YOU'VE SEEN WALK SIGNS. You've seen Don't Walk signs. But this digital display at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Nash Street in Arlington makes a much more emphatic point.
This picture was taken on Friday, so it's entirely possible some eagle-eyed public servant has already popped in a couple of extra Lite Brite bulbs to make this Don't Walk hand a little less blunt in its advice. Maybe this is part of a county strategy to cut down on jaywalkers?
HEARING THAT trashy people are splayed about near the National Geographic building would, for most Washingtonians, conjure images of fanny pack-clad tourists. But these figures aren't ravenously searching for local attractions — they're a destination all their own.
And they're made of actual garbage. And they aren't alive.
Blogger Intangible Arts shares some thoughts on, and photographs of, "Trash People," an exhibit by German artist HA Schult in the Natty Geo courtyard.
Among the observations:
It's a fascinating thing to walk slowly between the bodies and dig the details; a crushed tin of meat here, soda-can there, computer motherboard, odd bits of glass... the detritus of humanity, molded to resemble humanity. Bitterly fascinating.The sculptures have been on display since April, but you'll want to move fast if you want to take them in for yourself. After June 8, it's garbage out.
» "Behold the Trash People" [Intangible Arts]
IT WAS A TYPICAL MORNING on the Orange Line. The train I was sitting on was little crowded, even at 11 a.m., because today is the kind of warm, sunny spring Friday that draws tourists in droves to frolic about the city's myriad attractions.
The ride was uneventful until the train stopped at Foggy Bottom. That's when a guy who looked to be in his early 20s sporting a scraggly goatee and a baseball cap slumped into the seat behind me.
Apparently, today is also the kind of warm, sunny spring Friday that futzes with one's sinuses. Because the moment he plunked his butt in the seat, out burst a sneeze of cyclonic velocity, which deposited droplets of liquid on the back of my neck.
"Woah!" was his response. Not "hey, sorry, man." Not "anybody have a napkin for this guy?" Just "Woah!"
In that moment, my muscles tense, my shoulders arched, I thought about the many, many times I've been coughed on, yawned at, sighed toward or sneezed upon on the Metro by folks who obviously hadn't been listening to Mom when she gave them what I'd guess were repeated unsuccessful lessons on manners.
Continue Reading "Sneeze Guard: For Etiquette's Sake, Give Yourself a Hand" »
Now's a perfect time to take in the Botanic Garden, before the humidity and bugginess of summer sets in.
IT'S NEARLY 80 DEGREES OUTSIDE. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. Spring is finally, finally in full flower on a blissful Friday, and where are we?
Yeah. Dullsville.
So, I set out to see how this wondrous day is treating a group of people who, unlike us, aren't working — the tourists. The answer: pretty darned well.
My first stop was the Capitol.
As you can see, the line for tours, located on the south side of the building, was growing pretty long. The sidewalks in front of the museums on Jefferson Drive SW were populated, but navigable.
Which meant plenty of tourist entertainment. I was walking past the National Museum of the American Indian when I heard a male voice frustratedly bellow, "Dude, it's a bus zone!"
The bellower was a guy in his late teens, "dude" was a similarly aged friend in a sleeveless shirt, and both had apparently thought they could sidle up to an open parking space right in front of the museum.
There wasn't any such confusion in front of the Air and Space Museum: not a patch of curb was open except a designated unloading area. I counted 16 buses in all, eight of them school buses.
The Mall itself was a jogger's paradise, and folks in shorts and running shoes were taking full advantage. As were families like the one pictured at right. And at least one pair of parents with their 6ish-year-old daughter strapped into one of those questionable child harnesses, complete with leash. Which just seems not quite right.
Continue Reading "Around Town: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" »
YOU KNOW IT'S CHERRY BLOSSOM season when you arrive at a Metro station and find every faregate clogged by someone who doesn't understand how to input their farecard. In my case earlier today, it was a family of four who were bodily blocking the three entry gates at Capitol South.
I thought about explaining to them how the cards work. The fact that I didn't might make me a terrible person. But I was in my heading-to-work mental zone, so I slid past them, touched my SmarTrip and plodded down the steps to wait for an Orange Line train out to Court House. I noticed there was a Blue Line train to Franconia-Springfield already at the platform.
That's when Dad, a blond man in his 40s who bore a striking resemblance to Woodrow Wilson, figured the dag-gum faregates out.
"There's a traaaaaaaaaaain heeeeeeere!" he shouted as he bounded past me, scampered down the stairs and lunged for the train. Mom and the kids, mind you, were still disentangling themselves from the faregates above and didn't have a prayer of making the train.
So Dad proudly, triumphantly, skidded onto the train, stood in the doorway and defiantly stuck his foot in the path of the railcar's doors. The doors closed in every entryway but his. In his, only one of the two doors shut, as if the car was winking.
With visions of a busted train delaying my commute dancing in my head, I sprang into action.
Continue Reading "Around Town: The Tourist and the Metro Car Doors" »
REMEMBER THOSE FRISKY FREEZING FLAMINGOS we wrote about on Monday? Well, apparently when we stumbled upon and photographed the flock early Saturday morning, they were most likely involved in a noisy mating ritual.
After seeing our post, Sarah Taylor, a public affairs specialist at the National Zoo, let us know that this is the time of year when the flock starts its courtship display:
They'll puff up their feathers, hold their heads high and slowly strut together (kind of like a chorus line). At some point, they all begin squawking and extending their wings before burying their heads underneath. The behavior serves to synchronize the flock so the birds all come into breeding behavior at the same time, assuring the chicks will hatch when food supply is optimal.We feel sort of bad that we walked in on the flamingos when they were eager to procreate. But then again, they let the ducks watch.
» "Around Town: Rise and Shine With Cold Flamingos" [Free Ride/Express]
Photo by Michael Grass/Express
YOU'D THINK that recent chilly weather would have sent most of the National Zoo's animals scurrying for cover. Not so.
While we were heading down the Olmsted Walk just after sunrise on Saturday, an unearthly avian squawking echoed out across the zoo. The noise did not seem to annoy one of the giant pandas, which was casually munching on vegetation. But it piqued our curiosity.
As we followed the noise up to the back side of the Bird House, the scene above slowly emerged: Flamingos, which are used to more tropical climates, were cavorting as a group in the below-freezing temperatures.
Continue Reading "Around Town: Rise and Shine With Cold Flamingos" »
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN making his list and checking it twice, Santa usually decides it's time for a break. And for the past 22 years, he's been stretching his legs on the Potomac River for the Waterskiing Santa show, the big man's little pre-Christmas breather.
The free event will take place on Monday at 1 p.m. — a perfect time to get those holiday guests or amped-up kids out of the house, please. According to organizers, it's best viewed from Lady Bird Johnson Park off of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. There's free parking, organizers say, at Columbia Island Marina.
Joining Kris Kringle will be his kneeboarding reindeer, the flying elves, the jet-skiing Grinch, the Caroling Candy Cane Kids and Frosty the Snowman in a dinghy, which will definitely be the name of our indie band once we finally get it off the ground. The cast will be available before and after the show for hand-shaking, photo-taking and last-minute present-pleading.
Get more information (and video!) here.
Photo by Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
WE'VE HEARD OF garden tours. And we've heard of bike tours. But a post today by local blogger Prince of Petworth is the first time we've seen a garden tour on bikes.
The excursion, part of last week's D.C. School Garden Week event series, was organized by the Women's Garden Cycles Project and featured stops at several school vegetable and herb gardens, including the school at 13th Street NW that snagged the Prince's attention. His response: "Pretty, pretty cool! Who knew cool things like this existed in D.C.?"
We didn't. We also didn't know a thing about the Women's Garden Cycles Bike Tour, which took three local women from Washington to Montreal on a quest to "document food-producing garden projects" along the way, according to their Web site. They're making a documentary about the experience.
The local school garden tour has passed, but the gals have another event in the offing: a haunted scavenger race. On bikes, natch. Notes their Web site in spooky tones:
Ever played 'manhunt'? or fugitive? Its like a big game of tag all over the city — with good guys and bad guys in a game of chase. The Haunted Scavenger race will feature tasks to be accomplished at various scary spots throughout the city — with some worth more points than others. Teams will be given maps and clues and will have two hours to ride around to these points without getting caught by ghouls on bikes — then back to base to tally the winners.The party starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday at 1822 Lamont St. NW in Mount Pleasant. They call it a fundraiser, so they may be asking for a $10 donation for their documentary project, as they did for the school garden tour. Check their site for more info.
» "Sometimes You Stumble Upon The Coolest Things" [Prince of Petworth]
» Women's Garden Cycles Bike Tour
HOW EARLY IS TOO EARLY for a winter holiday display? October. October is too early.
Blogger Penn Quarter Living has a dispatch this morning about the Christmas cheer that has already overtaken the Washington Welcome Center on E Street NW:
Seeing a department store pull out the xmas holiday displays before Halloween is common practice these days, but we were still taken aback by the WWC’s display with more than 2 months remaining till xmas.It's hard to get into the holiday spirit — whatever winter holiday it is you celebrate — when the temperature outside is still set to peak north of 80 degrees.
Has anyone else seen other prematurely decked halls around the area? If so, snap a picture and e-mail us.
» "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year?" [PQ Living]
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