At Long Last...

...After 6 months, my feet are happy again!

Freshens' Last Day

The smoothie bar at the GWUH cafe is closing to make way for a lame subway. :(

To finish their stock, they were giving away free smoothies today. The one I got, a random combination, was super delicious. It comes right after Strawberry Surfrider from Jamba Juice

My Free Smoothie

Glass Blowing at Glen Echo Park

While at Glen Echo Park this evening we went to the Glass Blowing Studio and watched Paul make a martini glass. It was really cool! It was a 3 step process - for the 'drink holder' part, the stem, and the base.

Getting the molten glass to start

Rolling the molten glass

He put the molten glass into a mold to develop the ridges, then he blew into the glass to make it roundish in shape, and is now working to shape it 

Continuously heating the piece in the furnace. You can't let it get cold, especially while he was working on the other parts on other rods before he attached it to the first part (the 'drink holder')

Attaching the stem to the drink holder

Attaching the stem to the drink holder

Rollings and shaping the piece

Attaching the third part (base) to the piece.

Making it a base

Using a blow torch, before he is ready to transfer this to another rod so he can open up the drink holder part

Attaching the piece to another rod

Heating the glass before he open the drink holder part

Starting to open up the drink holder

Opening the drink holder

Opening it more

Almost there

Just about ready

Finished Glass. Paul said it was the first time he had ever made a glass like this all by himself. He usually needs someone else to help him. He said all the other ones in the studio he has made with someone else helping him

Glen Echo Park

Today, we went for the first time to Glen Echo Park. I have seen it multiple times while driving on MacArthur Boulevard and always thought to go. Neelam was having her art exhibition here this weekend, so we went. After looking at her art at the Yellow Barn we walked around the park. 

Neelam's Art

We found a Glass Blowing Studio where we could go see the artist make pieces. The piece he was working on when we walked in broke while he was making it. He asked for suggestions on what we would like to see being made. Someone suggested a martini glass. It was fun watching the process! 

Glass Blowing Studio

From the glass blowing we went to a gallery that had pottery. Glen Echo has a lot of local artists not only exhibiting their work, but where they exhibit their work they also have their studio and create their works. There was also a silver jewelry gallery, were one can learn the art of silversmith and/or purchase some of the pieces created by Blair Anderson.

Glen Echo Park has gone through numerous changes since it opened in 1891, so it was fun walking around and looking at the old structures buildings. The park houses the first ever bumper car ride in the world. Now it is rented out for dances and events. It's a very interesting place and I'd love to go back and look at the new art that might come up and maybe even take a class at one of the studios there. 

 Fun Buildings at Glen Echo Park

     

 Bumper Cars - Now and Then

Saurabh chilling at Glen Echo Park

It is not what you find, it is what you find out...

We went to the NG museum this evening for a talk by Barry Clifford. Clifford talked about how, since he was a child, he heard from his uncle Bill stories about pirates and lost treasure. Like every child he wanted to find this lost treasure. Unlike all other children, he actually did! 

Clifford talks about his discovery of the wreck of Whydah, a ship taken over by the pirate, Sam Bellamy and his motley crew.The treasure found in this wreck is the only official pirate treasure ever recovered, to date.

To find this wreck, he looked at old documents and eventually found a map that showed where the Whydah had sunk. Several documents and much preparation later he set off with John F. Kennedy jr to find Whydah. And, they did. The local historian at the time didn't believe them, despite the artifacts they retrieved until they found a bell. The bell, after deconcreting, revealed the inscription "The Whydah Gally 1716".

The First Map Clifford Found Depicting Where The Whydah Wrecked

Whydah Bell

Whydah Bell - The Whydah Gally 171

Clifford also talked about other ship wrecks they have found around Madagascar and the evidence he found about pirates Blackbeard and Levasseur. Levasseur split from his crew and went to Madagascar to become a pirate there. Allegedly, when he was finally caught and before he was going to be hanged, he threw a piece of paper into the crowd and said, "Find my treasure, ye who may understand it!"

Levasseur Cryptogram

Most of the artifacts found from the Whydah are 10 to 20 feet below below the sand bed. But, recently they have found artifacts upto 30 feet below the sand bed, very close to the glacial silt. They have retrieved over 200,000 artifacts from the site of the Whydah and it involves a tedious process of documenting exactly where each item was found and making accurate drawings of all the artifacts. Amongst these artifacts, canons, guns, shoes, clothing, and treasures were found. The concretion around the artifacts have preserved a lot of items, including a size 6 shoe and a stocking that went with it. This would have been small for a pirate/adult man. As it turns out, there was a rebellious little 11 year old boy, John King, who defied his mother and came on the ship to be a pirate. They even found a little gold ring with the inscription "TEYE BA" on it. This happens to be a very common Senegalese name. The ring is small and hard to imagine it would have fit an adult. Perhaps a friend John King made? 

Size 6 Shoe, Stocking and Bone - John King

Gold Ring with 'TEYE BA' Inscription

Another cool thing they found was artifacts that had free mason symbols. These artifacts are now the oldest document free mason symbols ever found. 

Oldest Masonic Symbols Found

In finding these artifacts, they also noticed gold bars broken up. It showed that aboard the pirate ship, everything was divided equally...the beginning of democracy. It is known that 1/3rd of the crew was black. In a time when these ships were being used to transport slaves before being captured by pirates, there was equality on the pirate ship irrespective of race. 

In the end, Clifford left us with these words: "It is not what you find, it is what you find out."

The Whydah Gally

Disclaimer: All photos were found using google.

Peak Bloom! :)

Saurabh and I met after work and headed to the Tidal Basin. The Cherry Blossoms are finally in full bloom. With the high being 90 today, it was a warm day out, to say the least. But, the light breeze at the basin made for perfect weather. We walked around, took photos and then lazed on the grass enjoying the breeze, the view and the blossom visitors. I am always so happy to see the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom. :)