As soon as the snow melted, this yard on Larchmont Drive in Annandale erupted with crocuses. Spring must be around the corner.
25 responses to “Scene around A-Town: Crocuses!”
The few bright spots in our community, until some foreigner thinks its a good idea to park their cars over what we created years ago, or just pave it. That is Mason Today.
I thank the blog for reminding us what we once were.
To Anonymous: I'm a foreign-born immigrant. I moved to Annandale, VA in 2012. When we purchased our house we removed over 400 sq ft of Asphalt and replaced it with beautiful, luscious grass. We've also planted over 10 trees in our already tree filled backyard. Stop being Xenophobic and making stupid generalizations. If you are not happy with the place you live you can always move somewhere else. Property values are up and there are many other places in this country you can live away from civilization. You won't be missed.
Clearly you are in the minority, and I thank you for caring.
Perhaps you should train the rest of the foreigners how to care for the land that opened their arms to them instead of disrespecting our culture of environmental nurturing.
If I drove you around Annandale I could identify an immigrants home with an almost 90% certainty without ever meeting the inhabitants by just observing the condition of their property…..and you know I am right about this.
As for our property values they are rising relatively less compared to the rest of the county because of what the invasion of foreigners have done to our neighborhoods and our schools. Our school in this area have been on the decline since this innovation and have lowered the test scrores dramatically.
So if you tell me to move, so be it, many of the real Americans are doing just that and leaving this mess than many of the non-caring foreigners have made to what was once a beautiful community. And that is an unfortunate reality for people like you and I.
Rich people like you are surrounded by rich people and are shielded from harsh realities lower income people experience. In my section 8 Annandale neighborhood the immigrants from Southeast Asia, India, and Central America put their trash out on everyone's lawn, on playground, on sidewalk every single day. When we had gardens unsupervised kids trampled all over them and ripped it up while never harming the property of other immigrants! When the neighborhood was mostly whites, blacks and Koreans in the 90s there was no trash or any of this. Also have the fun of once weather is warm everyone of all ages including children, are outside talking about "mother fers" and other colorful words. Our houses are tagged by gangs whether with spray paint or other territory marking signals. You and your rich compatriots will NEVER experience these things do like an infant, they don't exist and anyone who says so is xenophobic or racist (even though the trash men are black and these aholes leave trash everywhere for them, making their jobs hard!). I haven't even mentioned the middle school gang initiations you have to pretend like you don't notice. Immigrants are angels and any negativity is just prejudice. OK
"Perhaps you should train the rest of the foreigners" – Why it's now my job to fulfill your wishes? Sorry, not your personal army.
"If I drove you around Annandale I could identify…" Your favorite past time sounds like stereotyping to me.
"As for our property values they are rising relatively less compared to the rest of the county because of what the invasion of foreigners have done to our neighborhoods and our schools." Again, being Xenophobic and making assumptions and inferring causality based on nothing but your own beliefs.
"So if you tell me to move, so be it, many of the real Americans are doing just that and leaving this mess than many of the non-caring foreigners have made to what was once a beautiful community. "
The same way you shouldn't tell me what to do, who am I to tell you what to do? Please re-read my post "If you are not happy with the place you live you can always move somewhere else." This is America, land of the free. It's not my decision, it's yours. All I can do is to guarantee you won't be missed.
Now, with "real Americans", what do you mean by that? Sounds like you live in a fantasy land. This is a land of immigrants. I'm foreign-born and I'm not more or less real or more or less American than any other American. Most (if not all) of my new neighbors who recently moved to Annandale are Americans. And yes, they are real. The more I read your comments, the more you show everybody else you are a delusional Xenophobe, stuck in time. Driving around and stereotyping others is easy. It also distracts you from bigger issues inside yourself.
Have a good life.
_______
"People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives."
J. Michael Straczynski
Way to go, 3:05–it takes a real a-hole (a for "anonymous" of course–what did you think?) to turn a pretty picture of crocuses into a xenophobic rant. I can trace my family back 200 years in the US–so I can wonder if maybe YOU are the newcomer that's the problem. Sure looks that way from here, anyhow.
Oh please, all of us have origins from somewhere else. My grandparents were so grateful to be here that my grandpa served in WW1 and took care of his property pristinely till the day he died. He did not rent his 4 bedroom house out to borders, he did not park on his lawn, he always picked up litter whether it was his or not and he was respectful to his neighbors.
The foreigners moving into this area are anti-social, only care about sending there money back home to "their" country and have no interest in contributing to their community or their new home that has opened up their arms and wallets to them. Granted this is a generalization, and albeit there are thankfully exceptions, but they are in the minority.
You two last responders have your head in the sand. Wait till one of them moves next door to you, you will be singing a very different song.
I'm the 6:14 commenter. Until I actually see a car parked on a lawn–I've never seen a SINGLE INSTANCE of this supposed epidemic, despite logging a lot of miles in Mason District–you're full of crap.
Despite all this nonsense, I enjoyed the refreshing snapshot of the beautiful crocuses. Thank you Mother Nature for letting your hand in our landscape shine.
Unbelievable that a post about crocuses turned into a battle over immigration. This community is just as bitterly divided as Prince William circa 2007 when all the craziness was going on there, it's just that the people of the Mason District are smart enough to only state their true feelings in an anonymous forum. So sad.
I could care less about cars parked on grass. We have a code for this and in my book this is a problem that can be very easily fixed.
My real concern is with bigotry and xenophobic rants under the cover of anonymity. These are the people I worry and fear the most. "That is Mason Today", we just can't see it.
Thanks for the craucuses picture and to relentlessly offer this platform to our community, Ellie. This is an excellent source of information and hyper-local original content. Keep up with the good work!
There would be bigotry if some of the pigs would look around and clean up. You don't have to be rich to keep your property tidy, just stupid, arrogant and expecting someone else to do it.
I am sorry but there is no excuse for that behavior. The bigotry it brought on by the people who disrespect the community.
You must live in LBarcroft or some other toni area where economics insulates you.
Well I guess you did not hear about the homicide in Annandale today.
It was just reported that a man was found in the creek behind an apartment complex with blows to his upper body. "4300 block of Ivymount Court, for the report of a body found in a creek. Officers located the body of an adult male with trauma to the upper body."
Its because of people like you who don't have a clue as to understanding or accepting some of the cause of the degradation of our homestead.
I was happy to see the photo and read the positive comments. Perhaps all the mean ones are from the same person, the one meanie in Annandale. I love it here.
A 40 year resident.
I'm looking forward to more spring flowers (as long as I take my allergy remedies :-). I have noticed more trash around on Little River Tpk., especially around bus stops, up Roberts Ave., & in Mason District Park though. There is a clean-up day coming soon: check the Mason District Library calendar for details. I'd like to suggest we recycle what we can also. When I take a walk, I'll bring along a plastic bag & pick up what I see along the side of the road to toss or recycle later. If we all pitch in to clean up, maybe people will think twice about tossing trash. Also, could we put trash/recycling cans at bus stops & corners?
Thanks for the clean-up tip – the Annandale Women's Club is sponsoring a clean-up day on Saturday, April 18 from 9 am – 12 Noon; meet at the George Mason Regional Library to receive some trash bags, gloves and a map.
The few bright spots in our community, until some foreigner thinks its a good idea to park their cars over what we created years ago, or just pave it. That is Mason Today.
I thank the blog for reminding us what we once were.
The photo was taken yesterday, so this is how things are now.
Oh yes I have some too between my property and the neighbor, until they drive over them, which they do.
To Anonymous: I'm a foreign-born immigrant. I moved to Annandale, VA in 2012. When we purchased our house we removed over 400 sq ft of Asphalt and replaced it with beautiful, luscious grass. We've also planted over 10 trees in our already tree filled backyard. Stop being Xenophobic and making stupid generalizations. If you are not happy with the place you live you can always move somewhere else. Property values are up and there are many other places in this country you can live away from civilization. You won't be missed.
Clearly you are in the minority, and I thank you for caring.
Perhaps you should train the rest of the foreigners how to care for the land that opened their arms to them instead of disrespecting our culture of environmental nurturing.
If I drove you around Annandale I could identify an immigrants home with an almost 90% certainty without ever meeting the inhabitants by just observing the condition of their property…..and you know I am right about this.
As for our property values they are rising relatively less compared to the rest of the county because of what the invasion of foreigners have done to our neighborhoods and our schools. Our school in this area have been on the decline since this innovation and have lowered the test scrores dramatically.
So if you tell me to move, so be it, many of the real Americans are doing just that and leaving this mess than many of the non-caring foreigners have made to what was once a beautiful community. And that is an unfortunate reality for people like you and I.
I disagree with your prejudice against foreigners, but then I see how Mason District Park is treated 🙁
I am not prejudice against foreigners, I am biased against those that treat their new land with disrespect.
Rich people like you are surrounded by rich people and are shielded from harsh realities lower income people experience. In my section 8 Annandale neighborhood the immigrants from Southeast Asia, India, and Central America put their trash out on everyone's lawn, on playground, on sidewalk every single day. When we had gardens unsupervised kids trampled all over them and ripped it up while never harming the property of other immigrants! When the neighborhood was mostly whites, blacks and Koreans in the 90s there was no trash or any of this. Also have the fun of once weather is warm everyone of all ages including children, are outside talking about "mother fers" and other colorful words. Our houses are tagged by gangs whether with spray paint or other territory marking signals. You and your rich compatriots will NEVER experience these things do like an infant, they don't exist and anyone who says so is xenophobic or racist (even though the trash men are black and these aholes leave trash everywhere for them, making their jobs hard!). I haven't even mentioned the middle school gang initiations you have to pretend like you don't notice. Immigrants are angels and any negativity is just prejudice. OK
Rich people like me? If I was rich I wouldn't be living here. You sound like you need some bi-polar drugs. I suggest you go see a doctor very soon.
You do have my empathy though, living with or near Section 8 people is one step away from hell.
To Anon 6:48, I'm the foreign-born American.
"Perhaps you should train the rest of the foreigners" – Why it's now my job to fulfill your wishes? Sorry, not your personal army.
"If I drove you around Annandale I could identify…" Your favorite past time sounds like stereotyping to me.
"As for our property values they are rising relatively less compared to the rest of the county because of what the invasion of foreigners have done to our neighborhoods and our schools." Again, being Xenophobic and making assumptions and inferring causality based on nothing but your own beliefs.
"So if you tell me to move, so be it, many of the real Americans are doing just that and leaving this mess than many of the non-caring foreigners have made to what was once a beautiful community. "
The same way you shouldn't tell me what to do, who am I to tell you what to do? Please re-read my post "If you are not happy with the place you live you can always move somewhere else." This is America, land of the free. It's not my decision, it's yours. All I can do is to guarantee you won't be missed.
Now, with "real Americans", what do you mean by that? Sounds like you live in a fantasy land. This is a land of immigrants. I'm foreign-born and I'm not more or less real or more or less American than any other American. Most (if not all) of my new neighbors who recently moved to Annandale are Americans. And yes, they are real. The more I read your comments, the more you show everybody else you are a delusional Xenophobe, stuck in time. Driving around and stereotyping others is easy. It also distracts you from bigger issues inside yourself.
Have a good life.
_______
"People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives."
J. Michael Straczynski
Way to go, 3:05–it takes a real a-hole (a for "anonymous" of course–what did you think?) to turn a pretty picture of crocuses into a xenophobic rant. I can trace my family back 200 years in the US–so I can wonder if maybe YOU are the newcomer that's the problem. Sure looks that way from here, anyhow.
Oh please, all of us have origins from somewhere else. My grandparents were so grateful to be here that my grandpa served in WW1 and took care of his property pristinely till the day he died. He did not rent his 4 bedroom house out to borders, he did not park on his lawn, he always picked up litter whether it was his or not and he was respectful to his neighbors.
The foreigners moving into this area are anti-social, only care about sending there money back home to "their" country and have no interest in contributing to their community or their new home that has opened up their arms and wallets to them. Granted this is a generalization, and albeit there are thankfully exceptions, but they are in the minority.
You two last responders have your head in the sand. Wait till one of them moves next door to you, you will be singing a very different song.
I'm the 6:14 commenter. Until I actually see a car parked on a lawn–I've never seen a SINGLE INSTANCE of this supposed epidemic, despite logging a lot of miles in Mason District–you're full of crap.
Go check the County's Zoning Code Records.
Despite all this nonsense, I enjoyed the refreshing snapshot of the beautiful crocuses. Thank you Mother Nature for letting your hand in our landscape shine.
Unbelievable that a post about crocuses turned into a battle over immigration. This community is just as bitterly divided as Prince William circa 2007 when all the craziness was going on there, it's just that the people of the Mason District are smart enough to only state their true feelings in an anonymous forum. So sad.
I could care less about cars parked on grass. We have a code for this and in my book this is a problem that can be very easily fixed.
My real concern is with bigotry and xenophobic rants under the cover of anonymity. These are the people I worry and fear the most. "That is Mason Today", we just can't see it.
Thanks for the craucuses picture and to relentlessly offer this platform to our community, Ellie. This is an excellent source of information and hyper-local original content. Keep up with the good work!
There would be bigotry if some of the pigs would look around and clean up. You don't have to be rich to keep your property tidy, just stupid, arrogant and expecting someone else to do it.
I am sorry but there is no excuse for that behavior. The bigotry it brought on by the people who disrespect the community.
You must live in LBarcroft or some other toni area where economics insulates you.
Wow. Annandale really is going downhill, apparently–though not for the reasons you cite. Just the ones you demonstrate.
Well I guess you did not hear about the homicide in Annandale today.
It was just reported that a man was found in the creek behind an apartment complex with blows to his upper body. "4300 block of Ivymount Court, for the report of a body found in a creek. Officers located the body of an adult male with trauma to the upper body."
Its because of people like you who don't have a clue as to understanding or accepting some of the cause of the degradation of our homestead.
Have a good day in Blissville.
I bet they found him in some crocuses.
Probably, it is the new normal!
I was happy to see the photo and read the positive comments. Perhaps all the mean ones are from the same person, the one meanie in Annandale. I love it here.
A 40 year resident.
I'm looking forward to more spring flowers (as long as I take my allergy remedies :-). I have noticed more trash around on Little River Tpk., especially around bus stops, up Roberts Ave., & in Mason District Park though. There is a clean-up day coming soon: check the Mason District Library calendar for details. I'd like to suggest we recycle what we can also. When I take a walk, I'll bring along a plastic bag & pick up what I see along the side of the road to toss or recycle later. If we all pitch in to clean up, maybe people will think twice about tossing trash. Also, could we put trash/recycling cans at bus stops & corners?
Thanks for the clean-up tip – the Annandale Women's Club is sponsoring a clean-up day on Saturday, April 18 from 9 am – 12 Noon; meet at the George Mason Regional Library to receive some trash bags, gloves and a map.