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 roof of the Ontario building, which I have been inside several times.  

All my New Places give me new perspective, but none quite so dramatic as the rooftop of this grand old 1902 apartment building. From it, we could see all of DC and the surrounding area, with the landmarks (the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the Cathedral) and church spires set off against the darkening sky. To add to the drama, fireworks exploded in 360 degrees around us.

The Ontario is built like a large soaring bird—with a central body and wings off to each side. We stood on the body of this bird, leaning against the fancy brick railings into the dark space, riding the show, watching the fireworks explode, ooohing and ahhing to our hearts content.