JFB

Washington D.C., which at the moment is unseasonably warm, is chock full of extraordinary museums. We decided to take advantage of the weather and visit some of them. First was the National Gallery of Art. It is currently exhibiting work of John Singer Sargent as well as some of the paintings of Johannes Vermeer. After the National Gallery it was on to the Freer Museum. The Freer featured an exhibition of Asian Art as well as an exhibition that included the Peacock room designed by James McNeil Whistler. Photo taking is permitted so I put an iPhone to work. Here are some samples below.

Through the University of Virginia, the state runs an arboretum that is part of the Blandy Experimental Farm. Officially known as the Orland E. White Arboretum it is more popularly known as the State Arboretum of Virginia. It is open to the public. 

The Experimental Farm is huge—to the tune of 700 acres willed to the University of Virginia by Graham Blandy in 1924.  Consistent with Blandy’s wishes it was used to train college students in agricultural methods. Orland E. White, the  first director of the farm also used it as a field research station. There is actually a long and unfolding history of the farm which you can read about at this link. 

One of the more interesting sections of the farm is Gingko Grove, which contains a large number of Gingko trees whose leaves change from green to a spectacular yellow in Autumn. 

We visited the farm recently to and wandered around the grounds. Here (below) are a few photos from that trip.

JFB

https://express.adobe.com/post/g4dlQU5bp7ctW/

The Potomac River and its waterfalls can be seen from Maryland or Virginia. Great Falls National Park is located on the Virginia side and is a great place to visit the falls, have a picnic, or just go hiking. We stopped by the other day to take a look at the falls and the tree leaves tuning colors as fall begins to head towards the winter months. We were not disappointed.  Here are a few shots from out visit. 

JFB