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memories

memories / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
10
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day two

It was fun showing off old photos last week and following them down memory lane. So let’s do that this week. As far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. We’ll try to do a theme for the week. These are all about signs or words.

Here’s two now.

You just don’t see as much bathroom graffiti as you used to. Or I just go to slightly better places these days. Maybe you just don’t see clever graffiti.

There’s just something perfectly detailed in the vagueness of that joke that I find myself really appreciating.

But graffiti is bad, we can all agree on that.

It has been a few years now, but I found this in a restaurant somewhere:

Great! I’ve been looking for that! I don’t remember what I had, but it was a late lunch and it was probably comfort food and I wanted a lot of it.

memories / Monday / photo — Comments Off
9
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day one

Here’s two now.

The first one is a sign that shows you the Homer Spit in Alaska.

The Homer Spit is a 4.5 mile long geographical landmark on the southernmost tip of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. You’ll find docks for hundreds of boats, camping, fishing, eagles and the longest road into ocean waters in the entire world, taking up 10–15 minutes to cover by car. In 1899 a railroad track connected the docks to the coal fields on the bay and that helped built the town. The 1964 Alaska earthquake shrank the spit and killed most of the vegetation. Today it is mostly gravel and sand and tourism fronts.

We were there with Jessica and Adam and the bald eagles. A few of the hills and the eagle that shows up in the banner here on the site are from the Homer Spit or nearby.

Have you been to one of those restaurants where people stick their money on the wall and write a clever message?

In this restaurant there was currency from all over the world. That was one of the more clever ones.

adventures / Friday / memories / photo — Comments Off
6
Nov 15

I’ve thought it over

Yesterday I asked where you’d like to be right now? My first thought was my bike. Then I wandered off into some Homer by memory and my contractually obligated Publilius Syrus reference of the month. It was a solid idea and I stand by it.

But also, I have a few other options worth of considering. And this time, no poorly remember Greek

This one’s easy. Who doesn’t love the ocean?

This one is in Oregon, in the woods on the path to the ocean. This is the place I think about when I recall, with fondness, our trip to Oregon. The whole visit was terrific, as my travels usually are, but the views were spectacular. And Oswald West State Park was one of my favorites:

Some people are beach people. Some people prefer the mountains. I like the woods. And if there are woods going to the beach … well, that’s just not something we often have in my part of the world, but that’s two pretty great environments that I’m happy to enjoy. So Oswald West is always a contender in my “Where would you rather be?” contest.

And this one, which is more representative than specific. It is a simple pasture wrapped around a quiet country road in north Alabama. Just a pretty view. I was there on one Saturday, 2006, while The Yankee was teaching a class and I was killing time enjoying a spring morning. Once you look past the ditch, everything from the fence to that big lazy foothill of the Appalachians is worth taking in and visiting often:

So, where would you like to be?

memories / photo / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
4
Nov 15

An impromptu reunion

I had the good fortune there to run into a former student today. She graduated maybe two years ago and works on campus now. Lovely young woman; she’s charming, bright and quick with a good joke.

She would always give me a hard time in class, too, because my shoes were always untied. I never can keep them together for very long. It doesn’t matter the length of the string or the shape, so the failing must be mine. I’ve discovered these laces you don’t have to tie for running shoes and that’s changed how many times I have to kneel on a daily basis by much more than I’d care to admit. Best thing since velcro.

Once upon a time near the end of the term she decided she was going to tie my shoe for me. Show me how it was done and all that. A friend of hers decided to tie the other one, so they had a contest and see which knot lasted the longest. I walked around for several weeks with those shoes properly tied. One of them finally let go over Christmas break in Manhattan.

My knees say those were the best weeks of my life, because, again, they were saved a great deal of bending and strain.

So anyway, I ran into her today. She’s married and life is grand. Nothing less than you would expect. It was good to see her. “Come up and visit,” I always say when I run into familiar faces.

She walks this direction, back toward her building. I walk the other direction, off to wherever I had to go next. I look down:

cycling / football / Friday / memories / podcast — Comments Off
18
Sep 15

When the blacktop sings to you

And, now, scenes from an all-important, utterly inconsequential and I hope never elusive 20-mile bike ride.

I have some history on this road, I realized, as I pedaled down it today. And not just because I’ve made tiny circles with my feet on it before. I’ve raced on it. I have friends that grew up on this road. I re-learned to run on the path that meanders alongside it. I’ve been caught in the rain on this road and failed to outrun hail on this road. I have history on that little ribbon of asphalt, pretty neat.

To be sure, I do spend a lot of my time on this road with this view:

On a different road. Same ride, different light:

What was going on on the other side of the camera at that same moment:

And now, for two podcasts. If you like Arkansas:

And if you prefer your football to be full of Gator bites:

Some other stuff here and there. Mostly, though, that road, and this weekend.