Today in NoMa

Working today in the neighborhood known as NoMa (North of Massachusetts Ave.), Washington's boomtown. The amount of construction going on is staggering; we could see seven construction cranes from our site, and two giant basement excavations.

The noise was amazing, hard to hold a conversation for most of the day.

There are also scattered remnants of the old neighborhood, reminders of the run-down, semi-wasteland this was 25 years ago.

I was fascinated by the view through this little window, in the wall of a mostly demolished building.

The sense of energy in this neighborhood is very strong -- no recession here, and no sense of despair about urban decay. Instead, rebuilding on an epic scale.