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Left to right: ticklethepear, Clara, me, and mortuus.

We visited a DC landmark, Ben's Chili Bowl. In my ignorance I didn't realize that by chili, they meant "chili dog." I'll admit that I've never really been one for chili dogs, but I now realize this is only because I'd never had one from Ben's. So yummy!

Obama ate here and now, so have I.

This week in pictures:

This is a Kammavaca. When I opened the box and saw it, I decided right then to change this to my display item for the end of term shin-dig. Since then I've done some research: Kammavaca's were commissioned by people to present to monasteries on the day that monks took their vows. Sometimes they'd be commissioned by the monk's family, other times by rich members of the community. They contain the code of conduct by which monks were to abide. One of the unique things about Kammavaca's (pronounced with a "ch" sound) is that they were often made out of interesting materials. For example, in the Library's collection they have one that is made out of metal, one that is made from fabric that was most likely once monk robes, and one that is made from a "white material", which some speculate is ivory but others disagree with that assessment. Who knows what it really is, but ivory was used sometimes.
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