Seein’ the DMV: Three Shorts – August-September 2025

There’s a lot going on in my family, so I’ve stayed pretty close to home base lately. However, I did make three short excursions that I’m sharing here.

Western Maryland Mountain View – August 28

2025 has been filled with astrological sights, or at least more have come to my attention. One of my efforts has been to find a dark sky site–one where the effects of ground lighting offer no/limited interference to viewing the night sky–within a two-hour drive of home (plus a quickie-trip would give me an excuse to test drive my new prescription shades). My latest effort was a drive to western Maryland, initially to Catoctin Mountain Park. I found numerous hiking trails and cabins for housing, even a swimming pool and various other event sites. I also passed a road with cautionary signage that might have led to Camp David, which I read was in close proximity to the park.

Continuing through the tree-lined roads, I eventually exited the park and found myself across from Caboose Farm, which quite literally had a train caboose sitting in the yard. After getting several shots, I headed back into the park and asked a park ranger if there was any place nearby that had a clear view of the sky. He recommended an area near Pen Mar High Rock Overlook, only about an hour’s drive away, but he warned me that the area was covered with graffiti. I decided to get dinner and then drive there.

Throughout the day, I kept looking at the sky, first to find a large enough view for sky watching, then more worriedly at the heavy cloud cover that portended the probability of an obstructed view.  After a long, mountainous ride, I reached the spot where, although I saw no signage, the heavy presence of drawings–every rock had some image or words painted on them–I concluded that this was the location the ranger suggested.

There were a lot of people in the area, many of whom had climbed to the top of the stairs to get a view of the valley below. I took several pictures of the graffiti while the sun was up, then I waited in SB until evening arrived. Unfortunately, even as 10 p.m. and the moment where the Moon was supposed to best display its waxing crescent, it was too cloudy to see. Reluctantly and admittedly disappointed, I returned to SB and headed home.

My search for a Dark Sky site continues.

Some of the pictures are below. The rest are at https://www.singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Seein-the-DMV-Western-MD-Mountain-Views-082825.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame-September 16

This is the second year in a row that the Atlanta Braves have been scheduled to play in Washington close enough to my birthday for me to treat myself to a ticket. This time, however, it was a doubleheader with the early afternoon game added to make up for one rained out earlier in the season. Neither the Braves nor the Nationals were contenders for postseason play, but I was still hoping to be entertained by seeing the games live.

Unfortunately, the clouds that had been threatening yielded rain heavy enough that they barely completed the afternoon game, and then they had to add a two-hour delay to the start of the evening game. Also, based on the jerseys and t-shirts worn by the rather small crowd–I had on a new jersey with Henry Aaron’s number 44 on it–and it was a great coincidence that the colors matched the uniforms the team wore that day, there were as many Braves fans present as were Nationals fans. It was also pretty chilly to me as the evening waned and spotty rain continued. Thank goodness I brought my jean jacket and a hat, plus my seats were both under sheltered areas.

I do like to take pictures of large venues using panoramic view, so here’s one of the Nationals’ ballpark (and the clouds bearing down upon it):

Taking advantage of $5 Tuesday, throughout the day I got a smoked sausage, a pretzel, fries, funnel cake, and a soda (funny how sweet the Coke tasted after avoiding soda for a few months). I also got some baseball cards as a souvenir, then later, a guy gave me a bobblehead commemorating the 1924 Washington Senators’ World Series win.

There’s a game highlights available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Iq8cbuloM.

I got a very pleasant surprise when I learned that Braves’ ace, Chris Sale, was scheduled to be the starting pitcher for the second game. Sale had only recently returned to the pitching rotation after spending several months healing from a game-related rib injury. That evening, he pitched eight nearly flawless innings, and both Atlanta’s defense and offense, especially first baseman Matt Olson,  played outstanding games, winning game one 6-3 and game two with a final score of 5-0 in the 10th inning.

Game Two highlights are at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofEkNqKvqMA.

I also want to acknowledge the wonderful job the ground crew did getting and keeping the field ready for play despite the rain throughout the afternoon and evening.

With the extended delay and the Game Two extra inning, I had to rush to the Metro subway station, which was fortunately two blocks from the ballpark. While I waited for the last train heading to my stop, I realized that it was after midnight and, thus, my birthday. I quietly sang “Happy Birthday” to myself and headed home.

Some of the pictures from the day are below, with the rest at  https://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Seein-the-DMV-Take-Me-Out-to-the-Ballgame-091625.

Black Violin in Concert – September 25

As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot going on with my family during this period. I actually didn’t attend the Joshua Bell concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on September 19th, but I was able to attend the Black Violin concert that was also scheduled for Strathmore Music Center the following Thursday evening. Like the Bell concert ticket, I had purchased the ticket for Black Violin several months ago. Then I added a masterclass featuring tenor and educator George Shirley, sponsored by the Washington National Opera and scheduled for earlier that afternoon.

There were two music programs scheduled at Strathmore that evening. With the SRO audience for the Black Violin concert, this created a major traffic backup getting into (and out of) the nearby parking areas.

The DMV was the first stop of Black Violin’s current tour. Between the virtuoso performances of the two violinists and their accompanying trio of DJ, drummer and keyboardist, and the joyous SRO audience, the “joint was jumpin’,” as it were.

After the concert, the same lady who rode the elevator with me from the parking deck where our cars were located coincidentally shared the elevator back with me. She said that her friend left the concert during the break because of the noise. I couldn’t help but wonder what her friend had expected from a group that performs predominantly Hip Hop music. Too bad, because the performance was wonderful!

Pictures are below, and the rest are located at https://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Seein-the-DMV-Black-Violin-in-Concert-092525.

As always, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the Silver Bullet (SB) as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzes by my windshield.

Only the Western Maryland trip required extended driving. In fact, SB sat in the Metro station parking lot near my residence. Even then, driving in the DMV can be… interesting.

I’m hoping to make a bigger trip over the next month or so to get in the fall foliage. More about this if the trip actually takes place. In the meantime, I’ve more than doubled the number of tracks in my Randye’s Replay playlist. Really looking forward to bopping down the road with SB’s windows vibrating to the music.