We didn’t get shots from every day this last week, but those we did get were worth sharing.
First up, a slideshow of Rudi’s shots from the Georgetown Waterfront Park taken last Sunday:
For those unfamiliar with the area, we are on the D.C. side of the Potomac, and the buildings across the way to the west are in Rosslyn, Virginia. I believe the shots are pretty much all looking north upriver.
Next, we jump to Wednesday night, when we returned to Nationals Park for a loss to the Diamondbacks:
Luckily, we had a really lovely sunset and quite a nice evening for baseball. We have two more games this season — against the Mets next Saturday and then a day game in mid-September. I can’t wait!
Finally, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my coworker and I stayed late at the office last night, which had us leaving just before sunset. Of course, it had rained earlier in the day, so the sky was still grey above us, but looking south offered a view of some pretty amazing cloud structures rolling in:
It’s the final Thursday of August, I’ve experienced my first earthquake, and we’re gearing up for a hurricane, but those aren’t even all of the beautiful things from my past week. Here are three more:
1. A young couple stand behind a taxi putting his luggage in the trunk. All of a sudden she launches herself at him for a final, passionate embrace; he nearly falls over from the force of it.
2. I stop by the Little Farm Stand hoping for some ripe peaches, but I’ve arrived too late. She does have white peach butter, which, when spooned onto torn pieces of baguette, make a really excellent conclusion to our rainy picnic.
3. After storms this afternoon, the weather dries out, but it remains overcast in anticipation of Irene’s arrival this weekend. Just before sundown, though, the high clouds are obscured by magnificent, towering puffs of grey and white. Now, these are clouds!
How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?
ETA (2:32 p.m.): After a short evacuation, we’re back in the building. 5.9 on the Richter scale with the epicenter 90 miles south of D.C. Nothing fell off the walls here on the sixth floor, but you could see things moving, and I definitely was glad to be standing in a doorway as the building waved back and forth.
Rudi is likely heading home for the day, although that’s not yet certain.
I heard from a friend that she could feel it in southeastern Connecticut.
Cycling etiquette: When you are biking around town and you hear the first chords of a song you like coming from the car in front of you before they change the station to something they inexplicably prefer, it is not acceptable to shout, “No! Turn it back! I was listening to that!”
Because I only got two stanzas’ worth of the song on my ride in this morning, I offer the Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’ Man” to you here:
Also, I wanted to alert everyone that The Green Album, a new take by modern bands on Muppets classics comes out tomorrow. Some of the songs are straight-up homages, while others are re-interpretations. I’d tell you which songs I like, but I fear it pretty much would look like the track list. That said, “Moving Right Along” (covered by Alkaline Trio), “Rainbow Connection” (Weezer and Hayley Williams), the “Muppet Show Theme” (OK Go), and “I’m Going to Go back There Someday” (Rachael Yamagata) are particular standouts for me after my first week of listening.
You can stream the album this week for free, but they leave the artists off their listings, so you’ll want to head here to see who’s singing. I recommend you give it a listen (every day if you’re like me) and then add the album to your collection in whatever format you acquire new music these days.
Peter and Max by Bill Willingham with illustrations by Steve Leialoha
From the jacket: “When an unspeakable tragedy befalls a family of traveling minstrels, they become stranded and left for dead. Here in the heart of The Black Forest, Peter Piper and his older brother Max encounter ominous forces that will change them both irreparably. Thus begins an epic tale of sibling rivalry, magic, music and revenge that spans medieval times to the present day when their deadly conflict surfaces in the placid calm of modern-day Fabletown.”
My take: Peter Piper and his wheelchair-bound wife, Bo Peep, live on a farm in upstate New York. Actually, they live on the outskirts of The Farm, which is an annex of Fabletown, the modern New York City neighborhood that is home to all manner of refugees from other, parallel worlds that inspire our fairy tales.
Peter (it was just one pickled pepper, not a whole peck, by the way) and Bo (she does love her sheep) get along pretty well in the modern world until one day Peter is informed that his brother, Max, has been sighted. Gathering intel from the Wolf (still huge and now married to Snow White) and the Witch (who has renounced her more wicked ways and these days is mostly just enigmatic), Peter sets out to track down Max — and to kill him.
Of course, there’s more to the story. Max is also looking to kill Peter. And he means business. Remember the Pied Piper of Hamelin? Cleared the town of rats and then took their kids, too? That was Max. He’s a charming fellow.
In case brotherly intrigue is not enough for you, there’s also a family heirloom in the form of a magic flute; a second, evil flute; a rebounded curse; and a curse on all of Fabletown. Max and Peter’s showdown might be secret, but everyone’s invested in its outcome.
The story, which alternates between Peter’s preparations to find his brother and flashbacks to his childhood and youth, is part of a larger Fabletown oeuvre by author Bill Willingham. I haven’t read the rest, most of which, I believe, are in the form of graphic novels, but this story has piqued my interest. I feel like this novel would be a good recommendation for reluctant teen readers, as it has the pacing of a comic, but in the fleshed out format of a novel. It would also be a good read for anyone who enjoys fairy tales or those who like alternate takes of classic stories.
Finding the soap we bought in France nearly three years ago just as we run out.
The car radio (which is on its last legs) does not die while we’re stuck in traffic, which allows us to sing along with Rudi’s fantastic playlist created just for our beach trip.
A fantastic fresh flounder sandwich and red birch beer for a late lunch on the beach.
Waves!
Dolphins!
My new beach towel (my first in nearly two decades) is gigantic and absorbent, and I snuggle into it.
Four flavors of fudge to take home.
Dinner for two at a roadside diner costs less than $15.
A drive to the country means two weekend days in a row with Rudi.
My new baseball book, Diamond Ruby is excellent, perhaps the best I’ve read this year.
Five of us around John’s table after a delicious dinner. Nicole gives me locally produced soy milk with my hunk of cake (my grandfather would have approved of her slice sizes), and we reminisce about jobs we had as teenagers and our first cars.
Dead a/c. At least it’s mostly sticking to highs in the 80s this week.
A cupcake with Elspeth post-work. She’s back in the area, doing important work in a field she’s excited about. I’d like to be more like her when I grow up.
Crackerjack at the ballpark. Two home runs from the Nats means a notch in the win column.
Dinner at the Argonaut post-game. My root beer hails from the south, and my fish taco does not disappoint.
The garden is not as sad as I feared it might be. The chili pepper plant is covered with buds and blossoms, and there are more flowers on the squash. We celebrate by having last week’s squash in a stir-fry.
Thunderstorms mean the music at the Yards ends just after I arrive. We snag a spot under the pavilion before the rain begins (although encroaching puddles would later force a shift), and John, Rudi, Nicole, and I have a picnic with a view of lightning. Local white peach butter on baguette is the hit of the evening. We are the last ones to leave, long after darkness falls.
Another week come and gone. But before we move on to the weekend, it’s time to look back at three beautiful things from the past week:
1. John and Nicole host a dinner party. The food (all vegan) is scrumptious, and Nicole sends us home with a hunk of chocolate maple cake.
2. After months of practically no rain, we get three storms in less than a week. The absence has made us grateful and glad, and we stick arms out car windows, splash through puddles from under our umbrellas, and fall asleep to its lullaby.
3. When we first arrive at the beach the ocean water feels cold. Tired of inching my way in, I dive under a wave and bob along with the surf. Later the water feels warmer than the air, and I dive back in just to feel warm again.
How about you? What have you found beautiful this week?
Peter and Max by Bill Willingham with illustrations by Steve Leialoha