Thursday, 21 August 2014
At some point in the distant, dreamy past, I decided I’d love to live where I had a second-floor porch with REAL columns, overlooking a shaded street. Today I enjoyed such vicariously, for a few exceptional, delicious hours. Note the egg-and-dart detail accompanying the iconic Ionic column-top, a conventional and lovely pairing.
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Industrial scenes can be a thing apart at night compared with the dusty ho-humness they evoke in the light of day.
Dark-cam = Sony DSC-RX100 Mark III. DPReview here, if you’re interested.
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
In a rain-lull, I headed out to get a few shots of droplets on the vegetation. When I discovered that it wasn’t even spitting, I kept wandering. I eventually got down to the lake—and saw Baldy again! Same dead snag on the point…. Of the droplet photos, I thought this one best for this venue, better than rosy apples, asparagus fronds, and the like (apologies, WD). I see an insect is there that I missed when I was focusing on raindrops and focal points, and keeping my feet from getting soaked.
Monday, 18 August 2014
If today had been sunnier…(this was yesterday).
Sunshine eluded us today, and after midday we enjoyed (??) precip.
Most of the time, I’m a fan of precip. In moderation…. Today I could groove on it…listening to the pitter-patter on the roof, and watching out the window….
This evening, we wrangled the kitchen’s leftovers…not the usual leftovers, but merely those foodstuffs already purchased but not yet consumed…into a dinner to share with friends…. I called it pot-roast-noodle casserole, and in Peg Bracken style, I gussied it up with bacon and mushrooms (but not, shiver, any creamed canned soup), served it with stellar (yet simple) apps and dessert, accompanied by some fine red wines…and, pfft, fine fine fine!
* Not the usual social-science core-periphery, but the gustatory version, with a core of roast beef, and a periphery of…whatever else I thought could fit into an orchestral accompaniment, gastronomically.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
I hear voices down by the lake, and I know from experience they might be in a boat passing by (most likely), or they might have decided to use OUR beach*.
I fumble for my sunglasses and head down. No voices anymore. Probably they were from a passing boat or a fishing adventure far out on the lake, and the breeze carried the voices in.
Still, who can pass up a visit to the beach?
I look around, step out on the dock. The water is lightly lapping. I hear a squawky bird noise. Out there on what’s left of the dead birch on the point (several branches from last year are no longer framed against the sky), I see that voice.
Our shoreline hunter-visitor, the bald eagle!!
Like me, a tad annoyed by an interloper. S/he took flight over the lake, and looped around me, continuing along the shoreline, now silent.
* Have I told this story? I can’t remember. Once, a long time ago, my grandmother’s friend’s sister was on the beach, OUR beach, and some folks pulled up in a motorboat, and asked, is this a public beach? Assured no, they left. When the story was retold, Hope’s sister (can’t remember her name…why??), said, “do we look public???” (She moved to Pinehurst NC in her retirement/widowhood, and volunteered during the big golf tournament there; she was quite the character….)
Saturday, 16 August 2014
[Raided (with permission), the gardener-gatherer-hunter’s garden for peas, picking about a quart of pods…which produced a bit more than a half-cup of peas.]
I noticed that pods in this sample tended to contain nine peas, sometimes ten, once eleven, and sometimes eight…and, if they didn’t all make, fewer. Since they’re attached to the sides of the pod alternately, there tended to be four on one side, and five on the other. I did not examine further to see if it tended to be the same side.
Note that fresh peas, as opposed to machine processed, have that extra bit of tissue attached, the bit that joins them to the pod.
Friday, 15 August 2014
Despite the late and cold spring, and even the coolness overnights now, the maize in the neighbors’ garden is approaching ripeness, forcing deployment of the electric fencing to protect the not-yet-ready crop….
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Dill pickle day over at the neighbors. We just watched. Well, I did. The Guru did trouble-shooting on their…connectivity*. [Note the REAL Mason jar!]
* The fine connectivity we had with our me-fi system this spring has given way to less robust service, which the Guru attributes mostly to the leaves on the trees and the increased humidity (if I followed the discussion accurately). Likewise, their satellite dish system is…slowed, I think due to the same variables.
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Oh, that Gitche Gumee is formidable, and continues to maul this wreck. Water levels higher than I’ve seen for some years, I’m pretty sure. We read 57° and 59° as we drove along the shore, with a wind that made it…chilly. But the brilliant sun compensated….
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
The other day, courtesy of our fine fisher-neighbor, we had fishes. Today was loaves. Made with hard white whole wheat, if I’m remembering correctly. By the lovely K. Sad that our visitors are to leave tomorrow. Cold and rainy, like today, is not conducive to beach-time, which was a big part of what they were looking for….