I am pretty sure I’ve blogged about magical places before; but if I haven’t, here is one: the National Arboretum.

In this beautiful space –446 acres of peaceful, undisturbed flora and urban fauna– you can completely forget that a stinky and smoggy city lies just beneath the gates.  It was established in 1927 by an act of Congress, and it’s been going strong, adding plants and educating the public about new and existing species.

And it’s peaceful.  Did I mention peaceful?  Because it is. 

And, then, there are the koi.

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Koi, or carp, are fish very closely related to your common dime-a-dozen-or-I-guess-not-anymore goldfish.

And there is a whole pondful of koi at the pond by the welcome center of the Arboretum, where children old and young go crazy looking at the antics of these huge, freaky, funny fish.

They jump.  They talk.  They blow bubbles.

And every once in a while, they blow kissies (after all, Koi can also mean love).  And if you’re quick with the draw, you can catch a koi kissy.

And if you’re exceptionally nerdy or kooky, you can blog about it and share it with the blogosphere.

MWAH!