~14.6 mi @ ~13.2 min/mi

"Flips and Tubes!" Ken mentions numismatic lingo, as we discuss a column about legal language - "You contumacious rat!" - that Barry shared from a recent American Bar Association journal. At Candy Cane City early arrival Santa Steve offers exonumia before his run.

"Vermeer? Didn't he pitch a perfect game?" - "Uh, no, you're thinking of Johnny Vander Meer, and he threw two consecutive no-hitters!" Ken has to cut today's run short so he and his DW can catch the last day of a Dutch Golden Age exhibit at the National Gallery. We speculate that with the US government shutdown there may not be any guards.

"It's an honor system: take one, leave one, like at a little free library. The Vermeers that you have hanging on the walls at your home have been there so long that one hardly notices them any more. Change would be good!" Stephanie suggests a study of "Dogs of the Old Masters"; she and her daughter noted many cute pups in those paintings. Good topic for her second doctorate? William Wegman photos of his Weimaraner named Man Ray come to mind.

We trot downstream into Rock Creek Park. Gayatri and Stephanie explain sari size and style, then free-associate about film directors Akira Kurosawa vs Satyajit Ray, and work of Kazuo Ishiguro. We catch up with Santa Steve and comrade Joyce, temporarily forming a band of 7. Barry hums the theme from "The Magnificent Seven" movie. Did the "Seven Samurai" have a theme song?

Back at Candy Cane the group splits up. Stephanie and Gayatri add extra mileage, meandering by Meadowbrook Stables where horses kiss and whinny. A final ramble homeward goes via National Park Seminary, past caryatids, weathered statues, and the pagoda.

(trackfile) - ^z - 2018-02-19