We had fun at the 2006 Cherry Blossom Festival, as you’ll see from the photos. There were more people that year — they grew from year to year, as I pointed out before. Ligia and I took our time walking around and I got some interesting photos as a result. I think when you compare these photos with the ones I got in previous years, like in 2003, you can see a clear difference. I could see it too, and I was happy because of it.
Two thousand five was the first year I could show Ligia the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. She’d moved to the States in the summer of 2004. We walked around for a couple of days admiring the beautiful blossoms. We even found a parking spot with relative ease.
Each subsequent year after that, the crowds that visited DC during this special time seemed to swell in number, to the point where parking spots were impossible to find, so we’d take the metro instead.
Back in 2003, I visited DC to lay the groundwork for what would turn out to be a new period in my life. I say that because my time there was distinctly different from what I did before and also from what I’m doing now.
It was about the time of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, so I drove around, taking photos. I was still using a film camera back then, but it wasn’t my Canon Elph, it was possibly a Minolta. Not sure anymore. What I know for sure is that whatever film lab developed these photos, oversaturated them. (I really need to take the time to scan my negatives at some point.)
Until then, here are a few photos taken at that time.
While in the States, my wife and I loved to bike up and down the C&O Canal (Chesapeake and Ohio Canal). The scenery is truly picturesque, particularly along the section from DC to Great Falls. I recorded these videos during the summer of 2008, on various of our biking trips.
The Waterfalls at Great Falls, MD
I hope you enjoyed them!
I took these photos in Rock Creek Park, DC, and in Grosvenor Park, MD. I selected them based on their ability to evoke the quiet hours of autumn afternoons, with the soft golden rays of the sun lighting up the burnished hues of the autumn leaves.
You might notice something else if you click on each photo to see it large… I’ll let those of you familiar with my photos to find out what it is. I may continue to do this in the future…
The National Park Service now runs the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, located along the banks of the Anacostia River. The park was built by the Shaw and Fowler families, who knew the value of preserving wetlands long before the government caught onto it. In it, they preserved waterlilies and lotus flowers, and kept pristine the original tidal marsh — now the only remaining tidal marsh in Washington, DC.
The park is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna once native to the area, but since destroyed by deforestation and development. It houses hundreds of species of birds, animals, flowers and plants.
In the 1900s, the wetlands in the area had been destroyed, because they were thought to be worthless, and by the 1990s, the Anacostia River had silted in, making it quite clear that the wetlands at least played a role in preventing that. So the local government worked with various agencies to dredge the river and rebuild the wetlands, some of which abut the Kenilworth Gardens.
Walter Shaw, a Civil War veteran, purchased the original plot of land in the 1880s, started planting waterlilies, then added more species over the years. In 1912, he opened it to the public. In 1921, when he died, his daughter, Helen Shaw Fowler, took over the park. By this time, the Anacostia River had begun to silt in, so the Army Corps of Engineers was called in to dredge it, and this endangered the park. Mrs. Fowler fought to keep it open, until Congress approved the purchase of the gardens for $15,000 in 1938 in order to preserve it.
Over time, more adjacent lands were added to the park. Now its total area is over 700 acres. One such stage took place in 1992-1993, when 32 acres of mudflats were restored to tidal marshes and added to the park’s domain.
Every year, the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC, puts on a great Christmas show that features toy trains. These aren’t your average toy trains, like my own set, but large-scale Lionel model trains, made of metal, lit up inside, painted carefully, running on metal tracks. The decor is also special. They put together a different setting to showcase the trains each year, built around a particular theme. The year that I filmed the train show, they’d put together a mountain terrain with tracks hugging the mountainside, going through tunnels inside the mountains, passing by waterfalls and little mountain towns, and crossing long suspended bridges overhead. The video you see below was recorded on December 1, 2007, and you can watch it on Youtube or on blip.tv.
This year, the Holiday Magic show runs from November 26, 2009 through January 10th, 2010. If you’re in DC, don’t miss it. It’s held in the Conservatory East Gallery and Garden Court. Here’s what the US Botanic Garden says about this year’s show:
The U.S. Botanic Garden’s National Mall and fanciful garden-train exhibits have become a beloved Washington tradition, and this year we’re serving up even more magic with larger and more amazing displays made of plant-based natural materials. You’ll find an enchanted storybook garden with trains popping in and out of a landscape that now includes Snow White’s cottage and the Owl and the Pussycat’s beautiful pea green boat. Our exhibit of the National Mall landmarks is up to date this season with the Obama children’s swing set and another new addition: the National Museum of the American Indian. Again this year, one of Washington’s largest indoor holiday trees will tower over pools of colorful poinsettias and other holiday plants. The whole family will enjoy the children’s plant hunt, which will take visitors through our collections in search of particularly “magical” plants.
For more information about the US Botanic Garden, you may view a gallery of photos I took inside, or you can visit their website.
