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Monthly Archives: February 2009

The science of soundscapes

The sounds that go with this: the quiet sound of falling rain, a distant dove, a bird chirping in the woods Right now I hear: The sound of a light rain pattering on the roof of the travel trailer, and a dove calling in the distance. That’s it. When I first moved to San Francisco […]

Looks like a late spring

A baby day lily Young daffodils It has been an uncommonly cold winter, with an overall low of 2.3F, plus many nights with a low below 15F. There also was too little rain this winter. A nice spring rain fell today, and the temperature reached 55, but more cold weather lies ahead, with forecast highs […]

So the New York Times confirms my guess…

New York Times: A Los Angeles neighborhood where the creative class wiped out It looks like I beat the New York Times by two days on this trend. The Times has a story today about the retreat of the creative class: The deep recession, with its lost jobs and falling home values nationwide, poses another […]

Which is scarier, the city or the woods?

Yes, that’s scary… (Arthur Rackham, Hansel and Gretel) Is this scary, or inviting? … (Anne Anderson) This is not too scary… (Dover Publications) The chart is very scary! For years, I have had a recurring dream. Something has gone wrong with the world, and there is danger. In the dream, I am traveling through the […]

Lunching out in Southern France by Anivid.

In France we still have midi, or siesta – meaning shops and offices closed from noon to e.g. 2 p.m. during workdays. A lot of people are using the time for having lunch together in a nearby restaurant. We chose a restaurant which is also a shop, selling bread, wine and specialties. Every morning when […]

The deck's all done

Though it was not part of the original plan, it became clear that it was necessary to shelter the back doors (they’re double doors) with a small porch roof. Water coming off the roof was falling too close to the door. It’s just a short distance from the deck to the woods on the downhill […]

House update

The fireplace was lit up today. Home is where the fireplace is. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve had a fireplace, so I find that very exciting, even though it burns gas and not wood. To not have a wood fireplace was a pretty easy decision, though. For one, I could not afford a […]

Local sweets

By far, the most royal of all the local sweets is the sourwood honey from the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s a light-colored honey, delicate and floral. There must be rules about what can and cannot be properly called sourwood honey. Though the honey in the photo above is not labeled “sourwood,” the color and flavor […]

The dropouts: Who will they be this time?

Tintern Abbey in Wales [Wikipedia] I realize that there’s a long tradition of making facile comparisons to one’s own time and the fall of Rome. Still… From History of Rome, Michael Grant, Scribners, 1978: “In the vain hope, then, of keeping their armies in the field, the imperial authorities ruined the poor and alienated the […]

House update

The railing and steps for the rear deck were added today. Tomorrow, we’re adding a roof out over the deck door. It will extend a bit more than three feet out over the deck. This is to shelter the deck door, which is a double door, and to keep water from the roof’s rear valley […]