The thrill of a midafternoon weekday movie-outing

Happy Friday, DMV*! It’s March 27.

Last Wednesday, a friend invited me for a Thursday afternoon screening of Oscar-nominated animated shorts at AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring. I don’t really follow the Oscars. I never would have gone to see these films on my own. But I thought: Why not? Let’s do it.

My favorite of the animated shorts was “Retirement Plan,” mostly because it felt like where I am now — not that I’m retired, but I’m just evaluating the structure of my life.

The film is a funny, dry recitation of all the things the narrator will do in retirement: “I’ll learn the names of trees and know which spring flowers bloom first … I will learn to juggle … I will yoga.” It spoke to me.

That said, I tried to think of my own to-do list for retirement, but I could only hear the loud voice in my head preaching: “Now is the time. Life is short. Seize it.”

Which is kind of how I ended up at the movie theater for a midafternoon, weekday screening. I love last-minute, impromptu, spur-of-the-moment dates. For that is where serendipity lives.

There were just a handful of people in the movie theater. It felt kind of exciting, like playing hooky. And now I can’t stop thinking about this film.

A heads up that there will be no newsletter next Wednesday to Friday because I’m taking a few days off for my daughter’s spring break. Woot!

Also, if your kids are looking for something to do over spring break, DC Bird Alliance is offering a free wildlife-photography workshop, April 13-16, for D.C. public or charter school students. It’s a competitive program with professional photographers. Apply here.

D.C. resident Elena Saltzman, 31, snapped this photo on Tuesday in Logan Circle.

“For the last few years I have been lucky enough to be able to walk to work, and have grown very fond of some of the trees on my commute. I know which ones will blossom early, the late bloomers, the brightest fall foliage, and the shadiest spots on hot summer days,” Elena wrote in her submission.

“My job is moving to a new office across town on April 1, and my new Metro commute won’t be nearly as scenic, so I’m savoring these last few commutes past all my blossoming friends. I particularly love this one on the corner of Rhode Island Ave and Logan Circle, and the way it contrasts with the beautiful brick mansions along the circle.

“I also love the trees at Scott Circle — there are no crosswalks to get into the park in the middle so you have to dodge between the cars to hop over there, but it’s worth the risk!”

(I feel compelled to say here: No. Don’t dodge between cars.)

Liz Hoffmann, 65, of the Logan Circle neighborhood of D.C., snapped this pic at the National Arboretum on Tuesday.

D.C. resident Mallory Junker, 22, woke up early yesterday to see the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin at sunrise.

“I knew that they were going to be in peak bloom today and the crowds would be crazy in the afternoon, so I tried to get ahead of it. I got there at 6:45 AM, and it was already busy!” she wrote.

“I'm so glad I got to see them though, and I had a peaceful morning walking through all of the flowers with the sunrise in the background :)”

* For those of you wondering: The DMV is how residents here call the D.C. region, which includes Maryland and Virginia. I’d get emails from people asking about this every few weeks. Now you know.

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