its way into her skin, but it's an experience she's never forgotten (I've had my own encounter with a tick, as well as once having picked up a leech on the back of my leg after walking through a rain-swollen stream on Mount Gozaisho 御在所岳 in Japan):

Because of the aforementioned concern with Lyme disease, my daughter stuck to the middle of the various trails we used:

Passing by an abandoned barn:

We lost count of how many small frogs (or were they toads?) that crossed the paths in front of us while we were walking:

Crossing a small stream:

The scenic Spring House Pond:

Both of us swore we saw a pair of large Asian carp swimming in the turbid water. Perhaps someone had dumped them there?:

Despite the heat and the humidity, not to mention the ticks (or lack thereof), it was enjoyable two-hour exercise. Apparently we covered 3.6 miles (5.8 kilometers), but it didn't feel like we had walked that much:

The simple pleasure of eating a cup of frozen chocolate custard:

While shopping at 99 Ranch Market I spotted a can of Beijing Brew 北京啤酒. For a brief moment I though it was a craft beer that I would soon be drinking in its place of origin, but then I noticed the Seoul Beer and Tokyo Beer. While there is a Beijing Beer brewed in China by Asahi Breweries アサヒビール, these beers are a "Product of the USA" (as seen on the cans), "proudly produced by the Beer Farm LLC, Brookeville, MD". Strangely, though, there's no mention of these beers on the brewery's website. The taste, by the way, was mediocre; not terrible, but not very distinctive, either:

Although it had been sunny and hot while we were out shopping at 99 Ranch Market, soon after returning home a violent hailstorm seemed to come out of nowhere. While it was only brief and the sun soon returned, a little while later our electricity went out for no obvious reasons, except for a couple of ominous sounding booms coming from somewhere nearby. It would remain out for the next 12 hours or so, only coming back on just after 0700 on a Monday, a not uncommon occurrence for Dominion Energy:

A week or so later our region was subject to a tornado watch. Around lunchtime on a Friday, the wind suddenly picked up outside, and the rain being driven onto our windows was so heavy we couldn't see outside. And then just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over - the wind died down, and in its place was just another heavy downpour. Based on what we were watching on the local news right after, it made me wonder if a tornado-like maelstrom had briefly touched down outside. At least this time the power stayed on - go figure.

Dinner at Kao Sarn Thai Street Food, a neighborhood favorite:

Ever since she went there several months ago with some Taiwanese friends, the wife has raved about the dishes on offer at To Sok Jip, a hole-in-the-wall Korean eatery in (where else?) Annandale. We attempted to get in a couple of weekends ago, but the long line out front (plus the fact it was raining) was persuasion enough to try again on another day. Much to Amber's consternation, Shu-E and I made another attempt on a weekday afternoon, when the girl was still in school. We still had to wait outside before a table opened up, but at least the line was shorter and the weather more comfortable:

And, yes, the food lived up to the wife's hype. She had the fried yellow croaker, while I ordered the bibimbap:

And being the good parents that we are, we saved a few pieces of the seafood and green onion pancake for our daughter:

Memorial Day, 2022. We kicked off the three-day holiday weekend on Saturday by driving into Alexandria, a colonial village packed with boutiques, cafes and restaurants...and on holidays, weekends and holiday weekends, crowds. We parked in a lot near the waterfront promenade, and Shu-E noticed a Japanese restaurant on the opposite side of the street. A look at the sushi 寿司 menu was a reminder that I wasn't in Kansai anymore:

That isn't to imply that lunch wasn't 美味しい, however. Quite the opposite, in fact:

It was a beautiful day down by the Potomac. Planes were approaching Reagan Airport from the south (an observation that will become relevant shortly):

At the Torpedo Factory Art Center, which we had visited previously on our first visit to Arlington on a cold winter day in February 2013. Or, as Amber initially misread the sign, the "Toronto Factory Art Center":

It was a short stroll from the Toronto torpedo place to the historic Gadsby's Tavern Museum:

The tavern was a center of Alexandria's business, political and social life in the 18th century, and the rooms have been restored to how they appeared during that time:

George Washington ate here:

The sleeping rooms are on the third (top) floor. And in case you've just started expressing your disapproval, visitors are invited to try out one of the beds:

Thomas Jefferson slept here, while in town during the contentious 1800 presidential election:

The ballroom still plays host to the occasional swanky event:

My daughter eyes an old Zenith long distance tube radio:

On our way home from Alexandria we made a brief stop at Gravelly Point Park. It's location adjacent to Reagan Airport makes it a popular location for spotting airplanes. On this day, the planes were taking off to the north; I've been to the other park on other days when the aircraft were coming for landings from the same direction:

Sunday was a beautiful day, and at a high of 81°F/27°C much more comfortable than the previous weekend. And as there wasn't anything in particular the wife wanted to do that day, Amber and I used the free time for yet another hiking/driving combination outing. Last month we had driven out to the Monocacy National Battlefield Visitor Center, but didn't have time to explore the battlefield itself. This time we started at Gambrill Mill, and a short trail:

The view along the Monocacy River. To the left (and out of the frame) is the Urbana Pike Bridge. In 1864 there was a wooden covered bridge in the same location which was burned down during the Battle of Monocacy. The Union troops then fled across a railroad bridge, a modern-day successor of which still spans the river:

It was an ideal spot for skipping stones:

As the sign explains, this is a former mansion that now serves as offices for the National Park Service:

From Gambrill Mill, it was a short drive to Worthington Farm, the site of further conflict during the battle. While the battle raged, the Worthington family sheltered in the basement of their house. Today the setting looks like something Andrew Wyeth might have set to canvas:

The meadow behind the house is home to a herd of cattle:

From the house we set off on the Ford Loop Trail. Here my daughter demonstrated just how huge the meadow is (especially in comparison with the small number of cattle living there):

The rooty trail continued through the woods:

We soon met up with the Monocacy River again:

Day of the triffids:

One of several cottages lining this part of the river:

We next took the Brooks Hill Loop, which brought us to another pasture and another herd of cows. Also, some massive flying insects:

The herd started moving. Some idiotic city slicker nearby thought it was funny to make bovine sounds:

The herd made its way to a watering hole to cool off:

Just after crossing a creek we spotted a large buck running away in the woods:

The short but steep climb up a hill (during which my heartbeat reached 136 bpm) led to a field with a panoramic view:

The limitations of an iPhone 8 become apparent when trying to photograph a stink bug and its eggs. Not even using a white towel as a backdrop could get the camera to focus properly on the invasive insect:

Seeing all those cows worked up an appetite:

Before heading home we made a detour to downtown Frederick's historic district, where sleeping dogs are let to lie:

Amber waits patiently for her Spring Blossom tea. It turned out someone else had taken her drink after it was placed on the counter, and it took almost fifteen minutes to get a replacement prepared. She swore it was worth the wait:

Memorial Day Monday was a scorcher - 88°F/31°C, and humid to boot. But the three of us headed out to downtown Falls Church anyway to soak up some Americana, i.e. a parade. But before the festivities started at 1400 hours, it was time to look for something to eat for lunch. How could there possibly be an obesity crisis in this country?:

I'm not a "car guy" in any sense of the term, but I really wanted to enter the raffle for this classic Mustang convertible. I once had a coworker in Sacramento who drove a 1969 red Shelby convertible, and I still remember the admiring looks I received from women the one time he let me drive it. Alas, this beauty would be too old to ship to China, so I had to pass up the opportunity:

Apparently the crab cake sandwiches we all had for lunch weren't enough (confession: I also ate a hot dog), so my daughter bought herself a funnel cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Yours truly helped out as we waited in the shade for the parade to start:

And so it began:

Mascots from the different schools in Falls Church. All of them must've been broiling inside those outfits:

Falls Church has a large immigrant community from Latin America, and they were represented by several colorful dancing troupes. All of them were well received by the crowd, but sad to say certain relatives of mine would be distressed to see this further evidence of the "browning" of America. And I would thoroughly enjoy seeing their discomfort:

I was surprised to see not one, not two, but three bagpipes-and-drums brigades take part in the parade:

Had I known, I would've worn my Scotland national soccer team jersey, instead of the Belgian Red Devils one I actually sported. Someone asked me if I was Belgian:

It wouldn't be a holiday parade without the participation of patriotic bikers:

It also wouldn't be a parade without an appearance by the Shriners and their small cars:

While the Latino community was out in force, the Vietnamese were nowhere to be seen, despite the presence of Eden Center in Falls Church. In fact, the only representative of the Asian community in the parade was...Falun Gong 法轮功:

Despite the heat, it turned out to be an enjoyable afternoon - even the wife had a good time watching the procession (most of the videos above were taken by her). It should be remembered, however, that Falls Church is one of the wealthiest, best educated cities in the United States. In the 2020 presidential election more than 80% of the votes here went to Biden. It would be comforting to wish if only more communities in this country could be like Falls Church, but even here the reality is a short drive into the countryside brings you into Confederate-flag waving, MAGA hat wearing territory. 

At times like these it feels like nothing ever changes for the better. Is there no future for you, no future for me?