One of the great things about Capitol Hill is, well, we have our own cherry blossoms. Everywhere. So good morning from me and from my neighbor Mr. John Phillip Sousa…hang in there and notice the good things in your life if you can. #loveinthetimeofcovid #cherryblossoms #strikeuptheband

Looking Back: June 14, 2021. I remember this day, vividly. Nothing was intentional in my act of taking a picture and posting it on social media, at least not in the beginning. Taking pictures was just my way of keeping myself moving…if I was looking at my surroundings, I would keep walking and I wouldn’t give up on my exercise. Going to the gym was so ingrained in my patterns and I was, in fact, going a little crazy without it. And I was afraid. And so I walked earlier and earlier each morning, hoping that I wouldn’t encounter too many other people on our narrow sidewalks.

Washington in spring is all about the cherry blossoms. And, while I never in my 25+ years of living here have actually made the pilgrimage to the Tidal Basin to see them, the idea that no one could go to the Tidal Basin for that ritual was in its own way terrifying. So on this day, I was focusing on the many trees that have been planted around the neighborhood.

Again, picture taking and posting was, really, for myself. And so, I was surprised when this picture of the John Phillips Sousa house down the street created so much attention after I posted it. To me, living a few blocks from the Marine Barracks where Sousa conducted is just an every day event. Friends from all over the world were a lot more impressed. Really, I was surprised. And really, I felt a glimmer of connection to something other than the fog that had surrounded me since the lockdown began two weeks earlier. This was also one of my early attempts to use hashtags…I think that I was starting to understand that I might want to retrace these digital steps some day.