Smithsonian Victorian Gardens.

Another trip offered by the retirement community where I live.  This time the destination was Washington, DC, The Smithsonian Institution, and specifically the Victorian garden which resides behind the Smithsonian Castle.

As we exited the Castle through these doors,

 here was the first view.

What a blue sky day, low humidity for Washington, too.

Off to the right and left are large trees with air plants hanging from the branches.

The garden is so symmetrical.

The garden is flanked by two museums which are primarily underground.

In fact the Victorian Garden is on top of the museum spaces for these two museums.

Though the museum with the circle motif is on the left, the gardens on the right have the circle motif.

Another view of the castle.

The docent took us in to a hidden garden where tropical plants are displayed.

If I'm ever here for lunch I'll have to bring it to this out of the way spot.

We then visited the gardens on the left which had a square theme.

See the Washington monument above the trees.  Just this week it has reopened.

Here's another garden we visited on our own on the other side of the Exhibition Hall

One last shot of the castle where our white bus waits to take us back home.

Union Mills Homestead

We visited the homestead of Union Mills one Sunday afternoon. Purchased tour tickets and joined up with a tour in progress in the grist mill.  It dates back to the early 1800s.

It has been in operation recently but I think they need a full time miller at present.

The Homestead began as 4 rooms in 1797.  It has been added on in stages.

It has remained in the Shriver family the whole time. They kept detailed journals and rarely threw anything away.  The house is filled with household items dating back from colonial times to 20th century.

Washington Irving stopped here as did James Audubon where he watched a Baltimore oriole build a nest.

The tour took us inside where no photos were allowed.  Here's the back of the house.

Besides the mill and farming there was a tannery here.

The Homestead is not far from Gettysburg and as that battle loomed troops from both sides passed through here.  Two Shriver brothers who lived here and across the street were divided in their loyalties.  After the war they went back to being partners in their business concerns.

By the way this is the same Shriver family as Sargent Shriver, head of Peace Corps and father of Maria Shriver, broadcast journalist and former First Lady of California.

Donald Trump vs. the United States of America

Just the facts, in 40 sentences.

By David Leonhardt

Opinion Columnist

Sometimes it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture.

He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election.


He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.


He divulged classified information to foreign officials.


He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.


He hired a national security adviser who he knew had secretlyworked as a foreign lobbyist.


He encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at his hotels.


He genuflects to murderous dictators.


He has alienated America’s closest allies.


He lied to the American people about his company’s business dealings in Russia.


He tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.


He spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at resorts.

He often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic functions of a president’s job.


He has aides, as well as members of his own party in Congress, who mock him behind his back as unfit for office.


He has repeatedly denigrated a deceased United States senator who was a war hero.


He insulted a Gold Star family — the survivors of American troops killed in action.He described a former first lady, not long after she died, as “nasty.”


He described white supremacists as “some very fine people.”


He told four women of color, all citizens and members of Congress, to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”


He made a joke about Pocahontas during a ceremony honoringNative American World War II veterans.


He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American.


He launched his presidential campaign by describing Mexicans as “rapists.”


He has described women, variously, as “a dog,” “a pig” and “horseface,” as well as “bleeding badly from a facelift” and having “blood coming out of her wherever.”


He has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women.


He enthusiastically campaigned for a Senate candidate who was accused of molesting multiple teenage girls.


He waved around his arms, while giving a speech, to ridicule a physically disabled person.


He has encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his political opponents.


He has called for his opponents and critics to be investigated and jailed.


He uses a phrase popular with dictators — “the enemy of the people” — to describe journalists.

He attempts to undermine any independent source of information that he does not like, including judges, scientists, journalists, election officials, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Congressional Budget Office and the National Weather Service.


He has tried to harass the chairman of the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates.


He said that a judge could not be objective because of his Mexican heritage.


He obstructed justice by trying to influence an investigation into his presidential campaign.


He violated federal law by directing his lawyer to pay $280,000 in hush money to cover up two apparent extramarital affairs.


He made his fortune partly through wide-scale financial fraud.


He has refused to release his tax returns.


He falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him.


He claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal investigations across the country.


He has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents.


He has suggested that America is no different from or better than Vladimir Putin’s Russia.


He has called America a “hellhole.”


He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.

Reprinted from The New York Times.  Sorry don't know how to undo the margins I picked up when copying this.

Christmas Card Prep

I've started making Christmas cards.  I prefer making them to buying them.

Today I finished a batch of 15 cards.

This one was the proto type.  I didn't like the real red bow so found something closer to the color of the bird to use.

I used two punches for the wreath and stamped and punched the bird.

I have card bases for 15 more of these but will have to use other designer papers since I ran out of what I used for these.

I know its early to be doing this but we are heading to Barcelona Oct 1 for two weeks which is prime card making time.  In fact I'll be missing a cardmaking session at my friend's house and here at Vantage House while I'm away.