So that's the west side of Baldwin Park, the east side of Cooper Street, between Randall Avenue and Wright Avenue.
It looked to me like not all of the benches are out yet but ours is. It is about a third of the way down the block from the north end of the block, the sixth steel bench but there is also one wooden bench out there now so seventh in from the north end. This could all change, of course, but that's where the bench is right now.I paused as I was heading out today to capture an image which included a couple of my favorite plants.
The foreground is our dwarf lilac. It has reached maturity, at about 4 and a half feet that's as big as it will get. It has also blossomed spectacularly and is providing the wonderful lilac odor.
Just around the corner of the house is the big new tree, not really new anymore but definitely starting to justify its name by becoming big.
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
The last time I was over there I looked for the bench sponsored by family friends but did not find it. I continue to think that all of the benches were not yet out. Today I noticed a profusion of red benches and I have seen some blue. I took another look at the yellow area and there it was.
This one is also on Underwood Street but in the yellow area just outside one of the entrances to the Food Building.
This will be handy. In many past years we have met these folks for a little sit down at the Ball Park Cafe. Just to the left of the bench at the end of the Food Building is the Ball Park Cafe.
My Fairgrounds scouting for the year is officially over and officially a complete success.
I still get out some and today I rode my bicycle over to the Fairgrounds. They had a big car show over there a couple of weeks ago and it turns out that they put benches out for the overflow crowd.
So today I came across this:
I am unsure exactly what this means for location during the actual Fair but for now it is the second bench south of Murphy Avenue on the east side of Underwood Street. That puts it across Underwood from the Home Depot and across Murphy from the Hangar.
It appears that all of the green metal benches and all or nearly all of the yellow metal benches are out. At this time there are none of the wooden benches.
As long as I am here I have in the past made disparaging remarks about fire departments being called to rescue domestic cats from trees by noting that you don't actually ever find many cat skeltons in trees.
But I did fairly recently notice this in the neighborhood.
Just goes to show you cannot always be sure. It is always something.
If I revive this blog it will be as a mostly photo blog. GOINFS and age related arthritis has stiffened my left pinkie finger. This makes keyboarding an unpleasant chore.
So here are a couple of photos from today's ride.
Still a relatively short ride, quite near to home.
Information on Fairgrounds closing dates.
The air today was officially unhealthy for sensitive groups. That's me, I kept it short.
There is a story in there somewhere and perhaps someday I will tell it but today I broke the longest streak of days with no snow on the ground and no bicycle ride in nearly twenty years. There are a bunch of streets in the neighborhood with new pavement and though I had walked on most of them I had not ridden a bicycle on them.
I often have bragged about having ridden on every piece of pavement within 15 or so miles of where I live so the new pavement presented an issue which required some action.
It went okay.
I wanted to get inside the Fairgrounds before Fair preparations lead to access being cut off. I was surprised to find the benches are already out.
That is on Lee Avenue, the south side. Lee Avenue is the street where they display the antique tractors during the Fair, the street between Giggles on the east (Cooper Street) and Sweet Martha's and the Home Depot on the east (Underwood Street). That's the Sky Glider overhead and the building which during the Fair features the new tradition of women discarding their underwear on the roof. The bench is under a tree so it will feature shade but it will also feature fairly constant exhaust from antique internal combustion engines.
We still expect that there will be a Fair this year but the news about Delta keeps getting worse and it won't be the Fair until they actually open the gates and let people in. I read in the paper today that Minnesota had 700 new cases on the last day of July compared to 80 on the last day of June. CDC guidelines call for indoor masking again but no one is doing it in the indoor spaces where I have ventured.
It was a nice day to be on my bike and I had not forgotten how.
The weather forecast is for 80 yet again tomorrow but today was a pretty normal October day. The sun came out and the wind died down and the mercury rose to somewhere pretty near to average for this date.
I read in the newspaper that "peak" for fall colors here has been quite consistent over the past few years, generally occurring between October 14 and 19. That means that the peak is near and if I don't want to miss out on it I need to start featuring photos of colorful trees.
That's Chelsea Street looking north from Hoyt Avenue.
On my last ride my mid-ride sitdown featured a search for shade. With normal temperatures having returned, today I was looking for a spot in the sun.
Personally I think birches should suck it up and thrive. If I have to breathe this air then they should get used to it too.
Regarding the news from Michigan is it possibly true that nearly every one of the individuals arrested could be described as a "West Michigan man"?
