05.31.05

One of my favorite spots along the Jones Falls. Quite and still, (and coffee is a mere few yards away). The wall is actually along side of the road and shows a centuries worth of flooding scars on its face. It is old and weathered, yet elegant in its years. There is an inner reflective solitude born out of the urban chaos surrounding it which I appreciate.

05.31.05

Post & chain along the Jones Falls. Odd. Not really sure what this was meant to chain or lock up since there was no place for the chain to connect.

05.31.05
Crumbling stone wall along the Jones Falls at Mt. Washington Mill.
Ok, it is wall of an urban stream, in a couple centuries old factory / mill area that has been re-purposed into high-end shops and trendy upper class stores. But it is down the hill from where I live and the only two businesses I frequent here are a commercial chain coffee shop and local ice cream shop. That is the down side. The positive is that my young son and I can go for an after school / after work snack and take a stroll along what has become a urban nature path. He notices how things are growing and changing, chucks a few pebbles in the stream, watches the ducks and is awed by the great blue heron that sometimes walks along with him. So while cars and a parking lot are mere yards away, it is kind of our escape, our place to have a mom & son talk, and place just to stroll away the afternoon as it dwindles to twilight. While not perfect, I'll take.

05.31.05

Graffiti in Mt. Washington Mill. This is actually rather unusual here. While the city itself is buried under a scrawl of unimaginative sprayed tags, the Mt. Washington / Roland Park areas are blissful little upper middle class enclaves where reality seldom applies. Everyone here is perceived as well off, married to a perfect spouse, having amazing children and a storybook life. While the truth and reality are quite different, most do seem to play along on some level. It was kind of nice to see this mark of reality intrude, if only for a week. I was really drawn to this shot the by the levels of contrast. The red & green, the crumbling wall and new grass, and the overtly crass wake-up call in an otherwise serene view.

05.31.05

Stone along the edge of the Jones Falls at Mt. Washington Mill.

05.31.05

Memorial Day Weekend. What would be the start of summer without ice cream? This place is in Mt. Washington Mill where we go for coffee and walks along the stream. For weeks Fuzzhead has waited for it to open. Sylvan Beach makes their own wonderful ice cream and profits go to a good cause. All the more reason to indulge in a cup of sweet goo sitting on their porch. Look them up here www.sylvanbeachfoundation.org for more info.

05.29.05

Mom said yes to the super-soaker! My son poses with his latest gleanings from the Sunday flea market. A $2 super pump action water gun. Lol - look out nothing is now safe.

05.28.05

My attempt at gardening. My entire adult life I have lived in a series of apartments. Oh how my green-thumb itches for a real garden. Instead, I always have a movable garden in an odd collection of pots that I have gathered over the years. Here on the corner of the steps leading into my building I have my favorite gargoyle some ivy and an few marigolds (one of my favorite flowers and they help keep the mosquitoes away).

05.27.05

More coffee. This is another shot taken strolling along the edge of the Jones Falls while my son watches the ducks and I sip coffee. Coffee is kind of my only vise, but it is also my excuse to go for an afternoon walk and just talk with my son.

05.27.05

Ah it must be spring - the rhododendrons are in bloom. This lovely one is right beside the side door of my apartment. I wish I could see it from my window, but no such luck from a 3rd floor walk-up flat.

05.25.05

Back home. Went for coffee over at Mt Washington Mill. The current trend here is to re-purpose old factory buildings for overly trendy shops and high end apartments. The mill here was old a century ago. Originally powered by water, the mill stream is still intact. The commercial coffee house here, S'bucks, at least has a huge backyard and you can go for a stroll along the Jones Falls to watch the ducks and great blue heron.

05.23.05

Buddha of Antiques

05.23.05

The whole "happy family". Yes, the wild-eyed one i the middle is the soon-to-be-ex. We spent the afternoon at some local antiques shop just looking. The wall with all the tin lunch boxes was in the pop culture section.

05.23.05

Annie from the VC. An online friend of mine lived on the military base in Columbus, GA. So I got a afternoon off, away from the soon-to-be-ex-mother-in-law. Nice.

05.22.05

Sister-in-law's back yard. Lush and Georgia tropical.

05.21.05

Cool paper mache dragon at my sister-in-law's house. It actually make a weird noise. Head is a costume mask part, she then made the body out of fabric and paper. My son LOVED it.

05.21.05

My niece, happy graduate. Tops in her class and is going off to college at MIT. (And she is a great kid .)

05.20.05

"Mom! No more video games - seriously?"

Photo taken at Hollywood Connection, Columbus, GA. , (an indoor amusement complex with video games, mini carnival rides & movies), AFTER a two hour marathon of nothing but games.

05.20.05

Fuzzhead saves a turtle.

We are in Georgia, (not that I really want to be here). The occasion is the high school graduation of my niece. She is a sweet kid and that really is the only reason that I am here. Jim, the-soon-to-be-ex, and I have been separated for several months now. I just cannot take anymore of his drunken, insane behavior. It makes for a living hell. (You would think after a couple of rounds in & out of the mental hospital AND several rounds of intensive care he would learn. But duh!) Anyhow, my mother-in-law planned this graduation thing and wanted us all there to be one big happy family. Oh well, I had to go since technically I am still married. No way to opt out. So I figure that I will make the most of it and try to have a reasonable time.

Fuzzhead, my son, loves his Aunt Linda's big backyard. It is like a mini nature center. And at this time of year, Georgia is so warm it like summer. Fuzzhead found this poor, wild box turtle struggling at the side of one of her small ponds. It had fallen in and was having a difficult time climbing out over the slick plastic sides. Box turtles love water, but are made to live on land. Twenty minutes later, the turtle and fallen in again and was once again struggling. Okay, turtles are slow learners, kindergarten kids are not. Fuzzhead found a fat stick and leaned it into the shallow pond making a little turtle ladder. Problem solved. Nice.

05.17.05

Floor in the prop shopt at work. Lovely shades of gray.

I work as a large and special events stagehand. It is a profession where I can put my jane-of-all-trades skill set to use. I do a little prop building, as well as a setting up events. The shop that we work out of is a gray, dingy, old warehouse near the football stadium just where a highway ends into town. Just crossing the main street here is a real challenge. The people I work with however are wonderful. You could not find a more talented, creative crew. Maybe I will post some shots of the amazing events we create. But today was a gray day and all I seemed to notice was the floor.