Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

Mom carefully planned her return visit to coincide with the Cherry Blossom Festival which lasts for two weeks in the early spring of every year. While there are cherry trees sprinkled throughout Washington, DC, the biggest concentration of trees is around the Tidal Basin by the Jefferson Memorial. We'd been having a lot of cloudy, drizzly days and I was worried that I might not get good pictures while the trees were at their peak. We got lucky with one really nice sunny day and spent a couple of hours enjoying the sunshine and blossoms. Here are a couple of my favorite pics. You can see all of them here.

You can click on them to make them larger.

Quilt Inspiration at the Basilica

At the end of my last post I mentioned sharing some more pics from the Basilica that I called "quilt inspiration." I don't remember where these first few pics were from (a chapel maybe?), but the entire marble floor was like a giant quilt sampler. I don't know why I didn't get a low angle pic so that you could see how it all went together. If I return, I'll make sure to do that. One look and you'll be convinced that the men who did these floors were married to quilters. =)

This is another marble floor. For this shot I was standing on my tiptoes holding my camera over my head and still couldn't get it all in one shot, but I think I got enough of it to get the idea.

Another marble floor pic taken high over my head and at an angle to get as much of it in the shot as possible.

This mosaic ceiling really caught my eye. I know it's not the clearest shot, but besides the main design in the ceiling I like the border around the arches as well.

See the triangles in the flat part of the arch? I'm pretty sure I've seen a quilt that looks just like that in those exact colors. Look at all the different stars. Perfect for a star sampler quilt.

How about this domed ceiling? Talk about stars!

I know this pic didn't come out so well. It reminds me of a Double Irish Chain with the background changing from light to dark.

And lastly, this was the ceiling in a corridor. Absolutely gorgeous.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Churches have some of the most amazing architecture. Remember how impressed I was with Washington National Cathedral? Remember when I went to the Christmas concert at the Basilica and vowed to return for a tour? Well, with Mom and Tín visiting it seemed like a good time to do that.

I'm not sure where to start. It's among the ten largest churches of the world. The architecture is Romanesque-Byzantine in style. You  know what I love about Byzantine architecture? The mosaics. And does this church have a lot of mosaics. There are over 70 chapels and oratories in the Basilica which gives them a lot of places for mosaics. Here are just a few:

That last one is in the north apse of the Great Upper Church and is over 3600 square feet. Think about that for a second. That's bigger than most people's homes!

Being a shrine dedicated to Mary, there were a lot of different ethnic representations of Mary. Here's a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Vang (I hadn't heard of her before), who appeared to the people of a Vietnamese village during the 18th century.

There is also an incredible amount of statuary. This was one of my favorite sculptures. It's titled The Holy Family at Rest - The Flight into Egypt. It's not mentioned in the Bible, but they must have been worn out after their ordeal and I think this sculpture conveys that. Even the donkey looks exhausted.

This chandelier was in an oratory dedicated to Mary, Queen of Ireland. It had the most beautiful alabaster window, but the sun was shining in such a way that I just couldn't get a good picture. I don't remember for sure, but I believe the docent told us that the chandelier was Waterford Crystal.

There was a lot of quilt inspiration which I'll cover in another post so that this one won't have too many pictures in it. Our tour lasted about an hour and we didn't even come close to seeing everything. I'll definitely need to make a return trip.

National Building Museum

I took Mom and Tín to the National Building Museum. What is the National Building Museum? I'm not sure I can explain it, but from their website:

Created by an act of Congress in 1980, the National Building Museum has become one of the world’s most prominent and vital venues for informed, reasoned debate about the built environment and its impact on people’s lives. Our exhibitions, educational programs, and publications are well regarded not only for their capacity to enlighten and entertain, but also as vehicles for fostering lively discussion about a wide range of topics related to development, architecture, construction and engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

I love this building. I took a tour shortly after we moved here and am amazed at the design features. After the Civil War, a new building was needed to house the US Pension Bureau. Congress appointed Montgomery C. Meigs as the architect and engineer and gave him some guidelines. The building had to be cheap and fireproof. Besides housing the Pension Bureau, it also had to have a large space for social and political functions. What's cheap and fireproof? Brick. You don't see a lot of brick buildings in DC, and according to the docent it wasn't well-received in its time. It didn't "fit in" with the other buildings in the area.

One of  the things I found amazing is that by placing vents in strategic places, Meigs designed a ventilation system that created continuous air flow throughout the building. He felt that it would lead to a healthier work environment. Also, his placement of windows and arches made for a well-lit space throughout the Great Hall and the offices.

I've been to the National Building Museum a couple of times now, but have never been able to get a good picture of the Great Hall. Because of the way the windows are on that upper level, it's difficult to get a good pic without the light messing things up. Especially for a "non-photographer" like me. This is the best one so far:

I'm standing at one end on the second level looking toward the opposite side. This place is immense. See that fountain? It's 28 feet across. The Great Hall is larger than a football field. The perfect place for Inaugural Balls and the like as it can accommodate so many people.

Yeah, I like this place. Even if it doesn't "fit in."

More Company!

Mom and Tín arrived day before yesterday to spend a couple of weeks with us. After coming for a two week visit in the fall, they realized that wasn't nearly enough time to see all the things they wanted to see so they're back again. We'll see how much we can get done in the next two weeks. Mom is recovering from knee surgery and is walking with a cane. I don't think that'll slow her down too much though.

It was a pretty chilly and windy day, but we can't stay home just because the weather doesn't want to cooperate can we. Chilly day, indoor activity. While walking to the National Museum of American History from the Metro station, we saw this group of little kids (daycare? preschool?) flying kites. They were having sooo much fun.

We were able to get a wheelchair for Mom at the museum so that she could rest her knee a bit. We didn't go through all of the museum, but we did see quite a bit of it. Since reopening in November I've been there a couple of times now and I still haven't been through all of the exhibits. One of the exhibits that we spent a bit of time in is America on the Move, a history of transportation in the US. It's a huge exhibit (26,000 square feet according to the website) that has so many objects and so much information. Cars, buses, trains, trolleys, the highway system... it's all covered. Here's Tín waiting in line for a trolley ticket.

While Tín went to The Price of Freedom: Americans at War (covers the history of our military from the French and Indian War to the present) which I'd seen before, Mom and I checked out First Ladies at the Smithsonian. Here's the inaugural gown worn by Rosalynn Carter.

I'm not sure why I liked this gown so much. I think because it feels so different from the other gowns that were on display.

There's a lot to see at the NMAH. I need to get back there at least one or two more times before I'll have seen all of the permanent exhibits.

Leaving the Big Apple

After our show, we met Rich's cousin Jeannie and her husband Will for dinner. They've lived and worked in Manhattan for years. Afterward, we hopped on the subway. Got ourselves back to Port Authority and rode the bus back to Jersey. I love reliable public transportation.

Our original plan had been to just drive back to DC Sunday morning. But while walking around Central Park on Saturday, we went by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and decided it wouldn't hurt things if we spent a couple of hours there Sunday morning before heading back.

It's huge and we knew that we didn't have time to see everything, so we picked just a couple of exhibits and concentrated on those. Better to leisurely enjoy a few things than to race through trying to see everything and end up forgetting it all because you saw it too quickly, right?

As we walked in, the Egyptian Art exhibit caught our eye.

Rich then wanted to see the Arms and Armor exhibit.

Just those two exhibits had kind of taken up most of our time. We did do a kind of quick walk through of The American Wing. It's being expanded even as I write this with phase II opening up in late May, and phase III scheduled for completion in 2011.

Done at the museum, we had lunch in the city and then back to New Jersey to retrieve the car and drive to DC. It was a very nice weekend. We'd like to do this again, but I think we're going to be running out of weekends pretty soon.

Wicked Awesome!

I mentioned that we were going to see a Broadway show, but I didn't mention which one. It's really hard to pick just one when you haven't been to all that many. It was difficult, but we finally decided on Wicked. WE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! Yes, I'm shouting. It was that good. I hadn't read the book and only knew that it was kind of an alternate story of the Wicked Witch and Glinda. The story was good, not too dramatic, not too silly. The two lead actresses (sadly, I can't find my Playbill at the moment to give you their names - that's what happens when you wait a month and a half to post) both had amazing voices and stage presence. The music was great. I really loved the costuming. I would see it again. And again. And again.

I saw other people taking pictures of the stage before the curtain went up and when I didn't see any ushers or security racing to confiscate their cameras I snapped a quick pic too.

Start Spreading the News...

we're leavin' today. Actually, we left on Friday.

For Christmas the kids got together and gave Rich and I a gift certificate for tickets to a Broadway show. We've been waiting for a free weekend to use it. Rich took Friday off from work and we drove up to New Jersey. We met his sister, Carol, and his brother, Joe, and their families for dinner.  I think we've seen more of Rich's family this past year than we have in the previous ten. We just don't get out this way often enough. We'll have to make more of an effort after we move back to Albuquerque.

We stayed at a hotel in New Jersey near his sister's. On the other side of the parking lot is a bus station. This worked out perfect for us. In the morning we just walked across the parking lot and got on a bus that took us right to Port Authority. Here's Rich with a Ralph Kramden statue.

Our show was a matinee and so we had several hours to wander and walk around. I love New York. I think it's a wonderful city with so much energy. I don't know that I would want to live there, but I definitely would like to visit over and over again. Here I am at the LOVE sculpture . I so wanted to ask the hot dog vendor in the background to move his cart.

We ended up walking all the way to Cental Park. I had never been to Central Park before. While not exactly warm, it was a bright, sunny day and there were a lot of people out. We stopped and watched the skaters for a bit.

I didn't realize just how much area Central Park covers. It's huge! There are lots of bridges, and pedestrian paths that go over or under the streets that go through the park. This one is absolutely beautiful. I'm standing about in the middle looking in one direction. There is a fountain looking the other direction, but there was a very large school group completely blocking the way.

Still wandering we came across this Alice in Wonderland sculpture.

We eventually made it all the way to the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir.

At this point we needed to jump on the subway and head back to the theatre district for lunch and our show. We only saw a small fraction of the park and I hope to spend more time there on a future visit. I'll bet it's absolutely beautiful when the trees have leaves and flowers are blooming. 

Going Batty!

Finished another block for Happy Hauntings. The bat's eyes will have beads for the pupils after the quilt is assembled and quilted. That might be a while at the rate I'm going. I don't even fantasize about having it done in time for this Halloween. Maybe Hallween 2010?

Kiss Me! I'm Irish!

Well, no, I'm not. Mom has done some extensive research on our family history and claims to have a drop of Irish blood. That means I only have half a drop. But everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day, right?

I know I've told you a couple of times now that I love parades. So, of course I had to get myself down to the St. Patrick's Day parade, right? It was pretty chilly (in the low 40s) and drizzly. There was still a good crowd and people were having fun. We had fun. But we couldn't stay until the end, we were just too cold and damp. I don't think we missed very much though. We walked a couple of blocks to have something to eat and it wasn't long before the place was super crowded because the parade was over.

Put on a green outfit and a few green accessories on your horse and carriage and you're ready!

Bagpipes and kilts are Scottish, not Irish. Close enough?

The Nationals Presidents crack me up every time I see them.

These little girls did some Irish dancing and were just too cute.

We even saw a leprechaun!

Spring Break is Over

Well, it's over for Bri and Kristina anyway. I know for many it's just beginning, or is still a couple of weeks away. We got around to a lot of places in the few days that they were here. Most of them I've already blogged about so I won't recap those places again.

Rich was able to set up a Friends and Family Tour at the Pentagon for us. My brother Tony was in town on business and he joined us. It was pretty interesting. Each corridor has a theme and there are flags, photographs and artwork having to do with the theme. I'm sure that not all of the corridors are themed and decorated, but put it all together and it would still be a good sized museum. Obviously, I don't have any pictures. We weren't even allowed to look at our cell phones while on tour.

I finally made it to the FDR Memorial. It's very different from what I thought it would be. When we went, none of the water features were on, so I hope to make it back on a clear, sunny day when the fountains are operational. Here are a few pics:

How Many Times Will I Go To Mount Vernon This Year?

Well, I think this was my fourth time there. We hadn't been able to go on any of Kristina's previous visits so it was the first time for both Kristina and Bri. There weren't very many people there so the docents were able to spend a little more time with each group as it went through and that was really nice. Since I've already posted about Mount Vernon a few times before, all I'm going to share is a picture of this tree. There are some trees that are just a lot cooler looking in the winter.

The Mall with Bri and Kristina

A couple of days after Kristina got here, my sister flew in to visit us during her spring break. Bri is a high school teacher in Texas. She'd never been to DC before. The weather was pretty nice the week that they were here although they might not have thought so being a couple of tourists from Florida and Texas.

So, where do you take someone on their first visit to DC? Well, the National Mall, of course. We were able to get tickets to both the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Washington Monument. While both of these things are free, you do need to get timed tickets that are given out first come, first served. Sometimes they run out very early in the day, but we got lucky.

After leaving the Washington Monument we headed west toward the Lincoln Memorial. Isn't this the coolest tree ever? It has kind of a "sleepy hollow" look to it. I've probably seen it lots of times with leaves and not really given it a second look.

We stopped at the World War II Memorial. My stepdad served in WWII and is an honoree in their database. Since then, Rich and I have submitted his dad and uncle's information. Do you know someone who served during WWII? Would you like to have them added to the registry? You can click here and follow the instructions. It's really pretty simple and a great way to honor a WWII veteran.

Next stop was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We looked up the name of a young man from the small town that Bri and I grew up in and found him on the wall. I like the way this picture of Bri and Kristina's reflection came out.

We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial and then back east stopping at the Korean War Veterans Memorial. We were a little pooped from all the walking at this point and returned to the apartment. The only downside is that it hadn't warmed up enough for any of the water features to be working. So, no fountains, no reflecting pool. Still, it was a pretty nice day and we were able to get a lot of sight-seeing in.

National Zoo

Kristina came for a visit during her Spring Break and one of the items on her "to-do" list was to see the pandas at the National Zoo. The zoo is part of the Smithsonian and like all the other Smithsonian facilities (museums and art galleries), it has free admission! We've gotten very spoiled here these past months with all the free things to do.

We did get to see the pandas. They must have just fed them before we got there as they were all in this same position eating whatever it is they gave them to eat. Except for chewing, they hardly moved.

One of the highlights was watching this tiger. 

First he tried getting the ball with his paw.

Then, he tried using his mouth.

When it rolled further into the water, he actually looked sad.