Musings

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)

We made a bread run this morning, and encountered a weekend project underway. This wasn’t pruning or mowing. It involved a “tree.” A techno-fix to a communications tree. That’s one tall crane!

Posted at 8:16 PM | Comments Off on Update?

Word is GoogleeFiber will be turned on soon—sometime in the next two years, maybe? In the meantime, crews are busy threading fiber beneath intersections, and periodically stopping traffic in the meantime.

The orange ginger blossoms have been joined by white…and the scent is lovely, right up there with gardenias.

Posted at 8:45 PM | Comments Off on Post-Ides of Aug

My temporary carefully engineered friends—a knurled knob with a light-up dial…

And here’s an unlit horizontal dial.

Not sure exactly what the second machine is for…it wasn’t used on me, just kept me company in a darkened room.

We also voted! Wooo-hooo, a run-off election!—our opportunity to break four near-ties on a hot July day….

Did you guess I got my eyes dilated in a medical situation? I’m still a bit “big-eyed.”

Posted at 6:35 PM | Comments Off on Of knurled knobs and ocular health

FanMan struck here, too! Perfect when temps get up to the mid-90s day after day. Yes, we are first-world people and have AC, but humid 96 is…whew. Moving forward with a bit of redecorating…stay tuned for tomorrow….

Posted at 9:23 PM | Comments Off on FanMan II

#TheGuru transformed himself into #HomeHandiman and installed this ceiling fan on the front porch (that is, the part of the house with windows and facing the lake). I added the low hanging pull-chain. See, I was helpful!

Of course, this was a day that was cool—meaning the heat wasn’t pocketing fiercely under the porch-eaves, making installation easier—and the need for air-movement reduced. Quirk of fate.

It was not only cooler, but we had two modest sessions of rain. This one included enough wind that moisture came in the open panels (too late closing them) and pooled beneath the west windows. Another homeowner problem to be solved? Or just towel and go….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

These rarities are situational. Temps in the 60s, even the high 60s are unusual these days. Sooooo glad to have it to walk this morning. Temps will rise into the 90s the rest of the week (summer?), so overnight likely won’t get this cool again for a while.

When parsley blooms, this is what it looks like. Pretty, no? Usually it’s picked before this stage, or most of us don’t even bother to grow it, as it bolts so quickly.

Posted at 7:10 PM | Comments Off on Rarities

I came around a corner on my neighborhood wander and was eyeball to…whatever with a giant orange roll of tubing. The Guru says this will carry Giggle (not its real name) fiber. Wonder when they’ll turn it on.

Posted at 8:30 PM | Comments Off on Progress is orange

This is the smallest dishwasher I remember seeing (largest interior dimension maybe 1ft). We did not use it.

I learned another new French word: Bronzage. It does not mean Bronze Age, but bronzed/bronzing, as in changing the color of your skin (as in tanning place).

We took the bus and not the train to the airport, which we had not done before. Thus, we saw neighborhoods we’d only tunneled beneath before. Gambling anyone?

We had a pretty darned good view of Paris as we climbed away from the earth. That’s the Eiffel Tower “above” and back from the oblique white “doughnut” stadium in the right half of the photo. You can see the Seine next to it….

Wonder of wonders, the flight was not full (not at all), and the flight attendants were a bit giddy (or maybe not), offering two bottles of bourbon when I asked for liquor. Why not?

We are home safely and all is well. What’s next, you may ask…laundry, I’d say, being prosaic…but not until tomorrow….

Posted at 9:16 PM | 1 Comment »

Meet Marianne. She’s the personification of the Republic of France, and the visual anchor of Paris’s Place de la République. In particular, she represents the dissolution of the monarchy and the installation of the republic. Power to the people (more or less). A female figure representing liberty goes back to the later 1700s, and became a widely used icon with the 1789 storming of the Bastille, a prison and symbol of royal authority in central Paris.

This is not far from the neighborhood of the blown-up nightclub, etc., and it has been and continues to be a place of political statements and demonstrations.

Below Marianne and still above eye level is an oversized lion guarding a ballot-box. More République. Today he had golden tears.

And, on the surface at knee level, many candles and living and plastic/fabric flowers and plants. The topics addressed in word and picture range around the world.

We chose the Musée des Arts et Métiers for today’s brain teaser. It is a museum of industrial design including models of large, complex things (steel furnace), and smaller complicated mechanical items (measuring devices). They sent us to the attic to work our way through the galleries and descend…. Loved the open beams there….

1713 double horizontal sundial.

1825 clock, close-up of upper section.

Bobbins on a mechanical weaving machine.

Detailed diorama of the building of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.

We descended a final staircase, very fancy, marble, wide, and highly decorated. Above us, curators have installed Clément Ader’s Avion/Éole III (1897), with the form modeled on a bat, with feather-shaped propellors. It crashed on its first attempt at flight, and was restored in the 1980s. It does look rather like a modular bat.

Through a hallway of transportation (this is a Peugeot), we headed for the Chapel of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, a part of what once was the second-most important priory in France, and now within the museum complex. Most of the complex was removed during the Revolution.

The “front” of the church is empty, very interesting, with a pendulum slowly moving, showing the earth’s revolutions.

The bulk of the church-space has exhibits, which include a small engineering wonder—stairs and glass exhibit-floors extending four stories (or so) up. While I had some trepidation about the height, I was glad to get so close to the stained glass panels.

This museum—industrial design from start to finish….

Posted at 12:00 PM | Comments Off on Industrial design + old church