i went out this morning to get a pastry and coffee . .
and chose a new cafe that the restaurant wallsé recently opened, that they're calling "next door." a friend of korrina's is managing it, and he has set it up very nicely. they have apple strudel, linzer torte, and a marbled gugelhupf.
the cappuccino matthew made was delicious. the cafe uses a nespresso machine, and i thought the coffee was particularly smooth and flavorful. chanda disagrees. she's such an opinionated barista now.
i'd love to pick up pastry and coffee before watching aurélien tomorrow morning, but i don't think it opens until 9 am, and i'm at kendall's by 8:45. i'll just have to stop on the way home instead.
i've been so restless this past week . . and this morning wasn't any different . . fortunately, the inauguration event began by 10:30, so i could watch everyone arriving at the capitol, and could text links to korrina (who was on her way to work), morgan and chanda (who both watched it). korrina was going to watch when she got home, but she has an early day tomorrow, so may have just fallen asleep. above is lady gaga singing the star spangled banner, which has never been a favorite song of mine, but she sang so joyfully and beautifully that her energy was contagious and i loved it.
fire captain andrea hall said, and signed, the pledge of allegiance.
ladies and gentlemen . . the first woman vice president of the united states.
and the 46th president of the united states . . i thought he gave an honest and heartfelt speech afterwards, certainly compared to the last person who held this office. (i didn't video it, but i'm sure it's on the inauguration facebook page (link at the bottom of this post).
our first ever national youth poet laureate, amanda gorman, recited her poem the hill we climb. (the background noise is greg getting his lunch.)
supposedly, the "big" celebration didn't begin until 8:30 this evening, but i caught a happy songfest around 3 pm.
chanda didn't watch the entire celebratory event with me, but she did come out for parts of it. here we're listening to rent's seasons of love, which has particular meaning for us as the girls performed it during one of our church's youth services years ago. (i thought i was recording this, but actually wasn't.) (rent is a play i've never seen, but think i would enjoy - it opened around the time the girls were small, so i was too busy to even think about going, but the songs hover in the background of my memory because the show was so popular, and because seasons of love was chosen for a youth service. actually, i feel like everyone was singing it all the time at church when they were young.)
tom hanks was the host for the program . . chanda found that amusing as he was one of the first americans to get covid when he was in australia . . and now he's kind of a footnote for the end of one administration, and the beginning of another.
the celebration was titled parade across america and i really enjoyed it . . i thought the inaugural committee did a good job coordinating citizens from across the states with musicians and songs and dancing. it was very uplifting and inspiring, and ended with presidents clinton, bush and obama discussing the importance of putting ourselves in others' shoes and working together to really make a positive difference in all our lives.
and ended with a spectacular fireworks display . . i've never seen one quite like it (pets usually find them very distressing). you can find the full event here on the inaugural committee's facebook page (along with specific two to three minute highlights).
