Saturday, 20 November 2010
I enjoyed very much doing the family thing today (in advance of the usual Thursday event, when we would be dispersed again).
The boys managed to do a great job of keeping themselves occupied. They rotated among pingpong, chess, and tossing a football in the front yard.
Competition reigned. In a friendly way.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Periodically I enjoy checking out the architecture of recently constructed large theaters. I’ve driven past this one for more than a decade, I suspect, but entered its precincts tonight for the first time.
This is the Wharton Center, on the Michigan State University campus, and we saw Disney’s Mary Poppins. The touring production did a great job of adapting to multiple stages—I found the costumes/staging/lighting outstanding, which augmented the singing/acting, and we all enjoyed the whole deal immensely.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
In the store the other day, I couldn’t resist this bundle of radishes, complete with tops.
Tried ’em today, and, uh, well, they tasted nice and fresh, but, um, a bit harsh and not as sweet (yes, radishes can be not so biting) as the last bunch I snagged…oh, well.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
That round building on the right, that’s the Westin Peachtree Plaza. And that tornado that came through several years ago took out a few of its windows. And it was no simple matter to “fix” that problem.
Turned out that they had to replace ALL the windows on the building because the old ones couldn’t be matched and be up to code at the same time. Or something.
So, now, all new windows! (Just recently completely installed.)
And there’s a bit of modern Atlanta newz for ya!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
So, the front yard, that would be the garden, zapped.
Frosted.
This is the back yard. U-hem. Garden.
Now decorated with leaves. Leaves from the happy-trees, now freed from their oppressor, the mighty oak that fell. On the house. You remember.
The tomatoes here, in the photo, the Guru’s experiment, suffered all summer from not enough sunlight, but, now, as temperatures, drop, they have (so far) escaped the Seasonal Death (so far).
Just to keep up….
On this day when the Prince & the Middleton’s engagement was made public, I was off to the mall (which turned out to be TWO malls) looking for a modest wedding present….
…to send overseas.
Not the easiest assignment, royal announcements notwithstanding. (To the curious, the wedding present is destined for non-royals, in Germany…. My circle does NOT extend to Buckingham Palace….)
Anyway, I got through the hyperventilation of being in the mall(s)—two because the first one didn’t have humdrum objects like I was looking for (sorry Tiffany), so I went to the more plebian mall right next door…but took the wrong exit from the parking garage, so had to go around the block, which may have taken fifteen minutes.
I just want to get it on record that the fancy mall had walkers, that is strolling shoppers, enough so the place didn’t look empty, but I didn’t see shoppers with bag-bundles. The less-fancy place also had shoppers, and these sometimes carried purchases. Another contrast. The first place had lots of marble floor showing, aisles with no displays or racks of STUFF. The second place had more floor covered with items…not sure exactly how to dissect that…but if the fancy places aren’t boosting their stock, then how are they going to make the rent? (Not a good sign for Phipps, I think….)
Anyway….
Exiting the mall, and having recovered near-normal breathing, I happened upon another excitement offered by the mall, or the mall-surrounds, the fender-bender. Except this one was more like bumper-car with Lexi (is that the plural?).
I cleverly steered around the locked-together vehicles and around the paramedic vehicles and headed home.
Deep breath.
And thinking, in a nutshell, that’s why I avoid the malls* as much as possible.
* I think the last one I visited was some kinda drive-by with Kayak Woman? Something in A-squared…. Maybe we only got as far as the parking lot? No, I think we did a hit-and-run on the Apple store…. ??
Monday, 15 November 2010
Sometimes the tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera) really rock in the fall. I’ve always had a soft spot for their leaf-shape, which, for a long time, I thought was why the word tulip in the name. Turns out it has to do with the flowers instead.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
As many times as I have driven across bridges over the Etowah or stood on its banks, I don’t ever remember thinking about the upper elevations of the Etowah’s catchment area.
Today, lead by diligent and experienced guides, we traipsed around in gorgeous Chattahoochee National Forest crossing many thankfully seasonally low-water creeks, under incoming cloud cover, all in the upper Etowah watershed. The sky was often dull, but the woods were lovely, with a few brilliant leaves overhead, and many (shuffle shuffle) underfoot.
Perhaps the most striking bloom we found were a few specimens of closed gentian ( Gentiana clausa—or maybe it’s another closed gentian species—what do I know?).
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Ya venture into the international market with your eyes peeled, reading labels and inspecting pictures, and you never know what you’ll come across. I can just bet that this is a “one-step recipe sauce,” and I think it might have been over the edge before that step. Cola-flavored? Yick.
Of course, this doesn’t hold a candle to multi-colored, multi-layered (homemade) sandwiches….
Friday, 12 November 2010
Great light this afternoon, just about the best the autumnal weather offers….
And this yellow rose—nothing to do with Texas or a woman from there….
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Geese in the Park missing the movie crew.
One of the movie shoots we saw recently in Piedmont Park moved to our neighborhood today, constricting the already constricted rush-hour traffic flowing through the Va-Hi bottleneck. Still, I found it fascinating to see how many people and how much stuff is involved. Truckloads of stuff. Mostly expensive stuff. Whole racks of lenses and the like….
We call this bunch the red-chair group, because their directors’ chairs (yes, at least some shoots really do use them, even today!) are indeed a brilliant red (the canvas parts).