Tuesday, 16 June 2020
This one’s obvious. And red.
Here’s a duck family social distancing. Or maybe together-ing.
And me social distancing, by heading off to the right to avoid the slip-stream of these folks. In fact, the whole way up the west side of the lake I happily did not encounter another person, and thus I had to do no slipstream countermeasures. I’m thinking that’s a good name for a band [“Slipstream Countermeasures, on stage Friday…in 2021”]…perhaps too long?
Monday, 15 June 2020
I know this as butterfly weed. But I didn’t trust my recollection, so I searched the database of digital knowledge. Turns out: yup. And it’s in the milkweed genus…more evidence of my boundless ignorance.
Best part: the butterfly sunglasses.
Saturday, 13 June 2020
And…2020 is almost half over. Still 2020, however.
Not new.
Not new at all.
For grins: today’s botanical photo is of rounded decorative leaves. No blooms, blossoms, or flowers.
Friday, 12 June 2020
Near as I can tell, the “Be Kind” was purposefully added right next to the security sign. Strange juxtaposition.
Kinda like these times.
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Rain overnight. Plants need the precip. I needed the change in weather. Cooler! I heard that last year at this time, ATL had had 20 days at 90°F and above—this year, zero. I walked in high 70°s…and was very happy.
I worry about “Vehicles towed…” signs that do not also say WHERE!…or at least give a [functioning] phone number. Gorgeous two-story columns do not balance my worries.
Delicate mushroom. Had to include a plant kingdom photo. Ooops. No longer plant kingdom—fungi kingdom. ([cranky voice] What! Oh. Fungi kingdom was proposed in 1969. I learned the kingdoms back when fungi were plants. [So there.] 😜 )
Tuesday, 9 June 2020
I headed out on my walk thinking my body was adjusting to early-mid Deep South summer after being in mid-spring northern Midwest, and I was darned lucky that it was overcast. Humid, but no bright sun.
A man’s voice penetrated my distraction. He told me about a lost dog, a small golden retriever. Phone number on collar. I said I’d call if I saw her. I rounded the next corner and saw a woman carrying a…yup, small golden. Which was not tiny; I’d say smallish medium-sized. I said, “you found her!” “Yes,” she said, “she was sitting at the end of a driveway.” All’s well.
Not so happy second story. Voting is a real mess in this state, or at least in this city.
We were lucky that we received our absentee ballots. They were long. About half judges, at all governmental levels. Took us both quite a bit of study to work through all the options.
Then we set off with our properly (I sure hope) packaged ballots to drop them in a ballot box toward downtown. While we were there long enough for me to drop ours off, we saw six other parties dropping off ballots. That’s a steady flow, considering it took me less than a minute to walk across three lanes, a wide sidewalk, and up a gentle half-flight of steps, push them through the door, then return. That’s a big pile of absentee ballots, and there were at least a half-dozen other absentee drop-off stations in this county.
For grins (as the saying goes), we returned home by two polls…. Both had long snaking lines, at least a half-mile, I estimated. Social distancing had collapsed somewhat…huge numbers of people. Lots of reasons for the problems, beginning with long ballots, brand new machines, and inexperienced poll workers. Afternoon showers I’m sure did not help things. I will not speculate on the role of incompetence, or the potential for malevolence masquerading as incompetence in the poll problems.
Photo themes: color graduation (small changes…you get it); parting of the plant (separations in wholes); and the sign for an Atlanta institution, the Sweet Auburn Curb Market (local name for the market; WikiPee details that the Municipal Market sign is a replica.
Monday, 8 June 2020
Some important aspects of the landscape are invisible to most of us. This farm is not terribly far from a major border between catchment basins. Behind me is the Tennessee River Valley—that water flows into the Mississippi River, while the south side, this side, flows into the Coosa and then the Alabama. Both end up in the Gulf, albeit via different routes. Not readily apparent while touring the countryside.
At home, we found the wee basil plants—”regular” Genovese and Thai—are doing well. They need water, but some are already going to seed. Gotta snip those when I water!
Perhaps the biggest news: we do not have to wait in line to vote in person tomorrow; our absentee ballots did indeed arrive while we were gone (they should have come before we left; love bureaucracy 😉 ).
Sunday, 7 June 2020
Ah, well, if the dandelions are going to seed, it must be time to hit the road.
Time to leave behind this first phase of the Cow Parsnip Eradication Program. I have no doubt I’ll be scouting for survivors on my next visit.
I admit that I find the regularities and irregularities of patterns in nature soothing.
Now that I’m soothed, it’s time to look at the headlines and read a few paragraphs of news stories…see what’s happened while we’ve been ticking away the miles.
Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Just thinking about multiple collectives failing me/us/we/ourselves/them/everyone…but in a distant, nothing-I-can-do-about-it, so…shrug…way. Trying to be zen.
A collective action problem…is a situation in which all individuals would be better off cooperating but fail to do so because of conflicting interests between individuals that discourage joint action.
So professes WikiPee.
Monday, 18 May 2020
I checked my fave weather app at 7am (ish) and it said to expect rain (and lightning) by 11am. I checked later, and it indicated not until 1pm. It was 11:20 by the time I hit the street and…looking up, hmm, weather-y, but not so bad. Then, a few drops. I wisely had stayed close enough to the house that I looped myself in the back door and acquired a big umbrella, thanks to a hand-off from the Guru.
Twenty minutes later, I figured I was in the clear, but within two more minutes, the drizzle was kicking in. Mr. Personal-Putting-Green (see entry perhaps a month ago) had his flag out. In the rain. Got my blood pressure up. I took a photo and kept going.
Of course, by the time I was in the final stretch the weather had clinched the deal and I was super-glad I had the umbrella. Or my walk would have been gloobered up. (See Kayakwoman for this vocabulary.)