{"id":5348,"date":"2011-10-26T06:47:41","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T10:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=5348"},"modified":"2011-10-26T17:08:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T21:08:44","slug":"among-the-liberators-like-a-latin-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=5348","title":{"rendered":"Among the Liberators: Like a Latin Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The previous portion of the walk: Bolivar the Great<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A view that makes this odd little park look good.<\/p><\/div>\n

After you’ve contemplated the great General Bolivar and walked the 360 degree circuit around the statue, meander through what I consider the funny little park that surrounds it.\u00a0 When it comes to analyzing or critiquing gardens and plantings in mixed company (gardeners and non-gardeners) I try to restrain myself.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure Virginia Avenue walkers don’t want to hear my yammering about landscaping.\u00a0 Maybe garden geeks (like me) who don’t tire of plant talk are interested, but I’m sure the rest want to continue the walk.\u00a0 I’ll keep my horticultural point brief.<\/p>\n

Look: I like the statue, I like the pedestal, I even like the odd polygon pond next to it.\u00a0\u00a0Taken as a whole, however,\u00a0this little park (called Triangle Park on maps,<\/a> it should be called Bolivar Park except he already has way too many things named after him in the Western Hemisphere, plus the park isn’t worthy of his name) is not attractive.\u00a0 It doesn’t live up to almost all the other landscaping and green spaces on Virginia.\u00a0 The plantings are untended, neglected really,\u00a0except for some fresh mulch thrown on in spring.\u00a0 The grass\u00a0gets cut sporadically.\u00a0 Marble paving stones around the statue are cracked and broken.\u00a0 Ironic this parklet is\u00a0the Interior Department’s front yard.\u00a0 An agency\u00a0responsible for,\u00a0among other things, the care of our national parks and resources,\u00a0 should make this one look\u00a0better.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Is this pretty? A suitable backdrop to the Great Liberator Bolivar? I think not.<\/p><\/div>\n

Glad to get that off my chest.<\/p>\n

Bolivar faces the south side of Virginia Avenue where the the Organization of American States Headquarters’s homely little sister, the OAS Annex, sits.\u00a0 Since this building fronts Constitution Avenue, you see its modest but attractive backside from Virginia.\u00a0 Not half as grand as the main OAS building<\/a>, I like that it looks so Latin, a villa with a red tile roof, a fountain on a raised, second floor porch, and decorative tops capping ornamental cornices.\u00a0 I can imagine being the guest of some influential local rich person in this, his grand home somewhere in Central America.\u00a0 His butler would lead me to the terrace and serve wine, avocados, cheese and fruit on the balcony while I await my host, the powerful and wealthy Don Amarando Buenaventura Raymundo de los Severino.\u00a0 Ray, as his friends call him, is about to offer me a handsome stipend and a small villa of my own to be his writer in residence, creating stories and poems to delight his family and guests.\u00a0 I think I’ll accept.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Would you like some tequila, sir, while you await El Jefe?<\/p><\/div>\n

Take a look at the trees on this block.\u00a0 Two massive oaks, my favorites on the whole street, flank the OAS Annex.\u00a0 The one on the right (the west facing side) is almost half as wide or more as the building itself.\u00a0 The broad spreading branches of that tree have seen (and survived) their share of history.\u00a0 I have wanted to sit on the ground under its shade though I suspect I would not be permitted, even though no fence surrounds the yard.\u00a0 Venerable and notable, these ancient trees look as if they could be sentient, self-aware and able to communicate with each other like in ancient myths and modern movies.\u00a0 At the western end of the south side of the block sits\u00a0a group of stocky old oaks.\u00a0 Not as broadly massive as the flanking oaks, they too feel aged and wise.\u00a0 I wonder, did I hear a woody whisper just now?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Perfect for sitting under on a hot summer's day<\/p><\/div>\n

Willow oaks line the north side of the street.\u00a0 You can recognize them by their\u00a0slender, willowy leaves.\u00a0\u00a0One of those great trees\u00a0sits\u00a0toward the western end of this block along the sidewalk on the northern (odd little park) side of the street.\u00a0 What I love are the massive roots, huge hunks of oaken weightiness, spilling out on the sidewalk and curb around it.\u00a0 You can see many examples of thick, old roots along Virginia; this is one of the first.\u00a0 I hope the city’s tree tenders leave it for a good long time.\u00a0 I worry if it breaks out of its bounds too much, doesn’t mind it’s business in its own space, doesn’t toe the line, it might get uprooted and replaced by some sleek young whipper-snapper of a tree with youthful grace but none of these splendid specimens’ gravitas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rooting for trees: Hip, Hip, Hoorah!<\/p><\/div>\n

Next: Among the Liberators: Inside the Department of the Interior<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(The previous portion of the walk: Bolivar the Great) After you’ve contemplated the great General Bolivar and walked the 360 degree circuit around the statue, meander through what I consider the funny little park that surrounds it.\u00a0 When it comes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[678],"tags":[912,854,911,853],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5348"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5348"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5651,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5348\/revisions\/5651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}