Apparently the owner of the Chinese Dragon take-away food store on the corner of Rhode Island and First Street in our neighborhood got some money from the city government's facade improvement program (that is, from us taxpayers) to improve his store front. Previously, this was just block letters and there was not a little dragon logo over the store windows. I think the front wall was also repainted yellow and the windows have also been washed too so the whole effect is to make this place look a lot smarter. You would never know it but this food establishment was the scene of some drug related shootings back when we had a serious crack cocaine problem in the 'hood. I think someone was even killed right in front of this place, shot to death on the sidewalk. Back then, this corner was a thriving drug market, thanks to the Washington Post for putting the corner on a map of drug dealing locations they routinely printed (to help suburbanites find inner city drug markets). Today, however, the neighboring store is a more up-market grocery and wine store than what used to be there -- a liquor store -- and the Chinese Dragon has also gotten fixed up. I've never bought anything to eat from here as I don't "eat on the street" nor have I thought to go in and see what that's there but maybe I should try it. Does a cleaned up facade mean the food might be more appealing? Some people think so as two people have given positive reviews of this Chinese Dragon
here on Yelp.
How could I not take my digital camera with me every day and take photos of all the flowers as I make my way to the bus each day this past week? There's pansies on porches, tulips to toe by, daffodils to dote on, and Eastern rosebud trees to walk under as I hurry down First Street. It's spring for sure and there's just flowers everywhere and I just love to see the shoots shooting out of the ground and the bright splashes of color of the flowers that are now blooming. In the brighter light of spring, even the grass seems very green and the tree trunks seem a brighter brown after the soft mild grey tone colors we've become used to over what seems like a very long and cold winter.So, I'll probably keep snapping away either on my cell phone or my clunky digital camera throughout the season which is surely one of the best gifts from the Creator that we see each year. 
