PANDA MURAL AT THE MOSAIC DISTRICT - FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3RD, 2018

As we were leaving the multi story parking lot in the Mosaic District last week, I came across a floor to ceiling mural depicting panda bears walking around DC.  I haven't been able to find anything about the artist and I couldn't find a signature in any of the photos I took.  It certainly appealed to my whimsical side.  

(Top left is the Iwo Jima Memoral, in the middle is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and then the three-prong structure is the Air Force Memorial, the buildings behind it is The Pentagon, and behind that is Crystal City, then bottom right is Mount Vernon (George Washington's home), and bottom left Arlington National Cemetery.  It isn't geographically laid out to scale but I think it is a really neat mural.)

(In the above mural picture, top left shows the Washington National Cathedral, to the left of it is the Basilica, the planes may be the Blue Angels and Marine One, the presidential helicopter.  Next The White House, the United States Capitol, and the Washington Monument.  The dinosaurs are on the top of the National Museum of Natural History.  The fountain can be found in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.  This area is turned into an ice skating rink in the winter months.  Food trucks can be found in many parts of the city.  The Lincoln Memorial can be seen middle left.  The others are described under the first mural picture, and I may have missed something out in all of these.  

Pandas on the many bicycle trails in DC, and those practicing the art of Tai Chi. We often see kayakers rowing on the Potomac River, and tucked in the bottom right-hand corner, one of the signs at a metro stop.

Above a cropped version of the first mural photo, and part of the National Zoo can be seen middle left and also below, which is in part in the above photo as well.

Hope you've enjoyed your quick tour of Washington DC.  I will be sharing more of the Mosaic District in another post.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope your day is a great one.

KENILWORTH AQUATIC GARDENS, WASHINGTON DC

As mentioned in my last post on the Hummingbird Moth, last Sunday (the 5th) we went to a park we haven't been before. Gregg saw it on a local TV channel a couple of months ago and made a note of it.  When we were trying to decide where to go he remembered this place.

We headed to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC.  

We didn't explore even a third of it.  The truth of the matter is it was incredibly hot. Our first clue when we arrived at the parking lot, was a lady who had already had her walk and was getting into her car.  She looked exceedingly tired and she told us it was way too hot for her, as shown by the overheated look she had, and the way she sat into the driving seat with a thud.  

We looked at each other and knew that I would have the same trouble with the heat, and I did.  Hubby's warning, "Now remember, as far as we walk in, that's how far we have to walk out." Oh wise sage, he is always right. He is and always has been my Jiminy Cricket. I can get that look in the eye like I am going to climb a mountain, and right now I would have a hard time climbing an ant hill.  

Yes the writing was on the wall, but we had both enjoyed a lovely walk around a couple of the ponds and for now it was enough.  And here is my wise sage.

Even that short walk exceeded all expectations, and we will be going back in the cooler weather.

I think we saw the flowers and plants at their peak though.  These are the kind that love this weather, and it may be past the prime time for water lilies and lotus by the time we get back.  Thankfully we took lots of photos between us.

Everywhere you look there are the most beautiful lotus, and water lilies, and other pretty flowers too.

There were three artists on the other side of one of the ponds.  By the time we got there two were on their way out, but what I saw of their work was lovely.  

I asked the lady in the photo below if she sold her paintings.  She said yes, that she would have them displayed in a gallery soon, and gave me her card.  I was told that if I looked on the website given, it would have a list of places we could view her work.

A small crowd had gathered.  She was very nice and was patiently answering the questions of a young girl, whose mother proudly stated she was very artistic and liked to draw.   Pastels were this lady's medium.  What I could see on her easel I would have loved hanging up in our house.  Hopefully we can get to one of her gallery showings.

We are not too far from our car and there is blessed shade.  The heat goes down at least 10 degrees and I spot another shade lover.

It was loving the shade as much as I was, and as soon as I left another lady walked into my spot and started taking photos.  She saw that it had its own kind of beauty, just as I did.

When we reached the car we drank a river of water, which was still lovely and cold.  We drove through Washington DC and I took more photos of the lovely old homes and tree-lined streets.

As we pointed the car home, Gregg asked me if I would like to eat at a Vietnamese Pho Soup restaurant he used to go to before he retired. He found it as though his last visit was yesterday, and we had a nice bowl of beef and noodle soup.  Why not, hot weather and a hot bowl of soup?  It was excellent and we had no problem with it.  I wish I could remember its name, but I took no further photos.  Next time, as I am sure we will go the next time we visit Kenilworth.  It was a very nice ending to the day.

There will be more photos from here at a later date.  

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day.

HUMMINGBIRD CLEARWING MOTH

On Sunday we went to a park we haven't been to before. It is called Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC.  Considering it was so hot yesterday, there were a lot of people walking around.  I will post more from the garden later, but I wanted to share the first hummingbird moth I had seen in ages.

We hadn't gone far before Gregg said he thought
he had sighted a hummingbird. It wasn't but it was a hummingbird moth.  It would have been lovely to see the bird of course, but I was delighted with this little beauty.

I found a great website here, where you can read more information. 

Our little friend is a Hummingbird Clearwing, Hemaris thysbe (Fabricius, 1775) in the family Sphingidae.

I will show you more photos of the garden very soon.

THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN WASHINGTON DC

About three weeks' ago I shared that we had met family members in Washington DC.  They were only visiting for a few hours and we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  

The African bush elephant is in the main lobby as you enter the museum.  He is a favorite of mine and is named Henry (not sure how he got his name).  Henry comes from Angola originally.

Two rodents below, a Mara and an Armored Rat.

The crab below looks like a King Crab, could be a prehistoric one, I'm not sure.  We are in the marine life area.

Below is a display of Tiger Cowries.  They are placed on the map where they were collected.

This tropical sea snail lives on coral reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from ankle deep waters to 30 feet (9.1 m) under the ocean's surface.

Below is a photo of a photo in the same display.  It shows what one looks like if it were alive.

The adult snails don't travel very far but their tiny larvae drift on currents, accounting for the species staggering geographical range. (All my information comes from the display.)

We went through the dinosaur exhibit briefly, and I managed to get a photo of a couple, the Tyrannosaurus...

and the Triceratops.

There is a live insect exhibit and the mural is at its entrance.

We were heading to the butterfly exhibit which I posted here.  

I didn't take too many photos of the insects but will share these.  It was crowded. 

These are White-spotted Assassin Bugs of west and south African origin.

The only other photo I tried to take was of a Pink-toed Tarantula, but it came out so blurry it is hard to tell what it is.  If you aren't adverse to looking at big hairy spiders, you can go to this link to see what it looks like, or not!  As mentioned it was very crowded with lots of curious children, so we went onto the butterfly exhibit where we were heading to in the first place.  I have already provided a link to those, but to save you scrolling up I will repeat it here.  That was crowded too but we didn't mind waiting in line.

We passed through another exhibit where a life-size Narwhal was hanging from the ceiling.  There was a sculpture in the same area.

Its description is below.

Another sculpture...

and another description.

One more photo from the museum, a cartoon showing that though we have different names for everything, the scientific name stays the same.

The rest of my photos from this day were taken outside.  Let's start off with a yellow hibiscus.

Normally I would have taken many more photos of this pretty...

but I stopped at three.

And one pretty purple flower.

Nearby is a large water fountain that is used as an ice-rink during the winter.  We were happy the spray of the water was cooling us down.

 It is surrounded by lampposts.  

There is a banner of artwork hung from each one.

Across the street is the 

National Archives Building.

By this time we are making our way back to the car.  I see one last thing that I wanted to take a photograph of, so that I can remember to go there next time we take a trip into the city.  

Once we got back to where we had parked our cars, we said goodbye to our family and each started for home.