15 December 2011
Hello there... Rodger French here.
What with the Holidaze now in
full swing, I thought it felicitous to extend best wishes and append this
update; kind of like those Christmas letters one gets from friends, only without
the cute photoz of the kidz. Or paw printz of the dogz. Or coherent paragraph
transitionz.
Thanksgiving was very relaxed,
as we avoided the national transportation nightmare and instead had a quiet
dinner at a nice local restaurant with friends. We also avoided the national
consumer nightmare known as "Black Friday" and instead had a quiet
dinner at another nice local restaurant with other friends. Good food, good
company, and zero drama. This is our current scheme for Christmas, only with
movies thrown into the mix.
You Russian music fanz will be
gratified to know the Washington Balalaika Society Orchestra's fall concerts
went swimmingly, with the accordion duet being particularly well received. And
those of you in the DC area can catch The Rodger French Trio as we periodically
tour the finer coffee houses and cantinas of Alexandria, VA. (And yes, we're on
Facebook. Thanks for asking.)
[Holiday Special: Looking for a thoughtful, high-class, yet inexpensive
gift for Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Boxing Day... whatever? You are in
luck: "Main Squeeze Deux - Lenny DeLuxe presents Another Album
of Select Accordion Solos" is now
(still) available at www.cdbaby.com.]
Big news in the 'hood: The city
of Arlington is installing a robot (traffic signal) at the corner of N. Pollard
St. and Wilson Blvd., a very nasty intersection spectacularly disadvantageous
to pedestrians. At last we'll be able to access the excellent burger joint
across the street without threat of vehicular annihilation. (This is no joke; a
pedestrian was recently hit at this very intersection and another was killed
just two blocks away.)
In a hopeful harbinger of
general economic recovery, new bidness tenants have moved into the Hawthorn
Building: Zapatat Tattoo Removal. I've been predicting for years - really, I
have - that tattoo removal was going to be big. The young and supple of skin
can get away with these things, but the older you get... well, (sadly,
tragically), gravity always wins. To each her/his own, of course, but I've
never been a fan of permanent "skin illustrations;" several years in
the U.S. Navy, decades before the current tattoo-mania, no doubt colouring my
perspective.
In other news, I'm making
preparations for a trip to the ATL for the Groundhog Day Jugglers Festival
(Feb. 3-5). And, in case you're wondering (which you are likely not), there are
no plans afoot for Yet Another DeLuxe Vaudeville Orchestra Annual Reunion
Concert. I will also be traveling to Madison County, NC to check in on my
modest mountain habitat and try to bring some semblance of organization to
way-too-much stuff. This is increasingly imperative because...
(...pause for dramatic effect
and actual paragraph transition...)
Anne is being posted as
Information Resource Officer (IRO) to Buenos Aires, Argentina for three years.
What's more, instead of leaving the States in October 2012 as originally
scheduled, it looks like we're outta here in July. Between now and then, she
will spend several months immersed in Spanish language classes at the Foreign
Service Institute (FSI), where I plan to study as well.
Naturally, I'll keep you posted
as the situation develops. And, for what it's worth, the next round of
international postings is tentatively titled "Bulletins from BA."
Felices Fiestas. Adelante.
Rodger
