Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Sunset, Seagulls, Sailboats and So Forth...

Today begins a series of photos I took over in East Potomac Park a couple of weeks ago. This is another of Washington's urban treasures of tranquility. For more than 20 years, it was the home of The Awakening at Haines Point, but several weeks ago, this well-loved sculpture was dug up and moved to the largest development project in the country--Prince George's County's National Harbor. A monstrosity to consumerism, but touted as a destination point and the place to live and work, it will soon feature this fun sculpture.

Haines Point is still a lively spot in the city, but it's a bit sadder and lonelier without The Awakening and, once a fun place to take visitors and tourists to see something out of the ordinary, it's no longer a specific point of interest unless you like watching airplanes take off and land from Washington National Airport on the other side of the river. In general, though, it's still a lovely park and a nice respite off the beaten paths and frenzied energy of the city.

Sunset, Seagulls, Sailboats and So Forth... will run sporadically over the next week or so along with my regularly scheduled posts. I hope you enjoy it.

2 comments:

Rob said...

I like the Awakening sculpture. I am always suspect of our governing officials to move things about. Looking forward to your project.

Janet Kincaid said...

Rob: I like the Awakening, too! It's so much fun to show people, but there's no way I'll drive out to PG County just to show that to friends who are visiting. What irks me is, some mega rich dude (the development) bought it because he could. What I wish is, he'd bought it and then left it where it was. Unfortunately, the artist, who had a huge say in whether it would be installed, agreed to have it moved. Buggers!