Sundays in the Park With Cinnamon

I spent Sunday afternoon in and around Glover Archibold Park , which you may remember me "oohing" and "ahhing" over in a previous post. I have some more oohs and aahs to share, since while walking through a particularly lovely section of the park near Mass Ave. I came across 2 does and their fawns--spotted fawns at that! After spending a few moments mentally kicking myself for not bringing my camera along on this walk, I remembered my cell phone camera. By that time, the deer had begun to recede into the background, so the best one I got was of this doe. I'm not afraid to say that it was a magical moment. After Saturday's walk sans ipod, I decided against listening to it during this walk. I was excited about the opportunity to ruminate and "commune" with nature--and along comes this magical moment! I had, once again, turned to Google Maps for my walking route, despite the potential disaster I had faced on Saturday. Since several streets cut across the park (New Mexico, Cathedral, Massachussetts), I decided to pop out of the park at Cathedral and walk the 5 or so blocks to the National Cathedral.

First I went inside, thinking I would sit in one of the smaller chapels and soak up the silence. Survey says "nnnnnnn!" How could I forget the incessant tours? I've taken those tours! Instead I ending up walking around the entire perimeter of the Cathedral, craning my neck to look at gargoyles and coming across some fun things. Like the office side of the Cathedral, where some wonderful cloisters are decorated with these reliefs (aren't they reliefs??). Each one was different, but I was drawn to this one due to our upcoming trip to Alaska.

Soon I was back in the park, where I saw yet another deer, this time a lone buck. When sharing these sightings with colleagues, I found that no one was particularly surprised, or, for that matter, excited. I guess deer are sort of considered vermin in this area?? Nevertheless, I found it all enchanting--and I come from a family of hunters! Deer = meat, right?

I rounded out my walk by walking past American University (a surprise) and down Foxhall, which is construction-free and actually now has a nice sidewalk!