Author: Mari

The miracle of life is amazing. I mean I put this seed in this mix of dead sawdust and whatnot and water it, and a few days later, life springs forth!
The life of which I speak is a pea seedlings that because they were outgrowing the seed starting plastic container and have been banished to the great outdoors that is the front yard. I have started some seedlings indoors for the hope of getting some decent veggies this year. Some will be new to me, like squash and peas. Some will be old favorites, thyme, dill, basil, tomatoes, and marigolds. Freaking out because the Old Farmers Almanac advised I plant peas in the 1st week of February, I started pea seedlings. Now I wonder if that wasn’t a mistake and I started too early with the peas.
The other seeds make me wonder if life will spring forth from them as well. Some marigold seeds have sprouted up and are doing their little sunlight dance. Leaning towards the window for the little bit of sun that comes through the window in the day. Then turning towards the grow lamp light that I bought for a picky and annoyingly expensive lemon meyer dwarf. The other seeds, the tomatoes particularly, have felt no rush to emerge and break the surface.
Last night I finally finished From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden, which has been companion reading McGee & Stuckey’s Bountiful Container. Today, and this week, I hope to post-it note The Bountiful Container to quickly find the ideas for companion planting and growing advice for the handful of veggies and edible flowers I plan to grow this year. I’m excited.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I like Shaw
How ’bout you?

I can’t come to say I love Shaw. Still so not happy about having crackheads on the block who leave their buddies out on the sidewalk with big bloody gashes in their heads.
And it is not as if I actually live in the chichi part of Shaw where I could casually wander over to the Starbucks or Caribou coffee or Sparky’s for hot water and a tea bag (I don’t drink coffee) to people watch on a Sunday morning before or after services. No I live in Truxton Circle and it comes with big pluses and minuses that take away from any love I have for the area, so that all I have is intense and meaningful ‘like’.
Off and on I love my block. I love the fact we have a handyman on the block and he is affordable. Not so happy that my jobs are an afterthought to his higher paying ones, but hey. Love that I have great neighbors. Not so happy with the other ones who decide to be the most ghetto a$$ negroes they can be. Sorta not so happy with Anglo neighbors who fortress themselves behind their doors and hardly wave hello, but I hardly see them so they are almost nonexistent…. Yes you Mr.SUV-don’t- speak to -no-one. Gad, would it kill you to wave hello back?
Location wise I really like my part of Shaw. It is on the green line so I can get to work. I can walk to the grocery store, unlike some people in Capitol Hill, poor babies. It is right on Route 1 and Rt 50 so I can get back and forth from the College Park, MD area and its surrounds real easy to see or be seen by friends and relatives. During certain parts of the day there is plenty of parking for those friends to leave their cars near my house. I have walked from Gallery Place/fake Chinatown and it’s many diversions on a bright sunny day. I have biked from my hood to Dupont and other parts of Downtown DC in 15 minutes or so. It is a good central location.
There have been brief flashes of love for my hood. Mainly when I lose things. Like my wallet and my Palm. They were returned to me by good people who found them on the street. But later something happens and I fall out of love with the area and settle into like.
It doesn’t help that I have flashes of jealousy concerning friends’ neighborhoods in other parts of town. I like some parts of College Park, MD. I also like parts of Alexandria and I miss North Arlington. Silver Spring has taken off lately and seems like a great neighborhood with a few decent grocery stores, bike paths, great public transit, and the AFI theater.
However, Shaw is my best bet. I need a central location. I need to be able to walk to things. I need to have a commute that isn’t bogged down by the red line always breaking down. I like Shaw. It’s good for me.

Price: $675,000
Bedrooms: 3
Bathroom: 2.5
Fireplaces: 4!
Basement: Yes, legal unit

Sorry no pics as the camera feature in the Palm decided that it didn’t want to work.
Well in the group of $600K houses this is the better one, even though it doesn’t have a backyard. I didn’t see any mold in the basement and there were some very neat features with intercoms and such. The thing that I really liked was the kitchen. There were cherry like (could have been real cherry whaddaikno) cabinets, granite countertops and a gas range. It was a thin kitchen but the lights looked really nice. Better yet, similar set up downstairs in the rental unit.
In the past the 1st floor front room might have been two rooms, because the current living space has 2 fireplaces. Corresponding upstairs there are two bedrooms with fireplaces as well. Fireplaces for everybody! Ok, well not the person who gets the back bedroom.
It was the back bedroom that really sucked. I went down this thin hallway the bedroom has expecting it to open out into this large master bedroom. Nope. It was a small bedroom with an ity bitty window. It left me asking, how the heck you get furniture back here? Does anyone ever ask that question when they remodel? Modern furniture big, no likey likey teeny tiny hallways. The same thing for the rental unit, with the sucky tiny 2.5 foot wide hallway leading back to the bedroom. A fair number of tight corners, but it’s a 19th century house and those the breaks.
The workmanship was fair. It wasn’t as bad as somethings I’ve seen but there were some minor faults. Some rested with what original things were kept with the house, and others were simply forgivable and fixable. There looked like an honest effort to make the house aesthetically pleasing, even if the goal wasn’t met.

via Jim Berry

Dear Residents of SMD 5C01,

I recently received notice of an application that has been filed before the Board of Zoning Adjustment concerning the above address. Specifically, the applicant wants the following:

“a variance from the lot occupancy requirements under section 403, a variance from the side yard requirements under section 405, a variance from the minimum lot area requirements under section 40l.1, a variance from the off-street parking requirements under sub-section 2101.1, to allow the conversion of an exiting apartment house from four (4) to six (6) units in the R-4 District at premises 1507 4th Street, NW (Square 521, Lot 835).”

In short, the applicant wants to convert this building into six condominium units, but requires a fair amount of consideration from the Board of Zoning Adjustment in order to do this. Like ANC 5C, residents who live within 200 feet of the site are required to receive notice in the mail about this application and are invited to make comments about the proposal, i.e., in support of or in opposition to. I plan to invite the applicant to the next meeting of the Bates Area Civic Association, Inc. (3/7/2005) to present his plans for this proposed development and the information that I receive their will likely best inform the recommendation I make to my colleagues on ANC 5C when the applicant is invited to appear before that body (most likely, on March 15, 2005). The actual BZA hearing of this application will take place on Tuesday, April 5, 2005, in Suite 220, 441 4th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, between 1:00 p.m. and 6 :00 p.m.

In the meantime, I invite you to share any preliminary thoughts that you might have concerning the proposal for this location — whether it be comments, criticisms, questions or praise. Please know that I am particularly interested in hearing from those of you who live in closest proximity to the site.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C

Sandbad’s Chicken and Kebob House at 600 Florida Ave has been open only a week and they are still trying to find their way around a bit as contractors, residents and passers by check them out. Sandbad’s is more of a carry out with tables and chairs, than a restaurant. Food is served in carryout containers and the utensiles were plastic. The cloth covered tables mainly serve as a place to wait while the cook in the back fills your order. Fast food this is not, but possibly in the future they might find a rhythm and speed it up a bit.
They had a buffet available, sadly there was nothing clearly stating what were the different things were and their prices. The buffet included a salad, vegetables of some sort, soup, and a meat.
I chose a familiar favorite, the gyro. Maybe because they’ve only been open a week they may have underestimated what they needed because the gyro was fine, but didn’t have the needed tzatiki sauce and a gyro isn’t as good with out it. The meat in the gyro was big and had just enough spice to it and the onions and peppers were nicely grilled. But still I really wanted the tzatiki sauce.
I also got a leg of chicken. It was very tender, but a little bland. It needed something, but I don’t know what.
Maybe in about a month they’ll improve a bit, well I hope by then they’ll have the sauce.
Sandbad Chicken and Kabab House. 600 Florida Ave NW, Washington DC 20001. 202/232-1165. M-Sat 11AM-10PM, Sun 11AM-9PM. Free Delivery

Sometime this week I wandered by the New York Avenue Station and noticed something new for me, bike racks. And even better, bike lockers.

When I peered through the window I saw chairs, so it must be a restaurant. Anyway, there is a new restaurant at 600 Florida Avenue. Since the inside is somewhat visable it seems far more inviting than what was there before.

At some point I hope to try the Lamb Shish Kabob or the Mouska. And as the name says they have chicken as well as the kabobs.

According to the take out menu they deliver for free. So anyway feel free to drop by or give them a call at 202 232 1165.

I made a huge error.

Nobody died.

Just apparently if you OD, are unresponsive, and lying on the sidewalk with blood coming out of your head and mouth the proper authorities will take their time getting you to the hospital.

I am sorry to all who I have upset. My source of information was faulty and upon confering with other people I have discovered my error and wish to correct myself.

So I repeat no one died.

What happened according to a neighbor who lives closer and who actually found the woman on the side walk, she was bleeding from her head and mouth and was unresponsive. The people in the house where the trail of blood began had locked her out and were inside when the police came and knocked on the door, but they did not answer. It is possible that she could have died from her injuries, but as far as we know, she’s still alive.

via Jim Berry

Neighbors,

I am advised that the Board of Directors of the North Capitol Collaborative will be hosting a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, February 17, 2005, from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., at McKinley High School, 151 T Street, NE.

As you may know the Collaborative is principally responsible for working with abused and neglected children in our community, as well as their families.

The purpose of the town hall meeting is to give a progress report to the community on the work of the collaborative and the public is invited to come out in order to let their voices be heard about the group’s work. For more information concerning this meeting, you may contact Ms. LaShawn Gantt @ 202-299-9802.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

Today on freecycle someone in Adams Morgan is giving away a big wooden door with a window in it, just to give you a heads up.

Second, a former house of the week has begun to show some activity as construction stopped and now has started again. After serveral months of nothing, there is a for sale sign and stairs are now going up, just adding to the ugly. There was a way to make it look nicer, but would have cost money or forethought. Maybe I might be pleasantly suprised and the end result might look nice. But given this neighborhood and the crap I’ve seen, no.