NUTS!

Well friends, this is the end.  The end of the CUC blog.  I'm moving out of Clarendon--actually, by magic of auto-post robot, I moved out about a week and a half ago--back to DC, and this is the last c-don close-up pic I have.  Like this hollow shell that used to contain hope and promise, your life will now be incomplete sans blog.  Please check back in to the site, though, as I may start a close-up photography themed blog for my new neighborhood in DC (Mt. Pleasant).  Thanks for all of your support and comments--it's been fun! 


High five!

waterfalls

Hey, remember when TLC's "Waterfalls" video was like the coolest thing ever?  Yeh, me neither.  Remember when my nickname used to be Lisa Left-Eye Lopez?  Yep, still is.

baby grapes

These look like bunches of grapes, but this little fruit is actually smaller than a dime.  Did I eat this fruit despite not knowing what it is?  Yes.  No, not really, but it did cross my mind...

copper wrap

Don't know why, but at a local construction site a half-inch wide copper tube twirled out of the ground up to about 5 feet high.  This is the close edge of the loop, and you can see how it curves up and away from us to the left, with the far coil in the background.  

splat mud

A splotch of mud on the pavement.  It's kinda cool that this doesn't exist anymore; it maybe didn't even exist within a few hours of taking this shot.  And to get all defeatist on you, this file and you and I won't be around too long from now.  I like how photography can capture these moments and stretch them out, just a bit.  Or perhaps help make new moments.

Where is This #17 Stache

OK Claredactlys, another super-fun quiz!  Where is this?  Since it's kinda obscure, I'll give two clues--this is outside, and I've had two pictures from this location in the last couple of weeks of posts.  Good luck!

NAIL nail

This is an old address sign on the side of the building next to EatBar.  From left to right: wood, old-timey nail, faded white background behind disintegrating black numbers.

greens and reds and browns

I like how there's basically only three colors in this shot, but lot's of individual items.  I also like gross bugs, 'cause I'm kinda immature.  

bouquet on the limb

Is this a long shot of a bunch of flowers on a tree, or an extreme close up of a man's boutonniere (yes, I know what that word means) worn over his Hawaiian shirt?

loop

This tangle of power lines reminds me of a roller coaster; or the an expressionist painting; or a robots veins....

draining

The drain of a water fountain after a summer shower (a rain shower, that is; being a blogger, I--of course--refuse to shower or participate in your petty social norms in the physical world {scoff}).

crying chair

I know all there is to know about the crying game.
I've had my share of the crying game.
First there are kisses, then there are sighs.
And then before you know where you are, you're saying goodbye.

One day soon, I'm gonna tell the moon about the crying game.
And if he knows, maybe he'll explain.
Why there are heartaches, why there are tears?
And what to do to stop feeling blue, when love disappears?

First there are kisses, then there are sighs.
And then before you know where you are, you're saying goodbye.

Don't want no more of the crying game.
Don't want no more of the crying game.

screw

white plastic with screw
is this haiku for ser'us?
haikus never are

a glass forest of stemware

A gaggle of wine glasses in the window of the Cracker Barrel.  This is directly next to the most ridiculous store in the world: The Container Store, which is appallingly useful to shop in despite it's silly name.

wg

Does anyone know what these are?  I see them peppered throughout Clarendon in the roads.  It's a half-dollar sized, yellow plastic thing (I think plastic) that says WG.... 

why?

Yep.  Gross and stupid.

shaded petals

I always think this flower looks shy.

Where is This? #16 PUBLIC

OK Clarendanes, where is this "public" area in C-don?  Good luck, and god speed.


The last THREE quizzes have gone unanswered, so I've added hints to each.  Here's last week's, and the week before, and the week before.  I feel like a diabolical serial killer taunting the smart-yet-unorthodox detective desperately trying to solve the case by leaving clues to my true identity and the next victim.  SUSPENSE!  

pecker

I spent 40 minutes watching a pair of woodpeckers flit about Fillmore street one morning, and this was as close as I ever got to the skiddish birds. The pecked at a large tree, a telephone poll, and one poor guy's siding on his house.

hydrant psoriasis

A peeling, fading vestige of what she used to be.

ratatat

This is just a good excuse to imbed one of my favorite Ratatat songs....

under water mine

This kinda looks like those 'ol timey WWII harbor mines, but in fact it's a little red berry of some sort.  Maybe a baby strawberry?  Just in case, I took pains not to step on it.

rust drop

You can see the metal pole in the upper-right corner that is slowly melting into a rusted layer of yuck on this sidewalk near the Starbucks (which, having written the name of that organization for possibly the first time in my life, I have to say is the dumbest name for any organization not related to traveling or banking in space).

spoke n for

This is from the bicycle race that happened in c-town the other week.  I walked up JUST after a wipe out happened, which--being a photographer--made me sad to have missed, but it was quite fun to watch the non-falling cyclists do their thing.

rot

The top bar of a wooden fence had fallen to rot, and here's the bird-pecked remains of one portion.

pretty sure....

...that this is a poop of some sort.  Enjoy your morning.

splatfetti

Paint on a wall.  This is the brick wall next door to Whitlow's on Wilson--it kinda looks like a paint fountain frozen; or it kinda looks like a man who had white blood got speared by a spear with the tip of unicorn, and his blood horrifically and majestically spurted out of him.  Or something.

150 ml vs 200

200!  This is the 200th post!  High five, and thanks to everyone who checks out the blog (all 5 of you)!  This is a picture of a measuring cup left out in the rain. 

lacey

What does this shape remind you of?

Where Is This? #15 Tips

OK Clarendeagles, where in C-Don is this glorious gilded bird?  If you think you know, leave a comment.  Have a great Friday!

so fresh and so clean clean

Hey Arlington, thanks for putting these everywhere.  Why would a public works program think that putting these freshners all over the gutters help make C-Don smell better.  Weird.

warm embrace

Come on, doesn't this remind you of a hug?  Or a vicious web of deceit....  That's right, you hordes of tens of readers, I'm actually alive and we are off of robot-automated posts.  This is the legit stuff right here.  

paint your face

Much like this photo was colorized later and is in a sense both fake and real, you--dear reader--should know that I've been posting via robot for the past 5 days.  I could be dead for all you know, autoposting from beyond.  Actually, I'm about to go crazy from writing 10 posts in a row (I know, I know, "Boo-hoo, photo blogger actually has to write more than 8 words and spend more than 30 seconds on a post.  So sad...").

snow globe

For some reason, this picture looks very cold to me, but it was taken last week when it was I-want-to-wear-nothing-at-all hot out in muggy DC.

tippity top

This is a shot looking directly down on a particularly tall, skinny flower.  The very tip is in focus, and the body quickly recedes into a blurred nothingness of orange and green.

plate

So many little plaques and parks in Clarenbomb!  This one's about "our" favorite principle or something'r other.  Is that a real screw?  Is this screwed into cement?  Really?  

brick is red II

Actually, the mud is red, and the bricks are black.  I used to be a 'mud man' on constructions sites (read: the guy who got paid cash to lug bricks and mortar to the mason).  My back aches just looking at these heavy sons of guns.  Luckily, my wallet is slightly lighter, since I surely paid higher taxes for these fancy bricks on the Arlington streets.

bracing

The three fuzzy dots in the background of this picture are actually one man wearing a yellow newspaper jacket (for lack of a better term--perhaps newspaper lab coat, newspaper protective slicker, etc.) handing out free papers to people hopping on the metro's escalators.  This is the bracing for the fancy metro awning.

just like my dreams...

...deflated.  Not really.  Other metaphors for this shot?

whale tail

Happy Fourth!  Yep, this is actually a whale tale--anyone know where from?  And if you like flags--and I know you do--here are two pics that I've posted on such topics before.

staple paple

So this is a shot of....  OK, somehow I have water in my ear and I'm loosing my mind.  Banging my head: no.  Leaning it to one side and shaking: no.  Hoping it out: no.  Someone please kill me...  

red glow

These whirligig seeds are red--WTF?!  Crazy.  It's spiky leaves and shadow are in focus more than the pods, which helps create a nice glow.  

where is this #14 whitelinesdontdoit

OK Clarebears, another Friday quiz.  Where in Clarendon is this?  Kind of a tough one this week, I think.  I thought last week's was kinda easy, but it's still sitting there unsolved.  Who will unlike these magical secrets?!  So exciting....

splat

I liked the patters of splatters and shadows on this glass overhang above an apartment-complex doorway.

gill

Kinda looks like a diseased fish's gills.  Have you ever really thought of the word "gill" before?  It's really kinda gross.  I'm glad my last or first name isn't 'gill.'  This is actually a call box outside of a parking garage, and these are the downward facing slits of a speaker cover.

Bells of Doom

Like Ma Bell, I've got the ill communication. A manhole cover with a bell on it, babies.  For an extra benefit, here's a great song from MF Doom! 

almost there

More Pio Pio goodness.  So, El Pollo Rico seems to be the favorite in the area, but I want to make a plug for my Guatemalan friends at PP, who are nice and whose chicken is delicious.

pio pio!

One of my favorite places to eat in Clarendon, Pio Pio.  I don't have a car, but walking through their drive-through is a treat of weird dilapidated signs.