by Peggy Robin
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Still Life with Robin: Tom Sietsema know what makes a good restaurant!
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Get Out! Monday, May 29 is Memorial Day and the Grand Marshals Are Apollo Astronauts
by Peggy Robin
The National Memorial Day Parade is on Monday, May 29 from 1:00 - 4:45 PM
- Starting at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue
- Proceeding north on 7th Street to Constitution Avenue NW
- West on Constitution to 17th Street NW
- Disbanding on Virginia Avenue and 18th Streets
The Grand Marshals of the 2023 parade are ‘The Legends of Apollo’ – Russell ‘Rusty’ Schweickart (lunar module pilot on Apollo 9), Charlie Duke (lunar module pilot on Apollo 16), and Harrison ‘Jack’ Schmitt (lunar module pilot on Apollo 17) – heroes from NASA’s famed Apollo program 50 years ago and among the first men to walk on the moon. This comes as NASA prepares the next generation of moonwalkers through the forthcoming Artemis program.
For more details, visit: https://www.americanveteranscenter.org/avc-events/parade/
To watch from home (via YouTube): WATCH THE PARADE
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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.
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Still Life with Robin: Why Stay on Twitter? For the Recycling Tips!
by Peggy Robin
Thursday, May 18, 2023
Get Out! It's the Adams Morgan Porchfest on Saturday, May 20 from 2-6 PM
Friday, May 12, 2023
Still Life with Robin: Something old, something new, something on the way, something too old to know how old, and something that changes every now and then
by Peggy Robin
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Get Out! Celebrate the EU in DC; Support Authors of Banned Books in Columbia, MD; Appreciate the Fine Arts in Bethesda - All in ONE WEEKEND
by Peggy Robin
The 2023 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival is back this weekend, featuring fine art created by 120 of the nation's best artists, live entertainment, and great food from Bethesda restaurants.
Don't miss the
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/fVQN97wMxM7wgs8SA?coh=178572&entry=tt
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Still Life with Robin: Would somebody turn down the volume on those birds! Part 2: Update & thank-you!
by Peggy RobinAmerican Robin
(Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Get Out! And Come to the Fair (a/k/a The Flower Mart at Washington National Cathedral)
by Peggy Robin
It's that time of year....it's time for the FLOWER MART at the Washington National Cathedral....and it looks like the weather will cooperate.
The 84th Annual Flower Mart takes place on on the Cathedral grounds
Friday, May 5th from 10 am - 6 pm
Saturday, May 6th from 10 am - 5 pm.
Let me just say this straight out! This is the BEST EVENT of the season. If you can't enjoy the Flower Mart....Well, I can't complete this sentence because I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't find something to enjoy. Here's just some of what's on:
- Fun rides & slides for the kiddies
- Good food from around the world
- Dozens or vendors and craftspeople selling gifts, fashions, accessories and handicrafts
- White elephant treasures and trinkets
- The Cathedral Tower Climb
- Plant & Flower Sale
- International Floral Show
- Puppet shows and, many other performances, including dancing Morris Men!
Ride Our Antique Carousel
All Hallows Guild’s antique carousel is a favorite of the young and young at heart. It dates from around 1890, and is one of only two surviving carousels manufactured by the U.S. Merry-Go-Round Corporation. The carousel was purchased by the Guild in 1963 and we continue to restore and refurbish this historic treasure.
Learn more about the antique carousel: https://allhallowsguild.org/programs/flower-mart/antique-carousel/
Visit the "Flower District."
Our Flower District is located in the center of the Cathedral's front lawn. In addition to excellent array of garden plants, you will find herbs, bonsai, orchids, floral arrangements and cut blooms. We will have a variety of interesting containers in which to display your plants. The talented and knowledgeable Cathedral horticulture staff will be on hand to answer your gardening questions.
Explore Our Booths
Purchase spring plants for your garden, find treasures in our White Elephant Tent, children's books in our Book Tent, and shop for a wide array of merchandise at over 65 boutique booths. Flower Mart is the perfect place to find gifts for Mothers Day, graduations, and something special just for you!
Map and listing of vendors and booths:
https://allhallows.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/FlowerMart/FM2023map-_brochure.pdf
International Floral Display
Since 2006, Washington Embassies and their floral designers will have installed gorgeous displays that highlight each country’s natural and cultural heritage in the nave of the National Cathedral. The floral display is open throughout Flower Mart. Bring your camera. Admission is FREE.
Read more about the Floral Displays here: https://allhallowsguild.org/programs/flower-mart/international-floral-display/
Free Entertainment
Throughout both days of Flower Mart, entertainers perform on the main stage in front of the Cathedral (or inside in the event of rain). We will present a wide-ranging array of talented singers, dancers, musicians, and choral groups.
Check the schedule of performances here: https://allhallowsguild.org/programs/flower-mart/fun-activities/
Puppet Show & Other Activities for Kids
In addition to our carousel, Flower Mart has an entire Children’s Area with a huge array of games and carnival rides. Tickets for the carousel, rides, and games, can be purchased at the ticket booth in the Children’s Area.
The Lewinsville Puppeteers are back at Flower Mart this year! They will be presenting "Happily Ever After" in the Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel on both days of Flower Mart. Purchase tickets for the puppet show in the Children's Area.
Puppet Show Poster: https://allhallows.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/FlowerMart/FM2023PuppetShow.pdf
Cathedral Tower Climb
The Tower Climb returns to Flower Mart this year! Experience Washington DC like never before with a climb to the top of the Cathedral towers, where you’ll experience panoramic vistas from the highest geographical point in the nation’s capital.
Tower Climb tickets are $30 and will be sold at the Tower Climb Tent on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6. Tower Climbs will take place on Friday at 1:30pm & 4:30pm, and Saturday at 10:30am, 12:00pm, 1:30pm, 3:30pm. Tickets are limited.
Please note: Prepare for rigorous activity. The Tower Climb is not for those with a fear of heights or enclosed spaces, or for those with limited mobility – stairs include both enclosed stone staircases and also open metal, spiral stairs. Participants must be at least 11 years old, and the minimum height requirement is 48 inches. Infants cannot be carried on Tower Climbs.
Enjoy Great Food
Flower Mart has everything from barbecue and smoothies to funnel cakes, crepes and artisan pizza. Don't miss grabbing a lobster roll - a Flower Mart favorite!
Parking Information
During Flower Mart, there is no parking on the streets of the Cathedral; however there are a limited number of spaces in the Cathedral’s underground parking garage. On Friday, May 5 regular hourly garage rates will apply. On Saturday, May 6 there will be a $10 event parking fee upon entry to the garage (cash, credit or debit card). The parking garage will be open from 6 am until 11 pm both days.
Whatever else you do on this action-packed weekend, don't miss the Flower Mart this Friday or Saturday!
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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.
Monday, May 1, 2023
Still Life with Robin: Would somebody turn down the volume on those birds!
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Blackbird vocalizing Image by Wikimedia Creative Commons |
I've always been a light sleeper, waking up to any sort of noise. But there's a new one this year and I still haven't figured out how to deal with it. It's bird song....and it's loud! It's been starting around 5:00 or 5:30 every morning for the past few days. It's not an unpleasant noise -- it's actually fairly melodic--- not squawking, cawing, or screeching -- but lots of chirping and tweet-tweet-tweeting. It's the decibel level that gets to me. I can't imagine how many birds, or dozens of birds, it might take to produce sound at that volume.
I have absolutely no idea what type of birds I'm hearing. Or where they might be. Or how long they'll keep this up. Given that this is the first year I've heard them, I guess I'll just have to wait to find out more. I've walked around the yard in daylight, looking up at the trees to see if I can spot any big, new nests. There's a large, old silver maple and a medium-sized pear tree in my front yard, and I can't see any evidence of a nesting colony having taken up residence in any of the branches. But then, I don't really know if I should be looking for nests. Maybe the birds are just getting together for an early morning sing-off and happen to have converged on a spot near my house....?
Anyway, what good would it do me if I found out why they're being so loud? There's nothing I could --or would-- do about it, if I discovered the cause. Who am I to tell a bunch of birds where and how loud they can sing? The trees are their habitat, while mine is inside a house. It's on me to deal with the noise that penetrates my walls -- I get that. I just haven't quite figured out a strategy. Ear plugs? It's part of the light-sleeper syndrome that I find it impossible to fall asleep with foreign things stuck in my ears. I lie awake, just itching to pull them out, until I finally do. White noise machine? Simply another type of noise, in some ways worse that the bird racket. I've tried it on many settings from "gentle rain" to "pounding surf." The rain setting makes me feel like my roof's sprung a leak, while the surf setting gets me tense, as I'm waiting for the next wave to crash -- the big one that could wash me out to sea. Of course, at the time of night when I'm ready to sleep, all is quiet; it will be many hours before the bird noise begins. So I have little incentive to tolerate the feel of the ear plugs or the sound of the white noise machine as I'm trying to fall asleep.
I suspect, by the time I come up with some sort of solution, the problem will resolve itself. It could be just a temporary, seasonal thing, and the birds will move on when they're ready. Maybe that's something they're discussing with each other in their early morning conferences. Where's the next stop on our song-tour? Who'll be next the next audience for our pre-dawn serenade?
While I don't foresee how this little story will end, it does remind me of an incident that took place sometime in the early 1980s, when I had a house on Macomb St, not far from my present house on Ashley Terrace. My cousin Rob was in DC for a few days, here from New York. I put him up in a cozy little attic room with a dormer window, just at eye level with the branches of a grand old pin oak. When you looked out that window and saw the great branches, all leafed out in green, you could imagine that you were in a treehouse in the middle of the forest. You could easily forget you how close you were to downtown, just a few stops away by Metro, from the station two blocks to the north.
After Rob had spent the first night up there, he came down for breakfast, and I asked him how he'd slept.
"Terrible!" he replied, and I was shocked. The bed had a good mattress, excellent bedding, fluffy pillows -- and the temperature just right.
"What was the matter?" I asked anxiously.
"Those birds!" he said. "Right outside the window -- so noisy! How does anyone sleep through it?"
"You thought the birds were too loud?" I said skeptically. "But you live in Manhattan! There are sirens all night long. Car alarms. And the bars on your block close down at 3 am. All much louder than a few birds in the trees."
His reply? "It all depends on what you're used to. I'm used to those noises, so I just tune them out. I'm not used to bird noise, so I couldn't get back to sleep."
It's been more than 40 years since we had this conversation -- and my wise cousin is no longer with us -- but I'm betting he's right and in time I will learn to tune out the avian chorus....or perhaps they will move on, just as I master the skill. Either way will be OK.
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays -- most of the time -- but occasionally it does get pushed back a few days, especially if I've had an interruption in my normal routine (including much-needed sleep) and so need to nap during the day!
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Get Out! And Explore the FRENCH MARKET in Georgetown, Friday - Sunday
by Peggy Robin
JE T'AIME GEORGETOWN!
Our annual Georgetown French Market is a popular open-air market – originally inspired by the outdoor markets in France – that has become a tradition in DC, and one of the biggest shopping events of the year for our small businesses of Book Hill. In 2023, we’re celebrating our 20th edition!
Georgetown French MarketFriday, APRIL 28 10 AM to 5 PM
Saturday, APRIL 29 10 AM to 5 PM
Sunday, APRIL 30 12 PM to 5 PM
Book Hill's Parisian-Inspired
Sidewalk Sale along Wisconsin Avenue from O Street to Reservoir Road
More than 35 local boutiques, antique stores, restaurants, salons and galleries display their discounted wares for up to 75% off.
Neighborhood restaurants also offer food and drink specials, including:
- Lunch items from an outdoor grill
- A sale on French wines
- Pastries, croissants, and macarons from French bakery Patisserie Poupon.
On Saturday and Sunday, the French Market also features:
- Live music
- A balloon artist
- A caricature artist
- Roaming stilt-walkers
- A unicyclist
- Pop-up flower and book sales
- And more!
Visit our official French Market website for the full list of promos and programming!
The 20th Annual Georgetown French Market is sure to be magnifique!
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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.
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Still Life with Robin: The former "Dave Thomas Circle" needs a new name -- and DDOT wants your help!
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DDOT NY/FL Ave redesign project |