While visiting a client the other day, I had a good laugh reading doormats on my way up and down the stairs in his fifth floor walkup. Apparently a LOT of dogs live in the building - my client has four Chihuahuas himself.
The funniest door mat, which was old and worn and not particularly picturesque, bore this message:
A fragile and very sensitive
big ass dog lives here
I wish I'd had that mat when I had Cid. He was exactly that - a fragile and very sensitive big ass dog. He'll have been gone three years next week. I still miss him.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
be careful what you wish for
I mentioned insufficient rain in my post yesterday. So today it's been raining all day, sometimes just a bit, other times like there's no tomorrow. Very nice. I needed a good rainy day - so did my tomatoes. Yippee!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
first cricket
The first cricket of the year is chirruping outside my window this evening. According to old farmers' tales I learned while in exile in the midwest, that means 90 days from now we'll have our first frost. In my experience, that is actually pretty accurate, give or take a few days.
It's hard to think about frost when I'm still nursing under-watered tomatoes and wishing they would (a) grow big enough to make growing them worthwhile, and (b) ripen before sometime next year. Meanwhile, everyone I know who gardens is inundated with baseball-bat sized zucchini. I went to the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago, and he gave me one to take home, he said he was running out of people to give them to. It's being one of those weird growing seasons. I'm kind of glad I didn't bother to plant zucchini this year.
Now, I'm in no way a gardening fanatic. But I do love fresh tomatoes that have never seen the inside of a grocery store. In my microclimate, across the street from the ocean, cherry tomatoes seem to fare better than larger varieties, though I had a really good crop of Romas a couple of years ago. Problem with cherry tomatoes is, I eat them like fruit, and never get to do anything with them (like cook, or other equally innovative things). I have a similar issue with blueberries, in fact. They are fruit, of course, and I can easily wipe out a pint of them (especially if they are Jersey Blues) in one sitting. So the three pints I bought last weekend didn't last long enough for me to make muffins or pancakes or anything out of them.
Sigh. And then in just 90 days or so, winter will be upon us (ok, so I'm exaggerating, but I'm trying to make a point here), and there won't be any tomatoes except the plastic-tasting grocery store kind, and no blueberries at all. Does that justify guzzling them while they're still here? Darn right it does!
It's hard to think about frost when I'm still nursing under-watered tomatoes and wishing they would (a) grow big enough to make growing them worthwhile, and (b) ripen before sometime next year. Meanwhile, everyone I know who gardens is inundated with baseball-bat sized zucchini. I went to the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago, and he gave me one to take home, he said he was running out of people to give them to. It's being one of those weird growing seasons. I'm kind of glad I didn't bother to plant zucchini this year.
Now, I'm in no way a gardening fanatic. But I do love fresh tomatoes that have never seen the inside of a grocery store. In my microclimate, across the street from the ocean, cherry tomatoes seem to fare better than larger varieties, though I had a really good crop of Romas a couple of years ago. Problem with cherry tomatoes is, I eat them like fruit, and never get to do anything with them (like cook, or other equally innovative things). I have a similar issue with blueberries, in fact. They are fruit, of course, and I can easily wipe out a pint of them (especially if they are Jersey Blues) in one sitting. So the three pints I bought last weekend didn't last long enough for me to make muffins or pancakes or anything out of them.
Sigh. And then in just 90 days or so, winter will be upon us (ok, so I'm exaggerating, but I'm trying to make a point here), and there won't be any tomatoes except the plastic-tasting grocery store kind, and no blueberries at all. Does that justify guzzling them while they're still here? Darn right it does!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Happy (quiet) 4th of July
Quiet around here because we have no fireworks tonite, for the first time since I've lived here. Austerity, or something. Brings the economy closer to home. Red Bank also cancelled their fireworks, which were always a huge party on July 3rd, same reason. No money.
OTOH, it means I don't have to sweep the dust bunnies out from under the bed, since Pablo and I won't need to be hiding down there from the noise. So there's a benefit to be found in even this.
Maybe NY will move their fireworks back to the East River next year, so we can see them from here. At this distance (maybe 25 miles or so), they're nice and quiet. Also, watching miniature (due to the distance) fireworks is sort of amusing. They're cute when they're small, kind of like kittens.
Best fireworks I ever saw (in the amusing category) was once in the town where I used to live, somewhere in the midwest. The wind shifted during the show, and embers started falling on the houses that bordered the park where the community was gathered. So we all got to watch the fire department at work up close and personal when someone's roof caught fire. Bet that was a fun one to explain to the insurance company.
You know, economically we are hurting China by not having fireworks, since most of the stuff seems to be made (and the concept originated) in China. Act local, go global.
OTOH, it means I don't have to sweep the dust bunnies out from under the bed, since Pablo and I won't need to be hiding down there from the noise. So there's a benefit to be found in even this.
Maybe NY will move their fireworks back to the East River next year, so we can see them from here. At this distance (maybe 25 miles or so), they're nice and quiet. Also, watching miniature (due to the distance) fireworks is sort of amusing. They're cute when they're small, kind of like kittens.
Best fireworks I ever saw (in the amusing category) was once in the town where I used to live, somewhere in the midwest. The wind shifted during the show, and embers started falling on the houses that bordered the park where the community was gathered. So we all got to watch the fire department at work up close and personal when someone's roof caught fire. Bet that was a fun one to explain to the insurance company.
You know, economically we are hurting China by not having fireworks, since most of the stuff seems to be made (and the concept originated) in China. Act local, go global.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
More on the water issue
From the Asbury Park Press:
TINTON FALLS — A 40-year-old section of piping that
collapsed Friday at New Jersey American Water Co.’s Swimming River Water
Treatment Plant, prompting a boil-water advisory that lasted until
Monday evening, had been a problem since it was damaged during Tropical
Storm Irene last summer, the company acknowledged.
But
the company and engineers determined after the storm that although it
caused “some damage” to the area, the bridge over the piping was in “no
imminent danger of a collapse,” said spokesman Richard G. Barnes.
The
issue continues to be a focal point even after Monday night’s lifting
of the boil-water advisory for the final four Monmouth County towns:
Aberdeen, Highlands, Holmdel and Middletown. An outdoor water-use ban
remains in effect throughout the county.
While
no cause for Friday’s collapse has been determined, a top county
official said on Monday that it is past due to point a finger at the
water company, which has implemented rate increases three times since
2008. The company, meanwhile, maintains that it has thousands of miles
of piping to upgrade and maintain and, as sections of pipe continued to
be trucked in and installed at the plant, pushed for the focus to remain
on fully restoring services to its customers.
John
P. Curley, director of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, called
into question the company’s commitment to its infrastructure in the
county.
“It is a
disgrace, an absolute disgrace,” Curley said. “Accidents happen, but
when you have a hole in your roof, you fix the hole in the roof.”
The
“hole in the roof”’ in this case is the bridge that collapsed Friday
afternoon, damaging three large pipes: one that takes water from the
reservoir to the plant and two that take water to the distribution
system. Barnes said the company does not know what led to the collapse.
However, Curley said that area of the plant was hit hard by Irene, a
hurricane last August that was downgraded to a tropical storm when it
walloped many towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
“Anybody
that ever rode past that walkway could tell you that it looked like it
was going to fall down,” Curley said. “I’m surprised it didn’t collapse
sooner.”
Tinton Falls Mayor Michael
Skudera said the bridge appeared to be damaged following Irene but,
lacking substantial engineering knowledge, he took the company’s
assurance that its integrity was not compromised.
“I’m
looking forward to seeing what the results (of the investigation) are,
because this should’ve been on their radar,” Skudera said.
Barnes
said it was. At the time of the collapse, the company was gathering
materials to shore up the bridge and reinforce the piping. The plan was
to have the section rebuilt before hurricane season, he said. The
Atlantic Hurricane season this year started on June 1 and lasts through
November, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Skudera
said he was aware that the company had been discussing and planning
fixes to the area, but not aware of details or specific costs. He feels
the fixes could have come sooner.
“I’m very upset about the way this was handled,” he said.
Barnes could not say on Monday how much this sudden fix would cost or where the money would come from.
In
March the freeholders signed a resolution opposing a proposal by the
company to raise rates by more than 15 percent. That large of an
increase, the resolution said, “defies logic, escapes the notice of
those most impacted, and, at best, results in a negotiated rate increase
which adds to the financial burden of ratepayers.”
Curley
said in a signed letter to the state Board of Public Utilities and the
state Division of Rate Council — agencies that have approval of the
water company’s rate proposals — that New Jersey American Water
customers have been subject to a compounded 51 percent rate increase
since 2004, and its 2012 proposal, if approved, “would be devastating.”
The
company announced in May that the BPU approved an increase representing
a $30 million increase in revenues. In the announcement the company
said “the new rates recognize the more than $300 million the company
spent over the past two years to replace and upgrade its complex web of
nearly 9,000 miles of water and sewer mains in order to continue
providing customers with uninterrupted access to high-quality, reliable
water service.”
Barnes
said of that nearly 9,000 miles of piping, about 15 percent is going to
reach 100 years of service by 2020. The bridge and piping that
collapsed Friday was put into service in 1971.
It
was unclear on Monday what agencies would be investigating the cause of
the collapse. J. Gregory Reinert, a spokesman for the Board of Public
Utilities, said the BPU will be “in the review of what went wrong and we
will be involved with that for a long time.”
Meanwhile, testing to ensure the temporary replacement pipes are properly working continues.
Karen
Fell, assistant director of water supply operations at the state
Department of Environmental Protection, stressed that conservation
efforts throughout the county are imperative to helping maintain the
integrity of the water system until the area of the system is fully
repaired.
“It will probably be months before they get their fix in,” she said.
What I'd like to know is exactly where this 100 years of service portion of the system might be? From what I've learned in 15 years of living here and talking to longer term residents, most of the county didn't get "city water" until sometime in the 1970s (when it was forced on them). That, on my calculator, is substantially less than 100 years ago. Though the older parts of the system, if they are not a myth, are probably in better condition than the stuff built in the 70s. People knew how to build things to last, 100 years ago.
And how do we take our earned discount on our water bills while they're farting around trying not to fix this mess? Can I deduct the market value of the tomatoes that will die in my backyard because I could get arrested if I water them? How about the reduction in the market value of my home because all the landscaping is going to die from not being properly watered? What about the fines from the town for harboring weeds? Weeds are all that will grow here if there is no water to feed the grass.
Most of this is political bullshit designed to force the public utilities commission to ok any amount of rate increase these greedy bastards would like to get. And with the support of the idiot governator, no doubt water bills around here will triple once this hits the rate base. Added to the fact that when people use less of a utility the rates have to go up, since there are fewer billable units over which to spread the costs of service. Bottom line is, we're screwed.
Pass the tequila, por favor.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Water, water everywhere...
...but you'd better not drink it without bringing it to a rolling boil for one minute first. Welcome to Monmouth County, NJ, the newest member of the Third World. Since yesterday, we have had no potable water, and periodically have just a dribble coming out of the faucet when you bother to turn it on. I'm generally not bothering.
Seems a shaky part of the infrastructure broke, taking out water service to most of the county. This piece of piping, or at least the structure that supports it (a wooden bridge, if you can believe that), had been damaged by (hurricane or tropical storm, depending on who you talk to) Irene last August. Apparently NJ American Water used bubblegum and baling wire to fix that damage, so now when it's 90-something degrees out, the thing collapsed entirely, taking the water supply out with it.
What's with the utilities around here? Is it this bad in other parts of the US? How about the rest of the world? Do they all wait to maintain anything until a catastrophic failure occurs?
I remember when I first moved to this area, I wanted to get a new electric line dropped from the pole to my house, because the old one was frayed and didn't look like it could withstand a strong wind gust (which we have all the time). The electric company told me they wouldn't do it, they were waiting for "the big one" (meaning a hurricane or equivalent storm) to take everything down, then they would replace what broke.
Looks like the water company practices the same policy.
Meanwhile, I am sure the company's executives have had astronomical pay raises and bonuses every year, and I know our water rates keep going up and up with no end in sight. They recently made the water undrinkable in any event, by changing the chemicals they use to make it potable. So now what used to be good water is close to unpalatable. I guess the next logical step was this debacle.
When I was out doing errands this morning I checked out one of the sites where the county is giving out bottled water for free to anyone who says they live in the affected areas. The line wasn't too long (yet), but it was very early. I got my free case of bottled water, one per customer, and wondered what someone with a large family might do, send every family member to wait in line in a separate vehicle so they could get multiples? At least they gave out bottled water, we weren't required to bring our own containers. I can imagine the local residents with their Mercedes' and Porsches loaded with empty jugs, going for a fill-up.
I assume NJ American Water is paying for the handouts. I sure hope so, though I wouldn't be surprised if Shop Rite, whose label is on the bottles and whose truck and personnel are at least in part manning the local line, was footing the bill. Shop Rite is good people.
A lot of people were buying a lot of water at Shop Rite, too. Good for Shop Rite, they'll make some extra sales this week. Like a blizzard warning, always good for business. I imagine beer sales ought to be good as well. Not just the holiday upcoming, but a man-made disaster to boot. We're tough here in Jersey, we'll drink our way out of this mess.
Seems a shaky part of the infrastructure broke, taking out water service to most of the county. This piece of piping, or at least the structure that supports it (a wooden bridge, if you can believe that), had been damaged by (hurricane or tropical storm, depending on who you talk to) Irene last August. Apparently NJ American Water used bubblegum and baling wire to fix that damage, so now when it's 90-something degrees out, the thing collapsed entirely, taking the water supply out with it.
What's with the utilities around here? Is it this bad in other parts of the US? How about the rest of the world? Do they all wait to maintain anything until a catastrophic failure occurs?
I remember when I first moved to this area, I wanted to get a new electric line dropped from the pole to my house, because the old one was frayed and didn't look like it could withstand a strong wind gust (which we have all the time). The electric company told me they wouldn't do it, they were waiting for "the big one" (meaning a hurricane or equivalent storm) to take everything down, then they would replace what broke.
Looks like the water company practices the same policy.
Meanwhile, I am sure the company's executives have had astronomical pay raises and bonuses every year, and I know our water rates keep going up and up with no end in sight. They recently made the water undrinkable in any event, by changing the chemicals they use to make it potable. So now what used to be good water is close to unpalatable. I guess the next logical step was this debacle.
When I was out doing errands this morning I checked out one of the sites where the county is giving out bottled water for free to anyone who says they live in the affected areas. The line wasn't too long (yet), but it was very early. I got my free case of bottled water, one per customer, and wondered what someone with a large family might do, send every family member to wait in line in a separate vehicle so they could get multiples? At least they gave out bottled water, we weren't required to bring our own containers. I can imagine the local residents with their Mercedes' and Porsches loaded with empty jugs, going for a fill-up.
I assume NJ American Water is paying for the handouts. I sure hope so, though I wouldn't be surprised if Shop Rite, whose label is on the bottles and whose truck and personnel are at least in part manning the local line, was footing the bill. Shop Rite is good people.
A lot of people were buying a lot of water at Shop Rite, too. Good for Shop Rite, they'll make some extra sales this week. Like a blizzard warning, always good for business. I imagine beer sales ought to be good as well. Not just the holiday upcoming, but a man-made disaster to boot. We're tough here in Jersey, we'll drink our way out of this mess.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Giving thanks
Third day of the heat wave on the east coast, and I'm here listening to and watching a rollicking good thunderstorm which (a) chased everyone off the beach, (b) dropped a little rain - so far - on my parched tomato plants, and (c) sounds as though it started a fire somewhere on the other side of the bridge, there is emergency equipment still rolling fifteen minutes after the alarm went out. That's not so unusual, actually, the emergency personnel around here generally have so little to do they jump at any opportunity to suit up and go to an event, whatever that event might be.
So it got me to thinking, some days it isn't all that bad to live at the beach. The entertainment is free - I got to watch people run like heck to their cars when the thunder started sounding serious. I got to hear a couple of guys exclaiming about a sting ray they saw in the water - and I'm pretty sure they weren't referring to an old Corvette.
The interruptions can be irritating, like the fact that the power went out about five minutes ago (between the last paragraph and this one), but thanks to some sort of switch that resets itself most of the time, we're back online already. Some days technology is pretty cool.
So, where was I? Hmmm. At any rate, the power coming back on seems to have stimulated the rain to do more, so maybe the plants will get a good drink after all. Among the new additions to my yard this spring, I have four day lilies that were just planted on Sunday, a hydrangea, and a butterfly bush. Tomatoes are an annual labor around here, some years more successful than others. This year's tomatoes are courtesy of Alice, one of my best train buddies, which is another thing I was thinking about today, before the power blipped.
I wonder if train buddies are specific to the North Jersey Coast Line, or if they happen elsewhere? I can see reasons they might be specific to our line, we have the longest run in the NJ Transit system, and I see a lot of the same people every day, some of them in both directions. Over time there develops a bit of espirit du corps (some days we really need it), and sometimes we even trade names, and even better, get to be friends. We say hello to each other when we cross paths in places other than the train or one station or the other, and sometimes socialize or help each other out. Another of my train buddies, Jeff, came home with me the other evening to help put the air conditioner in my bedroom window, since it was going to be in the 90s and I hadn't even thought of getting the unit set up last time I had someone with muscles here to lift it for me. I think that's awesome, to help out someone you barely know, just because you "conversate" (a NJT coined word - as in, if you are seated in a quiet car and wish to conversate, please move to a different car) on the train some mornings.
So I think I'm counting train buddies as one of the things to be thankful for, and yes, it is a part of living at the beach. If I didn't live here, I wouldn't be riding the train with such nice people.
Other things to be thankful for, which are definitely a part of living at the beach, include my lunch today (and dinner the last two days), which I was enjoying before the thunderstorm arrived. One of my neighbors stopped by the other evening with a large baggie of crabs, cooked and cleaned and ready to eat. Crabs are probably my favorite food on the planet, and it's awesome to be handed a sack of them, free of charge. Even better to not need to spend the rest of the night, after getting home from work after 8.00, cooking and cleaning them. And what bliss to park myself at the table and enjoy the zen of eating crabs, poking and sucking every last bit of meat out of the shells, and especially on a Friday afternoon, when I ought to be in the city working!
Another thing to be thankful for is neighbors like the people next door to my Mother, who sent over freshly caught fish this morning - I think it's stripped bass - and also as needed babysit Pablo. Pablo, if you haven't visited here before, is my Chihuahua, who was so melted this morning he hopped in the car to go spend the afternoon with Grandma, who has the a/c on. Here's how he looked before she came for him:
He couldn't decide if the floor in my office was cooler than the tile floor in the bathroom, so he was going back and forth between them, splatting out on one floor or the other. I always thought Mexicans liked hot weather? A friend of mine who grew up in Mexico loves hot weather. Maybe Pablo is really part Husky, or something.
So, the storm has passed thru, it's somewhat cooler now, though still pretty humid, and gee, there goes the thunder again....but the birds are back to their singing - there's a colony of mocking birds here, and they make the most glorious racket at all times of the day or night. The bird with the most songs gets the girls, you know. I think it was Alvin Ailey who said that's not noise, it's part of the music of life. Hard as it is some days, I'm trying to think that way, too.
So it got me to thinking, some days it isn't all that bad to live at the beach. The entertainment is free - I got to watch people run like heck to their cars when the thunder started sounding serious. I got to hear a couple of guys exclaiming about a sting ray they saw in the water - and I'm pretty sure they weren't referring to an old Corvette.
The interruptions can be irritating, like the fact that the power went out about five minutes ago (between the last paragraph and this one), but thanks to some sort of switch that resets itself most of the time, we're back online already. Some days technology is pretty cool.
So, where was I? Hmmm. At any rate, the power coming back on seems to have stimulated the rain to do more, so maybe the plants will get a good drink after all. Among the new additions to my yard this spring, I have four day lilies that were just planted on Sunday, a hydrangea, and a butterfly bush. Tomatoes are an annual labor around here, some years more successful than others. This year's tomatoes are courtesy of Alice, one of my best train buddies, which is another thing I was thinking about today, before the power blipped.
I wonder if train buddies are specific to the North Jersey Coast Line, or if they happen elsewhere? I can see reasons they might be specific to our line, we have the longest run in the NJ Transit system, and I see a lot of the same people every day, some of them in both directions. Over time there develops a bit of espirit du corps (some days we really need it), and sometimes we even trade names, and even better, get to be friends. We say hello to each other when we cross paths in places other than the train or one station or the other, and sometimes socialize or help each other out. Another of my train buddies, Jeff, came home with me the other evening to help put the air conditioner in my bedroom window, since it was going to be in the 90s and I hadn't even thought of getting the unit set up last time I had someone with muscles here to lift it for me. I think that's awesome, to help out someone you barely know, just because you "conversate" (a NJT coined word - as in, if you are seated in a quiet car and wish to conversate, please move to a different car) on the train some mornings.
So I think I'm counting train buddies as one of the things to be thankful for, and yes, it is a part of living at the beach. If I didn't live here, I wouldn't be riding the train with such nice people.
Other things to be thankful for, which are definitely a part of living at the beach, include my lunch today (and dinner the last two days), which I was enjoying before the thunderstorm arrived. One of my neighbors stopped by the other evening with a large baggie of crabs, cooked and cleaned and ready to eat. Crabs are probably my favorite food on the planet, and it's awesome to be handed a sack of them, free of charge. Even better to not need to spend the rest of the night, after getting home from work after 8.00, cooking and cleaning them. And what bliss to park myself at the table and enjoy the zen of eating crabs, poking and sucking every last bit of meat out of the shells, and especially on a Friday afternoon, when I ought to be in the city working!
Another thing to be thankful for is neighbors like the people next door to my Mother, who sent over freshly caught fish this morning - I think it's stripped bass - and also as needed babysit Pablo. Pablo, if you haven't visited here before, is my Chihuahua, who was so melted this morning he hopped in the car to go spend the afternoon with Grandma, who has the a/c on. Here's how he looked before she came for him:
He couldn't decide if the floor in my office was cooler than the tile floor in the bathroom, so he was going back and forth between them, splatting out on one floor or the other. I always thought Mexicans liked hot weather? A friend of mine who grew up in Mexico loves hot weather. Maybe Pablo is really part Husky, or something.
So, the storm has passed thru, it's somewhat cooler now, though still pretty humid, and gee, there goes the thunder again....but the birds are back to their singing - there's a colony of mocking birds here, and they make the most glorious racket at all times of the day or night. The bird with the most songs gets the girls, you know. I think it was Alvin Ailey who said that's not noise, it's part of the music of life. Hard as it is some days, I'm trying to think that way, too.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Yesterday
A picture from our afternoon/early evening walk yesterday. I like the "painterly" sky, and I'm impressed the phone actually did a decent job of recording it. Of course, it looks like a lot of newer houses do - too many different "features" used at the same time. I'm not a cloud-name expert, but it seems it might have been better to just have the white ones that look brushed on, without the passing thunderstorms (those dark blue-grey masses) cluttering up the view. But that's how the weather has been the last week or two. If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes, it'll change.
The light on the rocks and beach grass is a product of the sun peeking out from under one of those thunder clouds.
The changeable weather has two results that I've observed. One, more people get to go to the beach. With a very limited number of parking spaces available, the number of people who can find a place to park to go to the beach is also limited. The weather contributes by making the personnel turn over more quickly than it ordinarily would. It's sort of like the tables at a restaurant. When one group of people finishes eating, the next group can be seated and fed. With the beach, one group of people gets rained on or hears thunder, and leaves quickly. The weather gets bad for its allotted five minutes, then the sun comes out again, and a new crew takes to the beach. We've been having three or four turns per day lately, where normally the same people who arrive in the morning don't leave until it's time for supper.
The other oddness created by the weird weather is an unseasonable flowering of our Montauk Daisies. Normally these plants are green all summer, and only bloom once fall arrives, so we have full flowering from the end of September thru the first hard frost, late October or so. Not this year. We've got flowers already, and it's only June. So while the roses are in full bloom, the Montauks are joining them. It will be interesting to see what happens in the fall. Maybe we really are turning into California.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
A view of...what????
I was going to title this a view from the bridge. Except we weren't really on the bridge, we were waiting for the Morgan bridge to close so the train could proceed. I'll never understand why a train, which runs on a schedule (for the most part) would need to wait for a bridge (which has no particular schedule) to open for river traffic then close and maybe if we're lucky lock back in place. Which is besides the point, at the moment.
Then I considered calling it a view of the bridge - with the human eye, even with my glasses which badly need to be updated, prescription-wise, I could see the Verrazano Narrows Bridge from where we sat - but you really can't see the bridge, in the picture. Cameras (especially ones in phones) do that, sometimes - totally miss the point.
What you can see in the picture (maybe, with a microscope) is Raritan Bay, with Staten Island to the left (the tree-covered edge on the top left), some kind of tanker either incoming or outgoing (white blotch on the green edge), sitting and waiting for the tide, and someone's modest sailboat (aka a hole in the water into which one pours money, white wedge towards the right of the picture) just hanging out. The train was a double decker, and I was sitting on the lower deck, where I really don't prefer to sit, but that accounts for the relatively low perspective.
Interesting? Not particularly. But the lack of visual stimuli gives one the opportunity or excuse to sleep on the train, which the woman sitting next to me was doing, Kindle on her lap. Which caused me to start feeling trapped, by this stage of the trip. Which is not a nice feeling.
Now, just south (or east?) of the Morgan is a wetland, and continuing on an outbound (from NY) heading, one passes into a relatively wooded area with houses and such along the tracks. As the train came out of the wetland, I saw a youngish looking deer at the side of the tracks, and it ran alongside the train for a while, till we picked up speed and left it behind. That was pretty neat, and in my opinion, worth staying awake to see.
Monday, May 14, 2012
ambiguity
I find it annoying when someone can't make up their mind, but this one takes the cake:
The bright colors caught my eye yesterday in Foggy Bottom. I particularly like the blue, which I can see relates to trust, or is a trust-worthy color. I don't particularly relate to orange as a color, unless it's included in a palette of fall shades, gold and orange and scarlet and brown, like a stand of trees after a light frost. But orange representing doubt is new to me. Considering it is a "hot" color in fashion this year (or so I am told), even more odd (to my way of thinking) it should be associated with doubt.
But the real question is, what is the message here, or is there any message at all? This is a front yard of one of those cool little townhouses I've always liked, and it is a new installation, it wasn't there last time I was in the neighborhood. The pavers are new, too. Nice little courtyard. Nice to have a place to sit, it's a pretty block, lots of cool little townhouses and lovely gardens with traditional garden gates and such. If I had piles of money and a reason to live in DC, this is likely a neighborhood I might choose to live in.
So, back to the question. If I sit on the blue bench, am I trusting? What does that say about someone who sits on the orange?
And the other question. Why are the benches next to each other? Reminds me of a waiting room, or a train station. I would rather see them across from each other, but not too far apart, or better, at right angles to one another, forming an outdoor conversation nook. That to me would be inviting, in spite of the orange and that word punched out of the backrest.
Then I would also need flowers in ceramic pots, with all different colors there. And maybe a small table to put your iced tea on while watching the world go by. And a way to put your feet up after a long day at the rat race.
I'm not too picky, am I? I doubt it.
The bright colors caught my eye yesterday in Foggy Bottom. I particularly like the blue, which I can see relates to trust, or is a trust-worthy color. I don't particularly relate to orange as a color, unless it's included in a palette of fall shades, gold and orange and scarlet and brown, like a stand of trees after a light frost. But orange representing doubt is new to me. Considering it is a "hot" color in fashion this year (or so I am told), even more odd (to my way of thinking) it should be associated with doubt.
But the real question is, what is the message here, or is there any message at all? This is a front yard of one of those cool little townhouses I've always liked, and it is a new installation, it wasn't there last time I was in the neighborhood. The pavers are new, too. Nice little courtyard. Nice to have a place to sit, it's a pretty block, lots of cool little townhouses and lovely gardens with traditional garden gates and such. If I had piles of money and a reason to live in DC, this is likely a neighborhood I might choose to live in.
So, back to the question. If I sit on the blue bench, am I trusting? What does that say about someone who sits on the orange?
And the other question. Why are the benches next to each other? Reminds me of a waiting room, or a train station. I would rather see them across from each other, but not too far apart, or better, at right angles to one another, forming an outdoor conversation nook. That to me would be inviting, in spite of the orange and that word punched out of the backrest.
Then I would also need flowers in ceramic pots, with all different colors there. And maybe a small table to put your iced tea on while watching the world go by. And a way to put your feet up after a long day at the rat race.
I'm not too picky, am I? I doubt it.
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