Barb’s Burblings

I volunteered at the Smithsonian today and was in the First Ladies exhibit when the cutest thing happened. I had asked people whether they had any questions, and this little girl–no more than 6 or 7–asked why Martha Washington was listed as “Martha Dandridge Washington,” not “Custis.” “Her name was Martha Custis Washington!” the little girl said. I was blown away. I explained that the exhibit has the names of the First Ladies with their maiden names, and “Custis” was her first husband’s name. But how awesome that this girl knew to ask that? Apparently they were learning about George Washington in school. Seriously, it was the cutest thing ever. I wanted to stand there and discuss other First Ladies trivia with her, but other people had questions, too. Boo.
Anyway, it was a pleasant day. I popped into the Spark Lab–formerly Hands on Science–because I saw that some of the folks I used to work with there were on duty. So that was nice. Then I wandered back to the Metro. The weather is great. It’s overcast, so the sun isn’t beating down. Mid-70s, and there’s some humidity in the air, so that annoying static electricity has disappeared for the moment. Hooray! Just perfect.