Because I strive to make you jealous
Or at least make you want to come visit meeeeeeeee. :D
When I woke up this morning, there was a lovely wintry glow just as the sun was rising, so I thought I'd try taking a few pictures, not really expecting it to turn out well, since the nuances of light never look the same, but this is actually pretty close:
Just after I finished taking the photos, the sun went behind a cloud. I am so pleased with myself for having caught the fleeting moment.
And I don't believe I've mentioned that we can see the National Cathedral from the windows:
So there. These are the sorts of views I have to put up with every day. ;)
***
I did some volunteer work out at NASM-Garber today, rooting through the gigantic (300+ boxes; thank god for detailed finding aids!) Paul E. Garber Collection in search of a photo of Garber and Lindbergh (which, we don't actually know if such a photo exists; it's sort of a Holy Grail of Air & Space photos). Oh, I just love going through all the photo collections they have. (Well, not all. A lot are quite boring. Or ugly. Or involve my nemesis, Wernher von Braun. But there's also lots of aeronautical/space geeky coolness.) Anyway. I did not find the Holy Grail photo. But there was a great one of Lindbergh with a huge grin. :D And some other good finds in the collection.
But the reason I was looking for the photo was for a book proposal, for a book about the history of and stories behind the National Air & Space Museum. My supervisor, the photo archivist, had broken their book chapters into photographic "themes" to look for, and one of the themes she came up with was "The Golden Age of Action Heroes" or something like that, for the interwar period, with Lindbergh and Earhart and the other aviators who were heroes in their day. And then I also thought of all the space pioneers who were heroes, and I am so sad that we don't have heroes like that today. How many people can name any current aviators or even one of the people currently on the International Space Station? Practically all anyone knows these days are celebrities; we've entirely lost touch with our science and exploration heroes. This makes me very sad.
When I woke up this morning, there was a lovely wintry glow just as the sun was rising, so I thought I'd try taking a few pictures, not really expecting it to turn out well, since the nuances of light never look the same, but this is actually pretty close:
Just after I finished taking the photos, the sun went behind a cloud. I am so pleased with myself for having caught the fleeting moment.
And I don't believe I've mentioned that we can see the National Cathedral from the windows:
So there. These are the sorts of views I have to put up with every day. ;)
***
I did some volunteer work out at NASM-Garber today, rooting through the gigantic (300+ boxes; thank god for detailed finding aids!) Paul E. Garber Collection in search of a photo of Garber and Lindbergh (which, we don't actually know if such a photo exists; it's sort of a Holy Grail of Air & Space photos). Oh, I just love going through all the photo collections they have. (Well, not all. A lot are quite boring. Or ugly. Or involve my nemesis, Wernher von Braun. But there's also lots of aeronautical/space geeky coolness.) Anyway. I did not find the Holy Grail photo. But there was a great one of Lindbergh with a huge grin. :D And some other good finds in the collection.
But the reason I was looking for the photo was for a book proposal, for a book about the history of and stories behind the National Air & Space Museum. My supervisor, the photo archivist, had broken their book chapters into photographic "themes" to look for, and one of the themes she came up with was "The Golden Age of Action Heroes" or something like that, for the interwar period, with Lindbergh and Earhart and the other aviators who were heroes in their day. And then I also thought of all the space pioneers who were heroes, and I am so sad that we don't have heroes like that today. How many people can name any current aviators or even one of the people currently on the International Space Station? Practically all anyone knows these days are celebrities; we've entirely lost touch with our science and exploration heroes. This makes me very sad.