The Past Year V: Late Winter

There aren't a lot of days of winter as the year runs out, less than two weeks before the next year starts.  The more lengthy period of winter of course starts a long time before, in January lasting into March as we fled, happily, from 2020.  It gradually but steadily became apparent that the promise of 2021--a sane president, a competent vaccination rollout, more social intermingling, a strong sane stock market, everybody getting vaccinated so we reach herd immunity, an end of the pandemic?--was a chimera and 2021 turned out to be worse, lots worse than 2020, if that was possible.  (Walking to pickle ball on the footpaths I discovered between houses mid block as I found convenient street parking spaces a few blocks from the crowded courts, which used up nearby parking.)

But the last few days of 2021 had certain pleasures in and of themselves.  I enjoyed the physicality of playing pickle ball four times a week, a couple of hours each time, if not the result because I'm not on the level with my fellow seniors who have been playing for a couple of years or more and these players are not shy about crushing anyone.  Pickle ball is a four-player game, at least at my age, and I am death, due to my inexperience, to any partner who has to cycle through playing with me as I am on the losing end 90% of the time and it is very frustrating.  But December was an extraordinarily temperate month, right up to the end, so I "enjoyed" my punishment right to the end of the year.  (The Christmas season is a time for giving as well as receiving so I donated double red blood cells on Christmas Eve, my fifth blood donation last year.) 

Christmas was a pleasure this year as I didn't spend it frozen on my porch exchanging presents as in 2020, instead I spent it luxuriously and quietly with a friend as we trimmed the tree I brought over, had bloody marys, enjoyed omelets for brunch, and gave special presents to each other (she gave me a real pickle ball paddle to replace my starter plywood $10 introductory model and I gave her a zip-up fleece jacket which she seemed to like).  Will we be able to stroll down a crowded aisle in a crowded store next Christmas season albeit with masks?  We'll see.  Get vaccinated and boosted you selfish, unpatriotic unvaccinated ignoramuses out there and maybe we'll get there.  (A pleasurable day.)

On the first day of winter in December I went on an enjoyable holiday lights perambulation around the District.  It's always a pleasure to see the festive decorations and gayly trimmed and lit trees even though this year certain outstanding venues were closed to tourists like the Library of Congress, the Botanical Gardens and the Trump International Hotel.  It is still holiday season with the MLK holiday coming up on Monday so Happy Holidays to all and maybe I'll see some or all of my children at the Lost Dog at noon on that day for lunch.  Wink wink, boys.  (The beautiful tree at the Willard Hotel.  I was getting the stink eye from the concierge behind me as the way I was dressed, I obviously wasn't a guest.)

The Christmas Lights

(The Union Station tree.)  Every year I venture to the District to perambulate about to see the beautiful Christmas Trees there. I used to sometimes do it at night, running, sometimes leading a group of runners from the Ellipse ( the National Christmas Tree) to Capitol Hill (the Congressional Tree) and many of the points in between. Indoors, outdoors, most are beautiful. Those years when I was injured I used a Capital Bikeshare bike to get about to see whatever trees I could find, as I did this year in two trips to the District earlier this month.  (My tree.)

The Great Pandemic made it hard these last two years, many of the indoor venues were closed up tight, especially last year, and many outdoor sites were scaled back.  But I continued the tradition and here are some of the pictures from this year.  (The Peace Officers Tree.  Each ornament represents a local fallen police officer over the years.)

The most beautiful tree was the tree inside the Willard Hotel.  I really wanted to see the Library of Congress tree, which I saw in 2019 and considered then to be the most beautiful tree I had ever seen in the District, but it was closed on the Monday when I went this year and I was denied entry on the Wednesday when I went when it was supposed to be open.  I was told on that day it was "Reservations Only" although there was absolutely no line and they hadn't made that qualification apparent on the Monday when I had talked to them about when I could come back.  Too bad!  (The inside Willard Hotel tree.)

A great tree every year is on the outdoor plaza at the Canadian Embassy where it overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol.  It's across the street from the FTC, where I worked for a quarter century.  (O Canada!)

The Congressional Tree on the lawn on the west side of the Capitol is always a great tree.  The Capitol backdropping it had a fresh coat of whitewash around its lower level, due to the murderous Maggot Mob that desecrated the People's House earlier this year as they tried to usurp our government as they pushed the Big Lie to invalidate a majority of the presidential votes cast last year.  (A wreath-like holiday decoration on the facing of the Smithsonian Textile Museum.)

There was a creche on the Ellipse, along with the National Tree and a small tree for each state or territory, and not much else. No Menorah or Santa's Shop or electric train running around the National Tree.  It used to be so much better.  (Meh.)

There were indoor trees at Union Station (no Norwegian mountain village this year), the Navy Memorial, the Hotel Monaco, the Smithsonian Castle and nice holly decorations around the enclosed central courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery.  New this year was a wreath-like decoration fronting one of the Smithsonian museums.  (The Smithsonian Castle Tree.)

There were stacks of coal heaped outside the Trump International Hotel where a sign warned away anyone entering who wasn't a guest or a gust of a guest.  This hotel inside the Postal Pavillon is leased from the federal government and is in effect public property and in years past has had a pretty tree, just as it probably has this year.  (The Congressional Tree.)

Meanwhile, I can't wait for this year to end.  The Boulder County wildfire spawned by 100 MPH winds even as I write this is burning up the very area where my rental investment property is.  I'll have to wait and see how that comes out.  One last kick in the ass by 2021 as it goes out?  (The interior courtyard space at the National Portrait Gallery.)

The Current Day

 I spent time on Christmas Eve attending to last minute things for Christmas, like bringing the tree out of the garage, looking for onaments in the basement, shopping for milk so my friend could have a regular cup of coffee on my porch when she came over to exchange presents and giving out holiday cards to local friends.  Christmas day arrived bitterly cold with occasional snow flurries, and I righted the tree on the porch which had blown over during the night, set out a few ornaments to put on it (it was too cold to hang very many on it), wrapped a few presents and called all my sisters to wish them a happy holiday (one called me first).  (Giving my main man a holiday card at his street corner.)

The Turkish cafe and grocery outlet we discovered recently, Borek G. Turkish Mom's Cooking, was open and at 1 pm I met my friend there and we ate a hot lunch alone in the spacious dining area (it was too cold to eat at the tables outside); I had a delicious gyro on rice and she had an eggplant dish over rice which looked sumptuous, and turkish coffee, and we both enjoyed a pastry dessert and then we went to my house to trim the tree on the porch and exchange a present or two.  Post Office backlog created this past year by Trump's calculated machinations to steal the election having prevented any packages my sisters mailed to me mid-month from arriving yet if ever, the two of us enjoyed each other's company and opened our gifts in a biting wind.  (A delicious Christmas meal.)

It was by pure chance a bacchanalian theme for the gifts, my friend gave me chocolate, a bottled salsa concoction and one hundred proof bourbon, and I gave her chocolate, a jar of pickled herring in cream cheese and vodka infused with cherries and ginger distilled at the local distillery a mile from my house.  She was anxious to try the bourbon she had carefully selected for me after much research into various bourbon aficionados foodie sites, which talked of the smells and tastes and hints of fruits and such in the bourbon, which needed to be "smashed" in any case; and I poured her, and myself, an ounce of the amber elixir into two glasses neat and we took a taste.  (A cold Christmas.)

It burned in my mouth and was strong but good, but I drank my share of Jack Daniels back when it was 90 proof and I like bourbon and it went down easy; her expression however was one of alarm as she held the small bit of straight bourbon in her mouth for a very long time with increasingly narrowing eyes--she's not much of a drinker--and she obviously couldn't discern the fruit hues in it or the hints of chocolate or whatever past the fiery effect of a mouthful of strong bourbon, and I asked her if she wanted to spit it out over the railing of the porch into the sleeping flower bed, 'it might wake the perennials up," but she swallowed it and conspicuously didn't finish the swallow of bourbon that remained in her glass.  She seemed crushed that after all her research it was terrible, but I reassured her that I liked it.  (The cornucopia of Christmas.)

We took a short walk in the increasing cold and deepening gloom of the late afternoon, and after a few more pleasantries and a very short and standoffish holiday hug (the pandemic you know) she drove home. The muted and truncated celebration of Christmas being over in The Year That Wasn't, I policed up my porch, returned my tree to the garage and the few ornaments to the house, and contemplated the coming year, which just has to be better than the year just past.  (This year's tree.)  

Past Trees in the District

 This year's traipse around the District to view Christmas Trees was a little bit of a bust, I was blocked from seeing the National Tree by the Secret Service and all the inside trees in the museums and hotels were inaccessible or non-existent this year due to the pandemic, except for the old stalwart Norwegian tree inside the desultory, nearly-empty Union Station.  (2020.)

But memories of past trees viewed around the district abound in my mind, most recorded on pictures if I can locate them on my computer, associated with many wonderful wintertime 3-5 mile runs at noon from my workplace, often accompanied by running friends. Last year's clear winner in the b best tree category was in a place I had never stopped in before to see if they had a tree, the Library of Congress.  (2019.)

Several trees were twinged with political associations, like the Occupy movement of several years ago when the 99% were protesting the fact that the 1% own most of the wealth in this country, and around the world.  After a few months of public parks becoming tent cities, the police moved in and moved the protestors out, and years later nothing has changed although life goes on and every year I trim my own tree, although not always in my own house.  (2015.)

It has been interesting over the years to view the different trimming of the same trees, including the growth of live trees such as the Peace Officer's Tree outside the DC Courthouse.  And to reflect upon the changing lineup of running partners I had over the year, from Rhea to Leah, all fading into memory by now as they all moved away, stopped running or just drifted away after I retired.  (2017.)

Christmas Trees in the District

 At least once every December I traverse the Mall to see the Christmas trees and lights there. On a moderately warm Sunday recently I went to the District, actually found free, unrestricted parking and set off on my annual quest, bicycling down to the Ellipse using the Capital Bikeshare system ($90/year, a free bike for 30 minutes from over 300 docking stands, unlimited daily usage) but I was disappointed in not being able to view the National Christmas Tree because the Secret Service Police had it closed off for some reason.  (O Canada!)

Proceeding east towards the Capitol from the White House, I passed by the Willard Hotel and the Trump International Hotel, but both places, which customarily have beautiful trees set up in their lobbies for any passerby to come in and see, restricted entry this year, due to the pandemic undoubtedly, to registered guests only.  However, there was a pretty tree set up outside in front of the Willard Center on Pennsylvania Avenue, although the avenue itself, usually adorned with a multitude of Christmas decorations on outside shrubs and dressing up window fronts, was notably spartan this year.  (The tree outside the Willard Hotel.)

Four old standbys did yield their traditionally beautiful yuletide trees in this Year That Wasn't, the Canadian Embassy, the DC Courthouse and the Capitol west lawn showing off decorated outdoor trees and the usual indoor tree inside Union Station was up and trimmed.  I liked the Peace Officer Tree on Indiana Avenue outside the DC Courthouse the best, it featured a blue theme as its ornaments are all memorials to local fallen police officers and its crowning star is police uniform blue.  The tree on the veranda outside the always welcoming Canadian Embassy was pleasing in the extreme as always.  The Congressional Tree before the Capitol Rotunda was tall and exquisitely trimmed and the Union Station Norwegian Tree stood lonely and forlorn inside the cavernous terminal mostly empty of people and bereft of most businesses and all other holiday decorations.  (A blue-themed tree.)

The museums were all closed until further notice so I couldn't enjoy the holiday trees customarily set up in the Library of Congress, the National Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Castle, the Navy Memorial and Log and the underground African Arts Museum, nor could I enter the usual food courts around the Mall such as at L'Enfant Plaza or Penn Quarter which have pretty trees each year otherwise.  Still, the Mall was nice to be on on a warm day and I even paused for a few minutes at a hybrid Pro-Trump Sunday evangelical service and Stop The Steal rally on the Mall, attended by a pathetic knot of about fifty Trumpites waving their stupid blue Trump 2020 flags and stretching their hands beseechingly towards the heavens whenever the name of their cult leader was invoked by the preacher.  Next year will be better for viewing the holiday decorations for sure, it couldn't be any worse, and come January 20th, hope will be restored for America with the incoming change occurring starting that day.  (The Congressional Tree.)