Later I met up with my friend, Motorbike, for a walk from Rosslyn to the National Museum of Natural History (4.5 miles). The only really cold part was walking across the Key Bridge into Georgetown, but we made it. We are both trying to become orchid growers and the museum had a South American orchid display.
A little aside - did you know that "orchid" comes from the word in Greek for "testicles?" Well, that is according to my favorite source, Wikipedia. Wiki's explanation follows:
The Greek myth of Orchis explains the origin of the plants. Orchis, the son of a nymph and a satyr, came upon a festival of Dionysus(Bacchus) in the forest. He drank too much, and attempted to rape a priestess of Dionysus. For his insult, he was torn apart by the Bacchanalians. His father prayed for him to be restored, but the gods instead changed him into a flower. ( I suppose the flower maintained the testicles?)
Anyway, I digress...
The day was to have ended with a BonJovi concert at the Verizon Center, but for one unplanned occurrence that changed the whole focus of the day....
As we were getting things together to go to the Metro, an old man appeared at our patio door. He scared the heck out of me as he tapped on the door and said he lived here. I didn't recognize him as a neighbor, asked where he lived, and he said '525'. That is not an address in our community, so I told him to come to the front door. I started realizing that this man had dementia and did not know how to get home. Luckily, he did know the name of the community where he lived. I found it on-line, called, and the lady who answered said he was from there and they would send someone to pick him up. As we needed to leave, I said we would bring him home, which we did---almost three miles from our house.
I got a bit confused with the street address so I asked him if anything looked familiar. He said it all looked familiar, but that wouldn't help. Finally, I got him home, got back in my car, and started to cry. All I could think of was that poor guy trying to figure out how to get home.
This is a great place to retire and I am going to enjoy it to the fullest until I get to that point where I can't find MY way home. I hope all of you who are thinking about retiring or who have retired will follow my lead. Live life to the fullest until you can no longer find your way home.
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