September 22, 2024
As one might expect, DC has the best museums. And many of the best, the Smithsonian family of museums, are free! These are some shots from The Smithsonian American Art Museum. So much beautiful art… it can take up many afternoons of perusing. I liked her face… …and the quote. Read more…
We stumbled upon a gorgeous garden in an alley way in Washington DC… and there, the Stick Pea flower which I became obsessed with. This post is just a quick study of its beauty Even the bees were into it Some none-Stick Pea stuff… this massive hibiscus And these things. Read more…
September 21, 2024
We could say that it was for my friend’s birthday or my upcoming birthday or just because, but we splurged on an elegant 5-course meal at Elizabeth’s in Washington DC. The innovative and playful meal featured plants in surprising forms, forms so transformed and undetectable from their original state that Read more…
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC is the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America and one of the most beautiful man-made places I’ve ever seen. The divinely ornate mosaic domes top this tallest habitable structure in DC-home to 82 Marian chapels celebrating Read more…
September 19, 2024
Just a quick stop at the all-vegan Mad Rabbit Cafe, just a short walk from my hotel. After hours of snacking on airplane nuts, it is nice to sit down and get serve a hot, delicious vegan sandwich. I got the No Harm, No Fowl—fried chik’n, chipotle sauce, cabbage slaw, Read more…
Just a quick drive from Madison, Wisconsin is Verona-headquarters to the software company Epic. The sprawling campus is quite the draw as it features structures meant to evoke the imagination. Both the exterior buildings and the inside workspaces are themed! Though I just walked about on my own, opting to Read more…
September 16, 2024
Four years ago today I had my last contact with my dear friend Ellen. It was the evening she passed away. When you lose someone close to you, you find ways to keep their memory alive. Silly insignificant things hold meaning in the context of loss. So my text strand Read more…
September 14, 2024
It was time for another trip… this meal prep would be easy peasy. Bread, almond butter, jelly Fruit is a necessity … these kiwis only lasted a day. I ate them all up one after another! Long time, no uniform! An abandoned hotel on my walk in Albany, my first Read more…
September 13, 2024
Another cloudy day would be the perfect time to meander in another historic rural cemetery in DC. Oak Hill Cemetery was very pretty with lots to see on a smaller scale than by say Rock Creek Cemetery. That face Checkerboard tiling was a nice touch Baby boy Allow me to Read more…
September 12, 2024
In honor of James Earl Jones, I returned to Washington National Cathedral to locate the 7th story Darth Vader grotesque, a part of the Gothic architecture since 1986 following a contest announced in National Geographic For Kids. The gargoyle was designed by a 13 year old boy from Nebraska and Read more…
September 11, 2024
DogTown‘s veggie burger Our favorite, Swillburger This year’s portrait session. I really love how they came out. Hope to see you soon, Home.
September 9, 2024
I’m going home! With the duty of assisting during my guy’s first colonoscopy it would be an adventure… of course marked with some thematic baking. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Prep day, I baked! Chocolate-chocolate of course… The fudgy frosting There she is, full of shit. The jug Read more…
September 8, 2024
I finally got to The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Being from New York and dropping in on NYC’s American Museum of Natural History since childhood, this museum has been on the backburner. With time to kill on short call reserve, I finally went. I was impressed, as were Read more…
September 7, 2024
Established in 1834, Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore is one of the earliest rural cemeteries in the country. And it is breathtaking. After taking the hour drive a few days after learning of it, I was taken by its beauty. Relatively compact, it has so much to see. This was Read more…
September 5, 2024
This bizarre radar dome was part of Nike Missile Launch Site W-83 back during the Cold War days. Time moved on and grew a community in the space that once were the grounds, but this thing remains. It is out of place next to some baseball fields attached to an Read more…
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia might be one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. I mean, they have the Space Shuttle “Discovery” INSIDE the hangar, as well as 3,000 other artifacts-HUGE & small. My Dad would know the names of all these planes. Wish he Read more…
September 3, 2024
You know I love a sunflower field… even a dying field of sunflowers. Because in my history of stumbling upon sunflowers who’ve had their fill of sun and bow their heads to wither away, folks do some fun things to their cute faces. And it was no exception in Tennessee. Read more…
September 2, 2024
Where in the world am I? With a workplace up in the sky, sometimes I forget the where and the when. It’s an occupational hazard… But today, I’m in Memphis! And here are some pictures from my quick stay. Like other cities in Tennessee, Memphis is a musical place: Al Read more…
Reminiscent of my beloved Green-Wood, Elmwood Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery with some gorgeous patina to hunt down. Opening in the 1850’s, Elmwood was part of the Rural Cemetery Movement to which I owe many hours of exploration to-nation-wide. Registered on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, Read more…
August 31, 2024
Across the street from Glenwood Cemetery is a small resting place that is even more impressive: Saint Mary’s Cemetery. This small burial ground is home to some truly beautiful funerary sculpture. I am glad I decided to make a 3-point turn across both lanes to see it. This was the Read more…
When I have a free moment here in DC, I crave the things that I used to do when my time was all my own. Exploring the area for rural cemeteries with impressive funerary monuments is one such thing. I spied Glenwood Cemetery as I drove to the airport from Read more…
August 29, 2024
That’s what this is, I’ve decided. A pit stop. Refueling before I move onward. It is just lasting months, as I knew it would. But the feeling of sacrifice I couldn’t predict. The suspension of a forward progression of time, the isolation in this tangent. The standstill of my other Read more…
August 27, 2024
When the stars came out at City of Rocks National Reserve, I saw the Milky Way right away… a gauzy spread of stars right above our campfire. I set up and used the glowing light of the fire to paint the interesting rock formations around us. This is why I Read more…
“This City is walled in on every side with towering granite mountains, some peaks shooting athwart the sky like towering domes. While hundreds of piles, peaks, steeples and domes, of all shapes possible in the distance looking like an old dilapidated City”- Emigrant journal entry from Dr. John Hudson Wayman - July Read more…
August 26, 2024
This place had us doing a 3-point turn on a one-lane 70 mph state road… an old bar with some great details and a mobile home out back. It announces “You loot; we shoot.” I wish I could take this vintage rug-covered bar Another amazing rug Vintage ads A decaying Read more…
So I have a list of theme hotels I want to hit… this ocean-inspired room is beyond the door at Pocatello, Idaho’s Black Swan Inn, a classy fantasy suite hotel I hope to return to soon. The attention to detail in the room was extraordinary, as was the customer service. Read more…