I haven’t gotten used to the shortening days yet, so the dark caught me by surprise tonight. I apologize in advance for these dark, shadowy pictures. ONP goes noir! Under the dark of night, I still managed to discover a pretty cool place that I never knew existed before–this community center and indoor pool in…
Fancy schmancy outing today—a visit to the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. State Department building here in Washington D.C—one of the items on my ONP bucket list for the year! Designed to impress, these rooms do—with classic eighteenth-century decor and furnishings intended to remind visitors (foreign diplomats and local tourists alike) of the Spirit…
Sometimes the New Places we find ourselves in aren’t at all the places we intended to be. And that’s not because the New Place is an unworthy place or a second choice; rather that our poor imaginations couldn’t even have known to desire such a Place hitherto unknown to us. So it was with today’s…
Alley Dive! I haven’t done an alley dive in several weeks, so I was long overdue. I love the secret life of alleys. Besides the usual stuff (dumpsters, rat traps, parking spots, back patios), each alley has its own quirks and personality—like the skinny little foot passage in this L-shaped alley that sneaked between buildings…
I am not sure what evil forces of the universe conspired to open an ice cream shop only steps from my house. But as today just happened to be their grand opening, and as I just happened to be walking by, I figured I might as well make this new neighbor my New Place for…
Today, tired from a long day and dealing with some hard things, I was once again impressed with what a difference my New Place makes in my life. It seemed like the last thing I wanted to do–to go exploring–when I came home from the hospital at the end of the day, but it turned…
I often think of seeing New Places as adding prepositions into your life: Instead of going straight ahead, you go into, inside, beside, behind, the places in your routine life. (I have come to call this practice “going deep”). Well, today I added some new propositions (up and on top of ) and “went high”—onto the…
Today was the tipping point: 183 places seen so far this year (one every day), and 182 more days to go! Halfway to my goal! As for today. . . When the weather is hot, hot, hot, (triple digits here in DC!), I explore where it is cool cool cool. That’s why today found me at…