Fred’s Famous Peanuts, originally uploaded by twoblueday.

 

This joint is in far northeastern Georgia.

I’m back, lodging with my brother, and primed to inflict myself on everyon again.

1. On the drive to here (Peoria Heights, Illinois) from home in Florida, I took a detour through far northeastern Geogia. Wanted to see the mountains, and just enjoy the drive. Stayed overnight in Helen, Georgia. This town is an ersatz Bavarian village, not far from the above picture, and I’ll post up a shot from there shortly. My drive was uneventful, meaning safe and no bad weather. I was over 50 miles per gallon the whole way to Illinois, where I encountered strong headwinds on my northbound journey to Peoria, and my mileage dropped to just over 49. Rats.

2. As usual when travelling I have pretty much stayed out of the news loop. I tend to get too caught up in the things reported by the press, things I pretty much can do nothing about, and it is actually quite nice to be free of the buzz for a while. I also watch a lot less “entertainment” television. Don’t find myself missing my usual shows much, either, and, anyway, they are pretty much repeats now. Oh, I mean “encore presentations.”

3. I’ve been reading the blogs of those on my blogroll, so I hope nobody felt abandoned. It is strange how strongly those interactions have become a part of my social life, my world. I really appreciate all of you, and thank you for letting me bloviate on your blogs.

4. My brother and I have been catching up, doing a minor bit of photography, and mostly hanging out. We had an outing Sunday to the Hennepin Canal, and a friend of his went with us. As I may have related in the past, this canal is long disused, and the State of Illinois has made it into a wonderful “linerar park.” There are old locks, bridges, an aquaduct, lots of water flowing, some wildlife, and not that many people about. I’ve walked on the towpath, biked it, and just motored about. I visited there with my late mother. I am grateful some folks had the inclination and energy to preserve this bit of history for us. As a commercial enterpise, it didn’t do much, it was pretty much obsolete due to the railroads by the time it was ready for use.

5. Near the Hennepin Canal is a pretty large array of huge wind generators. You can get close to them, and hear the blades whoosh through the air. They rotate slowly, but gearing causes them to spin those dynamos at a high rate to make the juice. Quite a few more were going up, as was a new substation. I do not find that the presence of these towers detracts from the beauty of the rural area they occupy. Natural? No, but then that area has been under intense cultivation for many years, and the farmsteads and fields, also man-created, don’t make the place ugly. I did see recently that some Spanish company is going to be putting up a very large number of these generators in our fair land, and that some oil billionaire is going to also. I’m in favor of them.

6. Speaking of gas mileage. I know that the higher prices we have to pay now for gasoline are a real pinch for some people. Those on extremely tight budgets are doubtless having to make spending decisions, some very difficult. Our society has grown up with poor (and in quite a few areas, nonexistent) public transport, while at the same time sprawling out over large areas. The result is that many people are sunk without a car. Those who are less well off cannot run out and buy a hybrid car. In my experience, many such folk buy what they can which is cheap and, often, unreliable. I particularly am thinking of single mothers, but there are many others. So, mileage. I hear a lot of people (mostly on TV, but some in person) bewailing the price of gasoline. Okay, I’d rather pay a dollare for something than two dollars, I get it. But out on the highways, it appears that they are all hypocrites. They buy a lot of vehicles for which 20 mpg is a pipe dream, but let’s just assume for the moment that’s what they buy: a vehicle rated at 20 mpt. They drive as thought they really, really only want to get 12 mpg! I drive the speed limit on expressways/interstates, unless conditions militate for a slower speed. People in every conceivable car pass my like I’m backing up! I feel like an impediment to progress out there. Amazingly, even Prius owners blow by me like they had Ferraris. Oh, well.

7. Yesterday my brother had a commitment, so I drove to a nearby state park, Jubilee College State Park and Historic Site. Back in the mid-19th century. Rev. Philander Chase started a college with the idea of training preachers to go out West and enlighten the savages (or someone). He had this grand plan for a neo-gothic structure and so forth. It didn’t work out exactly. The lone structure of the school, which is well-preserved, is a two-story affair not much bigger than a McMansion. Secular students outnumbered those studying for the ministry while the school was open, and it didn’t last long. The grounds around the building are lovely, with big trees (including many flowering locusts which are beautiful right now). So, on this beautiful Memorial Day weekend, I was practically the only person about. A shame. I guess not enough in the way of amusements to draw a crowd. I remember going there when I was a high schooler, usually with my girlfriend, a guitar, and some sort of picnic. It isn’t far enough out of town to make gas a real issue.

8. I finished reading Chris Bohjalian’s The Double Bind. It had taken me a while, interrupted as it was by travel, and by reading the entirety of Edward Jones’s The Known World in the interim. The Double Bind uses the technique of not directly clueing the reader in that the protagonist is crazy as a bed bug due to a horrific crime against her. Throughout the book the author weaves in Jay Gatsby, Daisy, and the other characters as though they were actually real people. I thought it kind of cool in a way. Of course, in the end, we learn that this is all part of our main character’s madness. Worth reading? Sure, I guess, but I liked his The Buffalo Soldier and The Law of Similars better. I have now started reading Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s Snow.

9. It was my brother who got me, and now others, going on the 1oo favorite song thing. He is so particular about things that he, the founder, is only up to 70. We sat last night with wine and listened and discussed. We share a few choices, but not as many as one might suppose.

10. I have added a photoblog to my blogroll. I titled it Cynthia. She is a good friend of my brother, and has won some prizes with her photography. Her site is not, strictly speaking, a photoblog, but what the heck. Look in if you get a chance. She does amazing pictures of flowers and of Bob the cat. As many of you will have gathered, I ain’t much on pets, and, it won’t be a shock if I say I have even lower regard for photos of pets, so it really takes some doing to impress me in this regard, but she has done it. She’s not all flower and Bob, of course.