You say Tomato, I say...

Speaking of the pronunciation of Accra (See post below), when I was in Montana a few years back, I went to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. (In the old days, the place would have been called a museum.)

Anyway, the Indian woman who guided them was Sacajawea. Growing up, we always pronounced her name as "SOK-a-ju-wee-ah," but the correct pronunciation (according to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and they oughta know...) is "sah-CODGE-ju-ah." Feel free to haughtily correct someone if the "Bird Woman's" name comes up. Do that by looking sort of puzzled, cock your head to one side and inquire, "Do you mean Sah-Codge-Ju-Ah"?

Greetings from Ghana - Part 1

Now that Meredith and Dave have been in Ghana for a year, Meredith has sent along a year's worth of photos, well, the best of a year's worth of photos, so let's all get a peek into what Accra (*I always thought it was pronounced AK-kra, but it's ah-KRA) is like:

Here are Meredith and Dave in front of their home:


Here is downtown Accra and the market:


Here is the Accra lighthouse and the view of the coast:


More to follow in the days ahead...

What's in a Name?

I understand that children's names go in and out of popularity, but I saw this list today for 2010, and it fascinates me how a particular name gets to be so popular. Maybe a celebrity starts it. No one could have predicted that Olivia would be the #3 name for girls. The good news is that Tiffany, Amber and Dakota seem to have gone by the wayside at last.

Top 10 Girls' Names of 2010
1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Olivia
4. Emma
5. Chloe
6. Ava
7. Lily
8. Madison
9. Addison
10. Abigail

Top 10 Boys' Names of 2010
1. Aiden
2. Jacob
3. Jackson
4. Ethan
5. Jayden
6. Noah
7. Logan
8. Caden
9. Lucas
10. Liam

Of course, by way of comparison, I had to check out the most popular names from the year I was born: 1950. Now these are (*ahem) normal names. I swear I know a kid from those days with each of these names. I think there were two other Patty's in my class growing up as well.

Top 10 Boys' Names of 1950
•1. James
•2. Robert
•3. John
•4. Michael
•5. David
•6. William
•7. Richard
•8. Thomas
•9. Charles
•10. Gary

Top 10 Girls' Names of 1950
•1. Linda
•2. Mary
•3. Patricia
•4. Barbara
•5. Susan
•6. Nancy
•7. Deborah
•8. Sandra
•9. Carol
•10. Kathleen

Something Borrowed...

Last week, the bartender at my Thursday lunch place and I were talking about the kinds of movies we like -- and he mentioned a BBC series called Foyle's War which I had heard of and considered renting. He told me he thought I would like it, and he'd bring me his box set. I tried to convince him not to, said I could easily rent it from Netflix.

The reason is I do not like to borrow things from people. I don't like the responsibility, and I don't like the pressure I feel to read it/watch it/appreciate it and then return it to them in a timely manner.

I totally like recycling books and the occasional DVD. And I feel as if I have trained myself to release all expectation that the recipient will enjoy what I've passed along. In fact, it is not unusual to get a call or email six months or even a year later... "Remember that book you gave me during the summer? I finally read it and loved it!"

Today, when I went for lunch, I had forgotten about Foyle's War until he came promptly over to me with the four discs in this bookshelf-style sleeve.

I also understand his enthusiasm for wanting me to like what he likes. I know the feeling. We want our friends to have the same pleasure we had with a particular book or movie.

So I'll dutifully watch them -- well, at least the first one. Hopefully I will like the series as much as he did -- this is just the first season, and he told me he's asked for the next five seasons for Christmas -- so this could keep me stocked in DVDs for a while!

Here's what Netflix says:

In this popular British detective series, actor Michael Kitchen stars in the title role of Christopher Foyle, an English police inspector who fights local crimes in an environment riddled with war propaganda and social turmoil. The ongoing drama boasts a marriage of history and fictional mystery, and explores the effects of World War II on the rural villages of England's vulnerable southern coast.

A Tree Out of Synch with the Universe

Fran found this tree that marches (if it had legs) to its own drum. As every other tree in the Northeast is in the final shedding-of-leaves stage, this cherry tree is blooming as if it's May.

Fran writes: This DC tree did not get the e-mail about the change of seasons. Image of this cherry tree in bloom taken Nov 30 at dusk on Fessenden St (near Reno Rd.). Go figure.

I admire the ability of this tree to deny reality. There's something hopeful about that -- I don't care, it seems to be saying, if it's the last day of November and it's getting dark by 4 pm... I'm going to pretend it's spring and screw you!

Sunday Evening at Maz Mescal

Tonight it was supper at a favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant, named Maz Mezcal. It's where Stephanie and I always go. It's just one street over, and I have this shortcut through a parking garage that has two entrances, one on my street (87th) and one on the next street over (86th Street.) In New York, most streets are one way. Odd numbered streets (like mine -- 87th -- run east to west) and even numbered streets run west to east.

However 86th Street is what's called a crosstown street, so it's a bigger street with two way traffic, hence restaurants, shops, etc. including Maz Mescal, right next to another neighborhood favorite, a Japanese restaurant called Tokubei. You might have heard the expression from that Simon & Garfunkel song which says, "You can take the crosstown bus if it's raining or it's cold..." and you can take the 86th Street crosstown bus too. It goes all the way from the East River, cross town, across Central Park to the West side and the Hudson River.

We always start our meal with a frozen Margarita -- this is more like Margarita snow -- it's more of a solid than a liquid and it's wonderful. If you put the lime deep in the glass, it gets frozen. Neither of us take it with salt. I hate when I've ordered a frozen margarita elsewhere and gotten a margarita with ice cubes in it. Anyway, here's Stephanie about to enjoy her frozen Margarita.

Fran's Autumn Photos

Compliments of Fran, here are two photos from her walk. In this first one, Fran says, "Ever notice how leaves make an imprint on concrete after a rain? Kinda like Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Something charming about how they leave a mark of their existence. Taken with phone today on Connecticut Avenue."

Another image: All the flamboyant DC trees have succumbed to winter's call. Mounds of dried leaves everywhere...
To which Mary added: It's amazing to see the vacuum truck suck the leaves up - first workers with rakes pull them all into the street. They don't want us to put them in the street because they'll clog up the storm drains.

I had forgotten about Grauman's Chinese Theater -- reminded me, though, of an I Love Lucy episode when the Ricardos and the Mertzes were in Hollywood and Lucy and Ethel try to pry out some star's footprints. I don't know if there's still room for current stars, but here is how it looks: