This is Stonewall, a Park Police horse posing in silhouette on the White House Elipse.
I love to sweat, a fact I almost forgot because this summer has been so cool and dry. Yesterday was the perfect day to remember. It was hot and humid, but there was a breeze with a hint of coolness in it and sentience, too, since it stirred and moved past me anytime I was tempted to get on the Metro or go indoors for awhile. The timing was remarkable, oh yeah. That breeze encouraged me to keep walking. It was an epic, fantastic, sweaty, beautiful walk.
There were wonderful sights to see, such as these distinguished looking gentlemen playing chess in Lafayette Park (and a lovely woman behind them, reading intently):
And this unexpected sight - two swanky women walking barefoot on Connecticut Avenue in front of the Tiny Jewelbox:
And this sequence of clouds floating past the Washington Monument. Doesn't the cloud in the very last picture look exactly like Louisiana?
Of course the best part about a big walk is the aftermath which includes (for me, in this order) a cool glass of water or two (water never tastes better) a cool shower, then an ice cold beer.
Life does not get better than that, does it? It can't possibly. No way. Yes? Yes.
Back on Capitol Hill, I saw this perfect sunflower in a garden on E. Capitol Street.
How can summer ever leave a sunflower moment such as this one.
ReplyDeleteI suspect chess was meant to be played in parks, under open skies. The pic made for a meditative calm.
I keep returning to the brilliant Sunflower.
It reminds me of my childhood vacations spent in Sunflower fields, watching the breeze bend them while they resisted turning away from the Sun. Except for the occasional sound of a bus on a faraway road there was no sound save the steady rustling in the breeze, the birds having retreated to the shade of the lone Neem tree.
Anil I can hear the rustling! Thanks so much for the word picture.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, a sweaty walk... one can have that while walking to the mailbox here in our warm climate, but when a breeze stirs it is totally lovely!
ReplyDeleteI love Stonewall! He looks so regal. The chess players is a great shot. We don't get much of this playing chess out-or-doors, not even dominoes except perhaps in the autumn.
Thanks (as always) for the tour. You sound good & hope you feel that way!
Thank you for the excursion to Washington, Reya! I stroked Stonewall, and I marvelled at the two well-dressed gentlemen and the absorbed lady reading, and the easy-going barefoot ladies (I kicked my shoes off, too!), the clouds and the perfect sunflower, I could feel the heat and enjoyed a glass of water. Thank you, Reya!
ReplyDeleteHaha, we are not all that stoic, we Germans!
Angela I should never have generalized about all Germans. How stupid of me -- the friend who wrote about the eclipse certainly was, but she was just one individual. Many apologies to you.
ReplyDeleteCheryl yes I am feeling better. I'm still waiting for a whole day to pass when I don't cry because I miss my dog, but every day I'm better. Yesterday's trek all over the city really helped. I think I sweated out some of the sadness, I really do.
Summer is good, captured in a sunflower.
ReplyDeleteeach of this pictures opens right out into a whole sensory experience reya. wow!!! barefoot in the summer is so good! the tickle of rain-soaked grass on your soles (soul!), the too hot pavement that makes you dance from the ball of your foot to your tippy toes and back again, over and over, the slipping of toes into cool water and the gishing of mud between those same toes as you step in. that sunflower - so radiant!! have a peaceful day. steven
ReplyDeleteBare foot in the summer, what a deliscious thought and fashion for urbanites. Steven says it so well as you do with that photo!
ReplyDeleteI love the Louisiana-shaped cloud!
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with walking barefoot on the sidewalk? I would NEVER walk barefoot in NYC, and I usually love being barefoot.
I just have to add that this is a wonderful post, full of all the remarkable things there are to notice in a slice of everyday life. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Steve. I'm feeling better, clearly.
ReplyDeleteThe barefoot women put their shoes on when it was time to go into a Starbucks. What were they thinking? I, too, would NEVER go barefoot in the city. Crazy.
"It was an epic, fantastic, sweaty, beautiful walk."
ReplyDeleteLove that, the chess players, the bare feet. Summer is so grand.
Thanks for this post.
I'm not too much of a summer person, but this post, well, today it makes me appreciate the simple ease of the season. The lingering of it.
ReplyDeleteNo it doesn't get any better than that! Great photos, including the sunflower, which means summer to me. It's warming up here, so all walks need to be early. We hope to walk around Spooner Lake a couple of times today. It's about 2.5 miles once around - but it's fairly level - which is a nice change for our hikes.
ReplyDeleteYep! Louisiana! I love the barefoot girls. I don't love to sweat, however.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sunflower picture.
ReplyDeleteBliss.
Yes, cold water is a benison on hot days
gallons and gallons of it
then tea, of course
Willow I should say I like to sweat when I have a choice. Sweat, then indoors into A/C, cool water, cool shower, ice cold beer.
ReplyDeleteJust to spite me, our household A/C has gone on the fritz today. So now I'm sweating but no longer liking it. Sheesh.
Somehow the A/C always knows when it is the hottest day of the year. They like to play their cruel little jokes and quit working just when you need them the most. Heaters like to do that in the winter too. I think they like to remind us who really is in control.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics from your walk. I'm sweating plenty up here. Good thing I don't mind it so much.
Lovely walked you had, with beautiful photos to record the views and the beauties.
ReplyDeleteWe need to embrace the earthly pleasures whenever they present themselves. I love your celebration of summer!
ReplyDeleteRonda, yes ... the cooling and heating systems have a mischievious sentience, don't they?
ReplyDeleteyes, Reya, it looks like a boot...are you trying to get in on the theme thursday thing? Good job sneaking it in there, and great candid pics...my favorite kind.
ReplyDeleteWow
ReplyDeleteReya
look at those patterns in the sunflower - Steven's Fibonacci at work again...
I like the beer idea after a hot walk. My favourite is an icy Corona with lime...
Can I please take a copy of the sunflower...
Happy days
Reya,
ReplyDeleteI need your e-mail address.
i had it I lost it
I have an interesting anecdote for you.
Hugs
Yes Delwyn, of course take a copy of the sunflower. Wow of course you're right that it's Steve's fibonacci sequence, oh yeah.
ReplyDeleteFun pix--that cloud really does look like Louisiana!
ReplyDeleteStonewall's eye looks sad. It may be because the curb chain isn't fitted properly (doesn't sit where its supposed to).
ReplyDeleteAs for getting up a sweat on a walk, that's a good thing. I hope you felt better afterwards, especially when you had that cold beer.