DC Chronicles

Where are my pictures?

2010-11-04T17:33:00.002-04:00

Oooh nooo, I installed some new software and I can't find my photos! Thousands of photos... Hmmm, maybe some kind of software surgery is in order? I'll be back.

Six Months Later...

2010-08-02T11:19:00.004-04:00

Yes, it has been a while, hasn't it? I must have been distracted!

We're still here in DC and I'll try to catch up with a few events. This week, we have pictures from the beautiful Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. We visited in April and the gardens were bursting with tulips! A lovely place, with gargoyles, statuary, a winery... we plant to return in the Fall.

Here are a few images, I still can't figure out how to make them line up! There are a few more photos as always, accessible via the title link above.

And still more snow...

2010-02-09T13:23:00.003-05:00

Well, I think we're about to break some snowfall records here in DC. The official measurement is only 16", but that's at Reagan National Airport, along the Potomac. Some of us had more - around here it was 24 - 27 inches, a lot for this area! John's been off work since Friday afternoon, and probably won't go back until Thursday at the soonest. The buses aren't running, and many roads are difficult if not impossible. We dug out our car on Sunday and made a quick run to the store this morning. They were getting a little low on some things, but we found plenty of food to get us through the next couple of days. We're supposed to get another 10 - 20 inches tonight & tomorrow. Yikes!

So, we've spent some fun times getting together with the neighbors, sharing food and playing games, it's nice to have some forced relaxation. As long as our power stays on it's okay...

more pictures of snowy things.... click on the title link above...

Snow, and more to come!

2010-02-04T14:30:00.004-05:00

Happy February! Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow so we're going to have six more weeks of winter. We hope you west coasters don't get too much more rain!

Here are a few pictures of our wintery view from earlier this week, it's so pretty when it's new and fresh.

The weatherman says we're expecting a much larger storm to hit tomorrow with lots of snow!

They're calling for 12 to 24 inches - somewhat unusual for this part of the country where a couple of inches is standard, but we've stocked up on groceries (& wine!) and we're planning an indoor weekend. This is all new for me, I've never lived in snow country so it's still enough of a novelty to be fun. At least for now.

Hope you all stay warm and cozy 'til Spring arrives...

Christmas 2009

2010-01-04T15:48:00.005-05:00

So, after a 10 day delay due to colds/flu/bronchitis, we finally made it to California, just in time for Christmas. It was wonderful to see as many friends & family as we did, considering the short time, but we missed a few friends and hope to catch up when we return in the spring. We also drove to Phoenix to visit Sara, Coy, Brooklyn & Mason, then flew back to DC on New Years Eve.

Want to see more pictures? Just click on the Christmas 2009 title above.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe, healthy & happy New Year!

Phoenix & Long Beach

2009-11-05T11:57:00.003-05:00

After our Tucson adventures we stopped in Phoenix (Surprise, AZ) to see Sara, Coy and family. We had a wonderful but too short visit then we were off to Irvine for a friend's wedding. We stayed that night on the Queen Mary in Long Beach - a fun thing to do once, maybe.

Just a few pictures (in the title link above) from Wildlife World Park in Arizona, where we spent a few hours with Brooklyn and Mason before our flight to California. The others are from the Long Beach area and the Queen Mary.

It was a quick trip, but fun at every stop!

Next post will be our northeast road trip -

Arizona & So Cal

2009-10-27T08:05:00.003-04:00

We spent a few days in late September in Tucson/Phoenix while John attended a conference. The hotel was great - set in the west Tucson hills, with views of the city and acres of surrounding desert.

I drove up to Phoenix to see Sara and family for a night, then came back and spent a morning hiking in Tucson Mountain Park with my brother Tom. We arrived back at the hotel just before it got impossibly hot (my opinion), but the scenery was worth every step, and the cold beer that followed helped immensely.

Here are a few pictures from that morning walk, if you want to see additional pictures click the title link above. Next up, Long Beach...

Fallingwater - peace and tranquility in the woods

2009-10-09T10:10:00.005-04:00

We took a weekend to explore western Pennsylvania last month. After driving through miles of green rolling hills (they call them mountains) we arrived at the historic Summit Inn in Farmington, PA. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and located on a mountaintop, this comfortable old (1907) lodging has panoramic views of the surrounding area - lovely with the leaves just beginning to turn color.

The real reason for our trip came the following morning when we drove a short 1/2 hour to Fallingwater, the beautiful home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright - and probably one of his best known. Built on the rocks and partly over a river, this place defines the word "cantilever"!

We took the short guided tour of the house and wandered the forest paths, but would love to go back and be able to do a more in-depth tour, it's a uniquely lovely and fascinating place.

Check the Fallingwater link in the paragraph above for more info, and don't forget to click on the title of this post for more pictures.

St. Michaels, Maryland

2009-06-30T10:59:00.004-04:00

We spent my birthday weekend in St. Michaels, Maryland. Less than a two hour drive but it feels like worlds away. Sailboats, rivers, soft breezes, great food and a wonderful B&B to make it perfect! It almost makes getting older worth it!

For more photos, click on the title (St. Michaels, Maryland) above.

Shenandoah National Park

2009-06-13T16:52:00.007-04:00

We spent a recent Saturday exploring Shenandoah National Park. I foresee more trips to this beautiful place, so green and peaceful.

This is Dark Hollow Falls, about 70 feet high, and the easiest of several waterfalls to hike to. It's downhill all the way! Unfortunately, the return is a little more work, but not so bad, and definitely worth the trip.

We found wildflowers along the way. The Lady's Slipper Orchids were at the end of their bloom, we were happy just to find this one.

I couldn't find the name of this pretty plant, but I will...

There were multitudes of violets and other similar little flowers... this may be a Dogtooth Violet, but I'm not sure...

There are more pictures, but I've discovered my link to them isn't working - will post when I've figured out the problem...

Visit to Gaia and Grandpa!

2009-06-05T10:52:00.005-04:00

Sara, Coy, Brooklyn and Mason arrived just before Memorial Day weekend, and we made the most of the 5 days we had! Trips to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, the Aquarium, Great Falls (on the Potomac), movies and the Zoo provided entertainment and wonderful time spent together.

We enjoyed every minute of their stay, can't wait to see them again!

As usual, for more pictures, click on the title above.

Lainie & Jason in DC!

2009-05-28T12:09:00.003-04:00

Better late than never, I think. Finally, here are some pictures from Lainie and Jason's visit here in late April. We had a great time, walked miles every day - museums, monuments, Mt. Vernon, etc... we also went to Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. (and taste the Philly cheese steaks!) Here are a couple of pictures taken while they were here. For more, please click on the title "Lainie & Jason in DC!" above..

Sara, Coy, Brooklyn and Mason were here this last week - will post those pictures in a day or two.

DC in Bloom

2009-04-05T17:15:00.003-04:00

We survived the amazing Cherry Blossom dinner, and here are a few pictures of the beautiful trees that are blooming everywhere right now. I didn't know there were so many varieties of flowering cherries, the profusion of blossoms in some areas is absolutely breathtaking.

If you'd like to see more, click on the "DC in Bloom" text above.

Cherry Blossom Feast

2009-04-03T23:50:00.005-04:00

Tonight Deb & I cooked the quintessential Cherry Blossom Feast!

Brie in Puff Pastry with homemade Cherry Marmalade

Cherry Blossom Martinis

Spinach Salad with Dried Cherries and Cipollini Onions in Cherry Vinaigrette

Pan-seared Coho Salmon with Cherry-Port reduction

Cherry Blossom Fried Rice with Dried Cherries, Carrote and Pea Shoots

served with a Livermore Valley Petite Sirah

Cherry Clafouti with Vanilla Ice Cream

Cherry Heering Liqueur

Sorry everone wasn't here to enjoy the meal, however recipes are available upon request.... :-)

Cherry Blossom Time

2009-04-01T13:09:00.003-04:00

Deb's here for a visit and we've been running around seeing the sights. The entire city looks new and fresh, all dressed in beautiful pink and white blossoms. The cherry trees and tulip magnolias are everywhere!

The orchids are some of the many varieties we saw while visiting the Hillwood Estate and Garden. The mansion is absolutely stunning, filled with French and Russian antiques, and I can't wait to go back a little later in the year to see the roses and other summer blooms.

On Friday, we're cooking a cherry blossom celebration meal.. more on that soon...

Flowers!

2009-03-07T18:51:00.005-05:00

Spring can't be too far away if blooms like these are possible... on Thursday Peggy & I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show - Philly's about 2 hours from DC, so we made a long day trip and it was well worth it. The theme was "Bella Italia" which was interpreted in many imaginative ways by various floral designers, landscape architects, gardeners, etc.

We spent several hours walking through the beautiful displays, then felt inclined to follow the theme for dinner. We found a lovely little Italian restaurant, Portofino, just a few blocks away from the convention center, so we finished the evening with a delicious meal, then made the drive back to DC.

Here are just a couple of photos, the rest are posted in my gallery, click on the word "Flowers" in the title above...

Snow Day!

2009-03-02T17:57:00.006-05:00

Today we woke up to several inches of beautiful new snow! We're not likely to have this much snow again this year, so we enjoyed it. Schools were closed, and John and his co-workers were given nonscheduled leave, so he worked from home today. We went for a walk, the neighborhood trees were lacy and sparkling, so beautiful. We're looking forward to the Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival at the end of this month, I'll post a little more about that in the coming weeks.

Out and About

2009-02-21T13:35:00.004-05:00

This seems to be the week for dining out, after staying home for ages... On Wednesday we went with our neighbors Nancy and Judy to a new wine bar, Enology. Food was excellent, mostly small plates, lots of choices. And the wine was great - we had a flight of reds that was outstanding!

Thursday was our friend Peggy's birthday - we took her to dinner at Bistrot Lepic, in Georgetown. Another winner! We'd like to go back to their upstairs wine bar sometime soon...

Last night we went to the Buddy Guy / BB King concert at the DAR Constitution Hall. What a great show - Buddy was phenomenal, no other word for it. We can't believe BB King is 83 years old and still belting out the tunes! The Thrill is definitely NOT Gone...

Before dinner we enjoyed dinner at the Old Ebbit Grill - a DC institution. Impeccable service,

and a separate menu just for the oysters! I can't seem to stop ordering Maryland crab cake everywhere we go - coming from Dungeness country it's such a luxury to have so much real crab meat piled up on my plate. Good thing we were walking to the concert afterwards, we needed the exercise after that meal!

Today, we're off to Alexandria VA to do a little exploring -

Over 50 degrees!

2009-02-07T18:05:00.003-05:00

Today, we finally had a beautiful, springlike almost warm day - I think it actually reached 60! We were short on time and made a mad dash to the Jefferson Memorial with Chuck and Gen, after a wild chase around town for cappuccinos.

We walked around the tidal basin, enjoyed seeing the birds walking and resting on the ice. The cherry trees have tiny little buds now...

We are grateful for a day like this after the cold weather we've been having - today put a smile on everyone's face.

Inauguration

2009-01-23T09:28:00.005-05:00

Early on Tuesday morning we dropped Tom & Mary at the Metro - they had the now infamous silver tickets and needed to arrive early. Since we didn't have tickets we left a little later, boarding a bus for downtown.

The entire area surrounding the National Mall was closed to all vehicles and thousands of people filled the streets. Everyone was in a celebratory mood, total strangers talking to each other, smiling, waving... there was so much excitement! The huge crowd could have been a little frightening but everyone was patient, moving slowly, taking turns, getting along.

Knowing we couldn't get to any place where we'd have an actual view of the proceedings, we decided to just wander around and see where we ended up. We found our way to Pennsylvania Ave. in front of the Willard Hotel - the sun was shining in the 22 degree cold, and the reflected warmth from the building was welcome. We could hear the program clearly, people surrounding us were listening quietly, grinning, making small comments. Then the big moment arrived, Barack Obama became our president, and shouts of joy came from all around us! Tears, hugs, cheers and high-fives everywhere.

If we had stayed at our corner, we could have seen the President and First Lady walk right by, but that was more than 3 hours later, and we were freezing! Amazingly, the cell phones worked and we were able to meet up with our family & friends. Tom & Mary reported that they made it into the ticketed area, unlike many other silver ticket holders, so they were in one of the closest standing locations. Many others were not so fortunate and although they had tickets they were turned away because of the crowds, or just never even made it to an entry gate.

The crowd at the Irish pub was celebratory, singing, cheering, making friends from all over the country as we warmed up and had our first meal since leaving home that morning. Everyone cheered as we caught glimpses of our new President on the television. As we walked towards the metro to go home we saw the Capitol building, shining white against the night sky - a symbol of hope for all of us.

What a Party!

2009-01-22T19:43:00.003-05:00

On Monday, we went to RFK stadium, where we had volunteered to help pack care packages for the military. Upon arrival, we found that they had already exceeded their 75,000 pack goal - they were just up to 85,000, and out of supplies. We were quite impressed with the way the event was organized... they weren't going to risk losing volunteers just because they were finished with the project - immediately upon arrival we were asked to grab some Thank You cards and personally write a message on as many as possible. The cards will accompany the care packages.

When our shift was up, we headed via Metro for home... and dinner at the Irish Inn at Glen Echo.

Inauguration Kickoff

2009-01-19T14:02:00.006-05:00

We made our way via bus and Metro, to the National mall yesterday. First stop was the Longworth Building, where many of our Congressional Representative have their offices. We found our way to the office of Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva where my brother and sister-in-law (Tom & Mary) picked up their tickets to the Inauguration. For John and me it was our first opportunity to walk through the halls of Congress, seeing familiar names on many of the doors.

Lunch at the American Indian Museum fortified us (and provided antifreeze) for our long walk to the far end of the mall, the Lincoln Memorial, where the We Are One concert was held.

What an event! Half a million people, each one thrilled to be there for this celebration. Smiles, tears, hugs - and a pretty good show, too! People were hanging on every word, silent and respectful when appropriate and joyous, singing and dancing at other times.

Since our President elect is named O'Bama, clearly he must be Irish, so our little party of four has made it a goal to get to as many Irish bars as possible during these four days! After the concert we walked a couple of miles to the Dubliner, and did our best to celebrate for all of you who couldn't be here with us.

Now, we're off to RFK stadium, where we volunteered to come help pack care packages to be sent to the military. And then another Irish pub this evening...

More soon...

Inauguration Fever!

2009-01-13T16:34:00.002-05:00

Barack Obama's inauguration is approaching, only 1 week to go, and D.C. is abuzz with excitement, you can feel it in the air! The newspapers are filled with information - how to get there, which bridges/roads will be closed, what you can bring (or not bring). We're told to expect hour-or-longer waits for metro trains, and packed buses.

Not that we're looking forward to standing in the cold for 6 or 7 hours, far from food or rest rooms, but we're going! This is a once-in-a-lifetime event and since we live here, we want to be a part of it all.

We'll be taking pictures (probably mostly of millions of people..) and will update the blog as often as we have new information/pictures.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T12:30:00.003-05:00

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous 2009!

For us, 2008 was eventful, started out as usual but we had a few surprises along the way, ending up with us living here in DC!

John accepted an assignment in Washington!
Jan retired at the end of July!
We drove across the country in September - great trip, if a little too short -
We're happily adjusting to our new environment, the only drawback is the distance from our family and friends. We'll update this blog from time to time with our explorations, events, photos and news, and hope you'll all keep in touch via comments, email, or even the old fashioned way:

Here's where we are:
4448 Westover Place NW

Washington, DC 20016

Phone: 202-244-3065

Visitors are welcome!

2008-12-29T17:36:00.003-05:00

Christmas in Arizona!

2008-12-29T14:41:00.003-05:00

We visited Sara, Coy and family in Surprise, AZ. Our first Christmas ever that wasn't at OUR house... we had a wonderful time! Steve and Lainie joined us, so the whole family was there, except for Jason, who was having a wonderful time taking care of the Pleasanton pets (sorry, Jason) and having Christmas with his family!

Catching our breath... and catching up

2008-12-02T22:10:00.006-05:00

We moved in on September 19th. After several weeks of John's travel for work and various minor illnesses we're finally starting to settle down, and it's beginning to feel if not quite like home, at least somewhat familiar. We're enjoying "vertical living" in a 3 story townhouse (four with the basement). It's keeping us in shape running up and down stairs! We had some minor decorating issues - the living room couch we brought was wayyy to big for our smaller space so we took it to a consignment store and bought a smaller one from the same place. Now that the house is more or less together we can start exploring the city and surrounding areas, there is so much to do here we'll never see it all, but we plan to make a noble attempt.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in 18 years without family and friends all around the table. Son Steve flew out to visit, which really helped, and we enjoyed a fun and festive dinner with our friend Peggy and some of her family. While Steve was here we took the opportunity to visit the Air & Space museum and some of the monuments - Lincoln, FDR, the Vietnam Veterans memorial, and Thomas Jefferson. These are so beautiful and inspiring, each in its own way - we plan to return for further exploration.
Here's the Washington Monument of course, with more to follow soon.