flowers of DC

I had such a wonderful weekend recently that I had to share it. You know how when you have absolutely nothing scheduled for a weekend, you still tend to do absolutely nothing. Like sit on the couch and watch TBS movies that you actually own already but still continue to watch with all the commercials regardless? Or play the Wii and realize three hours have gone by? Or just make fresh pasta because you're bored (this usually ends in anger for me however, so I wouldn't recommend it)?


Well, I took advantage of my completely free weekend for once, and despite the heat and humidity got out there and enjoyed DC. I layed in bed Saturday morning wondering if I could actually make myself run. I realized I couldn't, but that there were great things blooming in DC that I had nearly forgotten about. This was the first weekend that they were opening Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens early for viewing the summer lotuses in full bloom. Waterlillies which I know nothing about were also blooming too. Apparently they only bloom during the day, and the lilypad and flower are rooted within the soil beneath the freshwater. Shout out to wikipedia.

Laika got really hot but enjoyed herself. She kept staring at this one guy that was walking towards us and wouldn't look at the camera despite my efforts. The guy was so friendly that he said he'd squat behind us so she'd look in my direction. Except when he stood up he stepped right in to the pond behind him and soaked his tennis shoes and socks and everything. I felt really bad but it was still very kind of him!

We finished off the morning by going to the College Park farmer's market where I bought a ton of fresh locally-grown plums and blueberries and peaches. I don't know much about plums and there were varieties there that I'd never heard of. Most were fairly small. I got a variety known as Shiro (Yellow skin and flesh; very juicy, flavor is mild, sweet. Usually fruits heavily. Ripens early August. Japanese type) and I think a Methley which has a taste out of this world (Medium to large, reddish purple fruit. Juicy flesh with a sweet, mild, distinctive flavor. Fine quality. Good for fresh eating or jelly. Self fruitful. Ripens late July to August. A good pollinator for other early blooming varieties. Japanese type. Vigorous.) I hope that if a description were to appear of me online, that the last descriptor would be VIGOROUS.

I went to the pool for an hour or two (Laika sadly not invited despite her attempts to attend) and finished the evening off with fresh corn and a NY strip and a bottle of Argentinian white wine.

On Sunday D & I made breakfast together to use up the rest of the smoked salmon I had leftover from Meg's bachelorette picnic. We made crepes (he is a crepe genius) and filled them with smoked salmon and herbed goat cheese. Had I grown a sufficient amount of chives they would've been included as well. But alas, they petered out early in the garden. I poached a few eggs badly and laid those on top. It nearly made us sick, all that cheese and salmon and runny egg yolk. But it was the good kind of sick.

The fam then set out on a car ride up River Road to McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area after seeing pictures from this website one year ago. I had marked it on my Outlook calendar last summer hoping that I'd have the opportunity to see them this year. It was well worth the drive and the intense heat of the open field to experience a football field worth of flowers. It's a shame the flowers are planted there to attract birds for hunting, but I enjoyed seeing them nonetheless. Laika's always in the mood for a good pic, and enjoyed running up and down the rows.

Did I mention we finished off that Sunday evening with Watermelon Basil Margaritas? That was a nice touch to a refreshingly simple weekend.