road to hell

Had a party for Sophie. Emma and Helen came over, walked the 'hood. Happiness is numbers for Soph, in a pack and roaming.

Broccoli, bread and burgers for dinner.

It's a serious undertaking, sponsoring creatures in the world.

birthday

Sophie is six years old today.

day of rest

Lorraine

infill

I am thankful that there are locations in town off limits to the "infill development" marketeers.
Imagine the advertising copy:

Talented young builders with extensive experience with fine woodworking and craftsmanship are interested in building you a home. It begins on this open green with southern exposure and views to Monticello. Get in on the groundfloor of these new homes to be built in '06! The style and details will be defined by you!

teach your children

There's an article today in the Post about the evil dad who taught his son how to cock an evil gun. The youngster (8 years old) borrows the dad's gun, takes it to day-care and shoots another child (non-fatally thank goodness).

My dad taught me how to load and fire a gun when I was young. What I didn't have was an incessant chorus of TV, game and music media lauding the virtues of shooting other humans. The culture was not yet bankrupt.

Maybe sending my children out to play in the gravel wasn't such a bad thing?

tiny houses

In March 2004 Cities Ranked and Rated listed Charlottesville VA as the best place in the US to live.

The ranking was questionable but with the announcement damage was done.

Boomtown!

The greed on display in this region now is staggering, breath-taking.

My neighborhood, the red-headed step-child of local planners, is taking a beating.
This has been a low density rural neighborhood since the establishment of the woolen mill village in 1830.

Currently, within 100 yards of my house, two developers hope to build 40 units. The units don't serve the neighborhood's needs, they don't reflect the neighborhood structure. The proposed growth is cancerous in nature.

Cash in the chips.

dreaming of summer

Winter is my season.

water dog

day of rest

Rivanna River, Church of the Blue Dome

storms

The text that follows has nothing to do with the picture above.
The youngster above is the child of a friend.
Carson's expression captures how I feel today.

Two young gentlemen on bicycles came down the street and broke windows in three cars, mine included.
Called the police. The responding officer, while filling out the incident report commented that he couldn't live on this corner, too noisy, too much cut through traffic.

NIMBY

Met with two of the idealistic developers yesterday. We value our neighborhood's rural feel and history (this was a mill village for 130 years). They value the fact that they found a cheap lot.

The developers hope to drop down some new urbanism, squeeze in a "pocket neighborhood" and maybe clear a half million.

screw eden

The developers are more organized than the developed, screwing Eden is their job.

In times of trouble my neighborhood responds. We open the doors of our houses, we gather. We formulate, we act.
It takes dramatic trouble to provoke the neighborhood's immune response.
Lesser trouble gains entry unnoticed.
We sleep and eat and go to work unperturbed as non resident developers make plans to harvest the green space in our neighborhood.
It's the American way.
Noticing what you have once it is gone.

straight line

U.S. homeless capital

...as a percentage of population.
Homelessness comes to mind because E&H slept under a bridge last night.

day of rest

Church of the Blue Dome, enough of the Sand Religions

Texas

Emma and Helen crossed the Sabine River yesterday.

west of I-95

Much of west Florida is owned by St. Joe.

Panhandle

In 1975 me and Jimmy biked across Florida, most of it. Broke down in Holmes County. It was summer, very hot. The Chief of Police was worried about us. He in his cruiser, windows rolled up. We on foot. No bicycle riders breaking down in his town. He followed us, escorted us at 3 mph, to the West edge of Bonifay.

Taylor County

Smurfit-Stone, Fenholloway River, Rt 27, Foley, Florida

Lafayette County

Rt 27, downtown Mayo

Suwannee County

east of the Suwannee Pit, Branford, FL, Rt 129

day of rest

RT 27, High Springs, FL

ELC ME AKES

I love

"Guess it was inevitable that Bill Emory would succumb to using pictures of babies and dogs. Must be your newspapering ethic influencing your photo selection."

Should I be complimented or offended?
My first song and dance, as a teenager, was existential angst. We didn't cut or self mutilate back then, we talked about IT.
Hey- I am an old guy now, I can do an imitation of existential angst, I can do an imitation of social concern, but overall what you'll get from me is a song of thanks and joy.

Wait wait- we'll let Tom T. Hall step in and finish this one off:

I love little baby ducks, old pickup trucks
Slow-movin' trains and rain
I love little country streams, sleep without dreams

I love leaves in the wind, pictures of my friends
Birds of the world and squirrels
I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups
Bourbon in a glass and grass

I love honest, open smiles, kisses from a child
Tomatoes on the vine and onions
I love winners when they cry, losers when they cry
Music when it's good and life
And I love you, too

new dog 2

Jasper demonstrated his fighting form this morning, had Sophie on the floor and screaming. Rings a lot of bells with me, books I read as a child where the wolf dogs whip up on the Labrador types.
It can't happen again, shouldn't need to if the dog diplomatic rules are in effect.
Sophie should have a gut understanding that Jasper is death in a dog suit.

new dog

blackbird has a new dog attempting to fill Irene's space, a great big siberian husky, came with the name jasper, spca dog. sophia busy beating jasper down, he is a year old, has no idea of his size and power. sophie will be seven this month, she is playing old dog poker, the bluff. establish dominance.
still away from my negatives and unable to access digital camera data. the picture of the greyhound an unlinked image that was lying around on my server. the photos are smaller because I am using blogger's upload function.

NNE

pictures of pecan groves in sea-fog. drove 500 miles north. my computer is down, first MacIntosh hardware failure in nine years