Freeze-Frame: Washington D.C.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

A Family Visit -- Soccer and the Eastern Market

Bailey in action.

I spent a few days last week -- including the weekend -- visiting my youngest sister, Heidi, and her family. Washington D.C., as I've stated before, is like a second home to me since that's where George was born and raised. I couldn't wait to spend time with two of my favorite little people -- my six year old niece Bailey and her four year old sister Taylor. I saw both of them play soccer. My brother-in-law, Charlie, is the coach for both of the girl's teams.

We also went shopping at one of my favorite places, The Eastern Market in D.C. Heidi and family live in Fairfax so it's not far to the


Taylor & a team mate.

market. The girls are old enough now to enjoy going and Bailey was interested in anything that I stopped to inspect. I had told both girls that I would buy something for them if they were good and they both chose necklaces. I bought a beautiful cotton scarf and actually found a piece of Cathrineholm enamel ware. I couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to find a bowl at the market. I've never seen any of these vintage pieces from Norway on previous visits to the E.M. This one doesn't have the lotus design. Instead it's a beautiful blue/green enamel on stainless steel. I love it. It's only the third piece of Cathrineholm that I've purchased. Both of my other pieces were bought from eBay.


Bailey and Taylor and our 'finds.'

Here's a close-up of the bowl along with a side view:


My newest Cathrineholm piece.

Side view -- no chips or deep scratches.

First Cathrineholm piece I ever purchased. Lotus design.


My Cathrineholm baking dish. Lotus design.

These pieces were manufactured in numerous colors and the lotus design was/is very popular and is my favorite. They've gotten pretty pricey over the past few years, though. I also have a collection of midcentury enamel pieces scattered around my house so the new addition of another Cathrineholm bowl was such a nice surprise from one of my favorite places to shop -- D.C.'s Eastern Market. I think my older niece, Bailey, may have the 'shopping' gene for vintage items. She asked a lot of questions and seemed really interested in my explanations. Sounds like I may have a future shopping buddy when I'm in Virginia...

Monday, November 4, 2013

A short 'girls' vacation to D.C.

My friend Linda and I had been talking for the past year or so about going up to Washington D.C. for a tourist-y visit. Since this is where George is from, I've been going up there for years but haven't done anything as a tourist in ages. Linda lived there for a number of years when she was in college but hadn't been back in years. Duane visited with a friend last May and had a great time seeing some of the changes and new exhibits.

Linda had never been to Arlington Cemetery and I hadn't visited since the late '70's so we decided to go there on our first afternoon. The eternal flame at JFK's gravesite was undergoing maintenance but you could still see the headstones of JFK, Jacqueline, and their two infant children. We also saw RFK's and Ted Kennedy's graves just down the slight hill from JFK's grave. Of course, we headed to the Tomb of the Unknown for the changing of the guard. A solemn and beautiful ceremony that is not to be missed. This would have all been more enjoyable had we not begun walking out of the wrong door of the welcome center. So, let's just say we took the scenic route in a LONG trip to the two most popular areas of the cemetery. To say it was painful would be an understatement. Yes, there is a bus that will take you around but we didn't need that. After all, we knew where we were going. NOT. Our feet and legs were not speaking to us by the time we left.

We hit the Smithsonian's Museum of American History the next day. Lots of changes from what I remember plus it's currently undergoing renovation in many areas. I've found that to be basically the status quo for much of D.C. After the American History museum we walked the mall to the fairly new Museum of the American Indian. This was interesting to see. We also visited their gift shop, which was one of the nicest ones I've been to.

We hit the Eastern Market on Sunday morning. Our favorite vendor, Paul 'BoxBoy' Bierman, was there and we had a nice chat with him. Paul makes the most amazing decoupage items. You can find out more about him by visiting his website, BoxBoy Demented Decoupage. Linda and I both did a little Christmas shopping at the market. After a nice lunch we headed to spend a little time with my sister Heidi and her family in Fairfax. I got to see two of my favorite people in the world, my nieces Bailey (6) and Taylor (4). Heidi and her husband Charlie treated us to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant followed up by dessert at the Baskin-Robbins next door. Bailey and Taylor liked that part the best. Then Charlie drove us back to our hotel in Georgetown. Heidi said that if we had been staying one more night, she would have taken us with her to a black-tie event for work where the actor Rob Lowe was the guest of honor. Darn. We just missed a chance to see/meet a member of the Brat Pack. Oh well.

Since we stayed near Georgetown we had a chance to visit some of the shops there and to eat some great food at the many restaurants nearby. I particularly enjoyed visting the Christ Child Opportunity consignment shop. My late mother-in-law sold and bought items from that shop so it holds a special meaning for me. Linda also really liked the shop.

We packed a lot of walking into 4 days so we were both exhausted by day four and ready to go home and relax. I picked up a little stomach bug of some sort by the last day but, luckily, it didn't affect me during the flight home. We've both recovered now and realize that we'll need to 'pace' ourselves next time since, ahem, neither of us is as young as we used to be.

Here are some pics we took at the Smithsonian, etc. I really do love my 'second home' -- the D.C. area.