Nothing to Lose

We all know that I am working at Booz Allen every Wednesday until I'm not. A couple of weeks ago I worked the other four days for a different woman in that office. The picture on the right is of Kim, on the left, and Crystal. Crystal is the woman I'm temping for on Wednesdays. She is learning how to do more techie stuff on those days. Kim is the delightful woman who has been there every day. She works in a different group, but sits next to Debbie, the woman I temped for on those four days. Confusing? Just know that these woman have helped me a lot as I get to know more about the BAH culture. Isn't that a fun company? It's either Booz or BAH.

Eric and I took a drive to Appomattox Court House Thursday and Friday of last week. There are a lot of places that I want to see when I'm in Virginia. It's a little difficult to decide where to go first. And there is the question of whether Eric needs to go with me each time. One of my goals was to see where the Civil War ended. Adrian and I had visited Fort Sumter when he was six. He says he remembers that. I'm sure what he remembers most is getting a bit sea sick on the boat over to the island.

I decided that I needed to see where the war ended. I'm not sure if this means that I won't be visiting any more battlefields or not. Is the war over for me at last? I have seen a lot of battlefields; not even most of them, but certainly the most well known. So it was good to see this place. Appomattox Court House is the name of the town. It is the county seat for Appomattox County. Poor General Lee was leading very hungry and weary men at this point. No matter which way he turned, events turned against him. Supplies were late or lost. Troop movement was slowed or delayed. Union soldiers moved more quickly than he expected. He realized that he could do nothing else. He had to surrender his men.

He sent one of his men to find a place for him to meet with Grant. The Court House itself was closed. Most buildings were closed because of the battles going on just across the fields. Finally they found the McLean farm. Mr. McLean had fought in one of the first battles of the war and then moved to this quiet country-side to get away from it all. It came to him instead. The surrender was signed at these desks. Grant sat at the one on the left. Lee sat at the one on the right. US (Unconditional Surrender) Grant was not so mean with these terms. I guess he got that nickname someplace else. He was very generous to the Southerners. So now, that war is over.

I have always wanted to go to the Cumberland Gap. Must have read too much about Daniel Boone in my youth. Eric said it was too far. Next time, I will go by myself. It is at the south western most corner of Virginia. We only got as far as Roanoke. Then we took a drive up the Blueride Skyline Parkway Drive. It is very lovely. I say the leaves are starting to turn although most were still very green. We saw deer; in fact, Eric almost hit one that bounded at our car. These fellas on the right were moving a little more slowly. We got to watch them lope on the other side of the guard rail until they made a break for the other side of the street. Just enough time for me to get out my camera.

The next day we went for a picnic on the Potomac for people from Cindy's office. It was a beautiful setting. You can almost see the pair of kayakers in the picture on the right. There was also fishing from a row boat going on in the inlet just to the right of this scene. Bucolic. We ate fair barbeque and listened to the young folks from the office. These people do interesting work. One gentleman is moving to Huntsville to continue his work with the military. I don't remember what he does, but he's been doing it for many years. Now they've moved everything to Huntsville. He seems very excited about the prospect. I could understand starting a whole new life in a new state. I hope his is just temporary, too, but he did mention selling and buying houses. Yikes.

Eric and I listened to a book on our drive. It's a little difficult to pick a book that two people will listen to and enjoy. But I had found out that Eric likes the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child, so that made the choice easier for me. I bought the newest book so I knew he hadn't read it already. This was Nothing to Lose. These books are becoming more than a little formulaic and they may be off my list for good (or until I go driving again with Eric.) I think Eric might be ready for some other writer in the genre as well. In another book he and I had listened to, one man sort of owned the town. Same here. Different convoluted subplot, but basically the same. We listened to the whole book, well, almost the whole book. We only had an hour left. I listened to that part the night we got home and shared it with Eric as we were going to the picnic. He kept asking detailed questions, beginning with Why. We both started to laugh, because there is often a very tenuous Why in these books. I finally had to say, "Because it's Reacher." Not a very good reason. Jack can still beat six men and not get a nick. But even that gets old. So there was nothing to lose, listening to this book on our drive. Just a few brain cells.