Bell of friendship: In Vienna, garden signifies ties with South Korea
In a metro area packed with monuments and museums, one could
easily miss noteworthy landmarks. Case in point: Last May, the Bell of Peace and Harmony, a three-ton bronze Korean bell,made its debut at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (Vienna; 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Ct., 703-255-3631).
Many area residents still don’t know about it. That’s an oversight that garden manager Keith Tomlinson wants to rectify. “There are only two of these structures in North America,” he says. “One’s just outside of Los Angeles, and then there’s this one.”
A collaboration between the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the Korean American Cultural Committee, the bell—and its surrounding 4 1/2 acre garden— signifies a bond of friendship between Americans and South Koreans while emphasizing the natural aesthetic of Korean landscaping.
Read more (Washington Post Magazine, May 12, 2013)
easily miss noteworthy landmarks. Case in point: Last May, the Bell of Peace and Harmony, a three-ton bronze Korean bell,made its debut at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (Vienna; 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Ct., 703-255-3631).
Many area residents still don’t know about it. That’s an oversight that garden manager Keith Tomlinson wants to rectify. “There are only two of these structures in North America,” he says. “One’s just outside of Los Angeles, and then there’s this one.”
A collaboration between the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the Korean American Cultural Committee, the bell—and its surrounding 4 1/2 acre garden— signifies a bond of friendship between Americans and South Koreans while emphasizing the natural aesthetic of Korean landscaping.
Read more (Washington Post Magazine, May 12, 2013)
From grain to glass: A look at Catoctin Creek’s distillery
Scott Harris wants the reporter to put away her pen and run her finger through clear liquid streaming from a small spout. “You really should taste it. ...” says Harris, co-owner of Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. in Purcellville. “That’s apple brandy before it’s been aged in a barrel. Basically apple moonshine.”
This libation is an experiment for Harris and hiswife, Becky, who opened the distillery (37251-C E. Richardson Lane, 540-751-8404) in 2009. “If this brandy turns out really nice,maybe it’s something we’ll keep doing,” he says.
To open their distillery, Scott, now 42, left a job in computer science, while Becky, now 45, gave up her career as a chemical engineer. It’s a trade-off the pair isn’t second-guessing.
Instead, they’re relocating Catoctin from it's 2,000 square-foot warehouse space to a spot nearly triple its size in Purcellville this summer.
Read more (Washington Post Magazine, April 29, 2013)
This libation is an experiment for Harris and hiswife, Becky, who opened the distillery (37251-C E. Richardson Lane, 540-751-8404) in 2009. “If this brandy turns out really nice,maybe it’s something we’ll keep doing,” he says.
To open their distillery, Scott, now 42, left a job in computer science, while Becky, now 45, gave up her career as a chemical engineer. It’s a trade-off the pair isn’t second-guessing.
Instead, they’re relocating Catoctin from it's 2,000 square-foot warehouse space to a spot nearly triple its size in Purcellville this summer.
Read more (Washington Post Magazine, April 29, 2013)
Up in the air: Maryland museum’s plane never really took off
When it comes to aviation history, the Wright brothers often get all the glory, but plenty of others have tried to make a name for themselves in the field. In the late 1930s, the Engineering and
Research Corp., a Riverdale aircraft company, developed an atypical recreational airplane called the Ercoupe. Designer Fred Weick envisioned a single-engine plane anyone could fly. “He developed this plane that is controlled with hand controls, like a steering wheel,” says Tiffany Davis, curator of collections at
the College Park Aviation Museum.
The museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr., 301-864-6029)
com) has two Ercoupes on display (one is cut in half to give visitors a peek at the interior). “It was advertised as you could drive it and park it like a car,” Davis says.
After the war, ERCO began rolling out Ercoupes in full force. "They anticipated they were going to have 10,000 orders by the end of 1946, but the market dropped out really quickly,” says Davis. Read more (Washington Post Magazine, April 21, 2013)
Research Corp., a Riverdale aircraft company, developed an atypical recreational airplane called the Ercoupe. Designer Fred Weick envisioned a single-engine plane anyone could fly. “He developed this plane that is controlled with hand controls, like a steering wheel,” says Tiffany Davis, curator of collections at
the College Park Aviation Museum.
The museum (1985 Corporal Frank Scott Dr., 301-864-6029)
com) has two Ercoupes on display (one is cut in half to give visitors a peek at the interior). “It was advertised as you could drive it and park it like a car,” Davis says.
After the war, ERCO began rolling out Ercoupes in full force. "They anticipated they were going to have 10,000 orders by the end of 1946, but the market dropped out really quickly,” says Davis. Read more (Washington Post Magazine, April 21, 2013)
Local Motives: Is eating local really healthier and better for the environment?
Tom Coates pulls out his cellphone to make sure he hasn’t missed any calls. “I need to pick up a steer,” he explains, sliding the phone back in his pocket. He’s waiting for a ring from Milcreek Farm in Lovettsville, Va. Once notified, he’ll drive approximately 50 miles to the farm to pick up 500 pounds of steaks and ground beef.
What’s surprising about Coates’ statement isn’t just what he says. It’s how he says it—with everyday nonchalance—and where he says it—standing in the middle of a 1,400-square-foot mom-and-pop store. As the owner of The Local Market in Falls Church, a shop that sells more than a dozen items from nearby producers—from hummus to fresh pasta—Coates is a present-day ambassador of the locavore movement. It’s been seven years since the debut of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, in which author Michael Pollan gave Americans an unflinching gut check on where our food comes from; and six years since the word locavore (a person who aims to eat locally produced food) was named word of the year by the Oxford American Dictionary. Read more (Arlington Magazine, May/June 2013) With Georgetown’s bulldog retiring, a new pup is training to replace him
A new chapter in Georgetown University history begins during a time-out at the men’s basketball game against Louisville in January. A tan-and-white, four-legged celebrity dashes across the court. The 16-month-old English bulldog, JJ —short for Jack Jr.—is Georgetown’s mascot-in-training. This is his big Verizon Center debut.
In the coming years, JJ’s most important duty will be tearing apart a cardboard box painted with the opposing team’s logo during halftime at men’s basketball games. Father Christopher Steck, an associate professor of theology at Georgetown, is caretaker of JJ and Jack, the nine-year-old mascot that’s retiring soon. Read more (Washingtonian, April 2013) |
Showing off his wheres: A map enthusiast’s collection pinpoints D.C.
For the past 30 years, Dennis Gurtz says, he has lived with a rare condition. “It’s called ‘old map pox,’ ” the 66-year-old jokes. “By the third or fourth map, you’ve got it.”
What started as a hobby in the mid-’80s, has quickly become a passion for the financial adviser. In 2000, he joined the Washington Map Society, a group of cartography collectors and enthusiasts that meets at the Library of Congress, and served as its president from 2010 to 2012. Today, Gurtz, who lives in Gaithersburg, estimates he has a thousand maps in his collection. Between 200 to 300 of those depict the District of Columbia or adjacent areas, he says. Why the focus on the D.C. area? Read more (Washington Post Magazine, April 7, 2013) Mobile art: His cars get more than passing glances
When Clarke Bedford drives, he inevitably causes a scene. “You’re trying to pull out, and you’ve got it timed and someone slows down to look,” says the 65-year-old Hyattsville, Md. resident. “You have to remind yourself that the flow of traffic may change.”
Not that he can blame drivers. Bedford’s automobiles are an amalgam of knickknacks, antiques and sculpture on wheels -- known as art cars. Bedford, a conservator of paintings and mixed media objects at the Hirshhorn, began transforming cars into retro rides in 2002 with a 1991 Saab 900 Turbo convertible. Seeking to make it look like a 1930s grand touring convertible, he added old bumpers, and a wheel for the back. "In retrospect, it was very tame.” Four cars later, Bedford’s hobby has gotten more ambitious and eclectic. Take this 1988 Ford Econoline conversion van, which won first place in the daily driver category (cars driven regularly) at Houston’s 2012 ArtCar Parade. “You just keep going, and it gets more and more outrageous,” says Bedford, who also has appeared at local happenings, including the H Street Festival. Read more (Washington Post Magazine, Mar. 24, 2013) |
