In which I visit the National Museum of Women in the Arts

It's been a while since I've written, and I'm not going to bother trying to "catch up", because I wouldn't enjoy that, and it's my blog and I can do what I want. 😉

Yesterday was Wednesday and during lunch I went to go see the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which is a museum that focuses exclusively on art made by women. It is near my workplace, and on Wednesdays they have free "gallery talks."  Their current exhibit is called Revival, and while I still don't really understand the title, the exhibit features lots of surreal sculpture, which is one of my favorite kinds of art.  The talk focused on pieces about animals, or "other creatures" as the docent put it.  The docent was very good. She made a point of asking the group what our impressions were and asking us to ask questions.  Plus, she had lots of information about the artists and the making of the art which definitely adds to the experience (at least for me).  I didn't take pictures in the exhibit, but

In which I see a lot of the city, and get a new phone.

I last wrote two weeks ago, after that tree walk.  For the past week and a half, I've been noticing trees and thinking to myself, "That's a maple.  Oh, no, wait, maybe it's an oak?"  It's entertaining, but I'm not sure how much of what we learned actually stuck. 🌳🌲🌴🎄

That next Friday, I went with my roommate to the 6th and I synagogue, which is an old, historic synagogue that was only recently put back into use as such after having been a church for a while.  That weekend was the Pride celebration in DC, so that Friday night was Pride Shabbat.  There was a big turnout; the sanctuary was full.  (I don't know how many people usually show up there, and I'm really bad at estimating crowd size: it was full, that's all I know.)  The service was nice, with some additions celebrating the milestones that the LGBT+ community has achieved in this country.  The sermon was given by a speaker who works for LGBT rights abroad, in places that do not have as

In which I visit the JCC twice, walk a lot, use Transportation, and lose my phone

So, I last wrote a week and half ago Sunday.  After I posted, I went out with my roommate to the Washington Jewish Film Festival at the local JCC.  We saw a movie called The Wonderful Kingdom of Papa Alaev, about a family of Jewish musicians from Tajikistan, who now live in Tel Aviv.  The whole family performs as a band and travels around Israel and Europe, and the movie is a documentary of family life, family conflicts, and music.  It's good and I recommend it, but it's obscure, and I don't know where to suggest you find it.

As an aside, it had been raining and chilly for the whole time I'd been in DC up to this point.   I don't think a day went by without at least a drizzle, and sometimes evenings and mornings in the 50s.

Monday was Memorial Day, and there was no work.  In the afternoon, we went to Alexandria to see a Jazz Festival.  Normally, Jazz Festivals are outdoor affairs with dancing and food trucks and too much sun, but foul weather was forecast, and so the event was rescheduled to be indoors.  However, the day was beautiful and sunny.  The concert was a mile from the Metro stop, so we walked in the sun and unexpected heat through some very pretty neighborhoods.  It was actually kind of a relief to have an indoor venue with air conditioning and chairs.  The music was very good. 
The first band was the Seth Kibel Quartet which was introduced as "Klezmer Jazz"...  I think because he had a clarinet.  Or maybe they play Klezmer music when they're not at a jazz festival.
The other band we saw was the Tom Cunningham Orchestra, which played Big Band music and wore Hawaiian shirts.  Both groups were good, but this group made me want to dance.  Too bad we were in auditorium chairs...🎺🎶🎵🎷

Tuesday night was the start of Shavuot, which is a holiday. I forgot about it until Tuesday afternoon, and then started googling furiously, looking for a place to go.  One of the traditional ways to observe the holiday is to pull an all-nighter studying Torah.  This is called Tikkun Leil Shavuot.  I wanted to find a study session that did NOT go until 5 am.  The trick there was finding a community that's observant enough to observe Shavuot on a weeknight at all, but not so observant that they need to stay up all night.  And some places were offering dinner, but you had to sign up earlier, and some places were an hour's journey into Maryland.  Eventually I found a group called Tikkun Leil Shabbat, and they were just what I wanted.  They teamed up with another congregation called Beit Mishpachah that meets at the JCC (on Shabbos, usually).  There was a potluck dinner (I stopped at the Whole Foods prepared foods counter), and a short service (not in that order), and then two lessons.  The first was about the book of Ruth (which is the traditional Shavuot reading), and the rabbi talked about why it is the traditional reading, and what does it mean to be a stranger or an "other".  The second lesson was related; it was by a representative from HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, though I don't know if it still stands for that), and it was about refugees, and whether Ruth was a refugee, and what does it mean to be a refugee today.  It was all very interesting, and there were nice people there, and I am glad I went.  We (I went with my roommate) got home a little after 11, which is late, but not unreasonable. 

I went to work on Wednesday (chag), which didn't bother me as much as a) I thought it would, or b) it might once have.  I still think next year I'll try to plan better.

Wednesday and Thursday evenings I stayed home, but I packed for a trip!

On Friday, bright and early, I set out on a journey.  I walked to the nearby Metro station and took the subway to Union Station.  There, I bought a ticket, and caught a train (a real train) to the BWI airport train station. There's a bus that goes from the train station to the airport.  At the airport, I got on an airplane, and flew to Pittsburgh.  There was a van shuttle from the airport to the hotel.  Once I got settled in, I met up with some friends and took an Uber (car) to the river to do a boat tour.  I am very proud of using so many forms of transportation on the same day. 🚇🚆🚍✈🚗🚢

On Saturday, there was a wedding.  I was a bridesmaid, which I've never done before.  It was fun.  And the wedding was very nice.  I am super happy for my friend who got married.  And she seems happy, and her new husband seems happy too. ☺

Sunday morning, there was a little brunch, and then after some logistics conversations and some other field trips, I ended up at Ikea with the bride's parents and grandparents "on the way" to the airport.  This was my "site-seeing" in Pittsburgh. 🛒

Unfortunately, on my way back, I lost my phone somewhere between the Pittsburgh airport and the Baltimore airport.  I am very sad about this, and at some point when I get a new one (I put in a lost and found report, but I'm not very optimistic...)  I will need all y'all's phone numbers again.

I haven't really done many adventures this week.  I've been stressed about the phone thing, and tired/behind on sleep (and yet, here I am, moments from midnight, up typing...).  I did go look for a farmers' market downtown on Tuesday at lunchtime.  It seemed somewhat more expensive than what I recall of the one I sometimes go to in Houston.  I didn't buy anything, but I'm glad I went to go look.

This evening I went for a "tree walk" that was held by the library.  I learned that there is a national park 2 blocks from my house, and the guide showed us how to recognize several common tree species in DC.  It was very laid back, but pleasant to be outside.  I'll have to check out the park more thoroughly at another time!

Ok.  Now I am caught up with almost two weeks of life.  Eventually, I may start including pictures in these things, but for now, I'm going to work on writing regularly.