Recap of a whirlwind week!

It was another sunny and warm day today to end the long weekend. We spent the bulk of the day wandering through the National Arboretum. This isn't an especially colorful season there, other than some fall blooming camellias, but we enjoyed wandering through the "dwarf and slow growing conifer" grove, learning about plants that offer alternative energy possibilities in a special "Power Plants" exhibit, and visiting the amazing Bonsai & Penjing Museum collection. It is the largest collection of such tree in North America, and many of the trees date from the 1800's or earlier (one originated in 1625!). It's great to have this large (446 acre) park just two miles from the Capitol building. We'll be back there Tuesday evening for a "Full Moon Hike."

The Story of a Week - Part I

The theme of the first part of the week continued to be Washington DC and its many events and opportunities. First of all, besides providing me with access to resources and a great study space, the Library of Congress offers cultural events. We caught a night of their "Motown in the Fall" film series, a double-bill of profiles: The Supremes and the Four Tops. We also attended a forum at the Center for American Progress, "Education Reform in the 21st Century." The speakers were Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, NYC Mayor Bloomberg, and Kati Haycock, President of the Education Trust. It was pretty cool to be in the audience for this heady dialog; there is a lot of determination and resolve to turn around the nation's most troubled schools and improve the quality of education reaching the least served, but the task also seems Herculean at best. Finally, we went to see a production of "Much Ado About Nothing" (set on the eve of a Caribbean carnival!) at the Folger Shakespeare Library. And that was all in three days!

The Story of a Week - Part II

For Thanksgiving, we were invited up to rural Pennsylvania where a former NWS colleague now teaches high school English. He and his wife live on a horse farm where she teaches riding, boards horse, and retrains retired thoroughbreds for life post-racing. We had a lovely visit, including a day-trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park. After so many years of teaching about the Civil War, it was incredible to tour the actual location of its most famous battle. I was particularly struck, as we toured the expansive battlefield site, by all of the monuments to the fallen soldiers from both sides (Wikipedia says there are more than 1,600 of them!). These range from simple stone markers to massive statues and even small buildings, such as the Pennsylvania State Memorial. I had not expected to see memorials honoring the Confederate side, and I was taken aback by these tributes. (I am not alone; apparently this has been an issue of controversy since the war.) At least initially, I was indignant. After all, "Weren't they the 'bad guys'?" As we continued our tour, I found myself awed by the sacrifice of life and regretting the carnage for all. Perhaps recognizing both sides was, and continues to be, important to sustaining Lincoln's vision for restoring union. This is just another example of how living in such a different setting here on the "other" coast continues to challenge and re-shape my thinking. More on that later...

No yard, no car... no problem

I continue to adjust to, and generally enjoy, a new rhythm of life here in DC. One dramatic daily difference is row house living. We inhabit a narrow two-floor flat with shared, windowless walls on both sides. Our front porch is the sidewalk, and the postage stamp "backyard" consists of a pleasant shared deck and a small brick pad ringed by untended planting beds. While I miss the space and view of home, it is nice to be free of the yard work. It is also liberating to be without a car. We walk a lot more, including to a cluster of shops and restaurants about four blocks away, and we take the metro for longer excursions, such as today's great outing to the zoo. Part of the Smithsonian system, the National Zoo occupies the southern part of Rock Creek Park (an oasis of nature in this city). It has some terrific naturalistic exhibits, such as a "lemur island," and it is always free. Some highlights from today were the Mexican wolves, a pair of browsing gibbons, and a surprisingly upclose and unmediated-by-bars encounter with an exploratory Dusky titi monkey in the Amazonia house (my photo above). There is also a series of towers connected by ropes via which the orangutans can traverse from one building to another! A thrilling prospect, but not a feat that we got to witness today.

Find of the week: the National Geographic Society's warehouse sale!

Missed opportunity of the week: the Library of Congress staff's benefit book sale. I can only imagine what that group might have donated from their book shelves!

Movie seen: Pirate Radio - a fun treat, especially since it wasn't what we set out to see (see below).

Movie missed: Skin - still on the list.

The Neighborhood Library

The highlight of the week has been getting my access card for the neighborhood library - the Library of Congress! As a registered "reader" (which any citizen can sign up to be), I am able to work in the various reading rooms of the three library buildings (Jefferson, Adams, and Madison), use library data bases and other computer resources, and request materials. There is also a special entrance directly into the non-tourist areas. I've been using the Main Reading Room in the Jefferson Building; The physical space is beautiful and inspiring, but it's easy to get distracted by the other features of the building. They have, for example, reassembled nearly all the titles from Jefferson's original collection, nearly two-thirds of which was lost to fire (which is ironic since Jefferson originally "donated" his library to Congress after its first collection was destroyed by fire during the War of 1812). There are also incredible temporary exhibitions, including "Creating the United States," an amazing collection of early documents, and "Discovering the Americas," which features some of the earliest world maps to include the Western Hemisphere, from 1507 and 1516! So this is the setting, despite all the distractions, in which I am finding good resources to help prepare me for my project in South Africa.

Besides a pleasant run along the Mall one morning, the primary sightseeing activity this week was an evening tour of the Naval Observatory. We learned about the importance of precise time for ship navigation and also got to see Jupiter and four of its moons through one of their giant telescopes (interrupted by the Vice President's helicopter coming in to drop him off). The weather has turned to a familiar cool, wet, and gray, but it's not supposed to last (unlike, sorry, how I hear it is at home).

Stay dry!

Welcome to Washington DC

Glorious, near-70 degree weather welcomed me to the nation's capital, and it was a great weekend of spending time with Kristina and enjoying the rich cultural opportunities Washington offers. Here are some highlights so far. After a morning of grocery shopping, including a stop at the nearby Eastern Market, we spent Saturday afternoon in the National Gallery of Art. On Sunday, I went for a run out to the old stadium (RFK) on a route that included East Capitol Street. This wide street starts out with charming tree-lined row houses, and then goes by a couple of schools before reaching the stadium. I found out later that East Capitol is deemed (at least by the Rough Guide) as unsafe on foot, even in daylight(!). I felt quite safe and loved starting and ending my run in nearby Lincoln Park where I was greeted by statues of Abe (this park is home to the famous Emancipation Memorial) and Mary McLeod Bethune (DC's first monument to the achievements of a black American). That afternoon, we visited the Phillips Collection, the nation's first art museum, where we were treated to a piano recital (they have a weekly concert series) and then saw a permanent collection that includes half of Jacob Lawrence's 60-piece migration series and a special exhibition of African works and photography that features them. It was quite a first 48 hours!

Today, it was back to work. I accompanied Kristina on her walk to the Rayburn House Office Building; it's just 15 minutes up Pennsylvania Avenue - a great stroll past the Library of Congress buildings and with the Capitol dome in view the whole way. I went to the South African Embassy (and then to the Consular Office, 2.5 miles away!) to get the forms I need to apply for my visa. It looks like I'll be going back there a few times to get everything in order.

So far so good; keep in touch!