Author: WmX

I stumbled off the track to success in 1968, started chasing shadows that summer. Since then, In addition to farm-laborer and newspaper photographer my occupational incarnations include dishwasher, janitor, retail photo clerk, plumber, HVAC repairman, auto mechanic, CAT scan technologist, computer worker and politico (whatever it takes to buy a camera.) I am on the road to understanding black and white photography.

chariot


–noun
1. a light, two-wheeled vehicle for one person, usually drawn by two horses and driven from a standing position, used in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., in warfare, racing, hunting, etc.
2. a light, four-wheeled pleasure carriage.–dictionary.com
a pleasure carriage,
click above to see how the usage of that phrase has fared according to Google’s ngram viewer.

Platanus occidentalis


In tree care, there is the notion of the unhealthy unstable tree. Such trees are slated for removal.
This tree was such a tree. It had the anthracnose fungus, so some of its leaves would fall off early. Additionally, it had some dead branches in its crown.
The solution? Take it down.
I know a lot of people that have a bit of dead wood in their crown, androgenic alopecia, dental caries, neuropathy, gray hair, short-term memory loss… This is something we humans call “aging”.
In humans, this process is allowed to go on until something called “death” occurs, usually about half of a lifetime after the onset of the unattractive aging symptoms.
We hold trees to a different standard.

ISO the Baby Jesus


It was a good thing that Mary and Joseph were able to travel with the infant. Thousands of years later, during this season of renewal, there is some thematic veracity to the arrangement. Jesus remains hard to find, must be with M&J in Egypt…
Can you find Him? (easier to find in color). This scene is on Mountain View Street in Charlottesville, VA.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.–Matthew 2:16

I&I


Bruce Edmonds made an excellent suggestion during the Rivanna Pumping Station meeting. It would be helpful to see a listing of sewage pumping plants permitted by the Army Corps of Engineers in a floodplain, in a park in a 100% residential area.
If there are a few of these beasts east of the Mississippi, road trip! Go see, touch and smell…
That is my recollection of what he said.
Hoping that Charlottesville Tomorrow will post audio…

Current pumping station capacity, 25 million gallons per day (mgd).
Required Capacity per Comprehensive Sewer Interceptor Study to meet a severe wet weather event (2-Year Recurrence Storm) is 51 mgd. (source, RWSA presentation)
In 2010, peak flows for this station in dry weather were around 8 million gallons per day. When it rains hard, another 43 million gallons of infiltrate and inflow rush into the homeowners’ sewer laterals and RWSA, City and ACSA pipes.
The infrastructure is full of holes…