Putting Pride into Petworth Medians


Thanks for the attention!

This morning, my Councilmember Muriel Bowser took time out from her busy schedule to meet with community members around the construction of Petworth Medians so they can support trees and community-maintained plantings.

For those that are following along, New Hampshire Avenue is getting a nice brick & granite median from around Park Road all the way to Grant Circle. So far,construction is proceeding from Georgia to Grant Circle, but some in Petworth have an issue with the way it was proceeding. The medians were not being excavated to a depth that would support trees, per the original design, and plants and shrubbery, per community desires.

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Help for My Green Thumb: Ladybugs!


Better than a bath inside

So a while back I decided we needed a garden in our back yard. The first year was very experimental – I even hired a gardener to help Amy and I understand the process. This year, I’m rocking!

I have two raised garden beds here and here that have exploded with greenery with an amazingly wet spring. I have lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and beets all reaching for the sky as they put down roots in the amazing Smartleaf compost.

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New Yorkers Love Hanalei Stockard Vota


Making friends at Starbucks

I’m not sure when I realized that New Yorkers love my daughter, Hanalei. Maybe it was the cab drivers, always willing to wait while I buckled in her car seat. Maybe it was the waitress who made space for her stroller at the table. Or maybe it was when the cute college girls stopped everything and played with Hanalei at Starbucks.

Yeah, that was it. When I could get random women to put away their iPhones and boyfriends to babysit my daughter in a busy Starbucks, I knew she’d won the hearts and minds of the Big Apple.

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Dog Taxi Tackles Rock Creek Ripples


Better than a bath inside

Dog Taxi loves herself some splashing water. And I am not talking about watching it from afar, or barking at it passively. No I mean she dives headlong into any breaking water to try and eat all the waves produced, by say, the ocean.

While we first noticed her craze at Dog Beach in Maryland, I’ve found that Dog Taxi will try the same water guzzling feat in Rock Creek:

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From Majesty to Mulch in Minutes

many ways to say no
An ancient oak, reduced to kindling

I bemoan the loss of any tree, no matter its age or placement. I feel that Washington does not have enough trees, which cool the city, absorb its rains, and make this a wonderful place to live. Yet life is tough for the urban forest, what with all the dangers like vehicular tree slaughter.

So when I see an old oak or elm, which stands proud and tall amongst the built environment, I am heartened. Yet when they fall, be by nature or by man, I am so very sad. And when they are cut down by the chain saw, I am beside myself with heartbreak:

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