United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Today after training some new primate interpreter volunteers at the Zoo I visited what in my opinion is probably the best museum in Washington with another curator who is new to the area. I first visited the museum on its opening day and have returned many times since, typically with first-time visitors. The experience is profound every time and unlike at many museums, most visitors are extremely courteous and keep their voices down out of respect.

When I visit the museum and realize how many visitors seem to be learning about the history of it for the first time, I realize how lucky I was to have grown up in the DC area. Not only did we learn about the Holocaust in school, Elie Weisel (Jewish writer, professor, political activist and Holocaust survivor) once visited my high school English class. I urge anyone visiting DC to plan a trip to the Holocaust Museum, understanding that a thorough visit will take several hours.

A Wonderful Snail Mail Surprise

Yesterday at wok I received something completely unexpected n the mail that made my day - an extremely gracious hand-written thank you letter from Jane Goodall, thanking me for introducing her to some of our orangutans and gorillas (and my human primate unit staff) following an event her institute had hosted in one of my buildings.

with Jane Goodall during her visit to meet our apes

Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox LIVE!

What a great way to end the weekend before I prepare to work 11 days in a row (working the Memorial Day and Thanksgiving holidays this year, but that means I don't have to work any of the other federal holidays). The evening started with a nice catch-up over Ethiopian food in Silver Spring, MD with a friend from grad school. We had the same advisor and he is now based out of the US but still has an orangutan field site out in East Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). One of these days I have got to get myself back to the Indonesian forest and would love to visit Wahea.

After dinner we headed over to The Fillmore Silver Spring for a live Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ) concert. The group takes modern songs and gives them a throwback twist that can really only be properly appreciated by watching some YouTube videos.

One of PMJ's many encore performances of the night was "All About That Bass":

One of my favorite vocalists was Maiya Sykes; here is a live version of PMJ's cover of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" featuring Maiya:

Live PMJ cover of Lada Gaga's "Bad Romance" in Vintage 1920's style, feat. Ariana Savalas:

NMNH Hall of Geology, Gems & Minerals

For some reason I had a hankering to visit the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History's Hall of Geology, Gems & Minerals today, so I asked if my mother wanted to come along, which she did. I hadn't stopped by the exhibit in several years so I suppose I thought was about time I returned, especially now that I work at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and have a discount at all of the Smithsonian museum stores and restaurants. I also learned that I can bypass the sometimes long security lines.

Getting downtown took a little longer than it should, only because my mother and I both grew up in the DC area and tried to Metro on auto-pilot rather than reading the signs, forgetting that the new silver line could get us to our destination just as easy as the orange line from the Metro Center stop.

There is massive construction going on downtown, including MAJOR turf restoration and something on the dome of the Capital:

Here are some photos from the Gems & Minerals exhibit--note that my photos do not include the Hope Diamond, which is displayed in this exhibit…I much prefer more natural beauty:

I like all geodes that resemble grouper fish with gaping mouths...

 I don't remember what this is, but I like it

This is a very large piece of copper!

My mother and I couldn't help each buying a bag of select-your-own-rocks at the Gems & Minerals Gift Shop. I also picked up a beautiful piece of green malachite:

After getting home, I went out again to find a local geocache called "Jurassic Pork" that I couldn't find when I first searched the site - this time = SUCCESS! An excellent cache. Anyone interested in geocaching can read about my adventure here: Jurassic Pork

Mother's Day Weekend - at home in DC

I spent yesterday with my mother since it is Mother's Day weekend, I am her only child and she is my only mother :). We started off the day with brunch at Lillies Restaurant and Bar, a wonderful little European-style Italian cafe literally 1 meter from my apartment building. I get a nice discount and they have a large and varied menu, so we returned to Lillies in the evening for dinner with my father after he came to pick up my mom.

While on the topic of food, I will say a few words about frappuccinos. I managed to go through the first part of my life without drinking any form of coffee, for the reason that I was quite sure I would become addicted to it. But then once when living in Zurich, Switzerland a drag queen came out of a Starbucks offering samples of banana-flavored frappuccinos. I just couldn't say no to that and ever since I have ordered coffee frappuccinos (since sadly the banana flavor was available only in Zurich) whenever I have the chance. I once even figured out how to make my own frappuccino in a small freezer powered by car batteries used to hold wild orangutan urine samples out of coffee grinds and powdered milk. My mother also loves coffee frappuccinos, so of course we had to order them on our day together.

They didn't quite get either of our names (Carroll and Meredith) right:

My mom in the early 90s & now. Hard to believe she is 72 years old!

After brunch at Lillies and before our frappuccino break, we walked up to the National Cathedral, a few blocks west of my apartment up a big hill. My mother is a member of the National Cathedral Association so we got in for free. Since we have both visited so often over the years (my mother heard Martin Luther King give one of his last sermons at the Cathedral and I have a small obsession with gothic architecture and gargoyles, of which the Cathedral has 112), we went inside only briefly to visit one of the gift shops and use the restroom.

I bought another small gargoyle (the snow globe) to add to my growing collection:

I also bought this little garden gnome. There was exactly one for sale in the gift shop. I once found one of these guys in a free pile when I was living in PA but at the time found gnomes to be a little creepy and gave it away. Then at the Cathedral it was like the gnome called out to me, so I just had to take him home:

…and then somehow as seems to happen with gnomes, a few more moved in…a second, larger German gnome:

…followed by a Swedish gnome from a wonderful English Etsy shop called "HomeOfGnomes":

We then visited my favorite spot in the Cathedral's Bishop's Garden:

I also like this little gazebo (Shadow House) and view of the Cathedral from inside:

I then showed my mom Olmstead Woods, a 5-acre old growth forest, recently restored and maintained by the All Hallows Guild volunteer organization. I have quite a fondness for Frederick Law Olmstead, a landscape architect who was responsible for most of my favorite buildings of the campuses of Bryn Mawr College (my undergrad alma mater) and Duke University (my grad school alma mater), as well as the site of the Smithsonian National Zoo's Rock Creek Park campus, where I currently work. Only recently did I learn that Olmstead also envisioned the Pilgrim Path through the Olmstead Woods, leading up to the Bishop's Garden, which he planned together with Florence Brown Bratenahl, wife of the second Dean of Washington National Cathedral.

We found this beautiful giant old tree fall in the middle of the Olmstead Woods:

After returning from the Cathedral we did some geocaching in the Woodley Park and Cleveland Park neighborhoods (follow the link): First Caches of 2015

It's so nice to have a mother who enjoys being in the forest as much as I do!

Enchanted Forest

My copy of Enchanted Forest, Johanna Basford's sequel to The Secret Garden, finally arrived from Amazon. The same day it arrived, I noticed it was still listed as being temporarily unavailable and has been ever since. I am loving the book so far, finding it very relaxing after a long day.

A few pages I have finished:

…with a combo of Pentel/Staedtler markers and Fantasia colored pencils:

…and here is a book of postcards to color and send, also written by Johanna Basford that I picked up at the West Wing gift store of the National Gallery of Art:

…and the latest book I bought, with a somewhat different style:

Bryn Mawr Memories

Perhaps the best thing about living in Washington is that despite having few local friends outside of work, I get frequent visits from friends passing through DC. Yesterday I met up with 3 friends from undergrad, none of whom live in DC, but all of whom dropped by for a visit.

I am sad to be missing my 15th Bryn Mawr reunion (I must participate in a training of Primate Interpreters). Such memories and a ridiculously beautiful, medieval campus.

Rhoads, my dorm for all 4 years of undergrad at Bryn Mawr

Thomas, my favorite building at Bryn Mawr (basically a castle)

Thomas Great Hall in the Spring

Back of Thomas Great Hall from the Cloisters

The Cloisters, inside Thomas Great Hall

Cloisters of Thomas Library, my favorite spot on campus

Inside Thomas Great Hall

Several years after I attended BMC, a Harry Potter dinner was held in Thomas Great Hall

Athena (actually a replica made while I was in undergrad after the original was kidnapped and damaged) inside Thomas Great Hall, surrounded by exam-time offerings

Taylor Hall, the oldest building on Bryn Mawr's campus

Goodhart Hall

Inside Goodhart Hall

Pembrooke Dorm

Bryn Mawr's most famous alumnae Katharine Hepburn, looking towards her Pembrooke dorm 

Recently renovated Dalton Hall - I took most of my classes here since at the time the offices and classrooms for both Anthropology and Psychology (my two majors) were housed in Dalton

I still have my light blue lantern from Bryn Mawr

Bryn Mawr lanterns during Lantern Night

I'm not sure its possible to be a Bryn Mawr alumnae and not have an affinity for owls. There are owls everywhere in the gothic Bryn Mawr architecture. Here is one: