Thursday, July 14, 2011

A Tale of Two Cities


Last night after the storm. Yeah, that's the almost full moon to the right of the dome.

It was hot and miserable yesterday. Then a big storm blew through, or, the way we used to say it, the "broom of weather" swept away the thick, polluted air. The sky is sparkling blue, the air is sweet and light. It is like a different city here today. Beautiful.

If the weather explains everything (it almost always does) then maybe this shift means that the energy down around the Capitol will shake loose and a deal can be made about the debt ceiling. I read earlier this week that President Obama was holding meetings at the White House, always a bad idea as the White House has the most congealed, hardened glue-like energy of any building in DC. The energy at the White House is like a dry cough. I would hate to live there.

If the players could meet in the center of the rotunda in the Capitol; if they cleared the room of tourists and just set some chairs around the center where JFK lay in state, where Lincoln lay in state, beneath the Apotheosis of Washington, I'm absolutely CERTAIN they could figure it out.

But maybe this change in the weather is all that's needed. DC feels much more spacious, much more at ease today than yesterday. May the process move forward. May it be so!


This hibiscus is as big as your head.

13 comments:

Whitney Lee said...

I agree-I stepped outside this morning and it was like a different world. No mugginess, no stale feeling...Completely lovely!

steven said...

a similar clearing passed through here two days ago. it was like the lid was lifted off this big old sugar pot. steven

cs said...

It'd probably be better for them to meet at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens or maybe the Botanical Gardens. Preferably with a counselor with experience brokering deals between the bloods and crips.

jeanette from everton terrace said...

Yes, we had a crazy, almost biblical dust storm roll through here last week and then, a big rain came and washed it all away. Amazing :)

Reya Mellicker said...

CS - ha!

Dan Gurney said...

If our leaders could turn compost into pink beauty with as much ease and skill as that hibiscus can do it, we'd all smile, huh? I'm with cs: meet in the Botanical Gardens. Much better place. The blossoms might give them some ideas.

I don't think that hibiscus would hesitate to restore the tax rates of the fifties and sixties that helped to bring the US so much shared prosperity.

Then again, that blossom would be just as pretty, maybe even prettier, in a third world country where the kleptocracy keeps to itself almost all of the money and power, leaving most of us just gawking at blossoms because it's free.

glnroz said...

that was refreshing , just to read and see... It's hot here,, lol

Washington Cube said...

Cs is on to something. I could see them outdoors at the Arboretum between those old Capitol columns.

Reya Mellicker said...

Hey Cube! Whazzup?

Yeah just about anywhere would be better than the White House.

Jo said...

Hi Reya...so glad to come back to your blog to see your exquisite photos today, and read your hopeful exhortation to the leaders of our country.

The clear, clean air and the fresh crisp air can only help, yes?

May it be so!

ellen abbott said...

Hot here. We are now getting an (very) occasional rain as opposed to none at all. But it is still very hot and we have a very long way to go to get even with our annual rainfall. I welcome every hint of a storm.

Too bad no one will think of holding a session in the rotunda much less go to the trouble to make it happen but I think you are right.

Steve Reed said...

Sounds wonderful! And I agree -- hopefully cooler heads will prevail and something can be worked out. Can't we just compromise, folks?

Jinksy said...

The shapes and textures of that plant delight the fingertips-by-proxy, thanks to the eyes and brain... It's gorgeous...