It was an historic week to be in Washington DC. Though most days were jam-packed, we had no meetings until 1pm on Wednesday, and so Larry and I decided to visit the Mall, specifically the north end. It was roughly 22 degrees outside with bright sunshine as we walked for about an hour. Here is some of what we saw.
The Vietnam Memorial, erected in 1982, is one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture imaginable. To experience it, you walk down into it, a wall made up of granite panels with the names of all the American soldiers who died in Vietnam.
Larry is over 6' tall, so you tell from this shot how tall the walls are, and what the experience of going down in and then coming back up would be like.
Another shot, as I was walking into the lowest part.
It has been horribly cold and snowy in DC. Usually there are flowers and other gifts left near names on the panels.
From that memorial, you can walk directly to the Lincoln Memorial, which has a different kind of gravity and heft to it.
You cannot see Abraham Lincoln until you are well on your way up the steps. He is seated near the back of the memorial.
Photo is for scale, and I think from this picture that Larry must be well over 6' tall.
On one wall is the Gettysburg Address, and on this wall is Lincoln's second Inaugural Address.
This is part of the Korean War Memorial. Though I'm not crazy about the literal renderings of soldiers, I did like many parts of the memorial very much.
Who remembers that so many died in Korea?
This photo was taken on Friday morning, after I'd had several morning appointments and was taking a break at the National Gallery of Art, looking at a beautiful Impressionism show.
I got back to the hotel to check out before my last 1pm appointment just in time to see the crowds in Egypt go crazy with joy and relief. The world experienced a seismic shift. It is the largest single demonstration of the nonviolent principles that both Ghandi and Dr. King espoused. Add the power of Twitter and Facebook into the mix and you saw, in front of your eyes, a large group of people be the actual change they wanted to see.
Nearly every year since the boys were little, my friend Suzie and I go to the annual garden show here in Seattle, armed with our cameras, on the lookout for new ideas to implement in our own gardens. In the background of this photo (above) and at the very end of this blog entry, is a "modern-shed," beautifully done, at 8x14'. Too big for my back garden, but more upscale that the $200 pallet sheds shown this past Thursday in the home section of the New York Times.
One of the displays on the skybridge, outside the show itself.
Part of a vignette that included beautiful driftwood and other spare feeling trees and rocks.
Since this year's theme was "Tell Me a Story," it's no surprise that there were toadstools in abundance throughout the exhibits.
Beautifully executed in wood, the pavers are actually made of wine bottle corks.
More of the same exhibit, in fact its frontispiece.
My favorite nursery was well represented in the show as well.
Part of the "Alice's Gardens" exhibit, from Innovative Landscape Technologies; the other part being "Alice's Labyrinth" created by our favorite Seattle composter, Cedar Grove.
This photo and the one below are both from the "Alice's Garden" side of the exhibit.
A living wall.
A remarkable canvas above this exhibit, but I could not for the life of me capture the second line of the canvas.
Belongs to Mr. Toad.
More from Toad Hill.
A section of an extraordinary exhibit from Christensen's Nursery.
More of that same exhibit.
And a side view of the Modern-Shed that I began this blog entry with. As I write this entry, it is snowing again in Seattle, lightly, but the weather is very cold. Not a gardening weekend, but then not far away either from many weekends in the garden.
