Scenes from the hood

It's been awhile since I posted so I thought I'd revisit some of the old spots I like to get to. I was certainly honored and surprised when Google Maps tagged the 30' dam on Six Mile Creek as Joe's Dam (you must click on the map). If they had invited me to the dedication ceremony I would have gone. Never doubt an elephant notices a flea on its ass, I think this came about because of a request I made of google to honor their policies. They have farted on this flea. On a much more satisfying event, the pedestrian bridge is done and open again. Now we can cross over and experience the construction (after the demolition of about 20 houses) of the Collegetown Terrace Apartments.

Scenes from the hood

I got to another hood besides ours when I went to New York for a couple days. Central Park was in peak foliage where I hung out and watched Pale Male, Lima and all their fans. I stole these pictures from Lincoln Karin's website devoted to life in Central Park. Went to see Tim O'Brien at the Rubin Museum where he did "Old Joe" but not on banjo. Go there, especially for a concert. Yes, this is NY and not the Irish countryside. It's a cottage brought over from Ireland and reassembled in the middle of the World Trade Center as a Hunger Memorial. Go there too, it's surreal amongst all the concrete, glass and steel, and the scale difference compared to the 9-11 Memorial is chilling. Surreal would be a nice name for an Irish County.

Scenes from the hood

Like the rest of the Northeast, we saw our share of rain this summer. Fortunately Six Mile Creek can withstand about 6" in two days without too much damage and very little flooding, but a few more inches and the Flats would look a lot like Binghamton and Owego. A fix to the path in the Mullholland Wildflower Preserve works just as hoped here where walking on the stones keeps one above water. This is after it receded, it was over my knees at another point. Thanks to kids from GIAC who helped place the rocks here back in July.

Scenes from the hood

A couple more pictures. Somehow the building still stands, and the water was going about 8' above Joe's Dam at its highest.

Scenes from the hood

Neighbors had an oak tree removed from behind their house last summer, it was behind a bunch of spruce trees so we really never noticed, but I'm sure it created early morning shade on our panels. The first attempt to load the log into the truck resulted in a broken rope, when the second attempt was "secured" with two ropes it took some guidance to line up, professional tools only in this operation. As I watched I knew this picture would have to be deleted in the event of another broken rope.

Scenes from the hood

This piece of machinery parked in front of the lone retained house has produced changes in our house too since its noise and vibrations have made Bean a nut-case (OK, a worse one) who can't resist shredding plastic and eating used dental floss. All the houses but one between Quarry St. and Valentine Place have been removed and foundations are started on the new buildings. The red-roofed building will stay due to its historic record of an early Ithaca Hospital. Look closely for the smokestack, the old boiler building has apartments that perch over an 80' cliff. The rectangular building with a square of red roof is new so it stays, but the long apartment buildings to the right, built in 1996 will be removed.

Scenes from the hood

With several houses out of the way we've got a view of our house from East Hill, at the bottom of Eddy Street. Except this hasn't been there "since before you were born." In fact this view hasn't been there for over a hundred years. And I can now watch Rt. 79 traffic from bed, so I'll know if you don't stop to let pedestrians cross.

Scenes from the hood

The distance distorts the position of objects, making them look much closer than reality. This smokestack looks like it could topple onto the houses on Columbia St., but is almost half a mile away.