Shawington

You wont want to miss the 5th annual DC Green Festival taking place this weekend at the Convention Center - November 8-9 Saturday 10AM - 7PM, Sunday Nov. 11AM - 6PM
 
At the Washington DC Green Festival™, a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America, we’re celebrating what’s working in our communities—across the District, Maryland and Virginia—for people, for business and for the environment.

You’ll enjoy more than 125 renowned speakers and 350 green businesses (start your holiday shopping now!), great how-to workshops, green films, a Fair Trade pavilion, yoga classes, organic beer, delicious organic cuisine and live music.

Find out about DC environmental initiatives; and learn how neighbors, community nonprofits and city departments are working together to make their cities healthier places to live.
According to the ANC 2C02 blog, our own local socially conscious entrepreneur Andy Shallal (Busboys & Poets) shall be speaking amongst others including !Cornell West!  If you are looking for ways to make your house more energy efficient, neato things to buy, and awesome activities for the kids this event is for you.  (I will be volunteering there for City Blossoms, a wonderful organization that teaches urban kids the joys of gardening.  They will be making nifty newspaper pots & digging in the dirt with the little ones during the afternoon.  Check them & others out in this Fox 5 spot!)
November 8-9 Saturday 10AM - 7PM, Sunday Nov. 11AM - 6PM  Admission is $15, BUT you can easily get a $5 discount.  Kids under 18 are free!  Come on out and explore the crunchy granola life!
 
 

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This is my awesome friend Frank Asher.  He is a magnificent gardener and I am ecstatic to find out he is bringing his talents over to Shaw! He is kicking off Old City Green with a fundraiser event this weekend and will be running a Holiday tree sale at 902 N Street NW this year, starting Nov. 28th.  A portion of the proceeds will benefit Shaw Main Streets and the Shaw Green Team!  Check out the details in the press release here.  Welcome to the community, Frank!

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Well I hiked my butt up to Scott Montgomery Elementary last saturday for DCPS beautification day.  It was nice n sunny and a pleasure to see a few neighbors helping out, principal Melissa Martin (who also hates the prison grates) & quite a few of the 500 volunteers that McLean Bible Church sent to the schools.  Yes thats right, McLean Bible Church supplied 25% of the volunteers that day for the entire city (some were DC residents).  MVSNA prez & Ward 2 Council candidate Cary Silverman was there shoveling leaves & picking up trash and blogged it here.  His opponent in the Sept. 9th Ward 2 City Council primary, Jack Evans did stop by for 30 min or so but I did not see him actually cleaning.  He did send a bunch of campaign workers who were very nice & a big help.  All in all it was a good day for some school sprucing.  Scott Montgomery has gotten a very nice blue! indoor facelift so we were outside the whole time in the nice weather.  I picked up 11 crack baggies, 1 condom & 1 hypodermic needle (with the needle thoughtfully bent over) …not too bad, always amusing to count.  Neighbor J did find a shell casing tho.  thats just f-ed up, in a schoolyard!  here are some pics:

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Jeff & I spent a splendid happy hour at Corduroy with Rob A., its a lovely spot & their hh specials wont break the bank.  $6 wines by the glass, $4 spring rolls & $6 cheese assortment and their new location at 1122 9th street is really stunning.  If you go, remember to change out of those shorts n sandals :)
After we parted, we noticed that there was a concert going on at the Carnegie Library at Mount Vernon Square.  Upon hearing the sweet sounds of old-timey music, jeff promptly detoured & parked the ol red crotch rocket on the walkway.  We marinated for a spell & listened to this:
The “Sunshine Skiffle Band” Skiffle is a type of folk music with jazz, blues, and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, as well as more conventional instruments such as the acoustic guitar and banjo.
It was goooood.  I mean one guy was playing a JUG! how could you not love it?  And here is how people danced to it…

This couple got their groove on so delightfully it was infectious.  A lot of knee slappin, butt slappin…:)

The DC Historic Society is putting these free concerts on pretty much every wednesday and the offerings are very diverse.  The next one will feature Lox & Vodka (Jewish Soul Music).  And you can buy beer and wine in the roped off area which has some nice tables & chairs.  Check the calendar for a list of concerts….and its FREE!

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We are contemplating an overhaul of the ReNewShaw headquarters’ backyard and are interested in engaging a landscape designer to help translate our ideas into a workable plan. Does anyone have a good recommendation for reasonably priced landscape designer, preferably one who can oversee the project from design to completion?Like many row home backyards, ours is […]

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Hey I’m a busy girl catching up on my blog posts, better late than never!
Thanks so much to all of the wonderful neighbors who came out for our neighborhood cleanup & beautification effort 2 weeks ago.  Our appreciation goes out to (ANC2C01 Commissioner) Alex Padro from Shaw Main Streets for providing us with big bags of lovely mulch & flats of pretty flowers that now grace our treeboxes.  Alex - you rock.  Also thanks to Tom Day as always from DPW Helping Hand program, they provide the brooms, rakes, bags & trash pickup.  Linda Grant from DPW also joined us.  We also had a film crew out shooting for a kids, government & community spot due to air on ABC 7 later this summer so keep an eye out!  Here are some bad photos…but ANC 2C02 Commissioner Kevin Chapple has much better ones of our cleanup & the Shaw Cleanup.  He also has a nice post for the recent Servathon at Scott Montgomery Elementary (check out the great shot of our Ward 2 Mayor’s Rep. Mark Bjorge digging in the dirt!.)
mulch!

flowering vinca

neighbors hard at work

Sometimes the random things people dump baffle me.

And now to gross you all out…this present came complete with maggots & special juicy ooze.  The stench was…memorable.

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Its that time again! time to go out, pick up trash, yank some weeds, plant some treeboxes & beautify our neighborhood!  We shall be meeting at the corner of 4th & M Streets NW at 8am.  There will be (starbucks) coffee & donuts, rakes & brooms, and lots of trash bags.  Bring your gloves & enthusiasm!
 
Bagged trash will be picked up after 1pm at the following locations:
5th & M, 4th & M, NJ & Morgan (Jeff has kindly volunteered to transport bags to these locations in the car)
 
I want to encourage neighbors to please give love to the chronic bad spots - NY ave, 6th, 4th, NJ….
 
We are very grateful to Shaw Main Streets for providing us with mulch & flowers for the treeboxes.  Here are the details for the larger Keep Shaw Beautiful Day:
 

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, Shaw Main Streets will hold the fourth annual neighborhoodwide cleanup and greenup event in central Shaw.  Keep Shaw Beautiful Day will include planting of cherry trees and perennial and annual flowering plants in treeboxes, picking up trash on sidewalks and in alleys, and removing and painting over graffiti.  Neighborhood civic associations will focus on their blocks, with supplies provided by event sponsors.  
 
The event kicks off at 9:00 AM at Shaw Middle School , 925 Rhode Island Avenue, NW , and concludes with lunch provided by neighborhood restaurants at the school at 1:00 PM.  For more information, visit www.shawmainstreets.com or call 202-265-SHAW.

Alex

Alexander M. Padro
Commissioner, ANC 2C01
1519 8th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001-3205
Voice: 202-518-3794
Email: PadroANC2C@aol.com
Website: www.members.aol.com/PadroANC2C
 
So I hope to see everyone out on the 19th!!
-Si Kailian

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Chinatown Arch view from GP after a rain.

Circus elephants delighting many children!  I wonder how they de-stickyfy the Verizon Center from all the sweet candy?

Cary preparing for politicking at Giant…he was wearing a very nice pink tie.

My garden emerges from winter & I didnt do a thing yet!

A neighbor’s waning winter flowers a few doors up.  Luscious.  Martin, what are those called?

Weve got tons of Creeping Phlox showing stunning color on the 1100 block of 5th & the 1200 block of 4th if anyone is out for a stroll as the weather warms.  Dont forget to mark your calendars for some Neighborhood Cleanup on the 19th whether you are in MVSQ or Shaw.  there will be multiple events for beautification!  And if anyone can deliver newsletters this weekend, please email me at niello8@yahoo.com thanks!

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It was so lovely out today we decided to play hooky and walk over to the Washington Convention Center and attend the Home & Garden Show.  It was nice to beat the crowds and stroll amongst the landscaping setups, kitchens, beds, & windows mixed in with all sorts of random things.  Mortgages, bulbs, cheese!  I got a bagful of Stagazer lily bulbs which I am very excited about & my momma bought some peelers and towels.  much of it was kinda like being in a giant infomercial.  If anyone has any insight into insulating paint, please let me know.  Sounds too good to be true!  FYI take a load off and lounge on the tempurpedic mattresses all the way on the left side….
The show runs Saturday & Sunday (10am-9pm, 11am-6pm), admission is $10 for adults only for one day.  The photo shows a small part only…Enjoy!

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So, there I was weeding my front yard, and low and behold carrots!It is kind of hard to see them in that photo, but they were there. I was trying to get these weeds out and they were really difficult. I started digging, and carrots! Very exciting. Since I have heard […]

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