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This is the side of a crate filled with tombstones.  Yep, that's right: tombstones.  There's a company that makes headstones here in the heart of Clarendon.  Their store is situated at a surprisingly busy intersection, and it must be prime real estate.  I can't figure out why they're still there and haven't sold that location yet.

shocking

I worked at a certain university in Kansas that had a certain mascot named Wu-Shock.  After their basketball team reached the Sweet 16 and our mascot/monicker started getting some play in the media, the powers-that-be became vaguely aware that "shocker" meant something other than our mascot name.  I--being a young and cool kid--was asked to explain to these older, wealthier, stodgier folks why people were making fun of our name in a sexual context.  Very uncomfortable for me....

meuahhh!

{you should write a haiku about me}

Where is This? #9 curves

OK Claremericans, you kinda didn't do so hot last week--no one guessed the quiz.  Want to know the answer?  Too bad.  I will give you a hint though.  It's not a church, and it's the weirdest business in c-don.  But, you have a chance to redeem yourself this week.  Where is this?

brick is red.

Looking straight on at the face of a brick, as if you were in a riot of some sort and this was the last thing you saw before having an off-night at the local emergency room.   Enjoy the Pixies!

doubly patrioti

A slightly offset mirror image of the flag and street.  Despite this being my second flag post, I'm really not that patriotic or anything. But, apparently everyone else in Clarenmerica is.

stay out

The tips of a fence outside of an electrical power plant (which you can kinda make out in the background).  Unfortunately, because of this fence, you can't make out next to the plant, but instead have to do it out on the street....  OK, it's way too early for me to try and be funny...

single tear

A sad metal object after the rain in Clarendon.  This is the anchor for the strip of wire that runs from the top of electrical poles down to the earth (I assume to ground things?  Or maybe it's structural to help keep the pole up?).  

flowers on parade

Dusty flowers at dusk.  I cat sat the other week and snapped these on the way to said cat.

the crying of lot 2

My best friend is a huge Pynchon fan.  But who is this mystical man (Pynchie, not my buddy Alex)?  And why is his middle name--Ruggles--so awsome?  I'll let you explore and share, but this picture of a horn on a mailbox reminded me, of course, of The Crying of Lot 49.  So good.

Where is This? #8 black and white

OK Clarenites, where is this?  Last week's quiz was quickly figured out by KEBriggs--congrats.  Who will get it this week?

guesses?

Any guesses on what this is?

sense of wonder

So, I'm pretty firmly of the opinion that these "Backyard Wildlife Habitat" things are a waste of time, and are rather a way for city dwellers to look cool to their friends w/o actually having to do anything for the environment or wildlife (I mean, this "habitat" was 3 feet from the busiest street in Clarendon, making it a noisy, dirty, dangerous habitat for any critters to live in), BUT the artist really did capture--in two colors on a metal sign--the sense of wonder of this young boy and mother.  

y.j.t.g.t.b.t.c.t.m.e.o.o.y.

You're just too good to be true; can't take my eyes off of you.  There were actually quite a few birds in this bush--all of which I was counting, but none of which were worth as much as those I had in my hand-- but this guy stood out.  Our eyes locked; palms moistened and pupils dilated; breath quickened.  Love. 

creepy grain of sand

This is the side of a white brick on a fancy fence, with a little red guy crawlin' along doing his thing.  Note that each little speck of white is the size of a coarse grain of sand.  Put another way, he's about the size of the "O" in "In God We Trust" on a U.S. penny.  I think this is a clover mite, but I'm often wrong about such things.


This is the brick and iron fence for the apartment complex on Washington Blvd across the street from the 7-11 (more accurately, across from Endo Sushi and that weird clock at Washington & 10th street).

red head

This thing is actually about the size of a large pea.  When I first moved to c-don and decided to take pictures, I thought that--unlike DC--there's just nothing to photograph around here that's very interesting; just a bunch of pre-fabbed houses and neatly mown lawns.  Well, it is that in a way, of course, but I came to realize that it was much more accurate to blame my lack of skills and unimaginative eye for the lack of interesting pictures.  Ever since then, I haven't had much trouble finding good pictures (well, 'good' might be pushing it, but you know...)--I just kinda give myself an angry "don't be boring" scowl and look a little deeper and a little longer and something always pops out at me.  I like this picture because it represents this concept to me.  Literally, this raspberry thing wasn't there yesterday, and today it was.  You just have to keep an eye out.

stop. yield.

for gg

If you live in Clarendon and ever see a lanky dude with a camera creeping up through your yard with a large lens, please don't call the cops on me.  I'm more of a flower voyeur than anything else.

this is not a lie

So, one of my best friend's back home is named B.J. Love.  Seriously.  No: seriously, his name is B.J. Love.  And no, he doesn't go Byron, he goes by "BJ."  Seriously.  This is not a lie.

sprinkling

I'm not camera competent enough to know how to catch these drops of water--I'm guessing I need to increase the shutter speed or something....  Any advice?

six hardy boys

Little known fact: Clarendon has more copies of The Hardy Boys series of books per square foot than any principality in the U.S.

Where is This? #7 Stache McBeardsalot

OK Clarenbots, another quiz to test your analytical and clarendinian aptitudes on a Friday morning--where was this picture taken?  Last week's quiz was, I thought, super challenging, but was figured out in nary 3 hours--can you beat that?


[Pics below added later.]

georgia o'keefe rip off

I'm not an art aficionado, nor a G. O'Keefe fan, but I'm pretty sure this picture would be right up her alley.  Can you tell what it is?

greenjacent

If you'e never seen the WWI memorial above the Clarendon metro from afar, here's a view from a'close.  This is the stone and metal statue with eagles, plaques, balls, fake flowers, canons, and other assorted badassery dedicated to those who fought.  Pictured is the central plaque in late morning sun; not pictured is the homeless guy who kept scratching (at least, I hope he was scratching) himself and leering-slash-mumbling at me.

indoctrination

Starting the indoctrination process is probably best when done at a young age, I'd guess.  

vivid andre the giant has a posse sticker

Always amazed by the stickers that show up in the suburban neighborhoods of C-don.  The Andre The Giant sticker is yet another example of the weirdness that is this little area of the world.

4 8 15 16 23 42

If anyone knows what these things are called or what purpose they serve, please enlighten me.  This is one of those plastic things that dangles off of electrical boxes and gas meters and such, strongly backlit by a blinding sun early in the morning.  My eyes still hurt....

host of golden daffodils

OK, these aren't daffodils (actually, I'm not 100% sure whether these are or aren't d-dills, but I don't think they are) but reminds me of my favorite poem.  This shot did give me--a grown ass man--a perfectly good excuse to follow up on the urge to lay in a bed of flowers in the sun.

get the f off my scone, dude

Yep, this little guy totally ganked my delicious, delicious scone while I sat reading of the books at my favorite coffee spot in Clarendon, The Java Shack.  

splat wood

A can of sky-blue paint was run over by a car next to this telephone pole, splattering the bottom 4 feet with beautiful patterns of azure drops.  Well, I assume a car ran over a bucket of paint, but come to think of it, I guess many other phenomena could explain what happened.  Perhaps: (a) Cookie Monster was involved in a gang fight and got shot right by this pole, (b) Zombie Jackson Pollock is haunting our fair c-don, or (c)... It's too early for a third option from me--what else do you think could explain this?

station 4

Yep, Danielle got today's "Where Is This" quiz absolutely right.  The freshly washed firemobiles of the Clarendon Fire Department made for some nice photos last weekend.  These guys are awesome--high five, fire dudes.  More pics here.

White lines.  Don't do it, baby.

Actually, my nickname in high school was Four Inch Discharge.  Weird.

If you double click and look close, you can see a self portrait of myself. (...That was redundant).

When my ladder truck rolls up in yo city, bling bling.

More pics here.

Where is This? #6 fiber stitch

OK Clarendroids, since last week's "where is this" was so easy, I thought I'd do a tough one this week.  If you put your detective hat on (and/or your monocle and gentleman's pipe) you may be able to figure it out.  Good luck!  Check out last week's post for the answer.

silky fine

One good close-up shot of a strand of spiders silk deserves another, I always say. A hallow of abandoned trees in an otherwise developed neighborhood had hundreds of these strands, all swaying in the soft breeze and morning sun rays.

floating in the firmament

A tiny, tiny piece of tree dander suspended from the silken wire of a small insect.  The air felt dead calm, but yellow ballerina (or guitar, or broom, or rocket, or octopus) kept dancing from imperceptible flows in and out of my pane of focus.

irony

I paused to possibly take a picture of the splatter, but then laughed self consciously at how obviously lame this picture would be after I saw the sticker, then decided to do it anyways.  Boom!

the dirty, dirty streets of arlington

Seriously?  Seriously.

topical and girlie

A flower with a cat stalking it (or me) in one of the local gardens.  I'm all for gardens, but the folks out here in c-don seem borderline obsessive at times....

WaCK!

Notes from a meeting about an awesome new blog called Whiskey and Car Keys (WaCK).  A bunch of DC and NoVA cool kids who kinda like liberty, pop culture and other awesome stuff.  Check it out!  

apparently not obvious

Exciting!  I've decided to post two--that's right, TWO--pics a day for awhile in the morning and afternoon.  This is the first such day.


So, I thought it was painfully obvious what animal this paint smattering is, but my friends all seem to disagree.  What do you see?  I need vindication here....