Dude lives three doors down from your blogueuse in Garrett Park. Does not like Jews.
The Pompeii Archaeological Park has just unveiled the restored Garden of Hercules (so named for a statue of the mythical hero uncovered at the site), freshly planted with 1,200 violets, 1,000 ruscus plants, and 800 antique roses, as well as vines and cherry and cotton apple trees. The botanical display is intended to mirror how the garden appeared 2,000 years ago, based on the findings of botanist Wilhelmina Jashemski, who identified pollen, spores, and plant fossils in the area in the 1950s.
Dr Jashemski worked in Pompeii for decades past the 1950s, and my mother sometimes accompanied her, digging for roots in the hot sun. Both of them would be thrilled by the gardens that have now been rebuilt.
… Garrett Park’s NO KINGS protest this morning. Good turnout, and tons of honks, raised fists, waves, and thumbs up from cars.
Datz me. One of the No Kings demonstrations goes right along my town’s only through street, and Les UDs, plus UD’s cousin and her husband, will be out there with flags and signs.
Years ago I bought three silver/gray wreaths for the house during holiday season. After that, I decided I liked them enough to want to keep looking at them, so I found a gray planter that seemed in the same color realm, piled them largest to smallest in it, and stuck it among some grasses and hydrangeas.
Why does this curious little item pack a certain aesthetic/symbolic punch? Why does it draw the eye?
Best I can do: Aside from the symmetry (tapered wreaths; tapered container) and the bird-nesty, kinetic feel of the wreaths as they deteriorate and put out a mess of needles, and the texture thing (rough/smooth), there is, I guess, the anthropomorphic nature of the thing. Piled up hair/turban, on a human face?
They had many questions, all of which I tried to answer. Lots of people came through. I loved it, but am now exhausted.
… and on the way UD reminded Mr UD: “Don’t say anything about his job! Don’t even say the word job.”
Their friend not long ago got his dream job at the Dept. of Education; then, in a matter of weeks, in a DOGE sweep, he was fired. He and his wife have just bought a house; a baby is on the way!
So we said absolutely nothing; but somehow the matter came up, and he explained.
“I’ve already gotten a new job in DC, in education. AND I’m still getting full salary from the DOE because of a court case. I’ve got two jobs.”
“Man, K. and I were doing SO well not mentioning your sad situation and now this??”
Details here.
‘[The garden’s director] once saw a man taking pods off the cacao trees, and when he confronted him, the man’s justification was that he’s a taxpayer and Brookside Gardens is publicly funded.‘
Post-Trump grab, the place is tanking.
‘Following Trump Takeover, Kennedy Center Subscription Sales Drop 36%’
The arts institution has seen a $1.6 million year-over-year decline in subscription revenue, with theater subscriptions down more than 80% since Donald Trump’s takeover.
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My nephew, a spectacular singer (runs in the family), is in the Washington National Opera chorus, and will be part of their upcoming Aida. La Kid and I will be in the audience, but we wonder how many will be with us in the opera house. Will the troupe outnumber us?
Strange how everything turn turn turns. When I was a kid Bethesdans had to drive ten miles at night down the GW Parkway to see first-rate classical stuff at the Kennedy Center; since then, thanks in part to my uncle (my nephew’s grandfather), Les UDs have had a significant concert hall, Strathmore, a fifteen minute walk away.
Because of what Trump just did to the Kennedy Center, the significance of the Music Center at Strathmore has suddenly taken an enormous leap — several performers/productions that would have been in the city are now in the suburbs.
The suburbs that ain’t very suburban anymore. Seen downtown Bethesda lately?