Still Life with Robin: Mind the Map!

by Peggy Robin

The Cleveland Park Listserv is subscribed to the Metro news email list and we strive to keep our readers updated with all the announcements that affect the Red line running through the heart of the neighborhoods covered by this Listserv. We last covered the system just two weeks ago, with a column critiquing the five new names chosen for old stations, including one on the Red line that was being rebranded with the geographically confusing loconym, "North Bethesda." (See the Still Life with Robin column of September 10, 2022)

Yesterday, Metro sent out a press release announcing the creation of a new Metro map, with the addition of six new stations on the Silver line (Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Loudoun Gateway, and Ashburn), plus one planned but unconstructed station, Potomac Yard, on the Blue/Yellow lines. And of course, this new map shows the renamed stations that I dissed in my earlier column. 

But I'm ready to get over it. Now that the new maps are out, it's time to accept change with grace. Besides -- as I am something of a "maphead" -- I like to see map designs keeping up with the times. According to Metro's press release, it's the biggest overhaul of Metro's iconic map since it was first unveiled 40 years ago. It's a great design -- clear, good colors, readable at a distance, conveying a whole lot of info both aesthetically and concisely --the Metro map may be the single best feature of the entire Metro system. And it's good to see it's been kept up to speed (well, maybe that's the wrong cliche to use?)  with Metro's changes. 

Here it is:

According to the Washington Post, it will take Metro up to a month to replace all the old maps in all the stations and all the trains in the system -- the number is somewhere around 5,000. And then there are all the printed brochures and websites where the updates are needed. So don't run down to the Cleveland Park Station today and expect to see everything changed. If there's one thing I've learned in dealing with Metro over all these years, it's that things always take a whole lot longer than they say it will. If I'm wrong about that, and the new maps are already up in the Cleveland Park Station, somebody please let me know and I will happily take back that last little diss!

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Still Life with Robin is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.

Get Out! And Have a Blast on Sunday to Welcome the Jewish New Year

 by Peggy Robin

Sunday, September 25 at sundown is the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year....but you don't have to be Jewish to get in on the New Year's celebration. All are invited to blow a horn and make some celebratory noise to welcome the start of the New Year.

Jewish custom is to blow on a curled ram's horn called a shofar - although a plastic version is a little easier to come by, not to mention a tiny fraction of the cost of a real one. Even without any sort of horn to toot, you can make noise with pots and pans, clackers, or just by cheering.

This year (it's 5783), as in some past years, there's an organized, communal New Year's Nosie-Making called The Blast. It's happening on Sunday, September 25 at 4 pm. Wherever you are at that time and date, go outside and blow a horn or do whatever you feel like doing to make some noise to welcome in the new year.

If you plan to participate in the communal noise-making, post a pin for your location on the map at www.theblastdc.com. Or just take a look at the map to see how many of your neighbors are joining in The Blast.

Happy New Year!

🎉🎉🎉

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The Get Out event of the week is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and All Life Is Local on Thursday.

Still Life with Robin: Parsing Wordle

by Peggy Robin

I do try to keep the "Still Life with Robin" column focused on things connected to life in Cleveland Park....or DC...at least in some form or another. Well, today I'm going with the somewhat weak-tea reasoning that lots of people in the neighborhood play Wordle.

And l conclude that the majority of people in this part of town failed yesterday's Wordle (#454). Around 55%, if we mirror the national average. I was among them.

On a typical day, 99% of experienced Wordle players solve the puzzle within six moves. But not yesterday. That was because yesterday was not a typical day. A bit of word-parsing will show why. [Stop reading right now if you haven't done Wordle #454 for September 16 but still intend to do so.]

The answer was PARER. It refers to the kitchen implement that I'm sure all of you would call a PEELER (six letters, one beyond the Wordle letter grid).

The Merriam-Webster dictionary does not have PARER as an entry by itself. It lists the verb PARE, and at the end of the entry, lists PARER as a noun that can be formed from PARE. No definition.

When I googled "image of parer" to see what Google users think a parer" is, Google asked me, "Did you mean PAPER?" and showed me reams and reams of images of paper. 

A few more googling attempts led to some synonyms: both "peeler" and "paring knife" turned up. But never in all my years of handling kitchen implements have I ever heard anyone use the word PARER in day-to-day language.

Perhaps outside the US there are  English-speaking people who are using this term. Now I have cooked or been present in kitchens during meal prep in a fair number of other English-speaking countries, including England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and Belize (I might have left out a few!) -- and I can't recall any instance of being handed something called a parer and asked to peel a potato. Maybe it's too small a sample for me to opine authoritatively on the subject. But it's not too small a sample to keep me from complaining! 

PARER is UNFAIRER than any other Wordle word I've played!

Not only that, but once I had PA_ER on the board, there were SIX choices for the center letter that made legitimate words far superior to PARER. They are: PAPER, PAGER, PAYER, PAVER, PACER, and PALER. 

Now that my months'-long Wordle winning streak has been pared back to nothing, I hope to build back better -- and am off to a good start with today's Wordle #455, which I am proud to report I got in two moves. That's RARER than I like to admit!

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Still Life with Robin is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.

Get Out! And Enjoy Chevy Chase Day on Saturday from 1 - 4 PM

Celebrate Chevy Chase DC Day September 17, 1 - 4 p.m. hosted by the Chevy Chase Citizens Association (CCCA), 

Date and time

Sat, September 17, 2022

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

Location

5601 Connecticut Ave NW

Washington, DC 20015

View map

All the festivities will be held in the outdoors with most of them occurring on the commons between the Chevy Chase Library and the Community Center. Everything is free to the public.

Entertainment and events include:

• DC’s own Little Red and the Renegades as they perform their party sounds of Zydeco, New Orleans Funk & Swamp Rock.

• Chevy Chase’s own arts organization, Ch/Art, will be showing works by local artists and will be conducting a paper-bag puppet making activity.

• We will also have sidewalk chalk art for the kids in front of Artsy Beast.

• Other entertainment includes face painting, balloon twisting, juggling, and a caricature artist.

• The DC Police Department will be providing a prescription drug takeback program for expired meds.

• A new event: free raffle for prizes donated by local stores.

Schedule of Events:

• Keene Taylor, Historic Walking Tour, Starts at the Avalon, 11-noon

• Little Red and the Renegades, Center Stage, 1-4PM

• Zumba Dance, NW side of the CC library, 1-1:30PM (bring sneakers)

• Chair Yoga, NW side of the CC library, 2-2:30PM

• Ballet Demonstration, basketball court, 3:15-3:45PM

• Adult Yoga, basketball court, 1:30-2:15PM (bring a mat or towel)

• Kids Yoga, basketball court, 2:30-3:15PM (bring a mat or towel)

• CM Mary Cheh Speaks, Center Stage, 1:30PM

• CM Janeese Lewis George Speaks, Center Stage, 2PM

• Free Raffle for valuable prizes. Center Stage, 3:45PM

Register

Go to our website for a complete updated schedule. You can get free tickets at the CCCA table on the day of the event for a complementary ice cream and cupcake.

Chevy Chase DC Day will be following all CDC and DC Health protocols as the celebration strives to keep children and adults safe and healthy.

Chevy Chase Citizens Association

P.O. Box 42210

Washington, DC  20015

Contact us: president@ChevyChaseCitizens.org

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The "Get Out" event of the week is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.   

Still Life with Robin: New Names for Old Stations

by Peggy Robin

This weekend marks the official re-naming of four Metro stations. Well, let me put my opinion right out there: I would call it a mis-naming of three of the four stations at issue.

The White Flint Station is being rebranded as "North Bethesda." Someone apparently forgot to ask the Postal Service where it is. If you look up the address of the building right next door to the station (that's the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission),  you will find the address is indisputably in Rockville, MD., with a zip code of 20852 (handled by the Rockville Annex Post Office, a one-mile walk from that Metro station).

"South Rockville" would have been the geographically correct name -- but I would have opposed that, as well, on the grounds that it's never a good idea to have two stations in a row with similar names. Speaking as someone who's gotten off at East Falls Church when I meant to get off at West Falls Church, I can tell you it's an easy mistake, and one that Metro could have warded off simply by choosing a more distinctive name for one of the pair. 

So....Mid-Pike, anyone?

Moving on to the next case of a bad name change: Largo Town Center has now been transformed into "Downtown Largo" -- immediately calling to mind the old 60s comedy show "Laugh-in," which was brought to you so memorably from "beautiful downtown Burbank."

Now I don't object at all to Tyson's Corner dropping the "Corner" and becoming plain old Tysons. This is the only change that I endorse whole-heartedly. The Tyson's shopping mall/office hub has never been (even in its misty past) a quaint country corner of a town. It was just silliness to call all those glass towers and concrete mega-malls a "Corner."

But then silliness reigns again as Prince George's Plaza is made over into "Hyattsville Crossing." Hyattsville is a suburb with over 20,000 people; it's not some dusty rural village with a single intersection that could be called "the crossing." Who comes up with this stuff? Just call it Hyattsville and be done with it.

Now, I realize, of course, that it's absolutely too late to kvetch about any of these changes. It's not like the decision is reversible -- not after Metro has spent -- oh, I don't know, tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands? could even be more than a million (I'm too lazy to look it up) -- on focus groups rating a variety of proposed new names, and conducted surveys and then hired designers to do the re-lettering of station names and redo all the maps and websites.

I had my chance to weigh in when the public was surveyed, and I said my piece then. I could tell by the survey questions, making me tell how often I used the stations in question ("seldom or never") that the vote of a non-commuter like me was not going to count for much. Nor should it, I concede. 

But just let them try to change the name of Cleveland Park! That would be a different story! And you might see me chaining myself to the name pylon rather than see "Cleveland Park" taken down. But of course, Metro would never be so foolish as to propose anything like that....would they?

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.

Get Out! March in the IFC's Annual Unity Walk on the 9/11 Anniversary

Image: Interfaith Council of Washington 2021 Unity March

by Peggy Robin

IFC’s annual Unity Walk is a public demonstration of love and support for all who live in our region. Walk with participants of all ages to visit different houses of worship and spiritual centers in upper Northwest DC to learn about and experience diverse faith traditions. There will be new opportunities to engage through moderated speed dialogues, family activities, comedy, music, and sharing of tasty cultural treats. Come by yourself or bring friends to celebrate the wonderful diversity that exists in our region. 

This year’s walk will take place on Sunday, September 11th from 1:30-6pm. Tickets are $5 (students, seniors, and those of limited income)/$10 (general admission). All participants must register. If it is against your religious practice to handle money on Sundays, you can register for the walk here. For groups of 10 or more, please email Symi Rom-Rymer (symirr@ifcmw.org) for registration details. 

There are several ways to get to this year’s Unity Walk. If you are driving, there will be free on street parking around Washington Hebrew Congregation. There is also free street parking further along Massachusetts Ave., NW should you want to drive part of the route.  If you’ll be taking the Metro, the closest Metro stop to the Unity Walk is Tenleytown Metro (Red Line) which is about a 10-15min. walk from Washington Hebrew Congregation. At the end of the walk. there will be shuttle buses (generously donated by the ADAMS Center) to take walkers from the Indian Consulate (Closing Ceremony) back to Washington Hebrew Congregation in a loop. You are welcome to park your car near the synagogue and then pick it up again at the end of the walk. 

This year, we are launching Weekend of Unity where we are inviting faith leaders, organizational leaders, and individuals to pledge to move: Beyond Tolerance: Building a Just Community. Click here to learn more about Weekend of Unity and how you can participate.

For more information about supporting this year’s walk as an organization/congregation or as an individual, click here. Thank you to all of our 2022 co-sponsors!

Want to spread more unity? Buy a limited edition Unity Walk 2022 t-shirt! All t-shirts can be picked up on the day of the Walk at Washington Hebrew Congregation.

“This was my first inter-faith unity walk, and it was a great experience! I do believe that no matter what unexpected circumstances may arise to cause a change in plans, a person will take out of the experience what they put into it!  So for me, this was a joy, pleasure and honor to share in this experience with all those who participated!”–past Unity Walk participant

GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY! 

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The "Get Out! event of the week is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.

Get Out! The LOC National Book Festival Is in Town on Saturday!

by Peggy Robin

Why do I love living in Washington, DC? I could come up with a top 100 list and one of the things that would definitely be in the top ten is the National Book Festival. It's put on every year for FREE by the Library of Congress on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend. 

You can spend some time scouting out the authors and book talks and panel discussions and kids' events to be sure you hit the events that hold the most appeal for you, or you can just wander around and let serendipity lead you to authors and books you might never have discovered had you not gone.

If you're a planner, start here:

https://www.loc.gov/events/2022-national-book-festival/schedule/ 

If you're a wanderer and a serendipity-believer, then just show up the the Library of Congress National Book Festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, September 3, any time between 9am and 8 pm.

You can't go wrong, either way!

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The "Get Out!" event of the week is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.

Still Life with Robin: Eleanor Holmes Norton Could've Been a Dancer!

by Peggy Robin

After 15 terms (30+ years!) as DC's Congressional (non-voting) representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton is so familiar to her constituents you might think there's nothing surprising to left to learn about her. Well, at least that's what I thought. But then I was listening to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, the weekly news quiz/comedy show airing on Saturdays on WAMU, and there was Rep. Norton as the guest on the "Not MY Job" segment of the show, and she and host Peter Sagal were bantering back and forth about various things....and I learned a couple of things about her that I would never have guessed, such as:

1. Eleanor Holmes Norton knows enough about DC....Comics, that is! to answer two out of three questions right and win the "Not My Job" quiz segment on "Wait Wait....Don't Tell Me."

2. Eleanor Holmes Norton loves to dance and does so whenever she has the chance.

And then 3. After googling the clip of our dancing Congresswoman, I came across another clip, in which I see she has ably addressed one of the nagging questions that doubters raise whenever the question of DC Statehood comes up, which is: "Will adding a 51st star cause the US flag to look unbalanced?" Here is Eleanor Holmes Norton waving the flag that answers that question....and I defy anyone to spot the difference.

Here's the link to listserv to the full show: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119759690/wait-wait-for-august-27-2022-live-from-wolf-trap

If you would like to fast forward to the Eleanor Holmes Norton segment, start at the 18min 30 sec. mark.

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Still Life with Robin is posted on The Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.

Get Out! Last Night for Friday Night Fishing with Anacostia Riverkeepers - August 26

Friday Night Fishing with Anacostia Riverkeeper
Photo: Friday Night Fishing

by Peggy Robin

All summer long the Anacostia RiverKeeper organization has been hosting a "Friday Night Fishing" event, giving kids and their adults free lessons and opportunities to learn about sustainable fishing in the Anacostia River. The final night of Friday Night Fishing will be on August 26 from 5-8 PM and is located at the Diamond Teague Park (1520 First St. SE) across from Nationals Stadium.

ALL PARTICIPANTS, need to complete this waiver. Adults need individual waivers and an adult can put up to 4 minors on their waiver:

https://waiver.smartwaiver.com/w/60b9150310ad8/web/  

The event is first come, first onto the dock. There is the chance that when you arrive, you will be placed on the waitlist if the dock is at capacity. We will have a 1-hour fishing limit if there is a waitlist.

Sign up:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/friday-night-fishing-2022-tickets-339024791277?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Friday Night Fishing is a FREE event. Bait, tackle, and rods will be provided and there will be staff to help teach you how to fish.  

Any questions can be sent to info@anacostiariverkeeper.org.   [info @ anacostiariverkeeper dot org]

The corporate sponsor is Colonial Pipeline.

The community sponsor is Capitol Hill Community Foundation.

This event series is in partnership with Earth Conservation Corps.

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The Get Out! event of the week is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.  

Still Life with Robin: Cloud Iridescence

by Peggy Robin

This column comes about a dozen days after the eye-popping appearance of the weather phenomenon “Cloud Iridescence” in our area. I would have posted about it in last week’s Still Life with Robin column but I wanted to give priority to Restaurant Week (tomorrow, August 21, is the last day!). And it’s not like the photos would become outdated in the meantime. 

Here’s your spirit-lifting dose of “Cloud Iridescence” which lit up the skies on August 9, mainly over Loudon County, VA.  (If the photos don’t all come through on this platform --Groups.io is rather stingy with its allocation of images!)--you can view the photos at All Life Is Local. 

Lisa J McGrail 8:24 PM · Aug 9, 2022 from Ashburn, VA · Twitter

Kevin Fliess  @kevinfliess 6:58 PM · Aug 9, 2022 from Ashburn, VA· Twitter

Hey  @capitalweather - what do you call this cool rainbow coming off this beautiful cumulus cloud?

 

Steve Rodeffer @SteveRodeffer 7:20 PM · Aug 9, 2022 · Twitter

More about “Cloud Iridescence” here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/rainbow-cloud-iridescence-pileus-virginia/ 

….plus a simpler scientific explanation, along with an incredible photo gallery of images here:

https://earthsky.org/earth/iridescent-clouds-have-rainbow-colors/

 

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Still Life with Robin is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.

Get Out! Femme Fatale Is Hosting an Open-Air Market in Cleveland Park on Sunday, 12-4 PM

Happy to report that Femme Fatale, 3409 Connecticut Ave, will be having an Open Market this Sunday in Cleveland Park.

Here's their invitation to attend this free event:

Shop in our open-air market and step inside Femme Fatale DC for Tarot readings and offerings from more than 75 local entrepreneurs. Do a DIY craft and catch our DJ set.

Here's who's coming:

Blue Moon Aquarius Lightweight. Simple. Handcrafted in DC

Bug Bug Club Turning unwanted goods into treasures - reducing DC’s carbon footprint with candles, textiles and crafting kits by Lilly.

Crafts by Tasnim Skincare and self-care. Handmade and hand-poured in Washington D.C. 

della Terra Organics Wellness products made 100% by plants, vegan, and pet friendly - “of the Earth”.  

Fera's Loft Where art meets modern living.  

IndiBlossom by Anuradha Mehra Traditional. Eclectic. Colorful. Modern handmade fashion + home goods inspired by the heritage of India. 

Lita + Ro Soy Candles Passionate about sharing stories, creating memories and honoring amazing people through our richly scented candles. 100% soy candles with cotton wicks - vegan. 

More Than Your Average Bold, bright, fun plus size vintage curated by Mya Price.

neek + nan’s Jarred fresh veggies and herbs. Vegan. Sugar-free. Gluten-free. Toxin-free. Black woman-owned, DMV.

Pencil Roots D.C.based artist and conservationist offering art, art prints, stickers and more. 

Sheree Brand Paper Co. Making art for black and brown women.  

Thrift N’ Prosper Your thrifty big sis, crafter and reseller. Sharing my sustainable journey with you through fashion, DIY and home decor inspiration. 

SUNSOAKED Tarot + Crystal Bar  Catch a Tarot Reading and shop our crystal bar inside Femme Fatale DC. Our Tarot Philosophy: Tarot is a mutualistic and spiralic archetypal narrative useful as a (higher)Self-exploratory and reflective practice. The Tarot invites us to explore what is specific to us in the context of our unifying humanity. WALK-IN and SIGN UP: Single Card Tarot - $18 / Four Card - $35

MO: LIFE OF MAM // M$NP  An artist making art - creating, mixing and living. 

INDIGO DYING at Femme Fatale DC Get an introduction or refresher on tie-dyeing through the wonderful world of indigo. $18 Ticket in advance.

AND MORE at these links: 

FIRE: https://www.femmefataledc.com/blog/fire

AWAKENING: https://www.femmefataledc.com/blog/awakening

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The "Get Out" event of the week is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.