V.w.verweij

After the explosion of the cherry blossoms, magnolias, serviceberries, catalpas, and other showy flowers, summer often feels like an aesthetic drought because most of the trees are done blooming. But there is a subtle beauty that will never leave you once you notice it. Young leaves coming through in mid to late spring, throughout the summer, with second flushes, and the fully formed leaves are a wonder to behold. Green is a deceptive color, as it often blends with its surroundings, but the shapes of leaves are just as diverse as flowers in their creativity.

Young leaves

Young white oak leaves

Early emerging leaves, and leaves that come to trees as they go through multiple flushes of leaves (like black cherry (Prunus serotina), for example, whose early leaves are often defoliated by tent caterpillars) are little works of art. Oak leaves in large masses are impressive on the tree, but every large oak leaf starts out as an intense concentrated red (see the young white oak (Quercus alba) leaves on the right). These leaves have significant amounts of anthocyanins, natural chemicals that act as sunscreen, giving it the color. These colors dominate before the green chlorophyll, the pigments that help in converting sunlight into food, takes over.

Young tuliptree leaves

Other leaves are fascinating for how they unfold. The cat-face-shaped Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera, on the left) leaves are folded up in a tiny package, released with the early flowers, and unfolding over several weeks in spring, before starting to develop. This efficiency in packaging is unrivaled in even the most efficient engineered electronics packaging, and surpasses it in elegance.

Nature keeps it weird

Sassafras leaves

Even after the young leaves unfold acrobatically, they remain their mysterious shapes and continue to astound us in their diversity. One of my favorites remains the versatile Sassafras (Sassafras albidum). A tree historically used to create flavors in root beer, as well as medicinal applications, the leaves have a variety of mitten and heart shapes. The picture on the right shows some of the red the leaves also hold onto throughout the season, and the more regular shape they hold.

Ginkgo Leaf

One of the most recognizable leaf shapes is the non-native Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba, on the left). This leaf shape often shows up in fashion patterns, jewelry designs, and more. While the tree is considered to be a living fossil (with no real wildlife value or typical ecological niche), it’s a great ornamental tree that is urban hardy, with fascinating leaf shapes, and an amazing fall color display. This tree is a conifer although it looks like a broadleaf tree. The conifer aspect is best displayed when it drops all of its leaves at the same time in the fall (common with deciduous conifers). Although it’s spindly branch shape, and elegant fan-shaped leaves remain throughout the year.

More on leaves.

This just highlights a handful of trees of the hundreds of trees native and planted in our area. Here are some great resources for exploring our tree diversity:

I’ve got my leaf, let’s go! – An online guide to find out what species of tree your leaf goes to

Leafsnap – A great local resource and free app for identifying leaves. The app does not always work, but the reference guide is impeccable.

Why leaves change color – learn about the colors hidden underneath the green.

Trees up close – A great book on appreciating the complexity of leaves and seeds

Toxic beauty: poison ivy (Toxicodedron radicans)

821 Upshur Street, NW

From Domku:

“June 4 —Celebrate Petworth Day. This year’s event will hold extra meaning for us, of course, and we are quietly choosing to refer to it as “Celebrate Domku Day”, because “Why not?” Please stop in as you go through the fair and post a favorite memory or description of a favorite meal to our Petworth memory wall. You might even win a free WHOLE ALMOND CAKE!

June 15— One last Pierogi Night! Who cares if it’s not winter? 7-10pm

June 21-24 — Best of Domku Pop-Up at Domku. Domku is popping up in itself! Many of you have asked that we make a favorite dish one last time so here is your chance to get the greatest hits of our dinner menu. Look for stroganoff, Hungarian goulash, Serbian gibanica,
Swedish meatballs, nalesniki, pork schnitzel, etc. June 24 will be the final dinner service.

June 25 —Starting at 6pm CLOSING PARTY POT LUCK. Let’s rip off our sad faces and celebrate the end of a marvelous era. We invite anyone who wants to come, and in the true spirit of how this place started with neighbors chipping in, we’re making this a community pot luck event. Bonus points for Scandinavian or Eastern European-inspired dishes! Domku will be open for brunch as usual, but will not be offering dinner service so that our kitchen staff can take part in the celebrations, too. We probably won’t have any food left anyway!

June 26 —Final Pancake Brunch Service and Garage Sale. Grab a Norwegian pancake and a memento of Domku! Have you been eyeing that bird coat rack, chandelier, a pretty plate, or even one of our chairs? It’s all going to be for sale. Cash only.”

via Google maps

From MPD:

“At approximately 11:00pm on 5/30/16 the victim was walking in the 700 block of Fairmont St. NW when he approached several males in the block. One of the males shot the victim. The victim suffered from non-life threatening injuries. Third District Detectives are currently investigating.”

Self Portrait of the Artist Thinking About a Dog, 2016

If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“ZERO SHAME. Herschel lives in Columbia Heights and enjoys eating his mom’s books and going to the dog park to hang out with his friends.”

“Lulu and Bentley of Columbia Heights snuggling through the rain storm.”

“Denali just loves to hold court at the corner of Irving and Mt. Pleasant. Come say hello to him.”

“Fight the Bite” Kit distributed by the DC Department of Health

From an email:

“As you may be aware, the Zika Virus is on the rise, and it’s only a matter of time before it comes to DC. Here is a map of the areas projected to be affected: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/pdfs/zika-mosquito-maps.pdf.

It is frequently observed that we have become an indoor species, spending more than 90 percent of our time inside our homes and offices. When we are not in these spaces, we are often traveling in cars on our way to or from these spaces. Relatively little of our day is actually spent outside enjoying such things as sunlight, wind, weather, and birds, among the other earthly delights around us. Our “interior worlds” are worthy, then, of much more concerted and careful attention to their biophilic qualities and dimensions. We must do better at finding ways to connect with outside nature, to be sure, but it is equally true that we need more attention to the many creative ways that interior spaces can be more natureful and biophilic.

Some of the ways are quite obvious, of course, and we have many good examples of full-spectrum natural daylight into homes, schools, offices, as well as many new off-the-shelf planting structures that make bringing living nature inside more feasible. There are both large and small examples. Larger examples include the spectacular four storey green wall in the interior of the University of Guelph-Humber building in Toronto (shown below). It makes for an impressive natureful interior, with small seating areas jutting out above the wall.

There are now many smaller green walls, some off the shelf kits, of various sizes.

And we have new ideas and ways of designing the edges of interior spaces to draw us outside, physically and visually. The new office and retail project 300 Lafayette Street, designed by Cook+Fox architects, is one positive model, where lush terraces, planted with plants native to Manhattan, will interweave with the interior spaces of this seven-story structure. These lush terraces will provide a natural connection for workers inside, but will also add to the greenery of the surrounding urban neighborhood.

Windows that are operable, and that expose us to urban nature views, will do much to ensure biophilic qualities of interior space, mindful that they seek to minimize bird collisions (increasingly possible with new glass products such as Ornilux glass, designed with an infrared etching that mimics a spider’s web and that can be seen by birds). Sound is increasingly something that can be creatively brought into interior spaces. The Center for Sustainable Landscapes, at the Phipps Conservancy in Pittsburgh, boasts an innovative sound installation by acoustic artist Abby Aresty. Made up of sound recordings from around Pittsburgh, the installation delivers sounds, from rain to birdsong, to the interior spaces of the Center, through a network of small transducers (converting windows to speakers).

One goal of interior biophilic design might be to foster emotional connections to outside nature. We know we appreciate furnishings and materials that connect us to place and tell important stories. The use of Texas Red Sandstone in the Dell Children’s hospital in Austin Texas, for instance, is a nod and an emotional connection to the Texas geology and landscape. Kroon Hall, the new home of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, incorporates a number of biophilic features, but its use of wood throughout the interior is key. Much of the interior red  has been actually been sustainably harvested from the Yale-Meyers forest (one of seven forests owned and managed by the School).

Water is another potentially powerful indoor design element. From courtyard with fountains to water walls, the sight and sounds of water can transform living and work environments. A number of companies now offer water walls, of various sizes, and there are also now a number   of “tabletop waterfalls,” very small water features that can sit on a desk or kitchen table. Making one of these can also be a DIY project.

We are apt to fill our homes and offices with furnishings of various kinds, of course, and here lies another opportunity to bring nature inside. Indeed in the US alone we spend more than $300 billion a year in furniture and home furnishings. The possibilities here are virtually without limit. There are now, for instance, many tree-shaped and nature-shaped wall decorations, that although not living nature per se, are certainly biophilic. Examples include Birch Tree Wallpaper, sold by Lucas with patterns such as swallow wall stickers and of ceiling stars. Interface Carpets, a sustainability pioneer, now offers a new line of carpets, called Urban Retreat™ intended to mimic nature. As the company’s product page says, “With its natural, neutral color palette, Urban Retreat evokes the quiet and sanctuary of an old-growth forest floor, down to the occasional moss or lichen-covered stone, as well as the cool splendor of glass and steel.” The tile is beautiful indeed, and uniquely reminds of the real nature not far away.

Home or office furnishings as ubiquitous as lampshades can reference nature. I recently discovered at a restaurant the impressive Leaf Lampshades made by the Philippine company Eangee. These shades are made from actual cocoa and banyan leaves, stitched together and laminated. A fairtrade product, the illuminated leaves of these biophilic lampshades produces a soft and pleasant interior lighting.

Furniture can be biophilic in many ways, of course, and offers another opportunity to cultivate our interior natures, There has been at least one academic paper written about so-called Furniture Design With Living Organisms (FDLO) . Think tables with designed spaces for plants to grow in them and from them. That we have a new acronym to use is helpful, though perhaps not one that rolls off the tongue.

We should choose objects and furnishings with meaningful stories, connections, relationships with real nature. And the provenance of the many things we fill our homes and buildings with is important also and another dimension to interior nature. Avoiding the purchase of a dining room table made from a tropical hardwood, in favor a local wood, preferably sustainably harvested, designed and constructed by a local craft person, is a biophilic act and choice. n this case a table might be beautiful, made from a biophilic material, and also embody a biophilic commitment to nature that is more global and remote perhaps but no less important.

Nature-themed art is now commonly found in many hospitals and offices, and can both help to elicit positive feelings and jog memories of earlier nature experiences. I have framed photos of Half dome, in Yosemite, for instance, and Monument Valley, Utah. These forms of interior nature are beneficial in themselves and enjoyable to look at, but also embody important memories and mental connections that can be activated with the slightest gaze or pondering. While not every time I look at these photos, but quite often, they have the effect of taking me back to the time and place, and sensations and family connections that I associate with those memories.

These are just a few of the many ways that interior spaces can be filled with living nature and nature-inspired furnishings and objects. A single object, such as an Eangee Lamp, can itself deliver considerable biophilic benefit, but even more potent are the ways that different design elements and interior products, from vertical planters to creative use of mirrors and water, might make help us remain mindful of the abundant nature that lies just beyond and outside.

One of the most challenging aspects is finding ways of designing interior spaces that actually help to propel us out outside. It’s not clear how this might happen, and perhaps an area we need to focus some creative design energy. Some form of clock-like wall device that reminds us that we have not taken a walk today, or that we have spent more than say three hours inside, would be helpful indeed. Our iPhone apps can do this of course, but we may need more visually compelling information. The framed urban trail map that offers us inspiration for where next to run or hike or bike might to be a good start, and might serve as a subtle commitment device to remind us of our intentions to go outside. Outside Lies Magic, indeed, (to invoke the terrific title of John Stilgoe’s excellent book), but there is no reason why our interior lives can’t be as magical in their own ways, and as biophilically rich and beneficial. We should seize the opportunity to reimagine our interior spaces, in ways commensurate with (unfortunately) the relative proportion of our day that we spend encased in them.

The post Tending To Our Interior Nature(s) appeared first on BiophilicCities.

I don’t remember this part in Frog and Toad

A group of friends who dined at Peter Chang restaurant (2503-E N. Harrison Street) on Saturday were shocked to find the words “asshole” and “I have a small penis” on their receipt at the end of the night.

The words were apparently insults typed in by one of the servers, in response to a particularly persnickety member of the group.

One of the diners, Matthew, emailed us and the Washington Post about the experience but asked that his last name be withheld. Matthew said the trouble started when one member of his party, who previously lived in China and speaks Mandarin, but is not Chinese, commented about the way the rice was served.

“One of my friends — who lived in China for 5 years — questioned the authenticity of how the rice was supposed to be served at a Chinese restaurant,” Matthew said. “Peter Changs [sic] served it in one bowl instead of individually, which is how I guess they serve it in China. I guess the waitress took offense to that.”

Then the receipt arrived. Below the various food items, it included the following lines: “im plad [sic] asshole” and “i have a small penis.”

The man who questioned the rice serving was wearing plaid that night, Matthew said. Management, according to Matthew, tried to pass it off as a “joke.”

“I wasn’t too offended by it, but the waitress and the management kept saying it was simply a ‘joke’ and they didn’t do too much to apologize,” he said. “Ultimately we got a $20 gift card. Like many incidents, the cover up was worse than the crime.”

It’s unclear whether the server purposely included the lines on the receipt or if they were only intended to vent some steam internally.

The restaurant has not responded to a request for comment from ARLnow.com. A manager told the Washington Post that “servers had previously been warned before about leaving offensive comments in the [point-of-sale] system” and that he’s cut the hours of the server who left the insults on the receipt.

The Post also reported that when the group asked to split the check four ways, the server replied sarcastically, “That’s totally how they do it in China.”

Chef Peter Chang, whose Szechuan cuisine has earned him something of a cult following, opened his eponymous restaurant in Arlington’s Lee-Harrison shopping center last March.

That’s an actual screenshot of our collaborative karaoke Google docs song list, and also maybe the personal thing I have ever shared on the internet. 

Line Webtoon | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

screenshot of youtube clip filmed by Ki Steiner

“Dear PoPville,

Michigan Park/Fort Totten residents: beware of the screaming fox and protect your small dogs!
I live in North Michigan Park just behind the Fort Totten Metro. Apparently we have a neighborhood fox, a screaming fox, that frequents my block. A few nights ago around 1:00 am, my husband and I heard what we thought was a woman screaming, and looked out the window to see a red fox chasing a small dog down the sidewalk. My husband ran outside to find the fox standing a few feet from the small dog who was desperately trying to get back into his yard under the fence. My husband yelled and charged at the fox and it ran off, but the dog did appear a little roughed up. The dog’s owner eventually came outside due to the dog’s yelping, and we explained what we saw.

I thought that incident would teach the neighbor not to let her dog out late at night by itself, but again, last night at 2:00 am, I was woken up by the screaming noise of the fox followed by a small dog crying.

I don’t mind the fox living in my hood, but honestly, the screaming noise is unbearable, waking up my family in the middle of the night. Plus, the fox appears to be a danger to the dogs in the neighborhood. Not sure if I should call animal control or if this is just a part of nature?

Here is a YouTube video of a fox making the same screaming noise:

If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“two years ago our hotel (The Jefferson Hotel) rescued a beagle named Lord Monticello (or Monti). We thought it would be fun if we ran him for president! People can follow his campaign @lordmonti or #Monti4Prez”

“Despite her best efforts to remain vigilant, Samantha of Mount Pleasant succumbed to window watching induced exhaustion.”

From an email:

“Right Proper will be at Dupont Farmers’ Market [20th St. NW between Massachusetts Ave. and Hillyer Pl, NW] starting this Sunday. We are super excited to be the first brewery at the farmers’ market. We have brand new 750 ml growlers ready to go for the Market We will be posting what beers we are serving every week. Bring kegs for tasting. $3 – deposit on growler. $7 – fill. Guests can bring back empties for a deposit or just exchange for a brand new bottle.”

Ed. Note: In March we learned You May Soon Take a Taste and Buy A Bottle of Booze/Beer at a Farmer’s Market.

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