Supercan saga continues

Everyday we drive down S Capitol, and my baby invariably points out the bright red streetcars at the testing site. Oftentimes he'll also point out the hundreds of old trashcans stacked directly south of that area. They have been there since before the mayoral primaries took place. Many, many months ago. Since at least March when the supercans were distributed.

I know it was scandalous to find out that the old trashcans were not being recycled as had been promised, but now they're not even being disposed of! They are just sitting around for my baby to point at every day during our morning commute. Is Ward 8 now a landfill too?

Still broken fence at the playground

I was bummed to see that not only is the fence at the Shepherd Parkway playground still largely non-existent, it is now becoming a health hazard. Some of the fence posts have been bent sideways, making them into things my baby could bang his little head on. They were wrapped in orange police tape. So at least my baby might see it before he hits his head on it.

But really? A torn out fence poses a big enough hazard at a playground. All of the other DC playgrounds that I've been to have iron wrought fence aka some more durable than what we had at our playground. Without a fence, any ball that is thrown is liable to fall into the busy Malcolm X St down below. I asked at the ANC meeting we had months ago with the National Park Ranger about plans to put in another fence. I was told it was in the works.

I guess I'll have to post a picture to 311 with my child playing next to the "fence" and see if the city responds like that innovative parent, who put their children in a sinkhole.

Two pairs of twins

Wow. I saw a lady at the park today with two pairs of twins, two three year olds and two six week olds! I don't know how she does it! But kudos to her for doing it with such grace.

Anacostia Aquarium

My husband was asking me what we should do tomorrow and suggested going to the Baltimore Aquarium. I said no because it's too far, expensive and has long lines. Then he recommended we go to the Anacostia Aquarium instead.

I believed him for a second because I'm that gullible.

There are lots of things I'd rather see in Anacostia or Congress Heights first, and it's not a particularly good idea. But doesn't that sound entirely in the realm of possibility?  After all, 7/11 opened shop recently! Lol. Between the new things popping up, the things that already exist, the plans being made and my husband's imaginations, EOTR, you're on a roll.

Next ANC Meeting?

Does anyone know when the next ANC meeting at the UPO is supposed to be? I've attended a handful of them and liked getting the mailings about upcoming meetings. But I haven't received a mailing in what feels like a long while.

I expect we will be having one soon? The last meeting I attended was Phil Pannell's last meeting, which took place maybe in June or July. It's been a while. Or is the ANC on vacation? :)

Usually when I write a post something on here, I get word about it (by mailing) soon thereafter. Kind of bizarre but it's happened several times already! So here I am trying to channel the ANC spirits--send me a sign.

WTOP: $75 tickets for littering!

Fellow Congress Heights resident, Brian Townes, commented on my post about Shepherd Parkway that the police is now ticketing for litter. Thanks for sharing the good news!

This is a good start that I hope will help reduce litter. I'm surprised this wasn't standard operating procedure previously. Honestly, though, I'm not sure how the enforcement of this is going to work. I've only seen someone littering once in my two years here. Most of the litter seems to magically materialize overnight. I hope the police has better luck running into the rogue litterbugs than I do!


Here's a snippet from an article I saw on wtop.com. To see the whole article, click here.

"The Metropolitan Police Department will begin issuing $75 tickets to pedestrians caught tossing trash on public streets, waterways, or someone else's property."

"Officers in the sixth district, which is east of the Anacostia River, and the fourth district, which covers an area east of Rock Creek Park are now issuing tickets."

Why I brag about Congress Heights

I don't have these. But I do have Congress Heights!

Usually I think bragging is inappropriate and disrespectful to others. But when I talk about Congress Heights, I find myself bragging all the time. It's gotten to the point that I tell myself I'm not allowed to talk about my house or neighborhood at work anymore because I am driving my coworkers crazy, telling them about my big, beautiful, historic house, my short commute, all the things there are to do around here, what we're planting in the garden, etc, etc. I could go on and on and on. I can't help but brag, because I'm so proud of my home and my neighborhood.

HOWEVER, the reason I think I'm justified for bragging, other than the fact, I think Congress Heights is the bee's knees, is that it is so affordable to live here. If someone bragged about living in Capitol Hill or Vienna (names will not be named!), I think it would be rude, because that requires buckets of money, which I and most people don't have. Congress Heights, on the other hand, remains accessible to most, if not all, socio-economic classes. If I were to lose my current job and have to find a new job, even a minimum wage job, we could still afford to get by and pay our mortgage. And that, in light of all this economic uncertainty today, makes me feel more confident about our livelihood and makes me love my neighborhood even more.

For that reason, I can't stop bragging about Congress Heights. I love Congress Heights dearly for letting us be able to afford our dream house in DC. I overheard on the playground someone talking about what they could afford in the DC metropolitian area "at our price range, it was either Manasas or Anacostia." Exactly! Why live an hour and a half a way from your job and waste away commuting for the rest of your life when you could live close to home and spend that much more time with you family every single day? The couple with two kids chose to buy EOTR for the same reason we did. Thank you, EOTR!

The Incredible Tomato Harvest

 

This year has been a phenomenal tomato year. We just had a barbeque and got some really awesome compliments on the food. One guest asked me what was in my tomato salad (tomatoes, onions and salt!). My secret ingredient, of course, is the local, organic, artisanal, small-batch (insert another overused word here!), heirloom tomatoes I grow in my backyard. They taste completely different from the store bought ones.

This year we also planted cilantro and purple basil, which looked beautiful. It even looked like an ornamental plant. Next year I want to try out cucumbers. I hear you can't go wrong with cucumbers. But what I'm really looking forward to is picking ripe fruit off my fruit trees. My husband got carried away and planted eight of them earlier this year!