The new boom

Am I the only one who likes Rocketboom *better* without Amanda Congdon?

Date Night

Ken and I got Dulce's daughter, Erisel, to babysit and we had a rare night out together on Tuesday, going to see The Weakerthans at the 9:30 Club. As always, they rocked, and they particularly seemed to be enjoying the bigger venue (the last couple of times we've seen them, they were at the Black Cat, about half the size). Julia's actually been to a Weakerthans show, she just doesn't know it; last time they were here, I was 3 months pregnant. In utero exposure: Maybe that's why she's so clever?

Opening up for them were this horrible band called Raising the Fawn, who seemed determined not to play any melodies, and the New Amsterdams, who were much better.

Summer's here

So after the rain, and the more rain, it was briefly beautiful on June 30. Then the calendar flipped to July and overnight it was hot (90s) and muggy. Ugh. We spent the weekend at Dr. Moon's house and Julia enjoyed going out in the canoe with Pop Pop and Daddy. Ken was stuck working Monday, so Julia and I went downtown to sweat our way from the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival on the Mall to the Natural History museum over to the newly reopened National Portrait Gallery/Museum of American Art and then home. For Julia, the highlight was probably eating rainbow sherbet for a snack. On the Fourth, we went to Takoma Park's parade, the 117th edition, where we were greeted by many candidates for office (county, state and national) and some floats, too. Despite the continuing heat, Julia very much enjoyed the "harade." Here we are, coming home on the Metro (left).