Musings

We arrived yesterday with the snow, not so much a windy snow storm, yet far more than drifting flakes—and enough to make a real accumulation—three, maybe a scant four inches at the house. I had forgotten that a full blanket of fresh snow changes the light when you look across the landscape. And at night, when there’s moonlight, the whole look of the out-of-doors has a surreal quality, a softness and ethereality so different from summer light when the vegetation is full.

Posted at 2:11 PM | Comments Off on Snow light

Today we did like a cable station that JCB designed once: weather and traffic together. Geeze, did we have weather. Spitting snow, creeping vehicles. Oh, fun.

Posted at 9:46 PM | Comments Off on Winter; Midwest; I-75

We’re back from our speedy trip to the Outer Banks (yawn), with many lovely memories. Out of several sobering moments, I retain many visuals of heavy equipment intervening against the dramatic actions of Ma Nature.

Ma is trying to reclaim the land under this old motel, or more accurately, to modify the coastline and make this area beach and sea. Meanwhile, Men and Machines seek to counteract this trend.

Luck, guys.

BTW, I think if people build on the OB and similar places, any financial losses due to weather (e.g., hurricanes, high tides) shouldn’t bounce back in the taxpayers’ lap. Your choice; your risk—and perhaps your bank’s, if it’s willing to lend to you to build in such a place.

Sorry. I’ll stop now.

Posted at 6:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Today wasn’t our first hard frost, but almost. Certainly it’s the first I got outside to record!

I remain amazed that the pansys can survive our winters—and be cheerful about it! (well, wilty until the temps rise).

Trying a new recipe tonight. Chicken (pieces). Roasted. Should be easy. I’ll type it up if it works! (Stay tuned!)

Posted at 5:19 PM | Comments Off on Cold & hot

Rain almost all day has brought down many of the remaining attached leaves. This was yesterday….

Posted at 4:52 PM | 2 Comments »

Thank you for harboring the snow, O Leaf of Liriodendrum tulipifera.

Several worthy topics arose today, but I’m going to confine myself to an easy one.

We saw snow today.

Yes, we were in Georgia. But way north Georgia. At elevations above about 2700 feet, in a few very shady places, we saw a few streaks of grainy, persistent snow. So, winter’s here, or our version, anyway!

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Without a doubt we’re in a deflationary period with few $$ available for loans. Still, some projects underway ahead of this mess are going strong, including several in and around our beloved Piedmont Park. Here, they’re pouring concrete for the revitalized natatorium* (will have wifi!), adjacent to Lake Clara Meer. Up the hill, the Bot Garden (and the Park) are getting a new parking garage that’s supposed to be quite green, vegetated and attractive (it’s still bare cement and rebar right now), although it’s been extremely controversial. And, on the edge of the park, the Piedmont Driving Club (“now in our second century”), is rebuilding a whole wing and redoing its parking area.

On a personal note, it’s windy, so I’ve been jumpy all day….

* Trivia: the TBS program “Adult Swim” was named for a sign on the door of this building, I’m told….

Posted at 4:49 PM | Comments Off on Pouring concrete

Clever how I snapped right when that leaf was falling (just left of center)….

Foggy-morning on our street became spitty rain all day. This was good. Remember, we’re still in a drought around here.

To celebrate the elevated humidity, I began the interior painting that the work the contractor did highlighted needing to be done—in this case the baseboard/trim on the stairs (lots of kneeling and awkward sprawling).

Looks MUCH better!*

* Not surprisingly, with these conditions the house is kinda stinky, even though the paint’s supposed to be “low odor”….

Posted at 5:26 PM | 2 Comments »

Glorious afternoon today, but probably rain in the days to come. In the meantime, feast your eyes on the sky reflecting in Lake Clara Meer. In the foreground, the bald cypress are still attired in most of their leaves (which look like needles; don’t know why they’re not needles, but I’ll take Wikip’s word for it…hmm, I guess needles are just a shape of leaves…).

Posted at 6:24 PM | Comments Off on Reflections x 2

One of the notable things about today: it was rather windy with no hurricanes around. That’s kinda strange for these parts.

I didn’t have any good ideas for illustrating wind, since a tree with leaves flipped over by the breeze doesn’t necessarily look like it’s been affected by a strong airflow. That lead me to think about waves, and I sure have wave pictures. Then I thought I’d like to have a twist on the concept, so, voila!, here’s an original painting done by my grandparents’ friend Harry Surrell in 1966. He was a dentist (I think) in Newberry, and this is our beach, with the big point I remember from my childhood. Now, the beach configuration is somewhat different (last year; the water’s higher this year…), and there are ever so many more houses on the far shore….

Posted at 6:13 PM | Comments Off on Windy, breezy