Category: fishbones

q. phellos

willow oak
easing into spring, silhouette of a willow oak leafing out. Sometimes juvenile leaves look like miniature versions of the full grown leaf, that is not the case with the willow oak.

where is the light switch?

CHO Mayor Huja silhouette
The City of Charlottesville is a quarter finalist in the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a nationwide competition for small-to-medium sized
communities to compete to win a $5 million grand prize by saving energy.
The Council meets tomorrow afternoon for a budget work session.

While operating 6016 streetlights, the City doesn’t appear to have an IES certified individual (Illuminating Engineering Society) on staff.
Who is in charge of the lighting? Who directs spending in this arena to make sure we get best lighting for dollars spent?
Who knows how many dollars are spent on lighting?
There are forms available to request the addition of streetlights, drop lens, highway-style fixtures, but
no one knows where the light switch is, where the form is to request the removal of lighting.
We submitted a dark-skies petition in 2000 trying to reclaim the night..
Someday…
(read Janis Jaquith’s essay “Turn Off The Lights”)

drunken spider

Carlton Avenue

Here in the hinterland we run our utilities in the air. It is the cheapest way.
Akin to keeping our inventory of used auto parts in the front yard.
Some of the poles are owned by the Dominion, some are owned by the telephone people?
Providers who want to run wires and cable rent space.

A Green City
Charlottesville citizens live in a community with a vibrant urban forest,tree‐lined streets, and lush green neighborhoods.
We have an extensive natural trail system, along with (a) healthy rivers river and streams.
We have clean air and water, we emphasize recycling and reuse, and we minimize storm‐water runoff.
Our homes and buildings are sustainably designed and energy efficient.–Council Vision 2025

 

wheelbarrow of life

shadow planting trees
My sister was a faithful reader of this page. So last time I had a wheelbarrow picture it
was titled “Our Father’s Wheelbarrow”.
Our father was not mechanical. He couldn’t fix a broken lawn mower. But he was Saint Francis
when it came to plants, he’d touch them and they’d grow. The wheelbarrow feels full of his energy.
Imagination? Dementia? Fond wishes? A combination of the three.
Planted a q.stellata, q. macrocarpa, q.falcata and a taxodium distichum…