Saturday, February 20, 2016

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2004. That weekend we took Mattie to the National Museum of Natural History. Peter caught both of us looking at a huge African Elephant in the Rotunda. As you can see Mattie was absorbed and intrigued!





Quote of the day: The question “When does graffiti become art?” is meaningless. Graffiti is always vandalism. By definition it is committed without permission on another person's property, in an adolescent display of entitlement. Whether particular viewers find any given piece of graffiti artistically compelling is irrelevant. Graffiti’s most salient characteristic is that it is a crime. ~ Heather MacDonald (who wrote an article about this in the NY Times)

Peter and I went on a three mile walk today before I headed to the hospital for an MRI. We walked through Georgetown and found this wonderful perch to take a photo of Peter with Roslyn, VA in the background. 

Along our walk, I couldn't get over the graffiti. Some people aren't disturbed by this sight, but I on the other hand am greatly bothered by it. I do not find it artistic, but absolutely disgusting and respectful to us as a society. Especially when it defaces public places and monuments. The overlook we walked to today, was actually the remnants of an old bridge that connected at one time Georgetown to Roslyn. The amount of paint and graffiti covering this space was overwhelming!

Along our walk, we came across this wonderful Great Blue Heron walking in the canals of Georgetown. 

Today seemed to be a day of ugliness. Many walls around us seem to be defaced with graffiti. This one is right outside the Department of State. Why they do not do anything about this is beyond me. But Peter and I take photos of every graffiti nightmare we find and send it to the Mayor's office to have it addressed. 

Look at this wall outside of the Kennedy Center! Absolutely hateful!

Another wall outside the Department of State, along with tents filled with homeless people. The graffiti and homeless issues have NOT improved in DC over the years, but have gotten exponentially worse. 

On our drive home from the hospital I immediately spotted Mattie Moon in the sky!

Though the MRI was an hour long, the tech who worked with me was absolutely delightful. He was a retired military man, and was respectful, professional, kind, and helpful to both Peter and me. Anyone who says kindness can't help make a medical procedure better is absolutely WRONG. In fact, I would say it helps in ways that are too measurable to quantify.