My Oyster

Serenity of the Snow...

There really is something magical about snow in the city. Big snow.

It softens the city.  Makes it incredibly quiet.  Peaceful.  Much less frenetic.  Even a bit more neighborly. 

Snow in the city forces people to slow down and focus on some pretty basic things - like food, warmth, and mobility.  That simplicity really is a luxury and a blessing.  

I think the thing I like the most about these snow storms is the shared experience.  The shared excitement.  The shared challenges.  It really does remind us that we are a community here in the neighborhoods of the city. 

Washington got somewhere between 16-22 inches on Saturday and we have enjoyed a weekend of serenity and community.  I know it won't last forever, but I also know we will get another big snow here in the city. 

Keeping our fingers crossed for THE games...

...and I don't mean the Olympics.  Though, we are hoping for those to go to Chicago in 2016.

I am talking about the Gay Games 2014 and we find out today if DC, one of three finalists, will get THE Games.  Boston and Cleveland (?!) are the other finalists - so we know the games will be returning to the US.

The Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organized by and specifically for LBGT athletes, artists, musicians, and others. All are welcome - doesn't matter what is your sexual orientation or even your skill level.  The first games were in San Fran in 1982.

Here is a great promo video for our bid... 

"Hey! Isn't we supposed to be having a fiesta?"

Another day, another festival in Washington.

Today it was Fiesta DC - our celebration of all things Latino/a.  Whoaa.  Lot's of energy.  Lots of people.  Lots of food.  All bundled up in my old neighborhood of Mount Pleasant - still just several blocks away.

The crowds on Mount Pleasant Street...

 

The Flamenco on Kilbourne Street...

 

The pupusas on 17th Street...

 

Viva Mexico!

 

Not sure what this is...

Oh, and the quote above is from Puss-in-Boots in Shrek 2.

"Where Fabulous Lives"...

And it's just around the corner!

"Fabulous" is the marketing line for the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens - right here in Rock Creek Park.  It is a georgian style mansion owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post - of the cereal (Grapenuts anyone?) family.

This is another DC gem that I seemed to have missed over the past 17 years.  So what better day to explore it than "Gay Day".  Yes, Hillwood has a day for gays.  

Jean and I went for the festivities.  

The estate was built in 1926 - when this part of Rock Creek Park would have been rural suburbs of DC.  Marjorie picked it up in the 1950s and renovated the heck out of it and then left it as a museum for her amazing collections when she died in the 1970s.

Unfortunately, we could not take pics inside the house.  Very nicely decorated and lots of her gowns and jewelry to see.

Here are some from outside in the gardens - beautiful despite the rain...

I loved Marge's Japanese Garden...

 

We will definitely return for other events.  I think they are doing an exhibit soon on her dishes!!

Making Our Way to Hillcrest and Southeast DC...

The other side of the Anacostia river in DC gets a lot of bad press.  Crime.  Poverty.  Drugs.   You don't hear so much about the goodness of those neighborhoods. 

Today Jean and I took a walking tour of the Hillcrest neighborhood in SE DC.  It was part of the WalkingTown DC fall tour weekend - with more than 100 walking and biking tours all over the city.  Amazing.

We picked the Hillcrest tour for today because, despite having lived in DC for 17 years and really making an effort to explore the city every week, I have never spent much time on the other side of the Anacostia.

I want to spend more time over there.

The tour was great.  Here is Jim, our tour guide and local resident, describing part of the neighborhood.

Some fun facts about Hillcrest and SE.

• The Southeast quadrant of DC has the most detached homes in DC.

• Major residential development began about 1924 - once cars made it easier to get around on the hills of Hillcrest.

• Like the rest of Washington, the neighborhood has an interesting racial and ethnic history.  It was majority white working-class in the 1960s but rapidly changed over the next couple of decades - going from 82% white in 1950 to 14% white in 1970.

• It is nicknamed the "Silver Coast" after a second wave of black professionals rediscovered it in the late 70s and early 80s.  DC's "Gold Coast" is around upper 16th Street, NW.

The architecture ranges from bungalows to Dutch colonials to Art Deco and even Sears catalog houses from way back - like this one...

A famouse Art Deco house in Hillcrest was commissioned by a local doctor and designed by John Joseph Earley - whose other projects include the main terminal at National (not Reagan) Airport and my beloved Meridian Hill (Malcolm X) Park - just a couple blocks from me. 

He pioneered the bumpy, rocky, exposed concrete construction that you can see at the park and in this house.  Plus - love the inlaid Aztec mosaics.  Yum!

Check out the area if you get a chance.  I am definitely a fan of Hillcrest now.

I Love This Season!

It's Autumn and that means festival time in DC!

Today was the Adams Morgan Day Festival.  I think this is one of the oldest and biggest neighborhood festivals here in DC.  I went to it when I was a freshman in college at American University - and that was a few years ago.

Here are some of the Adams Morgan crowds under the familiar warmth of Madam's Organ...

 

Salsa dancing lessons at Marie Reed Community Center...

 

A lonely artist in her booth...

18th Street packed with food and folks...

Sweet & Spicy...

...and I'm not just talkin' about the mangochow!

Today is DC's Carribean Festival Parade.  I have always heard it is a wild and colorful time.  But in 17 years, I have never been. I guess I am usually out of town.

But not this year.  Not today. 

Jean and I went to represent his Haiti. 

 We met up with Christian (from Trinidad) and the two Davids (from Colombia - though not the caribbean part).  I thought that the US was also part of the Carribbean (Miami & South FLA?) - but I guess I was wrong.

The Parade was...Late.  Long.  Slow.   I think it's a cultural thing.  But very entertaining. 

Here are some pics and words that capture some of the day...

T&F (F is for feathers)...

Crowds...

 

Pride...

More T&F...

Food...

Fannies (too close and being tarred?)...

Colors...

Cocks...

Smiles...

Friends...

I Never Knew...

...That Adams Morgan was once so posh.  Cuz it certainly isn't now - though it is still very cool.  Back in the day, it was the place for fur coats and lots of rich folks were moving in.  Today it is one of the most diverse and interesting parts of the city.

The pic above is of the historic Adams Morgan firehouse - built in 1908 and a sort of hacienda style - maybe a hint of the rich hispanic culture that was coming.

Jean and I did the DC Cultural Tourism walking tour of Adams Morgan.  We got a lot of good info on the history of this very diverse neighborhood - and we got to enjoy it on a sunny and warm early Sunday morning.  Here we are brunching at Tryst...

I think the most notable point I remember from the tour was the fact that the neighborhood fought to avoid the urban "renewal" disaster that was nearly forced upon it.  At one point there were plans for huge apartment buildings to replace the beautiful rowhouses and even a highway where Florida Avenue is now.  Think of Southwest DC - but in my backyard. 

OK, so the second most memorable point for me was that U2 once performed at the Ontario Theater on Columbia Road.  This is the theater now...

And I just loved this cat in a not yet opened used bookstore on 18th street. Standing guard? Awaiting customers?

Washington's Most Blissful Moment Every Week...

...has got to be the drum circle every Sunday evening in Malcolm X Park in Columbia Heights.

The music.  The movement.  The diversity.  But mostly, everyone just seems so content.   So happy.  It's the best way possible to wind down the weekend. 

It is pretty amazing the way all these different people - mostly strangers who probably never interact during the week - converge on the park every Sunday afternoon to share an experience with each other.

Here is a video (watch the hands)...

And here are some more snaps - with lots to see and soak in...

Urban Woodlands in Washington...

Cleansing the mind and body.

This morning Jean and I hopped over to the National Cathedral to explore the Olmsted Woods. 

These woods, over five-acres, are one of the few old growth forests still standing in the city of Washington.  They are the last vestiges of an extensive oak and beech forest on Mount St. Albans.

Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (not the senior) was the National Cathedral's first landscape architect.  He saw the woodlands as an enhancement to spirituality and the pefect entrance to the Cathedral - allowing visitors to enter "cleansed in mind and in spirit".

We also spent some time enjoying flowers in the Bishop's Garden at the Cathedral. Talk about "raindrops on roses"...