Wednesday, April 06, 2005

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Weatherwise, the weekend was pretty crappy, but the first three days of the week have been gorgeous (obviously I wish the weather had been reversed). Today the high was around 80, which is about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, and 20 degrees warmer than Saturday through Monday. I walked into work this morning, after walking home on Monday and into work yesterday. The difference is that this time I brought a camera.

Here are a couple of tulip shots at Bartholdi Gardens, part of the National Botanical Gardens (and across from the main Botanical Gardens building):



And I've really enjoyed seeing the miniature daffodils sprouting up (though they're already a little past peak):
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The camera also came in handy at lunchtime, as I walked over to the Tidal Basin (about six minutes from my office) and took in the cherry blossoms. It was too warm, too crowded, and quite lovely. Here are a couple of tree shots, the first focused more at the blossoms than the tree itself:



I was very taken with close-ups of the blossoms themselves, and a number of the photos came out pretty well:






And of course, no visit to the Tidal Basin would be complete without the obligatory Washington Monument shot (bonus -- with reflection!):
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Tonight I went to the DC United game against UNAM Pumas, a Mexican squad, in the first game of the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Cup. United scored early off a beautiful cross from Jaime Moreno to Christian Gomez. For the rest of the half, United played very defensively, daring Pumas to score. Fortunately, there were only a couple of close calls, and no goals. That changed early in the second half, when Pumas converted a penalty kick after a dubious penalty was called in the box. Then it was United's turn to attack while Pumas was content with a tie on the road, knowing the second game would be in Mexico City. United had a couple of opportunities, and the ref had several chances to return the favor of a penalty in the box, but to no avail. Final was 1-1.


Alecko Eskandarian, Jaime Moreno, Josh Gros and Ben Olsen, Moments Before Kickoff

In other news, today my boss announced that he's taking a job elsewhere. I like him, I'm sad to see him go, but the new job gives him the ability to pursue one of his life interests. I certainly can't blame him for pursuing it, and hope it gives him everything he wants from a job. On the other hand, work is currently going a major transition due to change among the higher-ups, and I can't help but think of the image of a rat leaving a sinking ship.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Aaron, your new camera takes great pictures. We're still in early spring here. Michael has raked the lawn, and some of my perennials are just starting to peak through. I've retired all of my hats I wore all winter, the hair is growing and it's warm enough now that I can go out hatless!!