excellence in an unlikely spot

[OT from cottage renovations]

yesterday evening I had the chance to join a group of Grovers who were checking out Cazuelitas, a recent addition to the local dining scene. 

the industrial park off Oakmont Avenue might not be the first place you'd think of when contemplating where to find really good Mexican and Salvadoran food.  probably not the second or third, either.  but don't be distracted by little things like that.  there's lots of good stuff on the menu and everything we tried was absolutely first rate. 

Google Maps tells us it's only 1.1 miles from the epicentre of the Grove (just half a mile from the nearest point along our newly expanded perimeter).  does it get any better than that? 

try it, you'll like it. 

2001: ah, but a [cat]'s reach should exceed his grasp ...

... or what's a heaven for?

[OT from cottage renovations]

while trolling through old images for yesterday's blessing of the animals over at the Grove's church I ran across this December 2001 image of Peake on fly patrol in the back window upstairs. 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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if he spotted one buzzing against the glass he would sit on the window ledge and sing to it, trying to get it to come on down to play.  if that didn't work -- it never did -- after a while he would climb up to its level to renew the offer in person. 

Saturday: esta casa no es la mía ...

[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted (image only) to doorwindowwall]

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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Maple Avenue

111

... but it might have been.  this cottage came on the market about a year before this one and I looked at it several times, deciding in the end not to put in an offer.  it was a difficult choice.  my hesitancy had nothing to do with its location or charm, which it had and has and in abundance.  the problem was that I figured I could afford --just barely -- the purchase, but not any of the work it was clearly going to need.  structurally it was more than a little intimidating. 

so others bought it and I'm glad they did because they are precisely the sort of intelligent and interesting people the Grove is lucky to attract.  we're all better off for their presence and participation in the community. 

that was on the order of 18 years ago.  by now I can't imagine living anywhere other than here on the Circle. 

porch series continued

[OT from cottage renovations]

another image in the continuing irregular Grove cottage porch series. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Maple Avenue

( .. one more view from a slightly more conventional angle )

111

doing the wrong thing

[OT from cottage renovations]

if I have gone overboard with the day lily pictures this summer (and I certainly have) it is a natural reaction to the fact that they have gone overboard in their display, not just here and there but all over the Grove. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Center Street

Hemerocallis fulva

the initial view of this image was quite gratifying; for once I caught something reasonably well in its own act of catching light.  the internal glow, the texture, the way the yellows and greens flow into the reds and oranges: it was all there, even the way the spider web picked up those shades from the flower.  BUT in preparing it for this space I ended up doing it a grave disservice; shrinking it down to 1024 x 768 (my self-imposed dimensional limits for images in this space) didn't do it any favours at all.  the second gasp was as deep a one of disappointment as the first had been of pleasure. 

there are two ways to get this one right visually.  one would be to stop by and look at the raw image on the monitor hanging on the wall.  please feel free to do that.  the other would be to request a print through the imagekind gallery. 

I'll upload a high quality version there on request, either in a comment to this post or by email. 
I would so like to correct that mistake. 

( .. one more, that is if you can stand it .. )

past and future tense

[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted to texture

I have always found the forms these blossoms take before they happen and after they are done to be just as interesting as their peak of bloom.  this will come as no surprise if you have  gone  suffered through of this journal. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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2^nd Avenue

<
( .. a second one -- past tense only .. )

Hemerocallis fulva

uno más ...

[OT from cottage renovations]

walking down to M^cCathran Hall for this evening's Town Council meeting I don't really know why I was still carrying the camera.  force of habit, I guess.  it was too late for usable light and I was still working an image backlog, having uploaded several for which entries remained unwritten. 

but in this case it was the composition, all arcs and curves, that obliged me to stop for a look and a click. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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2^nd Avenue

Hemerocallis fulva

it's not like I can honestly claim pressure of time, not when the exposure needs only a fraction of a second. 

hot

[OT from cottage renovations]

at this afternoon's high temperature the Grove was running a fever. 

of course that depends on who you ask; over across the tracks the elementary school's weatherbug station weatherbug_wges registered a high of only 95.7°f but intellicast.com claims we made it to 99°f.  their web page cites as a source KCGS, a small airfield over in the next county but I don't know whether they adjust the reading when attributing it to here.