Archive for June 2003

Urban Wildlife

Yesterday walking home through Lafayette Park, there were three ducks, evidently lost, wandering about the park. I tried to get a photo of them but they were too elusive. Then I noticed this squirrel staring at me, probably more interested in being fed than being captured on my internet photolog. We stared each other down as I took this photo

The squirrels in Lafayette Park are quite bold, largely because few people walk their dogs in this park. I’ve decided that Fanny, my cocker spaniel, should visit the park this weekend. It will entertain her and humble the squirrels.

AOLH8R

AOL. How do I hate thee. Let me count the ways.

There are a million reasons to hate AOL. And Starbucks. And Microsoft. But are they worth displaying on your license tag?

Thai Tanic

Thai Tanic is just around the corner from me. Why would anyone name a restaurant Thai Tanic? Do all the diners drown before dessert? Does the waitstaff greet customers with “Hi. I’m King of the World”? Oddly enough, the restaurant has not sunk but has been sailing along for more than a year now with decent food. The flower box is a bright spot on this block of 14th Street which is otherwise decorated with broken beer bottles, discarded chicken bones from the Popeye’s across the street, and other urban detritus. I’ve decided to do take out from them this week. “Nearer my Pad Thai to thee. . . ”

Downpour

Torrential downpours for the second day in a row, this one at rush hour, a D.C. tradition. Just after I took this photo, lightning struck close enough that you could feel the jolt and smell ozone. Everyone jumped from the deafening noise and scurried for cover. This was two blocks from the White House and I would like to think the lightening was badly aimed. A bolt from the heavens might be just what W needs.

She managed to be elegant, even stunning

“She managed to be elegant, even stunning, in a simple and unaffected way.”

Or so says the banner in the window of the Madison Hotel, now undergoing a renovation. Of course, as this picture shows, the Madison right now is neither elegant nor stunning, neither simple nor unaffected. It’s a wreck. Watching its renovation is like watching an anaeasthatized eighty-year old dowager undergoing a facelift that has scarce chance of success. The dreary concrete building looks like a Croatian ministry and could only be saved by demolition.

On the sidewalk next to the hotel a crow feasts on the remains of lunches left by construction workers in a city trash can. Somehow the pitch black crow is more stunning and elegant than the Madison ever will be. The crow resented being photographed and flew off with the piece of chicken firmly grasped in its beak.

Don’t Leave Home Without It. . .

Carry a camera with you and you’ll start seeing things. The first photo is something I’ve walked by for months without noticing. The church inspired by Christopher Wren and the Banana Republic wall are just outside my gym. Such a juxtapostion, and I’d never noticed it.

Then we have “THAT CAR.” I stumbled on it walking down 17th Street tonight. The neighborhood kid with his jaw dropped says more about the car than I ever could.

A fiery sunset

A beautiful sunset, at last. After a month of rain and clouds. People looked at me strangely as I stood on Mass. Ave taking a picture of the cloud you see over the Philippine Embassy, first by itself and then over the Embassy. A small price to pay to capture a cloud on fire.

More grey days. . .

What better way to start this photoblog than with a picture from my dining room window? This was taken at 7 a.m. a week or so ago. Another day in a dreary procession of gray days that for a moment promised a bit of sunshine. There is an apartment building going up outside this window and so this time next year I won’t have this view.