Wednesday, 1 March 2023
Today. No precip, and no skyscraper tops.
In contrast: this was yesterday. The long view….
And, back to Monday, here’s another clue as to the bench removal from another bench in the same park. This suggests that the wooden slats are failing (rotten), and that’s why benches were removed. However, why not take this bench, too? Was the truck full? Were they out of replacement slots? The mystery continues.
Monday, 27 February 2023
This is today’s biggest tale of intrigue (in my limited, personal experience). I spotted two guys at the edge of a city park with battery-powered drills removing the whatever to allow a bench to pull free from bolts embedded in concrete footings. Further along, I spotted this guy wheeling a different bench away. None of the guys wore any logos or uniforms of city employees. What was the deal? I dunno. Too many homeless using the benches? Too many nannies with tired feet resting with strollers of sleeping tots? Too many dogs urinating on the legs of the benches?
Friday, 24 February 2023
Every once in a while, my dear friend KW offers little one-act plays, based on an experience du jour, on her daily blog. I thought I’d give it a try.
Setting: I’m walking west in a residential area, down a slight slope, toward a complex junction, with many stop signs to keep things safe. And no sidewalks.
The action: Coming toward me is a white Land Rover. I watch the driver slow a bit, and roll through two stop signs perhaps six car-lengths apart, then continue motoring toward me.
I decide to move to the center of the road, and wave my arms. I was ready to jump out of the way if the driver kept coming at me. But, he did slow and roll down the right window to ask…
Can I help you?
I just watched you blow through two stop signs!
I know. I live in this neighborhood. I’m in a hurry.
And: Hey…I live here, too! At least he stopped, took a reasonable tone of voice, acknowledged his behavior, and didn’t get angry. And still: he ran two stop signs. Yes, no other traffic, but but but.
And a Pretty while you negotiate the crowds and exit down the aisle. 🤣
Also, that isn’t the vehicle in the play, if you haven’t figured it out.
Thursday, 23 February 2023
Here’s a flower with a common name that corresponds to the scientific name—the genus. It’s alyssum. This eliminates one of the problems of common names…that they aren’t as “exact” as scientific names.
Except…
…in this case, the flower has been reclassified by the taxonomists, and it’s no longer in the Alyssum genus. It’s now Lobularia maritima. Yay science.
Thursday, 16 February 2023
Back when we were on the road, I captured this image of our road-stained vehicle, rimed with slush-melt blotches and all types of grime. And salt.
Then, a new day…today…
…and an hour at the car wash, with the two of us vacuuming, polishing interior windows, and, especially, brush-mopping the exterior. Then, we rode through the proper automated car wash…and discovered in the process that the cheapest cleaning option has jumped from $4 to $8. Still a good deal, I’d say.
Tuesday, 14 February 2023
I heard the breaking news from MSU right before I went to bed last night…made and makes me sad. Personally, during my MSU years, I spent very little time on that part of campus. I daresay that decades later, my spouse spent far more time in the Student Union than I ever did; he was using the internet. For work.
For our fancy ❤️-appropriate dessert, we comparison-tasted two mint-chocolate chip ice creams: Breyers and Tillamook. I enjoyed both. I thought the chocolate, the mint, and the ice cream…all were tastier in the Breyers. I would be happy consuming the Tillamook, however, if the Breyers wasn’t available. [I’ve had several other brands…typically not minty enough, and with wimpier chocolate.]
Sunday, 5 February 2023
We can call this a great river, at least within its region. It’s the Huron, in southeastern Michigan.
And this is two Great Lakes cleaved by a great bridge…Michigan on the left and Huron on the right, and we’re on the Mackinac Bridge. There’s no Mackinac Lake that I recall.
Snow is drifting across our road. For us, it’s a great road, but you’d probably think it’s just an almost two lane gravel road. We have a lake, over the hill in the distance, and it’s big, and grand, but not—technically—great.
Sunday, 29 January 2023
IMHO, four small apartments with rehabbed interiors and exteriors are still four small apartments. Someone is rehabbing the buildings in this complex very slowly, one building at a time. I do not know why they decided to keep the building footprints just as they are.
However, I am glad these units (which must have relatively modest rents compared to nearby single family homes) are in the neighborhood.
Tuesday, 17 January 2023
The setting of the book is Cyprus (and London)…so our hostess chose a Greek theme, which overlaps the many cuisines of neighboring regions that make similar goodies. The name you use indicates your allegiance to which area. Language tells your ethnicity, essentially. On modern Cyprus, it’s either Turkish or Greek.
Monday, 16 January 2023
Dramatic sculpture. Simple concept. Well executed. A curved steel sheet with a cutout-outline, bent at a slightly different angle. Harder to describe than to contemplate.
Sculptor: Xavier Medina Campeny (b. 1943). Title: Homenaje a Martin Luther King. The sculptor is Spanish, from Barcelona. The piece was a gift from the 1992 Summer Olympics host city (yes, Barcelona) to Atlanta, the host of the next Summer Olympics, in 1996. [If Wikipeeee is correct.]