Vintage Corner Stores in #BloomingdaleDC Neighborhood

New Reservoir Market

Cookies Corner Market

Micro Market

Flagler Market

These are the local stores near me that seem to be open all the time and are probably in walking distance of most people in the area. There were at least two others I can think of, but they've not survived. These stores are for just when you need a cold beer, or some milk or have a craving for potato chips, or you just gotta buy a lottery ticket or need a packet of cigarettes or some ice or that one little thing you need to complete making a dish for dinner or breakfast. I've bought mayonnaise, potatoes, syrup, eggs, pancake mix, candy, ice cream, wine and incense in these stores. Most of them have ATMs as well, but I've never used one. These days they have been smartened up a bit: they've nearly all had some paint or other "freshening up" in the past few years presumably to compete with the trendier stores in the neighborhood. They share the characteristic of being the front room of a house, most of them have tin stamped ceilings, collections of beer lights and some of the securest windows and doors you can find.  Since I've lived here for over 20 years I've heard stories about all of these corner stores -- people shot inside, people shot outside, people dealing drugs, people fighting, etc They are part of the history and character of Bloomingdale so  I decided to photograph them recently for fear they'd all be swept away one day as the specter of development and its impact grows.

Sunbeam Market

Ronald Reagan Airport Cathedral Ceiling

hubster blackberries

I never noticed this before! I met a friend for dinner at TGIF's at our nearest airport, the Ronald Reagan airport or DCA, and lo and behold, I glanced up at the ceiling and it looked like a gothic cathedral. And the reason I had my camera with me was to take a photo of our friend at the airport, but of course, it was another one of those times when I brought the camera along for a specific purpose and drab nabbit, I forgot to snap the shot. By the time I remembered I had the camera, she had run off to her flight!  The three of us -- hubster, friend and I -- had managed to have some dinner together -- a not too dreadful pecan-crumbed salmon salad thing -- and of course, a martini for  me. Once she'd scurried off for a TSA handling experience, I glanced around and noted the wide open space, the mosaics on the floor, and the careful lighting of what is a very controlled environment. So, is an airport some kind of new cathedral?

Side Trip to Philly, Dinner in the Dining Car

View from the diner window

Lamp over each booth

On our way back from visiting our son in Pennsylvania, we occasionally stop at a diner, The Dining Car, for a quiet meal and to avoid the local traffic that clogs up Route 95 during the dinner hour. One of the reasons we like to eat here is that the food is edible and cheap, it seems clean, and the service is quick and they serve just about anything you might want in a diner. It's also barely a stone's throw from the main road so we don't feel like we are getting too far off our way and of course, it has lots of parking and you can tell from the car number plates that it's a local favorite. I can get a nice martini with my Cobb salad or french fries and it seems like the portions are not too large and not too small. My husband can get his onion soup too and he will settle for a Pepsi there, although he'll give the waitress a hard time about it being a non-Coke establishment. The customers don't look like customers in DC restaurants:  there's lots of groups of older people eating together, families with teen kids, twosomes of 60 year old guys, or trios of women in their 70s eating together so the ambiance doesn't feel like the capital city.  It makes me realize how the DC Demographic is quite different comparatively.  What's nice is the decor has some very nice deco elements too, such as in the lamps and the overall appearance of the building. We've also gotten our favorite BLTs and bought cookies in the bakery shop on our way out. So you can see, this is a very useful place for us to go on our travels.100 miles away from the capital city and you are in another part of God's country.  As it turns out, this diner is featured in Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: An All-American Road Trip, a book listed on Amazon.com!  Who knew! I never read it but I hope the author gave them a good grade!

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..

Guys Miss E Street Movie

Everyone knows the E Street NW cinema has really good and interesting movies but these guys got there too late for the 7:20 p.m. showing of "Winter's Bone," a really strange sounding name for a movie. So they went out on the sidewalk and used their Droids and Blackberry's to look up what was playing at other nearby local movies to see if there was something good they could still see without having to go to a late show. But there wasn't anything so they left disappointed and wishing they'd bought their tickets early, before they had their dinner out. How do I know all this? Because I was also there and just as disappointed but didn't really mind as movies stay around a while and there's a always a second chance with most movies.Just like there is with everything in life, if you're faithful.

Watching the Gardening Flower

On Sunday mornings I usually have an hour or so to relax since we usually go to Church at 5 p.m. and this morning was no different. I sipped my coffee and watched my garden grow from the front porch and it was just a delight. The new rose bush has the brightest crimson flowers, the pink crepe myrtle is about to peak with its frothy fronds, the roses of Sharon are blazing away, the little red gold marigolds are starting up and even a few day lilies are still hanging about. An interesting smoky dark blue bird, slightly larger than a sparrow, hopped along the neighbor's fence with something wriggly in his beak, catching my eye due to his (her?) lovely color. There was an amazing breeze that swept into the tree across the street making the leaves rustle and rattle and making me think of rivers and trees. Feeling energized, I watered every plant that called out to me, "Me thirsty!" and then transplanted a few seedlings into bigger spaces so they could grow better, taking care to make sure I didn't rip my back out again. But it was glorious and sunny and stayed that way all day even when I went inside and cooked Sunday dinner.