Flyover states and stinky plants

Yesterday I went hiking in the Shenandoah along the Raven Rocks trail, which ends up in West Virginia. On the way back to DC, we stopped at a country store that sold homemade pie and ice cream, was run by kind people who operated at a country pace, and that made me miss the middle states. While I love DC in its own way, there is something just so refreshing about being away from the eastern seaboard, even by just a couple of hours drive.

In other news, the U.S. Botanic Gardens have a "corpse flower" that is about to bloom! You're dead wrong if you think I'm going to miss seeing a 250 lb. plant bloom in all of its stinking-flesh glory. I will briskly walk in this 97 degree heat to go see it, too. Until then, I'm keeping close watch on the live webcam of it. That's right-- a webcam is set up so that you can watch people watch a plant. Check it out!
http://usbg.gov/return-titan

Happy Monday!

love always,
E

but strong in will

Cherry blossoms everywhere!

 

This is the park by my house. Since DC is a whopping 20 degrees hotter than average this week, the cherry blossoms finally decided to bloom! O! the whole city looks like it's covered in pink popcorn!

What to do on a dreary Easter

 

It was a rather dreary day on Capitol Hill for Easter. I had been holding out hope that the weather on Easter Sunday would be similar to the gorgeous, sunny day we had on Saturday. Oh my gosh, Saturday afternoon was to die for. Alas, Sunday did not deliver proper weather for enjoying the Great Outdoors. Instead, food seemed to be the underlying theme of the day. The best part was Skyping in the evening with my family in Wyoming.  I got to watch my brother hunt for eggs-- a competition I historically dominate, see my sister's new Easter "basket"-- a pretty handbag for summer!, and chat with my mom-- always too much to catch up on.  I also watched "Trouble with the Curve". Have you seen it? I loved it. Hope you had a very happy Easter, too. 

Love always, E.

Easter Eggs?

Look longingly outside at least once every hour to see if it's sunny and warm yet.

I successfully made Dutch Babies!