Friday, June 20, 2008

Sunday Farmer's Market

The Fruits Are Arriving!

Agora farms will have more of the fast selling BING CHERRIES as well as APPLE SCHNITZ, BLUEBERRIES, NECTARINES, and APRICOTS

Also on tap this weekend will be:

Free range eggs
Amish butter (unsalted)
Amish popcorn
Veggies - Baby spinach, spring mix, radishes, zucchini, summer squash, portabella & crimini mushrooms, potatoes - fingerling, red, white and creamers.
Amish tomatoes
Shelled peas
Broccoli
Green Beans

In addition, Fresh off the Roast will be there with amazing home roasted fresh coffee - beans by the bag, freshly brewed cups of hot or ice coffees too!

Sweet Daisy Cakes will be back with their mouth watering treats of rum cakes, chocolate cakes and delicate yogurt based treats.

Upper Crust Bakery with the remarkable breads and scones.

Roxanne with the wonderful gifts and crafts.

Kata with her one of a kind jewelry pieces.

Avner with images from around the world.

And perhaps one or two new vendors

So check us out on 12th and Newton from 10 am - 2 pm

Avner Ofer, Manager
Brookland Historic Farmers Market

2008 Presidential Contributions

Brookland Loves Obama

More than 117 Brooklanders in the 20017 Zip Code have contributed to one of the presidential candidates in the current election cycle. Contributions show a clear favoring of Barack Obama, but donations covered a broad range of candidates.

Here is the dollar breakdown:
Obama -$46,117.00
Clinton- $19,351.00
Giuliani- $4,600.00
Richardson- $2,350.00
McCain - $1,900.00
Edwards- $720.00
Romney - $575.00
Huckabee- $550.00

Interesting stuff. You can view a map with more detail here.

Brookland Split on Fireworks Ban

Issue doesn't make a bang with residents

Just in time for the 4th of July, it seems that Brooklanders are split 50-50 on the issue of banning fireworks. I'm torn, as every July 4th I'm up til all hours as my neighbors two doors down launch fireworks to all hours of the night, but at the same time, I loath giving the DC government more power to micro manage our lives.

Listserve Banishment

Two to One Support Banning Bad Posters


By a vote of two to one (10 to 5) respondents favor some form of banishment from the listserve for bad or rude postings. The question came from a series of over the top, insensitive postings on the Pope's visit and some equally childish retorts. My thoughts here.

The logical next question would be, what type of behavior should trigger a listserve banishment?
See the survey at left.

Summer Time

Sunny with a chance of occasional blogging.

A bit of a blog lapse on my part. Business travel and such. But more importantly, it's time to take advantage of the longer days and nice weather to sit on the porch and interact with you all in real time. More blogging to come, but perhaps not daily.
In the mean time, here are some cool pictures from my recent business trip.



The audidence for my lunch time speech.

A room with a view (Palms Casino, Las Vegas)

Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Cool Cell Phone Picture


It looks sort of fake doesn't it? But this is a picture of my nephew warming up to pitch at a baseball game a few weeks ago. I have a Blackberry Pearl with electronic zoom. Anyway, I think it is somewhat interesting. 

Friday, June 6, 2008

Friday Dance Off

Enjoy

Byte Back Celebration and Auction Tonight!

Byte Back will be Celebrating Steve Seiden, who is stepping down from thier Board of Directors after 8 years of service!

This event will feature a Silent Auction, hors d'oeuvres, wine and music.

Byte Back is located at 815 Monroe St NE, across from both the Colonel Brooks Tavern and the Brookland Metro.

Auction items up for bid include:
A Mexico Getaway to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, or both!
Box Seats to see DC United Play the RedBulls next Saturday night!
A week in Ocean City right on the beach!
Four Redskins Tickets!
A week in Martha's Vineyard in a 6 BR house a block from the beach!
A set of 20 Movie Theater Tickets!
Dinner for Two at the Famous La Fourchette Restaurant in Adams Morgan!
An Ice Skating Birthday Party for Ten!
A $150 Gift Certificate to Brew Your Own Beer!
A Luxurious 50-Minute Massage at Somafit in Georgetown!
Five Hours of Landscape Design from a Harvard-Educated Landscape Architect!
Four Hours of IT Assistance
!Six Hours of Electrical Service!
A DVD player!
And from our own Ward 5: Foursome of Golf with Councilman Harry "Tommy" Thomas, followed up by lunch!
One Month of Martial Arts Training at Northeast Taekwondo Martial Arts Center!
$30 off shoe repair at Brookland Shoe Repair!
Two Large One-Topping Pizzas from Pizza Boli!
Apparel and earrings from the 3610 Shoppe!And much, much more!
Tickets are $25 at the door.

Bring your friends! Byte Back volunteers are admitted free of charge!

[Editor's note: With this many exclamation points, how could you not have fun!]

CAU Development Meeting

Abdo development is hosting an informational meeting about their project at Catholic University.

The meeting will be Wednesday, June 18, 2008 from 7-9pm at The Catholic University of America, Pryzbyla Center, Great Room A

In the meantime, please feel free to contact Toby at Abdo if you have any questions. He can be reached at 202-265-9393 or by email at toby@abdo.com

St. Anthony's Spring Concert

Please join the St. Anthony Music Ministry adult and youth choirs for thier annual spring concert.

The concert will be Sunday June 8, at 4 pm in the church at 12th and Monroe Sts. NE.

The music will be wonderful! The concert is free, but we take up a collection to benefit the youth music ministry scholarship fund. All are welcome, please join us!

Dance Africa @ Brookland's Dance Place

DC's 21st annual festival celebrates the dance and music of theAfrican Diaspora while honoring traditional heritage and itstransformation into contemporary forms.

More info at Dance Place's Website.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Sunday Farmer's Market

Hi neighbors,

This Sunday we will have our favorite vendors selling some great produce, art, crafts, cakes, bread and coffee.

Here is a sample of the goodies for this week:
  • Free Range/Hormone free Eggs
  • Home churned Amish butter (unsalted)
  • Baby Arugula
  • Spring Mix,
  • Radishes
  • Sugar Snaps
  • Beets
  • Portabella Mushrooms
  • Cremini Mushrooms
  • Asparagus
  • Amish Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Basil
  • Flowers & Herbs

We are on Newton and 12th.

Come by bring the family and friends. Enjoy a good cup of coffee, an amazing sorbet, great produce, and beautiful art.

Open 10am - 2pm see you there.
Avner Ofer
manager

No Easy Answers?

Check Points for Trinidad

An interesting story in the Post today about the crime wave in the Trinidad neighborhood.
An emergency measure I suppose, but one that raises a lot of questions. Will the criminals move to a new area?, will the MPD have to set up checkpoints in other neighborhoods? Is there a better answer? Is this temporary and if not is it sustainable?

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Farmer's Market Tonight!

From the Brookland CDC-
TWILIGHT MARKET(4:00--7:00 PM)
June 3, 2008

Mike Tabor of Licking Creek Bend Farmin Pennsylvania finally has enough produce to make the trip to Washington worthwhile.He will be bringing tomorrow night--. spinach. red and white scallions. radishes. lettuces. green rabb and mustard. greenbeansAnd maybe--. strawberries. broccoli. carrots Tabor has a new BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) policy.

Yum!

Bannishment from the listserv


Neck and Neck!


It's down to the wire and it appears as if the slightest majority favors the ability to ban folks from the list serve under certain circumstances. One day left to vote. The original posting on this topic may be found here.

Home Tour Slide Show

Brought to you by the Menkiti Group

Missed the Brookland Home and Garden Tour? No worries. Experience it here.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Brookland House and Garden Tour 2008

Good Job GBGC!

Perfect weather helped to drive attendance at the 2008 Brookland House and Garden Tour. Folks from across the city spent the sunny afternoon touring eight of Brookland's notable residences. Another great community building event and a great way to meet neighbors and show our Brookland to the rest of the city.

Congratulations and Thanks to the Greater Bookland Garden Club for organizing the event.
Pics to follow.

Fireworks Ban?



Fenty, Graham Propose Ban on the Sale of Fireworks in the District



Here's the press release:



New Legislation Improves Enforcement Capabilities and Safety of ResidentsToday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham joined DCFire & EMS Chief Dennis L. Rubin to announce proposed legislation that wouldeffectively ban the use and sale of all consumer fireworks in the Districtof Columbia, except those staged by professional pyrotechnics experts.






The Fireworks Neighborhood Safety Emergency Act of 2008 will help prevent the personal injury and property damage that traditionally stems from the use of fireworks by the general public. The legislation removes anyexceptions to the current ban and would allow multi-faceted enforcement thatincludes DC
Fire & EMS Department and the Metropolitan Police Department(MPD). "The time has come to once and for all extinguish these dangerous devices,"said Mayor Fenty. "This legislation will bring us in line with neighboringjurisdictions in recognizing that the safety of our residents must bepreserved."The proposed legislation expands the current district to allow direct MPDenforcement of the ban. Previously, only Fire and EMS were able to providedirect enforcement of the ban allowing MPD only secondary enforcementcapabilities. Complete fireworks bans are in effect in Montgomery andPrince George's counties as well as Baltimore, Md. "This injury saving, public safety measure has great clarity and it will help a lot of people," said Graham.Last year the Mayor's Citywide Call Center received more than 4,000 calls none 12-hour period during the July 4th holiday due to improper use offireworks in the District, the same number of calls usually made in a24-hour period. "Fireworks are not toys that can be treated casually," said Chief Rubin."It is essential that District residents leave any handling of thesecombustible devices to licensed experts."


I for one think the DC government micromanages too much of our lives, but then, I'm also up to all hours on the 4th of July as my neighbors shoot off fireworks until the wee hours of the morning, raining debris onto my roof and yard.




What do you think? Should DC Ban Fireworks? (Survey in the upper left)