Being in someone else’s space
Of all the lessons in life to learn, here’s one of them — be nice to your ex-wife(s). One of them sent me a link to this great house for sale on the west side of town. I’m really drawn more to the land/lot that the house is sitting on, but hopefully, the house can be salvaged and can be a creative, festive place — hopefully a place for campfires, events, and Community. But we will see. So far, it’s pretty grim. But the land has water on it — that’s the draw for me. Below are some images that I shot so far, during the process of trying to buy it. But the most interesting moment so far is walking into the garage. Maybe it’s just A Guy Thing, but there’s something so interesting to see where a person does their work, and creates things. This fellow that lived in this home was a painter and a putterer — I’ve never seen so much surface-mounted Romex in my entire life. Electricity strung up everywhere, all surface-mounted, and attached to the walls with a staple gun. But the garage has been the most interesting — that’s where most guys’ creative moments happen. In this one, the light is just streaming in, and there are tools strewn all over the worktables. You just stand there, and think, “This man lived here for maybe forty years; imagine what all went on in this room over the span of forty years?”
Two-car garage, with required discarded workout machine.
When is the last time you've seen a Radio Shack receiver? (High school?)
Homemade bridge over creek, in driveway.
Incredibly beautiful creek, on this property.
I found the Hare
Went back to Cheekwood Sculpture Trail today, to walk and think, and just enjoy being outside in the fall air.
"Crawling Lady Hare" -- Sophie Ryder (click/enlarge)
Cheekwood Sculpture Trail: A hidden treat
Drove out to Cheekwood today to see Greg Miller’s prints. After that, went for a walk at sunset thru the Sculpture Trail. What a jewel of a place. Surprises around every corner. It was a slow day there, and there was almost total silence on the trails. Highly recommended, especially this time of year. I’m going back, with a real camera, soon. Here are some iPhone images from today.
Cheekwood Sculpture Trail
Coming Full Circle (almost thirty years)
Last night, I see this movie called “The Men Who Stare at Goats”. It felt like one of those movies that was based on a book. You could feel the book wanting to come out, but it just didnt translate for me. It rambled on, and finally I just gave up and walked out. I just think it’s weird when people try to resurrect a character, ie Jeff Bridges in the Dude role, but stick him in something else, just because Big Lebowski was a hit. (I can just hear the conversations with the bean counters now: “We’ll ride those coattails”.) Uh, sorry, no. And somebody needs to tell George Clooney to just take a vacation and go underground for a while. Overexposure. Too many movies where he simply plays the same character over and over. And the Kevin Spacey character just didn’t cut it, (or maybe it was the hairpiece). And worse than anything, don’t go hurting animals in a movie. We all know it’s just a movie, but still. No stories about harming dogs, and no stories about harming goats.
So this morning, I take this great walk thru downtown. Walking over the bridge into downtown, leaving East Nashville, it hit me that downtown is where I first began here. I moved to Second Avenue in November of 1981, where Mulligans now stands. It’s still got the same bad HomeDepot siding on it, as the guy put on it when I bought the building, 28 years ago. At that time, Second Avenue was a ghost town after 5pm — we used to stand in the middle of Second Avenue and throw frisbee in the afternoons. Rarely a car broke the rhythm. At that time, Jack and Frank May, and Bob Schatz, and Scott Bonner, and Mark Martin, all lived down there — they called us “urban pioneers”. I remember loving the whole city thing at that time, I was only 23 or 24. I used to walk uptown to this weird Shoneys, near The Arcade, for the salad bar, every afternoon. The whole lifestyle was about never getting in your car.
So today, I head out. Incredible morning, with warm sun. Very Santa Monica. Here’s my map walk. First, over the bridge, and cross the street, and check out these great new fountains at the new Court House, then to The Stahlman Building, and admire the renovation of the bank building on Third and Union. Then back to Deaderick, and up Deaderick, and admire the new trees in the center of the road. Then up the steps to War Memorial, thru the fountains, up the steps and thru that Collonade thing, then out the back door to the Tennessee Building, then hang a left and down Seventh to Broadway, to that great church on Seventh and Broad, then hang a left on Broad, and down to the hockey place, then right, and admire The Oldest Building In The World, then over to the Hilton, thru the park, by the Symphony Building, then up Hermitage to shake hands with Rachel Lehman at Crema and say hi, then back over the Korean Veterans bridge, back to Fifth and Main, where I live, but try to avoid the exhaust fan at Otters Chicken; nothing worse than breathing fried chicken exhaust. And then say a prayer that Allium stays in business. As for the future of downtown, my suggestion is that the city beg, borrow, steal however much money it takes, and they go to Steiner Liff Recycling, and also to that giant gasoline tanker company, both which are near the Cumberland River, and they pay them to move. If the city is going to grow, respectfully, those companies need to move elsewhere, and give up that valuable land. Nothing worse than being on I-65, and you look over at the skyline, and you see a stack of crushed 1968 Dodge Darts in a pile.
But all in all, a great walk, and I might even be re-embracing living in East Nashville, after all. (But don’t count on it). I did a lease/purchase here, and don’t really see the purchase thing happening, long term. After moving here, and not having grass underneath my feet, it occurred to me to make a Priority List of Important Stuff when choosing a home:
1. Walk out back door onto grass.
2. Be able to install outdoor shower, in privacy.
3. Be able to have my own grill, and to be able to burn my own meat.
4. Be able to install hot tub for January mornings.
5. This is #5, but it’s really #1: Be able to have a Campfire in your own yard.
In searching on RealTracs, I keep looking for these items when I do Searches: “Campfire”, “Outdoor Shower”, but so far, have not found them. I’m going to invent the Hippie Version of RealTracs.
nice work: Bieke Depoorter
interesting work here. this scandanavian belgian woman rode the trans-siberian train thru russia, and kept a piece of paper in her pocket, written in russian, asking people to let her stay in their homes. she wanted intimate glimpse into the life of russian families. what an adventure.
(click on Portfolios>”Oe Menia: With Me”)
copyright bieke depoorter
Surrealists: Do photographers/artists band together like this any more?
I stopped at the Frist Center today to see the Surrealists show, about Paris in the 20s and 30s. How has the climate changed since then? Do we ever see groups of artists working within one theme any longer?
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