Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Cherry Blossoms and Some Progress

Hey there mes amies!

Before I get "started" on this post, let me first say thank you all SO much for your kind wishes for my anniversary! We had a quiet and relaxing evening at home, which was nice... I have no real idea what I've been doing the last couple weeks, but I do know that I've felt as though every single day has been jam packed with busyness. Good busyness, though, and that's about all we can ask for, right?

I haven't had much time for stitching in the last couple weeks (I usually collapse into bed shortly after {and sometimes, lately, before... what is UP with my child that she seems able to exist on miniscule amounts of sleep?? She definitely didn't get that particular genetic "gift" from her momma!!} my little Leah.), but here is what I've done... as you can see, we have a lady! I'm hoping to finish this some time this century...


Now, let's move on to what Leah described as our "a little bit boring" (kid tells it like it is... now that she definitely gets from her momma!!) trip to DC to see the Cherry Blossoms (along with every other tourist within a 100 mile radius), shall we?

It was a beautiful day, although it started out a bit chilly and cloudy. But the clouds drifted away and the temperature rose comfortably pretty quickly. The hordes of people made it difficult to get very many really great, scenic shots, but here's what I've got...

This is a close up (the only one I took... there were people literally hanging from the trees... like monkeys!! And ripping small branches off the trees, too. Did they not realize that these trees are a National Monument in and of themselves?? Would they chisel off a piece of the Jefferson Memorial?? I think not.... sheesh. Learn some restraint before you come out into public, people, really.) of the blooms:


Some of you may wonder how I made it out of there without my own dear, sweet little monkey taking home a blossomy souvenir of her own... well... see, it's like this. I lied to her. Yes, call CPS right now. She is constantly (and don't get me wrong - I adore this) appropriating blooms to give her mommy a little gift, but as we all know, there is a time and a place for everything, and I just couldn't have my sweet child becoming "That kid", you know what I'm saying?? So, on the way to the Metro I told her "Now Leah, there are only two rules today. The most important one is stick to mommy like glue. The second and almost as important one is: Do. Not. Pick. The. Flowers." With her love of all things floral I should have known she would latch onto the floral ban. Of course, she asked "Why, mommy??" Thinking on my feet as any good (cough cough) mommy would to come up with a suitably serious reason to a 4 year old I said: "It's illegal (yep, she knows what that word means)." Her eyes got really really round, the thumb went in the mouth and the blankie went to her face. She didn't say another word about it. And I didn't think anything of it until we were making our way back to the Smithsonian Metro stop several hours later to head home. Suddenly we heard police sirens, and two police cars went streaking past. Leah asked me where the police men were going. I responded absentmindedly "I don't know, baby..." Her melting, beautiful, sad (at that moment) brown eyes looked deeply into mine and she said "Oh mommy, I think maybe someone picked the flowers." I was stunned into absolute silence. I felt like the worst worm on earth in that moment. But I'm consoling myself that she has most likely already forgotten...

Anywho! Here's a shot of the Jefferson Memorial:


And here is the one and only decent shot of Leah from the day (notice the hot pink Peep clutched in her wee little hand)... the hordes (and I do mean hordes) of people out that day made it pretty difficult to get halfway decent shots. I had visions of gorgeous, card worthy pics of Leah amongst the cherry trees... so totally didn't happen! But, I like this one:


And here's the Washington Monument (you can see a bit how crowded it was... look along the railing at the edge of the Tidal Basin... wall to wall people.) from a vantage point about midway around the Basin:

Now this next shot shows one of the cooler moments of the day... we were walking toward the Jefferson Memorial and suddenly we heard this very loud, unmistakable helicopter sound. We had seen a couple tourist (or maybe news?) 'copters already so I looked up expecting to see another. Much to my amazement, this is what I saw:

Yep, it's Marine One! And I'm pretty sure Mr. Prez (or someone important, anyway) was in there, b/c the two "diversionary" replicas (is that the word??) were flying with it. It really was pretty awesome... they were very very low, and they were screamin' fast past the Basin and Jefferson Memorial. They buzzed the blossoms about 3 times, then were gone.

One last shot, then my little head needs to hit the pillow... this was a Rugby game going on along our route to the Jefferson Memorial. I took the pic b/c I wanted to try out my zoom lens for action shots... It did pretty well, I think. I was standing 100yds (or more? I'm horrible at judging distances!) away, and this is what I snagged:


All right y'all! That's it for me tonight! As always, thanks so much for taking the time to read!

Enjoy the rest of the week, and may you all enjoy the sensation known as "stitch a$$". :)

~Robin

9 comments:

Unknown said...

What great photos and how brave you were to enter D.C. with the hordes of other visitors, lol. D.C. really is gorgeous when the trees are blossoming.

I came to help my friend get ready for a yard sale and she wound up taking one of her little ones to the ER - Anna (9) smashed her finger in the door and in her panic yanked her hand out (ouch). So I am watching over Catherine (6) as she sleeps. It's all I can do not to crash myself as it is way past my bedtime.

Enjoy your week.

Glenna said...

I think your shots are wonderful. Oh my goodness, the hordes. It drove me witless--made me late for work, caused me to be late getting home. I'm so glad the blossoms are gone, but they certain were pretty. And yeah, I saw a lot of kids manhandling the trees while their parents stood by--where were the Park Police to gently remind people?

Also, I love the expression on the cat's face closest to the lady: sort of "ooooo?"

Berit said...

That WiP is looking good! Idk what you mean; it seems like you're flying through it to me! :D

I think it's just fine what you told her about it being illegal to pick the flowers. They ARE a nat'l treasure after all, as you said. Did you know that the first batch the Japanese gave to us all died en masse because of our poor care of them? And we had the gall to ask for more? Ahem. So, yeah, we'd better not be climbing on them and tearing them apart.

You could have done worse, after all. There's a spooky Japanese "legend" that the tree blooms beautifully and with "such colour" because a corpse is buried beneath and the blood tinges the blossoms. (I don't know if that's all, or just the really nice ones.) So, you could have told her that she'd be cursed by the dead for stripping the tree's blossoms, lol!!

Deb said...

I hope the little one starts getting back to a normal sleep routine! But I remember both my kids going through that! It usually doesn't last too long, but during that time you leave to live with sleep loss.

Great progress on your stitching and all those pictures are so beautiful. I bet those trees were even more beautiful in person.

Catherine said...

First I will say I love your stitching - the lady's dress is so fun!

The picture of your little one is my favorite!!

Nothing wrong with what you told her and I am still laughing about what you could have told her according to Berit!!

Melissa said...

I laughed when I read about what you told Leah about not picking the blossoms, and then the police sirens...!

Your photos are lovely! Although Rugby is not my thing I think you really captured that moment of action very well - no blurring!

Your stitching is looking very pretty and bright!

Siobhán said...

What fantastic pics, Robin!! I miss seeing the cherry blossoms. LOL at what you told Leah! ROFLOL

Great stitching progress.

Have a great weekend!

Sherry :o) said...

Oh Robin, what beautiful pictures. I have never been to DC and would love to visit...but I have to pick a time when there aren't hoards of people because your telling of the kids on trees, I have such lack of patience...I think you teaching your daughter not to pick is fine...my son has heard many stories to teach him proper public behavior LOL. Love your progress and I hope to have some stitch a** tonight as it's not been enough this week. Sherry H.

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri ~ Boog) said...

How have I missed your posts???? I love this one - the pictures are amazing and I love the one with Leah's back to the camera. Poor little gal may never pick another daisy the rest of her life! You take great pictures!!! The rugby one is awesome - the guys hand in the others face couldn't have been captured if you'd tried! Great job and the blossoms are amazing!