Hallelujah, It's a Bloomingdale Spring!

How could I not take my digital camera with me every day and take photos of all the flowers as I  make my way to the bus each day this past week? There's pansies on porches, tulips to toe by, daffodils to dote on, and Eastern rosebud trees to walk under as I hurry down First Street. It's spring for sure and there's just flowers everywhere and I just love to see the shoots shooting out of the ground and the bright splashes of color of the flowers that are now blooming. In the brighter light of spring, even the grass seems very green and the tree trunks seem a brighter brown after the soft mild grey tone colors we've become used to over what seems like a very long and cold winter.So, I'll probably keep snapping away either on my cell phone or my clunky digital camera throughout the season which is surely one of the best gifts from the Creator that we see each year.

Back at Harry's Again

Looking out onto E St NW

No, I don't add ketchup to my martini

It seems we end up at Harry's Bar & Restaurant about once every few months on our Friday evening dates so last Friday found us there again. Noisy with rock and roll tapes, decorated with 80's ceiling fans and fake Tiffany lampshades,  and a general air of slight disrepair, nevertheless the service is pretty good and the food comes fast. Usually, we are on our way to the movies and because it's on several bus routes Harry's is easy to get to and near what we want to do. I had a veggie burger which I'd never ordered before with a martini which you know I've ordered before and hubster had chicken salad and a lager beer. All around us were tourist families who stay at the Hotel Harrington which is surely the nastiest cheapiest hotel downtown DC and is the building with Harry's on its ground floor.  There's also a few other couples of varying ages and lots of groups of noisy 20 or 30 somethings. Because it was so unexpectedly cold they didn't have the tables set up outside even though they have outdoor heat lamps for when it's not that cold. .Maybe it's the odd collection of pictures on the walls, or the half a dozen TV screens blasting sports and news, or maybe it's the talkative bartenders, but we find ourselves here several times a year.

Enough with the Sippy Cups on the Bus

The drunks on the bus are bad enough with their retching and careening and stinky clothes, but it's the far more often seen passengers clutching cups of coffee or other hot drinks on the bus that I find most annoying. One young lady squeezed past me recently, sat down and calmly sucked on her little sippy cup of coffee, the odor wafting towards me, for the rest of the bus ride. Every time the bus lurched, I was afraid that she would slurp her drink on me or the cup would fall and spill on my clothes. Another passenger sat openly on the bus holding his styrofoam cup of steaming coffee and taking the lid off every once in a while for a big gulp. I really don't know why the WMATA drivers let people on with their sippy cups as the signs are quite clear that passengers are not supposed to eat or drink on the bus and there's even a new sign that says "a bus is not a deli so don't treat it like one."  Scoffeelaws?

On Capitol Hill Again

Capitol Building Facing East

It is my privilege to have to go to meetings on Capitol Hill every once in a while and today, while  on my way to a House hearing this morning, I snapped this shot of the U.S. Capitol Building. Very soon the trees will be blossoming and leafing and this photo would not be possible at all. A short while later, on my way to the Rayburn building, I paused for a moment and saw the Washington Monument all the way down the Hill and onto the Mall. I'd never seen this view before because usually the trees block the view but they are still not blooming and the air was clear and sunny so I could see quite far. I was so glad to have my digital camera at hand, glad to be early for the hearing and be able to take the time to stop and stare and record these images of the nation's wealth that I enjoy almost on a daily basis.

View from Capitol Hill to Washington Monument

Dinner at the Monocle During Lent

Inside the Monocle

Saturday night I just didn't feel like cooking so Hubster said let's go out for dinner. So, off we trekked to Capitol Hill and found ourselves at the rather dark and clubby looking The Monocle, a restaurant tucked away alongside a parking lot for the U.S. Senate.  Looking at the building you know it's all that's left of what probably used to be hundreds of similar 19th century brick buildings that used to  be on Capitol Hill. I'd been there once before but Hubster hadn't so we had a great time selecting from a menu we hadn't seen much of before. Since I'm not cooking meat over Lent I did allow myself a very juicy and delicious filet mignon steak with a wine sauce that we shared since Hubster only ordered an avocado salad (he too is on some Lenten dietary limitations).  Don't you just hate "avocado salads" where there are only two or three squishy little bits of avocado? This one was nothing like that. His salad included a full sized fresh avocado sliced with lettuce and tomato and a plain oil and vinaigrette and just what he wanted. They also provided us great bread and icy water and good service, not to mention a substantive vodka martin for me and a dark Amstel beer for Hubster. We ordered fresh fruit for dessert but it turned out not to be fresh so when they asked how we liked it we said "it's not fresh!" and they took it off the bill.  I like good food and good service at pricy restaurants, don't you?