Finally a real snow day

This is the most snow I've seen in DC. It feels like a real winter at last. As I write (10:20 PM) the snow falling seems to be tapering off to just dancing ice crystals and the fallen snow blowing around. I can see the lights of Virginia now so visibility is clearly better too. It's not going to be another Snowpocalypse. I'd better enjoy it while it lasts! So here's some pictures to share. (Yes Karl and Erin, you're allowed to mock the District for even noticing such a paltry amount of snow!)

Walking up 17th Street NW about 1:30.

There was actually an inch on the ground although you really can't tell. 

I like the snowdrift building up on this blue Honda. 

10:00 PM at River Park. It's built up now.

4th Street is snowy.

Nice drift at Tiber Island.

Doesn't our sign look scenic?

I saw a shooting star in Orion tonight

Walking home from Tanya's birthday party the sky was very clear (despite all the street lights!) and I saw a shooting star zip through the Orion constellation. It had to be pretty bright since all I can see from here are the major Orion stars and Sirius. Fun to see at least one meteor this winter.

Also I have a new (temporary) roommate. Meet Gina:

The poor girl has been shuffled around a lot lately I gather so she is mostly pacing around. Hopefully she will calm down in a day or two. Gina's person (Monica) is laid up in the hospital and then has lots of physical therapy where she can't bend over for a while. This makes it rather hard to feed Gina and clean out her litter! So Monica told Dani who put out a call for help that was seen by Tad (my neighbor and fellow bike rider) who texted me about it. I decided why not? Fostering Gina for a couple of weeks will give me a chance to see if I actually want a cat in an apartment. The cat adoption and rescue group (4Paws) who facilitated the foster home was pretty impressive...I talked to Dani on Friday, Monica on Saturday, and Bill gave Gina a ride to my place Monday afternoon.

As for the rest of the long weekend,

Happy Birthday Tanya Whippie!

Ice skating with Mary and Rob at Canal Park on Saturday.

First bread of the year

And other good things from the first two weeks of January.

Made with flax seeds and the whey from the ricotta.

Snowy day, January 3

The garden is chilly on January 4.

Golden sage under the snow.

Trying to take an art photo...notice how the Monument, the flag pole, and the crane all appear the same height.

Roasted beets are candy!

What went wrong in the 1980s?

This is striking and depressing. Life expectancy in the United States is well behind most other OECD countries and the trend really worsened about 1990. What's more we die earlier from all sorts of causes from infectious diseases to chronic conditions and the difference is getting bigger. If you want to live a long life maybe you should move to Europe!

You should read the whole post by Austin Frakt on the Incidental Economist.

A ridiculously warm winter solstice

It may be the shortest day of the year but a warm front moved in to the District. We were up to 21 C (or 70 F) and I was stripping down to my T-shirt while biking and walking around. I met Tanya and walked around the holiday market and the Mall. We thought about a museum but it was too nice to go inside. Here's some pictures for you all.

After that I hit up Union Market and Eastern Market and delivered some Christmas cookies to friends. Of course I made Candy Cane Cookies and Sour Cream Twists!

The scaffolding is coming down on the Washington Monument.

It's shadow is way bigger than mine!

Here's a panorama from the north side of the Monument. The White House is behind the trees in the middle of the picture and one of the cranes building the National Museum of African American History is on the right.

It was a gorgeous and sunny day!

Proof that I was down to my T-shirt! And note that it is the Planet Money T-shirt. 

This is the Christmas tree in the park south of the White House. I think it is called the National tree while the one by the Capitol is the People's tree. But I'm not sure! There are 50 small trees for the states too. You can see a couple in the foreground.

The view down Pennsylvania Avenue.

I do like the Old Post Office Pavilion!

Research on paperwhites, or how to grow shorter flowers

Do you like to force bulbs like paperwhites? I certainly enjoy the flowers but get frustrated by floppy plants and tipped over pots. The Flower Bulb Research Program at Cornell University is coming to our rescue!

What to do
We suggest planting your paperwhite bulbs in stones, gravel, marbles, glass beads, etc. as
usual. Add water as you normally would, then wait about 1 week until roots are growing,
and the shoot is green and growing about 1-2” above the top of the bulb. At this point,
pour off the water and replace it with a solution of 4 to 6% alcohol, made from just about
any “hard” liquor. You can do the calculations to figure the dilution, but, as an example,
to get a 5% solution from a 40% distilled spirit (e.g., gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila),
you add 1 part of the booze to 7 parts of water. This is an 8-fold dilution yielding 5%
alcohol.

Then you just grow the plant as normal while watering with the alcohol solution. (click the link above for complete instructions and explanation) This is really clever. I may have to try forcing bulbs again.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Theresa and Hugh O'Byrne and their four cats hosted Nicole and me at their home in Trenton, New Jersey, for Thanksgiving. (Theresa is a former classmate of Nicole's.) I had a really great time. Thank you again Hugh and Theresa!

A cat and a fireplace

Pirate wants to know when he can start on that bird!

Theresa had a great idea when I was trying to figure out where to brine the turkey. A clean vegetable drawer in the spare refrigerator in the basement was just the right size for our 11 pound bird and it was easy to keep it cold!

Of course the task of the day on Thursday was cooking. Here's some of the results. Fortunately Ceil and Jim, Nicole's parents, joined us for the feast too or we would have had to call on the cats to help!

The Bird

The accompaniments 

The table with Theresa's lovely china (a gift from parents/grandparents with the completion of her dissertation)

Ready to eat.

I had to eat the pie before taking a picture of it.

Theresa, Nicole, Hugh

Theresa, Nicole, Sarah (taking turns to take the photo)