Musings

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.

Posted at 7:41 PM | Comments Off on Two stories today

We’ve traveled back into earlier spring. Hello, grape hyacinths!

And rediscovered a Big Bridge!

Hello, Hemlock’s Own Trillium! Been watching for a spring lovely in this exact spot at the foot of this tree for decades.

Posted at 8:00 PM | Comments Off on Oh, exclamation point

We loaded the vehicle without precip, and drove into spitty rain cells for many miles, and then finally out of the rain. Then, north of Cincinnati, we found the Butter Jesus’s christening pond overflowing, with its waters merging with acres of flooded fields. I don’t know if this Replacement Jesus is also called Butter Jesus after its slightly yellow predecessor, but that’s how I think of it.

Later, we got very close to high water. Possibly yesterday we would have had to detour a few miles.

Managed to catch the late-day light/dusk at the county courthouse I rode past twice each schoolday after I finished elementary school and had to go to town for my schooling. [Full confession: I never had to walk to school.]

Finally, out of town we got a good sky view across the flat flat fields. Purdy. [Sarcastic take on local pronunciation.]

Posted at 10:08 PM | Comments Off on On the move

For an unknown reason, I decided to take an exercise selfie with my handkerchief mask. I am NOT adept at selfie-taking. I tried several backgrounds and camera angles.

I found a nice dark tree, then I realized I was hearing an angry or upset bird overhead. I looked around. Upset. I moved on…looks like landscaping straw is the principal nest ingredient.

Several ways to read this…all positive.

I am astounded by this peach. Not much size (like a golf ball plus), but look, it’s blushing.

Built environment still life with plants.

Posted at 7:18 PM | Comments Off on Perils of selfie-taking, no. 47

Unexpected rather non-standard architecture can mean expensive corporate headquarters (Apple “spaceship”) or or or, in this case: a museum. Down in Tacoma, this one.

A glass museum, and under this cone is a large glassblower workshop. We watched three guys create a wine decanter. This fellow did the most advanced stuff, or most complicated work, the body and the fused whole. Two other guys did important pieces, the neck and the handle, created separately. Fascinating.

Of course, the museum had many gorgeous pieces in the galleries, and fun offerings in the gift shop. This is one of the most compelling, with a mirror behind it, just stunning. So complex.

After, we drove north, making the five mile loop (on Five Mile Road) through Point Defiance Park. Highly recommended, especially near sunset. Much like if you go to Marquette, you should also visit Presque Isle Park.

Posted at 12:19 AM | Comments Off on Museum dos

We got to the park and right away spotted this dudette/dude “pecking” along, searching for food, I thought…”looking for a lost contact,” the Guru said knowingly.

Muscovy duck view of a cactus on a monumental planter dating back to an exposition, I think in 1895.

Duck view, if in flight. I was atop the (six-story?) parking garage that drew all kinds of flack when it was proposed, under construction, and first built. Now, as promised, you pretty much can’t see it, even now when the leaves are off. And nobody complains that the parking pressure on the neighborhoods nearby dropped…for a time, although plenty of visitors still cruise the nearby streets for a free spot. C’est la vie. Or is it c’est la view?

Posted at 6:57 PM | Comments Off on Perspective(s)

Lotsa columns.

Half-columns.

No columns at all.

Water feature.

Humorous addition: Dolly and RGB prayer candles.

Posted at 6:49 PM | Comments Off on Architectural columns

I’ve been a bit antsy for several days to get out of town, that is: OTP—outside the perimeter. No rain today, so we scooted. And headed to Russell Cave, owned by these United States, up in far northeast Alabama. This is the view from the cave, used by way-back peoples. Today it was a bit damp, and the creek below had water, but was not in flood.

We took what I thought was a short nature trail; I had it wrong. We went up and up, switchback after switchback. I kept thinking, “I’m glad it’s not wetter; this moss must get slippery!”

With the leaves off, we had some views of Doran’s Cove, the valley below.

And, as we left the cove, we saw a flock of wild turkeys. They were jumpy and headed for the woods when we stopped…only a few stragglers left. Pretty birds, these gals.

Physiographically, this area is Ridge-and-Valley. Here we are heading up the west flank of Lookout Mountain, working our way back toward the ATL. Sun’s out!

The Guru mentioned how great the light angle was, so we headed over to that big mound site just outside Cartersville on the bank of the Etowah (clue there!). The Guru was right; the light was fantastic, and there was some wind, but Droney got the shots. And video (not posted). That line of trees between the plowed field and the grass around the mounds is in a massive ditch—defensive, plus where the fill to build the mounds came from, no?

Posted at 9:32 PM | Comments Off on OTP Saturday

I have tried to embrace the wide-angle mode…mostly I don’t really like the results. This one I do like, however.

And the other side of the same building, albeit from farther away. And not ultra-wide; see, less distortion.

Oh, and a daisy. An overwintering daisy. Sooo weather-tolerant, this kind. Also, not ultra.

Posted at 8:25 PM | 1 Comment »

The former Masquerade club opened in the former DuPre Excelsior Mill (opened 1911) decades ago, and stayed groovy there for 27 years before mixed-use gremlins got the property. That transition has been underway for a while. The other day that rehab project…uhm, fell apart. haha Ooopsy.

Here’s part of a mural on the wall under the bridge between the old Masquerade and the new Kroger.

And this is a reflection on a glass wall bordering a terrace above the Kroger. Not sure why the plastic grass.

From the other end of the terrace, we could see through the legs supporting perhaps six stories of—not sure…office space? apartments? to…Ponce and beyond.

As we returned to the house, I heard sandhills above. Yay! Probably followed a different flyway than those we saw in Texas and New Mexico.

Posted at 6:20 PM | Comments Off on Urban edits