PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

Read this before you email me for the first time. Personal mail only. No spam. No mean people. If you can't say something nice, I'm not interested. Recent entries my amazon reviews for "alex and me" and "a crack in space" - 2012-04-04 goals and resolutions quarterly check-up - 2012-04-03 i'm number one and modest too - 2012-04-02 now available for nooks, wheeeeee! - 2012-04-01 petoskey - 2012-03-31 INTRO OFFER: Read my new book, The 10 Best Things You Can Do For Your Bird, on your Kindle, PC, or smartphone by purchasing directly from Amazon. It's on the Nook, from Barnes & Noble too, so click right here if you've got a Nook or Nook app. It's specialized information for pet bird owners, so the price can only go up... Drool on my personal collection of stones by clicking right here. By public demand, and after a delay of an embarrassing number of years, I've finally put my notorious essay, Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman, free on the fabulous internets. A bibliography of my published books and stories. Here's a simple card-counting FAQ to get you up to speed on the basics. Here's the true story of the notorious DD' blackjack team, told for the first time on the fabulous internets. No other team went from a starting investor's bankroll of zero to winning millions of dollars. A Sadean take on Asimov's classic Three Laws of Robotics can be found in Roger Williams' NOW REVIEWED ON SLASHDOT!!! The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Adult readers only please -- explicit sex and violence. For updates on the "Dead Tree Project" and other topics, you may visit the localroger diary. Visit Peachfront's Cookbook, for recipes that are fast, cheap, and good. A work in progress. My Bird Lists -- My Louisiana State Life List, My Yard List and, tah dah, My World Life List. HEY! What happened to the Peachfront Conure Files? My wordpress site now features free peachfront conure coverage, including a brief Intro to Conures previously published in American Cage-Bird Magazine, now free on the web. I offer the best free Peachfront Conure information on the internet. If you have great Peachfront Conure info, stories, or photos to share, contact me so I can publicize your pet, your breeding success, your great photograph, etc. on my site. Thanks.

d.c. discount trip: memorial madness 2011-10-20 - 7:55 a.m. all photos © 2011 by elaine radford Saturday, October 15 A beautiful blue day. There were a great many monuments and memorials to inspect, although the world-famous view of the Reflecting Pool from the Lincoln Memorial was not as I remembered it. The Vietnam Memorial was also disappointing, not because of any ongoing construction work but simply because, as DH put it, "I didn't realize that it's a retaining wall." I agree. They sure don't photograph it like that. Every photo I've seen has been of the center, tallest slabs. Unfortunately, in life, there's no way to escape the reality that, hey, folks, it's a retaining wall that sort of leads you into a pit of Asian bus tourists snapping photos and then back out again. Symbolism, I suppose. The Jefferson Memorial didn't disappoint, and it provided fine views of the water, as well as the Washington Monument and the new MLK Monument, which was to be dedicated on Sunday. The stroll continued to the FDR Memorial, which is somewhat of a puzzle piece of fountains and niches -- one of the most interesting of the monuments and perhaps the most intimate in the way that it draws you in to where FDR sits with his little dog. But, aha, the dog is not so little...I hope that the pretty girl doesn't mind that I included her in the picture, to show the scale. However, there is no denying that the star of the weekend was the new Martin Luther King Monument. I cannot resist showing a detailed close-up of this almost unbelievably flawless stone. In fact, in person, the stone is of such perfection that I said, This almost can't be marble. There isn't any left this size, this good, is there? I'm afraid I was guilty of suspecting a reconstituted stone. But I have investigated it further and learned that this beauty is actually white granite. Most impressive. At some point we strolled to Dupont Circle and found Kramerbooks. It was smaller than I'd pictured, but it had a good brunch drinks deal. Brunch? Starting at noon? I picture brunch as being more like 10 or 11 but let's not quibble when we're getting the deeply discounted Bloody Marys and Strawberry Mimosas. DH decided to put his feet up, but the day was still too nice for me to stop strolling. Because of our location, it seemed that I passed the White House at least four times every day. On this occasion, I happened to be strolling behind a group of black folks wearing UAW shirts, I'm guessing a family in town for the MLK dedication weekend. They stopped in front of the White House, and one of the men exclaimed in obvious surprise at the size of it, saying something like, Obama don't never live there and, by tone of voice, clearly expressing his delight. It reminded me of a long-ago visit to Hot Springs, with the signs proudly posted to congratulate Bill Clinton, "Arkansas's FIRST President!" I dropped into the Renwick Gallery, which had an exhibition of decor from the White House on the first floor. It was about what you'd expect. The second floor was much more interesting. When you first turn to your right, you see Larry Fuente's Game Fish, a colorful swordfish made up of such things as toy soldiers, old yoyos, dice, poker chips, and so on. In the next room, you find Beth Lipmann's Bancketje (Banquet): Don't forget to look under the table while inspecting this piece. In the next alcove I found this charming odalisque, Karen LaMonte's Reclining Dress Impression With Drapery. I also wanted to include a photo of Kim Schmahmann's "Bureau of Bureaucracy" but I guess I'll have to do it another day, because I'm getting too many photos on this page already. I next thought I might stroll to the Capitol to check out the Botanic Garden. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful season for it, with leaves everywhere turning to gold and red, but I got detoured at the Old Post office, where the sign promised me a "Free Tower Tour." Two elevators and, I think, 12 stories later, I was inspecting the Capitol building and much of the rest of D.C. from the sky. It was now too late to venture toward the Botanic Garden, as the sun would be setting at some point in the festivities. As I headed back, I noticed that they were still allowing people into the American History Museum. I dropped in long enough to inspect the vehicles that won the DARPA challenge that DH, erm, didn't win. They were considerably larger and better funded than I'd suspected. That's a photo of Ghostrider, the motorcycle that picks itself up when it falls down. Man, those robots are pretty smug. Seems to me that all of us mere mortals are expected to pick ourselves up when we fall down, and we don't get in a museum about it. As for Stanley, the main prize-winner, it was the size of a Volkswagen van -- perhaps it once was a Volkswagen van -- and it proved too large for me to get a decent picture of it, in the close space of the museum. But, wait, there's more! Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of our D.C. Discount vacation. back - next All Rights Reserved, Copyright © 2002-2012 by Elaine Radford