Musings

Walking down the sidewalk, lost in thought, all of a sudden I realized that the crunching underfoot did not match acorn crunches. Now, we have big acorns, small acorns, and lots of medium-sized acorns, and I am vaguely familiar with what they feel and sound like underfoot. (I especially worry about the big ones, which can be like striding on ball bearings.)

The crunch I felt and heard today was different, higher in tone, and crunchier. Which may sound silly.

Definitely not acorn sounds.

I looked down. Aha! I looked up. Yup. Beechnuts.

The photo? Well, the Squirrel Clan is the reason I found the beechnuts on the sidewalk, and broken open so they’d be so crunchy under my feet. This specimen, however, is a Park Squirrel—different clan—also open to begging as well as gathering in the usual squirrelly manner.

Posted at 4:41 PM | Comments Off on Not the gum

’Tis the season for the algae to return to Lake Clara Meer. Today I found the water decorated with the earliest of the fallen leaves. Nice visual combination: the green-brown mosaic….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

We saw this house in Darien with the low early morning light just right. We passed by again in mid-morning and it was meh, so I was especially happy we caught it when we did!

I always wonder what might be found under porches like this, where the dogs, kids, chickens, and cats (maybe rodents, spiders, and palmetto bugs, too!) would hang out, and the floor-boards might let stray objects drop into the darkness.

Posted at 6:47 PM | 2 Comments »

During my walk today, the smells and flowers all indicated the autumnal season—although the temps remain moderate and most of the leaves remain green….

Posted at 4:43 PM | Comments Off on Okay, it’s autumn

We left St. Simons, crossing the causeway, with clear evidence of modern civilization clouding the horizon above Brunswick, forming a visual welcome that we found bittersweet.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Onward, and homeward

We wandered today beneath Spanish moss, around interesting historic and prehistoric archaeological sites on St. Simons Island, off the Georgia coast at Brunswick. The various tour guides had us looking down—at building foundations, historic cemeteries, Indian mounds and more—and I also took the time to look up at the moss…gently swaying in the breeze.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on On tour

Today we relocated from Perry (south of Macon) to the coast, to St. Simons Island. To a golf resort. That’s a first for me. We had a plebian room (for the resort; actually, it was huge, and had a mini-kitchen, social area, and two sinks in the bat-room) overlooking one of the greens, with a pond beyond; friends in a suite had a view of the marsh (no buildings or golfer carts). From our room, I spotted this heron (?) wading…and posing just so, looking like the out-of-bounds marker (I assume) made her/him a red-legged white wading bird….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

The ArchaeoBus people have put together a scrapbook of the ArchaeoBus’s history (it’s now in its second year!), which includes some thank you notes from kids who’ve toured it. I loved this wee drawing….

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We spent the day volunteering with the ArchaeoBus exhibit of the Society for Georgia Archaeology at the Georgia National Fair.

The short version: the ArchaeoBus is really cool!

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As a kid, I was a bicycle rider. I still remember my dad repeatedly running down the driveway with me (downslope) holding the back of my seat to keep me upright until I learned to balance and ride alone. No training wheels at our household!

Somewhat later, we combed the nearby roads searching the ditches for returnable bottles, since we had no other income sources. These were organized expeditions, requiring care in wrangling the bottles once you picked them up, so they didn’t rattle together and break.

I also rode in college, when I couldn’t walk to class, but just around campus. (No money for a bus pass.)

Sometime after that, I quit riding. I think whenever I was on for a while, my tail hurt, so I moved on. I understand there are fancy ergo-dyamical seats nowdays, and probably other improvements that make riding far more comfortable than the ride my ca. 1968 Raleigh three-speed offered.

Anyway, here’s a door decoration on the door of a nearby bike shop. Also, visit the Marquis’s RegenAxe to read a real (bi)cyclist’s blog (and bird and flower pictures, and more!)….

Posted at 11:52 AM | Comments Off on Iron bicycle detail