Annmarie Gardens, Solomons Island, Maryland

Tom and I rode our bikes around the neighborhoods near Solomons Island, Maryland, a few weeks ago, and were surprised to find a Smithsonian satellite sculpture garden hidden on a country road in this small town over an hour from D.C.


We rode through the gates to find an array of sculptures greeting us in the front drive - see Chesapeake Waterman photo, below, as well as a newly built art center with warehouse sized experimental art, sitting on a campus of a sculpture art-walk through the tall Maryland forests.



A fun find! I recommend visiting. Annmarie Garden link here.

Goldman Environmental Prize

Photo: Małgorzata Górska of Poland

Last month I attended the Goldman Environmental Prize receptions at the Natural History Museum and the Capitol. It's one of my favorite events of the year, and one of the most inspirational.

The Goldman's award a cash prize to one person from each continent who has shown outstanding grassroots environmental work. The recipients are often unknown outside of their communities, and it is amazing to see them rewarded for their valuable work that benefits the environment well-outside their communities. The winner for the "Island-Nations" practically thought of a strategy to feed all of Cuba. The winner from Asia convinced the crowd to help elephants and the winner from Central America warned us about the ongoing dangers for sharks, due to the delicacy of shark-fin soup. Sharks need protection, too!


The North American winner was amazing, too. Family farmer Lynn Henning exposed egregious polluting practices of livestock factory farms in rural Michigan, gaining the attention of the EPA.

I was most inspired by the European winner, Małgorzata Górska, a Polish woman who worked to protect one of Europe's last true wilderness areas. She implemented strategies with both the European Court of Justice and the Polish courts in order to stop a highway being built through the wilderness. I think it impressed me the most because the tactics seemed more like a legal hypothetical and I was amazed that she succeeded in bringing the weight of environmental law to reality. Full story here.

Video below. Narrated by Robert Redford!

For a re-cap of last year's award winners, see this post.

Shark video below.

Richard Simmons Passed a Bill

Saw Richard Simmons on the Hill the other day. He was wearing a purple blazer, Willy Wonka style, and telling the international environmental prize-winners I was with that his bill had just passed. No, he was not wearing exercise shorts.

His bill, the FIT Kids Act, passed the House on April 21, 2010, according to his purple-fanatic website. FIT stands for Fitness Integrated with Teaching. The Act seeks to build better physical education programs in the country’s schools.

"Parents and kids that sweat together live longer together!" Simmons shouted.

Congratulations Richard Simmons! Motivational for me passing a bill in the House...and for exercising :).

Plastics

Photo by: 2nd Green Revolution

Thought I would highlight D.C.'s effective strategy to reduce the use of plastic grocery bags.

After DC imposed a 5 cent tax on plastic bags this January, the number of plastic bags in supermarkets and other establishments dropped from a monthly average of 22.5 million to 3 million in January.

The tax generated $150,000 in revenue, which will be used to clean up the Anacostia River. The main story is the reduction of the trash heaps of plastic bags, keeping pollution from the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

22.5 million to 3 million! Phenomenal impact!

Full Washington Post story here.

Greensburg: Kansas Town Destroyed By Tornado Is Using “Green” Strategies To Rebuild Everything In Town

CNN posted a feature video with an update of Greensburg, Kansas’ work to rebuild its town to “green” (environmentally sustainable) strategies, after the town was destroyed by a tornado in 2007. See also my blogpost from last year (second story).

The tornado was 1.7 miles wide and pummeled directly through the 1.5 mile wide Greensburg.

The video showcases some of the amazing ways Greensburg is rebuilding itself as a model of environmental sustainability – designing buildings to maximize natural light, using wind turbines to power the hospital, utilizing salvaged wood to rebuild, capturing rainwater drainage for landscaping water needs, plus other techniques.

Link to video: http://tinyurl.com/2dzp3fk

House of Sweden

The Swedish Embassy is located on the Georgetown waterfront, with its adjacent counterpart, the "House of Sweden." A great rooftop view of the Potomac from this nouveau architectural wonder with water running down its glass wall entryway.

Photo: Francis in concert at House of Sweden.

House of Sweden often throws fun events, like last Monday night's free concert with Francis and Miss Li. Those Swedes know how to rock.

Photos: House of Sweden night and day.


Check out House of Sweden's event listings here.

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

I've been working on a project in Petrified Forest National Park, northeast Arizona. This cover photo of one of the Park's planning documents struck me. Do you see the person standing among the rocks? It provides a scale of some of the outstanding vistas and mesas there.

The 93,533 acres of Petrified Forest contain America's largest deposits of petrified wood, a rich and colorful desert, many fossils of dinosaurs and other creatures, and more than 500 archaeological sites including amazing petroglyphs left by ancient cultures.

Photo: Blue Mesa, east central section.

In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt created the nation's second national monument in the southern portion of the current park. His friendship with famed conservationist John Muir influenced his decision. While Muir is better known for his work in California and Yosemite, he spent time exploring this area and called it "a kaleidoscope fashioned by God's hand. After 56 years as a national monument Petrified Forest was finally made a national park on December 9, 1962.

Theodore Roosevelt

John Muir

Find out more about Petrified Forest National Park at: http://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm

Photos and research for this post also from this great "Park Vision" link: http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/PetForest/PetForest.html

Jamaica!

I just returned from an incredible trip to Jamaica. A great warm trip after a few blizzards here in D.C. and completing our busiest work season. Tom's work provided a free trip to Sandals resort for the both of us and his co-workers. We were hoping to see Michael Scott and Jan, but they weren't at this location.

1960's Mad Men Party

A co-worker threw an "Early 1960's Mad Men" theme party, complete with a era-themed drink station, recipes from a 1959 cookbook, 1960s decor, and Mad Men episodes playing alongside Mad Men dressed guests. A fun party, especially to mix up our cold post-blizzard days here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Photo: Tom and me

I have photos of the food and "sandwich loaf" making process, but they are not uploading. Here's an example:

Here are the actual photos from the party.

Photo: party host and the spread - orange Jello mold with marshmallow dessert in middle, Swedish meatballs, grapefruit with nut-coated chicken spears sticking out, herring spread, sandwich loaf, tartar sauce mold with seafood cooked in, plus other "delights."

Photo: real sandwich loaf! with olives on top. Easy cheese, mayonnaise, egg salad and other squishy ingredients make up the layers in between the multiple white bread slices in the middle.

Rocky Mountain Front, Montana

It's lobby season here in D.C., which means I spend a lot of my time writing request forms to turn in to Congress. It's not the most fun time of year, so today I covertly daydreamed about summer and the 10 days I spent in Montana last year. Forms in the winter, Rocky Mountain Front, Montana, in the summer. Not a bad cycle; just need to get through this winter part. Picture grizzly bears roaming the Front in the photo. They're probably in there! This is one of the projects I work on. I can't wait to go to Montana again.

Photo by Ted Kaplan

DC Snowstorm Timelapse Video. Watch the Teddy Bear!

SOTU

One of my favorite moments of 2009 was last January when I stepped out of a House of Representatives building and faced the desolate night Hillside lit up by the Capitol just moments before the State of the Union (well, it was called an "economic speech" last year).

I had just been drinking at a reception with the hiking lobby, so maybe the contrast made me extra reverent.

All sidewalks were empty, the air seemed austere and still, and I spotted guards patrolling. Everywhere. As an observer I was alone, walking the night, while the nearby Dome glowed with the gathering of all of our branches of government.

I am mainly posting this entry because of the cool photo DCist posted for tonight. Above. It captures the awe and quiet, brooding sky that often surrounds the Capitol building.

The State of the Union is an energizing tradition and I enjoyed tonight. 2010.

This is a better photo of what it looked like, actually. Also a DCist.com photo.

Hello Sunshine

Photo: blue skies and sunny weather. Top of Vail.

It's cold out East. The redeeming quality is the beauty of the floating ice down the Potomac, giant snowflake-shaped like. Otherwise, it's GRAY, drizzly, hold my arms together weather.

Before the East, I lived in Colorado, another oft-cold place. A delightfully-cold place, actually. I appreciated the difference when I visited last week: it's the SUN. And the BLUE, blue skies.

The sun reigns above Colorado like a friendly tour guide, brightening and informing all activities, even in the snow. See photos above and below. See the SUN chasing us down while we ski. I didn't realize how much I missed Colorado's giant share of the sun.


Even the cloudy skies in Colorado are pretty. See below.

A good trip to Colorado. Just when I thought it wouldn't feel like home, it did. Shoot.


Photo: frozen Potomac & Kennedy Center. View from the Key Bridge area, near my house. I did not take this photo. The ice formations were even prettier than this, at the beginning of the year.

The Big Burn

Just finished The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America. Excellent book about a 1910 forest fire in Montana and Idaho that was the SIZE OF CONNECTICUT. Written by Timothy Egan, Pulitzer winning writer and frequent columnist for NYT.

The book retells the captivating drama and hardship of the great fire of 1910, and the bravery of the of the newly formed U.S. Forest Service and its rangers who fought it. In an ironic turn of events, because this fire was so devastating and gained national attention, it played a key role in our country's decision to keep a National Forest System. What was loss turned into great gain for conservation, in general. At the time, Congress had been plotting to destroy the U.S. Forest Service.

Highly recommended, especially if interested in Theodore Roosevelt's role in creating ground-breaking conservation policy, Gifford Pinchot's background as the first Chief of the Forest Service, and the politics of general land use dilemmas at the turn of the 20th century (i.e. timber harvesting/mining/railroads v. conservation).

Decade of the Scooter

I was remarkably unreflective on New Years Eve, so I'm journaling now about The Oughts.

I graduated college in 2000, Miami of Ohio, so wrapping up a decade out-of-college has made me extra contemplative.

A decade of many mountains, many houses, many jobs. I had 13 jobs in 5 states, and that was just 2001. In total, I think it's around 18 jobs, 6 states and the District.

Summer 2004 I bought a blue scooter and cruised around Denver with all my might for the next 4 years: 100 miles to the gallon! I rode it to substitute teaching in Englewood, to Pathways Church at Wash Park, to grad school in downtown Denver, to softball games in Washington, D.C. I rode it down the spine and to the heart, and if you lived in Platte Park, you know what I mean. When I tore my knee, I hobbled over to the blue machine and strapped my crutches to the back with a climbing rope, arriving conveniently doorstep at wherever I needed to be.

My first week of law school, someone stole the hibiscus-patterned scooter. forever. The earth split beneath me. I had lost my most reliable friend.

I bought another plain-blue scooter and the trend of joyful, goggle-laden street-zipping continued. Those who knew me well in Denver knew that I was a "scooter" person. The thing is, I wasn't. At first. In 2003, I *really* wanted a scooter, but I thought, "I'm not the type of person who can ride a scooter. I'm a girl. I am not cool."

Then, I bought one. I became what I wanted to be: a scooter person. A risk. A transformation. No one stopped me. And I kept cruising forward: small & light, single, fast-enough, unique.

I call this the "Decade of the Scooter" because that scooter brought me so much joy and because it represents a lot of life transitions I made this past 10 years. Several of the best changes in my life seemed out-of-my personality range, at first thought. A Midwesterner turned Coloradan. A teacher turned lawyer. A Denver student turned D.C. lobbyist. That same feeling I had when I finally had the guts to go buy myself a scooter and "be who I wanted to be" is what I went through with the other major life decisions, as well.

Right before the Colorado Bar exam, the scooter died. Engine broke. My fault. I turned 30 that summer and I decided my post-20s years should be post-scooter. I walk to work in Virginia now, and there's no heart and spine close by to see friends, so I don't need a scooter, really. I actually hope that this next decade I won't have to "re-create" myself as much as I did during The Oughts. But I will always have the Decade of the Scooter in my heart :).

Other Decade Awards
- Musician: Sufjan Stevens. Best concert at the Kennedy Center
- Sport Played: Tennis. Good times at the Wooden Open
- Mountain: Winter Park. Bump skiing pre-knee injury, best thrill
- Neighborhood: Platte Park, CO. Of course
- Internship: International Justice Mission. Changed my life.
- Job: Highlands Ranch Rec Center. Not really. I liked the Senate.
- Trip: Sundance Film Festival, UT. Macauley fell on the ice.
- Worst Injury: ACL tear x 3. O, the knee! Was "Decade of the Knee Injury," too
- Best Gift: Mom driving with me across the country countless times. Especially 2x post-knee surgery & I couldn't drive.
- Best Piece of Advice: Dad telling me to think about going to law school.
- Coffee Shop: St. Mark's, Denver. I was always studying & someone was always drawing.
- Coffee Drinking: Hoang home. Best place for anything, really.
- Class: Tie: Irish Lit. at Trinity College, Dublin/Int'l War Crimes at DU Law

Kids of Christmas

These lil' faces show full-blown Christmas joy. A fun week with niece Mary Clare and nephews Owen and Paul.

Photo: Mary Clare at Union Station mini-train show.

Photo: Paul and new fire truck. Pure happiness.

Photo: Owen and green puppy. This photo captures Owen's favorite pastimes, other than playing with cars.

Photo: Chris and Owen in O's new tent.

Photo: Pop-pop, Owen, and Paul having fun.

Photo: Owen, Mary Clare and Paul. Paul wins for best expression.


Photo: Owen, Mary Clare and Paul

Photo: Mom and Dad put up new mirrors in their room. Mary Clare and Owen standing in front of old mirror Dad's holding up.

East Coast Snowstorm - Satellite

East Coast snowstorm! Satellite image. Dec. 20, right before the Winter Solstice.

Image: DCist.com via the NASA Earth Observatory, created by Jesse Allen using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.

Blizzard 2009

Blizzard 2009 - great times at the end of the year. Drove over to the H's on a clear Friday night. Snowed-in in McLean for three days of contentment, cooking, mulling wine, movies, and fun with friends. Over a foot of snow - a record for D.C. area in December in the last 70 years.


Trapped indoors on Saturday, we cooked outside! A's famous chili - we cooked ground turkey, bacon, roasted corn, white beans, onions, tomato sauce and more for a full pot of chili to last us the day.

Little B running down the street.



A trying to get out of driveway.

Capitol Christmas Tree

I don't know why I am sooo into the Capitol Christmas tree this year, but I am...OK? This is my FIRST FULL year in D.C., January through December, and this ceremoniousness in December is hitting the spot.

Last week I hosted an Oregon Forestry Chief around the Hill, and well, of course we had to stop by the tree. Although the tree is from *Arizona* this year, she still appreciated it. Then, this week I was on the Hill a few days, visiting the Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota offices and I took my Western guests to see the tree, as well. If we're walking from the House to Senate and back - "Let's see the tree!"

Thursday the Senate held a hearing for the bill I work on, a nice way to wrap up this year's campaign on it. I celebrated the end of a long week with a visit to "The Tree" and a farmfresh burger and toasted marshmellow milkshake at Good Stuff Eatery. This last visit they turned on the lights right as we walked up - allowing the best photo of the week (see above), with a still blue sky at dusk and the lights on. Merry Christmas! A great YEAR in D.C. and on the Hill.

Blizzard photos coming soon! Been trapped and content at the Hoang's in McLean for 3 days :)


Note: The plaque by the tree said it had traveled "4,600 miles" on its way from Arizona to D.C. Given that Arizona is around 2,300 miles away, why did it travel this many miles?!

Photos below: from DCist and Flickr Nivad