Saturday, 25 July 2015
I slept in (as it happens), and we went for the urban exercise option instead of my usual dawn-time excursion (pant sweat sweat). This is a reflection. All of it. Strikingly clear.
This on a day when it went up to ONLY 89°F.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Archaeologists use the term activity area for places where people do the same activities over and over. Think of kitchens…. Many types of activities have obvious and easily recognized suites of artifacts and features.
The upper photo features a front porch, a place for a wide variety of activities such as relaxing, child play, and perhaps shelling peas. This is a new porch, added to the house this spring…and it matches…nice. The second photo shows evidence of lots of ball-play. Look at all the different colors of balls! More relaxation activities….
Saturday, 18 July 2015
I couldn’t choose.
I rather like the “life” in the sprinkler-cement-rabbit shot. I also like the starkness and angularity of the patio area of the closed burger place.
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Even if you’ve been in this space, you probably don’t recognize it.
This is the entry area of the back porch. Which is the back porch if you think of the side of the cottage facing the water as the front. If, however, you think of the main entry/door as the front, it’s the front porch—there’s only one door to the whole building.
In either case, we’ve added new rugs, indoor/outdoor that can be taken outdoors and hosed off for a serious cleaning. We also brought the long chest in the back right downstairs to make a seating area for shoe removal/replacement. So that’s new to the porch. I love the shade of blue of the box and the oxblood lid. I think my dad (not a woodworker by preference) made it for blanket storage and as a linen closet. It’s been years since we used it that way, however. It IS rodent-proof.
We’ve also begun reorganizing the functional activity areas farther back on the porch. More on that to come.
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Sometimes, in the changing of the guard and the ebb and flow of inhabitants here, there’s no real evidence of change, except the people are gone. Here are watchdog chairs, awaiting the return of their masters. If anthropomorphized.
In contrast to yesterday’s crashing surf, the breeze today came from a different angle, and the dock was, essentially, becalmed. Still, I looked for leeches. None near the lake-edge.
I didn’t go in to look farther (and tempt fate).
Sunday, 28 June 2015
We crossed many bridges today. Uncounted. Including two very large ones.
This is a large free one, with an extremely checkered construction history. The internet indicates that the latest problem has been “bridge bearings.” I wonder what they are.
This one is a toll (not tool) bridge, also high enough that lake freighters can pass beneath safely. This one has not been plagued by construction problems, but during the summer you can assume that one lane (aka carriage-way) each way will be closed to make room for the workers and equipment necessary to repaint exposed metal, including underneath the vehicles.
Unusual in our experience, only two cash toll (not tool) booths were open. There’s now a transponder option, also two lanes, but I didn’t see a single vehicle do that while we were in line. Times change slowly?
Friday, 26 June 2015
Out in the wee hours, with the chipmunks and the robins…I found this plastic fence almost glowing in the streetlight. Turns out the English word picket is from the French piquet, meaning pointed stake. Pike, as in the defensive weapon, is a related word. And the fish is so named for its pointy jaw.
The other day we enjoyed pesto from our Genovese basil. Tonight, we feasted on Thai basil added to Thai curry sauce, hauled home from TJ’s.
These are among the quotidian topics at this ranchero. Meanwhile, the country has moved a bit forward with grieving in Charleston, ending the escapees’ travel plans in NY state, and a(nother) Supreme Court ruling I didn’t expect (feeling very cynical about some members of that bunch; yea! for majority rule).
Thursday, 25 June 2015
When I was taking this picture, I liked the various shapes, rounded and straight, repeated and random, best. When I downloaded it and looked at it “big,” I liked the reflection of the sky best. Now, maybe I like the dark red top of the narrow vase best—and the companion piece back by the fence.
Sunday, 21 June 2015
Spotted this airplane-car with the lovely fender-fairings tucked back in this yard and had to smile—what dynamic design.
Monday, 15 June 2015
One benefit of enduring (embracing) the east-to-west time change is that I’m awake pretty darned early. Given that this week the highs are predicted to be in the mid-90s, early is required for endurable (outdoor) exercise. So, I was out well before the sun brought much light to the sky, and all the night-security lights still lit up…even this venerable bar (aka pub).