Tuesday, 21 August 2012
“Voila,” says the maple, “here are some leaves ready to expand and photosynthesize.”
Silence. Mother Nature thinks “Haha, joke’s on you. I’m working on ushering in a nice frost. Gimme some time, though.”
Lovely COOL morning here….
Monday, 20 August 2012
Here’s a side view of that plant I mentioned back in July, with a picture from directly above the center of the specimen. Just so you know, I also notice it on days when it is not decorated with raindrop-gems. Nice cool morning, BTW.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Whistle Stop Cafe, Juliette, Georgia
I didn’t mention that we wandered on our way back from Douglas yesterday, taking the time to check out this place, that bridge, that stretch of countryside. One highlight was stopping in Juliette, which you may have met in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, which was made from the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. And here is that cafe—the movie version.
Juliette would be in close to total decay today, I think, if the movie hadn’t put it on the map. Still, it’s a dying mill town, and the mill pond is full of decay (relating to progress and activity, not in a strict biological sense).
Millpond, 2012, Juliette
What I haven’t mentioned is that just over the hill from lovely Juliette is Plant Scherer, a giant coal-fired power plant. There, the sense of bucolic countryside and rural quaintness that you get from Juliette is obliterated.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Once upon a time, the Guru and I, with our traveling companion M, ate breakfast at a fine little cafe just outside the entrance to Palenque, a terrific abandoned Maya town that probably controlled significant cross-peninsula trade long before Spaniards hit the shores of the New World. The guy who took our order spoke better Maya than he did Spanish—which made us even; Spanish was not my best language either.
Anyway, when our tasty (¡muy rico!) b’fast arrived, John’s white-glazed plate carried the label “Waffle House.” (Also rico, BTW, har-har.)
So today, in the modest town of Douglas, way down on the coastal plain (but not the coast), we lunched at a place on the northeast edge of town named Tarahumara, where the principal language was Spanish, but there was plenty of English—if you spoke with the right people. And my rice-and-beans plate arrived…on a Hunan Village platter.
The mixed ethnicity thing…makes a full circle?
One more twist: the home office of WH…in Atlanta! (metro Atlanta)
Friday, 17 August 2012
I keep an eye on this little still-life at the base of the wall by the garage. From the right, there’s a pair of what look like men’s work boots, a water cooler, and a pile of straps, maybe the kind that a roofer would use.
I’ve been watching this lineup for a while, and it never changes. Did someone fall off a roof and…pfft, his (possibly her) life changed? Did the still-life creator move out?
Thursday, 16 August 2012
I’ve been eyeing this window display for weeks. The “skirt” bells and undulates from the fans on the left, so the motion catches your eye. That’s good. However, the “gown” (really strips of draped fabric) is at most ho-hum, and I never am compelled by the must-check-the-merchandise drive to return and check the racks.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
I indulged myself today and didn’t walk this morning. I felt good for not doing so in the wee hours, but by late afternoon, I felt…unexercised.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
I managed to sandwich my walk between rain events. The photographic situation was meh, so I reach into the recent archives….
Over the weekend we visited a model railroad show…or, if you ask me, a flea market-like indoor sales event. Vendors displayed more than RR cars, tracks, and fake vegetation. I saw infant bibs, beanie babies, dining-car china…items I didn’t expect (but what to I know?).
So, contemplate a visit to Plasticville, U.S.A. (with periods) during your next vacation?
Monday, 13 August 2012
The lavender I mentioned the other day…still with a lovely scent. And still reminds me of my grandmother’s flower garden.
A while back I decided I needed to do something I could perpetuate indefinitely about my physical health (well, all of my health, but focusing on that piece), and shortly after that I invested in a Fitbit*. It’s a high-tech pedometer (not GPS), and best for someone doing the 10K-steps-per-day thing, rather than wanting an accurate distance measurement—manual mapping on Google Earth rocks for that. (Fitbit cloud software records more than steps, but I’m currently focusing on steps, and general daily “effort.”)
Now, that’s me! The Fitbit approach is appropriate for how out of shape I am, and I’m liking it (both for the metrics and the mild, private incentivizing). As long as I do a walk of around 45 minutes, I can make the 10K mark most days.
* I got my Fitbit at REI, so I will get the member rebate next year; otherwise the gizmo is, let’s face it, overpriced.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Protect those tomatoes! The rodentia are soooo aggressive!
And, after a lull in the pace of ripening, we’re getting another round of the yellow pear tomatoes. Hope these neighbors are enjoying their fruits (themselves).