My Easter

Well, I've once again been remiss in keeping up with the blog. It's been almost two weeks since my last post, and I'm really trying to be better about it.

To catch up, I thought I'd share some photos from my Easter Sunday last weekend, and write a little about the day as well.

In the morning, I met my brother and his wife at the National Arboretum for a leisurely bike ride among the early spring trees. While it was too soon for many of the flowering trees, it was already pretty much too late for the cherry blossoms. But there were still quite a few lovely sights to see, such as this amazing magnolia that Stephen and Patricia are standing in front of.



One of the more peculiar sights at the Arboretum are the old columns from the U.S. Capitol building. I never realized that the original columns on the east side had been replaced in 1958, when an extension was added on that side of the building. The old ones apparently lay idle somewhere until they were installed at the Aboretum in 1990. It's a little odd to see them rising up over the landscape on a hillside, but it's kind of cool too. Better that than demolishing them, no?



Our ride was a pretty short one, with lots of stopping and gawking at lovely things, but it was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we all went to our mom's house, where we had a nice, relaxed holiday with most of the family. One of the highlights of the day was when my niece Megan and nephew Jesse faced off against each other in a contest of skill on the recorder (the flute-like musical instrument). I won't go into the history behind it, but it was quite amusing to watch them try to out do each other while also trying hard not to collapse in laughter. Given that my niece is in college and my nephew is in his late 20s, it was a pretty funny "event".





The other musical aspect of the day was my brother playing guitar with one of my other nephews, Nick, and accompanying Jesse's wife Brittany while she sang. I was really impressed with both of the younger folks' abilities... I'd never heard Brittany sing, and really hadn't seen Nick play much either. But what was also a pleasure was seeing how much in his element my brother was just sitting and playing his guitars. You see, I've come to realize that he and I share a lot in common... his passion and ease with the guitar is simply a variation on my relationship with bicycles. We each found our niche, our passion, and have spent a lifetime enjoying it.

For the record, he has more than 40 guitars, basses, banjos, etc... more than twice the size of my bicycle collection. But he's also got 9 years on me, so I've got time to catch up!

One other fun thing about the day was bringing my bike over for the family to see. I'm really happy with how it came out, and a little proud of having actually built my own bicycle frame, so it was nice to share it with my family. And I'll admit it, it was really nice to receive compliments on it from those near and dear to me.