Fall and the Fallen
Sep. 22nd, 2020 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogThe exact moment of the autumnal equinox- that second where sunlight actually touches down on the Equator from dead overhead- wasn't until this morning, but the feel of fall has been in the air for well over a week up here at 43 North. Here's a look from our park visit Sunday, with leaves already beginning to turn-
- but it hasn't got me quite caught up with it yet, as it's not really fall until the shorts come off-
Jake, our usual third walkies guest was home nursing his ACL, but we were joined by Charlie, a new puppy in the ranks, who was a Very Good Boy his first time out-
Because of the switch to cool, we've moved our weekend outdoor dining into the greenhouse, and Eleanor decided yesterday to suspend the Patio Project until the spring, since we wouldn't be able to eat much out there anyway now, and it'll be nicer to christen it when we can (hopefully) have actual company.
----
Last Friday, I talked to someone at the local Bankruptcy Court, reporting some technical problems. They hadn't been receiving emails from me in response to ones they sent (and that I did respond to). She also mentioned that their entire September 17 calendar had to be rescheduled because the phones weren't working- a problem when the whole procedure is call-in. Turned out it went way beyond their courtroom and even the two local federal courthouses: the entire federal judiciary phone system crashed that day.
Then we got the word Friday night of the passing of the Notorious RBG. That explained it, I figured-a disturbance in the Force, as her spirit began to leave her body. To honor her memory, we watched her biopic On The Basis of Sex over the next couple of nights. In the days since, of course, the bigger thing has been to DIShonor it, by trying to ram through a redneck replacement before the election (or, even worse, in the lame-duck weeks after it if Cheeto loses).
I ordered this for the car:
Seemed like a good way to express my dissent.
----
There are others.
On Saturday, we finally saw, up close and personal, the installation of a BLM logo made entirely out of Legos by a poet/artist friend of ours, Bianca L. McGraw. Yes, her initials are BLM.
That's her, and more up close,....
...that's it. It stayed there one more day, and Bianca then began the process of disassembling it. They will be turned into activity bags for kids in inner-city schools and organizations. We combined this with a poetry open mic program out there. Neither of us read, but we enjoyed the poems and other creations brought to the "stage."
This dude, who goes by "Ten Thousand," was particularly adept at improvising. ("I'd be really upset if someone called ME a dept.") He freestyled a poetry performance on 30 seconds notice, needing to include the words “snowshoe,” “bacon” and “Polly Pocket” in a poem- which he did:)
This installation, and others in the area, are in a not-quite-downtown section of Buffalo known as Larkinville. It's only come back to life in the past decade as a hub of business, art and some retail, but its history and namesake goes back to the Larkin Soap Company, which was an early 20th century catalog distributor rivaling Sears for the largest in the nation. Its signature AdministrationBuilding was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and sickeningly got torn down after World War II, leaving only this brick wall (which we drove by on our way home Saturday, in less snowy times) to remember it by:
(My Stopping by Brick on a Snowy Morning, back in 2013, was recounted here.)
The rest of the catalog company was long gone by the time of the revival, although many of its lesser buildings have been repurposed for offices and such. And at least one 20th century landmark has been brought in:
This diner was built in the 30s and, until a few years ago was a fixture of morning life in Newark, New York, east of Rochester. When the final owners closed it, the developers of Buffalo's Larkinville moved it, restored it, and set it down on Swan Street to serve a new generation of hungry customers....
...hence the new name. At first I thought that was a dead crow at the bottom of the mural;)
That paint job was on a connected building, which features other murals, some specific to the neighborhood or local food history-
- but this one was my favorite-
I don't know who she is, but don't you just want to leave her a big tip?!?
----
The final falling of fall is the changeover of the sportsing seasons. The Mets are all but eliminated from the weirdness of 2020 postseason baseball, but the Bills have won their first two games impressively. That should take away some of the pain from the political world that the next six weeks are bound to bring:
- but it hasn't got me quite caught up with it yet, as it's not really fall until the shorts come off-
Jake, our usual third walkies guest was home nursing his ACL, but we were joined by Charlie, a new puppy in the ranks, who was a Very Good Boy his first time out-
Because of the switch to cool, we've moved our weekend outdoor dining into the greenhouse, and Eleanor decided yesterday to suspend the Patio Project until the spring, since we wouldn't be able to eat much out there anyway now, and it'll be nicer to christen it when we can (hopefully) have actual company.
----
Last Friday, I talked to someone at the local Bankruptcy Court, reporting some technical problems. They hadn't been receiving emails from me in response to ones they sent (and that I did respond to). She also mentioned that their entire September 17 calendar had to be rescheduled because the phones weren't working- a problem when the whole procedure is call-in. Turned out it went way beyond their courtroom and even the two local federal courthouses: the entire federal judiciary phone system crashed that day.
Then we got the word Friday night of the passing of the Notorious RBG. That explained it, I figured-a disturbance in the Force, as her spirit began to leave her body. To honor her memory, we watched her biopic On The Basis of Sex over the next couple of nights. In the days since, of course, the bigger thing has been to DIShonor it, by trying to ram through a redneck replacement before the election (or, even worse, in the lame-duck weeks after it if Cheeto loses).
I ordered this for the car:
Seemed like a good way to express my dissent.
----
There are others.
On Saturday, we finally saw, up close and personal, the installation of a BLM logo made entirely out of Legos by a poet/artist friend of ours, Bianca L. McGraw. Yes, her initials are BLM.
That's her, and more up close,....
...that's it. It stayed there one more day, and Bianca then began the process of disassembling it. They will be turned into activity bags for kids in inner-city schools and organizations. We combined this with a poetry open mic program out there. Neither of us read, but we enjoyed the poems and other creations brought to the "stage."
This dude, who goes by "Ten Thousand," was particularly adept at improvising. ("I'd be really upset if someone called ME a dept.") He freestyled a poetry performance on 30 seconds notice, needing to include the words “snowshoe,” “bacon” and “Polly Pocket” in a poem- which he did:)
This installation, and others in the area, are in a not-quite-downtown section of Buffalo known as Larkinville. It's only come back to life in the past decade as a hub of business, art and some retail, but its history and namesake goes back to the Larkin Soap Company, which was an early 20th century catalog distributor rivaling Sears for the largest in the nation. Its signature AdministrationBuilding was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and sickeningly got torn down after World War II, leaving only this brick wall (which we drove by on our way home Saturday, in less snowy times) to remember it by:
(My Stopping by Brick on a Snowy Morning, back in 2013, was recounted here.)
The rest of the catalog company was long gone by the time of the revival, although many of its lesser buildings have been repurposed for offices and such. And at least one 20th century landmark has been brought in:
This diner was built in the 30s and, until a few years ago was a fixture of morning life in Newark, New York, east of Rochester. When the final owners closed it, the developers of Buffalo's Larkinville moved it, restored it, and set it down on Swan Street to serve a new generation of hungry customers....
...hence the new name. At first I thought that was a dead crow at the bottom of the mural;)
That paint job was on a connected building, which features other murals, some specific to the neighborhood or local food history-
- but this one was my favorite-
I don't know who she is, but don't you just want to leave her a big tip?!?
----
The final falling of fall is the changeover of the sportsing seasons. The Mets are all but eliminated from the weirdness of 2020 postseason baseball, but the Bills have won their first two games impressively. That should take away some of the pain from the political world that the next six weeks are bound to bring:
