Memorial Day

Yesterday, I had hoped to go see the memorial at Arlington West created by the Veterans for Peace--every weekend volunteers put crosses in the sand, one for each soldier killed in Iraq. We didn't quite get there--but the sad thing is that they put it up every weekend, and not just on Memorial Day, because every week people are dying in Bush's senseless war. And while over 3000 of American troops have died, close to 20,000 have been injured, and over 650,000 Iraqis have been killed. Rest in peace.

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Maiya and I did however go to Venice Beach together. It was surprisingly empty, especially for such a beautiful day. We had a delicious lunch that Tony packed for us while he and his friend Hector rode their new skateboards on the boardwalk (I'll ask Tony to blog about being 3 times the age of most of the skaters-his words). Maiya and I enjoyed sharing lunch, hanging out, digging in the sand, and putting our feet in the icy cold ocean.

After we went to the beach, we went to Hector's. He had just bought a little wooden boat and let us test it out in the Venice Canals. Here they are carrying the boat 1/2 a block over to the canals.

It was very fun. Do you see that we have one regular oar, and one broken pizza oven spatula? I know, I know, Maiya is not wearing a life jacket, but I overcompensated by asking Tony if she was ok about once every 10 seconds, and turning my head to check her halfway between every 10 seconds, and trying to feel assured by the fact that the water was barely 2-3 feet deep, but praying that we wouldn't have to jump into the brackish, dirty water, and trying to keep the boat going straight with 1-1/2 oars, and trying to keep from complaining about the pain in my arms and shoulders, and trying to keep from laughing because it was just so much fun.

Let's work together to end the War. Peace. Out.