Musings

I learned a new concept today: quietism. I got it from my personal demigod Paul Krugman. Without the label (and the overtones and philosophical thrust given in the WikiPee definition), I have been practicing (a version of) it. News-radio/TV silence. Contemplative time spent with fiction.

Also, gentle hamstring stretches. The latter are part of my program to not go through the knee thing again. I won’t know how things are going to shake down until maybe January, when the cortisone shot is due to wear off. In the meantime, I’m stretching parts of my legs, and strengthening others. I am guided by my lovely, talented neighbor, trained in the Feldenkrais method, massage, and traditional physical therapy, and with years of experience.

Meanwhile, we’re getting caught up on “Survivor” (the TV series—a reality show that can be conceived of as a version of fiction).

Posted at 7:21 PM | Comments Off on Survivor time

I remembered this editorial from “The State News,” the student newspaper of Michigan State University, after Nixon was reelected. It was a full page of black, with these three words in the center. The Guru helped me find (a digital copy of) it; indeed…the editorial page from 9 Nov 1972.

This captures my mood. [Apologies to those near and dear to me who don’t agree with these sentiments.]

I was going to post this photo and mention change…the smell of smoke here at our house that now comes and goes (from wildfires to the north in GA and NC); the autumnal introduction of the feather duvet in recognition of the (finally) arrival of cold weather; the adjustment to the “fall back”…you get the idea. But, with the above editorial…, I’ll just bow out….

In the interests of moderating myself, I’ll restrain my impulses and just say, MPence_scares_me.

Posted at 9:08 PM | 1 Comment »

Of course, the headline is that this is election day. Or at least, it’s the day the polls close. And the predictive polls become irrelevant (when the vote-counts come in). We voted in mid-morning. We got in line, and had finished voting 40 minutes later. Nice weather. Lots of faces turned down toward smart phones…. [BTW, keep electioneering and guns away from the polling place.]

If you want to think about something else, here’s a control panel from a (an electric?) bus we saw on Sunday…designed back when the paradigm was to have knobs carefully identical in form and spacing, and black commonly predominated. Graphic designers have made headway with engineers in the intervening years, and the repeated sameness largely has disappeared….

Posted at 7:10 PM | Comments Off on Vote-count day

Today, I present a showy, pretty-pink gerber daisy…

…and a laid-back neutral grass seed-head display.

Hmmm. Is this a metaphor for my day? Bright floral moments interspersed with beige seedy times? Too literal? Too contemplative?

Posted at 5:39 PM | Comments Off on Autumnal diversity

We took a Sunday drive to the mountains to check the leaves and get out of Big A-Town. On the way up, we talked about how super-dry our autumn has become, and remembered that there have been forest fires in the mountains. I thought NC; the Guru said GA. Here’s the smokey evidence, and, yes, there are fires west of here in Georgia. That tree line and ridge are not far away. And, peeuwww.

Although many historic homesites have been abandoned, I think the number of standing structures has decreased over the last decade. This, then, is a bit of an outlier. That looks like a relatively narrow staircase inside the front door. [See how dry the grass is?]

Then we stopped at a train museum—even heard a whistle blow (not on this locomotive, however).

The Guru gifted me with this photo for a visual reminder of this morning’s time change…. Different world, catching the train for long-distance travel….

Walked through several dining and sleeping cars, even the Pullman car that Warren Harding used for a post-Presidency trip to the West Coast. After his untimely death in San Francisco, it carried his casket back to Washington DC. We were told that they had to remove a window to slide it into the lounge into the rear of the car.

No picture of Harding’s Pullman, but here’s the side of a Milk Tank Car. Don’t see those anymore. This pre-plastic jugs….

Posted at 6:24 PM | Comments Off on (Smoky) Blue Ridge Mountains

The other day I meant to tell a mail-order delivery story. I ordered an item from Amazon. We are Prime people, so two-day delivery. On the appointed day we were out all afternoon, and JCB remembered to check the front step well after dark (delivery was supposed to be by 8pm), and no package. Amazon’s webpage indicated it had been left in a “safe place.” He checked under leaves and behind bushes. No package.

So he called. Short story is that the delivery was to be accomplished by Amazon, not brown, not USPS. And the delivery person drove our package back to the distribution center (out of laziness? obstinance?), but marked it delivered in the computer. Sooooo.

Our package was delivered a day late and we get a refund. BUT, Amazon, if that is the new Amazon way, NOT GOOD.

Posted at 8:39 PM | Comments Off on And not nice.

WF@WF. Yes, whole fishies at WhoolFoods (in the newly revealed remodeled WF in ATL Midtown…). Something like that.

That, and after eight out of the last nine days have had record-breaking highs. Sigh. Let’s move on. (I could have cranked the contrast, etc., but this is more similar to my eyes’ take on this ray of sunshine….)

Posted at 10:13 PM | Comments Off on Eyeballing…

Many of the Chihuly pieces have been removed. The garish holiday lightshow is being installed. Maize? Ladybugs? Sheesh. [I could not bring myself to photograph them.]

I do like the glass that remains in the Japanese garden, above, and the Sibley fountain….

Too much glass art? Here’s MaNachur’s work…sandstone, I suspect.

Posted at 7:19 PM | Comments Off on Arty shapes

Sunset through our shower window, hence the slight distortion (modesty, you know)…a fiery sky after a series of hot days…cooler temps ahead.

Posted at 7:47 PM | Comments Off on Vivid sunset

During the day, I had several ideas about what to write tonight.

However, right at the moment, I merely present distinctively yellow-to-greenish-yellow leaves from the backyard (aka garden). I think they’re basswood. They’ll turn shades of unappetizing brown within a week, I suspect.

Posted at 8:53 PM | Comments Off on B-word (transform) basswood