This week has been kind of crap.  Ben and I were both got a flu/cold/sinus infection thing, though thankfully not at the same time.  We’re pretty good at passing illness which works out well because one of us is usually healthy enough to take care of the other.

With today’s forecasted high being 52, I was pretty bummed that I wasn’t going to be able to go out to the Kelly Acres ride.  I’m feeling much better, nearly human in fact, but my energy’s still low and I’ve got some residual wheezing going on.  It was the perfect weather for a long hill ride, but as Senorita Wheezy Lung I probably wouldn’t have made it up the first one.

So in an effort to take advantage of the near balmy weather and raise our spirits, Ben and I headed out to explore the town a bit.  We meandered about Capitol Hill and eventually ended up at the US National Arboretum.  We weren’t expecting much since it is January, but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that they have a pretty incredible bonsai (Japanese) and penjing (Chinese) collection.  Several of the trees had been trained for over a hundred years and a few even date into the 1700 and 1600s!

Ben has been interested in bonsai for a while and he drew me into it.  We had started a few trees before we left for South America, but they’re long gone now.  We’re looking forward to starting up a collection again and the arboretum’s collection should be very inspirational.  It was motivational because there were a few that were started in the last five to ten years that looked great even though they were so young.

Seeing these trees for the first time at this time of year was pretty cool.  Since most of them have lost their leaves, you could really see the structure of the trunks and branches.

I liked this little fisherman guy.  He had a few handmade monk buddies on the other side of this “forest” arguing over a cup of tea.

It’s amazing the power nature has to soothe and relax the spirit.  I’m sure we’ll be revisting the arboretum many times as the seasons change.  It was a very peaceful place and it should be increadible this spring once the green returns and the flowers start to bloom.