Walkabout
Had a very enjoyable morning yesterday. I had 3 hours to kill while my car got worked on, so I went walkabout in my old home town of Arcata. Lovely day and perfect weather for it!
First stop was a restaurant in an old converted Edwardian that used to be called the Blue Goose. Different owners now but they still serve an excellent breakfast. I probably hadn't eaten there since the mid-Nineties. Told that to my hostess and she said she hadn't even been born yet. That made me feel a little old! Anyway, she was very nice to me so I tipped her $10 for the $15 meal. :)
Next I decided to do a little scavenging along the abandoned Northwestern Pacific Railroad tracks on L Street. Was mostly looking for a loose rail spike, but also any bits of old glass or pottery that might be lying about. Didn't find a thing, but I saw a lot of pretty dogs being walked along the right-of-way, so that was nice.
Still had more than an hour to wait, so I thought I'd walk to Safeway and do a little shopping. I don't generally like walking through the main part of town anymore because of all the street people, so I stuck to side streets through residential neighborhoods. I continued hunting for detritophile treasures in exposed sections of dirt, and found this piece of pure copper flashing and what looks like part of an old drinking glass in front of a house from the 1870s.
Couple doors down J Street is the Selvage House, also built in 1874-75. This was actually the second house I ever stayed in in Arcata, back in February, 1983, before I even lived here. My biologist friend, Kent, was housesitting for owner Alex Fairless who was out of town at the time, and when I came up from LA to visit him, I stayed in the front bedroom upstairs. The cypress tree at right was known as the Night Heron Tree. During nesting season, it used to be full of Black-crowned Night-Herons. Unfortunately, it got severely pruned several years back and the birds never returned.
Cutting over in the direction of Safeway, I walked past my first apartment, which was upstairs on the left in this converted 19th century carriage house at 754 5th Street. One of the present occupants arrived while I was taking the picture. I told her I lived there in 1985-86, and asked if Monty and Mary were still the owners. Mary is. That was all I could get from the young lady, though, as she rushed inside and slammed the door. People used to be a lot friendlier in this town, but that was a long time ago.
This of course is the Safeway in Arcata. Virtually unchanged these past 40 years. I actually prefer the shopping experience here versus the one where I live. This store is better stocked, and the customers and employees seem nicer at this Safeway, too. Worth it to drive the extra few miles in my opinion. But, I was on foot today, and probably still wouldn't get home for an hour, so I only bought room-temperature stuff.
Some of the changes in this town just blow my mind. On the way back to the garage, I did a double take looking up I Street. Almost unrecognizable to me. On the left used to be a car dealership, and homes on the next block. Now the Ford place is a dope shop, with those godawful high rise apartments going up, joining others in the distance built a few years ago. I guess that's what they call progress.
Finally made it back to the repair shop. Only had a few minutes left to wait. Been bringing my car here forever, and already have another appointment set up for more work three weeks from now.
Just an ordinary day for some people, but I get out of the house so rarely anymore, even mundane things like this become special. 🙂
First stop was a restaurant in an old converted Edwardian that used to be called the Blue Goose. Different owners now but they still serve an excellent breakfast. I probably hadn't eaten there since the mid-Nineties. Told that to my hostess and she said she hadn't even been born yet. That made me feel a little old! Anyway, she was very nice to me so I tipped her $10 for the $15 meal. :)
Next I decided to do a little scavenging along the abandoned Northwestern Pacific Railroad tracks on L Street. Was mostly looking for a loose rail spike, but also any bits of old glass or pottery that might be lying about. Didn't find a thing, but I saw a lot of pretty dogs being walked along the right-of-way, so that was nice.
Still had more than an hour to wait, so I thought I'd walk to Safeway and do a little shopping. I don't generally like walking through the main part of town anymore because of all the street people, so I stuck to side streets through residential neighborhoods. I continued hunting for detritophile treasures in exposed sections of dirt, and found this piece of pure copper flashing and what looks like part of an old drinking glass in front of a house from the 1870s.
Couple doors down J Street is the Selvage House, also built in 1874-75. This was actually the second house I ever stayed in in Arcata, back in February, 1983, before I even lived here. My biologist friend, Kent, was housesitting for owner Alex Fairless who was out of town at the time, and when I came up from LA to visit him, I stayed in the front bedroom upstairs. The cypress tree at right was known as the Night Heron Tree. During nesting season, it used to be full of Black-crowned Night-Herons. Unfortunately, it got severely pruned several years back and the birds never returned.
Cutting over in the direction of Safeway, I walked past my first apartment, which was upstairs on the left in this converted 19th century carriage house at 754 5th Street. One of the present occupants arrived while I was taking the picture. I told her I lived there in 1985-86, and asked if Monty and Mary were still the owners. Mary is. That was all I could get from the young lady, though, as she rushed inside and slammed the door. People used to be a lot friendlier in this town, but that was a long time ago.
This of course is the Safeway in Arcata. Virtually unchanged these past 40 years. I actually prefer the shopping experience here versus the one where I live. This store is better stocked, and the customers and employees seem nicer at this Safeway, too. Worth it to drive the extra few miles in my opinion. But, I was on foot today, and probably still wouldn't get home for an hour, so I only bought room-temperature stuff.
Some of the changes in this town just blow my mind. On the way back to the garage, I did a double take looking up I Street. Almost unrecognizable to me. On the left used to be a car dealership, and homes on the next block. Now the Ford place is a dope shop, with those godawful high rise apartments going up, joining others in the distance built a few years ago. I guess that's what they call progress.
Finally made it back to the repair shop. Only had a few minutes left to wait. Been bringing my car here forever, and already have another appointment set up for more work three weeks from now.
Just an ordinary day for some people, but I get out of the house so rarely anymore, even mundane things like this become special. 🙂