Monday Morning Castle, Folklife Festival, Rainbow, Glistening Water, Capitol, Press

Since I was lucky enough to go to part time status a couple months ago after working full time for almost forty years, one of my new habits is to get up early on Monday morning and walk with my husband on the Mall, then stop at Pete's Diner for breakfast on the way home. I am by no means a morning person, so this is considered torture. But getting up early puts me in to the morning routine for the rest of the week. Things do look different in the morning. The Mall is empty. There is an occasional jogger, and a few folks ambling on their way to work. The Smithsonian Castle looked magnificent with the namesake's statue in front; the folklife festival is being set up to celebrate Kenya and China this year; the sprinklers are activated and rotating on and off to cover the immense lawn...but the rainbow they create with the Washington Monument in the background caught my eye; the water shimmers in front of the Capitol where a huge group of school kids are posing for a snapshot of a lifetime; the police on foot and motorcycle chat in front of the majestic Capitol building - and the reflection of the dome is caught in the pool in front of it; a Supreme Court decision will be immediately reported on by the myriad of press sitting it front. Just another day in the Capitol city, but it takes on such a different look when you don't have to work. Today we decided to "cool down" for a few minutes in the shade of the trees by the Jefferson Building before having breakfast. It was a good idea...to cool down. I'm still trying to decide if getting up early is too.