It was a beautiful night at the park.

I’ve started several drafts trying to talk about the unrest here in D.C. and across the country.

I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that the president has declared martial law in my city and has brought police forces in who do not answer to my duly elected officials.

I am trying to come to terms with the role my white privilege plays in the larger concerns over racist policing and governmental policies, as well as my own cowardice at thwarting the curfew and going to join people whose anger I believe is justified and their cause righteous.

And I am trying to figure out what concrete steps I can take to help find real solutions to complex problems that seem outside of my hands.

But maybe the first one is to get involved with electing leaders again who want to glorify the good of the people, rather than themselves, and who are willing to put energy and resources toward finding consensus and real world solutions.

The sky was lovely early this morning.

Glory be! D.C.’s parks are likely going to reopen on Friday. I took this shot as I passed by our park recently. I’m sad I wasn’t able to hang out there during iris season, but obviously public safety is more important than my desire to spend time in pretty places.

If I can get my act together to actually shut my computer down at 3 when the “office” “closes” on Friday, I am absolutely going to take a book up to the park and sit up there and read. (Work is super busy with personnel transitions this week and next and lots of deadlines coming up or overdue, so it may be closer to 5, but still…) I will probably take one of our portable chairs with me, because I don’t really want to touch shared surfaces any more than necessary, but I am going to be outside!

Phase 1 of reopening also allows people to get haircuts, but not pedicures. I’m not really sure what the specific difference is there, but I’m not going for either anytime soon.

I went for a bike ride this evening in Georgetown. I had meant to go to the pond at Constitution Garden to visit some water fowl, but instead decided at the last minute to see what the Potomac River and C&O Canal had to offer.

They are several years into construction on some of the locks closer to the mouth of the canal, which means that several miles of the canal upstream from downtown Georgetown have been allowed to grow fenny. I knew they’d become overgrown, but hadn’t understood exactly how solid the ground now was until I saw deer walking in the canal itself.

First I saw this young buck on the far side:

I had a hard time getting the camera to focus on how very velvety his horns looked.

Maybe half a mile down the towpath, I spotted a doe’s head poking up from below the bank on my side of the canal. I hopped off my bike and walked back, speaking quietly to her, because clearly she’d seen and heard me already.

While she kept an eye on me, she just seemed more wary than worried. In fact, she started walking even closer. (These shots are not zoomed in at all.)

Sometimes, you just have to scratch that itch on your head, no matter who’s watching, right?

After that, I headed home. No duckling sightings today, but up-close deer are just as good.