Well, it was a nice day. One of the strange in-the-upper-60's days we have been having this winter.
I'm getting more comfortable with my single-ness.
This morning I heard a little clip on NPR from the Lou Reed song mentioned in the title of this post. Apparently about heroin; I did make some nice chai this morning, but that was the strongest thing I've had all day.
Did some yard work in the garden, and on the van. Investigating what 20 year old cooling system hoses are about to blow. Got down to just sweaty T-shirt in the warm sunshine.
I made an appointment to soak in the hot springs in Hot Springs on Monday. That should be very nice. I should bring a towel and a cold drink and clothing is optional, which is good since I often misplace my pants anyway. I'm going to soak alone, since most of my friends are beautiful young women, and relaxing in hot, bubbly, clothing optional water with one of them just seems like a situation I am not up for at this point. Yeah, not up for it.
After lunch Callie and I took a nap in the van as part of acclimating her to being in there, so that we may go camping together one day. She did her wandering around and looking out all the windows, then settled down and was laying by my feet when I woke up. It was a good nap, which was needed after that stressful week of hard working long days.
Next up was a nice West Asheville bike ride in the beautiful weather. (After setting mp3 player to record On the Media for later listening.) Rode from home to the little park at the confluence of Hominy Creek and the French Broad River. There I saw this nice stack of debris in the river that reminded me of one of Andy Goldsworthy's sculptures. I rode along the river on the unofficial trail that connects to the parks on Amboy Rd. It was kinda sloppy in places, and I got off the bike at the first sippy hole. The next one I came to was really quite long and looked less muddy. It was maybe 40' of water covered grassy double-track. I decided to go for it, and it wasn't too soft to ride on. It was deeper than I thought, and one shoe took on quite a bit of water. I laughed at the hazard not being what I expected. I then scared a quite large girl deer, who bolted through the brush at alarming speed. The parks on Amboy Rd were full of others enjoying the beautiful weather and in good spirits. Stopped by the dog park and didn't have tinycam out when the photo opp happened.
Ran into Laura and her quiet husband, out enjoying the beautiful day. Laura with such the bright eyes and countenance that I like so much. I ran into Matt at work the other day and the same thing happened, so it's not just smiling pretty women that seem to pick me up. Maybe just seeing happy looking people tweaks my brain waves. Yeah.
Up, Up, Up, some steep hill from the river to the high ground of West Asheville and past a lot of residential infill development. Nicely done little houses. Some rather close to the odoriferous MSD lift station, and many having nice winter views of the train yards. I recall again in '97 when I was WA house shopping, looking at the "cat pee" house on Riverview Dr. I still regret not getting that place. The house was small and smelled like, you-know-what. But it backed up to the slope down to the river and I had visions of sitting out there watching the trains and industrial landscape in the evenings, and making a trail down to the river. I found these houses on Riverview built on impressive steelwork overlooking the stuff I mention above.
That's how badly people want to live in West Asheville.
I was attracted to the dumpster by a wad of excess wire on the top of the trash. I always need to add to my spare wire resources. This wire was not of interest, but while I made that assessment, I found this big hunk of steel in the dumpster. I need that. So I strapped it on the back of my bike:
It was heavy and had an effect on the bike's handling, but I didn't crash.
Next a little trip down Haywood Rd to check on the latest price of Biodiesel. Not one, but two prostitutes wandering on the beautiful Haywood Road Saturday afternoon. The phrase, "Prossies need Biofuel too!" popped into my head for some reason. $3.00 for the Biodiesel.
Oh it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you.
5 comments:
Nice reference to Andy Goldsworthy sculpture. I have a couple of his books and looked online for a poster to put up in the office - to no avail.
How is Callie doing these days adjusting to the van?
-Jeff
Jeff,
Re: Goldsworthy: If things go well, I plan to do an installation at work. Surely not goldsworthy-worthy though.
Callie seems OK with the van. The real test will be when she spends 12 hours or more in there.
Edward
Can you comment further on the "odoriferous MSD lift station" near some Riverview Dr. houses? How ripe would a summer breeze be on a deck with a view up there?
I don't know about the intensity of the odor up on Riverview. Down at the park, when the lift station is upwind, it can be really intense, like makes you gag. I worked in a lab where we tested wastwater for years. I have been around bad smells. That smell is intense at the lift pump.
If I were thinking about living on Riverview, I would try to visit on multiple days with different wind conditions and check it out. I do not think the prevailing winds would be from lift station toward Riverview though.
Boy that artificial island has lasted quite a while, eh?
As far as the MSD Lift Station: On the worst day the smell only made it to Desota St (near the powerplant), and then hardly noticeable.
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