September in Washington

I'm going back into The District tonight, after my self-imposed Exile of The Summer.

Fall begins here promptly on Labor Day. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Of course, this is the furthest north I've ever lived, so perhaps it is this way in most of the civilized world. It is now cool and breezy, and the leaves have begun to change, even some in the last weeks of August. And I can go into The District and find Parking Places, because the Wandering Hoards of Schoolchildren and Tourists have gone home.

August in Florida and Oklahoma is always a foretaste of Hell.

We have tickets to the Kennedy Center tonight, to see Asleep at the Wheel in "A Ride with Bob," about Our Hero, Bob Wills. I am wearing my boots. My esteemed spouse threatens to wear his Resistol.

I like going to the Kennedy Center. It's only a few minutes from the house, and there's parking underneath so you don't have to go for a five mile hike in three-inch heels. It's not a big venue, so things are easily visible and audible from every seat. Actually, I should say that they are not big venues, since the Opera House, the Eisenhower Theater, the Concert Hall, the Terrace Theater and the Theater Lab are all separate venues. And it's not usually expensive. And they have a nice rooftop restaurant for an aftershow nosh.

I have loved Bob Wills, and Asleep at the Wheel, since I was a sophomore at the Universidad de Oklahoma, and AATW played at a bar in front of my apartment. They were so different from the bulk of 70's music, and so alive, that I discovered the joys of Western Big Band music then.

My phone rings "Take Me Back to Tulsa, I'm Too Young to Marry" when my husband calls.

We introduced a Belgian big-band brass player to the joys of Bob and AATW when we were in Bordeaux last year. He was blown away. I think we should get titles, like "Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary for Western Swing."

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my Big Night in the Big Town.

Take it away, Leon...

PS: It was better than I imagined it could be.

No Resistol was worn, however, had it been, it would not have been the only one.

There seemed to be a significant Kinky contingent, however, I don't know if these are voting Texans.

Miz Laura Bush and her momma Miz Jenna Welch sat underneath us.

We chop in tall cotton around here, boys.