Office Visitor

Today while working in my office I heard a splash behind my desk and a knock at the window. When I turned around, I realized I had a visitor and quickly got off the phone so I could take the following pictures:

For the Gorillas

Presumably with some help from an adult, a 3.5 year old sent this adorable letter to the gorillas, which appeared today in my mailbox at work:

Fireworks on the National Mall

Typically while growing up, during summers when we stayed home in DC for the 4th of July (other years we spent summers in Colorado), I went downtown to listen to the free music concert on the West lawn of the Capitol (one year I saw Ray Charles and my former trumpet teacher was for many years in the Herald Trumpets; I also once managed to walk just next to one of the canons that was used during the 1812 Overture while walking towards the fireworks at the other end of the Mall). This year a friend paid a surprise visit and we went down to the Washington Monument to watch the fireworks near to where they are shot off from the Lincoln Memorial. Though my favorite 4th of July involves 100 jeeps with multi-colored lights parading down the mountain amphitheater in Ouray, Colorado just before the fireworks, the DC fireworks are pretty spectacular.

Guardian of the Garden

This evening I went home to the house where I grew up in Northern VA for dinner. My mother recently bought this giant owl made out of old tools that my father added to the backyard garden, adding a lot of character (of course I am partial to owls):

Garden owl

View of garden from backyard patio

Just some of the MANY bird feeders in the garden