A small drop on a large leaf, as seen at the family favorite, Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

What war on Christmas? The magic was alive and well in DC last year.

Our first time at a Michelin star restaurant was in Tail-Up Goat a few blocks down from our first DC apartment in Adams Morgan. It was one of those places where you needed a flashlight to see your food, and the crispy salt cod was more salt than crispy. We have avoided Michelin stars ever since.

The previously mentioned Axios Local newsletters continues to be a delight to read every morning. To take a quote from today’s edition, discussing the absolute horror of someone cheating at bar trivia:

In a town filled with people trying to relive their Model UN glory days, trivia isn’t just some silly bar game — it’s the D.C. equivalent of flexing shirtless on Muscle Beach.

While this isn’t what most of DC is actually like, there are many people living here who would like it to be this way and that also tells you something.

We finally got tho see The Great Zucchini of The Peekaboo Paradox fame (first mentioned here) in action. He was indeed as marvelous as they say. If toddlers were automatons he’d be the Master Engineer, knowing exactly what button to push to get the desired reaction — be it wonder, awe or delight.

🏀 Remember these two nitwits shaking hands on a deal? Well, the deal is dead and the Caps and Wizards' owner suddenly has some nice things to say about DC. Quoth Wikipedia:

Eating crow is a colloquial idiom, used in some English-speaking countries, that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position. The crow is a carrion-eater that is presumably repulsive to eat in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow.

A good day for birdwatching.

Beautiful weather in DC today. On days like this the sculpture garden shines.

Twenty paragraphs about DC summer child care in the Washington Post this morning and not one mention of grandparents chipping in. This DC-area parent couldn’t have made it without some help from his own parents and in-laws — call it a homegrown Serbian immersion program.

Here are some very cool photos of late 19th century Washington DC. It looked more like the Wild West than I would have suspected — see #11, Ford’s Theater and #46, 7th and D for good examples.

Most of it is gone, but some things are left standing — like #19, now part of the Smithsonian. (↬Reddit).