Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Snow

Sunday morning, whilst we enjoyed our breakfast in the hotel restaurant, the heavens let loose great wet globs of snow. We hadn't been paying attention to the weather report, so we didn't realize at the time that we were in for four inches followed by a night of "wintry mix," but it sure looked pretty from our room window.


It dusted the picturesque fire station whose alarm had gone off a couple of times during our stay.


It dusted the less-pictureque liquor store adjacent to it.


It dusted the street corner nearby, and the trees looked gorgeous, ethereal.


It made this smart pedestrian look totally adorable. And it made his/her photo stalker (moi) a very happy shutter bug.

P.S. In case you wondered what Raw format would get you, the answer is detailed snow. There's detail in them there drifts! It's amazing to watch the Photoshop program (a plugin for CS or earlier, built in to CS2) work, allowing you (with a keyboard shortcut, God bless them) to see exactly where you gain and lose detail in the highlights and shadows, allowing you see just where the processing is giving you results. I'm still a novice, and the number one thing I need to study is getting good exposure at capture, but I can already see how it'll change the way I take pictures. I'd also recommend a book Rob Sheppard's Adobe Camera Raw. Very helpful.

Picture Post Week: Capitol Building

Saturday afternoon, on our walk back from the National Portrait Gallery, we decided to trek to the Capitol Building. Interestingly, though we've taken dozens of friends and family members on the National Mall tour, we've rarely walked all the way to the Capitol. It was nice to spend some time snapping pictures of the building and the view from it down the Mall.






View from the Capitol toward the Washington and Lincoln Memorials.


Looking upward from the building, front and center. Hubster remarked that it looks like a fortress. (Photo Credit: Hubster)


I'd never noticed this little alcove with the trees before. I think it's lovely. (Photo Credit: Hubster)


That evening we had dinner at M & S Grill. Hubster enjoyed the chicken parmesan (with the world's largest chicken breast, seriously, it was huge) and I enjoyed my bay scallops in citrus butter with an herb crust. We also shared their creme brulee, which had toasted almond slivers on top, and I decided that while not necessary, the almonds did deliver a pleasant flavor note. Good on you, M & S. Anyway, on the walk home, we noticed the bright Capitol framed at the end of the street of our hotel, so we snapped a picture before heading back into the warmth.

Picture Post Week: National Portrait Gallery

Seven years ago, I was geeked about my senior class trip to London in the spring. We'd see museums and galleries, pubs and squares, a castle and some cathedrals, and I'd could not wait to whip our my passport and get outta dodge. Sandwiched between the British Museum and the National Library's exhibition on Bibles (Christian schools gots to get them a church connection), I noticed we were slated for a visit to the Britain's National Portrait Gallery. I was so excited to be heading over the pond for any reason, I didn't really give it much thought, but it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. It helped that my best friends were with me, snarking the fashion, furnishings, facial expressions, and major life moments of many of those pictured. It seemed like every other image was something I'd seen in my textbooks growing up, of course they were 1-in square in the books, but it was amazing not just to see the whole portrait but to see all of these people thrown together - like art and history all at once.

When we moved to DC, having failed to ever hear of such a gallery here, I naturally looked it up. And it was closed. It recently reopened (after a seven-year hiatus for renovation and restoration), and Hubster and I just HAD to check it out. Sometimes, it's nice to be married to a fellow learning nerd. This was one of those times.


We got there around when it opens at 11:30am (coincidentally), so we happened to catch the third floor (20th Century American Portraiture) pretty wide open. The restored building is mighty fine.


Dome on the third floor. It was a bright day, so the sun is just pouring through that stained glass.


He may have had a hand in our views on education, but we philosophers claim John Dewey, too. Unless we hate American pragmatists. Then not so much.


Back in the day, mom included a biography of George Washington Carver in our homeschooling curriculum. I was deeply moved by his life story and his scientific work, and I remember seeing this portrait and thinking how well it captured my conception of him. I have no idea what he was really like, but I'm pretty sure I'd like to have tea with him in the afterlife.


This portrait of FDR's inauguration has some fun caricature work.


We wandered into one section on the second floor which was labeled Graphic Arts on our map and really wasn't. It was part of the American Art Museum's exhibition entitled: "Eadweard Muybridge: The Central American Journey." It included amazing photographs of Central American people and landscapes (mostly landscapes), but the design of the rooms, the colors, and the awesome frame job made the collection look fantastic.


Next time I go there, I'm totally asking them about their frames.

FyF First: Picture Post Week.

Hubster and I went away for the weekend - away to the city which makes us its suburbanites. I know, when we do something, we really know how to get it done. We dream big; we're dreamers. And we also like to shoot us some pictures. And I'm going to burn them off all week. Because content is scarce, people, we took a lot of sweet snaps. So enjoy the FyF's First Ever Picture Post Week. (Pomp and flair for the dramatic enhanced this evening by the fact that I'm watching the Oscars and blogging on commercial breaks. My wardrobe provided by chain boutiques and Vogue purse patterns.)


Moi, at the Mall, with some strange arm positioning.


We pricelined our hotel, landing the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, a fairly swanky, and satisfactory homebase from which to launch operations to the National Portrait Gallery, Chinatown during the Georgetown/Pitt game (oopsies!), M & S Grill, and, of course, our nation's hott legislative HQ, the Capitol Building.


Preview of Coming Attractions: Some fantastic Capitol images, like this one from Hubster.


Today it started snowing in the morning and laid down 4 inches before switching to everyone's favorite "wintery mix." I could not resist this little tree while waiting for a train at a Metro station.


Moi, enjoying the flavors of the city. Also cold.

Puff Goes the Cat Tail

Yesterday, I finished writing my post and pushed my chair away from my desk for bed time. There was much yowling and the cats jumped backward, their tails looking like giant pipe cleaners. I still have no idea how I startled them so much; I didn't roll backward that abruptly, either. They just lost it. And of course, I had to humiliate them with snaps. Because I love.


Tiny's tail is currently three sizes too big.


Little's tail's not too small either.