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Happy National Train Day

“Railroad iron is a magician’s rod, in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844) Did you know that 11 May is the National Train Day in the US? Celebrations, big and small, are taking place around the country. Sadly, I can’t go this year, but what a … Continue reading »

Dumbarton Oaks: That “Chambered Nautilus of Gardens”

Dumbarton Oaks is one of Georgetown’s crown jewels, a grand home, a museum of Pre-Colombian and Byzantine art, and a symphony of gardens perched atop the old neighborhood’s highest point. This spring, I came to see the wisterias. The gardens are spectacular in any season, but mid-spring, I think, is my favorite. The aromas are tantalizing, but not yet … Continue reading »

Photographing the cherry blossoms in Washington DC

The Cherry Blossoms in DC

Life is short like the three-day glory of the cherry blossom These are the glory days. There are over 3,700 cherry trees around DC’s Tidal Basin. Most of them are Yoshino cherries (Prunus x yedoensis), renown for their tangles of single, white flowers, each one a simple star of five petals. On peak bloom dates, … Continue reading »

Introducing Corina’s Kili Challenge

My dear friend, Corina, is doing a wonderful thing this summer: She will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and raise funds for a worthy charity, the Amani Children’s Home, a safe haven for street children in Tanzania. She is setting up a website that will describe her preparations, the trek itself, and her visit to the home at the end … Continue reading »

Lincoln and his horse - statue by the President Lincoln's Cottage

A President’s Sanctuary: Lincoln’s Cottage

Three miles north of the White House and the Capitol stands the 19th-century equivalent to Camp David. Housed on the stately grounds of the Soldiers’ Home, a refuge for veterans since the 1850s, this 34-room Gothic Revival cottage offered summer respite to Presidents Buchanan, Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur. Its heyday, though, was in the 1860s, when … Continue reading »

Along the Nichols Bridgeway to the Millennium Park

A Day in “That Astonishing Chicago”

“…in a few hours [we] were in that astonishing Chicago–a city where they are always rubbing a lamp, and fetching up the genii, and contriving and achieving new impossibilities.” (Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883) The trip that eventually took us to the great parks of the American Southwest began in Chicago, my first taste … Continue reading »

Zion National Park at sunset, with Virgin River

Zion National Park: A Glimpse of Paradise

“…for glory of scenery and stupendous scenic effects [Zion] cannot be surpassed…It is a marvelous piece of Nature’s handiwork that is worth going a long distance to see.” (Thomas Moran, artist) We almost missed Zion. It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, and, for a moment, we even thought … Continue reading »

Colors of the Owl Canyon, a stunning slot canyon on Navajo lands near Page, Arizona

Owl, Rattlesnake, and Antelope Canyons: Where the Wind Lives

Antelope Canyon on Navajo Lands near Page, Arizona, has been on my must-visit list for years: fleeting light beams, smooth waves of petrified sand, and warm shades of peach and orange–I wanted to see it all with my own eyes. Naturally, this was one of the most-anticipated stops on our October vacation to the American … Continue reading »

Fire Department Plaque, Old Town Alexandria

Old Town Alexandria: Walking the “Old & Historic District”

If you find yourself in Washington, DC, with a morning or an afternoon to spare, consider crossing the sleepy Potomac into Virginia: On a warm, sunny day, a stroll through Old Town Alexandria is an engaging stroll through history–local and national. Established by Scottish merchants in 1749 and laid out with help of a 17-year-old apprentice surveyor named George Washington, … Continue reading »

Discovering Old San Juan: Two Castles and a Cemetery

I was smitten with San Juan. Traveling there for a conference recently, I was looking for a good place to stay when the conference hotel got full. A friend of a friend recommended we stay in the old town, away from large hotel chains. I am so glad I followed her advice: staying at the … Continue reading »

Corina’s Adventure Begins!

Corina’s flight to Nairobi is booked! In just two months, she will climb Mount Kilimanjaro, raising funds for the Amani Children’s Home, a safe haven for street children in Tanzania. The work they do is amazing, and you can help: http://www.justgiving.com/Corina-Mavrodin Follow her adventure on her blog: http://corinaskilichallenge.wordpress.com/

Our Backyard Weekend: The Hatchlings!

This was the perfect gardening weekend. We decided to stay close to home, and a good thing too: Our first hatchlings of the season just made their debut. First, we spotted a mourning dove nest in the front yard, so flimsy, precarious, and low to the ground that every time I pass by, I have … Continue reading »

Travel Theme: Dance

Dance is this week’s travel theme from Where’s My Backpack? So, here we go, a collection of colorful frolicking from the months past. A king and the Maypole at the Maryland’s Renaissance Festival: Montresor and Fortunato, doomed by Poe long ago, stumbling over the bones at the Westminster Hall & Burying Ground: Performers practicing backstage at the DC Turkish … Continue reading »

Taliesin West: Snow over the Desert

“Living in the Desert is a spiritual cathartic a great many people need. I am one of them.” (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1949) Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s “desert camp,” has been on my must-see list ever since I fell in reluctant, unexpected love with his Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in Pennsylvania (visit them, if you haven’t yet). … Continue reading »

My Garden, in Spring Color

And just like that, at long last, my gardening season begins in earnest. I love the newness of it all: Everything is crisp, fresh, and, for the moment, somewhat in order. Each day, I begin with my spring color survey. Here’s this week’s palette. My greens: Maroons: Purples and blues: A blaze of yellows: All … Continue reading »

Farewell, Cherry Blossoms

They budded, they bloomed, they floated to the ground. Here’s what the Tidal Basin looks like covered in a snowfall of petals, a charming farewell. Related Posts: Waiting for Cherry Blossoms The Cherry Blossoms in DC Family Matters at Dyke Marsh Spring on The High Line Orchid Magic

Family Matters at Dyke Marsh

Now that spring has finally sprung, I look forward to our walks at my favorite local place to watch the seasons turn: the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. Just south of Old Town Alexandria along the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Dyke Marsh does have its scrappy patches, the old wounds still visible and, in places, growing. Still, there … Continue reading »

Waiting for Cherry Blossoms

Thwarted! Our excellent Sunday plan was to wake up early and greet the sunrise at the Tidal Basin, followed by a “walk in the clouds,” an early-bird stroll among DC’s famous Yoshino cherry trees, all abloom. We came, the Sun lazily obliged–but the cherry trees? After days of delay, they are still taking a rain … Continue reading »

Spring on The High Line

An an oasis of wildflowers, suspended over the buzz and industry of Chelsea and its meatpacking district, The High Line is my New York City favorite. A mile of abandoned freight rails transformed into a garden path of native blooms, urban art, and peaceful nooks, it is a public space extraordinaire, enchanting even in early spring, when … Continue reading »

Travel Theme: Pale

I did not have to travel far for my contribution to this week’s Travel Challenge: Pale. Spring is taking its time to reach the garden this year. But, at long last, one of my woodland favorites is here: Jeffersonia dyphilla is venturing its first white blooms. This lovely native wildflower was named after Thomas Jefferson … Continue reading »

Poe, Some Bones, and a Cask of Amontillado

“ The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” The Cask of Amontillado has always been one of my favorite Poe stories. How could I miss the 2013 Cask of Amontillado Wine Tasting Among the Bones? A Saturday of sampling wine and beer … Continue reading »

Orchid Magic

I’ve been aching for some aliveness, something bright, and fragrant, and growing, so this Washington Post love letter to Orchids of Latin America, an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, cemented my weekend plans. A stroll through a tropical rainforest abloom–a fleeting visit to “the jungles of Costa Rica, the vanilla farms of Mexico, the conservation forests of … Continue reading »