Beautiful, bountiful berries

I love this late July convergence of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in my backyard. Today I used them to make these breakfast parfaits. Alas, the strawberries are almost finished. But the blueberries are coming on strong and raspberries are just beginning to ripen.

Great Literature

By sheer coincidence I find myself reading two books about the sea simultaneously. Both are turning out to be excellent reads, most notably for their absorbing tales and descriptive writing.

Our family read-aloud is Margi Preus' "Heart of a Samurai," a book that was gifted to my 10-year-old son. It's a story about a Japanese boy who is shipwrecked, rescued by a whaling ship, and comes to live in America in the 1840s. We're captivated by the boy's efforts to adopt western life, the cultural comparisons he makes, and his struggles to achieve his dream to once again see his family and homeland.

My personal read, E. Annie Proulx' "The Shipping News," is a true delight I discovered in a Little Lending Library on Minnesota Point. A widowed man moves to his ancestral home of Newfoundland with his two young daughters and aunt to start new lives.I'm awed by the vivid images of life in Newfoundland, the simple way in which the complex struggles of the dad in starting life over again are portrayed, and the depth the author has given her colorful cast of characters. I savor carefully crafted phrases, such as evoking his daughter's "Beethoven scowl." I'm smitten with the small-town newspaper stories the protagonist and his colleagues cover and, especially, the headlines that run through the main character's mind about his own life.

Both books received high prizes: Preus earned a Newbery Honor, Proulx the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.Reading them, makes me commit to writing more regularly and entertain the idea of returning to newspapering -- but at that small-town level where it can be a lot more fun.

DC Adventure: Which Smithsonian Museum?

We couldn't visit all of them, so we chose a few: Natural History Museum, Air and Space Museum, Freer Gallery.

DC Adventure: Money

After studying currency and the economy in his GATE class last year, Sam insisted we tour the Bureau of Engraving and Printing -- where all the money is made. So we did. Picture-taking opportunities were limited.

In many ways, it was like being back in the press room at the newspaper. But the printing process is more involved, quality control is more exacting, and the security level is way higher.

DC Adventure: The Monuments Tour

We spent the morning touring the impressive monuments and memorials on the National Mall.

We liked the iconic Washington and Lincoln memorials and overwhelmingly somber Vietnam and Korean memorials best. But we had the most fun at the Roosevelt memorial.

As the sun got higher in the sky and the temperature and humidity rose to sweltering, we debated renting bikes or Segways. Alas, Sam wasn't tall enough for one or old enough for the other. Next time, perhaps.

DC Adventure: The National Zoo

Josh and Erin came down from Baltimore to have lunch with us then take in the National Zoo. I particularly liked the ways different animals coped with the heat.

DC Adventure: Arlington National Cemetery

I wasn't in the right frame of mind when we arrived at Arlington National Cemetery.

We got delayed at our subway stop and were late meeting Mike and Cathy. I was annoyed that my Mom spent so much time at the women's memorial, considering all of the other sights in Washington that Tom, Sam and I wanted to see.

We got to talk with my sister-in-law about her time in Afghanistan and Iraq. We saw President John F. Kennedy's grave. By the time we got to the Tomb of the Unknowns and watched the changing of the guard, I was able to appreciate the experience.