Deserted downtown streets in DC During Lockdown 2020

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 For several months, during the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, the streets around the federal area in downtown Washington, D.C. were deserted.  But for the occasional bus or delivery vehicle there was no traffic at all.  In fact, many times I crossed the street anywhere, almost without looking, as there were no vehicles coming by at all.  I'd go on a walk about and the city areas of Penn Quarter and Federal Triangle were bereft of people and cars.  

11th and E Sts NW intersection

Usually it's very busy and you have to be very careful to follow the street crossing signs or you could get run over by a bike or car or van or bus. But not for the several months of the lock down. 

Shops and cafes and just about every office was closed and most had signs in the windows or doors about being closed indefinitely.  It was a very strange situation.  On the one hand, there was a certain enjoyment to the quietness of the city, but on the other hand, there was a certain uselessness in the air, as if these buildings and roadways were all for nothing.

Pennsylvania Ave NW

  If you did see a person, it was a security guard, with a mask on, or an occasional other person going on a walk.  Everyone was giving each other a suspicious look and wide berth.

 It was as quiet as an early Sunday morning downtown everywhere!

View on PA ave to Congress

Thrift shop find makes nice summer dress

This lovely blue dress I got for a few dollars in the local Goodwill Thrift shop last year.  And, inspired by the Refashionista , I fidgeted with it on the sewing machine and this is how it ended up!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of what it originally looked like!          But it had blousy elbow-length sleeves, hung down to around my ankles and was way too wide or basically hideously hanging on me.   It was probably a Medium size and needed a slash down from me.  But I loved the almost periwinkle blue color and its pattern, the V-neck, the shiny shell like buttons and how light and summery the fabric felt.  So I chopped the sleeves and made them into little cap sleeves, took in the side seams about an inch each and hacked about 6 inches off the hem.  That piece I turned into a belt that you can see tied around the waist.  I think it came out all right!   It's easy to wear in the summer heat and washes and dries quickly as the fabric is some sort of light weave. 

Summer Bed Cover From Old Embroidered Handkerchiefs

I'm not sure I wrote about this sewing project already but since it's summer and I've put this back on the bed it's worth explaining.  When we cleared out my mother's house when she died, I came across a stack of handkerchiefs that were very pretty and embroidered.  It turns out a lot of these handkerchiefs and small table mats that had been embroidered by my father's sister, my Aunt Margaret, so I decided to keep them with the idea of using them in a crafts project. Some of the handkerchiefs in the stash also had manufactured embroidery on them but also were very pretty, so I kept them too.  I googled some Pinterest projects involving old vintage handkerchiefs and decided to lay them all out on the ground to see if they suggested anything.  So I realized I had quite a few pieces and that I could use them as decoration on a bed coverlet. I had a fine linen sheet from my mother-in-law that was a one-of and so it was perfect for this project.
 It took me a long time to actually piece and lay out all the handkerchiefs.  I pinned them out and then steadily worked my way through stitching them down.  This took quite a while as it was hard to manage a big sheet on my sewing machine which is not one really designed for large projects like this.  But I finally finished it and felt quite proud of myself for recycling,  and reusing these items.  And it's a very practical and light summer bed cover as well!

Wall of Cactus

On one of my pandemic perambulations,  I came across this amazing wall of cacti.  Someone had set up a box like structure with a vertical arrangement of cactus plants in one of the Smithsonian gardens.   I think it is quite amazing. I hadn't noticed if they'd been up over the winter but it is April now and the little plants are looking very healthy and colorful.  I think these are varieties of a plant called hen-and-chicks and are quite easy to grow in sunlight or partial shade.  They are all very pretty and this arrangement is quite inspirational to see. It would be nice to grow some of these on a windowledge in our apartment but alas, there is insufficient light.

Sneak Peaks into Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden

They've chained off the pathways into the Hirschhorn Sculpture garden during the pandemic, but that doesn't stop me creeping up close and poking my camera over the fence or over the spaces between the hedges to see some of the sculptures there. I guess the Burghers of Calais by Rodin is the most famous or most recognizable one, the others being more abstract and the labels not particularly accessible.  I'll have to come back for another wander around once the Washington DC Stay-At-Home order is lifted or they start to release the locked gates and chains so we can get in and see it all again. Supposedly, May 15 is when the order will be lifted, but you know, there are many street vendors coming back on the corners and even on the national mall we've seen ice cream trucks and hot dog sellers.