I had a great last day yesterday. I was up and out of the hotel by 8:00. I walked down 17th street, past the Corcoran Gallery where I finally found some lions. I had been looking for a lion or a dragon that I could photograph and post for Heather and JT. They had seen so many in Paris and I thought it would be fun if I could reciprocate.
I continued south for a block or two until I came to the Red Cross complex. I was taking a picture of a statue that was a gift from the Armenian People in appreciation of the help they received after the 1988 earthquake, when a woman stopped and asked me if I was a tourist or did I work there. I said that I was a working tourist, but not for the Red Cross.
She invited me to look in their courtyard where there were other statues. How nice was that? I would not have ventured into that area without an invitation.
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| To the men & women of the Red Cross who gave their lives in the service of mankind |
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| For Jane Delano & other nurses who died in WWI |
Then I had to hustle to the workshop. It was a great last day. At the Bureau staff meeting, I ran into a colleague that is doing a detail elsewhere and I had hoped to run into her. We got to hug and say hello and that was satisfying. Soon enough it was 5:00 and we were saying goodbye to new friends. I had 45 minutes until I had to be back at the hotel where I would pick up my bags and get the taxi to the airport. I walked up 18th street to I where I popped into Pret and bought a brie, tomato and basil sandwich for later.
I started to circle back to the hotel when I started noticing these haiku signs.
Next thing I knew, I was looking for the signs and not really paying attention to where I was actually going. I ended up south of the hotel and back at 17th. I looked up and realized that there were great reflections in the glass office buildings.
And then I noticed that the top architectural details of the Eisenhower Executive Building were glowing in the setting sun. I had walked past that building at least once a day and had not taken a single picture. It is such a behemoth of a structure and I couldn't get a handle on how to make it interesting without any special lenses or filters. The light gave me a hook.
Since I was there, I went back to take one more picture of the White House. It was so cold that I had few people in my way. Later I found that I hadn't captured anything new, but I had taken one more with the Jackson statue in the foreground. That is what I felt like, tipping my cap in a goodbye DC salute.
And as my fingers were turning red and stiff with cold, I walked around the other statues in Lafayette Square that I hadn't gotten to the other morning alternating between hands in my coat pocket and on my camera.
As I walked the two blocks back to the hotel, my Lovey Lamb called with questions on his homework. I walked those last blocks reviewing how to subtract fractions that don't have the same common denominator.
Staying at the AKA was so much fun. I had a suite of rooms with two large bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a living room area. There were two bathrooms and a washer and dryer. I didn't use all the amenities since I slept there for three nights. But what a great place to stay when we do the family sight seeing trip!
My ride to the airport was uneventful.
The flights going into Boston were delayed due to the wind and runway conditions in Boston. I lucked out and flew standby on an earlier flight that had been delayed. Coincidentally, the man sitting next to me was an architect. My seat was on the left hand side. While I didn't get to take pictures of the Capitol as we flew out of town, my seat turned out to be exactly perfect as we flew over New York City. What I found so cool is that in the bottom picture, I think I can make out the Freedom Tower (I don't think it is a bridge), the lights of mid-town, and the large rectangle shape of Central Park.
We had to circle Providence, RI before we got cleared to land in Boston. We touched down at 8:59. At 9:08 I pulled my bag off the luggage carousel. I ran the length of Concourse C and got there in time to catch the 9:10 bus to Portsmouth. The bus starts at terminal A at 9:10 and stops at all the other terminals. Since I stood outside C, the bus arrived around 9:20. Had I not make that flight, I would have had to wait to catch the 10:10 bus. We pulled into Portsmouth and saw snow mountains. I am in my hubby's debt as he found my car during the day and cleared it off. Feelings of gratitude and love washed over me when I saw my car.
At 10:40 at night, in 4 degree weather with the wind whipping through the parking lot, I was so thankful that my car did not look like this
or this.
I had tossed in a snow shovel on Monday when I left, but it would have taken me a long time to dig out. I probably would have gone back inside the bus station and cried. Relief that I didn't have to. I pulled into my driveway at 11:00, an hour earlier than I had originally expected. Yay for standby success.
Now I am keeping my fingers crossed for this weekend as I am scheduled to provide management support in Vermont on Monday. And another storm or two are headed our way.
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