Walk Away

Walk Away : Train Station : Manassas, Virginia

Returning to our wanderings through Old Town Manassas, here is the train station that provides commuter service between Washington and Manassas via Amtrak and the Virginia Railway Express (VRE.) These two photos stood out among all of the ones I took. The one above, I'm calling Walk Away.

Washington via Manassas

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 01/09

Painterly

Christine Raymond : Artist-at-Work

The inauguration last week sort of threw things off a bit around here, so this week's 100 Strangers is appearing late. Or early, depending on your perspective. In our wanderings around Old Town Manassas, my friend took me to see her favorite art studio and gallery in town--the Creative Brush. Today's 100 Stranger series features Christine Raymond, daughter of Creative Brush's owner, Mary Reilly. While I was there, Christine was working on a commissioned piece. I chose to capture her working on the piece while one of her finished works--Bodie* Lighthouse in North Carolina's Outer Banks--stood on an easel waiting to be lacquered and framed.

Pretty in Pink

Today's 100 Strangers is a double-feature. In the back of the studio, a lovely lady named Linda was working on a painting of a friend's granddaughter. Linda has been studying under Mary Reilly for two years and this is the result! I was stunned. My maternal grandmother was an artist and she would have loved this studio. When I see people painting and the beauty they produce, it reminds me of all of the loveliness my grandmother brought into the world with her talents.


* Pronounced body.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 01/09

Escapist

Escapist

I was in Manassas, Virginia, a week or so ago hanging out with a friend. We went photo walking in Old Town Manassas and snapped pictures here and there of this and that. This is the alley between an art studio/gallery, which I'll be featuring on Monday as part of 100 Strangers, and some office suites.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 01/09

Reveal

Widewater Gap in Winter

Yesterday, in a need to get out for a little bit, I went over to Widewater Gap on the C&O Canal for some walking and to enjoy the sunset. I've featured the gap on here a few times. You can see pictures of this beautiful setting here in the late spring and here in the fall. The photo above is how it looks in the winter.

Sunset : Widewater Gap

The gap is one of my favorite places in the D.C. Metro area. There are very few places one can access with relative ease in this area that offer this kind of tranquility and beauty. I love going here.

Encore : Widewater Gap

After I got home, I had a conversation with Virginia of Birmingham Daily Photo. Later that evening, she sent me a few quotes she had lying around in her inbox. This one struck me most:

Winter Foliage : Widewater Gap

"Although we have been taught that if we let go
we will end up with nothing, life reveals just the opposite:
that letting go is the real path to freedom."
--Sonia Rinpoche

Reflected : Widewater Gap

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Writing

Handmade wood-barreled pens

This past weekend, I attended the 17th Annual Washington D.C. Collectible Fountain Pen Supershow in Tysons Corner, Virginia, at the Sheraton Premier. I'm not an avid pen collector, but the friend who invited me along is. I wasn't sure what to expect, but knowing her propensity for pens and penmakers whose names mean nothing to me--Parker 51s, Viscount, Swisher, Libelle, Tibaloi, Airline International--I had a sneaking suspicion I was in for a treat. In short: This is not your trading-Bics-on-the-playground gathering. These folks are serious.

L: Pens by Argentine artist and silversmith Juan Carlos Pallarols
R: A barrel being handpainted in watercolor

The Washington D.C. Collectible Fountain Pen Supershow is the largest in the world and brings together buyers, sellers, retailers, distributors, artisans, and collectors from all over the world. I met handcrafted penmakers from California and Argentina, Maryland and Italy. The range and variety of pens, not to mention some of the prices, were astounding! I met a retired police officer who refurbishes 1930s and 1940s Parker Golden Arrow Vacumatic Fountain Pens and turns them into ballpoints. I saw promotional pens for oil companies that included a cap of oil and garland pens whose tops featured corporate logos from days long gone by.

A colorful assortment of pens by Libelle of New York.
The barrels of the pens in the bottom right corner are made of leather!

L: Just a small, infinitesimal sampling of the wares available. And these aren't even the nicest pens!
R: Buyers and sellers hawk their vast pen collections. Easily 40% of exhibitors were Joe and Mary Public
selling pens from their personal collections. The remaining 60% were retailers (40%), distributors (10%),
and artisans (10%).

Not surprisingly, collectors of pens have their own special jokes. Case in point, one pen seller took an interest in my camera and wanted to know how it performs. I told him about this blog and then gave him my business card. Ironically, I didn't have a pen on me. (I was like a person dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean. There I was at the largest pen show in the world and I didn't have a pen on me. How sad is that?! But I digress...) So, I said, without thinking, "Do you have a pen?" I caught myself and then said, "I'll bet you get that all the time, don't you? Really unoriginal, huh?" To which the man graciously replied, "Oh yes, I have many pens. The question isn't incorrect, it just isn't accurate. The accurate question is 'Do you have a pen that writes?'"

The pens I bought: a replica of a blue crayon and a wallet-size ball point.
Small potatoes compared to what could be had at this pen show.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Droll. Pen humor at its best. All in all, I had a great time. And I even bought two pens: a pen made to look like a crayon and a teeny, tiny, itty-bitty pen about the width of a business card. If you ever have a chance to attend a pen show, do it. It's a lot of fun!

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

Wings of Fancy

Iridescent green beauty

Yellow monarch and a blue beauty...

Yesterday, I had to go to Kensington, Maryland, to drop off some pictures for a photography competition I've entered. While I was out and about, I decided to head over to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton Regional Park based on the recommendation of a friend. Brookside has some lovely gardens and, even better than that, a live butterfly exhibit!

Here are a few photos of the many beautiful butterflies and moths, as well as a couple of pictures of the flowers and plants on the grounds. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the docent the names of the species I photographed. Aside from the monarchs, I have no clue what I have here, but they were very pretty.

This gorgeous blue butterfly never landed anywhere.
I had to chase him/her around the solarium in an attempt to get a good picture!

Monarch butterfly

To see a few more pictures of the butterflies and flowers in this unique park, visit Standing Room Only.

Backlit tropical

Busy bee buzzing on a zinnia

Cape Daisy

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 07/08

Bench

Bench and shadow, Annapolis

I took this picture in Annapolis, Maryland. I figured it would be a nice counterpoint to my rather dull weekly posting of embassies and consulates.

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

Peonies & Poppies

My parents have a beautifully landscaped front yard and one of the many plants they grow are peonies. These are just three of the more than a dozen plants they have in the front and back yards. My mother's mother loved peonies and managed to get them to grow in the hard scrabble desert dirt of southwestern Wyoming. These are a tribute to her.




The Commonwealth of Virginia does a fairly lovely job of planting a rotating variety of flowers along its highway medians and exits, particularly along I-66. Beautiful spring colors start appearing first with swaths of daffodils. These are then followed by trees blossoming. Not long after that, poppies and daisies appear. The last of the spring varietals to bloom are lilies. The above two photos show poppies and daises along the median of Exit 62 in Fairfax County.

Rain & Clouds

Wet grass and maple tree seeds on asphalt

Ornamental grass in my parent's garden.
It grabs the rain and holds on!

Fabulous thunderstorms the other night. I took these pictures after the rain. I love it when the clouds break up and you end up with clear blue skies and white clouds!

Stormy weather

After the storm

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 6/08

Line of Sight: Lighthouse

Line of site: Sandy Point State Park, Maryland

A few weeks ago, I stopped at Sandy Point State Park in Maryland on my way home from an appointment on the Eastern Shore. I have no clue whether this is an automated lighthouse in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay between the western and eastern shores of the bay or if it's considered a light buoy of unusual size.

My point in photographing it was less an obsession (or love. You decide) of lighthouses and more an attempt at practicing line of sight photography. The top photo is my favorite. To see larger versions of the thumbnails, click on each image to enlarge.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 4/08

Blue Skies

Blue skies / Smiling at me / Nothing but blue skies / Do I see...
Irving Berlin, 1926

I took several of these a couple of weeks ago while I was out in the States visiting my parents and helping my dad with a construction project and a couple of these in Rock Creek Parkway on Wednesday while I was out enjoying the weather and some exercise. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Happy weekend, everyone!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 4/08

Annapolis: World War II Memorial

Maryland's World War II Memorial:
Honoring the 6,454 Marylanders who gave their lives in the war

On my way home from Maryland's Eastern Shore a couple of weeks ago, I took a detour to Annapolis. This time, I approached the city from Exit 27, which I'd never done before. What I discovered were two things. First, it's easier to get into Annapolis via this exit then via Exit 24 and, second, it takes you right past Maryland's World War II Memorial. It's the latter that is the subject of today's entry.

The Stars and Stripes and the Maryland State Flag
waving majestically in the breeze above the World War II Memorial

In 1991, the Maryland State Legislature commissioned the creation of the World War II Memorial Commission. Land at the western end of MD 450/Gov. Ritchie Hwy. was designated as the site for the memorial and ground was broken in October 1997. The site for the memorial is on the banks of Severn River, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay, and includes a lovely vista of the capital city of Annapolis and the United States Naval Academy on the western banks of the river and the bay.

World War II Memorial looking west across the Severn River to Annapolis.
The dome to the left of the flag poles is the Naval Academy Chapel.
The dome in the center between the flag poles is the Maryland State House.

According to the Commission's website, the memorial was "designed by New York architect Secundino Fernandez...[and] consists of a rectangular amphitheater surrounded by columns and granite slabs inscribed with the names of 6,454 Marylanders who died in World War II. Stone panels and mosaic circles further depict Maryland's role in the War." The memorial was completed in 1998 and dedicated in July of that year.

Naval Academy Memorial Bridge
over the Severn River, Annapolis, Maryland

The bridge over the Severn that leads into Annapolis is the Naval Academy Memorial Bridge--a slick and easy way to get right into the heart of Annapolis. The above photo is the underside of the bridge. I was going for line of sight practice more than anything!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 4/08

Bay Bridge

Chesapeake Bay Bridge looking southeast from Sandy Point State Park

Spanning the Chesapeake in Maryland is the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial (Bay) Bridge. Approved for construction in 1927, the bridge was delayed for more than 20 years as a result of the Great Depression and World War II. Finally, in 1949 building commenced and was finished in 1952. Upon completion, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was the longest fixed-span bridge of its time in the world at 4.3 miles. The original first span was two lanes wide and cost $45 million to build. Today, this span carries traffic eastbound and is the primary route from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Annapolis, and points west of the bridge to the shores of Maryland and Delaware.

In 1969 construction commenced on a second span--this one to carry traffic westbound--and was completed in 1937 at a cost of $148 million. The westbound span is three lanes wide. During the evening rush hour, one of the lanes is reversed and heads eastbound to accommodate higher traffic volume. (The picture to the left is of the three-lane, westbound span with all lanes open.)

Over the years, the bridge has weathered several hurricanes and high wind storms with little or no damage. Occasionally, drivers fail to obey the speed limits on the bridge or improperly secure trailers and spectacular, horrific accidents have resulted. The most recent was in 2007 and involved seven cars and resulted in three deaths. In 2008, the bridge saw approximately 28 million cars cross its spans. (The photo on the right shows traffic on the westbound span with the eastbound span to the left.)

For those who enjoy bridge walks, the Bay Bridge holds an annual event that draws walkers from all over the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area. The walk has been canceled for 2008 and 2009, though, due to preservation projects currently underway, but when the weather cooperates, it's suppose to be a great way to see the bridge and the bay!

Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the parking lot of Northrup Grumman looking east

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 4/08