<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5546174505/" title="pizza-ella by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="pizza-ella" height="500" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5136/5546174505_bf985af0f5.jpg" width="448" /></a><br /><br />Across from the National Portrait Gallery and American art museum is <a href="http://www.ellaspizza.com/">Ella's Wood-Fired Pizza.</a> Its website claims to have the best wood-fired pizza in DC. It was good but I've never been to the competition.<br /><br />After seeing the portraits of many famous Americans -- especially the newest ones, including those of film stars and directors, music stars, designers, current writers, artists and many others, we went to lunch at Ella's. Then back for the famous portraits of George Washington, Lincoln, many other presidents, Chuck Close's portrait of Bill Clinton, portraits of famous civil rights leaders, and many more. I especially liked Ben Shan's portrait of martyrs Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney.<br /><br />The museum was exhilarating!<br /><br />Finally, a special collection of wire portraits by Calder, whose ability to visualize and sketch in 3-D lines is amazing. He drew many art-world figures, including Ben Shan.<br /><br />Here's an example of Calder's work: a 2D and 3D portrait (1929) of an art historian named Hans Curlis who made a film about Calder:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5546174549/" title="calder1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="calder1" height="500" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/5546174549_d102b0cee5.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5546756870/" title="calder2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="calder2" height="500" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5131/5546756870_7435c29a5d.jpg" width="429" /></a>

Across from the National Portrait Gallery and American art museum is Ella's Wood-Fired Pizza. Its website claims to have the best wood-...

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Tapas

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5541827550/" title="tapas1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="tapas1" height="334" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5295/5541827550_07e7de0eeb.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5541827604/" title="tapas by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="tapas" height="359" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5174/5541827604_910486cbc5.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Tapas

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Happy Pi Day

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BPmHnAceHBfiave-2Un1Sj_FqmHGv3UHbeUsjEKE-QYh85jom_OnXOaLANAo-J_QENeofcHnLUg8ElSNiYcrvFsIYYpdbSPV6fTneXnXEpWUKRgiYW5xKmq5NrW82KV0WF-ZcDZ_GnyS/s1600/PiDay.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584023682158697074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BPmHnAceHBfiave-2Un1Sj_FqmHGv3UHbeUsjEKE-QYh85jom_OnXOaLANAo-J_QENeofcHnLUg8ElSNiYcrvFsIYYpdbSPV6fTneXnXEpWUKRgiYW5xKmq5NrW82KV0WF-ZcDZ_GnyS/s400/PiDay.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;" /></a><br />Elaine and I baked a pie for Pi Day (3-14).

Happy Pi Day

Elaine and I baked a pie for Pi Day (3-14).

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Delta Cookies -- Hard to find on Delta flights

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzzPR6BXk3Fo-fW3MACheOsu8IPXfLt4Pq_49NNaZz3tLs1rCSSEnUMrCT_-SAwzqO-2bfSps7TL2T2fBCM5_aJMiZ2BPOh-OY4lkn9np2xNR91zog_c1VhvLZ5EBPlcGSJWNJTzh-fGH/s1600/delta-cookies.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582615469194454338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzzPR6BXk3Fo-fW3MACheOsu8IPXfLt4Pq_49NNaZz3tLs1rCSSEnUMrCT_-SAwzqO-2bfSps7TL2T2fBCM5_aJMiZ2BPOh-OY4lkn9np2xNR91zog_c1VhvLZ5EBPlcGSJWNJTzh-fGH/s400/delta-cookies.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />We flew to Ireland and back on Delta, with stopovers at Kennedy Airport. All 4 flights were on time or early, and the service was impeccable -- except for one thing. Only on one flight were there any of the famous Delta cookies from Biscoff, and that time I found only one single 2-cookie pack in the flight attendant's basket of pretzels and peanuts. Too bad: I really like Delta cookies.<br /><br />So when I got home, I ordered several packages (the minimum order) from amazon.com, and I'm really enjoying them. I do admit that LU Le Bastogne cinnamon-sugar cookies are very similar; in fact, perhaps better than Biscoff. And my local grocer has them in stock most of the time. Still, it's fun to get Biscoff cookies like Delta would serve if they ever had any.

Delta Cookies -- Hard to find on Delta flights

We flew to Ireland and back on Delta, with stopovers at Kennedy Airport. All 4 flights were on time or early, and the service was impeccable...

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Arny and Tracy's Kitchen in Galway

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5503946238/" title="ArnyKitchen0404 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="ArnyKitchen0404" height="428" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5503946238_f8f15eebe5_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />The house that Arny and Tracy are renting for this year in Galway has a beautiful kitchen, which gets the slanting late-afternoon winter sun. (The latitude is 53 north, so it <span style="font-style: italic;">really slants!</span>) I helped cook one dinner there for the four of us and four guests. I used a dish towel for an apron, but all other needed objects were available. Tracy worked out a very nice spice shelf and populated it with lots of spice, as shown.<br /><br />While I'm talking about the house, here's a photo of the front.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5503355001/" title="arny-house5394 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="arny-house5394" height="375" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5011/5503355001_08302e8b63.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />The front of the house is nearly identical to the houses of the neighbors; the gardens are all different, however. Here's the back garden in the very slanty light of a morning. The wall at the back faces a rather busy street, but it requires a mile of driving to get there unless you want to try climbing over. The neighborhood is amazingly protected!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5503355845/" title="arny-house5399 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="arny-house5399" height="375" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5503355845_69d1703ea1.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5503393685/" title="arny-house5398 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="arny-house5398" height="375" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5017/5503393685_50a304d40f.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />We came back yesterday, but I'll be posting several more times to cover our very busy trip. So far, posts on my other blogs are:<br /><ul class="posts"><li><a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2011/03/irish-politics.html">Irish Politics</a></li><li><a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2011/03/misty-ireland.html">Misty Ireland</a></li><li><a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2011/03/irish-castles.html">Irish Castles</a></li><li><a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2011/03/irish-walls.html">Irish Walls</a></li><li><a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2011/03/ireland.html">Ireland</a></li><li><a href="http://hero-or-antihero.blogspot.com/2011/02/jewish-ireland.html">Jewish Ireland</a></li></ul>

Arny and Tracy's Kitchen in Galway

The house that Arny and Tracy are renting for this year in Galway has a beautiful kitchen, which gets the slanting late-afternoon winter sun...

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Monk's Pub, Ballyvaughn Ireland

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5495585380/" title="monks1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="monks1" height="375" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5055/5495585380_075d2641e5.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5495585550/" title="monks2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="monks2" height="500" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5218/5495585550_8b669b6f41.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5494993573/" title="monks3 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="monks3" height="458" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5494993573_bb0efa7564_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5495586062/" title="monks5 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="monks5" height="375" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5253/5495586062_786bf8f431.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />More seafood from Galway Bay: today, crab claws and mussels. And another fire, this time a log fire rather than a peat fire. We weren't as cold: the day was remarkably warm and perfectly sunny for wandering around The Burren.

Monk's Pub, Ballyvaughn Ireland

More seafood from Galway Bay: today, crab claws and mussels. And another fire, this time a log fire rather than a peat fire. We weren't ...

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Coole Oysters

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5491622057/" title="morans0 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morans0" height="323" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/5491622057_041894080e.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Moran's Oyster Cottage was a splendid place to eat lunch after a walk in Coole Park. Lady Gregory, owner of Coole 100 years ago, was often host to William Butler Yeats and his circle, and he wrote a book of poems called "The Wild Swans at Coole." (More about Coole elsewhere, later).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5492216348/" title="morans00 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morans00" height="500" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5059/5492216348_05035df6fc.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /><br />The peat fire was warm, and the oysters so fresh that the Moran family member who opened ours showed us a little sea worm still alive inside one. (I shuddered. A lot.) Other family members have won national and international competitions to see who can open 30 oysters the fastest without damaging them.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5491622693/" title="morans0-1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morans0-1" height="375" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5176/5491622693_6ced91e847.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5492215156/" title="morans1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morans1" height="480" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5091/5492215156_99b441dab2_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />They were DELICIOUS!<br /><br />After lunch, we watched the swans on the water in front of the restaurant. Yeats saw nine and fifty on Coole Lake, where we saw none at all, so they must have come down here for the day.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5492215656/" title="morans4 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="morans4" height="356" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/5492215656_1e367b07f3.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Coole Oysters

Moran's Oyster Cottage was a splendid place to eat lunch after a walk in Coole Park. Lady Gregory, owner of Coole 100 years ago, was oft...

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