scooters

dead scooter
I have never ridden a scooter. Can someone tell me about scooters? I see them abandoned in all manner of desolate places. Are they abandoned because the batteries have died? When you rent a scooter does it inform you of the battery charge level? When the battery dies does the machine stop abruptly? If a user repeatedly parks a scooter in forbidden places (blocking sidewalks) do the scooter companies have the capacity to block the user from renting?

Liriodendron tulipfera

The tallest individual at the present time (2021) is one called the Fork Ridge Tulip Tree at a secret location in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Repeated measurements by laser and tape-drop have shown it to be 191 feet 10 inches (58.47 m) in height.[4] This is the tallest known individual tree in eastern North America.–Wikipedia

First tulip poplar leaf I’ve seen unfurled this year.
Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards sale April 15

Industry remnants

smoke stack water tank
Woolen Mills technical improvements.
The Woolen Mills Historic District encompasses a village central to the history of the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County since a mill opened there in 1829. Located at the foot of Monticello Mountain, along the Rivanna River, Woolen Mills developed into one of the city’s and the region’s most noteworthy industries, producing cloth for military uniforms from the late-19th century through the 1950s. Although many of the company mill town’s early factories are now vanished, its brick mill buildings of the late-19th and early-20th centuries remain, as do brick and frame houses in a range of styles built during the mid-19th through the early-20th centuries for or by mill employees. Home to generations of families who worked in its mills, the village was annexed by Charlottesville in 1963. The Woolen Mills Village Historic District’s period of significance begins with 1847, the date of the earliest company-built housing, and ends in 1962, the year the mills closed. At the time of its listing, the historic district still evoked a late-19th century industrial village.–VADHR

Surveying

spring morning
Spring mornings are a delight for the eye and nose. A low hemophagic critter index prevails but it is warm enough to volatilize a universe of scents.

a thousand people in the street

Market St west view
“Now in its 21st year, the Charlottesville Marathon & Half Marathon is one of the oldest and most coveted races in Charlottesville. It has been defined as America’s Destination Marathon because of its scenic beauty and historical background”–Charlottesville Marathon
Market St east view
Traffic calming. People in the street. It is a magical moment when the people displace automobile and truck traffic. Incredibly, the mass of humanity is quieter than one idiot with a bad muffler or a loud stereo.

Venus, new moon, Liquidambar styraciflua

moon sky venus tree
The moon is a silver teardrop,
The sky is a canvas of blue,
Venus is the evening star,
And the tree is a place to rest.
The moon is a beacon of hope,
The sky is a promise of tomorrow,
Venus is a reminder of love,
And the tree is a symbol of strength.
The moon is a place to dream,
The sky is a place to soar,
Venus is a place to be,
And the tree is a place to grow.
The moon is a place to find peace,
The sky is a place to feel free,
Venus is a place to be happy,
And the tree is a place to be you.–Bard
(replying to the prompt “moon sky venus tree”)

quercus falcata

roadside oak
When folk resist the chainsaw temptation trees grow.
Quercus falcata, also called southern red oak, spanish oak, bottomland red oak or three-lobed red oak is an oak (part of the genus Quercus). Native to the southeastern United States, it gets its name the “Spanish Oak” as these are the areas of early Spanish colonies, whilst “southern red oak” comes from both its range and leaf color during late summer and fall. The southern red oak is a deciduous angiosperm, so has leaves that die after each growing period and come back in the next period of growth.–Wikipedia