theparkerfamily.org

  • dc, meet the drews!

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    dc, meet the drews!

  • found: wrong way

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  • el español caliente

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    el español caliente

  • artwork: five hands

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  • trip #2: boston, ma

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    trip #2: boston, ma

  • found: elephancio

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  • sirens

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    if sparklet has missed anything about our old place on park road, it’s the complete lack of fire and police sirens at the new place.

    before, we were on one of the main east/west routes for emergency traffic — and now we only see sirens if something is happening on our specific block (and it’s a quiet block).

    about a week after we moved in, someone half a block over caught his grill on fire, which led to sparklet busting out the front door and running up and down the porch until i agreed to walk her down to see the commotion up close.

    there’s been nothing sense, sans an occasional driveby while we’re walking around the neighborhood — regardless of how much sparklet makes the “more” when she hears something pass in the distance.

  • flag of honor

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    one of the best kept secrets of capitol hill is that you can get an actual American flag (not the “patriotic banners” Walmart sells now to skirt the flag laws) flown over the Capitol for really reasonable prices.

    while we’ve been flying the District flag and the Great Flag of the Republic from our porch for a couple of months now, on national holidays it’s growing increasingly hard to fly a non-American flag without betraying our separatist leanings.

    so, after another awkward holiday (July 4th, featuring our Texas flag) we finally ordered an American flag, and did so in honor of my grandfather, grant “poppa” roberts.

    it seemed an appropriate thing to do considering he is the only man i know who flew an American flag from his porch each day for the last couple of decades — right up until he moved into assisted care a month or so ago.

    and, besides getting a reasonably priced flag to fly, we also got a nice little certificate from the Architect of the Capitol:

    The is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol. At the request of the Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, Member of Congress, this flag was flown for Kate Elisabeth Parker, in honor of Grant “Poppa” Roberts.

    long may it wave.

  • showing

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    we’re only eight weeks in, and people are starting to pick up on the imminent arrival of “thing two.”

    the lady sparkler is also starting to complain that her belly is noticeably getting in the way now (bending over, hugging people). neither are good indicator for my sanity over the next four weeks until we can tell people.

    for my part, i’m just keeping my head down and not making eye contact — i nearly ruined it all the last time, so this time my mouth is staying shut even in the face of the proverbial wild horses.

  • hurricane irene

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    fortunately, no damage to speak of.

    we got about 10 hours of sustained winds but we kept power the whole time, and it looks like we are the only part of my side of the family (virginia, new hampshire, maine, vermont) who are going to be able to say that.

    for our part, we were cautiously optimistic — not only did the hurricane stay farther east than we had thought, but our neighbor told us that this part of mount pleasant hasn’t lost power in the last decade or two.

    turns out most of our electrical infrastructure (plant, substations, wires) are all buried, meaning something pretty spectacular has to happen for us to lose power.

    feeling pretty blessed right now.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    hurricane irene, washington, dc