Ain't no bull

Sundays have become a day to get away from the Chinese language (for a few short hours, anyway) and, lately, worries over visas, and just spend time ambling through the woods with my daughter. Today it was a short half-hour drive west on Interstate 66 to the Bull Run Mountains Natural Area, 2500 acres (1012 hectares) managed by the non-profit Bull Run Mountains Conservancy. 

Our walk began by crossing the train tracks - taking a photo of Amber while keeping a wary eye for the sudden appearance of a freight train brought back memories of a close call my cousin and I once had.

The sky was overcast, the trees were mostly bare of leaves and, with the exception of a few birds and squirrels, wildlife was scarce. The overall effect was beautiful in a grungy, Pacific Northwest kind of way. 

Dawson's Cemetery, located deep in the woods. William Dawson has been lying here since 1853.

My daughter really seemed to enjoy herself in the woods this afternoon. I hope she'll always have this love of the outdoors. Now if the two of us could only convince the third member of our family to significantly alter her sedentary lifestyle...

A long section of trail made its way along a ridge to the top of the southern extension of High Point Mountain, passing by exposed sections of ancient quartzite.

As we reached the top, the fog came rolling in. Or rather, we reached the fog, which was there waiting for us, and kept us company as we walked along the top of the ridge.

Eventually, we descended from the fog bank, and made our down to a hollow

A dilapidated wooden house sitting forlornly in a grove of beech trees. It was apparently the home of a mill worker, who soon moved out after the mill closed down in 1951.

The ruins of the aforementioned mill. Chapman's Mill was built in 1742 and ground cornmeal and flour until its closure in 1951. During the Civil War, Confederate forces used the building to store meat, before burning it down in 1861 after the First Battle of Bull Run. The mill was restored and back in action by 1876, but a fire in 1998 left the building the gutted ruin it is today.

Amber strikes a pose next to Quarry's Trench, site of the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap. From where she's standing, Union troops were firing at point-blank range at Confederate forces on the other side of the trench. 

The family cemetery of the Chapmans, owners and operators of the Chapman Mill. Our walk today was a short one, taking only about three hours, covering a distance of approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers), with an elevation gain of only 810 feet (247 meters), despite our ascent into the fog. Cemeteries, ruins and history combined quite nicely with the early winter scenery to make this one of our most enjoyable short hikes.

I'm a space cowboy, bet you weren't ready for that

As the year is winding down and the departure date for Shanghai 上海 nears, the stress amps have been turned up to 11. I've got a progress test scheduled for this upcoming Monday afternoon, while trying to sort my way through a forest of red tape, courtesy of the United States Department of State, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, Mao Zedong 毛泽东 and Chiang Kai-shek 蔣中正, not to mention my own personal ignorance. All this and more, thanks to an increased homework load (I was reduced to having to complete translation exercises on the Metro this Saturday morning) and the onset of a not unexpected seasonal cold. I'm optimistic enough to believe that my wife and daughter will be able to join me in China in early February, but it's going to come right down to the wire. Perhaps it was a bit premature of me to have quit smoking ten years ago.

Homework on the subway aside, one still needs to set what has to be done aside for some quality family time. In our case, that meant going to one of Washington, D.C.'s most popular (and deservedly so) attractions, the National Air and Space Museum. In this day and age, it's hard to find anyone praising the role of government, but I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Smithsonian Institution for its services not only to this nation, but to the world at large. The number and range of museums it operates in the D.C. area is stunning, and all of them are free of charge to visit (a socialist conspiracy?). You have heard of the National Air and Space Museum, and if you haven't been there already, you no doubt will should you find yourself one day in this nation's capital. So without further ado, what follows is a brief photographic record our visit this Saturday after Pearl Harbor Day...

Amber stands in front of the command module of Apollo 11

Some of the displays, like this one on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, brought back memories of events from my childhood.

A mock-up of the Hubble Space Telescope

A V-2 and a V-1 rocket in the foreground, and a section of Skylab in the back. I could've had a V-8.

The miracle of flash photography - this display was in near-total darkness, part of the "Explore the Universe" exhibit.

A U-2 pilot's survival kit, including shark repellant

A model of the Lunar Roving Vehicle from Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the Moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt certainly seemed to enjoy themselves while they were up there:

The Spirit of St. Louis...当然

X-15

Amber was very excited to see this flying machine. The bright-red Lockheed Vega was the airplane that Amelia Earhart piloted solo across the Atlantic in 1932. Earhart is something of a hero to Amber, who read about her in a book she had checked out from her school library. Hopefully she will be the first in a long line of positive female role models for my daughter as she makes her way through life.

Why, yes, this is the actual Wright Flyer that was flown on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on that momentous day back in 1903. Thank you for asking.

Planes, planes and more planes

I remember seeing a photo of this poster in a book on the First World War that my dad had on this bookshelf.

My wife checks out this display on the Flying Tigers. To my surprise, I was able to make out a lot of the traditional characters in the examples from the "Pointee Talkee" booklet. "Please help conceal me from the enemy and the puppet troops."

As I was wondering if this was an actual Mitsubishi Zero  零式艦上戦闘機 (aka ゼロ戦) fighter plane, a small Japanese tour group happened by, and I overheard one of visitors comment that is was the 本物. Good enough for me.

A Royal Air Force Spitfire, the plane that kept Britain alive during the darkest days of the Second World War.

Amber and I were both fascinated by La Minerve:

"The interest in balloons which had swept across Europe in the 18th century had many expressions. La Minerve was designed by the French aeronaut Etienne Robertson in 1803. Completely fanciful, Robertson's self-contained aerial community represents the hopes which many Europeans held for the bright future of air travel."

And now we're left with United Airlines.

If you harbor any doubts that the National Air and Space Museum might not be very interesting for the little ones, banish those thoughts now!

Coming a Clopper

All signs are pointing toward what should be a normal winter this year for northern Virginia, as in cold, snowy and wet (apparently the last winter was unusually warm, though we had record snowfall in the Pacific Northwest, where we were staying at the time). At least that's what the local media has been reporting. However, the local weather hasn't gotten with the program yet, if today's climatic conditions were any indication. Who can argue with temperatures in the high 50's Fahrenheit (around 12-14°C) and clear blue skies? Amber and I couldn't, as the two of us enjoyed a leisurely four-hour walk at the Seneca Creek State Park in Germantown, Maryland. Our 5.6 mile (9 kilometers) trek took us first along Great Seneca Creek to Clopper Lake, where we circled the 90-acre (36 hectares) impoundment along a 3.5 mile (5.6 kilometers)-long trail before returning whence we came. A few snaps from our outing today:

Before setting out on the Great Seneca Trail, my daughter paused to have a peek through the windows of the Grusendorf Log House, dating from around 1855. 

Before reaching the Great Seneca Creek, the trail first had to pass under some high-transmission power lines.

The crystal clear waters of the creek flowed past beeches, maples, oaks and sycamores, all bereft of leaves, resulting in a stark beauty that only comes around when the last of the leaves has fallen and before the first flakes of snow stick to the ground.

An island in the middle of the creek created by beaver dams.

My daughter pauses in a break between tree lines.

As we approached Cropper Lake, we started noticing these light fixtures. There were more of them along the shores of the lake, all with a seasonal theme. Apparently they're lit up in the evenings during the winter.

Cropper Lake.

Amber was quite amused by the sight of duck posteriors bobbing up from the water.

A great blue heron surveys the calm waters of its domain.

Taken near the end of our circumnavigation of Cropper Lake.

My little one on the walk back along the Great Seneca Trail from the lake. She had great fun pretending to be a cheetah stalking deer. Guess who got to play the prey?

Amber saw this bird and insisted it was a cardinal, which is the state bird of Virginia. I was just as adamant it wasn't, convinced that cardinals were much bigger. Upon doing a Google search after getting home, I realized that my knowledge of ornithology pales in comparison to that of a six year-old.

Now is the winter of our (fill in the blank)

Scenes of early winter that I don't think will be replicated in Shanghai 上海:

Eating pumpkin mini-donuts at a farmers market. Sure, Shanghai will have markets, but I doubt you'll find much in the way of organic or natural foods in them.

The lack of any sense of  热闹, rè​nao "bustling with noise and excitement" (written in traditional characters as 熱鬧), or of "people mountain, people sea" 人山人海.

Having to decide between the strawberry or pumpkin yogurt smoothies, both "probiotic and live cultures" made from "grass fed cows". In the end, the pumpkin won out, no doubt due to the continuing post-Halloween bounce.

OK, aromatic hand fans will probably be easy to find in Shanghai, but it's unlikely they will be sampled on the second floor of an old farmhouse dating from 1840. Then again, Shanghai does have the Bund, so you never know...

 

Having lunch with Santa Claus. The other kids with Amber and St. Nick are Towa, aged 7 and Sawa, 6. They are the children of my wife's English class 同学, Asami. We met Asami and her family, including her husband Nori, this morning at the Falls Church Community Center. Nori is in Washington, D.C. on assignment with the Japanese government.

Purchasing a dress for Barbie at the 20th Annual City of Falls Church Craft Show. I'm sure "Barbies" of uncertain origin can be had on the mean streets of Shanghai.

If Taiwan was any indication, Chinese stallholders won't be this laid-back.

And finally, this - our first real Christmas tree. It isn't very high, but it isn't made of plastic, either. Amber was in charge of the decorating.

The name is 野毛...上野毛

Blame it on the dark days of winter? It's closing in on three months since I started studying Mandarin Chinese full-time at taxpayer expense, and I feel like I haven't made much progress. Sure, my reading and listening skills have improved, but I still speak in a clumsy, halting manner, simple question formation is still beyond my grasp much of the time, I still can't decipher what native speakers are saying when they are addressing me directly, and with the February 1 exam date rapidly approaching, I lack the slightest iota of confidence that I'll be able to pass the test. And all in spite of the many hours of conscientious studying I've been putting in every single day, not to mention the facts that I'm married to a Taiwanese and I lived for more years than I care to admit (mainly out of embarrassment) in a Mandarin-speaking country...oops, I mean "renegade province"...or should that be a "separate customs territory"? In any event, it's been a struggle. Along with all the other things I need to do, such as handling all the stress-inducing aspects that are involved in moving a family overseas, sometimes I just need a break from everything and everybody...

...which is a very long-winded and annoyingly whiny way of justifying my visit this afternoon to the International Spy Museum, located at 800 F Street NW in Washington, D.C. just a short walk from the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station. The photograph of the building above is the only picture I'm able to post as photography isn't allowed inside. The admission fee is also pretty steep at $21.15 (tax included) for an adult, which is another reason I went alone today. But those were the only negatives - in all other aspects, the museum is well-worth a visit. It's full of gadgets and weaponry from the Cold War era (ah, the good old days), as well as plenty of displays covering the history of espionage. You can also learn about what went on during the Second World War, from sabotage operations behind enemy lines to the breaking of the Enigma codes and the use of Navajo Native Americans as code-talkers. The U.S.-Soviet rivalry is also covered in great detail - I was particularly interested in reading about the Cambridge Five. There were mini-cameras and listening devices; a Get Smart-style shoe phone; a replica of James Bond's Aston Martin that recreates some of its features; the Great Seal of the United States that contained a bug inside, courtesy of the Soviets; suicide kits; and a cutaway umbrella showing how Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was poisoned on the streets of London in 1978.

Speaking of Bond, James Bond, the museum also has a special exhibition on the villains from the 007 series, from Dr. No up to Skyfall's Raoul Silva (a movie which I haven't seen yet, so please don't give any of the plot anyway). There were plenty of curios from the films, such as Jaws' teeth, as well as displays connecting the fictional evildoers and their nefarious schemes with the real world's fears of nuclear war, terrorism, drugs and cyber-warfare. The Bond stuff alone make a visit to the museum a must for fans of Ian Fleming's creation, but the permanent exhibition is also pretty fascinating. Just make sure it's what you really want to see before forking over the exorbitant entry fee.

Oh, it wasn't until leaving the museum that I realized I had been wearing my State Department badge the entire time, for all to see. So much for Opsec.

Walking back from the East Falls Church Metro station, I spied a falcon (or hawk?) perched on the roof of someone's house, with what looked like a small rodent in its claws. I tried to get a picture, but the bird of prey flew off (with catch in hand...er, I mean foot) just as I was pressing the shutter button. Here's the result: