The Tidal Basin is a partially man-made reservoir between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel in Washington, D.C. It is part of West Potomac Park and is a focal point of the National Cherry Blossom Festival held each spring. The Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the George Mason Memorial are situated adjacent to the Tidal Basin. The basin covers an area of about 107 acres (43 ha) and is 10 feet (3.0 m) deep.When you are walking in the western part of the Mall, most of the time, you cannot see the city at all. It is an interesting experience to be in a large metropolitan city and appear to be in the forest or in a huge park. But there are still thousands of people to remind you it is all an illusion.
George Washington's military and political leadership were indispensable to the founding of the United States. As commander of the Continental Army, he rallied Americans from thirteen divergent states and outlasted Britain's superior military force. As the first president, Washington's superb leadership set the standard for each president that has succeeded him. The Washington Monument towers above the city that bears his name, serving as an awe-inspiring reminder of George Washington's greatness. The monument, like the man, stands in no one's shadow.
The Washington Monument, designed by Robert Mills and eventually completed by Thomas Casey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, honors and memorializes George Washington at the center of the nation's capital. The structure was completed in two phases of construction, one private (1848-1854) and one public (1876-1884). Built in the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, evoking the timelessness of ancient civilizations, the Washington Monument embodies the awe, respect, and gratitude the nation felt for its most essential Founding Father. When completed, the Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world at 555 feet, 5-1/8 inches.As a comparison, the present (2018) tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is 2,717 feet high. This building is a thousand feet higher than the One World Trade Center in New York City. Also, the Empire State Building is now listed as the 40th tallest building.
See https://www.dutchgardens.com/2072-lily-gloriosa?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpcLZBRCnARIsAMPBgF2DxbaT7RcaeLit6A1SPIOd2syfakxYwNympsCFeWUTzPDRfyvdXc0aAtZAEALw_wcB
- This dynamic exotic vine is native to Southern Asia and Africa, where it enjoys warmth year round. It grows very well here as well where it will bloom all summer and fall providing very showy ruby and yellow flowers with wavy swept back petals.
- It is very easy to grow in a container with a light trellis as a patio plant in a sunny to lightly shaded area.
- In colder areas, move indoors in the fall and allow the plant to go dormant until next spring.
- Top-size 15/20 cm bulbs.
Open 362 days a year, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens welcomes visitors with blanketed white snow in winter, fresh green sprouts in spring, to lush green hot summers, and painted foliage during the fall.
Go birding on the boardwalk in the winter. Witness the sights and sounds that fill the park as everything comes to life in the spring. In late June and July, see our famous water lilies and large lotus flowers take center stage in the early morning, opening up to display their beauty for a few hours until the mid-day heat forces them to close. Visit during the fall to feel the crisp cool air and see leaves splashed with color. There are a variety of activities and experiencesfor ALL to enjoy throughout the year.
At Kenilworth Park, Athletic Fields (Burroughs Street and Kenilworth Avenue NE) visitors play sports and paddle along the Anacostia River. Kenilworth Marsh is a natural habitat where raptors punctuate the winter sky and marsh wrens design their summer songs.I do wonder, however, why they paint their foliage in the fall?
The National Capitol Columns is a monument in Washington, D.C.'s National Arboretum. It is an arrangement of twenty-two Corinthian columns which were a part of the United States Capitol from 1828 to 1958, placed amid 20 acres (8.1 ha) of open meadow, known as the Ellipse Meadow.We are enjoying finding out about the things we see around us.
Veratrum californicum (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore) is a poisonous plant native to mountain meadows at 3500 to 11,000 ft elevation in southwestern North America, the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, and as far north as Alaska and as far south as Durango. It grows 1 to 2 meters tall, with an erect, unbranched, heavily leafy stem resembling a cornstalk. It prefers quite moist soil, and can cover large areas in dense stands near streams or in wet meadows. Many inch-wide flowers cluster along the often-branched top of the stout stem; they have 6 white tepals, a green center, 6 stamens, and a 3-branched pistil (see image below). The buds are tight green spheres. The heavily veined, bright green leaves can be more than a foot long.
Veratrum californicum displays mast seeding; populations bloom and seed little in most years, but in occasional years bloom and seed heavily in synchrony.
Cycas revoluta (Sotetsu [Japanese ソテツ], sago palm, king sago, sago cycad, Japanese sago palm), is a species of gymnosperm in the family Cycadaceae, native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands. It is one of several species used for the production of sago, as well as an ornamental plant.Here is an explanation of the food called sago.
Sago /ˈseɪɡoʊ/ is a starch extracted from the spongy centre, or pith, of various tropical palm stems, especially that of Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak, rabia and sagu. The largest supply of sago comes from Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia. Large quantities of sago are sent to Europe and North America for cooking purposes. It is traditionally cooked and eaten in various forms, such as rolled into balls, mixed with boiling water to form a glue-like paste (papeda), or as a pancake. Sago is often produced commercially in the form of "pearls" (small rounded starch aggregates, partly gelatinized by heating). Sago pearls can be boiled with water or milk and sugar to make a sweet sago pudding. Sago pearls are similar in appearance as the pearled starches of other origin, e.g. cassava starch (tapioca) and potato starch, and they may be used interchangeably in some dishes.
Nepenthes (/nɪˈpɛnθiːz/), also known as tropical pitcher plants, is a genus of carnivorous plants in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus comprises roughly 150 species and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mostly liana-forming plants of the Old World tropics, ranging from South China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines; westward to Madagascar (two species) and the Seychelles(one); southward to Australia (three) and New Caledonia (one); and northward to India (one) and Sri Lanka(one). The greatest diversity occurs on Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines, with many endemic species. Many are plants of hot, humid, lowland areas, but the majority are tropical montane plants, receiving warm days but cool to cold, humid nights year round. A few are considered tropical alpine, with cool days and nights near freezing. The name "monkey cups" refers to the fact that monkeys have been observed drinking rainwater from these plants.
For model year 1939, industrial designer Raymond Loewy was hired to design a new line of tractors. The sleek look, combined with other new features, created what is known as the Farmall "letter series" (A, B, BN, C, H, and M) and the McCormick-Deering "standard series" (W-4, W-6, and W-9). Model year 1941 had the introduction of the model MD, the first rowcrop diesel-powered tractor; over a decade later, IH's largest competitor, John Deere, introduced a diesel option on their rowcrop tractors. The letter series tractors were updated to the "super" series in 1953 (with the exception of the A, which had become a "super" in 1947, and the B and BN, which were discontinued in 1948) and received several improvements. Many of these tractors (especially the largest: the H, M, and W models) are still in operation on farms today. Especially desirable are the diesel-powered MD, WD-6, and WD-9. These tractors carried forward the unique gasoline start diesel concept of the WD-40.The Farmall H series was produced from 1939 to 1953. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article "Farmall H."
The Farmall H, produced by International Harvester under the Farmall brand from 1939 to 1953, is a two-plow row crop tractor. It was the most widely-produced of International Harvester's "letter series", with approximately 390,000 produced over the 14-year run. The H is equipped with a 4-cylinder engine with a 152-cubic-inch (2,490-cubic-centimetre) displacement and a 6-volt, positive ground electrical system with generator, (when so ordered or retrofitted). The transmission contains six total gears: five forward and one reverse. It was the smaller of the two prominent row crop tractors produced by IH from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, along with the Farmall M and its variants, yet could still use the same implements.This particular tractor is obviously no longer in service.
Completed in 1855, the Castle is our signature building and home to the Smithsonian Visitor Center. As such, it makes a great starting point for your journey—here you can get a grasp of the scope and scale of the Smithsonian, see collections highlights from each of our museums, tour the Castle’s 19th-century architecture, see what’s going on today at all the museums, and consult with our in-house experts about what to see and do.On a recent visit, we found that the Visitors Center is high tech with animated displays and explanations of the museums and other exhibits.
The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus or Rana catesbeiana), often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an amphibious frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or “true frogs”. This frog has an olive green back and sides blotched with brownish markings and a whitish belly spotted with yellow or grey. The upper lip is often bright green and males have yellow throats. It inhabits large, permanent water bodies, such as swamps, ponds, and lakes, where it is usually found along the water's edge. The male bullfrog defends a territory during the breeding season. His call is reminiscent of the roar of a bull, which gives the frog its common name. This frog is native to southern and eastern parts of the United States and Canada, but has been widely introduced across other parts of North, Central and South America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia, and in some areas is regarded as an invasive species.
The bullfrog is harvested for use as food in North America and in several countries into which it has been introduced. It is also cultured in controlled environments, though this is a difficult and not always successful undertaking. Some international trade in frog legs occurs for human consumption. Bullfrogs are used in biology classes in schools for dissection and are sometimes kept as pets.As you can tell from this article if you dissected a frog in high school biology, it was probably one of this frog's relatives. I found this frog sitting in a pool at the National Botanical Garden in Washington, D.C.
René François Ghislain Magritte (French: [ʁəne fʁɑ̃swa ɡilɛ̃ maɡʁit]; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for creating a number of witty and thought-provoking images. Often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. His imagery has influenced pop, minimalist and conceptual art.Some of my photographs are also optical illusions. For example, The Endless Escalator published on March 28, 2018.
The Washington Post reported that the tree was originally donated to the Arboretum by a bonsai master named Masaru Yamaki. It was part of a gift of 53 trees given to the Arboretum’s National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in honor of the U.S. bicentennial. No mention was made of the tree’s history, and it wasn’t until the brothers showed up that the tree’s incredible story was even known. The tree’s history will be honored on Thursday, the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.
The tree was originally located in a walled nursery belonging to Yamaki that was less than two miles from Hiroshima. This distance, however, was just far enough away to shield it from the blast. Jack Sustic, curator of the Bonsai and Penjing Museum, told the Post that the tree must have been against a wall where it was shielded from the blast. Photographs taken at the Yamaki Nursery just after the bombing show the pine standing in its pot, unharmed.
