Friday afternoon, Rudi, my friend Sarah, and I went to Yards Park here in D.C. to eat seasonal ice cream flavors at Ice Cream Jubilee and to check out Light Yards, the annual light installation they erect. This year’s is “Swinging Bells,” five 13′ kinetic sculptures you can “ring”:
You sit (or stand) on the bell clapper, but take a friend because it’s really hard to get swinging on your own.
Rudi had to give both Sarah and me pushes.
You can see the Yards’ official Instagram video here, which better demonstrates what a cute concept it is.
Welcome to the ninth door of the Virtual Advent Tour, behind which we find tour cofounder, Marg, who popped into my comments last night to generously offer a post for today. Please head over to The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader for her contribution on holiday food books and tasty seasonal treats.
It’s not about lebkuchen, but I can offer you a holiday sweets song of sorts, “Marshmallow World,” performed here by Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra:
For the eighth day of Advent, we actually head out on the tour portion of our event! Rudi is hosting today, with a post about John Lennon, the Statue of Liberty, and Christmas. Head over and check it out.
But before you go, here is Miley Cyrus, Mark Ronson, and featured performer Sean Ono Lennon performing “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”:
Thanks to Rudi to taking on a few of the dates for me. Should you want to do so, too, just leave me a note in the comments.
1. We held our annual tree-trimming party on Sunday and everyone had a lot of fun. Rudi’s friend, Anne, baked a GBBO showstopper, a chocolate mousse and raspberry cake, which was the highlight of the event.
2. Saturday, I played volleyball for four hours and then spent several more hours at a party with the gang. It was a very long, very social, and very pleasant way to spend the day.
3. Rudi and I had a date evening, stopping by the garden and then strolling into Georgetown. We stopped by a relatively new Lebanese dessert cafe, Pasha Castle, and were treated to samples of the wares. We settled on knafeh, which came with booza, a stretchy ice cream, and pashmak, a flossy cotton candy. It was delicious — rich without being overbearing and sweet without being cloying. We’ll definitely be sending our friends there.
How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?
We’ve made it a week into Advent, which seems surprising. How is a whole week gone from December already?
If you celebrate Hanukkah, may your Festival of Lights have a joyful start this evening! To kick off the eight days, here is Peter, Paul, and Mary singing, “Light One Candle,” at a concert I was in attendance at as a 14-year old:
