DC was rocking from its porches Saturday, as we strolled through “porchfest” in the nearby neighborhood of Petworth. It was great to catch with college friends John and Sue Lang and their clan. Every kind of music was featured, most of it original. And the streets were overflowing with a relaxed audience, taking in the perfect weather and looking for the next great sound on a porch somewhere nearby. Samba School One highlight was DC’s only Samba School, which got the whole audience involved in their joyous dances. ...

On a beautiful morning, we decided to visit the National Zoo. Alas the only panda we saw was a statue at the entrance! Mom tried to play with the seals, but they were more interested in the 5 and 6 year old kids running about. My favorite photo is the goat in a bucket! We got to the zoo by Lyft. As you may know, the National Zoo is on a hill. You start at the top and see all the animals while strolling downhill – which usually means that you have to walk uphill all the way back. But we had the realization that we could call a Lyft at the bottom, which made the visit magically easy. ...

About a year ago, the dogs and I enjoyed a beautiful day on a California beach. Lola loves fetching a ball along the waterline. Ollie loves playing keep away with the ball. Both can run and run and run at the beach. I was looking for some photos to print and found these three shots. I really enjoyed looking back on them. I hope you do, too. ...

Late in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, I wandered through the streets of Georgetown, in Washington DC. It was very quiet. I love how actively people plan beautiful little displays of flowers in Washington DC, especially tulips at this time of year. Many houses have lamps which are lit with actual gas, not electricity. I also wondered along the historical canal that goes a hundred miles or so into Maryland. I’ve really been enjoying the long spring – we started with spring in California in mid-January and now continuing it in DC well into mid-April. ...

Stanley Jordan brought the house down at Blues Alley in Georgetown with his recreation of Jimi Hendrix’s music. The audience rose and soared with the Star Spangled Banner. We grooved to Foxy Lady. We were awed by Jordan’s amazing guitar techniques, including lots of high speed tapping. For the guitar nerds out there, he had a series of awesome guitar tones all night long, which must have been driven by some electronics, as there was no guitar amp anywhere in site. We left in a Purple Haze. ...