Three Beautiful Things 03/29/16: Like the Kiva Again, SmarTrip Success, Greenbelt Lake Evening Stroll

1. To make the mushroom soup I decided to give a try, I needed fresh thyme. On Monday, the Co-op was out of fresh thyme, so this morning I drove up to MOM's in College Park and picked some up along with a few other things, and, as always, the combined smells of coffee beans and essential oils and incense sticks gave me pleasant memories of dropping in at the Kiva in Eugene, starting back in at least 1984.

2. While out, I dropped by the Greenbelt Metro station with the intention of buying a SmartTrip card to replace mine that just flat petered out. The Metro system here is run by the Washington Metropolitan Area Authority (WMATA) and, unfortunately, it's a broken agency for many reasons. I'm hoping with the new general manager it will make a strong come back. Anyway, I got into the station and the vending machines to buy a new card had a yellow gate in front of them -- out of service -- but, not to despair. I went online and learned that CVS Pharmacies throughout the area sell SmarTrip cards so I buzzed down there, bought one, came back home, registered the card, requested that my balance on my petered out card be transferred over and took a deep breath, hoping it all works out.  I hate to say it, but with WMATA, you never know for sure.

3. Usually in the late afternoons and early evenings, I am with the Deke either here at out apartment home or over at the Diazes or at the Old Line Bistro. Often, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about the light down at Greenbelt Lake and, today, I walked around the lake as the sun was dropping and took a bunch of pictures and resolved that I've got to make such walks a more regular thing.  Here are a few of the pictures I took: