MLK Commemoration

I went on a Martin Luther King commemoration run in the District this week so that I could stand in the presence of greatness, in the shadow of the towering, brooding Dr. King statue at the MLK Memorial on the Tidal Basin.  It's directly across the water from the Jefferson Memorial which is dedicated to our third president, a slaveowner who enslaved his own children that he had with his paramour, slave Sally Jennings.  (Far away, illuminated like two shining cities on the hills, The MLK Memorial on the left and the Washington Monument on the right.)

 
Enroute to the MLK site I ducked into the basement of the Jefferson Memorial to use its facilities (runners always know where there are bathrooms on their usual routes) and, strolling through the bookstore down there to catch another few minutes of warmth before I ventured back outside into the cold again, I noticed they sold little books of the US Constitution (it's not very long, even with all of the amendments included), and I asked the clerk how much the purchase of 53 copies would be so I could run across the Mall to the Capitol and deliver them to the Republican senators there currently railroading the rigged impeachment trial through the process in the hope that those 53 craven sycophants might read it for the first time.  The $20 bill I was carrying wouldn't cover the purchase so I couldn't save our country from sliding into a kleptocratic autocracy; always the wise guy!  (Reflections cast by the Father of our Country.)

I made it to the King Memorial a few minutes later, avoiding the ruined, silt-covered buckling footpath (the entire seawall is sinking and the footpath is often flooded in large stretches) by cutting through the FDR Memorial next door.  There I reflected for a few moments upon the King legacy, an uplifting bequeathal to us during my very lifetime time, and ruminated sadly upon how quickly and low we have sunk to as a result of a single foreign-assisted reckless presidential election cycle, an interference sure to be repeated later this year because the faux president and the Senate led by Moscow Mitch have, for whatever corrupt reasons compelling them, not taken a single step to assure that the chaos doesn't get even worse the next time.  (He had a Dream.)

Sad for my country, I finished my run albeit encouraged personally because although my pace was slow, the four miles went easily, my longest run in months since I cut back my mileage total way back in the fall due to a series of nagging leg problems.  Maybe, like my running health, my country will get better come November despite my anxieties.  (I have a dream that a better America is coming...)

The Cherry Blossoms 2019

Washington is famous in the spring for its flowering and beautifully colorful blossoming of the Cherry Blossom trees around the Tidal Basin, gifts from Japan when we were their friends (after WWI), before we were their enemies (WWII) and now we're their bosom buddies (post Occupation, but pre-Trump).

Pink and white natural colors of the blooms are riotous, but the wildlife don't notice.

I was in Europe, my first trip overseas, when the blossoms were at their peak.

But when I got back, I traversed the Tidal Basin a few days after The Peak and it was singularly still beautiful, before it subsided very quickly into the green leaves of the actual growing phase of these special trees.

National Tulip Library

On this week's, and last week's, long runs, we passed by the National Tulip Library by the Tidal Basin, which last week had started to burgeon.

This week they had lost their bloom and were fading.

But they'll be back next year.

In a field between the aforementioned Tidal Basin and the Washington Monument, every year around the start of May the field blooms with beds of tulips waving gently in the wind.

More Cherry Blossoms

It's just about over for the spectacular cherry blossom blooms.

Enjoy.

The beautiful colors of spring will still be ongoing even as these blooms fade.

Wait till next year for these special blossoms.

Cherry Blossom Run 2018

Yesterday the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin in DC were reportedly at peak bloom, so I met a friend and former colleague from work outside my old shop and we ran 2018's version of the Cherry Blossom run.  Driving to Haines Point amidst all the traffic going to see the blooms and parking there was adventuresome but I accomplished it, being rewarded along the way by being surrounded by the beautiful blooming trees as I jockeyed for a parking space and finally meeting my running buddy, DiDi, only 15 minutes late.

This 3-mile sightseeing jaunt was going to be my long run for the week and fortunately we had plenty of stops due to the crowded walkways along the waterfront and so I could take pictures of the flowering trees.  The run itself showed me I'm still woefully out of shape as I labored mightily to keep up with my far more fit friend, she of the five half-marathon races run last year, but with the forced stops and slowdowns, it went pretty well despite my poor conditioning.

The day was deceptively cool.  Although sunny, it was windy and raw along the wide-open waterway.

There were unusual sights along the way in addition to the bustling crowds, like the artist painting the trees in their bloom.  I mentioned to her that she needed to start adding some pink to her canvas to go with the blue of the sky and water, the brown of the tree trunks and limbs and the green of the grass, and she politely smiled at my smart-alecky suggestion, pulled her gloves on ever tighter to ward off the cold and went on with her passion.

This is an example of the splendor she was hoping to capture in her painting when she started adding the pink of the blossoms.  It is a sight well worth a visit to the District despite the bother of the crowds, traffic and lack of parking.

Alongside the Tidal Basin is the National Flower Library which reveals its location each spring on an otherwise grassy field by the first sign of the perennial tulips poking up.  Just last week there were only a few green shoots poking up, by next week there will be a plethora of different colored flowers in neatly set beds.

Last year's Cherry Blossom run produced one of my favorite animal pictures, a goose sailing along serenely with blown away petals bejeweling its back.  Last year the blossoms were more scrawny and blew down much sooner than this year.

Here's another picture from last year's run.  Each spring I make an effort to run around the Tidal Basin, with friends preferably, to see these world-renowned blooms at or near their peak.

More Cherry Blossoms

Jefferson Memorial.

Washington Monument.

Cherry Blossoms.

Pink-rimmed Tidal Basin.

Cherry Blossom Festival

The Cherry Blossom Festival in DC started on the day of the March for Our Lives rally.  The cherry blossoms hadn't bloomed yet, but they're out in full flower now, best seen around the Tidal Basin.

There's a lot to see besides the trees on the Tidal Basin, like the FDR Memorial, which has a section depicting each of his four terms.  Here tourists are hamming it up in the first term section depicting a bread line while Roosevelt struggled to ameliorate the ravages of the depression wrought by the Republican president Herbert Hoover.  Hmmm.

Throughout the day during Festival Week there are performances on the stage set up in the basin's parking lot.  There's a temporary food court there with picnic tables so visitors can sit and eat and be entertained too amidst the beautiful backdrop of resplendent cherry blossom petals.

Over on the other side of the pond, TJ stands in his portico gazing across the way at the newcomer on the basin, MLK, Jr.  For those interested in symbols, a cross is formed along the Mall by the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol as the long piece and the cross piece being framed by the White House and the Jefferson Memorial, with the Washington Monument being the joining point.

Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon

Easter Sunday was a wonderful day.  It started in the morning as I went for my long run of 5K for the new week.

At noon I went to the Long Dog Cafe for lunch, my usual spot for a holiday lunch.  The fare was Dog Collars (onion rings) and the Greek Pizza Pie.

I was joined by a friend with whom I was going to view the Cherry Blossoms in the District after lunch.  I wished her a Happy Passover and she wished me a Happy Easter and made the pointed observation in a playful dig at my cultural myopia that pizza, being made from leavened dough, thus was unsuitable for her consumption during the religious holiday.

It being Sunday, we found free parking on Haines Point and walked to the Tidal Basin from there.  The beautiful Cherry Blossom trees ringing the circular tidal pond were given to the United States by Japan in 1912 in a gesture of friendship.

The blossoms were blooming, a wonderful explosion of muted pink and soft off-white petals.  Ducks glided around the Tidal Basin, oblivious to the hectic pedestrian tumult on the pathway above the retaining banks.

The splash of colors went on and on, all the way around the Tidal Basin.  The day, though overcast, was temperate and made the stroll very pleasant despite the crowds on the confined walkways.

After about four miles of walking and viewing, we made our way back to our car and noted that the District had left a Welcome note to visitors and residents alike on a long row of illegally parked cars in the form of $50 tickets, with the notation "tow requested" marked on them, in its ever-increasing venal quest for revenue through the proliferating use of parking restrictions and speed, red light and stop sign cameras.  Hey, we're glad you're here!

The day was ended on a flavorful note as we enjoyed homemade ice cream at a local confectionary shop.  The cherry blossom blooms are still at peak so visitors should get here soon to view them in their full glory, but be sure to study the parking signs when you park.

Cherry Blossom 2018

It's Cherry Blossom Festival time in DC this week.  Earlier in the week I perambulated the Tidal Basin, but the petals weren't really out yet.

This morning I went back to the Mall and the Dogwood blossoms were out.  They always precede the Cherry Blossoms by a week or two.

Around the Tidal Basin, the Cherry Blossoms were promising but not yet fully bloomed.  The crowds were ever present and will only get worse as the week to come progresses.

A tree here or there had bloomed for the most part.  Blossoms and buds, side by side.

The Tidal Basin has a slew of attractions, well worth a perambulation.  Like the FDR Memorial.

Also the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial is there, the newest addition.  Dr. King's stern visage gazes in impenetrable reflection at the Jefferson Memorial across the way.

One of my favorite monuments, the World War I Memorial. lies across the street on the backside of the MLK Memorial.  This year is the centennial mark of the end of that useless and costly war.

There's more close by the Tidal Basin.  Today was the kite festival by the Washington Monument, and there'll be more to speak about and show in a subsequent post.

The Cherry Blossom Run

Last month I got together with a couple of running buddies from my former workplace and we did a noontime Cherry Blossom run around the Tidal Basin to view the flowering trees at their full splendor.  It had been a rough year for the blooms as the weather had been unnaturally warm for so long in February and early March that they started to bloom early but then they got hit with a spell of extended freezing weather which threatened to knock them off of their bloom.

But, hardy souls, they came out anyway, although muted somewhat compared to other years.  Still, a spectacular show as usual.

Pink pinks, white whites, the colors were there, it's just that the petals were less robust than normal.  Usually the flowering blooms are so frothy and numerous that they form a floating circle six or eight feet wide of downed petals along the walls of the Tidal Basin sea wall, but this year that effect was way off.

But it was a display not to be missed, as usual.  I love running in DC with friends at any time.