Just another Friday afternoon in the park… I went roaming, from Dupont Circle to Logan Circle, up 14th to U Street, through Meridian Hill Park and back home. I took a lot of pictures. Friday had that light… Clear blue skies. The slightest notice of Fall on its way. It’s taken this long just to sort through the batch. Watch for: “Hi! My Name is Logan - And This Is My Horse!” If I ever get around to it before taking hundreds more photos…
Ducks in the fountain at Meridian Hill! I couldn’t believe my luck… They didn’t want to get too close, but they took a clear interest in me as someone who might have breadcrumbs. Sadly, I had no breadcrumbs.
They would come close, but that took them under the shade of a tree. I kept snapping to catch them relatively still in the middle distance, where light would really strike that one guy’s green head feathers.
But some of the ladies were looking good too: check out that blue stripe on her wing!
I couldn’t resist the color of these flowers, against a drab pebble inlay background, with those hints of blue in that edge trimming.
I decided to try my Macro-closeup setting and stuck my nose right in this planter… That’s when I noticed this bumblebee, tending to the garden. He’s practically wearing little bee overalls.
Posted in DC-roaming, gardening, photos | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:03:00 GMT
Last Saturday I bought a Rosemary plant at the Cathedral greenhouse. I was thinking that taking care of a plant would do me some good. I don’t think I’m ready to take care of a pet, and I certainly couldn’t be responsible for a child, as I’ve gathered from dealing with my friends’ children.
I didn’t have any particular plant in mind. It was just such a nice day, and I needed an outbound goal. There used to be a plant store in Dupont Circle, but if I remember correctly, they closed a while back. There are no doubt more such stores further uptown, but I was thinking a lot about the National Cathedral when we visited San Juan in McAllen. I started out walking, then somewhere in Woodley I got overheated and stopped to wait for a bus to take me up the hill.
I had my mind set on an espresso from Zebra Lounge at Wisconsin and Macomb street, but when I got to the door, it was cleaned out. They’re usually quite dark inside, so I didn’t figure it out until I had my nose up to the glass. I had to settle for Starbucks, an old reliable but never spectacular alternative. I’m consciously trying to favor independents, but sometimes you just don’t get a sense of how widespread a place is. With Starbucks, you know. Today I went to Saxby’s, which is supposed to be based in Atlanta, so fairly large, if not Starbuckian in world dominance.
At the Cathedral, I dallied for a bit. The bell-pullers were practicing their art - it was an intricate arrangement that I just assumed was to announce the time, but gradually it was obvious they didn’t care what time it was. Perhaps it all meant “noon”. There is a fountain I really like, with shaded colonnades. The fountain is very blobby and modern - I might have guessed Isamu Noguchi, but the reality is less exciting. It must be a nod to Noguchi - a part of it looks like one of those plastic Eames chairs, with a saddle shape. The curves and mass of the thing are very similar to some Noguchi sculptures. I sat there reading until too many people started loitering and engaging in vapid conversations. Somebody asked me if I knew where the bathroom was. As If I were somehow a part of the cathedral. I shrugged and claimed ignorance, then a few seconds later I saw the map on the wall. That ought to out me as someone who prefers a technology to a human interaction. “Why ask when there’s a map in plain view?”
I took a walk through the catacombs and the gift shop, pausing to admire a metalwork gate and some of the shop’s garden accessories before I went back outside to the greenhouse.
They had a lot of annuals. Forget that. I might not get my perennial to last more than a year, but I’d still like to give it a shot. Walking down the aisles, my mind condensed around the idea that it should be edible. How about herbs? Something I might get some use out of. I saw a lot of different basils, some lavender, chives, etc., but I settled on rosemary. Five bucks. Later I need a bigger pot to put it in, but that can wait. In the meantime, I’ll leave it in my kitchen window, with plenty of morning sunlight most of the year, and see if it will thrive.
[Evan - put in the rosemary links later…]
Posted in gardening | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:01:00 GMT
