Redbuds

Redbud trees are blooming all over town.

Magnolia Blossoms

One of the most beautiful and earliest signs of spring in this area is the blooming of the saucer magnolia (magnolia soulangiana).

Covanta

One of the West End neighborhood’s landmarks is the Covanta waste-to-energy plant on Eisenhower Avenue. It’s unmissable, both because of its tall exhaust pipe and also because of the plumes of steam which are omnipresent. The plant is right across the street from the Van Dorn metro station, so I see it a lot.

After my curiosity finally got me to look at the Covanta website, I was impressed to learn that this is where Alexandria’s garbage goes instead of a big, stinky landfill. The Covanta plant exudes no odors and no noise to speak of, turns garbage into energy, thus reducing the need for fossil fuel, and does it in a way that doesn’t damage the environment. Why aren’t there more of these plants around?

A Room With a View at Night

After our last storm on February 26, I showed you the accumulating snow outside my living room during the day. The images looked like they had been taken in black & white.

Here’s the same view after our snowfall of yesterday afternoon, which left us with another three to four inches of the white stuff. This was taken around 7:30 pm.

A Room With A View

Just when I thought I was safe from icy sidewalks, Mother Nature laughed and spat on us again. Yesterday it snowed most of the day.

This is what it looked outside my living room window around 9 a.m.

And this is what it looked like around noon.