What's in Dave's Head

It was a beautiful spring day, but hazy. We learned that the haze was due, of all things, to a wildfire 2,500 miles away in Alberta, Canada. We left the house at 9:00am, after the tail-end of rush hour, headed for a day of sightseeing in in Washington, D.C. The trek was painless and took just an hour, in stark contrast to thousands of arduous, stressful commutes to and from the nation’s capital I had made over the years. I spent many years of my working life in journalism, publishing, and corporate communications in and around Washington. I used to cover Congress and my News Galleries pass allowed me to attend committee hearings, conduct interviews, and roam the halls unfettered. I also covered a case or two at the Supreme Court. But only once did I cover an event at the White House, and that was in a room only tangentially connected to the mansion. Donna and I have lived in the suburbs of Washington for more than 40 years and had never visited the White House. So after going throu...

Donna’s brother Larry and his wife Patricia recently invited us to spend a couple days with them in Cape May, New Jersey. Of course we quickly accepted.   Cape May is one of those places Donna and I had never been to but had for years talked about visiting someday, and taking the ferry that crosses Delaware Bay between Lewes, Delaware and the Victorian beach resort town at the southernmost tip of the Garden State. After all, the town bills itself as the country’s oldest seaside resort, dating back to pre-Revolutionary times, and its historic district is a National Historic Landmark for its architecture, and we always enjoy our time with Larry and Patricia.   Architecture   Cape May is known for its Victorian-style architecture. It’s everywhere. I mean, Cape May has as many big, well-kept Victorian-era houses as a politician has promises. Big Victorian hotels. Big Victorian bed and breakfasts. Big Victorian retail shops. A sea of big, colorful, ornate Victorian houses...