Thursday, February 18, 2010

A Beautiful Late Thursday Afternoon and a New Camera

Driven by guilt over the fact that the "cameranoculars" he gave me for Christmas were duds, Fred "Mr. Ebay" Fussell found me a Nikon Coolpix WITH A TELEPHOTO LENS for $26! Today Lil Coolpix took her maiden voyage on The Riverwalk:

She appreciated the fact that the train was passin' at the same time that she was.

The repaired graffiti has been "doctored." (In case you can't see it well enough to read it, I'll transcribe: "BURN YOUR MONEY")

Still no sign of a sign.



The "new part." So close, so close ...

The recently planted shrubs are the newest evidence of progress.


I LOVE how these shadows make ric-rac on the steps.


At the north fishing well ...




I enjoyed a brief encounter with Mr. Duck ...

... and his lovely wife ...

... and then Mr. Speedboat ...

Okay -- Look closely at this photo of Gazebo Number 3, located directly across the street from our front door. Can you see a mysterious "package" there to the immediate left of the "entrance?" Does it look to you as if might be "a body"??? (Did to me!)


Well, here's a close-up ...

I have no idea.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Failed Attempt

On Sunday Fred joined me in what started out as a walk upstream toward Eagle and Phenix, to check out "the new part" of the Riverwalk. Here's some of what we discovered along the way --

That broken-off lightpole behind the CSU Art and Theatre Complex has finally been replaced! YAY!


I wish I'd been able to take a better photo of this. Two big ol' cormorants were swimming along, but one had caught a fish just about bigger than he was, and it seemed to take everything he had to keep himself and that fish afloat. In fact, they were under water as much as they were above the surface. We watched for a while until the very swift current took the two birds, and their fish, downstream.

Just a little remaindering ...

When we got to the Powerhouse, where the new part is fenced off, we decided to leave the Riverwalk and walk up to the street (Front Avenue), and go around Eagle and Phenix in an attempt to get to the other end of "the new part." Here are some photos from that attempt -

I've come to love the look of many of these industrial structures.

And I'm totally intrigued by this building. I wonder what it was built for? It looks as if it once had long, narrow windows all the way across the front. I love the color it's been painted.


Evidence that humans once inhabited these now vacant buildings.

Fred took these photos of "up under" the 13th Street Bridge --


I wouldn't recommend going down to this area alone, and definitely not at night. It's pretty desolate, and even a little scary. Front Avenue dead-ends into a chainlink fence underneath the 13th Street Bridge, and there are all sorts of little hidey-holes and dark corners around. There's lots of broken glass in evidence, too. I do have to report, though, that while we were there for the few minutes that it took us to take these photos and look around a little bit, a police officer showed up on one of those little golf-cart vehicles. He didn't say anything to us, but he did hang around for a little while, just checkin' out the area -- and us, too, probably. (Since Fred and I look so threatening, ya know -- ha!)

This is the parking lot behind what used to be Holiday House Furniture (and before that, Maxwell Brothers). Next door is the Bradley Theatre.

I'm interested in this "FAIL" graffiti tag that I keep seeing around.

Oh, and that reminds me -- That's exactly what Fred and I did. We failed in our attempt to access the "other end" of "the new part." You can't get there yet. It's all fenced off and completely inaccessible. Will keep you posted.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

The Riverwalk on SuperBowl Day

I'm no football fan, so today while some of y'all were watching the pre-game shows and partyin' -- or gettin' ready to party -- I was walkin' on the Riverwalk. The water was high ... just a few inches below the sidewalk at the "main plaza." I felt almost as if I were walkin' ON water.



Apparently the water had been even higher last night, though. Here are some photos of jetsam --

... and some detail shots ...

We human beings leave some interesting items in our wake ...



I especially liked the shape that this particular pile of debris took. I guess it swirled because it was over a drain ...



Some pretty serious erosion over on the Phenix City side ...
In spite of all the flooding, though, PROGRESS!

Light poles have been installed on the new part! And landscapers were hard at work today, Sunday! I might add that these photos were taken through the chain-link fence.




Somebody been cleanin' fish on the marker?...

Well, we are directly across the River from Phenix City, ya know ...


A new attempt to cover graffiti. Sometimes I wonder which is worse, the symptom or the cure ...
Some folks lookin' down from the Ironworks ...

Hold on. Wait a minute ...

WHO DAT?!