Two Things Challenge: In the Sky / On the Ground

In the Sky: Storm clouds over Fairfax

On the Ground: Beautiful landscaping

This week's Two Things Challenge was In the Sky/ On the Ground. I have a few groupings I thought worked well for this. I've been spending a couple of days a week out at my parent's home helping them with some home improvement projects. Fortunately, the weather has been pleasant and cool. The above photos were taken at or near my parents. The first: storm clouds as shot from Mom's and Dad's front yard. The second: landscaping at one of their neighbors. I love this house and its precise arrangement. It always looks so orderly. I especially like the Japanese maple mid-yard. I'm thinking of getting one of those for my yard.

(L) In the Sky: Graffiti in the header of the closet I was demolishing.

(R): On the Ground: The Dirty Bastard Cat playing with a bag of recycling in the office.

As mentioned above, I'm helping my parents with some renovations. Last week, one of my tasks was to demolish a closet in the guest bedroom. Years ago, this closet was a new addition to the room it's in. My brother was living at home at the time and helped with construction. This is his handwritting inside the closet, which I only noticed when I looked up. He was/is obviously a big X Files fan. The second picture is of the cat playing with a plastic bag full of recycling I had just gathered and was preparing to take out to the bin. After he fooled around with this for a bit, he then laid down on it and took a nap! Dumb cat. (Note: Don't panic. I just put the recycling in the bag. I didn't put the bag itself into the bin, only what was in it which was mostly paper.)

In the Sky: Sunrise after the storm

On the Ground: Little purple pansy

These last two I took a few days ago. I was up early, sitting in my office reading the news and email. When I looked up, I noticed we were about to have the most amazing sunrise. I threw a coat on over my pajamas, grabbed my camera and my keys, and dashed out the door. The first picture was taken from Fort Stevens Park. The second is in my driveway. I noticed this little pansy standing upright in the midst of elm seeds from my large and messy elm tree. I guess during the storm the previous night, it had blown from the neighbor's yard over to my driveway and landed (?) upright like this.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 5/08

High Flying

Dulles International Airport (IAD):
One of D.C.'s three airports and the busiest of them all.
Taken at sunrise.

A longer exposure and slightly enhanced shot of IAD at sunrise.

Washington Dulles International Aiport (IAD) is one of three airports serving the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan corridor. In addition to Dulles, there is Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) near Baltimore and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on the Potomac River. The only advantage to picking up a friend from the airport who has flown a red-eye is the opportunity it afforded me to take pictures of one of D.C.'s most picturesque and architecturally stunning airports.

IAD is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. (His grandfather and an uncle also served as Secretaries of State under Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Woodrow Wilson, respectively.) Dulles is credited with strengthening NATO, instigating the ANZUS treaty with Australia and New Zealand, and working closely with the CIA (under the directorship of his brother, Allen Welsh Dulles) to overthrow the democratically-elected governments of Iran and Guatemala. (In hindsight and in light of recent unrest in the world, probably not the best idea, eh?) He was also a pioneer of "mutually assured destruction"--a Cold War phrase for nuking the hell out of the enemy. In many respects, Dulles' diplomacy contributed to the heightened tensions of the Cold War. At one point, he told an interviewer, "The United States doesn't have friends, it has interests." Chilling, no?

But, this is about IAD. Located on land selected by President Eisenhower, the airport is 26 miles from Washington in now-suburban Virginia. It straddles the Loudoun and Fairfax County lines, but has a Washington, D.C., address. The building was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and gives the suggestion of flight with its swooping roof, expansive glass exteriors, and halogen lighting. The airport was dedicated in November 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. United Airlines is the airport's busiest carrier shuttling 61% of all travelers through its gates. In 2006 alone, more than 23 million passengers* traveled through IAD.

*Compared to BWI: 20.7 million and DCA: 18.5 million.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 3/08