Wild Yard at Shaw Public Library

At first I didn't like the "weeds" growing outside the Watha T. Daniel DC public library branch building in Shaw at the intersection of Rhode Island and R Streets NW, but, upon a moment's reflection, I decided I liked this seemingly unkempt yard space alongside the sleek modernity of the new glass building. Not only do these grasses and plants smell nice in the summery heat but they also make for pleasant mirror reflections. There's something very country-side about these three foot high grasses and that made me think of fields and river banks.  I had no idea if this planting was intentional or not but the idea of letting  plants grow a bit wild in a confined space, just to see what happens and how it looks, appeals to me. I just hope that rats and other nasty critters don't make this their home too! A garden is a garden, isn't it, even if it's not really planned and doesn't look like what you'd expect. And surely there's intention in that.  I've researched a bit further now (July) and discovered that these plantings are intentional. That is, the aim was to plant things that need minimal water, help purify the air (don't all plants do that?), help reduce soil erosion (don't all plants do that?) and limit the need for pesticides. This is according to a nice little plaque tucked away near the library front door which gives the reasons for the design.  The plaque also lists the plants growing there and which have lovely names:  Prairie Dropseed, Weeping Brown Sedge, Northern Sedge Oats, Kiwi Weeping Sedge, Giant Fescue, The Blues Little Bluestem, Liriope Big Blue, Lily Turf, Snowy Wood Rush, and Greater Wood Rush.  Who knew?

GIrl Calling

The Dinner Horn (Blowing the Horn at Seaside), 1870, oil on canvas

              At a recent visit to the National Gallery of Art I stumbled into viewing this image of a a girl calling on a horn painted by Winslow Homer. I found it wonderfully sweet and strange all at the same time. The subject matter is so dated that I wonder if YOUNG PEOPLE today really know what this is about or do they think it is some quaint summer picnic thing or do they realize that on a farm -- where nearly everyone was living in the 1870s -- everyone who was out harvesting or working the land would be called in for dinner by someone blowing on a horn. These days if everyone wants to get together to eat it's by Email, or an Evite invitation or a call on cell phones or something. Who's got a horn in their house now? Who would think to Get On The Horn and call someone to come and eat together. I do recall living in the old country and hearing people use "the horn" metaphor for making a phone call, as in "get them on the horn" but I think that referred to an early telephone mouthpiece which was shaped like, well, a horn.  Maybe that phone mouthpiece was based on a common everyday farmhouse object like the horn blown to get the farm workers in for dinner. The second name for this image, "blowing the horn at seaside," seems like someone tried to re-label it. The provenance story says the first owner paid $150 for it but you can be sure that the Mellons, who own it now, paid a lot more. Who would think that a somewhat romanticized depiction of a farm girl executing a normal everyday chore would be worth so much a hundred years later? Maybe this delightful little painting reminds us that it is the everyday things that take place that are the valuable things if we could just see them in that light..