Washington DC’s Cherry Blossoms!

April 19, 2017

She requested the outing herself, to go see the cherry blossoms. On the weekend…during the peak of DC’s season…which is something that after 15 years of off-again, on-again DC residency, I generally try to specifically not do, because there are usually one million other people doing it. But tot asks, nicely, and tot receives, and away we went to explore the blooms as a family.

The DC cherry blossoms are beautiful – truly. But this was a tough year to see them, with a storm that blew through a few days before the peak bloom, taking off about half the blossoms. Also, a storm of our own was brewing a bit amongst our tots, both of the fighting a cold, so between that and the crowds, part of it felt not the best.

It didn’t turn out to be the greatest day for taking a lot of pictures. But even with sniffles and what eventually turned into fevers and tears, there was still time for beauty and laughs and ice cream on the lawn while listening to fun music that was part of the festival…Even with the million people, we would do it again. It’s not Copenhagen, but it is DC, and it’s home for now.

P.S. By the way, all those millions of visitors that we get? It’s awesome for DC but not always so awesome for the cherry blossoms themselves – this is a great article on the impact of this kind of volume and how to be a mindful cherry blossom visitor!

Happy Easter!

April 16, 2017

Springtime and Easter greetings from our family to yours!

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs…

April 14, 2017

We’re starting to gear up for Easter weekend around here. This year, I was hoping to give naturally dyed easter eggs a go. It’s actually something that I grew up doing. We always had a batch of eggs dyed in onion skins and then by Polish tradition, you etch out designs with a little needle. When I was daughter’s age, I most certainly did not have the patience for that and much preferred the many colors that you could use in commercial dye.

However, in my older age I find myself wanting to slow down and try the things that take a little bit more time. Unlike Denmark, we don’t have all the days off for the preparations and I’ll confess that I miss those (no time for an Easter room this year!). There was always a sense of “getting ready” for holidays there, whereas here, holiday preparations blend into many of our daily obligations. It’s a concerted effort not to over-plan and over-book, and to save time for doing things a little more slowly.

We’ll have the regular colors this year as always, but I was hoping to give these blueberry dyed eggs from Fruetcake and these green eggs from Design Mom (what can I say, we’re partial to green around here) a go as well to bring a little bit of old school into the mix. We’re carving out the afternoon before Easter as a family to take our time…not cramming the eggs in between a million activities but taking the time to set up the eggs, maybe watch a Charlie Brown or two, order in – it might not go perfectly….the colors might not be as in the picture… but I think we’ll end up with exactly the feeling that the holidays are meant to give.

Adliya, Bahrain Arts Neighborhood Playground

April 11, 2017

Every so often I come across a batch of photos that I parked and somehow, forgot about – either forgot to post or edit or share or all of the above. Bahrain was one of those trips, taken last year, and a little bit by mistake no less (let’s call it a last-minute woe of passports and visas and overlooked expiration dates). So what was supposed to be a desert camping and beach trip to the Emirates, ended up being a bit of an impromptu turn to Bahrain… if people are interested, I can talk more about the trip (and specifically how to plan time with tots there if you have no pre-existing plan, and how to spend time outdoors in a place in that doesn’t normally make plans for spending time outdoors…) but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a few colorful snaps of a surprise play area we found in the Adliya district of Manama.

I say “surprise play area” since playgrounds outdoors aren’t normally a thing easy to come by in the Gulf, and certainly not in this non-import format. We actually had a lovely playground on our hotel grounds, but that caters mostly to expat children that were hotel guests. We came to the Adliya district to eat at the yummy Cafe Lilou (seriously, drop by if you find yourself expectedly or unexpectedly in Manama), and took a walk around the neighborhood after visiting the Old Town area and the main mosque, and stumbled on this colorful area.

Adliya is isn’t quite as historic as the Old Town but much more so than the contemporary corniche developments, so the ability to walk and explore is something rather rare in the Gulf, not to mention to find that in combination with a play space as well as with a public space that supports the arts. The three together is a bit like finding a Holy Grail of sorts.

So while this space doesn’t fit the mold of many of the natural playgrounds that we feature here, I still appreciated how much it must have taken to build a space of its kind in an urban center….still with some greenery (even the occasional cactus – seemed more of a hazard here but still, I’ll take green in any form) to round out an otherwise raw space. I loved the bright colors that softened the rougher textures of the materials. And as of our tot, she didn’t love playing here any less!