You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Beltsville’ tag.
Last year the locally owned liquor store in Beltsville, Maryland that I used to occasionally visit was sold to someone else. In the process the name changed from Old Line Fine Wine Spirits and Bistro to LAX Wine and Spirits. I went back to that store for the first time since the change in ownership because I was looking for some inexpensive champaign that I could drink on New Year’s. While I was there I took a few photos.
I’m sure you must’ve heard of those Keurig coffee machines that can brew individual cups of coffee in a variety of different single-serving flavors. Well Keurig has a machine called Drinkworks where one can have a machine produce different types of alcoholic beverages. It’s kind of like having your own personal bartender that’s on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
LAX Wine and Spirits still sold a variety of alcohol at a variety of prices ranging from very affordable on a low budget to very expensive. Boy, did I find some very pricey alcohol, which were all behind locked cabinets (unlike the cheaper inventory that were on shelves for anyone to grab). I love this green egg-shaped alcohol container because I thought it looked very pretty. I had to make do with taking this picture because this bottle cost $1,299.
Then there was this gold egg-shaped container that looked like something that would’ve fit in with the decor at Donald Trump’s Trump Tower penthouse in New York City. (If you’ve ever seen pictures of that place, you’d know what I mean.) This one was more expensive at $1,799. Personally I thought that the green egg-shaped bottle was prettier while this gold container was simply gaudy (just like Donald Trump’s Trump Tower penthouse).
But the most expensive bottle of alcohol I found in that store was this bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII, which costs $7,299. There’s a part of me that is curious as to what a bottle of alcohol that expensive tastes like but I’m not curious enough to spend that much money so I could find out.
Anyway I found some actual French champaign that was on sale for $6 and I found that it didn’t taste bad. I thought it tasted pretty nice. As I was leaving the liquor store it was the beginning of sunset where I saw these pastel colors start to emerge.
I haven’t been to the Old Line Fine Wine Spirits & Bistro in Beltsville, Maryland in a while and I haven’t taken any photos of the place since 2015. The main reason is because I’ve been financially struggling so it didn’t make sense for me to go shopping in a place where I didn’t have enough disposable income to buy something.
I decided to check out that store back in December mainly because I was in the area anyway (I had gone grocery shopping at the nearby Aldi) and I needed some cheering up since it was both Christmas and Kwanzaa. So I walked around in the store taking pictures of some of the cool looking festive bottles, cans, and displays.
I ended up not buying anything on that visit because I was too broke to do so. At least this is the last of the Winter Holiday 2019 posts that I had been meaning to upload online.
Since my last visit in December I got word that the business has been sold to someone else. March 1 was the last day that the bistro part was in operation. The liquor store part will continue to run by the current owners until March 15 when the new management will formally take over. Only time will tell as to what the new owner(s) will do with the business.
I have long been a regular visitor at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville, Maryland ever since I got married and moved closer to Washington, DC. I can’t even tell you how much money I have spent over the years because I’ve purchased so many plants and other related items. I’ve devoted plenty of posts in this blog to Behnke’s over the years.
I used to have a regular tradition where I would visit Behnke’s annual Christmas Shop at least once in December and I would take pictures. I last made such a visit in 2017. Last year I didn’t bother much with Christmas other than put up my small artificial tree about a few days before December 25. I really wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit because I had gone through an entire year struggling with finances that was a horrible combination of not finding anyone willing to hire me and my ex-husband deciding to follow the letter of the court decision and end alimony payments. (I even wrote him an email begging him to extend the payments for just a few months longer because I was having a hard time finding work and he refused. He wrote this email using formal language that was more like a boss writing to an employee than a man writing to someone whom he once called his wife. That was more evidence that he never really loved me in the first place and basically lied to me all those years when he said that he did love me but that’s another story.) At one point I almost lost my home because I was having a hard time paying the monthly co-op fees. I had to accept charity for the first time in my life and I ended up getting a housemate to move in with me.
I thought that it was no big deal to skip going to Behnke’s this Christmas because I could always go next Christmas.
Except there will be no next Christmas. After being in business for 89 years, Behnke’s Nurseries will close for good in June. The main reason given is that Behnke’s has long been a family-owned business even since a German immigrant founded around the time of the Great Depression. The current generation running the business is ready to retire and there is no one among the younger generation who is willing to take the business over.
I decided to make one more trip and take a bunch of pictures for posterity while Behnke’s is still in business.
That place was very crowded when I was there. I saw plenty of customers talking to the red shirted employees who will have to look for new jobs soon.
Behnke’s was selling everything, including Christmas decorations.
The checkout lines were incredibly long. I saw people spending hundreds of dollars buying a full cart full of garden-related stuff.
There was a one-horse open sleigh that was available for sale.
I laughed at that humorous sign at this empty table that once held Venus Fly Traps. (I assumed that they were sold out since I didn’t see any for sale.) The sign read: “STOP!!! If you are not a fly, do not trigger the fly traps, as this will cause them to digest themselves and eventually die. If you are a fly, please ignore this message and proceed with caution.”
I only purchased three things at Behnke’s that day—two African violets and an aloe vera plant.
The one thing I’ll miss the most is this giant stone head that had plants growing from top. Unfortunately the plants had been trimmed way back in this picture. You can see what the head looks like when the plants are allowed to grow long in this blog post that I wrote back in 2015 (which includes a watercolor I did of that head based on my photographs).
The store exit had long had two American flags posted over the doors with a sign saying “FARE THEE WELL.” That display now takes on a new meaning with Behnke’s going out of business.
On the first Saturday in November I went to two different events that were held on the same day at two different churches. Fortunately both churches were located just a few miles from each other so getting to both of them was no problem.
The first thing in the morning I went to the Christmas Bazaar that was held at St. Hugh of Grenoble Catholic Church in Greenbelt, Maryland. They had some nice things on sale along with some nice Christmas decorations.
There were all kinds of handcrafted wares available for sale along with a sale on used books and DVDs and a booth that sold fair trade items such as crafts from Third World countries and ethically sourced foods.
There was even a table and chair set that was on sale for $160. I had no idea if the tablecloth, china, cloth napkins, and the centerpiece were included in that sale or not.
The next two photos show what I bought at the Christmas Bazaar. I purchased this small nativity set that was made in Peru yet it has an African theme to it. (I found it charming that a leopard replaced the usual sheep, donkeys, camels, and cows that one usually find in a traditional nativity set.)
Here are the two other items I also purchased at the Christmas Bazaar. One is a used DVD of the movie The Producers, which is well-known for the one where Mel Brooks made his film directorial debut and it was also one of Gene Wilder’s early film roles. It was later turned into a Broadway musical then was remade as a film that featured the music from that Broadway show. I only paid $1 for that DVD, which was a great deal since I found that film to be hilarious. The other is a fair trade dark chocolate candy bar that was made from ethically sourced ingredients and it was made in a factory where the workers there were paid fair wages.
After spending an hour or so shopping at the Christmas Bazaar I decided to head over to a different Catholic church for lunch that was located a few towns over from the other one. The main difference between the two churches is that St. Hugh of Grenoble is a Roman Catholic church while the other is an Eastern Orthodox church. St. Gregory of Nyssa Byzantine Catholic Church in Beltsville, Maryland was the setting for that church’s annual Slavic Festival, which focuses on all kinds of homemade Slavic food. Here’s a photo of the front of the church building.
As I was walking to the entrance to the Slavic Festival, I couldn’t help but notice the church’s charming gazebo that is located near that entrance.
That Slavic Festival was very well-attended for a good reason: The food is excellent. I purchased the Sampler Platter for lunch, which included holupki (cabbage stuffed with beef and pork in a tomato sauce), kolbasi (homemade smoked sausage), pirohi (pirogi), haluski (dumplings with chopped onions and cabbage), and sauerkraut. It was all so delicious.
The Slavic Festival took place in a large room that was off to the side from the room where weekly Sunday worship takes place. That room had all kinds of appropriate fall decorations including pumpkins and autumn leaves in shades of red, yellow, and orange.
The room where the weekly religious services takes place was open for visitors to take a look. I took the majority of the pictures in that room because there was all kinds of interesting Eastern Orthodox Christian art everywhere.
A church member was around to provide information about the church facilities. The one thing I learned is that this church was originally founded by immigrants from Czechoslovakia, which I found quite fascinating for personal reasons. One of my ancestors came from that same country (back when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) but he was an ethnic Czech while the people who founded St. Gregory were Slovaks. Czechoslovakia has since split further into two separate nations. My ancestor came from the state of Bohemia, which is one of the two areas known as the Czech lands (the other is Moravia), and that state is now in the Czech Republic. The other nation is Slovakia, where the Slovaks live.
Another cool thing about the Slavic Festival is that they also offered takeout food that could be frozen and eaten later. I purchased a bunch of carry-out home cooked meals to put in my freezer. I’ve defrosted and eaten a few of those meals since that day but, as of this writing, I still have some Slavic food in my freezer just waiting for me to defrost, heat, and eat. It’s nice to eat a special home cooked meal made from scratch where I don’t have to do any of the making.
In addition to checking out the two different events at two different churches, I did one other activity that day. After I left the Slavic Festival I went to nearby Laurel where I visited Dinosaur Park, which I’ll write about in my next blog post.
I did my regular pilgrimage to Behnke’s Nurseries during the holiday shopping season. I took a few new photos but the special Christmas shop is pretty much the same as it was in other years when I took a lot more photos in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
The one thing that caught my interest is that there seems to be a slight expansion in its line of Hanukkah decorations. The store have always sold Hanukkah ornaments for Hanukkah bushes, such as the one in the next photo.
But this year was the first year that I’ve seen actual Star of David tree toppers. I’ve long heard about some Jewish families in the U.S. who keep decorated Hanukkah bushes in their homes but I also know that it’s not a universally accepted tradition. (I remember the times when my ex-husband’s Orthodox Jewish stepmother used to criticize Hanukkah bushes because, to her, they were “too Christian” and it encouraged Jews to blend in too much with Gentiles instead of remaining separate and celebrating their own traditions. Even though my father-in-law converted to Orthodox Judaism before he married his second wife, I also knew that she would have never tolerated him doing anything that even slightly harked back to the days when he used to observe Christmas.) This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a Hanukkah tree complete with tree toppers.
I decided to check out this job fair that was being held at the Beltsville Library because I’m always on the hunt for a day job to pay the bills. It turned out to be a small job fair (I saw maybe three or four tables that were staffed.) I only found one place that I decided to apply to but, as of this writing, I haven’t heard anything further from that place so I don’t know if anything will come of it.
But I liked the design of the library itself so I took a few pictures. I saw that it had a cafe, which was basically a small room that had a few tables and vending machines.
The main focal point of this library is this very colorful fantasy-themed mural featuring a bunch of animals reading books. I found it to be quite charming.
The wall mural ended with this stone castle facade that looked pretty cool.
There was also this charming alligator book holder.
The library had this large computer area.
The library was very spacious.
The Beltsville Library is located right next to a station of the Prince George’s County Police Department. There’s a police memorial for fallen police officers killed in the line of duty that’s outside the station’s doors.
For the past month or so I’ve seen people pass around photos on Facebook of insect hotels that one can build for the benefit of bees (which have been on the decline at an alarming rate for the past few years). I finally saw such a hotel in real life when I was at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville, Maryland. This insect hotel is pretty tall and it’s very impressive looking.
For the past year, starting in January 2015, I’ve been doing a project where I would take a photo of the same area of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center each month. This continued until late last month. I accumulated 12 photos in all. While I took pictures of the same area, each photo documented the subtle changes that the area went through each month (such as leaf size and color). I compiled all of the photos and made a short video from them. You can check it out right here.
I took this photo of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in all of its fall glory.
I took another watercolor workshop at Makerspace 125 recently and here is what I did.
It’s a stone head that looks like it’s half-emerged from the ground that has long hair made from grass. It’s based on this display that I’ve seen in the parking lot at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville, Maryland.
Sagittarius Dolly 
You must be logged in to post a comment.