Musings

Today could easily have two (obvious) headlines.

The first would indicate that the powers that be reopened the interstate (actually, last night), and we drove through in glorious sunshine and fine road conditions. (Whew!) Despite the bone-chilling temp.

Finally, we descended to the level of and met up with the Columbia, which is a major and navigable river even this far inland—thanks to a dam/lock system and terrific water flow. The tug is burning some diesel to push those barges upstream against considerable current. Note Mt Hood poking above the cloud layers in the far left (“above” the power plant).

Traffic crossing the river between Washington and Oregon is also substantial. Note another tug-and-barges just upstream from the railroad bridge also plowing against the current. Note that the snow is persisting at elevation on the tree-free round-crested peaks. Still, it’s MUCH warmer at river level as we continue westward.

Here’s the second headline: A new car!

Edited out of this photo is how filthy old-Prius was from crossing the pass. The sand they put down was fine (so it stuck) and very dark—dramatically ugly on a white car. Soooo. Well, that’s not really the reason…but we nabbed a Prius Prime on our way down the Columbia. It’s metallic grey outside and black that looks almost very dark grey inside. Its EPA estimate is quite high because it is not only gas-battery like the old one, but it also has a 25mi range in plug-in electric miles. This means it can be electric for doing around-town errands, but it’s still suitable for driving long distances…like from sea to sea (or similar).

We are so pumped.

Posted at 11:13 PM | 1 Comment »

Went out for a short wander in the mixed overcast—not smelling smoke today (have I gotten accustomed to it?). Took the fish-eye gadget. Nothing original here, but you sometimes have to try things yourself.

I call this Rose’s World. Exposure is wonky, but the composition has promise.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Round world

The lack of rainfall means the leaves have stayed fluffy for weeks.

Here’s the same scene with a new fisheye gizmo the Guru found that clips on over the phone lens.

I took the two shots hours apart, hence the different light.

Posted at 7:05 PM | Comments Off on Table, chairs—twice

Of course, the headline is that this is election day. Or at least, it’s the day the polls close. And the predictive polls become irrelevant (when the vote-counts come in). We voted in mid-morning. We got in line, and had finished voting 40 minutes later. Nice weather. Lots of faces turned down toward smart phones…. [BTW, keep electioneering and guns away from the polling place.]

If you want to think about something else, here’s a control panel from a (an electric?) bus we saw on Sunday…designed back when the paradigm was to have knobs carefully identical in form and spacing, and black commonly predominated. Graphic designers have made headway with engineers in the intervening years, and the repeated sameness largely has disappeared….

Posted at 7:10 PM | Comments Off on Vote-count day

We took a Sunday drive to the mountains to check the leaves and get out of Big A-Town. On the way up, we talked about how super-dry our autumn has become, and remembered that there have been forest fires in the mountains. I thought NC; the Guru said GA. Here’s the smokey evidence, and, yes, there are fires west of here in Georgia. That tree line and ridge are not far away. And, peeuwww.

Although many historic homesites have been abandoned, I think the number of standing structures has decreased over the last decade. This, then, is a bit of an outlier. That looks like a relatively narrow staircase inside the front door. [See how dry the grass is?]

Then we stopped at a train museum—even heard a whistle blow (not on this locomotive, however).

The Guru gifted me with this photo for a visual reminder of this morning’s time change…. Different world, catching the train for long-distance travel….

Walked through several dining and sleeping cars, even the Pullman car that Warren Harding used for a post-Presidency trip to the West Coast. After his untimely death in San Francisco, it carried his casket back to Washington DC. We were told that they had to remove a window to slide it into the lounge into the rear of the car.

No picture of Harding’s Pullman, but here’s the side of a Milk Tank Car. Don’t see those anymore. This pre-plastic jugs….

Posted at 6:24 PM | Comments Off on (Smoky) Blue Ridge Mountains

I have no touch bar*; I offer flowers instead. Lantana.

Zinnia.

* The new round of high-end Apple laptops debuted today, and have a touch bar instead of a row of function keys. It changes depending on what you’re doing and is taptic. Sounds like a step forward to me. I also wonder if the company is meaning that fancy laptops will be the most powerful machines they offer—not desktops….

Posted at 6:18 PM | Comments Off on No drinks at the new bar

Still grooving on the white ginger flower-clusters.

Asymmetry isn’t always apparent…as with these lights. Mostly we don’t look up and notice such details.

Okay, not a total report….

Posted at 5:49 PM | Comments Off on Friday report

Pure Harley, I’d call it. Loved the copper-colored plate frame in contrast to all the chrome and silver-grey metals of the bike.

Our fine neighbors heat all winter with wood. This stack is like a wall next to the garden. By the next planting time, it won’t cast a shadow at all. The passage of time….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Pure

Blues’ residence.

That’s a line from Walter Moseley, one super-special word-artist. The phrase is from “Charcoal Joe” (2016), which I read immediately after “Rose Gold” (2014). Evocative is only an approximation of the experience.

I’m extra-literary today(?!), reading Mosely and watching the incomparable Newman, Woodward, Hoffman, and many more in “Empire Falls” (only the first half; don’t give it away!). Loving Amazon Prime.

Posted at 11:32 PM | Comments Off on Collecting bits

We watched the Apple presentation today—a test of our consumerism levels.

I tried to get fired up about the new version of the watch (which I thought I might want prior to learning the details), but couldn’t quite see how I’d benefit/enjoy commensurate with the investment. Plus, I can’t figure out if I could wear it on the inside of my wrist…which I think I’d prefer.

For about fifteen minutes I got fired up about the new camera…umhem…phone. But by far the more interesting camera is on the oversized (and more expensive) model, and that seems just a bit finger-spanning for my hands.

The upshot is we had a passing spell of consumer lust, and are now quite happy with our still-fancy (not merely serviceable) older models (even without the faster chips they now rock).

Oh, and we’re going to start seeing the cordless bluetooth ear-pods (technically AirPods; I heard ear-pods; amazing what you can discover by searching the internet/written word) in the drifts of human detritus. At $159 PLUS TAX the pair. Just not going to be easy to keep track of them…and the presentation seemed to suggest that they may not tolerate exercising (bouncing about)…. A bunch of reasons to just use the lightning adapter for the 20th-C-style earbuds, etc.

Still, I had fun watching the show, credit card safely packed away even now, hours later.

Posted at 6:10 PM | Comments Off on (parens)