The Big Stinky

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Botanic Garden hosted an event that came to be known as "The Big Stinky", featuring "The Stinky Flower", or just "Stinky" for short.  The Botanic Garden had a 24 hour livestream of Stinky, and kept visitors apprised of just when "peak smell" would occur. Now, for a flower (technically "the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world", thank you Wikipedia) whose main claim to fame is that it smells like a corpse, I was a little surprised at all the hype. But when the 8-foot flower opened, I understood the fuss.

The first time I stopped by I was too early-still no bloom!

Open and Stinky!

Couldn't resist.

A Blue Gate

In my new home in Old Town Alexandria, there are many hidden spaces that a person notices when they are moving slowly, and for a girl without a car, that's not too difficult a task.

I was born and raised in Virginia, so sometimes it is easy to feel as though I've already seen and made up my mind about everything here. Coming back was difficult - the physical move back was hard to separate from the journey forward that graduate school certainly is. Of course, when so much is changing it is easy to become overwhelmed by the Big Questions, and I find that focusing on the simplest pleasures helps me to stay focused when my head begins to go into overdrive.