Nona and Bob and George and Martha and Abe and Barack

Hi everyone,

What a nice weekend I had in DC last week chez Nona and Bob. Their place is so sweet, and they're so hospitable that every time I've stayed there I've felt like इ was registered in a luxury hotel. Try it sometime - you'll like it.

And speaking of luxury, Mt. Vernon, where the three of us went on Sunday has to be one of the most architecturally sophisticated and beautiful historic homes I've ever seen. It was a lovely, sunny, cool day when we there, and the grounds of Mt. Vernon had a nice early spring glow. The house itself is amazing - all red-roofed, rusticated elegance, exactly the kind of home you would imagine a successful 18th century farmer would have. The location atop a hill overlooking the Potomac is breathtakingly perfect, especially the river view from the porch that runs the length of the house. George and Martha had style - most evident in their gorgeous bedroom, which is the most simple and elegant room in the house. Some of the others are painted in a rather garish green - but this bedroom is white and the most soothing palest blue-green.

Even the loud cell-phone talker we had to endure in the line couldn't spoil the experience. Check it out in the Flash presentation on this page.

On Saturday Nona and I spent several hours touring the National Portrait Gallery, another gorgeous building that has been painstakingly renovated in recent years.

There are so many stunning portraits in the gallery that I can only mention a couple. As I write this, I realize that it was sort of a presidential weekend, which I suppose is not that unusual an experience when you're visiting DC. Nonetheless, it was awesome to see photographs of Abe Lincoln just down the hall from the iconic photo collage of Barack Obama. These two presidents in particular belong together. (Abe was photographed many, many times - he was apparently fascinated with the form and invited photographers into his world.)

Another revelation in the gallery were the photographic jewelry pieces, mostly from the 19th century - exquisite little mementos of people who had died, or simply tokens of affections.

And yet another wonderful thing about this trip was the discovery of a cheap but nice bus service that goes to DC (and Boston) - I'll be using Vamoose and Bolt buses from now on. (Take note, Ann and Nona! )