Musings

Rainy evening cleared overnight, so we have a full barrel, yet no dry plants, and darned little growth this time of the year. The downspout was still dripping, hence the active distortion.

Our big event was that we drove to the nearest county library, which has a true, lovely reading room. Note the air cleaner tower, right, by the newspaper desk. I picked up a Louise Penny and an Anne Hillerman (daughter of…) for relaxation, while the Guru was getting us some moving picture entertainment using their sorta fast connection.

Taking advantage of the gorgeous day, I walked late, including along the edge of this christmas tree forest (lots of quiet shade away from the road). The orange flags are new, and I assume they indicate that these generously sized spruces are going on a trip this year.

Posted at 7:31 PM | Comments Off on Sunny sun sun

I tried to make a transportation theme for the day, and it could have worked except for this photo. And I had to include it because: proof of sun…when I walked this morning. Still: breezy and cold-ish, but some sun. Oh, yay.

Sometime after noon, or I guess 1pm, we decided that the afternoon probably would have windy, cold-ish, and no sun, so we’d head to A Small City for errands, groceries, and…a bite to eat. We discussed the options, west, southwest, and east, and their pros and cons, and decided on east: that is, Sault Ste. Marie.

For our final stop, a burger, we headed to Clyde’s, duh. Closed for the season. Oh, no. But we did get to see a school bus on the Sugar Island Ferry adjacent to Clyde’s parking lot…through heavy fog.

However, this summer, Newberry friends extolled the virtues of West Pier, which they prefer to Clyde’s. And it was open! For two more whole days! Lucky us—our first visit could happen. Excellent burgers, but no bison version, which is what we order at Clyde’s. This is how you broaden your horizons, folks.

And from West Pier, we had a great view of The Bridge to a Foreign Land, although traffic counts are miniscule with the border closed to all non-essential traffic. Also, we listened to the CBC as we left SSM, and heard all about their nationwide average of 80% of adults fully vaxxed, yet also too-full hospitals in rural areas in Alberta and Saskatchewan (if I remember correctly). However, a large stadium is expected to be packed for a hockey match this weekend. So, Canadians also…well, I’ll just stop there.

Posted at 8:09 PM | 1 Comment »

That is, here we are on the first day of autumn, and look at those leaves…a metric for the season-change?

Posted at 7:57 PM | Comments Off on Maple measurement

So much individuality in these little free libraries. This is a brand new one, been around perhaps a week, at least in this location. [Note: individuality NOT personality.]

And, once again, an insect photo-bombs a flower photo. As they do.

Posted at 8:09 PM | 1 Comment »

This is not far from yesterday’s Tree of Refuge, and the parking zone (official? I do not think so) is at the bottom of a moderate hill…and the rain/deluge made the rides into a big blue metal pile. Abandoned property?

I think the slight haziness is my fault…a smear on the lens.

I was surprised to see that a cloud obscured some of the buildings…I thought it was clear, clear, clear.

This was after I cleaned the lens.

Posted at 8:33 PM | Comments Off on Plugging along

We still have a few bills we have to pay in an addressed envelope with a stamp and the appropriate bells and whistles. Seems “so last century.”

“So last century” is a Guru phrase. Patented?

Posted at 9:21 PM | Comments Off on Today chore

I had to look this beauty up (as in: trigger my iNaturalist app). I thought surprise lily-ish, but not quite. And it isn’t quite.

It’s a Lycoris species, native to a big swath of Asia, as far west as Iran. One of its nicknames here in the south is hurricane lily, as it blooms during…wait for it: hurricane season.

Posted at 6:42 PM | Comments Off on Learn-something Friday

In Joshua Rothman’s “Thinking it Through” (New Yorker, Aug 23rd), I came across the term motivated reasoning. He writes that it’s when your gut tells you what to think and your mind then figures out how to think it (paraphrasing).

Earlier on the Gail/Anthony/Tony show, I had seen a clip of a woman at the mic at a school board meeting on mask-wearing by attending children, who declared, “Science is not facts.”

Sounds like motivated reasoning.

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Decorated, decorative wall. Turquoise…lichen?

Simple ID: red red red hibiscus.

Posted at 8:06 PM | Comments Off on Closeup milieu

Wandering the neighborhood, I saw far more parent-children walkers than normal. Then I got to the firehouse and saw they were having an open house. And it made sense.

Even with the low overcast.

Had to include this spiral gardenia. Smelled terrific.

Posted at 9:41 PM | Comments Off on Open house