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Rat Gallery DC #4

Ina Quadrio Curzio's Art at Rat Gallery

Ina Quadrio Curzio’s Art at Rat Gallery

Anna, Dorothy, and Katharine

Anna, Dorothy, and Katharine

This evening was the fourth Rat Gallery show at 52 O Street NW in Washington, D.C. I was impressed with quite a few of the pieces on display this evening and I think it was a successful event. I’ve picked a shot showing oil paintings by Ina Quadrio Curzio, an Italian-British artist who recently graduated from Georgetown University with a double major in Biology and Studio Art. From her artists statement, her subject matter “is centered around youthful environments, activities, and crowds. In my exploration, the figures undergo a purposeful deconstruction, their form intricately woven into a patchwork of brushstrokes that dissolve the boundaries between self and surroundings. This approach serves to dismantle youth culture into its chaotic essence of uncertainty and vitality. It invites viewers to contemplate the complexities of early adulthood and explore how our surroundings shape our individuality.”

I’ve also included a shot of three of the five Rat Gallery team. If you have any questions about Rat Gallery or would like your art to be considered for a future show, you should go to the Rat Gallery DC web site and contact the team.

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Rat Gallery DC #3

Caroline, Sara, and Justin

Caroline, Sara, and Justin

Andrew, Rachel, Katharine, Anna, and Dorothy

Andrew, Rachel, Katharine, Anna, and Dorothy

It was time for another Rat Gallery opening and Cathy and I were there. I don’t know that we can commit to being at every one but we’ve managed so far. This one was very well attended and was even listed on WTOP’s “What to do in DC” listing on their Instagram story. Pretty impressive. Art is quite a varied thing and something that one person loves, another person may hate. Sometimes art is meant to express feelings or emotions, other times it tries to tell a story. It can simply be decorative, of course, or it can consider shapes, colors, and various other aspects of the physical world. It’s quite common for any particular work of art to appeal to a limited audience.

I thought these porcelain cups were lovely and I especially liked the one in the upper right of this photo, with the salmon pink petals. There were a few others that I liked the colors of, including the one immediately below that with the darker interior. They were all really nice and they spoke to me. The other artists had their followers, as well and I think everyone had a lovely evening. It was also nice that it started before it got dark, so there was some natural light for a while.

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Easter Sunrise Service

Easter Sunrise Service

Easter Sunrise Service

As you probably know if you’ve been following my photographic journey for any length of time, I really love a good Easter sunrise service. Cathy and Dorothy were nice enough to come with me again this year. The weather was very cooperative, with the temperature being cool but not freezing. Todd Smedley and David Frerichs officiated and Todd’s message was really good. After that we went to the upper room for a light breakfast before the regular 8:00 service, which we also enjoy with the orchestra up front. This is the first time we’ve been to Fourth since they renovated the sanctuary. I have to say I’m underwhelmed by what they’ve done with it. It was pretty stark before but it’s even more bland now. I guess I’m not the target audience and of course it’s not our church, so it’s not really my place to say. Nevertheless, I’m not all that impressed. But the sunrise and morning worship services were good and I’m not really there for the decor, so that’s something. I also had a really lovely visit with Erin and David, getting caught up on their family and telling them about ours.

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Fabric Purge

Mom's Fabric

Mom’s Fabric

At one point mom had a bumper sticker that said, “The one who dies with the most fabric wins.” We knew is was meant to be tongue in cheek but mom seemed to be taking it a bit more seriously than she might have done. She stopped accumulating fabric a good while ago but was still quilting so didn’t get rid of all of what she had, even though she did pare it down when she moved out of her house in 2018. Now that she’s no longer quilting, though, the time had come to give away what remained. Cathy, Dorothy, or good friend Julia, and I went through all the fabric in her two large closets. Dorothy took a few boxes, Julia took a small box, and the rest went to another woman from Bethesda Quilters for them to distribute as they see fit. Here’s what she was able to fit into the trunk of her car. The back seat is also full, from the floor to above the top of the seat backs. It was a hectic day but nice to have that done.

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Easter Egg Hunt

Dot and Dorothy

Dot and Dorothy

Iris, Kai, Seth, Silas, and Eloise

Iris, Kai, Seth, Silas, and Eloise

Seth, Iris, Cathy, and Tsai-Hong

Seth, Iris, Cathy, and Tsai-Hong

Cathy, Iris, Kai, Steve, Maya, and Tsai-Hong

Cathy, Iris, Kai, Steve, Maya, and Tsai-Hong

Dorothy and her friends invited the families at their church to come to an Easter egg hunt at the property today. The folks at the church organized the actual egg hunt and everyone brought their own picnic lunches and folding chairs. Dorothy also invited the rest of our family and it turned into a family gathering, as well. I took pictures of the egg hunt as well as quite a few of all the people but I’m limiting the photos posted here to family, since those are the people I actually know. We stayed later than the others and had a nice time roasting marshmallows and visiting. It was cool but a beautiful day and really good to see everyone. We brought mom, and she sat near the fire and various people came and sat and talked with her. A few people fished but I don’t think anyone caught anything. The pond is filling up nicely, though.

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Tree Planting Outing

Cathy and Dorothy On Horse Rock

Cathy and Dorothy On Horse Rock

Cathy and I spent most of the day up in Pennsylvania today. I had 45 tree seedlings I wanted to plant and that took a good part of our time. I planted 25 Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) and 20 black gum (or tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica). I put six of the cedars in the picnic field with the hope that at least a few of them survive to maturity. I don’t expect them all to and honestly I might cut down all but three if more than that make it. The other were planted in the woods simply to add to the woodland environment. Both trees are native to the area, with the cedar being confined mostly to the states along the Atlantic and eastern gulf coast and the black gum more widespread as far west as Texas.

I planted about half of them in what we refer to as ‘the wet field’ but which is woods at this point. This large rock and a few others are along the edge of what was a field when my parents bought the property nearly 60 years ago.

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One Year Beard

Self-portrait with One Year Beard

Self-portrait with One Year Beard

A year ago I had a longish beard and mustache that had been growing since the previous Thanksgiving. At that point I decided to cut my beard short. I didn’t shave but using my trimmers cut it to about 1⁄8″. I didn’t cut my hair at that time. Then I let my beard grow again. The previous mustache had been a bit annoying so this time around I trimmed that occasionally. By Christmas my beard had gotten long enough—and it’s now white enough—that I got quite a few ‘Santa’ comments. You can see what it was like at the end of December in my annual 2023 Reading post. By February I was thinking it was time for it to go but since it was coming up on a year’s growth, I decided to give it until this week. I took this picture to record the longest beard I’ve ever had. I’m not making any promises but I suspect this will be the longest beard I’m ever going to have. It was fun while it lasted but I was ready for a change. Again, I have left my hair long, which is also probably the longest it has ever been.

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Col. Paul Peck and Ruth Owens

Paul and Ruth Owens Grave Marker

Paul and Ruth Owens Grave Marker

We went for a walk in the rain near the Croyden Creek Nature Center today. In spite of the fact that we got pretty much soaked, we really enjoyed being outside. I carried my camera under my jacket and got a few pictures. After we got back to the car, we stopped at Rockville Cemetery, just to walk around (again, in the rain). We chatted for a while with the President of the Board of Directors of the Rockville Cemetery Association. She pointed out her family graves and also this marker for the graves of Col. Paul Peck (August 10, 1889 – September 11, 1912) and his wife, Ruth Owens (January 7, 1893 – April 5, 1912). He was an early pilot and set a speed record, flying 24 miles in 25 minutes (57.6 MPH). He died in a plane crash in Chicago, Illinois.

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Dot’s 93rd Birthday

Dot's 93rd Birthday

Dot’s 93rd Birthday

Tsai-Hong has originally planned to have us all over on Chinese (a.k.a. Lunar) New year on February 10. For a number of reasons, it got pushed back first to the 17th and then to the 24th. We did get together and celebrated mom’s 93rd birthday, as well. We don’t ever really need much of an excuse to get together and we should do it more often but of course everyone is busy and it’s hard to find a good date for everyone. As usual, mom made her own cake, her favorite angel food cake, which turned out marvelously. Tsai-Hong bought carry-out from Far East Restaurant and is was terrific.

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Jed’s First Birthday

Aria, Evan, Jed, and Maria

Aria, Evan, Jed, and Maria

We attended the birthday party for little Jed’s first birthday today and had a very nice time visiting with his parents and extended family. We’ve known Maria since she was a little older than Aria is now and have been blessed to watch her grow into the beautiful young woman she is. He wedding to Evan in 2019 was a lot of fun. Sadly they live too far away for us to see her very often, but we are happy for opportunities like this to get together.

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New Year’s Day

New Year's Day Gathering Participants

New Year’s Day Gathering Participants

Many January firsts since 2004 we have gotten together with Amy and her family. Other guests have varied over the years and we’ve missed a few years (like last year, when Cathy got Covid at the end of December). A few things have been very consistent, including having fondue for the meal. Today’s meal included both cheese fondue and chocolate fondue for dessert. We decided to forego the meat fondue because Jon smoked a large piece of beef instead. Choosing between smoked meat and meat fondue is something of a toss up, but we made a good choice. We also had two new attendees this year. Carly, Jon’s wife of about a year and a half and their little one graced us with their presence. It’s great to start a year off with a relaxing time catching up with friends, even if much of the conversation these days seems to be centered around caring for parents or personal medical issues. Regardless, here’s wishing you a very happy new year.

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Dot and Her Great Grandchildren

Kaien, Silas, Dot, and Eloise

Kaien, Silas, Dot, and Eloise

At about 2:00 PM my family started to arrive, starting with George and Carmela (and their dog Chester) who drove down from New Jersey and made better time than expected. The rest came between 2:30 and 3:00 and we have a very lively Christmas afternoon. Our meal this year was all sorts of appetizer-type things. Some might call them tapas but we prefer the name ‘what-nots’. There was considerably more food that the 15 of us could eat so plenty of leftovers. I had planned to make latkes and had already prepared the potato and onion batter but lost track of things and didn’t make them. I fried up a few the next day and they were terrific, but we really didn’t need them today. We didn’t take a whole-group photo but I did get some of mom on the sofa with her three great grandchildren, from left, Kaien, Silas, and Eloise.

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Christmas Morning

Margaret and Friends

Margaret and Friends

As we did last year, we took Christmas breakfast to Cathy’s mom. Also like last year, I made a quiche Loraine and it turned out quite well (it’s not really very difficult, to be honest). Today’s visit was a bit more hectic than last year, though, when it was just Cathy, Dorothy, and me. This year, Tam and No were visiting, having arrived shortly before us. Then Tam’s sister Dieu and her husband Henry and his aunt arrived while we were there. We don’t get to see Henry and Dieu very often, because they live in Florida. Tam and No were planning to leave for a visit to Vietnam tomorrow and Henry and Dieu towards the end of January. So, a very nice reunion but not really a quiet Christmas morning.

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Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

With my beard and wearing a red and white ‘Santa hat’ this morning I was asked if I would stand in for Santa in a picture with some friends’ kids. I was happy to oblige, of course. This evening we returned to church for our Christmas Eve service, which is a real favorite of mine. Sadly, there are more good Christmas hymns than there is time for in a service and some of my favorites are inevitably missed. We do end, as many churches do, with a song sung by candlelight. We sang Silent Night, where our former church ended with Joy to the World. I took pictures and of course without flash, had to set the camera at a high ISO. The pictures are naturally lower quality because of that but it gives them more of the feel of candlelight, anyway.

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Office Christmas Party

Bonn, Doris, Bill, and Cathy

After a few years without, during that whole pandemic thing, we had our first group holiday party last year and another one this year. In the past I’ve been parts of small groups that had parties. When I worked for Mike his group had a party and that varied in size from a dozen or more, down to a low of three of us. Then we were invited to go to the party for the group we supported and we did that for quite a few years. More recently the larger IT team directly supporting project work had a party. That was a larger group. Last year and this, however, it’s been a larger group again, this time including all the systems and other support groups. We are now call Technology and Digital Solutions or TDS, which sadly has the effect of sounding like tedious. These are a few of my not so tedious colleagues, Bonn, Doris, Bill, and of course Cathy.

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Roosevelt Island

Jim and Cathy on Roosevelt Island

Jim and Cathy on Roosevelt Island

Cathy’s brother Jim came for a quick visit. After we picked him up from the airport we had a little extra time before his and Cathy’s mom would be done with lunch so we stopped at Teddy Roosevelt Island and walked around it. Part of the way around we saw two of these shelter-like constructions made of collected branch pieces. I dont think they are official, National Park Service structures and may well be gone the next time we’re there. But it seemed like a good opportunity for an informal portrait of brother and sister.

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Cathy

Cathy

Cathy

Where the Northwest Branch Rock Creek goes under Muncaster Mill Road the Kengla House Trail heads upstream. We seem to go there right around this time of year fairly regularly. We happened to go there again today. It’s not the most exciting trail around, but it’s nice. The worst part is where it goes under the ICC (MD route 200). Our favorite part is a little ways beyond that where a side stream goes between two huge sycamore trees. Whenever we head this way, I take pictures of Cathy leaning on one or the other of those trees. You can see two pictures from Friday, December 31, 2021. This year the sun was out so I had to move her into the shadow of the tree to get a better picture.

From there we continued upstream until we got to Norbeck Meadows Neighborhood Park where we crossed another side stream and then headed back. There were a lot of dogs out today, which Cathy enjoyed. One border collie wasn’t as happy to see me as we initially were to see her and she lunged at me, whacking me in the leg before her owner pulled her back. But no real harm done, thankfully.

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Rob’s Birthday

Rob's Birthday

Rob’s Birthday

When we moved back here after living in England I was going into eighth grade. In many ways it was like moving to a new town, even though I had lived in the same house until only 14 months before. One of the people I met was Rob and we’ve been close friends ever since. It was really nice to spend the evening with Rob, his lovely wife Susie, and a large handful of their closest friends. I only knew a few of them and those not very well, but I enjoyed talking with them, regardless. This is Rob and Susie with three of those friends who were able to come.

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Rat Gallery DC #2

Rat Gallery #2

Rat Gallery #2

Back on September 30, Rat Gallery DC had their inaugural event. Tonight was their second and the turnout was very encouraging. For the first event, some people came, I’m sure, out of devotion to Dorothy, Rachel, and Katharine, the artists but also the organizers of the event. Tonight’s show featured three other artists and was even better attended than the first. While taste in art is about as varied among people as is taste in food, one can appreciate even what one might not pick to fit their home decor. So, while I wasn’t tempted to buy anything this time, I did enjoy the art and the people. Naturally I took photos. I could only wish it were a little easier to get to North Capital and O Street, Northwest. But it was definitely worth the effort. The next show, I believe, is in early February.

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Cathy and Henry

Cathy and Henry

Cathy and Henry

A few weeks ago I agreed to take portraits of folks at church for a new photo directory. It’s been quite a while since we had one and there have been significant changes since then, including pictures with children who are now young adults. Each Sunday I set up a mini-studio in one of the offices and took three to five photos of each family, couple, or individual (generally more for the larger families since it’s more likely that there will be closed eyes the more people there are). I had Tammy press the shutter release for me to get our photos and I think they turned out pretty well. So, here we are.

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