National Arboretum

 It being another gorgeous weekend, Will and I took Charlotte and Rebecca (a visiting French pastry student studying here for the summer) to the National Arboretum.





 We had a picnic in the herbal garden and wandered up to the Capitol Columns.

Theses columns supported the Capitol dome, but after about 1920, they were deemed unsafe and removed.  They were put at the Arboretum and make a fantastic wedding venue.  Stirling likes the mini reflecting pool best.   We then drove over and walked through the Asian gardens, where Stirling found a little pagoda all for her.

Walk in a Winter Wonderland

I took Stirling and Angus for a walk in Dumbarton Park Woods-- where we walk during the summer a lot because of the access to water.

I was not the only person to have the idea of taking a stroll through the woods: the path was so trodden that is was more ice than snow. 

Stirling had no issue walking on the ice; Angus wasn't so thrilled. After days of quick walks around the block, these pups were in need of a nice long walk.

The sun shining made it quite pleasant. I got warm enough to loosen my scarf, take off my hat, and pull off my gloves. 

Stirling, however, got considerably warmer and decided to cool down by going into the stream.

I guess having a black fur coat that keeps heat in is a disadvantage when the sun is strong no matter what the season.  As we walked home, the water dropped off her legs and started forming icicles. She didn't mind one bit.  I know this cuz she went in again! 

Groundhog's Day

It is about 60F/14 C today with blue skies and sun. Tomorrow: another 2-4 inches of snow is predicted. I guess the groundhog did see his shadow today and we will have six more weeks of winter.

In the meantime, we decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and take Stirling for a nice, long walk in the woods.

We went to the usual watering hole along the Archibald trail to discover that it was frozen over. 

Stirling walked into the ice as if it was no big deal. It gave us courage to try as well.

We continued along the muddy path and found another part of the creek frozen over that was a nice 

runway for Stirling. 

Will stood at one end and me at the other, and Stirling running and slipping between us.  

 

 

A good start

It is the new year and it is off to good start. A fantastic Christmas and a low-key New Year's Eve has now given way to a lovely, peaceful snow fall. 

Anymore when the forecast calls for flakes, I don't pay attention. 

Tonight though it was like my reward for going to the old meeting of tweed. I have been away from it for three years now and this time it is in my backyard basically. 

So I went. 

And it was interesting to see that in so many ways time has stood still.  Maybe a

bit more tweed is being worn and definitely more grey, but it is the same conversations about the same things. I don't miss it at all. 

I did see dear friends and we will catch up later when there isn't so much business to be conducted. So after a few hours in my old life, I returned home. Walked the dog. Watched Miss Marple. 

And I thought about the twelves years. Tomorrow there is a session in how I spent it, though I'm not the focus. I am not sure I will be mentioned, but I plan on going.  Unless the snow keeps coming down and I decide to build a snowman instead. 

Roses

For the first time in a long time, it felt like DC actually had spring and didn't go straight into oppressive summer heat and humidity--like yesterday. 

The weather was cool, rainy, crisp-- and perfect for our roses. We have been able to have gorgeous arrangements of the various David Austin roses given to us over the years or ones we have planted ourselves.

What is exciting is that some of the climbing roses that have never bloomed have multiple blossoms on them-- including the yellow Graham Thomas rose by the front door. It is a heavenly smell when you are standing on our front porch. 

We especially like the vases we displayed the roses in: a blue glass vase from Gozo we got on our trip to Malta and Gozo; and the silver quaiff that Sylvia made for us. As you pass-by the kitchen table, delicate rose smells waft through the air, much to my delight. 

Summer Is Here Officially

The heat has come to DC. With the heat is the hot hot sun and when you're a black, hairy dog, there is nothing like a fresh dip the neighbor's pool.

 

Twirls and spins with Biscuit are followed by a quick shake by me and a run up the lawn. Oh to be Stirling on a hot summer day like today! 

 

Snowquester=sNOwquester

Sigh.  We are told that we were going to get snow.  2 inches.  No, 4.  Wait 6.  We are getting upwards TWELVE INCHES OF SNOW!  We were so excited.  Finally, a SNOW DAY!  Yes, it is March and yes we have daffodils and irises poking through.

And instead, the Beltway prevented the snow from coming in the District.  We got some snow that melted almost immediately when hitting the ground.  But mainly, it was rain.  All day.  Just a really rainy day.

This sums it up the best: http://www.buzzfeed.com/danoshinsky/washington-dc-is-the-worst-during-a-snowstorm

Snowy Day in Kentucky

I am not bitter.  While my sister is off in sunny, warm San Francisco, I woke up to this.  Snow.  10º in the morning and a high of 16.  But I am not bitter at all......muttering under my breathe....

First Snow in DC

Not much of it, but some snow nonetheless! 

Derecho

 On Friday, a major wind and thunderstorm blew into town, causing all sorts of mayhem.  Power went out, trees went down, cars and houses were crushed.  The DC-MD-VA metro area was a mess.  We were without power, and when the temperature is also breaking heat records, no power is no fun.

The storm is called "derecho"-- a widespread, long-lived wind storm that comes with a band of rapidly moving showers.  It is a Spanish word that means "long line" and such a storm can produce wind gusts similar to a tornado.  The damage is typically in a straight line, and if the wind damaged area is more than 240 miles, and includes wind gusts of between 70-90 mph, it is a derecho.

We were sorta caught unawares.  I happened to check Facebook about 10:15 on Friday night, and say multiple status updates that a major storm was heading our way.  Will got out and walked the dog before the winds came and then we watched as the lightening made is seem like it was board daylight and the trees start to bend in half.  Just as the storm kicked off, we had two brown outs before we completely lost power.  Half of the District is without power and the power company is saying that they won't be able to restore power until Friday, July 6th by 11 pm.  (note: we got it back on Tuesday evening).

What is so random-- irritating?-- is that our next door neighbor have power.  We are running an extension cord from an outside outside outlet so we can run our fridge, which, turns out to the be most needed appliance when the lights are out.  

With the heat reaching 100+º F, the next few days are going to be a doozey.

Summer is Here

 Summertime has reached DC-- over the weekend the temperature was 89º and today even hotter.  We have our indoor plants outside now-- to get direct sunlight and cleaned up (rain washes away the dust!).  

We have the hummingbird feeder filled and our hummingbird has returned.  The catbirds are swimming in the bird bath.  The garden is planted and looking great.  Yup, all signs point to a great summer.  Looking forward to it!

DC Weather

crack in the newly painted main guest room

It has been a crazy week weather-wise in DC.  First the earthquake and then the hurricane.  ON Tuesday, I was home for the earthquake, on the phone with Fiona, who was lived in California.  Basically, she is an expert in earthquakes.  She was laughing at me as I was experiencing my first earthquake (that I was awake for-- apparently there was one during the night in Kentucky when I was 8.  My 7 year old sister was the only one who felt it.)

Stirling had been barking at me for about 20 minutes and when it started to come closer to us, she darted outside.  Fiona said to get to a doorway.  I did-- but kept right on going to the outside.  Apparently that is exactly what you are not supposed to do.  Ahem.  The super intense shaking last about 3-4 seconds, but the whole thing last about 45 seconds.  At first I thought it was jack hammering from the neighbors next door doing home improvements.  The floor was all wavy, and then the walls started to shake-- the noise was incredibly loud.  I was shouting into the phone to Fiona the whole time so she could hear me over the rumbling, "Ah, Fiona, I think that we are having an earthquake!"  I think that, as she was giggling at me and my reaction, agreed with me.   

After 45 seconds, it moved on-- and of course, damaged the finials at the Cathedral, two blocks away.  Afterwards, I inspected the house.  We had several new wall cracks appear.  Brick houses don't take to shaking very well.  The most frustrating thing: new cracks in both of the newly painted rooms!  Mainly around the windows and easily fixed.  But we were so close to being completely done with those two spaces.  *sigh* 

For the hurricane last night, we were fine.  Lots of rain and huge wind gusts, but for the most part the gusts were not sustained.  I think that some of them were about 85 mph. Some areas of DC got over 10 inches of rain.  We certainly have over saturated ground, but I don't think that we accumulated more than 6 inches of rain here.  Our barrels are certainly full!  Not to mention that our yard is mess: full of leaves and other tree debris.  We manged to keep power the entire storm and went out about 11 pm (for Stirling's final walk of the night) and noticed that most of the neighborhood still had lights.  A relief for many here, since when Hurricane Isabelle went through in 2003, our street alone was without power for 8 days.  

Anyway, we are fine, if not a bit soggy.  Fingers crossed that we are done with the wild weather for a while: record heat in July, an earthquake and now a hurricane.   Secretly, however, I am hoping that come winter,  we will have massive snowfall like two years ago.  It will make for one bizarre weather year!

Fahrenheit 451

How hot do these thermometers say it is?

And this is supposedly a break in the heat. 

True, it isn't the 115º F we were having last week, so I guess I should be happy about that.

April Fooling

Mother Nature is playing a very good April Fool's joke on us with the weather.  We have been struggling to get into the 40's.... and according to the calendar, it is Spring.  Okay, okay, Mother Nature dear.  Please just let the weather warm up!  I have bulbs I want to see in bloom!

DC Snow Bubble

DC has a snow bubble up. A snow shield. A snow preventing force field, if you will.

We aren't getting the massive amounts of snow like we did last year-- it keeps barely missing us. In the mean time, Philly, Boston, New York are getting pounded with snow. Even Chicago had so much snow, the city closed schools for the first time in over a decade.

Here, we are just getting some dustings. Plus, some ice. What I miss is the February 2010, when Snowmageddon hit us hard. We had a snowpocalypse, a blizzaster. It was glorious. This year, it just isn't the same. *sigh* I want more snow, like last year.