Where have all the flowers gone, Philadelphia?

At the Hall A entrance at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show, orange and yellow streamers hang from the ceiling looking like dried piece of mud and sand with apples and oranges strapped to them, a dreary introduction for adults who shell out a $42 weekend rate to attend/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This year's flower show in Philadelphia, ending March 10 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, is a tired and sad remnant of past years' displays.

The title, "Flower Power" left me wanting.

Really? I grew up in the 60s and "flower power" today lacks appeal and finesse. 

An infrequent garden landscape at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It must be peace at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie


My expectations were not exceeded in 2019 in the City of Brotherly Love.

I found no magic or allure.  

Nothing climbs to the ceiling or sent me soaring.

But they came.  The flower show says 250,000 people come annually.

These narcissi ("Sir Winston Churchill" Double Daffodils) won our First Prize for Best Fragrance in the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This host of golden daffodils were all that we found. Usually boxes of them are laid out in competition, but we missed them at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie



The international show this year (and it truly is international since it's the first FTD World Cup competition hosted in the U.S. since 1985) is rather tame and boring (have I said that?) without any huge, mammoth splashes of color or vibrancy to make your mouth drop and the words, "Do you believe that?" tumble out.

Compared to years past, the flowers and exhibitions this year have lots of concrete space to take up room for missing displays. (See links below to compare with previous shows.)

Was it just me who was disappointed?  Nyet. Another veteran and a newcomer on the Smithsonian Associates' bus tour agreed it was not the best day trip. No one on the return trip "oohed" and "awed" or even talked about the show, save the Smithsonian guide, Bill Ulman, who did a splendid job (assisted by Marilyn Jacanin).

After spending two hours at the show, the newcomer said she got bored and went across the street to the Reading Terminal Market.

This was one of the "miniatures" which had a theme this year of gardens in books. This title is The Magician's Garden by Chris van Allsburg which won a second prize for "Team Amanda" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. The white dots are reflections of ceiling lights in the protective glass/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Another miniature, this one, Escape to Bag End by J.R.R. Tolkien won a second prize for "Northview Crew" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This miniature, The Garden of Stubborn Cats by Italo Calvino won first prize for Deb and Jim Mackie at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A miniature for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett won a third prize for "Jenkintown Mini-Makers" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. The judges might have liked it more had they not had to bend over to see it in the window/Photo by Patricia Leslie.

Rudyard Kipling's changing colors The Glory of the Garden by John Jayne and Jayne Price won second prize at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This industrial setting, Return of the Restless Railway by Peter Brown won first place for Marlene Goeke and Michelle Blockwell at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Bay leaves, rosemary, corn kernels and husks, mustard and caraway seeds, and almonds are some of the components of this first prize winner, a hair ornament, by Tyler R. Hetherston. Judges labeled it "exquisite, feminine and flawless" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. The white dots are reflections of ceiling lights in the glass/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The judges criticized this beautiful ring by Sarah Carlson and Fran Gerdes awarding it only a third prize because its colors were not "bold and pop arty."  Good grief!  It is much nicer than the first place winner, whatever below, at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

First place (?) jewelry at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Great favs, the blue earring "challenges functionality," wrote the judges who granted a second prize for Georgette Sturam and the Garden Club of Trenton at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

One of the international World Cup competitors, Tamas Mezoffy from Hungary created this array on display at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Another international competitor which rather looks like artificial flowers stuck on cotton.  Sorry! At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Looking up at the ceiling entrance, what would you guess? My tie-dye hair in the morning (had I this much!), hidden bee hives (whoops!  That's the holding screen), a still of a ceiling explosion of thistledown, or a skirt worn by an angry giant at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I believe, another international competitor at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

An entry in "Entryways" by the Norristown Garden Club won a second prize at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Whatever is prettier and more soothing to the eye than a combination of white and green?  At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

When it's "flower power," Jimi Hendrix is always nearby, maybe hiding in the bushes at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Tulips at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Hyacinths and more tulips whose colors seem a bit faded, now that the end is nigh for the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Dear Flower Show:  Can't you give us something pretty?  Like song titles, France, Italy, painters (please exclude harsh contemporaries), beaches, South America, cities, greens, planets, gems (imagine!), and animals? (Well, some of them are.)

Exclude reptiles from animals?  But I recall the life-sized one, standing I think, with skin of green flowers and red eyes which blinked!  I am still talking about him, for the third time this week!  Now, that's a memory, and the only memory I have of your 2019 show is...disappointment.

Philadelphia, I'll admit I am still fuming about Bryce Harper. You can have him, but please, ...bring back the flowers. Thank you. 

To compare 2019 with other shows, please check the following links for pictures from 2016, from 2015, and 2013.



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At the think tanks: the Russian Ambassador to the United States

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov at the Stimson Center, March 4, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He came not to brandish a sword but to bring peace and understanding.

He came not to praise so much as to complain.

"We are in crisis," said Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov at the President's Forum at the Stimson Center Monday afternoon, speaking of arms control and nuclear disarmament.  

They were his favorite topics of the day (and the subject of his dissertation), but the moderator and the audience had other ideas.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov at the Stimson Center, March 4, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

(What's this new chapter in U.S-Russia relations? Have the Russians decided that talk is better than social media?)

We are waiting, waiting, waiting on the U.S. to make decisions, Ambassador Antonov, age 64, said.

Can't we just talk? He invited discussion.  He wants discussion. 
  
The ambassador said talking can achieve much progress between the U.S. and the Russian Federation (calling it always, the "Russian Federation" and the U.S., the "United States").

His message was a constant refrain: "Please, I just want to talk this through" and stop this lover's quarrel between my nation and yours.  Can't we advance cultural understanding?

Talking with help soothe frayed nerves, he seemed to say, and simplify the task of getting things like visas.

Russian artists, academicians, "our sportsmen"... "cannot come" to the U.S. because they can't get visas, he moaned. Can't you do something about it? 

"What is more important than just only dialogue between the United States and Russia?" I ask you! And urge you to "relax the tension," at least, in this sphere which can help solve problems in other areas.

Rather than the bullying personality he receives at Wikipedia, Mr. Antonov was personable and inviting (part of his negotiating skills), willing to sit down and iron out arms control, a subject he strove to accentuate the entire hour, but Stimson president and moderator Brian Finlay and audience members would have little of it.

Early in the session Mr. Finlay tried to steer the ambassador's history lesson on post-World War II and the U.N. Security Council back to the future, but, the ambassador would not give up his quest.  

He said he was "very upset when the United States decided to withdraw" from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the "Iran deal." Iran has followed all the rules and regulations required in the agreement, he said. 

Mr. Antonov quoted a Japanese proverb: "It's very easy to destroy a castle but it will need three years to erect a new one," and he hopes the U.S. will reconsider. (The U.S. Department of State's website has not been updated for more than three years (!), failing to show Trump's withdrawal from the deal, perhaps because no one is left at the State Department to change it.  Go to Wikipedia for current information.)


Maps?  if anyone needed map clarification, the ambassador  brought colored ones made by a Russian Federation defense agency (where he went to school) to show how much of Europe (all of it) and Russia would be susceptible to missiles shot from...the U.S.?

When pushed obliquely to criticize the "Hanoi Summit," all Mr. Antonov would say was "North Korea is our neighbor," and "we are in favor of peaceful solutions for all problems we face today in that region," but "that's not so easy." 

He mentioned Trump's name only twice without criticism. Or praise. (My count of "Putin" utterances was four; nothing worth writing home about.) 

The ambassador complained about the Russian prisoner Konstantin Yaroshenko held in a "Kentucky" (sounds like Connecticut) prison for eight years (he said nine), badly needing medical treatment.  

Help! I've lost my teeth, and I cannot eat, the ambassador quoted the convicted.  I am not asking that he get out of jail free, the ambassador said (paraphrasing), but can't you people please get this man some medical treatment? Some medicine? Can't you reach out to the authorities and request aid? In the name of human decency (like what's practiced in the Motherland), I call on human rights activists to provide medical assistance!  

(Obviously, the ambassador is not familiar with U.S. medical treatment. This is not Russia, Mr. Ambassador, where a doctor comes to your house on the first day you report a cold. For teeth, the waiting period in the U.S. is eight plus years!)

(Mr. Yaroshenko is serving a 20-year sentence in a Connecticut prison, not CONtucky which Ambassador Antonov said twice, actually pronouncing it correctly.  However, he may know something we don't know, and may have revealed a top state secret.

Mr. Yaroshenko was caught in a drug bust in Africa in 2010. Wave if you've heard this one:  His arrest was "set-up.") 
 
The two nations do agree on one topic, the ambassador said:  Syria (with little discussion).


After about 45 minutes of ambassadorial talk, Mr. Finlay invited questions from the audience which came from reporters from ABC News, the Guardian, and the Washington Post.

The ABC News reporter asked if the "Kentucky prisoner" could be a possible swap or "gotchas" with Americans presently held in Russian prisons: businessman Michael Calvey and former marine, Paul Whelan.

The ambassador said there was really no comparison since Mr. Whelan's case was still being investigated, and his innocence or guilt has not been determined, so, no, a trade or swap is out of the question. (Maria Butina's name never came up.)

At the end of the talk, Mr. Finlay asked Mr. Antonov to please identify missing topics from the afternoon discussion, and the ambassador said simply: "Afghanistan" (without elaboration).

He offered to visit any group and answer any questions.  
He smiled often and seemed quite at ease, making the audience laugh on several occasions.

 Ambassador Antonov said he had been "lazy" and visited the University Club near the Russian D.C. residence where he was surprised, during the World Cup, to find Americans watching the competition and supporting the Russians. (During the afternoon, our Washington Capitals championship hockey team, many whose stars are imported Russians, never came up, possibly because the Washington Post's coverage of them is quite lame, and the ambassador might be unaware of Russian heroes in the District of Columbia.)

Mr. Antonov said it appeared the audience was all journalists (there were several empty seats), save one woman shaking her head and waving an object (a white feather?) in the air, but she was not called upon for a question.
  
Neither was I who wanted to ask him to name, please, the Russian preferred U.S. presidential candidate(s) for 2020.

He said Russians have recently blocked three million U.S. attempts to hack into its I.P. addresses, but do we hear about those? 

Can't say that we do!  Welcome, Mr. Ambassador, to global exchange and trade!

For video and precise language of the session, see C Span.

P.S. My first draft of this carried a Tass link on Mr. Yaroshenko, but my computer went haywire after a while, flashing messages of concern, and the security system required immediate attention, so I deleted the Tass connection, thinking that might be the cause, and inserted instead (now that my computer likely has a "Russian virus"), a link to Mr. Yaroshenko from ABC News. Things have settled down.  It's almost like getting a new set of teeth.
  
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'You Can't Take It With You' but I did in Alexandria

From left, cast members of You Can't Take It With You at Little Theatre of Alexandria:  Bernard Engel (Gramps), Jonathan Gruich (Ed), Jerry Hoffman (Mr. Henderson), Ted Culler (Paul Sycamore), Amy Griffin (Penny Sycamore) and Raeanna Nicole Larson (Essie)/Photo by Matt Liptak

 It was a joy to leave the theatre and almost skip along the brick sidewalk in the rain which is the sensation I felt after seeing Little Theatre of Alexandria's marvelous new show, You Can't Take It With You. 

From the get-go, this is a lark. And you thought your family was crazy?

You ain't seen nuthin' yet.


Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's 1936 Broadway show is lots of laughs and gaiety in 2019 when a young man takes his ultra-snooty parents to meet his fiancée's family and have dinner. 

Try canned salmon and frankfurters since, whoops!  They came on the wrong night.  Tony, the son, (Matt Tucker) screwed up his calendar, or did he?

Dressed to the nines in fur and tuxedo, the Kirbys (Kate Ives and James McDaniel 5th) arrive at the Sycamores' where the lady of the house, Mrs. Sycamore (Amy Griffin) has multiple hobbies, Gramps (Bernard Engel in as natural a role as anyone could expect) collects snakes and doesn't pay income tax, Mr. Sycamore makes fireworks in his cellar with an assistant, Mr. DePinna (Steve Rosenthal) who came for dinner and stayed eight years, and two daughters, who are ...

The "normal" one, Alice (Emmy Leaverton), who is Tony's fiancée, and the other one, Essie (Raeanna Nicole Larson), a dancing queen in constant motion, pirouetting and sticking her legs out whenever she can, always talking and never missing a beat.  (She wants to be a dancer.)  

She is married to Ed (Jonathan Gruich) who plays the xylophone.  

Essie's Russian instructor (Peter Halverson is Boris ) arrives, and a drunk "Grand Duchess" (Melissa Dunlap) slips in and crashes upside down on the sofa.  (Don't ask. You have to be there.)

The kitchen help (Chantel F. Grant is Reba and Robert Freeman is Donald) are a sane couple who bring levity and reason to the crazies found in the living room.


The star of the show, Amy Griffin as Mrs. Sycamore, begins the show pecking away on her typewriter on her newest hobby, play writing.  

Surely a next year nominee for a WATCH  Outstanding Actress, she's like a butterfly which flits and floats from one topic to the next, but always exuberant. 

The single set scene is the Sycamores' cluttered living and  dining room in New York City (but any place will do), nicely designed by Grant Kevin Lane, assisted by many. 

Costume designer Erin Nixon dresses her in June Cleaver fashions (from Leave It to Beaver, if anyone is old enough to remember that) with pearls, constant dresses, and high heels, at home.  (That's the way they used to dress...supposedly.)
 
Meanwhile, here come the FBI and the IRS,  and you get the picture, or you will, if you can still get a seat and come away from it all.

Others in the cast are Jerry Hoffman and Mark Stein as "the men."  

The play won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and when made into a motion picture in 1939, won Best Picture and Best Director (Frank Capra) and was nominated for six more Oscars. 


Masterful direction by Stephen Jarrett, assisted by Matthew Munroe; choreography by Melissa Dunlap ; sound by Janice Rivera and more (how about an explosion in the cellar accompanied by pow! zoom! wow! lighting by Franklin C. Coleman?), hair and makeup by Susan Boyd; dialects coach, Julia Abakaeva; fight choreographer, Michael Page; stage managers, Samantha Jensen and Shannon Starcher; producers, Jamie Blake and Eileen Doherty and many more help bring it all together and make for one enjoyable time at the theatre.
 
What: You Can't Take It With You

When: Now through March 16, 2019. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. The Sunday March 10 matinee has sold out.


Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Tickets:  $21 to $24

Rating:  "G"

Public transportation: The closest Metro station is King Street, about 13 blocks away.  From there, a Dash bus will take you near the theatre.

Parking:  On the streets and in many garages nearby.  If Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets is closed, the bank's lot is open to LTA patrons at no charge

For more information:  703-683-0496

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