Saturday, January 3, 2009

Sights not normally seen

I was headed out yesterday, a cold clear day after New Years to spend some quality time with my 13-year-old niece and my 10-year-old nephew who are in town visiting for the holidays from Connecticut.

A fine day was planned: a trip out to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum near Dulles, a late lunch at Pizzeria Paradiso in G-town and, if I had not yet been driven insane, a quick stop at Thomas Sweet on Wisconsin. I'm happy to say all went according to plan and a good day was had by all. Especially since there was fudge involved.

The funniest part of the day, though, had to have been as I was heading out to pick up my niece and nephew. There I was, waiting at a stoplight when lo and behold, the individuals in the image below sauntered across my field of view. 

I was so stunned by this bucolic familial scene I almost forgot I had a camera in my pocket. Thankfully, I recovered in the nick of time to record the image for posterity. 

Now, momma, papa and the camouflaged apple of their eye wouldn't have normally caught my attention if, say, I still lived in one of my previous homes in Texas, Indianapolis or North Carolina. But, you see, this picture is different, I snapped in Old Town. 

Yeah, Old Town Alexandria.  

Normally, considering my own fashion sense and the fact I wore camouflage utilities to work every day for six years, I wouldn't want to be the guy living in a condo constructed of a transparent amorphous solid chucking igneous formations around.

But this, this: Just. Made. Me. Laugh. 

The ladies' camouflage jackets. Mom's cammie backpack. And dad, dad all decked out, literally from head-to-toe in hat, jacket and pants just in case the need for stealth arises somewhere along Duke Street. Oh, and the matching earmuffs not decorated in a woodland pattern? They only make it that much better.

5 comments:

Fearless in Toronto said...

I love the irony of it all - that the camouflage actually makes them MORE noticable.

FoggyDew said...

Hey Fearless - Never quite thought of it that way, but you're absolutely right. Perhaps they need some red brick colored camies.

JoLee said...

Well, sheesh, if I'd have known that was you behind me taking the pictures, I wouldn't have been trying to hide after all...

FoggyDew said...

JoLee - I'm a trained professional, you gotta work harder than that to hide from me.

Marissa said...

The only thing I can think of to make this all work is a touch of blaze orange. Maybe instead of the camo backpack. Oh, and a double ought or two. And a 12-gauge.