Seein’ the DMV: Celebrating the Holidays 2025
As I have mentioned in previous posts, this has been a difficult year for my family. I’ve kept my travels close enough to the DMV that I could get back fairly quickly if needed. With the passing of my eldest sister’s husband in October, I’ve intentionally stayed close to home. Sometimes, though, we are blessed through difficult moments. My sister asked me to sing for the memorial service. I’d stepped away from public performing, but I couldn’t refuse her. The blessing I received was both spiritual — rediscovering that I still have the gift to sing, but I have to change the way I do it — and practical — a limited return to public performance. I am even considering giving a concert in late Spring 2026. More about this if it actually gets past the wishful thinking stage. Holiday Concerts in the DMV Most of November and December was…
Richmond, Kamala Harris Book Tour and Upcoming Trip Thoughts–October 2025
A Stop in Richmond I have been back to Greensboro, North Carolina, since my last post, but it was for the memorial service for my older brother. I’m feeling no need to share comments or pictures except for my decision to exit I-95 in Richmond, Virginia, during my return drive. I impulsively decided to see the rest of the Clock Tower I’ve seen so many times over my life. I’ve never visited Richmond other than driving through, so I was surprised there was a toll machine at the exit. Additionally, I suspect that the area was an older part of town, based on the stonework used on the streets in the vicinity. I had already learned that the Clock Tower was part of Richmond’s Main Street Station, so seeing a train station was expected, yet it was still interesting to see. Some of the pictures are below, with the rest…
Seein’ the DMV: Mubadala Citi DC Open-July 2025
Monday-Day One I was watching the Wimbledon Open when I realized that I had never seen a live professional tennis match. I’ve enjoyed watching tennis on television since I was introduced to the game in public school and became aware of Arthur Ashe in the early 1970s. Impulsively, I started researching the costs and process of making a one-day trip to New York to see an early round of the US Open. Just as I was forced to acknowledge that my budget required more prep time to handle such an excursion, I learned that there was a tennis tournament–the Mubadala Citi DC Open–scheduled in Washington the next week!! A check of the ticket prices for an early round session indicated that I could make it work. I ordered one of the ADA tickets on the first level of the stadium. On that Monday, I tried to time my drive to…
Seein’ the DMV: Cherry Pie… Um, Blossoms and More
Last year, I did a boat tour with three of my siblings. This year, I tried a solo excursion of the famous Japanese cherry trees in the DMV by bus. The tour picked me up near the Archives Metro rail station. At the time, the Navy band was playing marches, including some of my favorite Sousa pieces, as an opening for a program. The buses used weren’t accessibility friendly–in fact, another passenger fell and sustained some injuries climbing up the bus’ steps–so I immediately decided that I would rely on whatever picture taking I could do from my seat. Still, it was a beautiful Tuesday, April 1st, day, and the previous weather damage to the trees’ blossoms wasn’t bad enough to affect their appearance much. While there were signs of construction at the Tidal Basin, I got the impression that efforts had been made to minimize its impact on the…
Two Trips to the African American History Museum
I can’t believe that I chronicled neither my 2016 nor my 2019 visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)! ** Sigh ** Anyway, since I’m hoping to return to the museum during this month (August, 2024), I at least want to leave a blog post marking the earlier visits. December 26, 2016 I visited the NMAAHC for the first time just three months after it opened to the public in September 2016. (I have always been thankful that it opened before the change in presidential administrations because I believe that they would have done all they could to “kill it in the crib.” The wait list for tickets was months long, especially if a group wanted tickets. Still, the Joneses descended en masse to see our history gathered on one site at last. My nephew and godson volunteered to be my escort, which at that…
Seein’ the DMV: Memorials at Night–Black Lives Matter Plaza to MLK
During my first excursion Seein’ the DMV, I accidentally let my phone’s charge get so low, I couldn’t take any pictures of the evening tour sites we visited. It took me nearly two months, but I finally decided the time was right to address this by revisiting the memorials covered by the tour, plus an additional stop. I also wanted to test a new camera I had just purchased that I’m hoping to take with me to Hawaii later this year. By that point, I want to know it well enough to be able to take some decent photos on the cruise. This was a Saturday night, two weekends after July 4th. My luck with crowds was spotty at best sometimes, and this was the midst of DC’s busy season for tourists. I seem to have really lucked out this time, though. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic was mercifully lighter than…
King Tut-ing
There are so many exhibits and activities going on that I sometimes feel like I have to use “eenie-meanie-minee-moe” to decide what to see or do. When I saw the ad announcing the exhibit, Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures, I had to go. The exhibition consisted of reconstructed objects, film, and narration based on the discovery of King Tut’s burial grounds in Egypt in 1922. I found the exhibit fascinating, especially the scale and detail of the objects, from the Rosetta Stone to the artifacts in the tomb. Also, each of the attendees were given a device that allowed us to individually control the audio presentation based on the display. I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves: As usual, click on individual pictures to enlarge. The more than 200 pictures I took are available at https://singin1.pics/piwigo2/index.php?/category/seein-the-dmv-king-tut-ing-050824. Overall, I think I chose a good day to…
Cherry Blossoms Cruisin’
I invited my DC siblings (Debra, Chuck and Gerry) to join me on a lunch cruise to view the flowering cherry blossoms lining the Washington Channel and Potomac River in Washington, DC. The Cherry Blossom Festival connected to the blooming of these trees is a major event held during the Spring. Traffic to and from the area makes reaching activities then a major challenge that I’ve previously avoided. However, this year, I wanted to to experience the beautiful scenery and share it with the sibs. I checked the options and discovered that there were cruises available that were specifically organized to view the trees and was able to get a reservation for a lunch cruise on a Tuesday when I hoped would give us an excellent view without the congestion that would come with any effort to drive there. The day of the cruise was a little cool, but it…
Ease on Down the Road (Day 4)
Nearly bit off more than I could chew today. I’d spent several hours in the gracious company of Eugene Simpson, with whom I discussed several research approaches to Hall Johnson’s compositional philosophy and ways I should prepare for a much more extended visit and study of the Johnson collection. I then visited and got a tour of the home of my host daughter, Tianhan. We went out for an enjoyable dinner of shrimp (me) and grilled octopus (Tianhan) at an uptown restaurant in Philadelphia. (BTW, if you know of a dignified way to eat corn-on-the-cob and take the head off of shrimp, please let me know.) I am so proud of how well she is adapting to her new surroundings, which are so very different than Iowa. Since she’s now graduated from the college, I guess I’m not technically her host mother any more, but I hate giving up the…