Journal : OpenRoadWorks

2 weeks is the consensus view for how long it takes to recover from vacation.  Recovery includes ramping up personal and work efforts to catch up with and then move along with the daily flow of household and office tasks.  By that estimate, I am at the end of the runway for actually clearing the mail that piled up for our recent two-week vacation. So I must finally confront the task of processing the bills and junk mail that had stayed piled up on the floor in the home office.  While I write this post, I'm on a conference call and identifying the junk mail for recycling, which means I'm also back to multi-tasking and the life that I knew before driving with the lions and crossing the canals.  The scene in this picture was quite foreign when I returned but now is starting to feel familiar again.

Richard Ashcroft is strumming an acoustic version of his " Song for the Lovers " in the background.  I'm jotting a few lines as I edit some photos from a trip to Venice ; we stopped through northeast Italy on the way back from South Africa , as anywhere is on the way back from the bottom of Africa when one is traversing back to North America.  This is a good time to reflect quietly before regrouping for another work week. It was a nice afternoon and evening in DC yesterday, as we wandered to the newly filtered reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the WWII memorial .  We circled past the solitary and controversial WWI memorial  (it technically only memorializes - and was only paid for by - DC residents who fought in the Great War but has been part of a tug-of-war around creating a national memorial for all who participated in the Great War on/around the Mall) before heading to Penn Quarter for a wonderful assortment of mezze at Zaytinya .   ...

It's mid-September already, and the leaves are far from turning.  It is mid-70's Fahrenheit, and my sister is in town looking for places to live.  I am editing photos from our recent safari trip, and my wife is feeding the dog.  I am writing a few lines to fill the moment before we ready ourselves for a trip downtown to enjoy Indian Summer amongst the DC monuments. It is the sort of day that I will remember in the depths of wintertime, when I am cooped up inside with my lively wife; she is chiding me as I try to type these words, enough reminder that I should close this passage for wont of packing up to enjoy the afternoon.  A lazy Saturday afternoon should be like this.

There is something exhilarating about a Friday afternoon.  As I try to frenetically wrap up the weekly work activities and put my work computer in the bag, I try to reflect on the accomplishments for the week.  I use 280daily as the site to briefly capture the day's events, a double-tweet's worth of characters to capture some relevance and remember what I did.  It's the last task I have to confront before rushing into the weekend. I complete this last work task and then write this blog post.  I wanted to capture the particular feeling of Friday afternoon because it is the excitement of possibility, similar to an artist sizing up a blank canvas.  It is another form of joy, and a feeling that is worth capturing to remind myself what possibility can do to improve my attitude.  And now, I am ready to shut down and enjoy a nice glass of  Riesling .

A fresh start in the bush Every day is a fresh start.  I was reminded of this while on safari in South Africa (we just returned), where every day began at 5am for a drive in the bush.  Some mornings, the dew hung heavy to show the countless spider webs in the trees.  Some mornings, the sun was already stretched and ready to run hot across the sky.  Other mornings, the sky was a grey magician, not revealing its true intent until after our return  for 9am breakfast. A fresh start is a good reflection for "rebooting" this blog and resuming the habit of more regular musings.  Stretching the fingers for more than business correspondence and deliverables is definitely a good thing.

Nothing better than a Bellini while watching the Regatta Marriage can be hard work.  Which is why I feel so blessed for the relationship with my wife.  And which is why our five-year anniversary required a journey befitting of the wonderful places we have been over the years.  It started on safari but finished in a city which marked the best part of our honeymoon - Venice. Our anniversary also coincided with the biggest day on the Venetian calendar - Regatta Storica - which also coincided with the biggest annual international event in the city - Venice Film Festival .  We celebrated both in between passeggiate around the city, a lovely place for impromptu sights and rediscovering the sounds of city life before the over-run of the automobile.  A fantastic day to celebrate five years worthy of the occasion. Italians know glamour at their marquee film festival