"Is that Grant?" I asked as the five of us walked around the reflecting pool at the Capitol. I was talking about the huge statue of a man on his horse. A moment later I laughed and pointed at the inscription etched in the marble base: GRANT. "So it says."
"I'm really more interested in the horse," I explained. "Grant's favorite horse, Cincinnati, was a son of Lexington, the fastest racehorse in the 1800s and then the best stud for 16 years in a row, a record that still stands today."
From there I told the group, consisting of Heidi and our teacher-buddies, Matt and Mary, about the novel Horse, by Geraldine Brooks, a book my brother recommended to me and with which I was nearly finished.
"The skeleton of Lexington was on display right there," I pointed to the Natural History Museum, "until he was forgotten, and it was literally moved to the attic." We regarded the domed building, and I examined the roofline with renewed interest wondering exactly where the attic might be.
"Don't worry," I reassured them, "it's on permanent loan now to the International Museum of the Horse in, wait for it... Lexington!" I finished with a flourish.
"Look at you making connections," Mary said. "What a good reader!"
An idea for your second career (in let’s say, 5-7 years when you retire): a moveable touring feast. It would be a lunch prepared with your freshest homegrown ingredients in an open-air tour of notable DC sites.
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