Monday, January 28, 2013

Japanese New Year festival

Anuenue went to a Japanese New Year festival in Thomas Circle downtown. There were lots of demonstrations, games, and activities, and food!

People took turns pounding rice to make rice cakes - the mallet was a bit too big for Anuenue!


 There were drummers, singers, and dancers!

And also lots of games - these are water balloon yoyos.

Anuenue walked through part of the Shaw neighborhood on the way to Thomas circle from the metro. There is a mix of historic and new architecture. Here is a tiny house wedged in between a big apartment building and a multi-unit house.

A row of pretty brick buildings...

And some fancy rowhouses with lots of details in the historic area.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

National Gallery of Art

Anuenue went downtown to visit the National Gallery of Art!


The NGA is on the Mall, where things were starting to get a bit crazy with the setup for the inauguration. There were hundreds of port-a-johns lined up along the edge of the Mall.

There is a large rotunda with columns in the center of the West wing of the gallery.

The West wing is mostly traditional art, and there are lots and lots of artworks! Anuenue saw lots of paintings by Monet....

Pointillism by Seurat

Naive art by Henri Rousseau...

American painters like Martin Johnson Heade....

There were several versions of St. George and the Dragon, this one by Raphael.

There were other media, like this 3rd century Tunisian mosaic floor.

My favorite are the 15th century northern European paintings. This painting is by the Master of the Death of St. Nicholas of Munster.

The east wing of the gallery is modern art, and much smaller than the west wing. This colorful painting is by Frank Stella.

More squares, this time by Pete Mondrian...

This giant mobile by Calder is one of the best-known pieces in the east wing.


Sunday, January 6, 2013

Greenbelt Lake in winter

Anuenue took a walk around Greenbelt lake to see how it had changed since the fall.
 This time the weather has been cold enough that there was a thin layer of ice over much of the lake.

This sign shows some of the animals that live around and in the lake. Today there were mostly just squirrels and some geese and ducks on the lake.

The cattails near the shore have gone to seed.

This mockingbird was very bold.

There are already signs of spring, with small bulbs emerging from the ground. These snowdrops and crocus flowers will start to bloom in February.

When Anuenue finished her walk, she made some Burmese curry with these king oyster mushrooms.

Yum!

Now is the time to start the artichoke seeds indoors. They will be transplanted outside in April or May.