Photos: Snow day in Forest Hills/Van Ness

by Marlene Berlin

Shortly after noon Saturday I ventured out in the snow with neighbor and friend, Annette Aburdene. I wanted to head off to see what was plowed, shoveled and open for business.

Brandywine where the plow turned down 29th

Braving conditions on Brandywine

First, we headed up to the Politics and Prose block. We found an NBC4 truck and videographer with camera at the corner of Fessenden and Connecticut.

NBC4 truck

NBC4 out at Fessenden and Connecticut

The CVS was open. MJ, the manager, drove in from Silver Spring in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, picking up the staff along the way.

MJ manages the Fessenden CVS.

Laura at CVS helping a customer

Politics and Prose was open. Five staff live within walking distance and eight had made it in. Four were tending the store, and four who’d helped shovel it out had been sent home.

Annette heading into Politics and Prose.

Abby Fennewald, Hannah Depp and Anton Bogomazov live close enough to walk in and open the store.

We found the Amoco open. Mamadou had biked to work. His wife sent us a video.

There did not seem to be much action across the street.

Stores and restaurants across the street from Politics and Prose were not open.

While we were outside P&P, we saw six snow plows traveling south on Connecticut Avenue. I got Mike Case, who was taking a video of the action on Connecticut Avenue, to share it with us.

We followed them. Walking on Connecticut Avenue, Annette was very cognizant of sharing the road with drivers who wouldn’t be able to stop if we got in the way, while I blithely enjoyed myself. We tried to get off Connecticut Avenue onto shoveled sidewalks in front the apartment buildings, but our way was blocked by huge snow banks left by the plows.

Walking on Connecticut Avenue and sharing with cars, plows and cross-country skiers

Cross-country skier on Connecticut

We found more action once we got to Albemarle Street. We were told by a family emerging from Bread Furst that it had just closed.

Family coming out of Bread Furst.

Sidewalks on the west side of Connecticut were shoveled out until we hit the car wash. Then it was a bit of rough going until we hit the Days Inn. Tesoro was open. The UDC building which houses Acacia was well shoveled, but Gold’s Gym was not. The cleaners, Wells Fargo and Potbelly were closed but men were out shoveling. Gold’s Gym, Burger King and the car wash get an F for shoveling.

Just south of Bread Furst

Also, Calvert Woodley was not shoveled even though the owner of next-door Van Ness Center also owns the building, and the sidewalks in front of CVS and Giant were clear. The latter stores were open. Staff had been put up at nearby hotels.

After a pit stop at Giant (we can recommend the women’s restroom) Annette and I then headed back.

Annette Aburdene perusing what was left of the vegetables at Giant

Again, we walked on Connecticut Avenue, which was a challenge with the wind and snow in our faces. I walked backwards most of the way, blocking for Annette, though she was most concerned about the cars not seeing us. Once we turned onto Albemarle, it was smooth sailing until we hit Linnean. It had not seen a plow for a long time. I dropped her off a her corner and proceeded back up Brandywine to pass my neighbor Bruce Romano on his cross-country skis.

Bruce Romano stopped to say hello on Brandywine.

Later, I headed out again, this time for dinner at Acacia Bistro. Uzay Turker, the owner, had a full kitchen since he had put his staff up at his home. Acacia will be open again today at 3:30 p.m.

More photos from our walk:

Van Ness was busy.

Snow plows on Connecticut Avenue in January 2016.

Fessenden looking toward Connecticut

Snow shovelers on Fessenden

Laura Baughman shoveling out on Linnean.

30th Street looking north

30th Street looking south

Braving the weather to get to Connecticut Avenue

A neighbor with a borrowed snowblower on Albemarle Street. (January 2016 photo)