Bumble rumble
Tuesday, 5 May 2015
This is a rhododendron, although the individual blooms in the clusters look a lot like azalea blooms. Apparently, the anther count varies.
Musings
Architectural transitions
Monday, 30 March 2015
I walked past the neighbors’ house, and it was a pile of rubble. I think it was felled this morning. I knew this was coming….
Instead of giving you a photo of the slightly depressing hill of random building material, I present this sweet little pastel playhouse.
Fine-grained details
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Drayton Hall, c. 1750 (but for over a century believed to date a decade earlier), mantel detail.
We visited the American version of the English version of Classical Greek/Roman decorative arts. Not sure what mythical moment this is honoring, maybe…let’s look at flowers because it’s really cold out…thankfully sunny, but still cold.
A little chemistry and political economy…. In the depression that followed the Civil…umhem, War between the States, an economic downturn that lasted for about six decades in the Charleston (SC) area, savvy landholders benefitted from mining calcium phosphate along the Ashley River and nearby (upstream of Charleston). The calcium phosphate was processed to make particularly rich agricultural fertilizer. By the 1880s, the phosphate from this field dominated world production. But it didn’t last long…new fields discovered in Florida were easier to mine, and there were other market shifts.
Enough of this…sleep tight.
For better breeze-catching
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
This “side porch” is officially a two-story piazza here in Charleston SC.
Hinged gate in a stone wall
Monday, 16 February 2015
I really liked that the post for the right side of this gate was a turned newel post, painted the same red, and also flaking grey. I also liked the construction method for this wall, with different techniques used for various sections. The part had large stones and little mortar. To the left, the wall was sloppy with drooping layers of fairly fine-grained concrete and smaller, flatter stones. All portions had about the same amount of floral encrustations.
We found this flower, an anemone, elsewhere…after dark.
Out, about
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Such a gorgeous warm and sunny day…we are so lucky! This “palm” “waves” over the water area (not turned on yet) of the playground in the upper H4WP.
BeltLine report: PACKed.
Livin’ the dream
Friday, 6 February 2015
Neighborhood decoration…(only one shown).
Isn’t this the homeowner dream? A pair of giant concrete finials on posts flanking their driveway?
Surprised me
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
We did a wee bit of price comparison today, between Target and Walmart…didn’t plan to, it just happened that way. Final score for four grocery-type items, 50–50—no clear winner.
Folly fragment
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
As old as this wall fragment looks, it’s in front of a house that’s something less than two decades old—and a replacement for an older home. Speaking of that phenomenon, I know of a dozen homes within a mile of this house that are being replaced right now—a mini construction boom of McMansions…so much for designation as an historic neighborhood based on architectural consistency….
Strong core muscles
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
One of three skate-pits (bowls?) in the Historic Fourth Ward Skatepark, Atlanta.
Lately, I’ve found myself drawn twice in the last week to the skatepark that’s adjacent to the section of the Beltline within my traipsing zone.
I timed my photo to not include the four guys that were practicing on the upper surface (not the pit), finessing flipping the board underfoot as they were airborne, by how they jumped up off the skateboard. Looked very difficult to me.
Me, I’m working on the trudging thing, accumulating those Fitbit steps. Today was a mosey day, with steps and, as it turned out, no “active minutes” (sigh). Still, I feel rather cleansed, even if I am certain that I could never get the jump-up-skateboard-flip thing down (in part because my abdominal/trunk muscles just don’t have that level of strength and coordination, and I sincerely doubt if they ever will).