I know...

I haven't posted in forever. You, MPJ Blog, are my new year's resolution. Until then, I wanted to share one of my new favorite songs: Raise Your Glass by Vagabondage:

I think...

The Train From Kansas City - Neko Case

...that I'm back to being able to post. I've lost inspiration. I love my neighborhood, it's pretty, the people are nice, but it just doesn't look as awesome in photo to me. I like being around pretty, but artistically, it's not too exciting. Now that I've got my whining out of the way, since my last post I've:
-gotten my new bike, and I LOVE it.
-gotten my new students, and they're awesome.
-made an industrial looking headboard (when I figure out how to make a photo of it look as good as life).
-chilled out.

So here I am, thinking, "Where do I go to get pix that I want to post?" and I'm guessing it's time to get moving around.

But anyway, I grabbed my camera out the door on my walk with Wes Tuesday and today, and here's what I saw:

From North City Evening

From North City Evening

Time of day + distance = blurry

From North City Evening

From North City Evening

From North City Evening

I will do my best to return with pictures for you. And just so you know, I mean you. This message is personalized to your browser.

My new neighborhood is nice, but...

Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen

I need a bike to get to the abandoned bits...there were more inspirational textures, colors, and bits of blight in the old neighborhood. But today, it was a bike ride to explore the North City area of St. Augustine.

I don't know what it is about empty places that inspires me so. Ever since I was a kid, I fell in love with any place that was falling down.

Today, after the Wes walk, it was a bike ride, and then some repotting. Everyone told me to un-plant the bamboo I put in the front garden. It'll take over, they said. So in went the rosemary plant, and I've potted the bamboo in a quart yogurt tub until I can get a planter to bring it inside.

I'm going to miss all this puttering around once school starts, but my brain is starting to go back into school mode, so I'm getting excited about that. Until then, here's what makes my brain tingle:

The car dealership near me is gone, gone, gone, and what it's left behind looks great. Please, someone, let me play in there until someone buys it and tears it all down.

From North City Bike Ride

From North City Bike Ride

From North City Bike Ride

I love that the desk area still has fake plants...

From North City Bike Ride

It says authentic, but really, it's pretty mediocre.

From North City Bike Ride

I have more respect for any car repair facility that looks the same as it always has:

From North City Bike Ride

I love the logo for Li'l Champ:

From North City Bike Ride

And, of course, the cat of the day:

From North City Bike Ride

If you stop by my new place, I'll give you a bowl of vanilla yogurt with fresh fruit, honey, and cinnamon. It tastes great!

Its Only A Paper Moon - Chet Baker

Walking Wes tonight, the moon was peeking through the trees. It was teasing me with its brilliance. When I got to a house with a low roof, I got a great view. I dragged the pooch back home for my camera. My lack of tripod means I only hint at the greatness, but what a great moon it was:

From August 2009, evening...

Tonight's bike ride got canceled. As I was driving up to the ride meeting place, the wind was strongly out of the south. I got all excited because I knew we'd have a strong headwind for the second half of our ride. When I got there, there were ominous clouds to the north. They didn't seem to understand about the south wind because they kept getting closer. As we were standing around talking about skipping the ride and getting dinner, the air suddenly got cold. We beat feet into Woody's Barbecue. Woody's...not quite hell, but definitely purgatory for a vegetarian. Dinner tonight was a baked potato and Cole slaw.

The thing I like about all of our rains, though, is the increase in frogs. Our little frogs are so cute. This guy freaked me out a bit. I tried to open the screen door on the back porch to let him out, and he jumped onto my arm before jumping to the water heater. He was cold and wet to the touch. Cute, though:

From August 2009, evening...

Lastly, I've been enjoying these wet nights because it's so nice to sit on my porch with candles lit, and read, blog, or just listen to podcasts or music. Tonight, I've got the City of God soundtrack on, and it's so good.

From August 2009, evening...

Be careful, or I'll beep your nose. Now go, you've got other good things to do.

Sun rising on my street...

The Drowners (Demo) - Suede

Thanks to Lightning in a Bottle for posting about her love of the band Suede. I remember all of the ridiculous hours I spent poring through Melody Maker and NME at the local record store in East Lansing, Michigan, in the fall of '92. I wanted to know everything about all of this great new music. I'd heard a Morrissey interview where he namechecked Suede. The Drowners was their only single at the time. I bought it, and listened constantly. The wait for the album was awful. I remember the record store got a demo tape of it a week before the CD came out. The guys who worked there tossed it to me because they knew how much I was anticipating it.

I miss being that excited about new music. Or anything, for that matter. They say that patience is a virtue, but sometimes, it's nice to relish the pain of longing.

On Friday morning, I woke up with time to get to the marsh before the sun crested the horizon. I wasn't patient enough (hunger struck) to wait around for the big yellow ball, but I took a handful of shots of the morning twilight before I left.

From Sunrise

In the background, you can see the lights on the Vilano Bridge...

From Sunrise

I like this time of day...things are visible, and yet the streetlights are still on...

From Sunrise

From Sunrise

From Sunrise

Have you done something new with your hair? No? Well, it looks good.

Struggling to find a routine...

Born On A Train - Magnetic Fields

Hello, hello...it's Mr. "I used to update every day" here.

Here's what I've found...when your routine changes, it takes some trying to redefine routine, it takes some force, it's a job of work, as the Brits say.

I've been doing things, not too many things, but things, and I've found it tough to keep up blogging. My new attempt, I think is to take some time in the afternoon to sit on the porch typing. Being that this is Florida, that also means hoping the afternoon storms don't result in a lightning bolt to my lap. That's not the surge of electricity I'm looking for in that region.

Today's photos come from another walk with Wesley. The good bits of blight are a bit of a hike for him in this weather, so those will have to wait. Still, there are things to see:

My rosemary plant came from a neighbor. They occasionally put up a little table with plants on. There's a little sign in front, with a little poem, signed, "The Giving Garden". How nice! And in a month, I haven't killed it. This is new! It will enter the ground soon.

From North City Walks - July 23

Wes readies for a walk:

From North City Walks - July 23

Fancy a waffle?

From North City Walks - July 23

This house is perfect, and the Galaxie 500 makes me feel like I've traveled back in time...now if only it was Joan Holloway or Betty Draper from Mad Men driving up...

From North City Walks - July 23

I love this motel, mostly because I could never see staying there...

From North City Walks - July 23

But is the "American Owned" a 'subtly' racist way of saying, "And we know you don't want to stay in an Indian owned motel."?

From North City Walks - July 23

Career opportunities:

From North City Walks - July 23

I love the boxes for things at convenience stores. Who is this box aimed to please?

From North City Walks - July 23

Lastly, this character was confident as we approached. Not afraid of my dog (at least at distance), nor overly hostile. And such a nice coat.

From North City Walks - July 23

In my neighborhood...

Exploration - Coraline Soundtrack

There are many dogs and cats. And a LOT of dog people. I can't go for a walk without hitting pause on the podcast I'm listenin' to. Of course I stop, of course I say hello. Wes likes meeting all of the people and most of the dogs. He'd love to meet the cats, too, but they're not interested. Also, I'm pretty friendly, so it's all PAUSE and hello, hello, hello. It's terrible, though, I meet all these people and dogs, and I have no idea what their names are. There are too many of them. This is Wes just before a walk. He loves the walks. He's a very walk-based fellow:

From Dinner and A Wes

I also had my first dinner party on Saturday. My table is small, so a dinner party is three people invited over. It was a vegan evening, and everything turned out tasty. The main course was tofu barbecue with onions and peppers. There's no picture, but it was mighty tasty.

Also on the menu:
Corn and Bean Salad:
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 small bag frozen sweet corn
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 jar roasted red peppers, chopped
1/2 cup (or more to taste) mango poppyseed dressing
Mix.
It's good as a salad, or as a sweet salsa to eat with chips.

From Dinner and A Wes

and
Fruit Tart No-Bake Pie
First: Mix a cup of almonds and 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds together in the food processor
Next: Remove, and run 1 cup of pitted dates through the food proceeser, slowly pouring in the almond/sunflower seed mix.
When you have a ball of 'dough', line a pie plate (8"), and then fill halfway with chopped foods like banana, strawberries, blueberries, 3tc. Puree a banana and strawyberries in the food processeer, and pour over the top of the fruit. Lastly, sprinkle coconut and maybe granola over the top of the pie, and chill for at least an hour.

From Dinner and A Wes

PS...the crust was really good, and hard to believe it's just dates, seeds, and almonds. So good.