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A few weeks ago I took time out of the day to take a picture of a lovely sunset.
I took this photo of a gorgeous sunset from the top level of the parking garage that is located in the back of Beltway Plaza Mall in Greenbelt, Maryland.
I went to the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival this year. I didn’t take as many photos and videos as previous years because I was more into just enjoying the festival.
I showed up on the first night that the festival opened. It was a Friday night, the weather was warm but not too hot, and the humidity was very low. (I don’t think the temperature went above 75 degrees Fahrenheit.) It was my idea of the perfect weather day. Going at night gave me a chance to test my new smartphone’s night setting on the camera. Here are the photos I took, starting with the festival fairgrounds at sunset.
I took the next few photos at the used book sale booth where people browsed through donated books, records, VHS tapes, DVDs, and audio cassettes. The proceeds from all sales went to the PTA at the local elementary school.
I took some more night photos of the fairgrounds.
I ended my evening with a photo of the people who were playing bingo.
The next day I went back to the festival but I ended up not taking any pictures that day. It was Community Day at the festival where local community groups set up tables and promoted themselves. I was working one of the tables on behalf of the Maryland chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign. I helped with giving out flyers and encouraging people to sign up for our emailing list. The only really bad thing was that the weather that day was the polar opposite of the day before. The heat had shot up to the mid-90s and the humidity was very high as well. It wasn’t a very pleasant day to be outside. I stuck around until somewhere between 2-3 p.m. then I headed home where I stayed in my air conditioned house.
The third day was September 3 but the weather was still just as atrociously hot as the day before. I started my day with shooting this video of this local band called the Greenbelt Honk Situation, which was doing a brass band version of the old gospel song “Down By the Riverside.” I shot video footage, which I uploaded on YouTube.
I also uploaded the same footage on TikTok, Clapper, and Instagram. I didn’t stay long to hear the rest of that band’s set mainly because it was very hot outside and all of the bleacher seats were in the sunshine.
I managed to walk over to the Greenbelt Museum, which was hosting the annual Retro Town Fair. I managed to shoot these photos before I felt so overwhelmed by the heat that I left.
I walked over to the Greenbelt Community Center, where I spent the rest of my time at the Festival in a building with air conditioning. I checked out both the Art Show and Photography Show. I had a friend invite me to participate in this community art project that was being held in the same building at the same time. Here’s a shot of that event that I took.
Basically people were invited to help paint this wood that was cut to resemble two dancers dancing close together. I was stumped on what to paint so I initially decided to paint a sunflower.
Once I was done I remembered that sunflowers are one of the symbols of Ukraine because sunflowers happened to be one of that nation’s main crops (with the other being wheat). I had an idea of painting the Ukrainian trident near the sunflower.
That was all I could think of. Of course the biggest irony is that if that event had happened prior to 2022, I would have never thought of painting that trident. It’s too bad it had to take a war for me to think of doing something like that.
About a day or two after the festival ended I saw that one of my friends had uploaded a picture of the completed project on Facebook. Here’s the screenshot I took of that photo.
I have to admit that the result looked pretty neat. Which goes to show that a community of artists of all ages can create something lovely together. I noticed that someone had embellished both the Ukrainian trident and sunflower that I painted. Here’s a closeup of that screenshot featuring the embellishment of what I painted.
I have to admit that the embellishments made what I painted look even better. (I also want to add here that I did not take those last two photos of the completed project. I took all of the other photos that are embedded in this post.)
The last three photos I took of the festival were of the ferris wheel. Two of them were shot in the late afternoon sun.
I took one final night photo of the ferris wheel.
I ended up skipping both the Greenbelt Labor Day Parade and the last day of the festival. The weather was still atrociously hot and humid and I really wasn’t up for another day in that intense heat. Instead I drove to Third Eye Comics in Annapolis where I checked out the comic books and games that the store sold in air conditioned comfort.
Today is yet another anniversary of those horrible attacks in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. I live just a few miles away from one of the sites of the terror attacks (the Pentagon) and I have friends who knew people who were on board that particular flight that hit the Pentagon. The one thing about frequently watching new horrors unfold in Ukraine on a regular basis is that I no longer feel as emotional about September 11 as I used to be. With Vladimir Putin hellbent on conquering Ukraine while unleashing his troll farms on the US in an attempt to affect next year’s elections, I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing becomes even more monstrous as time goes by.
On a better note, I’d like to share a couple of photos that I took last month. One late afternoon day I had to run a few errands. It also happened to be raining that day. By the time I finished the last of the errands that I needed to do it was sunset. I saw some incredible cloud formations mixed with the setting sun so I snapped a couple of pictures.
Last week there were wildfires that broke out in Quebec and the smoke from those wildfires had crossed over the border into the US. The Washington, DC area where I live got caught up in all this wildfire smoke that was so bad that the officials were warning people in the Baltimore-DC area to severely limit outdoor activity.
I went on a shopping errand at a local mall and I got out just in time for sunset. The wildfire smoke made the sunset look even more fantastic than usual. I took a couple of pictures of what I saw.
Wildfire smoke does create better sunset pictures but it’s definitely not good for anyone’s lung health. The wildfire smoke had since subsided due to a few rainstorms this past weekend. But there are still wildfires going on in Canada so I have a feeling that my area will probably be subjected to more wildfire smoke drifting southwards in the near future.
I’m still playing around with the camera on my new smartphone and I’m getting used to its features. I took a test shot of the Mother and Child statue that’s located in the historic area of Greenbelt, Maryland. I took the photo at sunset and you can see the incredibly vibrant colors of the sky behind the statue.
There was a combination anti-Russian protest against its invasion of Ukraine and observance of Ukrainian Independence Day. The actual holiday itself was on August 24 but the DC event was held a few days later on a Saturday. The rally itself took place at Lafayette Square near the White House.
There was a vendor who was walking around selling Ukrainian flags so I bought this one for $10. I figured that it’ll come in handy for the immediate future given the fact that Russia is still hell-bent on conquering Ukraine. (Never mind the fact that, as of this writing, Ukraine is making great strides in the war. The Ukrainians have managed to destroy parts of the bridge that connects the Crimea peninsula to Russia. That bridge has since been partly reopened but it remains damaged. Vladimir Putin refuses to face the fact that the war is simply unwinnable for Russia.)
I also shot some video footage of the rally along with the beginning of the protest march out of Lafayette Square, which I uploaded on to TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
I also did a second video of this event where I did a video slideshow of the still pictures that are posted in this blog. So if you prefer to view my photographs with some music, you can check it out on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube.
Here is where things got messed up for me. The organizers announced that they were going to march around downtown DC and I thought I heard that they were marching to the Mall. I started to march with the crowd but my legs and feet grew sore and tired. I decided to take a rest on a nearby bench for a few minutes. By the time I had recuperated the marchers were long gone. I walked over to the area of the Mall that was near the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and I saw these canopies set up. I thought that was where the Ukrainian marchers had gone so I walked over towards that area.
But then I got closer and I saw that the majority of these people weren’t Ukrainians. They had darker skin than those who were at the Ukraine rally. They wore these elaborate outfits. I don’t know exactly where they were from but they had nice looking traditional outfits.
I have no idea if that festival was connected to the nearby Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture or not. I was too exhausted to even ask anyone. I basically took a couple of nice sunset photos then made a long walk to the Smithsonian Metro station so I could just go home.
If there was a day where I can say that it was a very perfect beach day, my last full day in Ocean City, Maryland was it.
My day began when I decided to drive into the neighboring town of Fenwick Island, Delaware where I could go shopping without paying any state sales tax. (That’s right, Delaware does not charge sales tax on anything.) The first thing I did was to purchase some caramel popcorn at Fisher’s Popcorn.
The next thing I did was to go to a two-story building that I attempted to go to on my last visit to the area last year only to find out that it was closed on Wednesdays. This time I went on a Thursday and it was open.
The lower floor of the two-story building houses Sea Shell City, a store where you can purchase all kinds of sea shells along with assorted souvenirs like t-shirts, toys, and decorative items (such as framed art). The upper floor houses the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum, which specializes in items that were retrieved from actual shipwrecks. I haven’t been there since I was married so I was very happy that I got to visit it again.
Unfortunately the only photo I have to show for it is this one featuring two pirates that are situated at the front entrance to the steps that lead to the museum.
That’s because the museum has rules regarding photography and videography. Shooting video is not allowed. Taking pictures is okay as long as they are for your own personal use. You cannot post any photos you shoot online without permission from the museum.
So I ended up just viewing the exhibits. That museum is just as I remembered it when I last visited it in 2011. It’s so fascinating seeing coins, books, and even china that were retrieved from shipwrecks. My personal favorite is the broken china that had coral growing through it, which made it look like a piece of avant-garde sculpture.
After I finished touring the museum upstairs and checking out the store downstairs, I decided to drive back to Maryland. On the way back I briefly stopped at the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, where I took this picture.
On the way back to the motel I decided to stop at the nearby bagel shop, Shmagels Bagels, where I ate a lunch featuring a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of potato chips, and a diet soda.
After lunch I went back to my motel room where I changed into my swimsuit and walked to the nearby beach. It was the perfect weather. The temperature was in the 90s and it was very humid. But getting into the ocean was totally refreshing and I was able to cool off quickly. On top of it I had sunscreen with me so I had the absolute perfect beach experience. Here is what the beach looked like that day.
For the next couple of hours I alternated between getting in the ocean then going back to my beach towel and read a trashy paperback novel that I had brought with me. (I purchased it at Five Below for only $5. It’s one of those novels that is so bad with cliched dialogue that it’s funny.) Towards the end of my stay at the beach I saw some nasty clouds starting to move in so I decided to return to my motel room where I took a shower and changed clothes.
Since it was my last night in Ocean City, I decided to go to OC Wasabi, which is a sushi restaurant that’s located near the motel. As I parked my car and started to walk to the front door it started to rain. At least I had this excellent dinner that was artfully arranged, as you can see in the next photo.
I decided that—rain or no rain—I was going to spend my final night on the Boardwalk. By the time I reached the parking lot it had stopped raining and I saw the remnants of this rainbow that appeared in the sky. Here are the photos I managed to take before it completely disappeared.
The Boardwalk was incredibly crowded that night. The next photo shows a long line of people waiting to get on the Haunted House ride. I got in line after I took that picture. I enjoyed the ride so much that I wanted to ride it again but I saw that the line was nearly twice as long so I decided to drop that idea. (I once shot a video years ago showing how lame the ride was but that ride has definitely improved since it underwent renovations a few years ago. One of these years I’m going to actually film the ride so I could do a comparison “before and after” video of that ride.)
The last time I was on the Boardwalk I didn’t have much energy to do a lot of walking because I had spent the afternoon walking around the Salisbury Zoo. I came up with an idea which enabled me to see more of the Boardwalk. I got on the Boardwalk train where I rode it until it reached The Kite Loft then leisurely walked back until I reached the parking lot where my car was parked. While I was riding it I was treated to a bunch of lovely sunset photos where the clouds turned a variety of very pretty pastel colors.
I finally reached The Kite Loft, which was another store I haven’t been to since 2011. (I didn’t visit that store last year because I had to cut my Boardwalk visit short due to the hurricane remnants that arrived in Ocean City.) As you can guess from the name, The Kite Loft specializes in kites and related products (such as wind socks). Here are a few photos I shot while I was in that store.
As I was walking on the Boardwalk I noticed a Hooters restaurant that wasn’t there the last time I was in that particular part of the Boardwalk back in 2011. Ocean City had long prided itself on having locally-owned mom-and-pop businesses on the Boardwalk and Hooters is a national chain. (I’ve only eaten at Hooters twice and both times I found the food to be not very memorable. I only ate there because I was with guys who wanted to eat there. That’s what happens when the owners focuses more on hiring sexy young women to wear skimpy uniforms so men and boys can ogle them and less on having tasty food that would actually entice people to come back.)
I saw this guy dressed as Batman on the Boardwalk.
There was another store on the Boardwalk that I wanted to visit. Ocean Gallery is an art gallery that has been on the Boardwalk as far back as when I was a child. I remember my parents going there where they purchased two paintings that hung on the living room walls of the house that I grew up in when we lived in Glen Burnie. It was such a fun place with seeing the eclectic outside and the walls literally covered with art. I had looked forward to visiting it again only to find out that it’s no longer open in the evenings, which was a bummer. I don’t know how much the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Great Resignation had to do with the now-limited hours. It looks like the next time I go to Ocean City I’ll have to go in the daytime. At least I shot some photos of the outside so you can get a general idea of how unique that store is.
For years there have been an artist who makes these giant sand sculptures featuring Christian images. You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate how amazing these sand sculptures are. This person spends so much time on each sculpture that is destined to eventually melt away by the wind and the rain.
I took a photo of some of the t-shirts that were on sale on the Boardwalk.
Here are a couple of photos of the 9/11 Firefighters Memorial.
Here’s the Esskay Clock. (Esskay was a local Baltimore-area manufacturer of hot dogs and sausages. The face of the clock includes a hot dog graphic. The company has since been taken over by Smithfield Foods and it discontinued the Esskay line. The clock is one of the few Esskay relics that still exists.) When I was a child and my family used to go on vacation with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, we kids were instructed that if we ever get lost while we were on the Boardwalk, we were supposed to wait at the Esskay Clock. I actually got separated from the family once when I was young so I waited by the clock for a few minutes where my mother found me. I remember she praised me for doing what I was instructed to do.
I ended my evening on the Boardwalk with a visit to Dolle’s Candy shop. Dolle’s specializes in making salt water taffy in a variety of flavors, including exotic ones like coconut, peach, and piña colada. I purchased a small bag of taffy in chocolate, vanilla, key lime, lemon, and cinnamon.
The last photos show what I purchased that day. I purchased a the-dye Fenwick Island, Delaware t-shirt from Sunsations that morning.
I also purchased two tiny sea shells from Sea Shell city for only 98 cents each.
They are perfectly scaled for my Disney Nuimos.
Other Posts in My 2022 Beach Vacation Series
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day One: July 25, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Two: July 26, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Three: July 27, 2022
My 2022 Trip to the Beach Day Four: July 28, 2022
I have a friend whose birthday is around the end of June but she usually throws a birthday party around the Fourth of July holiday since more people are likely to attend because they have the day off. On top of it, her home is located along Greenbelt Lake, where there is an official fireworks show each year (with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). She decided to hold a party on the Fourth of July and I was fortunate enough to be invited so I went.
I had a good time because I had an opportunity to socialize with friends who I rarely saw in person in the last few years due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
When the time came, we all gathered in my friend’s backyard towards the edge of the lake so we would have a good view of the fireworks show. I took a photo of Greenbelt Lake at sunset.
I took a few photos of the fireworks show. I took far less pictures compared to previous years because I just wanted to focus more on just simply enjoying the show and less on being so obsessed about getting the perfect shot that I end up taking a huge amount of photos that would literally take me hours to sift through. I managed to take a few decent fireworks photos with my smartphone but I was happier with just watching them with my own eyes instead of viewing them through my phone screen.
Usually Friday the 13th is supposed to be a day full of bad luck. I went to the local Lidl grocery store on Friday the 13th last month and I had the good luck to find this lovely sunset that provided all kinds of cool lighting effects on the clouds that were over the Lidl parking lot.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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