Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Finally, around 3:30 this afternoon, the overcast began to lift and blue skies appear.
Was this to celebrate the third load of laundry of the day? (Geeze, I hope not!) I did them in and around thinking about Mesoamerican archaeoastronomy….
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Today has been so overcast that the outdoors seems like it just quit raining, although it hasn’t really rained since the dark hours. Droplets still cling to vegetation, signs, vehicles—no significant evaporation under these conditions!
In the meantime, I’m trying to track down a good bread machine recipe that uses lots of flax (aka linseed) meal, which is high in omega-3s and fiber, yet tastes good. Historically, flax was a darned important plant in the Old World, for both food and fiber (linen* is flax-thread cloth).
* A bit of etymology: lingerie is from the French linge, referring to washable linen clothing, thus undergarments.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
The lichens and mosses are very happy to soak up our winter rains.
We walked to the Saturday organic farmer’s market (with real farmers, even if they use hydroponics and greenhouses) this morning, and I lost count of the houses we passed with “for sale” signs in front of them….
The common technical term for this kind of market is the (weekly—or similar; periodicity varies) periodic market. They concentrate marketing, and are perfect if the vendors or buyers have to invest considerable travel time to reach the marketplace. Traditional market systems feature periodic markets, which allow vendors to be part-time or small-scale. In areas where most market activity is conducted at periodic markets, the market day rotates among major communities/market locations across a region.
Personally, I think periodic markets are pretty darned interesting when you think about their origins and development…. Bunching up trading is advantageous in multiple ways: e.g., it’s easier to tax by spatially and temporally bunching market activities, it’s safer for participants, it frees everyone for non-market activities (especially production) on the intervening days, it allows different communities to have markets with no simultaneous competitor in the immediate area.
* Apologies; this refers to the Mother Goose nursery rhyme: “To market, to market, to buy a fat pig…“.
Monday, 29 December 2008
There’s lots going on here, including reflections, but what I see is that the window is remarkably filthy, smudged, and filmed.
Sigh. The downside of the low-angle winter sun….
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Honestly, this picture is from today; sorry for the iPhone non-focus….
Atlanta’s in one of those weather quirks that happen every now and then. The high today was almost 70°. What a contrast to the white winter we saw earlier this week in the Midwest!
Friday, 19 December 2008
Hey, let’s not do that again soon: drive to Michigan and return on days when major snowstorms are striking.
Last night we hit the road after dinner, and made it south of the freeze zone (and south of Cincinnati, too, because travel there can be, well, frustrating), figuring ice was even more likely to impede our progress than heavy snowfall. Probably an excellent bet….
We returned to ATL under grey skies, but before dark. All well here, except our water was mysteriously off; we suspect vandalism—our bill is paid!
* Here’s the whole nursery rhyme….
Thursday, 18 December 2008
I find the dry snow skittering across the road rather mesmerizing, like watching a wood-fire crackle. This is not a good thing when you’re driving, but it can help you take a right-seat nap!
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
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.
Friday, 12 December 2008
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.