A tree in a city park, knocked down during a heavy storm.
What struck me most about the view from this side was the patch of sod hanging off of the exposed roots.
You can see where the first tree knocked over another tree.
Yes, one tree fell on another and knocked it down too. Or maybe one fell and then the other fell on top of it – it’s hard to tell, since we weren’t there at the time.
Originally posted on a mix of Instagram and Flickr.
My tripod, on the other hand, seems not to have been as steady as I thought. Or I jostled it a tiny bit, enough to register on Venus but not the much dimmer satellite dish.
Speaking of dimmer, though….wow, nothing like a conjunction to remind you just how much brighter Venus is than, well anything else in the night sky except the moon.
They’re finally fixing the elevator problem!
Sort of.
The parking structure near work has elevators at two corners. One set connects every floor, but the other starts at a second floor landing that connects to a flight of steps. That’s not a huge problem for offices, but the structure is also shared with two hotels and an airport shuttle service.
More than once I’ve seen people dragging luggage down the steps, or looking around in confusion trying to figure out how to get to the airport shuttle. On several occasions I’ve pointed out that if you go all the way to the other side of the structure you can take the elevator all the way down. Fortunately, the disabled parking spaces are on the ground floor, but still…
Anyway, one of the office buildings has been under conversion to a hotel over the last year, and they’re almost done. Rooms are furnished, signs are up, a parking turnaround has been built, landscaping is going in…and now they’re going after the elevator.
…But look back up there at the photo. The top of the new column is anchored to the third floor, meaning this elevator only goes up to the second. So if you’ve parked on the fifth floor, you need to take an elevator down to the second, get out, walk around the corner, and take another elevator down to the first.
This seems really inefficient for travelers, but then I suppose it’s more efficient for construction. Maybe it would have been hideously intrusive to extend the existing shafts down another floor. And maybe it wouldn’t have been safe to add an essentially-freestanding seven-floor elevator column.
On a final note: Here’s what that spot looked like last summer.
There are a lot of jacaranda trees in the area, lining the walkways through the business and hotel parks and lining the sidewalks along the street. There are also a lot of these trees, which look so similar that I assumed they were more jacarandas until the first spring I was here, when they bloomed bright yellow instead of light purple. From what I can tell, they’re Tipuana trees, also known as Pride of Bolivia trees, and despite the similarities, they aren’t closely related.
The flowers act the same, though, dropping in thick blankets as spring turns to summer.
Just…somewhere else. Not here.
Ring around the Target. I found the perfect spot to block the sun and view this ice #halo.
I’ve been watching Venus and Mercury move toward and away from each other over the past week and a half as I leave the office, when I’ve had a clear view anyway. Tonight I caught a different view of the pair of planets, framed by the almost-bare branches of a tree.
We found this salsa at the market last night (and not on clearance, either). I guess the season of pumpkin-spice everything isn’t quite over yet.
I’ve seen several articles lately that offer tips for those whose New Year’s resolutions include reading more books. A common thread: suggestions for what to read, or who to follow to get ideas what to read.
That’s not the problem I have.
I have stacks of books I want to read. The problem is time, not inclination. The problem, I’ve started to realize, is that I want to set aside large blocks of time to read properly, but I don’t have large blocks of time that don’t have something else that needs to be done. That, and overcoming inertia when I’m already distracted by the internet, where all the articles and streams are more suited for short blocks of time (but include a hook at the end to keep you going).
What I need to do is just grab a few pages here and there when I can. It may not be as satisfying as sitting down with a book for an hour or two, but at least I’ll get through it.
