VT (for all of my design-obsessed peeps)

photocouresydiamonbarattadesig Peeps, This past week unusual objects popped up on grassy knolls, perched in street-boxes and at the center of round-abouts, as well as fastened to lamp-posts and utility poles.   Brightly colored, graphic and designed for quick and easy reading, the signs announcing the Democratic primaries in our districts of Arlington, Alexandria, and parts of Fairfax, seemed to multiply overnight;   similarly prolific, teams of polite and earnest young canvassers   appeared more frequently in the neighborhood streets at about 5 or 6.   While I may not show it when hidden beneath a oversized straw-hat and the armor provided by multiple applications of OFF, I heartily applaud their efforts to get the apathetic, the undecided, and the ambiguous down to the voting stations.   Likewise, I applaud noteworthy candidates such as Jaime Ariega-Soto, Walter Tejada, and Adam Ebbin who have pledged to advocate for better funding of public scho...

photocourtesykikette-interiorsblog Peeps, It has been a somewhat difficult weekend; the weather channel had predicted thunder-storms and showers yesterday, and only a brief sprinkle was in our favor.   Today, the anticipation and expectation of rain kept me on edge; I weeded and re-potted right after breakfast, and briefly considered getting out the water-hose for the front garden, yet the promise of abundant showers at noon or late afternoon delayed any action on my part.   Sure we’re not parched as in parts of Texas where my friend Andy lamented that Houston has not received any rainfall but once in three months, nevertheless our small lawn had recently began turning brown.   Yet I prefer not to run the sprinkler, especially when I think about parched countries where water is precious and scarcely sufficient for growing crops or raising animals.   The idea of 13 million persons at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa is sufficient to make me pause, ...