“Chance Encounters: Photographs From the Collection of Norman Carr and Carolyn Kinder Carr” closes June 22. With one exception—Paul Strand’s black-and-white portrait of his wife—this is street photography. Collector Norman Carr says of these works, “The world of the picture is both the public one of the street where the picture was taken and the private one of the subconscious where the composition was formed.” It’s a small show—two rooms of tiny moments caught by the camera in the hands of Diane Arbus, Harry Callahan, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Weegee, and others. Catch it before it's gone.

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A folding gold crown from one of the six graves of Bactrian nomads discovered at Tillya Tepe in northern Afghanistan in 1978.

“Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul” begins its 17-month US tour on May 25 at the National Gallery. It’s full of surprises, starting with the survival of gold objects from the second century ad. A Soviet archaeologist, just before the nation’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, found 20,000 crowns, hair ornaments, earrings, and tiny models of animals—known as the Bactrian Hoard—in burial mounds. No one is sure where the cache was stored during that war, but in 2003 Afghan leaders opened a vault under central Kabul expecting to find bullion. What they found was the Bactrian Hoard, many pieces of which are in this 230-object show.

ON EARTH DAY (TUESDAY, APRIL 22)

Green Panel at the National Press Club
529 14th St., NW; 202-662-7500
Guests Ben Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency; Richard Baier, director of transportation and environmental services for Alexandria; and Marisa Vertress, an environmental-policy analyst and social-justice minister at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, will discuss how better to protect the environment on local, national, and international levels. The free event begins at 10 AM; no reservations required.

Java Shack
2507 N. Franklin Rd., Arlington; 703-527-9556
Sip an organic, fair-trade coffee or tea while you learn about some of the environmentally friendly accoutrements and recycling techniques this green-certified cafe showcases. Owner Dale Roberts will share his knowledge from noon to 3. (Lectures will also be given throughout the day on Saturday, April 19.) Put your name into a raffle and win a compact fluorescent bulb or water aerator (a faucet attachment designed to save water and money).

2nd Annual Climate Super Rally
To celebrate Earth Day, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the 1Sky campaign are sponsoring a night of speakers including climate scientist James Hansen. The event will be held at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium (730 21st St., NW) from 7 to 9 PM. Tickets ($15) can be purchased at chesapeakeclimate.org/climaterally.

You don't have to dump money down the drain to have a good time.

If you enjoyed our first segment of Free DC, then you should love our second installment of free and fun activities to do in Washington—there’s everything from coffee to a summer concert series.

Barracks Row Second Saturdays
Sample, stroll and shop (at discount) along Barracks Row from 6 to 10 PM the second Saturday of every month. Barracks Row Main Street, which sponsors the event, asks local merchants to open their doors and give the public a taste of what’s available in this Southeast DC corridor.
Eighth St., SE, between Pennsylvania Ave. and M St.; 202-544-3188

Bethesda Literary Festival
This festival celebrates its ninth year with authors including Warren Brown, host of Sugar Rush on the Food Network, owner of the local CakeLove bakery, and now author of his first cookbook, and veteran reporter Helen Thomas, currently a columnist for Heart Newspapers. Events, including poetry slams and a comedy night, take place at various location. Check the Web site for the schedule.
Bethesda; 301-215-6660; bethesda.org/specialevents/litfest/litfest.htm

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Thursday, April 10: The National Zoo parties tonight at Grapes With the Apes, a winetasting happy hour where you’ll get exclusive access to the Great Ape House. (Not sure exactly what exclusive access implies, but we’re betting you won’t be getting behind the glass.) There’ll also be live music, appetizers, and more. 6 to 9 PM. Tickets are $40 for FONZ members, $55 for nonmembers; purchase them here.

One of the year’s most buzzed-about bands will play the Black Cat tonight. When Yeasayer came to town a few months ago, it immediately sold out the backstage of the Black Cat, annoying the hordes of music lovers who weren’t able to get tickets. With an appearance on the main stage, there should be plenty of room for everybody—but we still suggest getting tickets early or else you might just miss one of the best live acts we’ve seen in ages.

It’s hard to come away from the Smithsonian Craft Show without new ideas. The artisans, whose work is for sale, approach their media—fiber, wood, glass, precious metals, and stones—in unconventional ways. For instance, Virginia Rose Kane—who lives in Boonsboro, Maryland—uses cutouts of old engravings, stamps, maps, and paper money to make collages that look like botanical illustrations. The show starts today and goes through Sunday. Click here for details and pricing.

Fires in 1814 and 1851 destroyed much of the Library of Congress’s collection. In response to the first loss, President Jefferson sold his remaining 6,487 books to the library. Nothing explains the breadth of the man’s intellectual and political interests better than “Thomas Jefferson’s Library,” an ongoing exhibit opening April 12. Here you’ll find surviving originals as well as reproductions of volumes shelved in his original book-lined room at Monticello.

Since that 19th-century acquisition, the Library of Congress has become the world’s largest library, with 32 million books and other print materials for a total of 138 million items. A world of history, language, and culture can be found beyond the Great Hall and the magnificent Main Reading Room. And accessibility is about to be significantly increased.

Joseph Conrad wrote in the preface to one of his short stories: “My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything . . . .” As if taking a cue from the author’s aspiration, Art Whino (717 N. Saint Asaph St., Alexandria)—a gallery that promotes avant-garde, postmodern art—has put together “Indulge: An Evening of Art, Wine, Food and Music.”

Curator Shane Pomajambo describes “Indulge” as a show focused on the many ways in which art can arouse our emotions: “We want audiences to feel as though they’ve had this amazing experience—one that’s stimulated all of their senses.”