Mere Mortality

All aboard!

If you've looked at the photograph immediately above, you will probably have noted the presence of a lot more facial hair than usual. The reason for the growth had less to do with the onset of winter and more to do with the immediate aftermath of surgery performed on my neck, the scar of which you can see below in a photo taken after I returned home following an overnight stay in a local hospital. Not wanting to risk cutting open the suture, I decided a more prudent course of action would be to forgo shaving until after a follow-up visit with my vascular surgeon early next year. Unfortunately, after only 11 days of looking around 15 years older (according to my wife), my inexperience with beards resulted in a botched attempt at trimming the facial hair, with the end result being clean-shaven and looking my relatively youthful self again, albeit one who appears to have a neck tumor due to the post-op swelling:

Other than the aforementioned swelling, a sore throat and the aging hipster look, I feel fine following the operation. However, changes will have to be made when it comes to diet, according to the booklet I was given after being discharged from the hospital. As my daughter pointed out, the booklet assumes stroke patients are elderly folks, an impression confirmed by some of the tips given within - I should exercise by "rak(ing) leaves or work(ing) in the garden" and "walking to the mailbox"!:

I should point out here that the surgery I underwent was done in order to prevent a stroke, not because I had one...yet:

And so, as a brave new world opens up, here's a brief round-up of what else has been going on (other than studying Mandarin and taking retirement seminars) since the last time. Like the time I came across a pair of deer while going for a walk in the local cemetery:

Our Christmas tree, purchased from a supermarket. It only goes up to my waist, but at least it's a real living organism. Charlie Brown would've approved, I'm sure:

My daughter the flutist. She "flauted" (get it?) her skills at her school's winter concert earlier this month:

After months of relying on Uber and public transport, our car has finally been inspected, registered and tuned up, and is now plying the highways and byways of northern Virginia. Having been sitting idle on a dock for several months earlier this year, the vehicle initially failed the required emissions test, so the mechanic advised us to drive it on a highway for at least 30 minutes at speeds over 50 mph (80 kph) before bringing it in again. This we did one Sunday by visiting Warrenton, a scenic town of 9000 souls 40 miles (65 kilometers) by freeway from Falls Church. Incorporated in 1810, the downtown area has a number of old buildings:

Because I was advised not to drive for at least a week following the surgery, meaning Shu-E had to do all the driving, I was able to enjoy some of the beers on tap at the Wort Hog Brewery. The girls suggested I pose hiding the scar...:

…and by showing it off, for which I was happy to oblige. As a friend suggested, if anyone inquires as to what happened, I should say "You should see the bear":

As a kid, while waiting in the car at railroad crossings for the freight trains to slowly pass by, I would count all the cars, and then get excited when the red caboose came along. Modern technology has made the caboose obsolete, but Warrenton has a restored 1969 Norfolk and Western model on display:

The old Warrenton Branch spur line has been converted into a bicycle/walking trail:

The Warren Green Hotel was where Union General George McClellan said farewell to his officers on November 11, 1862 after being relieved of his command of the Army of the Potomac by President Abraham Lincoln. The current building was erected in 1875 following the destruction of the hotel in a fire:

Built in 1808, the old county jail is now a local history museum:

A statue of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall stands outside the 1890 courthouse building:

For a town with a pronounced Confederate background (see below), Warrenton has a surprising number of hipster outlets such as the Deja Brew Cafe on Main Street, where I stopped for a salted caramel latte:

A rare public sighting of my wife on Main Street, USA:

We ended our time in Warrenton by visiting the local cemetery. I was looking for the grave of John S. Mosby, a Confederate colonel who led Mosby's Raiders, a cavalry battalion that harassed Union forces and eluded capture right up to the end of the Civil War. While I couldn't find his resting place, it was impossible to ignore the Confederate soldiers memorial in the center of the grounds:

The cemetery is also notorious for its role in the lynching of an African-American man in January 1880. The poor soul was hung from a locust tree in the cemetery, after being accused of bigamy and miscegenation for eloping with a white woman, an event the local tourist authorities neglect to mention:

Our venerated 2013 Honda Accord. The drive to Warrenton and back was apparently successful in that it passed the emissions inspection on its second attempt:

On the weekend before Christmas, our daughter could barely contain her excitement at being outdoors by closing her eyes at Lake Audubon, after confessing that she had never heard of the famed American ornithologist and painter:

Our purpose for going out to the lake was to walk the 4.7-mile (7.6 kilometers) Turquoise Trail at Glade Stream Valley Park:

A series of expensive homes lined the trail:

At one point we came across a pair of black vultures. Due to the overcast sky and poor lighting, I had to do some tinkering to make the birds easier to see in the pic:

I thought shaving off the beard would've restored my youthful appearance. Apparently the surgery has taken more of a toll than I realized:

Speaking of transient ischemic attacks and carotid endarterectomies, I undid whatever dietary progress I'd been making by indulging in a greasy cheeseburger with fries at the Big Buns Damn Good Burgers in Reston following our "hike". Amber, though not yet 16, ordered a much healthier grilled chicken burger, proving once again she's far wiser than her old man. I should make her my dietician. In my defense, it was a damn good burger. The chocolate milkshake with which I washed it down was also pretty fucking good:

In addition to red meat, I'm also supposed to avoid whole milk, so I may not have done myself any favors by indulging in a 奶茶 at Sharetea. Unless powdered milk was used, as my daughter pointed out is often the case at bubble tea outlets:

As it would've been difficult to wrap an acoustic guitar and place it under a tiny tree, Christmas came a little early for Amber this year (also, I wanted her to pick out for herself an instrument that she was comfortable with). This could be the cover shot for her debut album, Interstate 66 Revisited:

Speaking of Christmas, my daughter asked me how the day is celebrated in Taiwan, as she only remembers what we did as a family while we were living in Shengang 神岡. To which I had to reply I really had no idea how non-Christians in Taiwan observe the day, if they do anything at all. As it turns out (courtesy of my friend Steve, a long-time expat in Taichung 台中), the 25th of December essentially is just another day, although in recent years English kindergartens and cram schools 補習班 (one of the latter of which is owned and operated by Steve) have influenced some younger adults to exchange gifts among friends. Hypermarkets also stock Christmas-related merchandise, but it's a far cry from Japan, where department stores are decked out in seasonal decorations, and families celebrate the occasion with a dinner from KFC. And in a country where the day is not a national holiday and only about 1% of the population are Christians (one of the things I like best about Japan), many young couples celebrate Christmas Eve with a night of copulation in a love hotel, a fact of which I was reminded by this sign in a local bubble tea store:

Speaking of fowl, on the day before Christmas Shu-E and I drove to Gaithersburg, Maryland on another one of those furtive Taiwanese shopping excursions that would suggest to the unknowing that some sort of disreputable exchange was taking place. What actually occurs is that my wife will order some Taiwanese dishes online, then arrange to meet in a supermarket parking lot to pay the person and bring home the 餐 - it only looks shady, honest. On this occasion we actually went to a private residence, with a sign in Chinese instructing food buyers to park in the back. While I waited in the car, Shu-E met her dealer, forked over the dough and returned to the car with the goods:

The contraband, which included duck meat (on the far right), a favorite of the missus. Among the other dishes are málàdòufu 麻辣豆腐 - "bean curd flavored with hot spices"; and sǔngān típáng 筍干蹄膀 - "dried bamboo shoots". It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (though in the end we had steak for Christmas dinner):

As I finish up this entry, it's Christmas Day. As you've already seen, Amber received her main present early, so the gift-giving this morning was low-key. Santa thoughtfully brought all three of us winter beanies with buttons to hold face masks (my daughter also got an Otamatone オタマトーン with which to broaden her musical horizons, and annoy her parents):

It was a relatively balmy 68°F (20°C) in the afternoon when I left the apartment to get some exercise. I ended up taking around 14,000 steps in 2+ hours along the W&OD and Four Mile Run trails, all the while listening to a psychedelia playlist, a good workout for keeping those arteries unclogged, but not quite as beneficial when it comes to beating hearts - according to my Fitbit, my organ was doing 127 bpm at the time I returned home. This could be the start of a Yuletide tradition, except that if all goes according to schedule, the chances are good that I'll be either freezing my ass off or choking on smog (or both) this time next year in Beijing 北京:

Just after taking this selfie a jogger stopped to warn me of a possibly rabid raccoon up ahead. I didn't see the critter, but I wasn't particularly concerned - one of the benefits (?) of my profession is that I've been vaccinated for many contingencies, rabies included. Bring it on procyonid!:

And so another Christmas is upon us. Happy holidays to all in Christendom, and to my family and friends in Japan and Taiwan, メリークリスマス and 聖誕快樂, respectively!

Getting refined in Richmond

The Illuminate Light Show at the Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Virginia

And the furlough goes on. It looks like it I won't be returning to (paid) work until Monday at the earliest (which, of course, is New Year's Eve), but  all the major news outlets are reporting that the government shutdown is likely to continue into next year. If it goes on for too long, there's always manual labor. In any event, I'd already arranged to take leave yesterday (Thursday), but being furloughed wiped out the independent study I was going to do today.

My wife is a big fan of Papa Murphy's, a take-and-bake pizza chain based out of Washington state. Here in the other Washington, however, franchises are few and far between, much to Shu-E's disappointment. So when she found that there's an outlet near Richmond, VA area, as well as a seasonal light show in the same area, she suggested a family road trip into southern Virginia. The plan was to see some of the sights of Virginia's capital city, pick up a pizza (or two) afterward, and then stop off the see the lights before the drive home. Unfortunately, traffic on I-95 heading south was unexpectedly heavy and very slow-moving all the way from Washington to at least Fredericksburg. After pulling off the freeway for a bite to eat at Arby's, a decision was made (by me) to take a slightly longer, but infinitely more scenic (not to mention much-less crowded) detour through the countryside to Richmond. The Virginian capital is known for its monuments and historic districts, but by the time we showed up (around 1430), there wasn't time to do much more than visit one spot. And at the suggestion of my wife, that spot turned out to be one of the better museums I've visited, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts:

Entry to see the permanent collection is free, and what a collection it is! The VMFA has something for everyone - American, modern, European, Asian, African, ancient, Art Deco, Art Nouveau etc. We began our tour with the McGlothin Galleries, which focus on American art. One of the best-known paintings in the collection is Progress (The Advance of Civilization). Completed by Asher Brown Durand in 1853,  its depiction of Native Americans on the left with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution on the right shows the sacrifices that we were made in the "advance of civilization":

Catfish Row (1947) by Jacob Lawrence was one of the results of the artist's travels to African-American communities in places like Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans:

This Japanophile appreciated a couple of works in particular in the galleries. First, there was The Temple Court of Fudo Sama in Meguro, Tokyo (1891), by Robert Frederick Blum. A friend of mine used to live close to the depicted temple:

Then there was Miss Kaji Waji (1909), by Robert Henri. The portrait's subject was the daughter of Katsu Kaishū 勝海舟:

Shu-E isn't a big fan of modern art, unlike her husband. Wall Drawing #541 (1987) by Sol LeWitt:

One of the highlights in the VMFA is without a doubt its collection of five Fabergé eggs. This stunning specimen, the Imperial Tsarevich Easter Egg, was presented by Tsar Nicholas II to his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, in 1912. The "surprise" inside was a diamond-encrusted platinum miniature portrait, which you can see to the left of the egg:

In the Marble Hall stands Septimius Severis. Most of it dates from the 3rd century, though the head and body belong to different statues that were joined together in the 1630's, with the arms, legs and other elements being added around that time. Apparently this was standard Baroque restoration practice:

Willem van Heythuysen (2006) by Kehinde Wiley is one of the artist's realistic portrayals of African-American men in Old Master settings. This one humorously references a 1625 painting of a Dutch merchant by Frans Hals:

I took a particular interest in the African gallery when I came across the following:

Life and Miracles of Saint Gäbrä Mänfräs Qeddus together with a Homily and Miracles of Saint Michael (17th century, artist unknown):

Triptych Icon (circa 1670-1720) depicts Mary and Jesus flanked by archangels and surrounded by images of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, apostles and Sts. George and Theodore:

A silver processional cross, from the 17th-18th century. The Ethiopian empire in the 4th century was one of the first in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion:

Masks from the Congo region:

A late-15th century depiction of St. Denis. Legend has it that he carried his severed head to his burial place after his execution in Paris in 280:

The coffin and mummy of Tjeby (2195-2040 BCE):

The mummy was placed on its left so it could look out through the Eye of Horus painted on the side of the coffin:

The East Asian gallery had some excellent examples of Japanese Buddhist art, like this Kamakura period 鎌倉時代 Kannon 観音 statue, made of wood, with traces of lacquer and gold leaf:

This 13th-century (Kamakura period) statue of Zōjōten 増長天 (the Guardian of the South) originally held a weapon in its right hand:

A magnificent Kamakura period trio - Kannon (13th century) in the middle, flanked by two 14th-century Boddhisattvas, Monju 文殊 (on the lion) and Fugen 普賢 (atop the elephant):

A pair of 14th-century guardian lions, known as komainu 狛犬 in Japanese:

I was pleased to find that I've visited almost all of the places depicted by Hasui Kawase 川瀬巴水:

Tsuruoka Hachiman Shrine (1931):

Snow at Zōjōji Temple (1929):

Nigatsudo Hall, Nara (1934):

Konpira Shrine, Sanuki (1948):

The Chinese section also included Buddhist statuary, but I was more impressed with this 7th-century earthenware with white glaze Bactrian camel, dating from the Tang dynasty 唐朝:

The ceramics were also impressive, like these beautiful Qing dynasty 清朝 vase and cups:

An 18th-century lacquer container (wood with mother of pearl inlay) with a floral design, from the Korean Joseon dynasty:

The South Asian gallery...:

...featuring a stunning 19th-century garden pavilion from the Indian state of Rajasthan:

The gallery is also home to some outstanding Tibetan mandala paintings...:

...and this magnificent figurine:

The final galleries we visited contained various works of Arts Deco and Nouveau. I could picture myself relaxing at home with these 1926 furniture pieces designed by French painter Félix Del Marle:

Punch Bowl with Three Ladles, made in 1900 by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company:

It was almost 1730 when we were done with the museum. On the way back to the car we passed a reminder that Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. I only saw one Confederate flag flying in front of someone's house on the drive to the city, but signs for the Jefferson Davis Highway were unfortunate reminders that we were in the South:

Following our pizza pickup at Papa Murphy's in nearby Mechanicsville, we drove to Doswell to see the illumination. Coming after Christmas and on a Thursday evening, there thankfully weren't too many cars in the queue. The lights were synced to music which was simulcast on a local FM radio station:

I'll end this post with a few short videos from the light show. My camera's battery gave out while driving around (as you can hear me observe in the second video), so the last three are courtesy of my wife's phone. Enjoy: