Walk around Brookhaven

My walking route around Brookhaven park and the surrounding neighborhoods - 2.95mi.

White Rose

Pink Dahlias

Red Zinnias

Variegated Ivy

Beautyberry - Callicarpa sp.

Sweetgum - Liquidambar styraciflua

Melon growing in someone's front yard.

I thought it was a bit funny, they didn't have any other veggies or herbs growing there, just the lone melon.

Pond at the north end of Brookhaven park (View from Ivy Glen Rd.)

Lots o' Leaves

Maple leaves

Pink Roses

Lavender Dahlia

Pink Dahlia

Another Lavendar Dahlia

Orange and Yellow Dahlia

Still another Lavender Dahlia

Yellow Dahlia

Another Pink Dahlia

Backside of a Pink Cosmos

Front of a Pink Cosmos

Dark Pink Cosmos

Yay! - The Dining Table is Finally Finished!

I put the last coat of finish on our dining table yesterday (it was in the cardboard box for most of the last year).

Anyway, it's now done except for a few pieces that attach to the underside of the extra leaves, and some hardware for the extra leaves.

If it looks a bit disproportionate, that's because it is. It's a counter height table. When we bought it, we thought it would be nice to be able to use the same chairs for the table and the kitchen counter bar (off to the right)... now I'm thinking perhaps we should have gone with a standard height because we have a low ceiling... but still, it's a very nice table. I suppose we can change out the table legs and chairs if we get tired of it.

PS - the floral arrangement is made of grape leaves and japanese flowering plum leaves from our garden.

Fall Flowers and Leaves

Portulaca - Portulaca sp.

I had wanted to go walking earlier in the afternoon, but got caught up with work and didn't manage to get going till after 5:30.

Here's my route for the day. All the pictures were taken on the first third of my walk. After that it started getting too dark.

Zinnias

As I was walking east on 22nd, I saw a garden with a lot of flowers on the other side of the street, so I quickly crossed over.

The man who lived in the house where I left from came home and got out of his car just at that time. He laughed and said "Aren't my flowers good enough? Don't you want to take a picture of my nice woodpile here?" I said "Maybe on my way back."

All the rose and zinnia pictures are from the same garden.

I really like the roses with the colored edges, but it's hard to take pictures of roses that aren't "boring and generic".

Rosebud from a new perspective.

Rosebud from the usual perspective.

Another Zinnia.

I really liked the contrast between the bright pink flower and the fuzzy lambs ears in the background.

Here's a close up of the flower.

Maple Leaf

I saw this leaf on the pretty exposed aggregate concrete and thought - Wow, this would be so much prettier if it were raining.

However, I really should enjoy these sunny afternoons while we still have them.

Maple Leaves - Red on Green

I took a short detour onto Violet Court because there were so many pretty maple trees there.

I just love the contrast between the different maple species.

Maple leaf on evergreen bush.

I like to take pictures of leaves right where they fall. I don't "pose" them.

Maple Leaves - Green on Red

Maple Roots

Pretty Maple on Hyland Way

Another Maple Leaf - SW 17th.

Purple Daisy - SW 13oth.

Installing the Projector

On Saturday Sami mounted the projector.

This was trickier than it looks. He had to figure out the center of gravity and also make sure that the image hitting the screen would be level and the right distance away for optimal resolution.

Earlier in the week we had pulled off the paneling and plywood behind it so that Sami could paint sealant on the foundation wall.

There were some hairline cracks in this part of the wall that caused part of the flooding last year.

Although the sealant paint is red, it is not the same stuff on the walls.

The new outlets in the ceiling for the projector.

We are skipping a bit here. Because I was doing this part, I wasn't taking pictures of it.

Anyway, I made a template (from a paper bag) of the holes I needed to cut for the electrical boxes. Then I had to place it carefully, using a small nail to test and make sure there were no joists where I needed to cut. (There is one running right between the two boxes).

Wires have been run through the ceiling and over to the open wall.

Before Sami attached the wires to the projector and before I put the covers on the electrical boxes, we fished the wires through the hole in the ceiling, over to the space above the window.

Then Sami hooked up the power wire for the projector to the existing circuit. (you can see him looking at the outlet here).

Now we've installed extra insulation in the wall.

This insulation is called Prodex. It's very thin, but still has an R value of 15.

We will be using the same insulation under the floor when we install it.

The paneling is back up.

We used our pneumatic brad nailer, so this part was quick and easy.

After nailing, I caulked the seams and nail holes. Later I will do touch up prime and paint on the wall, and then I will be ready to re-install the window and ceiling trim.

Another Quick Walk

What is this?

Some kind of autumn crocus maybe?

I decided to try another route through the neighborhood. I didn't look at the map beforehand so the route ended up being a bit shorter than I meant for it to be. That was ok though because it was getting too dark to take nice pictures.

Another Dahlia