Washington DC's Famous Dome

I have to admit that every time I have a meeting on Capitol Hill in some office in one of the House or Senate or Capitol buildings, I get a bit of a thrill walking up the stone steps, or tramping through the marble halls, looking up at the ceiling, noting the gilded murals, or even going through security and getting lost in the corridors. Any one of hundreds of famous worthies have surely stepped on the same stairs, passed through the same passages, made their case or argument, and spoken a million important words ahead of me. A fun part is sitting in some Member's office waiting my turn and sometimes being given popcorn, or chocolate candy bars, or peanuts, or iced water that some offices give out to guests. Even if the meeting doesn't go that well -- you know some staffers just don't seem to listen, or some Members are not available for very long -- just being in such a significant place affects me greatly.  I sometimes joke that "I'm just a girl from a village in the old country and here I am in one of the most powerful places on the planet." But you know, it's no joke!

Perfectly Cracked Steps and Tilting Brick

There's just something about this very imperfect front yard with its tilting brick column, mismatched wood fence, cracked concrete steps, and useless leaning wrought iron gate that appeals to me. I even like the uneven mortaring of  the bricks and the slightly off-center cap on the brick column.  This "mess" is located on First Street NW and whenever I pass by I find myself enjoying this not-so-neat juxtaposition of materials.  While it's probably a hazard for pedestrians to enter this house yard as the steps are so damaged, you  have to admit there is evidence here of someone trying to make their front yard look better than just dirt and concrete.  But it looks like snow and ice and rain have done their inevitable work and heaved everything out of line. Other front yard entrances on First Street are very neat and tidy, even architectural, and that's what everyone likes and presumably wants.  However, this home-made attempt surely tells us that weather and water are more powerful than our sometimes good intentions. And, wouldn't  you agree, the palette of colors here -- reds, beige, grey, greens, white, black --  is enjoyable just on that basis alone?

Hazardous Unfinished Roadwork on Adams St NW

tar messes up sidewalk ramp

big thick sheet of metal on sidewalk

At the beginning of winter the city had started work on replacing some gas pipes and then when it snowed they stopped the work. Well, it's now spring and we have to put up with the unfinished work. Not only is there tar tipped into the wheelchair ramp on the sidewalk but also a huge sheet of metal obstructs another walkway. Even the roadway is blocked with a heap of tar causing difficulty for people trying to park their cars -- and it's not like we don't have a problem with sufficient parking spaces -- and there's a couple of orange safety cones just left in the road, now crushed by cars but littering the road. This unfinished work is both an eyesore and an obstruction for many users and local residents wonder when the work is to be finished.Or at least, when is it going to be cleaned up?

Slippery Ice Brings out Samaritan Neighbor

Stairs now have salt on them

I thought I was walking carefully enough down the front steps this morning when I left the house but oh no, on the second step down my feet went right out from under me and I slipped and bounced down the stairs on my back, banging and bruising my left elbow and lower spine all the way down. Basically, the steps were coated and crusted in clear ice, like a sheet of glass, after a night of freezing rain. When I got to the bottom --  about a four foot drop! -- I just laid there looking up at the sky, skirt blown up, yelling in pain. A kind neighbor heard my cries and came over and helped me to climb back up the stairs -- on all fours -- back into my house. He also helped pick up some of my belongings that had scattered out from my bag and made sure I was okay and got back into the house without further slipping and with my possessions.  He was very kind and thoughtful and I later realized that he was in the middle of taking his two children to school and had taken time away from leaving them in the car to pay attention to me. It's a wonderful blessing to have neighbors who are kind and act as Good Samaritans!

Supreme Moment

It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit so I took a cab home past the Supreme Court the other day and when the cab paused at the traffic light, I rolled down the window and snapped this shot. In just a few seconds ancient Greece is captured, tourists visiting Washington, D.C., tons of gleaming white marble are displayed, not to mention some incredible representational sculpture, a security guard, an interesting lamp, and "equal justice under law". A closer inspection indicates a wonderful frieze of figures with a crowned Wisdom presiding over several figures, two admiring centurions, one holding a scroll and another holding a sword.She looks off into the far distance, through the netting that holds back the pooping pigeons, ignoring the steps, the tourists, the security guard, the hot pavement and my cab. Well, it's just a building but an awful lot hangs on it.