52Frames Face a Fear Weekly Photo Challenge

Sometimes I know exactly where we need to go to get an image for the 52Frames weekly photo challenge. Every week there is a specific topic that I need to take a picture of. Some weeks I have no idea what I’m going to do and just take a lot of different photos related to the subject matter. It’s really hard to make a decision about which one to pick when I do that. Last week we needed to find something about “face a fear.” I know I really dislike rain and there is an umbrella fountain by our building. But I was thinking about the very marble stepped glass enclosed staircase at the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. It covers several floors, is narrow, and makes me dizzy looking up. So we drove over to the National Mall and parked the car - one of our most favorite things to do - and made our way to the gallery. We have been in there so many times lately. We entered in the west building after passing through the sculpture garden and quickly walked over to the other side, admiring a few things along the way, and taking photos of other staircases. Then we made out way to the top of the building where the big blue chicken sculpture sits outside, and started down the steps. It is rather frightening - the height as well as the slippery marble stairs. I asked my husband to get out in front so I could get a perspective with a person in the image. Afterwards we continued our morning walk towards the Capitol and the gardens until our parking time ran out. I think the end result was interesting and met the challenge. 

Gardens - and Stairs - in the Neighborhood

We have had a delightful reprieve in the weather. And when it’s still too hot to walk the Mall, but not hot enough to necessitate walking in the air conditioned Union Station, we venture out in our own neighborhood on Capitol Hill. Since we had an appointment at noon somewhere, we sort of circled the wagons around our house and walked up and down the shady parts of the street. Having just driven through Alexandria I am always taken by the quaintness of the area, but also know how impractical these very old townhouse/row houses are. When we downsized from our two story house in the Midwest I knew I never wanted to see a staircase again. Our tiny condo unit is on the first floor and is just one floor. The idea of crawling up stairs at our age is daunting! Whenever I see a lot of steps to just get in to the house it makes me wonder how people put up with it - unless they have an alley in the back that gets them inside without steps. And some of them don’t even have stair rails to grab on to! Regardless, as an outsider looking at the gardens and steps on the front side of the rowhouses is simply lovely. Each one is distinctively different. It’s just not something I would want to live in, but I certainly enjoy the views. 

Stairway to Heaven?

When I was in college one of the most frequently heard songs was “stairway to heaven.” An obnoxious  residents in my brother’s dorm was enamored by it to the point that we were getting quite sick of it because he played it over and over and over again! Years have passed and a deteriorating eyesight goes along with that. What does one thing have to do with the other? Well, the other day we were walking home from our morning promenade and something caught our eye. At one of the townhouse developments by the House Office Buildings was a flight of steps with an interesting enhancement. We never noticed them before over the last many years so we think it was just installed. There was a tiny shining light in the middle of every other step that would most likely help anyone see the path to the house better - especially at night. It was unique in that none of the other units had this interesting accent, not had we seen anything quite like it. The placement of the light was different. It reminded me of the song “stairway to Heaven” in some odd way. No, it really isn’t Heaven. But to the homeowner it might be - even if a train track is located in their back yard!