… Black Market Bistro.
Seen on an early afternoon walk through
Garrett Park, UD‘s hometown.
… okay, why do I love, found objects?
Why is the tan fringed scarf
I found on my morning
pick-up-trash-in-Garrett-Park walk
— filthy, soaked, trampled in the
street beside the Saturday market —
the scarf I love the most?
Why are the black riding gloves
I picked up on a sidewalk in downtown
Bethesda the ones I wear the most?
Why is this Martha Stewart Everyday
towel, left foul and abandoned on a
bench in our town’s cool new children’s
playground by the hapless Liz, and
lifted by UD only after weeks
of abandonment, my clear favorite?
Why is this log covered in fungus,
found while walking the dog through
our forest, worthy of display?
And why is this 1982 National Geographic,
which I found in our upstate house, discarded
by some guest or other, so cherished by me
that I ordered another one for Mr UD‘s last
birthday (the original remains in the house)?
It contains an article – “The Incredible Potato” –
whose enthusiasm for the spud I found hilarious.
Throughout that stay at the house, I read
excerpts – breathlessly – to anyone who would listen.
Ah, the public school system. Maybe your university will be lucky enough to have some of these young talented football players/alleged rapists on your team someday.
Look at this picture.
Mr UD stands just behind and to the right of the RESPECT EXISTENCE sign.
UD was featured in her friend Barney Carroll’s obituary. And in her friend Wojciech Fangor’s obituary.
La Kid? She was featured, with her chorus, in a NYT image from one of Obama’s inaugural concerts. We ordered that one; it hangs in her bedroom.
Click through the artworks here to see one of our Fangors, for sale next month at the New York Bonhams auction.
… for Montgomery County Executive.
When Nancy was merely the mayor of Garrett Park, Maryland, UD wrote about her for the town’s paper, The Bugle.
Latest GP news, by the way:
Eileen [Kelly’s] very large Japanese Zelkova tree … has now been certified as the largest one in the country.
You’ve had a ringside seat for ‘thesdan snobbery for years on this blog … I mean, in my Snapshots from Home category I’ve tried to educate you on the inner workings of the place Brett K. and I call home…
And while it’s true that UD‘s ‘thesdan coordinates (father a scientist at NIH; mother president Mason/Dixon English Cocker Spaniel Club; Garrett Park Elementary, Kensington Junior High; Walter Johnson High; performing with voice and guitar, when a teenager, at a ‘thesdan McGovern rally; local school named after my rich important Uncle Mario) are less impressive than Kavanaugh’s (more money; private schools), she knows her way around the local status markers.
And when it comes to which nearby beach a ‘thesdan chooses, I’m afraid Mark Judge – just discovered hiding in Bethany Beach – has somewhat fallen down. While raucous working-class Ocean City is totally out of the question (though Brett K. apparently went there for Beach Week, which is acceptable) (and careful readers will recall my father’s family, the Rapoports, owned property there as early as 1905), boring Bethany (scattered big houses on the ocean) is only a bit better. The socially acceptable place to be is of course UD‘s beloved Rehoboth Beach (she’ll soon be there with a bunch of friends for their traditional Sea Witch Festival get-together), with its lively, civilized, commercial as well as residential life. (Henlopen Acres, steps from Rehoboth, is the richest town in Delaware – the ‘thesda of Delaware, in other words.)
Nils Lofgren reminisces. Wee UD lived, for a time, next door to that house and to Lofgren. He and UD‘s older sister went to high school together.
UD‘s friends the Josephs now live in the house. They expanded and modernized it like crazy. Lofgren would find it totally unrecognizable.