Dunbar High School Band Dinner Show

If I only knew where the heck my camera was I’d have pictures.
Whilst sitting around the house this afternoon enjoying a post dinner fattening sweet, I heard. No, felt, drums and brass. It sounded very close. It sounded like it was getting closer, so I poked my head out the door and discovered a pleasant surprise. There was a casually dressed marching band coming down my street. It was like a mini parade. The sound brought out a few of my neighbors who looked on the assemblage of dancers, flag girls, brass, wind, and percussion.
As an occasional, once in a while, mobile thing, it was quite nice.

NoMa Claiming TC space


Noma Trash Can
Originally uploaded by In Shaw

Saturday when I was out and about I noticed NoMa work crews cleaning up the sidewalks around the NY Ave metro station. Not just there though, they also were in the TC cleaning. There are 4 blocks of NE Truxton (between FL, NY NE and N. Cap) that I tend not to care about as they are a parking lot, DDOT, the Wendy’s, and the block with issues. I’ve seen the NoMa uniformed people, and the NoMa tagged trash cans, like the one in the photo, in NE TC.
However, this Saturday I spotted them in NW TC, along the western side of North Capitol. They were sweeping and pulling up weeds.
Is this how neighborhood take overs start? With small troops of older men armed with brooms and scoops. Is territory marked with fancy trash cans? I like the trash cans.
Little matter, North Cap needs cleaning and since there is no North Cap BID (well not one that I know of) we welcome our Capitol Hill North NoMa overlords. May they bring us convienent shopping and quirky small regional chains or at least cleaner streets.

Map of NoMa territory
PDF
NoMa Website

Risking a jinx- fireworks

At the risk of jinxing it, have you noticed a decrease in pre-4th of July firework noise? I swear this time a few years back there was the old neighborhood question of “fireworks or gunfire?” Over time I’ve noticed a decrease in firework activity that used to start up around mid June and continue into early August. It’s late June and I’ve only heard one incident of fireworks going off.
The 4th also provides a good gauge of what’s going on with the neighborhood. It will be interesting to see how many drive by fireworkings there are. The drive bys are where people with MD tags jump out from their mini-van, get their big package of fireworks out and light them up on a DC corner, then jump back into the vehicle and head back to Maryland. With gas prices above $4 a gallon, we might see less of that.
Then again the reason I might be hearing fewer firecrackers, is because this year I have insulation and completely closed windows(AC).