Les Dames d’Escoffier foodies savor flavors of Wheaton’s diverse delicacies: that headline from the Gazette online says it pretty well. The Dames is a culinary society, the DC chapter of which recently visited the lovely and tasty community of Wheaton.
Becoming a Citizen in Gaithersburg
I had my naturalization interview about a month ago. On Sunday, I went to Gaithersburg for the next step: the ceremony.
The ceremony was part of the opening of the annual Celebrate Gaithersburg in Olde Towne event. The town(e) was kind enough to send good directions and a free pass for the parking garage nearest the festivities.
The instructions sternly declared checkin time to be 10:45 (am). I arrived at 10:15, followed the clear signs to Naturalization, and found that 10:45 was the start of checkin. So I wandered around in the sunshine as the festival was set up, and got myself a coffee at the railroad station cafe.
Checking in involved surrendering my green card, and checking, but not yet receiving, my naturalization certificate. I felt rather foreign and naked during the next couple of hours. But I sat down in front of the stage where the ceremony was to take place, read the book I’d brought, and enjoyed the vocal group who performed (or rather, soundchecked, since they were due on the stage after the opening ceremonies).
The opening,which started at noon, was a mixture of the local and the global. It was local, in that it included introduction of town officials.
It was global, in that it included a welcome for new citizens from a wide variety of countries. I know that, because each country was called out, and the people from that country invited to stand, one by one. The thing I liked best about this was that middle eastern countries, and people in Islamic headgear, were warmly applauded; I feared that it might have been otherwise, but Gaithersburg seems a civilized place. It seemed rather appropriate and American that the announcements had to wait once or twice for train to huff and whistle by.
Once announcements were over, we collected our naturalization certificates. I’d have liked to stay for the festival, and I think my kids (6 and 4) would have loved it, but they were elsewhere, and so I had to be elsewhere. Maybe next year for the 30th Annual Celebrate Gaithersburg…
Storm Without Power Cut!
Wheaton had a pretty decent-sized storm yesterday (Wednesday) evening. But we never lost power for more than a few seconds at a time. I was relieved that we didn’t have a power cut, but I think that the kids were a little disappointed.
I was surprised, once we got out this morning, at how many tree branches were down. I thought that all the vulnerable trees would have succumbed to the bigger storms we had during the summer.
Photo of the Summer
Of all the photos I took this summer, this “leaning shack of Wheaton” best captures our first summer in Wheaton/Silver Spring/Montgomery County/Maryland/DC area.
- It’s outdoors.
- It’s local, from Wheaton’s wonderful Brookside Gardens.
- It shows storm damage. We had three storm-induced power cuts this summer: 54 hours, 24 hours, 4 hours.
I regard summer as over, since MoCo schools have restarted. Maddie started first grade yesterday.
Moco outdoor pools have gone into post-season mode, which means that they aren’t open on weekdays. We could really use them this week, with temperatures heading up towards 100, but I guess that many of the outdoor pool staff have gone back to high school, and that it was impossible to know very far ahead that this week would be hotter than most of the earlier part of August.
Post-season ends, and the outdoor pools close until next year (June?) after Labor Day. For someone who grew up outside this country, the status of Labor Day as a hard end of summer is even more amazing than spelling Labor without a u. It seems particularly silly when it comes to closing swimming pools in this climate.
That said, we had a good summer, and we’re having a good time as summer turns to autumn (all right then, fall).
Citizenship
Yesterday I went to Baltimore for my naturalization interview. I applied for citizenship via marriage. It was an impressively rapid process.
- Application (N-400) sent: 5/26/10
- Receipt date: 5/28
- Priority date: 5/28
- Fingerprint appointment: 7/12
- Naturalization interview: 8/26/10
So from sending the N-400 to the interview was exactly 3 calendar months. That’s rather faster than I expected. The interview was also rather faster than I expected, starting on time and taking rather less than the 2 hours the interview notice advised me to plan for.
I note that taking US citizenship does not strip me of my UK citizenship.
Visiting Virginia
Charlottesville is the furthest south I’ve been in Virginia. Four of us went to dinner yesterday (Sat) evening. For a change, the other two weren’t our kids, but another couple who have two kids – but also a babysitter. We went to Zinc, where we sat outside by the fountain; I enjoyed the steak frites, among other things.
On the 4th of July, we went to Grand Caverns, a cool destination in more ways than one: it was interesting, and about 40 degrees below the heat of the great outdoors. Then it was back to Charlottesville for the fireworks, which were a lot of fun to watch from a blanket on a high school field.
Three Pools and a Coupon
We’ve recently tried out three swimming pools, two in Wheaton itself and one in Silver Spring.
First we went to a start of season party at the Parkland Pool, on Arcola in Wheaton. We found out about the party via a flyer at the nearby Little Gym of Silver Spring, where the kids enjoyed some classes during the spring. Although we enjoyed the party and liked the pool, Parkland is more of a club, and more of a $ commitment, than we are looking for.
Second, in terms of pools visited, was the Wheaton/Glenmont Pool. It fits our family well, as do many things run by Montgomery County.
As well as a toddler pool and a big pool, Wheaton has a kid pool, which ranges gradually in depth from almost nothing to about a meter. There’s also an adventure pool, for which none of us are quite ready. We decided that $275 for a family season pass would provide savings, as well as fun and coolness.
The third pool we visited is at the YMCA in Silver Spring. I’m starting this post as Maddie (6) is having a lesson in the indoor pool. We went for lessons there largely because of the timing: four mornings a week for the two weeks between Maddie’s school and summer school.
Today brought an incentive to make further use of the Y, in the form of a coupon. Today’s Groupon is $20 for a One-Month Family Membership, Two Personal-Training Sessions or Two Private Tennis Lessons, and $25 Toward Programs at the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington (which includes the Silver Spring location).
Strawberry Fields Today
Highland Elementary’s kindergarten classes went on a (Strawberry) field trip to Homestead Farm today. I volunteered to chaperone, and so ended up fruit-picking, hayriding, and doing other fun stuff.
Although it’s ~45 minutes from Wheaton, I might well take the whole family, including 3yo, to Homestead. The strawberries were great. The supporting cast of staff, tractors, pygmy goats, etc., added to the fun. So did the weather, with clouds replacing the hot sun of the previous few days without dumping the threatened rain on us.
Tasty Wheaton
The 15th annual Taste of Wheaton merits a post, even though I’m a couple of weeks late.
The photo is from the local Gazette. It shows lemongrass chicken from the Saigonese Restaurant. The Saigonese stall was the first one I visited; we intend to have more of their food.
We enjoyed our first-ever pupasas. I forget which stall they were from, and more than one place in Wheaton does them.
We (mainly the kids) had noodles from Hollywood East Cafe. Hollywood East recently got a glowing writeup in the Washington City Paper, which recommends Wheaton over DC for dim sum.
There is, however, at least one vital ingredient missing from Wheaton’s restaurant scene. There is no Indian restaurant. From my review-surfing, it seems as though the nearest good non-veggie Indian restaurant is quite a way away. I hope you can tell me I’m wrong…
Our Neighbors the Robins
That’s robins as in birds. There’s a nest in the wisteria over our deck. Little blue eggs started to appear in it, until there were four. Now there are no eggs, but there do seem to be some very tiny birds.
I haven’t had a close look at the chicks. The robins were smart enough to build the nest where twigs and leaves would sprout over it. And, as I keep telling my 6yo daughter, we don’t want to frighten the baby robins.