No, Not A Pinata, But A Wasps' Nest

Look, up in the tree, it's a balloon? A ball? A pinata? Nope, it's a huge wasps' nest! So amazing. We were driving on Q Street NW in Washington DC and looked up at what we thought was trash or something in the tree but on closer inspection turned out to be a giant wasps' nest. Or at least that's what I think it is as it looks like one I once saw in a museum.  I zoomed in with my camera and saw the opening and expected to see things buzzing in and out but it's probably too cold for wasps right now.  But I am wondering, where do wasps go over the winter? Do they die or hibernate?  I'll have to go look this up!

Well, I just ran off to Wikipedia about wasps and learned a lot including that it is probably a wasps' nest as "social" wasps chew trees and other stuff to make a paper pulp to make their nests. Apparently there are lone wasps too, but they don't make big nests and live together. (Sounds like some people we all know!).
I expect this nest will get covered up as the tree leafs up but I'll keep an eye out in about a month and see if I can still see it. 
The address for this wonder of nature is about 1406-1408 Q Street NW, just east of The Bike Rack shop nearby.

Daffodils in January in BloomingdaleDC

DAFFODILS!

It's so astounding to see daffodils in the middle of January.  There were two clumps of them blazing yellowly in the cold windy air of this unusually warm winter month over on First Street, NW in Bloomingdale. Often by now we have had snow or rain or used at least two tankfuls of oil to heat the house. But it's been so warm we've had the windows open even, during the best part of the day. And we've got daffodils sprouting and blooming. Totally amazing!

Unexpected Snowfall in October in DC

snow on marigolds

snow the rose bush

soft snow flaking down

Recently we had an unexpected snowfall and I just had to run outside and snap some photos as it came flaking down on the back porch furniture and in the front garden. Snow on the roses! Snow on the marigolds! An amazing sight! Since then the weather has been a lot warmer but I think we are returning to the colder temperatures soon. So it is just as well that I brought indoors the plants that won't survive the cold.  I've crammed the geraniums, jade and ivies into the kitchens in my house, hoping they can survive on sunny window ledges.  I've also started a red amaryllis that is supposed to flower at Christmas time. It was a giant bulb and it's now -- two weeks later -- got some bright green shoots. 

Another Rant About Late & Packed DC Metrobuses

In this cold snap of weather we're having I'm finding myself very irritated when the bus is late, or crowded, or fellow passengers are well, just disagreeable. This week has been difficult.  On Monday morning I waited 20 minutes and the first bus that came was packed with passengers so the driver didn't even stop and waved to the fifteen (!) of us that were now waiting at the stop to indicate that another bus was coming. So we all got on that a few minutes later, a bus that filled very quickly by the next stop and was jammed with Monday morning scofflaws holding steaming cups of coffee that I felt sure would be spilled on me. Why do the drivers let people bring cups of hot liquid with them? On Tuesday, I missed the bus as it came earlier to the stop than the schedule indicated and I saw it whizzing gaily past at the top of the intersection, too far away for me to run and try and hail it..Someone said it was the earlier bus, but just running late. Oh well. On Wednesday, I waited in the cold wind again during another ice age while going home and it seemed like everyone on the bus was coughing and not covering their mouths.  Thursday, the bus was totally packed again and some little girl kept sneezing and wiping her nose with her hand and then -- watching in horror -- I saw her touching just about everything she could reach within arm's length, like the hanging strap, the hand rail, the overhead bar, the rim of her seat and the rim of all the seats around her. Truly, I was getting grossed out as over a ten minute ride she sneezed three times and did this. Did I mention my SmartTrip card didn't work half the time on the electronic meters, even though I know it has over $40 on it? I'd wave it over the sensor and the stupid thing wouldn't beep or the screen would give up an unintelligible illegible message so I'd ask the driver "did it work?" and they'd just wave me past as this was happening to every other passenger getting on the bus and the drivers really are trying to keep to the schedule, I think. And the stinking smokers! People whose clothes stink of cigarette smoke shouldn't be allowed on buses when it's packed as there is just no seat to shift to and get away from it. And what about those people who start cursing and running their mouths at any ole provocation or who glance at you sideways because your bag brushed against them? The bus is jammed full, buzzbreath!  Tomorrow's Friday, so who knows what irritating thing will happen?  Maybe, it's just this long cold stretch of winter causing me to feel like I might dump out a hot coffee on someone, stomp on someone's toe and utter some unladylike verbal exclamationsl!.

DC Metrobus G8 Kept Me Waiting in the Cold Too Long!

Twenty-five minutes is too long to wait for a bus on a cold Monday morning! After waiting for about ten minutes in the freezing windy cold at 8:50 am on Rhode Island Avenue along came a bus!  However, it zoomed right past with the driver apparently unable to tell the standing passengers to "move back" so he could say he had no room for the six of us waiting.  So he didn't stop. You'd think another bus would come along within a few minutes? Nope. It was another fifteen minutes later before a bus arrived for us poor freezing passengers. And the driver had draped a jacket over the Coin/Smart Trip fare machine as apparently that wasn't working well either. Or were we given a free fare as we'd waited so long for the bus?  How can DC Metrobus keep on not running enough buses to pick up passengers on time IN THE MORNING?  It wasn't raining. It wasn't snowing. The traffic wasn't even heavy. It's not like this isn't a busy route as there's usually at least half a dozen passengers at this G8 stop every day and the bus fills up. And why the no-fare or broken fare machine?  On reflection, at least once a week I get on a bus and the fare machine is broken or not working or the driver just waves us past. How can WMATA make any money this way?  Just what is going on?

Evenings Darken Earlier But Roses Still Glowing

All of a sudden it seems like the evenings are darker earlier! As I walk home there have been some spectacular sunsets but my cell phone camera doesn't take sky shots very well. So all I could do was to capture the last of the sun's glow on my roses in the garden. Even though it's 90 degrees this evening, winter is approaching very quietly and stealthily if you just take note of the little signs. Birds practicing formation flights, trees beginning to tinge orange, some bees dead from the sudden cold snap the other day, neighbors taking air conditioner boxes out of their windows, people talking about Halloween and Christmas, wondering when the clocks fall back an hour or when they will stop street cleaning so we don't have to move our parked cars. What other signs are there? .