Sunday, July 02, 2006

Silly Season

Who uses it: Newspaper reporters and editors
What it means: The period (usually late summer) when no real news happens, requiring journalists to report things that wouldn't ordinarily be news, and columnists to get worked up over trivia.
How you can use it: Let the important stuff go for a few days.

It took Claire and me four and a half hours to drive from southern Alexandria to Richmond yesterday, and only part of that was because of my wrong turn. Traffic was simply miserable, for no reason other than the number of cars on the road.

Fortunately, Matthew and Henry's birthday party was still in full swing when we arrived, with plenty of fried chicken and cake left over. The boys could start their own Thomas the Tank Engine boutique with their birthday presents, and my dad capped the weekend by bringing in a small electric train set (complete with tracks laid out on a large board) this morning.

This afternoon we're back in Washington, because Claire had a paintball tournament (she promises to report back, so I can prepare for Bouchercon), and I'm meeting up with my brother Ed, who's returned to D.C. just for the weekend. The weather is cooperating, sort of, with temperatures and humidity in the mid-90s. It's good to visit summer once in a while.

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