I’ve lived in D.C. for 16 years now, and you would think that I’ve been everywhere already, but to my continued surprise, that’s not actually true. Since the weather has become pleasant and since this is a good spot to record things I aspire toward, here are some of those places I’d like to cross off my District Bucket List:

• The National Arboretum: I should go soon, since they are especially noted for their azaleas, which are currently in bloom.
• Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens: Technically, I biked through part of this during the fall, but not the actual garden part. I want to see the water lilies and lotus flowers, which typically flower in July.
• Anacostia Community, Sackler, Freer, and African Art Museums: All run by the Smithsonian, these are the four local museums of the system I have yet to visit. The last three are all on the Mall, and I’d like to cross them off my list on the late-night Solstice event planned for next month. The Anacostia Community Museum is a cultural institution dedicated to the diversity and social dynamics of the local community. I’ve been to the grounds of the museum, but not inside. It’s currently closed until fall, but after the renovations are complete seems like a good time to check it out.
• Library of Congress’ Reading Room: I’ve seen it from the tour loft, but the advantage of having a (free) reader’s card is that you can totally go and hang out and ask them to bring you materials.
• Theodore Roosevelt Island: Weirdly, although this small island in the Potomac River is accessible from land only via a footbridge in Arlington, Virginia, it’s technically part of Washington, D.C. You can see it from the Georgetown waterfront, and I’ve been meaning to go over there forever.
• Bellevue, Parklands-Turner, Deanwood, Francis Gregory, and Capitol View Neighborhood Libraries: These are the last of the 27 branches of the D.C. Public Library I have yet to visit. I’d also like to get back to the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, which has been renovated since I last visited. I had plans to visit them last fall, but then life happened (and that aforementioned trip to Kenilworth that ended up including a major missed turn), and I now get to cross them off in 2019 instead.
• Lincoln’s Cottage: Did you know that when President Lincoln (and Presidents Buchanan, Hayes, and Arthur, too) wanted to get away from things at the White House during the heat of the summer, he headed toward the northern edges of the city to a cottage on the grounds of the U. S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home. This is where he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation.
• The National Archives: Probably more important now than ever to refamiliarize myself with the foundational documents of our nation.
• Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument: The D.C. home of the national women’s equality movement, it includes mementos like Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s desk chair and Susan B. Anthony’s desk.
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site: This is where the Abolitionist lived during the final 18 years of his life and is apparently a beautiful hilltop location.

Are there places near where you live that you’ve always meant to visit, but haven’t yet?

This weekend was the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and, as I mentioned earlier, because Rudi needed to go to Pennsylvania on Saturday for a ski coaching meeting, we got a rental car for the weekend. Rudi had a party to go to, so I hit the festival on my own.

While yesterday was remarkably pleasant, rain moved in last night and stayed all day, which gave the grassy areas of the festival grounds the consistency of chocolate pudding. But I and some intrepid few turned up today to take in both sheep and wool.

Here are some of the sheep I ran into:

(more…)

I caught three of the embassies holding open houses today:

India:

2019 marks the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth and the Indian embassy had a nice exhibition focusing on his importance to their nation — and to the world. They also had performers, sari and turban wrapping, henna, and chai.

Kenya:

Each embassy does things a little differently. While India kept us all doing a tight loop of their first floor space, Kenya decided just to keep us out in the yard. They turned their backyard into a marketplace, had henna in front of the building, and had dancing and food, including mahambri, their delicious version of fried bread, in the courtyard.

and Haiti:

Haiti led us through their gorgeous back courtyard and across two floors of their mansion. They’ve decorated with gorgeously colorful artwork and have profiled the contributions of Haitian Americans throughout the first floor. They also featured djs and performers, wine samples, and native collage artists.b

Embassy weekends are always a lot of fun. EU Nations are open next weekend, and I hope to cross off a few more from my list then.

It doesn’t seem fair that I go along all winter desperately investigating and inventing things to do and then spring shows up and suddenly some weekend in April there’s a nimiety (I just found this word, but I’m totally inserting into conversations now…) of activities to squeeze between Friday and Sunday.

This weekend, those things include:

• Finish a cover letter.
• Pick up freebies at Free Comic Book Day (there are two comic book shops within a mile of our apartment).
• Visit embassies for their annual open house.
• Stop at my local library branch for their first used book sale.
• Head across town to a friend’s housewarming party. (Also, pick up a gift. I wonder if he’d like some free comic books… But it will probably be alcohol.)
• Plant the four seedlings I dropped off at the garden on Wednesday. Also, thin some of my seeds. (Seriously, it’s like the only ones that wanted to grow were the ones I dropped in groups.)
• Buy strawberries and pea shoots and asparagus at the farmers market.
• Send out some mail. (May is a very mail-y month.)
• Spend Sunday at admiring sheep and petting wool (and vice versa) at Sheep & Wool.
• Return the rental car. (Rudi has to go to Pennsylvania in the morning for a meeting and it didn’t cost much more to keep it another day so I could head up to Howard County on Sunday.)

How about you? What do you have on tap for the weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A resolution to the conflict between the Parks department and the local Friends group of my local park that my volleyball league found itself in the middle of has been reached, at least as it affects our games. We’re moving to another nearby park, which means I’ll be able to continue going to mine without fear of angry looks from all my neighbors. Now, if we could just find a solution to game-time thunderstorms…

2. I took my laptop to a local coffeehouse for a sunny afternoon sitting at their picnic tables bookmarking job openings, including one I’d particularly like to fill.

3. When I stopped by the garden yesterday to drop off some seedlings (dusk was approaching too rapidly to plant them), I noticed the Parks department was doing their first test-fill of the pool. The cover had come off in April, so I knew we had to be reaching this point, but it was nice to have confirmation. They’ll use this fill to make sure there are no problems with the pipes or cracks that need fixing and then will drain the pool completely to do whatever maintenance they deem necessary and clean it one final time before doing a last fill before the Memorial Day opening weekend.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

I’ve returned to my Lightning Shawl for a final strip, although probably not soon enough to finish and block it in time to wear it to Sheep & Wool on Sunday. But either way, it should be done soon and that will be good enough.

On the reading front, on Sunday, I picked up Jeff Zentner’s latest, Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee, about two high school senior friends from Tennessee who host a public access program where they show old monster movies and do campy interstitials, à la Elvira or Svengoolie. It is good so far, but I can see where trouble lies ahead for the characters, which stresses me out. On a less stressful note, I’m listening to Jenny Han’s P.S., I Still Love You, the second in her romantic trilogy about the fallout a girl experiences after letters she wrote, but never intended to send, to her previous crushes get mailed. The first book was made into a Netflix movie, which I thought stayed true enough to the book (although with way fewer baking sessions than I thought should have been included) and the second one has been greenlit, so this seemed like a good time to listen to it.

Check out what others are reading and crafting at As Kat Knits.