Air and Space

During our recent trip to Washington, DC, my daughter and I had about 15 minutes to kill (after visiting the National Gallery) before we had to pick up the guys from the Verizon Center, where they had been watching a disappointing Georgetown basketball game. Since we were parked right in front of the Air and Space Museum, we walked through as rapidly as the crowds allowed and I shot random photos. I have NO idea what I was shooting, so I leave it to your imagination. Of course, if you have been there, you will have some idea what the various planes are. If not, then you will at least have a tiny flavor of what's in store when you do visit.

Above: a shot of the various foreign bills found in the donation box. I always wonder how much is put there by the museum employees every morning.....LOL

Some high-tech spying going on there, huh?




This last one landed on the moon, but I don't remember the exact name. (Lunar module?)

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BOOK NOTES: "The Most Wanted" by Jacquelyn Mitchard is the last book I finished. It was published in 1998, but I just got around to it. I buy books from Goodwill (hardbacks are $1) and keep them until I have the time and inclination to read. This one was pretty interesting, but definitely a woman's book. You guys can move along now.

Crocus and Calliope

My crocuses, amid the moss, leaves and weeds I refer to as a garden. Once in a while, some beauty pops up from underground (quite unaided by anything I've done.) I wish I felt like lying on the ground to get a good close-up of these beauties, since the veining is quite remarkable. I didn't change the coloration of this photo at all. The inside of the crocus really is an almost neon purple.

Calliope, who resides at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. I have begun to take more interest in sculpture than I did in college, when my focus was painting. Perhaps the reason is that I now recognize the degree of difficulty in sculpting. I deem it much harder than painting. I didn't have materials with me to write down the name of the sculptor for this one. I shot the photo because a friend of mine here in Raleigh has a business named Calliope and it reminded me of her. Whomever the sculptor was, he was certainly adept at making the diaphanous fabric of her draped wrap look as real as possible.

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Need a smile, a chuckle, a laugh? Go here!

Flowers at The National Gallery

Since photos of paintings aren't allowed, I decided to show you the fountains and their plantings. This will get you in the mood for spring! Above: white delphinium, pink tulips, white hydrangea, spray roses and lilies.

Stargazer lilies.


Amaryllis, white and blue hydrangeas.


Amaryllis.

Flowering pear trees, surrounded by azaleas, hydrangeas and gardenias.

A domed ceiling with an oculus, which reminds me of it's (almost) twin in the Pantheon in Rome. The only difference is that this one is closed and the one in Rome is completely open to the elements.

NOTE TO SUSAN from England: I tried to put your email here tonight, and it wouldn't post correctly. It seems to be in a different format, and whenever I tried to edit it, it just wouldn't allow editing and it made my computer "jam" up. I will work on it and try again. Sorry!

Founding Fath...er..um ...Farmers

We went to this newish restaurant on Saturday night, called The Founding Farmers. The menu is quite extensive and we had a hard time making decisions about what to select. The reverse of this menu showed their cocktail selections, but my favorite wasn't included. I ordered it anyway - a frozen margarita. The Asian wait person, who apparently didn't have a good working knowledge of English, looked askance at me, but agreed to find out if they could provide it. I figured if they had tequila, lime, ice and a blender, they could do a passable job of making a frozen margarita - but no - it was beyond their ken. So I had to make do with a margarita on the rocks. It was pretty good. My brother-in-law ordered an appletini and guess what? They couldn't make that either. It's odd as hell, isn't it?

So mr. kenju and his brother ended up with sarsaparilla, and I had a taste of that. It was pleasant, but not worth $3 per bottle, I'll wager.

The restaurant decor is nice, although sparse, and they have many of these shelf units with canned veggies as room-dividers. It definitely follows the garden theme.

Here is my (partially eaten, sorry) plate of shrimp, fries and coleslaw. What they bill as hush puppies are just dollops of bland cornbread which has more than a little sugar in it. Definitely not the southern version of real hush puppies, which are melt-in-your-mouth goodness, spicy and rich. The shrimp were excellent, however, and the slaw creamy. I forgot to photograph our appetizers: southern fried green tomatoes (fantastic) and bacon-wrapped dates with blue cheese, which were good, but not fabulous.

The others ordered skirt steak, meat loaf and pot roast, (we didn't share) and we eschewed dessert in favor of the eclairs we had bought at a local bakery that morning. Should you find yourself in DC, I can recommend this place, but reservations are necessary, and even lunchtime is extremely busy; I am told the line for lunch frequently runs out the door and around the corner. Since it was jammed the night we were there, I can also tell you that the acoustics are not great, but the meal will probably be worth the trip.

NJ and the Big Apple, Part 1

The Woolworth Building (on the right). At one time, it was the tallest building in NYC.

We left here Wednesday afternoon, with daughter #1, at 3pm, after the plumber worked his magic mojo and stopped the leak under our house. We stopped in DC to spend the night with daughter #2, and continued on Thursday morning to NJ. Our #2 decided to take the train to NYC later in the day, and she was to meet us at the New York Athletic Club about 6 pm.

Daughter #1 has a GP system on her car, and I became a devotee almost immediately. She programmed it to take us to NJ by the quickest route without tolls. We were routed through Pennsylvania Amish country, an area which none of us had ever seen before. I want to go back sometime when we can stop and sight-see! The rolling hills are lovely, and the wide valleys with picturesque farms are quaint and beautiful. We saw some dark red barns, with large round hex signs on them, and silos, and grazing cattle and horses. I would love to see it when the trees are leafed out and flowers are blooming. When we left Raleigh, it was looking like spring had sprung and the farther north we went, the more it appeared to be winter again. Going that route (from DC through Harrisburg and Scranton) put extra miles on the car, but we paid NO tolls and the traffic was light, compared to Rte. 95 (the hellhole).

We arrived in West Orange, NJ at our hotel, the Marriott Residence Inn, and were pleasantly surprised to see that it looked like a fairly luxurious hotel (both inside and out)! Our rooms were spacious and well-appointed, and the stay included a free breakfast. This was a full buffet - not just continental fare - and it was good!

We had to hurry, as mr. kenju had to be at the NYAC by 5:30 pm, for a photo session prior to being inducted (along with his whole team) in his high school basketball hall of fame. His team went undefeated in the 1957-58 season. His brother arrived to drive us into the city and we made it with about 5 minutes to spare, despite the problem of a flat tire. My BIL asked the parking attendant to change the tire for him, and lo and behold when we went back at 11:30 pm to get the car, it had been changed. We were lucky!

Miss kenju (daughter #2) arrived from the train at 6:20pm and we left the NYAC on a quest for half-price tickets to a Broadway Show. Tomorrow, I will tell you all about the show we saw, plus other possibly interesting tidbits about the evening.

Gettin' Historified

The Four "J's". My grandchildren on a trip to Washington, DC.

I think we're pretty lucky that none of them fell into that "cement pond"!