Three Beautiful Things 04/22/16: Turtles and Geese, Leafy Rockville Visit, Balkan Food and RyePA at 7 Locks

1.  I'm probably repeating myself (again), but back in Eugene, I loved walking around the Delta Ponds taking pictures. I must just be enamored with wetlands. When we lived in Groveton, VA, I loved the wetlands at Huntley Meadows Park. And, now, living in Greenbelt, I can drive about twenty minutes south to NE Washington, DC and visit another wetland area, the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. I motored down there today. At this time of year, the spectacular lotus and lilies and other late spring and summer blooms are dormant, but it's fun to look at emerging plant life, to admire the geese, and to find turtles on snags in ponds sunbathing. I took some pictures today.  If you'd like to look at them, scroll down to the end of this post.

2. The Deke and I glided in the Sube over to Rockville, MD this afternoon. The Deke wanted to visit a colleague she met at a conference a couple of weeks ago and see her school. I waited in the parking lot and further absorbed myself in the book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. The school is in a leafy, comfortable Rockville neighborhood and coming onto the school grounds and witnessing the long lineup of parents and grandparents picking up students in cars much nicer and newer than our 2004 Sube reminded me of the Deke's days teaching in the Fox Hollow neighborhood of Eugene at Charlemagne.

3. After the Deke's visit, we streaked straight to 7 Locks Brewing and dove straight into one of our favorite of all beers, 7 Locks' Surrender Dorothy Rye IPA. I wonder if other beer drinkers who enjoy Extra Special Bitter ales would agree with me that there is something ESB-y about Surrender Dorothy. I guess all that matters, ultimately, is that for me, there is, although Surrender Dorothy is more bitter than ESBs tend to be. The tasting room was quiet and relaxing -- we were there shortly after 4 -- and the Deke and I elevated the pleasure of our party at 7 Locks when the Balkanik Taste food truck opened for business at 5. Wow! We started by sharing a Balkan platter of grilled chicken, a pork patty, potato salad, Shopska salad (tomato, cucumber, feta with olive oil and vinegar) and Tzatziki sauce on the side. We loved it.  Then we decided to split a lamb burger, served with cabbage slaw in the sandwich. We loved it. We didn't want to leave the Rye IPA or quit eating the food, but we owned up to our human limits and brought our party to a rousing end by dropping in on the Diazes on our way back to Greenbelt.

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Here are some pictures from my visit today to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens: