Long Walks On Leafy Streets

8/5/2014 Near Skyline drive, Shenandoah Mountains, VA
It is starting to warm up here a little bit and the humidity is returning. Nevertheless, it has been a relatively pleasant July and August so far. The past few days we have had enough rain so that I didn’t have to water the plants at all. This morning I went outside and although it hadn’t rained yesterday there was so much dew on the grass that I decided to water only a little bit.
The zucchinis continue to flower although none of them has produced good fruit yet. I had bought and planted small eggplant, okra and pepper plants from the Takoma Park co-op just to see which of them will grow. All of them have grown well but the squirrels and birds have been munching on the eggplant before it could grow bigger. They seem to be leaving the pepper and okra alone so far but I have had exactly one okra fruit and one jalapeno pepper fruit for cooking!
Looks like the soil is not very fertile and I need to clear it, till it and add more compost. Maybe next year. On the other hand the plants in the front yard are doing well. There is a boxwood shrub on one side that always grows well, forming one big border by the front walk. Then there is what I think is an azalea bush by the front wall, that bursts into pink blooms all over for a few weeks in the beginning of spring. After that in late June and July the star-shaped yellow flowers of the Coreopsis shrubs by the sidewalk start to come out. They are still blooming. In August the Aster Woods bush starts to bloom. The first of its purple flowers just came out last week.
On Saturday Nicole joined me on a hike to the Dyke Marsh wildlife refuge in Alexandria, VA. This was a repeat of the one I did in June when no one showed up due to the threat of rain. This time though we had seven others join us, two from the nature lovers’ meetup and five through the Sierra Club events page. Again we had a forecast of rain and again it didn’t rain much at all. In fact it was sunny for most of the time and very pleasant. When I did it by myself I simply walked to the Dyke Marsh area and returned. This time we visited two other places on the way back. First we stopped at the memorial built at the location of a cemetery near the Wilson Bridge for slaves who died before and after the civil war. Many were escaping from the South to reach safety behind Union lines in Alexandria. Then we stopped at the Jones Point Park where there used to be a lighthouse. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1926 but there is still a small house there and some informational plaques. We also saw the big wooden rudder from an old ship excavated during the construction of the new bridge.
I enjoyed the company and the conversations. Two longtime Sierra Club hike leaders Dave and Ray came with us. Dave had his cute dog Roxy walking with him. The dog seemed to enjoy the walk quite a bit. All dogs love running outside, in the grass and the woods. We even let her swim in the Potomac a little bit, throwing sticks into the water and watching her go fetch it. When I was renting a room in Pasadena, CA the landlady had a dog named Robbie that I used to take for walks and runs in the park. It is gratifying to see how much pleasure they get out of it. Ray told me about his trips to Colorado to hike and climb mountains many of which are over 14000 feet high. It reminded me of my own hike almost to the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. You can see pictures from our hike yesterday as well as from Hawaii on my flickr page. Just click on the little photo at the top and then click on “Pictures.”
Yesterday after leaving our ailing car at the mechanic I walked to DuPont Circle. I sat in the grass and studied my math book for a couple of hours. After that I walked to the Meridian Hill Park (also called Malcolm X Park) and did the same thing. I used to spend a lot of time in both places when I was single and lived in that area. You can see all kinds of people walking about and also enjoy the shade of all the trees. At Meridian Hill Park a teacher brought his children and let them play on the grass. The boys played soccer and the girls played some kind of fashion show. Sitting in those parks and walking in my old neighborhood brought back many memories. There have been many changes there. Many of the lower income people and the businesses that cater to them have moved out. Yet the parks and the trees continue to provide a peaceful place for all to enjoy, from homeless people sleeping on the benches to young professionals going for a run and couples meeting on a first date with eager anticipation. They also store many memories of mine.

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