The Freckled Diaries

Feeling Better :)

So it might have been allergies. One never can tell at this time of year, and I don't seem to own a thermometer, so I have no idea if I was actually running a fever or if I I just felt like I was running a fever (although simultaneous sweating and shivering while feeling as if you've just tumbled down some lighthouse stairs is a pretty good indication). Anyway, I feel functional and have since Saturday (which makes me feel guilty, of course).

Anyway. Some catching up.  The snow melted and then it rained. A lot. A whole lot. The Potomac reached its highest point in 15 years (and we've been hit by some hurricanes since then). Here's what the commute Monday and Tuesday looked like. Monday I didn't even bother trying and here's why: (photo from WashCycle)

 

All of the low-lying parts of the trail (of which there are many--my guess is totaling 1/3 of the thing) were like that, not just this small section. For reference, this photo was taken facing Arlington (the buildings in the distance are the Rosslyn section). The river is the Potomac. Standing at this point, if you were to look right you'd see the monuments of DC, and Arlington Cemetery is across the Parkway to your left).

Tuesday, I ventured out and took some photos in Founder's Park in Alexandria on the way in. These docks (or boardwalks, whatever) are generally pretty high out of the water (though Alexandria is no stranger to flooding, this is just pretty extreme even for us).

 

 

 

Here's what Old Town looked like (Monday, high water). This is (from NBC Washington) King and Union. Anyone who has been here before knows this intersection well-- the Torpedo Factory is there (not pictured), 100 King used to be there (sniff) Mai Thai (the Thai place that overlooks the marina) is just next to the Starbucks pictured. I used to live a mere 2 blocks from here (2 blocks straight up a very steep hill, thankfully).

Cycling folks: Union Street is actually the "official" part of the Mount Vernon Trail as it passes through Old Town. 

In DC, one of the locks on the C&O Canal broke, and the police apparently went door-to-door in Georgetown warning people. The towpath (along the canal), was closed (obviously). I wish I could find a photo of the canal from this spot when it's NOT flooded. This is all kinds of amazing (photo DCist)

Back to Tuesday, as the water went away, it left a huge mess along the trail:

 

(photo WashCycle)

But you can maneuver around a mess, you can't around water.  I made it in just fine. And then fell ill with whatever I had, and was out of work for the rest of the week. 
 

I made it out on Saturday and had a positively lovely day, which I think I'll write about next.
 
 

 

41.4

Inches. Of snow. That's the official Alexandria total (between the two storms--but they really were back-to-back), as reported in the local paper which finally showed up today. Wow. Even I didn't think it was that high. 

The National Guard came, I didn't see them until the other day though because they were mainly down by City Hall doing their thing. I think they're gone now. The President declared Virginia a disaster area, and I suspect that Maryland's not too far behind. We had work today, though, finally. The government was on a 2-hour delay, mainly to allow for transportation issues. It was weird being back, and very difficult to concentrate. Everyone was in good spirits and it was nice to be back roaming the buzzing halls again.

Still, it's an adjustment. I suspect it will take a little while for things to feel normal again. Good news, though: I'm up for a pretty great (permanent) job very closely related to the one I have--different building, similar sort of setup (I'd still be a Capitol Hill librarian--just for a different library). I'm trying really hard to not get my hopes up, but my boss called the person doing the hiring (who she knows and has worked with) and sang my praises and highly encouraged her to consider me. So....that's good, right? It would be so perfect if it worked out (which is kind of why I'm pretty sure it won't). Fingers crossed!

A Return to Normal

Or close to it, at least. The government opened back up today (2 hour delay though) and Metro opened up half of the above ground stations, including mine! However, they were running on an every-35-minute schedule, which when compared to the normal rush hour schedule of every-3-to-6-minutes....disaster. I don't generally work on Fridays, but I called my boss last night offering to come in if the Metro situation wasn't too bad. She called me this morning just telling me to sleep. I think I'm going to insist on taking this as a vacation day or a leave-without-pay because while I love snow days and all...it's all a bit nuts and I feel really bad for taking my normal day off when I just got 4 of them. So, there you go, American taxpayer. I'm doing what I can.

Trucks are back out on the streets, making deliveries. Clean-up crews and construction crews abound (there's a LOT to fix--awnings falling down, whole pieces of roofs on winding up on the sidewalk, tons and tons and tons of downed trees and branches etc).

Rebecca's still here and will stay through the weekend, even though it's no longer out of pure necessity (or maybe it is--I have no idea what the roads outside of Old Town look like). We're having fun and there's lots planned for this weekend so we decided to just run with the sleepover :). She found a drop-in yoga class to take this afternoon, I went back to karate for my regularly scheduled private lesson and then ran some errands. She's still out there somewhere doing something.

We're going into President's Day weekend, which means that most people around here don't have work on Monday. This whole thing has just been so very odd. Fun, lots and lots of fun. But odd. I mean walking to karate class and to friends' houses (often in the middle of the night on like a Tuesday) in the midst of two back-to-back massive blizzards. That was my new normal. It feels kind of weird now that it's sunny and the roads are passable. Funny what you can get used to!

Day 7--Rumors and Coincidences

There have been tons. The biggest rumor flying has been that the government is considering canceling the President's Day holiday (this upcoming Monday) for Federal workers in an effort to make up for what will probably be this whole week. I have just gotten confirmation from a friend who works at FedLine (the blog of Federal Times, a newspaper for the government) that this is false. Whew? I'm not sure. I'm kind of ready to not be on "vacation" anymore.

Oh, and it goes without saying that there was no work again today. The storm is finished, the skies are bright and blue but it is a MESS out there.

More rumors (slash/ facts?): a quarter of the DC snowplow fleet is down for repairs. Some jurisdictions gave up on plowing on the second day of Round Three because the crews had been working 'round the clock for days and were starting to fall asleep behind the wheel.

Also, the National Museum of American History is (it's rumored) collecting objects and photographs from this storm. It's been history-making in many ways--record snowfall in this area and very close to a full week's closure of the government. Apparently there's a movement to get Capital Weather Gang in there somehow. They have been HANDS DOWN the most accurate, most up to the minute and by far the funniest and most entertaining of any of them. Go CWG boys!

Coincidences? Well, as mentioned earlier, they abound. A good example is that on Saturday night I saw a girl who I've met once before. Turns out we experienced the same burglar this summer. Also turns out that she's friends with a girl who is dating the roommate of a friend of mine. She goes to introduce me to the friend, and she and I say "actually, we've met" which was kind of mind blowing to burglar girl. I also ran into one of the karate instructors while out for the Super Bowl on Sunday. We got to talking a bit, and turns out we know pretty much all the same people (ok slight exaggeration but still). Mostly the Irish-bar entertainer types, but it's odd how we both have a level of familiarity with the same ones. Rocky, for instance. Rocky I consider to be part of my wider circle of actual friends (as opposed to only the friendly guy with the guitar you chat to on occasion, which is many of the rest of them), particularly since the recent passing of our mutual friend Jim. Turns out this karate instructor has been actual-friends with him for years. And always tries to go out on nights he's playing. Which I do, too. Which begs the question why we haven't seen each other before.

Best one is on the Capital Weather Gang's blog today. They've complied a "best-of" of the comments from readers over the course of Snowmageddon (or however we're spelling it). I highly recommend reading it. It's all kinds of awesome (and has a crazy picture of Cleveland Park!). But the funniest part?--The "most personal connection made". Right here in OT. Because this is the Smallest Town Ever (sometimes).

Most personal connection made

@Snowlover2 - thanks for posting those pictures! I recognized the picture of the pool, and if that's from your apartment, we're in the same building. :)
Posted by: oldtowngirl | February 6, 2010 2:35 PM

@oldtowngirl, Yes that was taken from my condo! I was wondering if anyone in my building would be on here and say something :)
Posted by: Snowlover2 | February 6, 2010 2:51 PM

@snowlover2 and @oldtowngirl I'm in the same building too ... I still want to know who built the snowman last night in the courtyard???
Posted by: tidalwave1 | February 6, 2010 2:51 PM

@Snowlover2 @OldTownGirl @TidalWave1: I used to live next door to y'all. I'm around the corner now ...
Posted by: AlexandriaAnna | February 6, 2010 2:57 PM

Most likely to go on a date

@Snowlover2 @OldTownGirl @TidalWave1: I scrolled the messages to see whether there was any new love blossoming ...
Posted by: MikeinDC2 | February 6, 2010 4:09 PM

@MikeinDC2,
No babies for us- I could be wrong, but I think we are all girls- so unless we adopted....
Posted by: Snowlover2 | February 6, 2010 4:14 PM

@snowlover2 I'm a guy!
Posted by: tidalwave1 | February 6, 2010 4:46 PM

Cute, huh?

There's more of this silly/amazing small world stuff but this post is getting long. Rebecca and I are spending the day eating and doing homework (yes, there is a real life out there somewhere). Not sure on how to spend the evening. Every option has been exhausted many times over. I've been trying to cozy up with a book for days but the near total lack of physical activity won't let me concentrate. I even had to watch my beloved LOST in 3 sections because I Just. Couldn't. Sit. Still. for more than 20 minutes at a time!

Off to climb some more walls in an apartment which I cleaned and organized from top to bottom, then decided to organize my clothes--mentioned frequently on here as the major source of disorganization around here--and so now it's all disorganized again (I failed to realize that because of the snow the throw aways can't be thrown away, and the give aways can't be given away and I've just got mounds of everywhere). Grrr.

Day 6--Whiteout

Well, it arrived late (we were getting convinced that Storm 3 was a lie), but it arrived. And how. I'm refusing to go outside, it's like---white. All white, the sky, the air, the ground. The wind appears to be ferocious and it's just---it's like the world is made of nothing else but snow. I don't need to say it but I will: the government is closed again today, my money's on it being closed tomorrow. I don't work Fridays (though if it's open I might consider going in for appearance's sake), and we're going into a long weekend. If it is a snow day tomorrow, and if I don't go in on Friday, I'll have been out of work from the 5th to the 16th.

Rebecca and I went out last night, partly because we knew we'd be immobile all day today, partly because she hasn't been out for this entire storm (she'd been in DC for the first one, an almost purely residential neighborhood, not much to do), partly because our buddy Rocky was on the entertainment schedule at the pub and we hadn't seen him in forever, and finally, because we were both looking to bump into particular people.

Now, I can imagine that most of the non-DC types who read this are thinking "oh, poor Rebecca, hadn't had a night out since Thursday" and rolling their eyes. And I would be, too. But you need to understand that time has gone out the window here. It really feels like this has been happening for at least a month. Did you ever go to summer camp, or something similar? Remember how those first 2 or 3 days felt like a lifetime? Or how the first few days of vacation you can't believe that just 72 hours ago you were throwing elbows on the Metro on the way to cubicle land? It's like that. Times ten.

People I just met on Saturday night feel like old friends. We're telling stories like "OMG remember that time....." for things that happened Sunday.  Man, I wish I wasn't so concerned about how it would make me look for even being involved in some of these stories because there have been some side-splittingly hysterical occurrences. For all records, I have been conducting myself in a manner in which I think, for the most part, would be boss-approved. Meaning if we happened to run into each other in public, I'd have very little to be concerned about. Most of my new snow buddies--eh.....debatable.  So I guess I'm trying to not look guilty by association (ha! And that's the explanation I'm sticking with ;) )

And now for the unofficial snow anthem--it seems to be playing EVERYWHERE and actually, for me at least, captures the mood bizarrely well.

Day Five, or "We're Never Getting Out of Here"

Actually, today mobility was much improved. It got warmish (35?) and the streets turned to snowy slush, which is easier to drive on, apparently. Some of the above ground Metro stations opened, and I actually saw a city bus! King Street returned to a shadow of its former self, particularly around 1pm when everyone was scurrying to replenish supplies for Round 3: "Snoverkill". I refuse to call it that because actually, I'm getting tired of the names and because I secretly am looking forward to it. I mean if you're going to do something drastic, you may as well go big, right? This is also the first vacation I've had in 2 years and I think that that's the spirit I've been trying to describe. Vacation. Everyone's hair's down, having fun, being social, normal life rules don't apply. It's been cool.

So, today, I slept in (shocking, I know), made paprikash for lunch/dinner/leftovers and went off for a make-up private lesson at the karate studio. I missed a few private lessons in December, so it kind of works out. That was fun as always, and the instructor is pretty into the snow thing too so there was giddiness. Or something. Really, I was just happy to be out of the house and somewhere that's not a grocery store or a bar. I've been having fun but, man, variety really is the spice of life.

I returned home, took this picture of me in the alley (the first step of the fire escape is totally buried in snow, I'm on level with the 3rd step--there's a grill behind me and that small piece of metal in the foreground is the arm of a bench):

And did some very necessary laundry. In my bathtub. Because I don't have a washer/dryer and the laundromat is 2 miles away. Not bad on a bike, but bad on foot. And the bikes aren't going to happen for at least another week unless something drastic changes. I actually do laundry by hand fairly frequently so this isn't a new thing for me--I have a rapid washer (a handheld agitator), a wringer, and the largest drying rack ever. I like that it's easier for me, saves money, saves energy etc. But this is the first time I've ever had to do it out of necessity. Crazy. That, plus my home food preservation efforts--I didn't have to do a mad dash for food, I have plenty--is making me wonder if the nutty survivalists are onto something.

Laundry:

 

Tonight: Rebecca's getting snowbound down here with me (there's another massive storm bearing down upon us), there's a new LOST on television and...who knows? I'm starting to wonder why there are so many tourists around here. I love this place and I'm having trouble staying entertained for five days.

An idea....

Click on the picture for a link to a photo album of the Dupont Circle Snowball Fight. I couldn't go because it's in DC, and I live at an above-ground Metro station, and Metro is only running underground. Even if I walked to Crystal City (in Arlington, near the Pentagon) to get to the closest underground station, I couldn't go anywhere. The yellow and blue lines here go over a bridge, not a tunnel in to DC--so that's closed, and the way to get from our lines to the closetest underground station that goes to DC is to go through Arlington Cemetery--above ground, so closed. Basically, if you live in the Pentagon/Pentagon City/Crystal City/Old Town Alexandria section of town---you're here until this shit's done.

That being said, the album is a good representation of what's been going on. My friends and I did NOT meet up for sledding which was hugely disappointing to me (particularity because some karate people were going to be there!), but I got in a much-needed nap after having gone to bed at 6am, only to get up at 10am to head to karate. I got up, had some dinner, talked to people on the phone and then headed back to Murphy's. Lest I sound like a total bar-fly, you need to understand that both Murphy's and Pat Troy's are more or less extensions of the living rooms of Old Town.  Where they also happen so serve alcohol. It was great--just a bunch of locals (as much as I love how non-Old Town people like coming here for fun--there's something really very nice about the place being a locals-only night. Like instead of asking where you're from and expecting to hear Clerendon, Dupont, Woodbridge etc You hear "Duke and Henry" and "Queen and Union", and stuff like that. So I found the group of people I spent the evening with last night, and we hunkered down by the fire (yep, a pub with a fireplace---too cozy and cute to stand), listened to some music, and probably drank a bit too much. But we all decided that it's snowing outside, and there is very little else to do, so drinking and flirting and singing it was! Random aside: one of the bartenders who I'd never seen until last night (I'm not there ALL that often so I don't know them all)--turns out he works on the Hill, too. On the House side, in a Member's office. A Member from the same state as one of the Members I used to work for. Small freaking world. I told him next time I'm over on the House side, I'd swing by and we'd grab lunch.

Anyway, good times all around. I am going to be SO disappointed when this is over. The optimistic side of me is hoping for one more go at the foot-plus snowstorms this season, but two in one winter is such a rarity that wanting anything more than that is basically insane.

But bottom line: pleased to report that this has been the most spectacularly amazing weekend ever, and I love this town more and more and more with every passing minute :)

Oops

"Someone" forgot to bring her bike in from the snowstorm. "Someone" also unwisely left it directly under the leaky downspout during the next day's thaw. "Someone" now owns a bicicle.

Wintry Weekend

So, my Saturday night plans were canceled due to the winter weather event we're experiencing. It's nothing like Snowpocoplyse was, but this is still DC, and here we cancel everything once the white stuff starts to stick to the roads. Now, we've got decently good reasons for doing so: our governments are terrible at snow removal, our residents are even worse at driving in the snow and our public transportation system is completely unpredictable and unreliable under the BEST of circumstances. All of this makes travel a little difficult.

So the planned dinner party in Arlington was canceled, and then I got an email that the piano bar also decided to close tonight (I think because of transportation issues for the pianist, which I can really understand) so my two plans (or one plan and one "if things end early" plan) were a wash. I stayed home and slept and watched most of the last season of LOST pretty much all day and evening, venturing out to get pho and chocolate. King Street was lively and packed, and I'm sure the bars were hopping. I just was very much not in the mood for the non-piano bar scene today.

I want to write up about the strange and interesting happenings of Friday, but that will take a while and I don't even know where to begin. But basically, lots of small world/small town coincidences (four, to be precise) happened and even though it was a sad day (the funeral of our friend Jim), it kind of made me happy--I just love feeling that I've got a community. And I do, a wonderful community, in an equally wonderful town.

So I think I'll leave off with a poem of sorts. It comes from the end of "The World According to Bertie", the fourth in Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series. Both Rebecca and I read the series which is about the inhabitants of a small apartment building in Edinburgh, and (eventually) their wider social circle. The characters are of all different ages (from school-aged to elderly), and all different backgrounds, and are (mostly) all friends across the age and occupation spectrum. It really is uncannily like our little group (and the building uncannily like my old building, which I used to refer to as "44 Scotland Street). At the end of each installment, the friends gather for a dinner party and Angus makes up a poem on the spot. The one from "The World According to Bertie" is particularly nice, and Rebecca emailed it out to a number of us shortly after Jim's death. With no further ado....

Dear friends, we are the inhabitants of a city which can be loved
As any place may be in so many different and particular ways
But who amongst us can predict for which reasons and along which fault lines will the heart of each  of us be broken?
I cannot, for I am moved by so many different and unexpected things.
By our sky, which at any moment may change its mood at whim with clouds in such a hurry to be somewhere else
By our lingering hours, by our eccentric skyline
All crags and spires and angular promises by the way we feel in Scotland, simply that.
These are the things that break my heart, in a way for which I am never quite prepared.
The surprises of a love affair that lasts a lifetime.

But what breaks the heart the most, I think, is the knowledge that what we have, we all must lose.
I don’t care much for denial, but, if pressed to say goodbye, that final word on which even the strongest can stumble,
I am not above pretending that the party continues elsewhere, with a guest list thats mostly the same, and every bit as satisfactory that what we think are ends are really adjournments, an entr’acte, an interval, not real goodbyes.
And perhaps they are, dear friends.
Perhaps they are.

Proof

It was pretty drastic (for us, at least)...but exciting!