Springtime!

It is finally springtime in DC, and I have never been so excited for a change of season in my life. Everyone keeps telling me this was the mildest winter DC has had in years, but as far as I am concerned, it was the coldest of my life. I have been wearing sandals this week (my toes haven't seen the sky in 5 months!), and even going outside without a coat. Joy!
There are incredible flowers everywhere, and trees absolutely covered in blossoms.
This tree is a few blocks from my house, and it looks like it exploded. You can't even see the magnitude of it here - I will post a larger picture later.

We had a picnic in the park by my house today... you can't see, since the flash made it too bright, but we had fresh french bread, hummus, red onions, gouda cheese and (shh!) red wine.

Holy Saturday in DC

Jason and I went on a fantastic, long bike ride Saturday that spanned 3 states (Maryland, DC, and Virginia). It was a beautiful day, even though it absolutely poured for the last half hour of our ride. This is Tyrone (Ty, for short), Jason's new bike on the left, and of course, Matilda on the right. Fletcher's Cove is on the Potomac, and they rent canoes and kayaks... it will be so exciting to go out on the river when the water level goes down a little!
This is the C & O Canal, which runs along the Potomac.
This is like a "Where's Waldo" picture - how many national monuments can you find? You should be able to see the Washington Monument to the left and the Capitol building to the right, in the distance. This is the Virginia portion of our trail.
This is part of the Tidal Basin. The famous cherrry blossoms are just beginning to bloom, as you can see.

A Cannoli!

This is a cannoli (it rhymes with "roly poly"). It is Part Two of my demonstration of interesting new foods only to be found on the East Coast (Part One was the Knish, look back a few posts if you forgot). It is an Italian pastry that is crunchy on the outside and has a cheese filling on the inside (ricotta, I think). Very delicious. I even dreamt about one, which is why I bought this one at a very nice Italian bakery in New Jersey.

Snow in West Caldwell

Last weekend I went to New Jersey for a couple of days, arriving right after a big snowstorm (perfect timing!). This is the town Jason lives in, West Caldwell.

National Zoo

Last weekend we went to the National Zoo, and I liked it so much that I returned again today. It is fairly close to my apartment and is completely free - you just walk in, no lines or tickets, and are immediately face to face with a sloth bear, a fishing cat, or a scmitar-horned onyx. Amazing!
I like how this lizard looks so relaxed. I set it as my laptop background, but had to remove it immediately because it looks scary when it's any bigger than this.
THIS is a wallaby! It looks like a rabbit-sized kangaroo. It lives with an emu, which was obsessed with getting through the fence and into a holly bush. The emu had tiny red eyes and a frighteningly strong looking beak.
Isn't this panda cute? It was very contently eating a piece of something that looked like sugarcane.
This toucan and I spent a long time looking at each other. He kept turning his head to the side in a very cunning way. He is from somewhere between southern Mexico and Venezuela.

The Met

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I visited Saturday for the second time, is the most incredible place. Over and over you find yourself saying "Wait, is that really THE -- ?" These are a few of my favorite pictures. The one above is St. Joan of Arc (you can see Sts. Michael, Catherine, and Margaret, her "voices" in the background). The picture below is a portrait of the Swanson family :-)

A Knish!

This is me eating my first knish in midtown Manhattan on Saturday. Yum! They are made of potatoes and dough and deep fried and you eat 'em with mustard.