Christ Church Cathedral Choir at the NGA

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DCist review of the Christ Church Cathedral Choir. I watched that concert at the National Gallery last Sunday, and was quite enthralled. From “Zadok the Priest” to “God Bless Great Washington,” their performance was flawless — and a bit bouncy, too. Most of the choir consists of young boys, after all, so some of that youthful energetic playfulness came out in funny body language, but the whole time, not a single note was missed, and the timbre of every voice was utterly angelic.

The John Snetzler chamber organ was an interesting link to the “Gilbert Stuart” theme of the concert: wheeled in from the Musical Instruments exhibit at NMAH, it had originally been owned by George Washington’s surgeon. Stuart, having been an organist in his youth, may well have played — or at least listened to — a few pieces on this organ.

More from DCist and Ionarts.

Recent Reading: Weather Identification Handbook

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The Weather Identification Handbook, by Storm Dunlop. A book on weather science by a guy named Storm: how awesome is that, eh? This book is a comprehensive — but concise — visual guide to cloud forms, wind patterns, air masses, precipitation, and other meteorological phenomena, in an easily understood format with lots of pretty pictures. Thanks to Storm Dunlop, I can look up at the sky and tell cirrocumulus lenticularis from altostratus translucidus, turn my back to the wind to determine the position of a low pressure area in the northern hemisphere, and point out my heiligenschein on a dewy morning.

Recent Reading: The Barbarian Conversion (still)

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The Barbarian Conversion, by Richard Fletcher. Yup, I’m still on this. It’s such a huge and rich collection of tidbits of medieval history that I can’t absorb it all at one go; instead I’ve relegated it to background reading, taking in pieces of history at a time to occupy me between books. Right now I’m deep in the chapter on “Christian Consolidation,” about how the spreading church adapted its message and media to make the faith more palatable and more intelligible to the barbarian-descended cultures of medieval Europe.

Some notes of interest: St. Martin of Braga vigorously opposed the naming of days for Germanic pagan deities: Tiw’s Day, Woden’s Day, Thunor’s Day, and Frig’s Day — one possible reason that the modern Portuguese week simply counts days off from one to seven. And the Heliand is fascinating: an epic poem retelling the Bible as a Germanic saga, transforming church-speak into rephrased Saxon. For example, “Lord, teach us to pray” was interpreted as “reveal to us the runes.” And we thought the TNIV was bad.

“Secrets” to the Code

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NBC Dateline is showing “Secrets to the Code” right now, and it’s a laugh-a-minute marathon as they attempt to give some credence to The Da Vinci Code’s thin attempts at authority by sensationalizing tenuous historical fabrications with effects-laden eye candy, while giving prime interview airtime to fringe historians with limp-wristed ideas on manuscript evidence and strong sympathies to Gnostic writings of little factual value.

Most amusing moments so far:

– “The forms of Jesus and “Mary Magdalene” in Da Vinci’s painting form a letter M! Clearly a sign that they were Married!!!”

– “The scriptures are silent on whether Jesus was married or not. And silence is <pregnant pause> PREGNANT!!!”

– “Holy Blood, Holy Grail.” OMG LOL NO FURTHER COMMENT KTHXBI.

The documentary has pretty much only its conclusion to commend it, when it goes back on its entire sensational premise by showing the same interviewees refuting it.

More from The Narrow, and my Da Vinci Code Roundup has everything else I have to say on this laughable farce of overhyped historical fiction. And you can forward that to Stone Phillips.

WaPo Weather Glitch

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For a few minutes there, the Washington Post weather page was telling us that the temperature through to next week would be 299°C below absolute zero. Just when all the winter coat clearance racks at Marshalls and Hechts are empty, too. (Quick catch via my coworker Keith.)

Red Tailed Hawk on the National Mall

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Everyone was gawking at this peregrine falcon red-tailed hawk perched in a tree near the Smithsonian Metro exit on the National Mall yesterday afternoon. Hanging from a nearby branch were the remains of its latest meal: half a squirrel.

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Update: Turns out this was a red tailed hawk, not a peregrine falcon. I’ve updated the entry as needed.

Wild Saturday

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Before anything, the photos: Hiking around Camp Fraser Nature Preserve and Cherry Blossoms at Sunset.

Yesterday morning at Camp Fraser, I woke up early and took a sunrise hike around the nature preserve by the Potomac River, deliberately leaving my camera behind so I could enjoy the walk without having to think about flash and composition and timing and shutter speed and exposure. Along the way I saw deer, Canadian geese, a beaver slapping its tail in the water, and a red fox.

The rest of the day consisted of talks on vocation, a fun ride on a zip line, and two bees found mating on someone’s bag. Before the group left, I took the hike again, this time with a camera, and met up with a girl on a horse and a lady with two dogs, and two black snakes in a fallen tree trunk.

After getting back from camp, with a couple of hours of sun still left, I headed over to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms, stopping along the way to admire a peregrine falcon which had perched in a tree along the National Mall, alongside the remains of its lunch — the half-eaten carcass of a squirrel. Many stopped to gawk at the bird before it spread its wings and flew off to the north, continuing its migration from South America to Canada.

The cherry blossoms did not disappoint, and I walked the full perimeter of the Tidal Basin and took about 50 photos, before staggering home via Metro and flopping into bed. Easily one of the best Saturdays I’ve ever had.

By the Misty Potomac

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By the Misty Potomac

This morning I saw deer, geese, a fox, and a beaver. Got myself rather muddy.

Sunrise in the Woods

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Sunrise in the Woods

Lovely, isn’t it? I’m out for an early morning walk to the river. Deer everywhere.