Le Bar

We ditched the original idea of roll top upper cabinets from Ikea in favor of open glass shelves (from Home Despot) which we installed today.

Indy, 2 views

In 1899 Albert R Worm, meatpacker, built his thoroughly respectable building less than a mile from the Capitol. Today it sits empty, across from a giant empty refrigerated warehouse.

More recently, the muscular and monument-laden downtown has merged with the Indiana University area. Big new buildings, redeveloped canals with bike trails, condos aplenty, you name it they got it. The only constant …

Tie one on

Living atop train tracks is way more good than bad. Earlier this week we were treated see an amazing choreography of maintenance.

Last year sometime the RR dropped off bundles of glistening new ties at intervals along the track. Then last month somebody came along and marked some of the existing ties with spray paint.

To replace the bad ties takes about ten specialized machines and maybe 30 guys. First a spike puller, then a plate loosener, then a big machine to grab and lift the rail and slide the ties out to one side.

A little crane comes along and picks up the old ones, then another to place the new ones. Each vehicle is followed by a guy with a hammer or a crowbar to clean up.

New ties are slid into place, fastened a few different ways, soil is compacted. The first train rolled across just a couple hours later. The next day an alignment machine came along, they smoothed the gravel, and presto, it was like nothing ever happened.

I’m thinking about this whole process in the context of my own work, which seldom if ever seems so smooth as these guys did. Lots of people using specialized tools, all performing a very specific function in sequence. Presumably at a profit. There must be some lesson in that. Oh yeah, the industrial revolution.

A family of geese hanging out in the Massachusetts sun whilst I paced around outside the hotel conference center doing that cell phone thing.

I’m so tired

Outside Lynde Motorsports, where the wide variety of dead tires matches their eclectic portfolio of projects. The perfect motorcycle shop for here.

Mise en place

We stopped in for a restorative cocktail at Fireworks. Lemon, lime, cherries, orange slices, no problem. Strawberries, olives, ok. Mint and basil leaves, and on and on. These frou-frou cocktails (Earl Grey infused vodka and St. Germain, anyone? No? Then try tequila, muddled strawberries, balsamic, and bitters…) are a great show, and taste pretty good, too.

The Guv’nor

On Friday night, in conjunction with Gallery Walk, our friend and Realtor Dave invited us to a little reception to introduce the new Director of Windham Youth Services. And then, lo and behold, the Governor of Vermont walks up and starts chatting with everybody. Like almost everybody else in Vermont, he got his teeth cleaned in what is now our house.

It’s the first Governor either of us have ever met, and he seems like a genuinely likable guy. He told us – hilariously – about his recent trip to Sundance where he met the Utah’s Governor and his family and various members of the Utah ruling elite… suffice it so say that his observations about the differences between VT and UT match our own.

The picture here includes all the great features of giving someone else your phone to snap a pic. There’s some thumb, and the color was hopelessly messed up because of the bright background and dark foreground, so it’s heavily corrected here.

Neither of us had ever met a real live Governor before… what a thrill! And at the same time, what a simple validation of one benefit we enjoy living here… it’s a small state, which means you’re just that much closer to everyone.

Whetstone Brook

The raging marauder of Tropical Storm Irene now burbles peacefully past the Farmers Market. We bought some Thai food, a cinnamon roll, and some little cilantro plants to put outside.