Lonely Tree

I haven't had time to go through my beach pictures from Botany Bay, but this one is my favorite.  This week has been super busy, and I'm exhausted, so I can't wait to relax for a little bit and have breakfast for dinner tonight!

Roasted

Yesterday I roasted my first chicken!  There was room for improvement (the thighs were underdone) but overall it was a success!  Before I started, I was convinced that the whole bird would be a disgusting mess by the time I was finished, but it was surprisingly easy (hence the recipe name "Simplest Roasted Chicken").  My mamma threatened to leave all of Thanksgiving to me this year, but I don't think I'm quite ready for that kind of pressure.  

Botany Bay

Pine straw from a recent burn.  It shimmered iridescently in the sunlight; it was almost purple.

Crumbling tabby foundation.

There's just something about a good whitewashed country building that gets to me.  So classic and so beautiful.

Quote of the Day

"Hope is the lesson Nature keeps teaching me.  She keeps producing.  She recovers.  She creates beauty out of loss.  She forgives us our impatience and frustration and insistence that things turn out the way we planned.  They don't.  They turn out the way she planned.  We need to be willing to sacrifice control to learn adaptation."  

-Joan Gussow, Growing, Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life, and Vegetables.  

Beach Time

It's finally beach season again, and it makes me so happy.  Here are some pictures from the beach lately.

Detroit

I came across this website over the weekend that documents abandoned houses in Detroit.  As I scrolled through the photos, it really got me thinking.  One thing that struck me was not the slow slide into dereliction, but the fact that most of these houses aren't anomalies. They aren't lone examples of neglect.  In fact, many of these houses are the last ones standing.

All the images got me thinking about the oddity of our abandoned settlements.  You can see in some of these houses, the grand city that Detroit once was.  Did you know that the now abandoned Michigan Central Station was designed by the same firms (Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem) that designed Grand Central Station in New York City?  Add to that the fact that it was the tallest rail station in the world at the time of it's construction, and you begin to understand the grandeur that once was Detroit.

I know there are many reasons for the decline of Detroit, but it's just so hard for me to imagine that such a vibrant, thriving community never managed to save itself from such utter decline.  What happened?  Did they wait until it was too late?  Does Detroit show us what happens if we follow one path, one side of human nature?  Is this one possible future for humanity?

Maybe I read too much into this, but my mind works in leaps and bounds, and I've always been fascinated by abandoned structures.  They remind me that history repeats itself, that nothing physical is eternal.  The world is constantly in motion even though we don't see it because we're in motion too.  I'm also reminded that houses are simply skeletons, and that we are what make them unique and welcoming.  Without a human hand, they fade from homes to skeletons again.  

It's strange how quickly Detroit rose to fame with one brilliant individual, and it's strange how quickly that glory faded.  Now it almost seems like it's a ghost town.  

*Let me add that I've never been to Detroit, and that I'm not trying to put this city down too much.  In fact, Detroit is pretty much ground zero for urban farming in the US, and I think the urban farming future there holds a lot of promise for renewal.  It will be exciting to watch the transition, because the reality is that the population just won't ever be what it once was.

Man's Greatest Invention

Today I reaffirmed my love for bicycling.  (Not that it's that hard to do.)  Today my Mamma and I went to the grocery store on ours!  I was proud of us because even though it's not that far, the suburban road doesn't exactly have ideal conditions.  But we did it!  And it was fun, especially on a beautiful day like today.  My conviction for living in a bikable city is official.  I love that running to the grocery store became an adventure, not a chore, which I think it should always be.  Life is more fun on a bicycle.  

This picture made me laugh.  What I wouldn't give to have that kind of talent and balance!

(photos: red bike, funny bike)

Goodbye Again

Tonight I got sucked into watching "Goodbye Again" on TCM.  I'm always amazed by the power of a good film to remain relevant and moving 50 years later.  A good story never gets old, it just goes to show that life is the same no matter when you were born.  New clothes, new gadgets, the same trials and tribulations.

My favorite line (so well delivered - comical and at the same time maddeningly on point and unanswerable):
"I just...I don't know what I'm doing."
"You're studying French law."
"No, what I'm doing to live."

Forever Young

The weather has been so fabulous lately; I can't wait for summer.  And for the first time since graduation I'm really starting to miss school.  I no longer have spring break and summer to look forward to.  Just a lifetime of responsibility and a big girl life.  Sometimes I get excited by this prospect, but mostly I just want to turn back the clock and live in moments like this photo forever.  

Driftwood

the traveling blues + my love of the water + the simplicity of a small structure = this picture

Wouldn't you so love to spend the night here lulled to sleep by the waves?  I can't think of anywhere better to be.

Is this not the coolest fort you've ever seen?  When I was little, one of my favorite things to do was to pull things out of the marsh.  For my tenth birthday party that's what we did.  We went into the marsh, salvaged some stuff (some driftwood, a bucket, a piece of gutter), came back and built a sculpture.  At the time it seemed brilliant, but in reality it was a wonky thing that listed more than a little to the side, so that it had to be propped up.  When I look at this picture above, I know that this is what we always wanted to build.  It's the grown up version of my childhood dream.  It's beautiful.

Why is Cabin Porn so freaking amazing?

España

I mentioned earlier that I've been having some severe wanderlust recently.  Tonight I hear España calling my name.  I certainly wouldn't mind giving Seville and Cadiz another visit.  Isn't the rooftop view so beautiful?  There is something just so inviting about cities with warm, personable buildings.  Give me this over gleaming, cold, jagged skyscrapers any day.  

Oh! And happy March!  (I guess this is a good time to review my New Years resolutions, and make sure I'm following up on them...)