Today is Veteran's Day. An important day. It is a day to remember those who served in the wars of the past, both living and dead. I think it's important that our Veterans have a day set aside for them, so that maybe...just maybe those individuals who take our freedoms for granted can be reminded that there are thousands of americans who both risked and gave their lives so we could have those freedoms. A day to puncture that veil of apathy. This day also is for acknowledging the soldiers of today who are fighting a war. They will be the veterans of tomorrow. Some of them will be counted among those who are "Gone But Not Forgotten". Remembering those from before, and supporting those who are serving now. That is what today is all about. When there is a war going on (like there is now) it's important to give props to the soldiers. But then we should do that every day.
Aside from it being Veteran's Day, I decided to change up my morning. Since I've been up in the wee hours lately, I've been venturing out pretty early to grab Glenn's newspaper. Sometimes I grab a coffee at Mickey D's. Their coffees are pretty darn good, if you can believe that. In the past I was never one for putting anything in my coffee. Felt like I would have been tainting it. Very strong, black coffee. That was it. Accept no substitutes. Living in Los Angeles for a number of years exposed me to the pretentiousness of the coffee culture. The "low-fat, half-caff, mocha-latte-chino, blah, blah, woof, woof" crowd. For the most part I stuck with a tall ("Vente") cup of black house blend, but I did start going over to the dark side. Discovered the ice blended mocha at the 'Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf'. Evil! Yet...delicious. Eventually, the hot mocha was introduced. I became so dependent that it got to be quite expensive. Had to rein myself in a bit. Then it happened. McDonalds started serving 'gourmet' coffee. Not bad at all. The iced coffees followed. The Caramel Iced Coffee replaced the higher priced CB&TL iced mocha. Now they have the McCafe's. The hot McCafe mocha with whole milk...good stuff. So when I go out for a coffee now, I don't go to Starbucks (haven't seen a CB&TL here in Savannah - don't know if they exist here), I head to McDonalds. However, today didn't take me by there. Why? Because, as I said, this morning I changed things up a bit. I went for a walk.
Hurricane Ida has been effecting our weather here. Was overcast yesterday. In the evening, we had some heavy rain come through. Weather people said to expect it and for once they were right. Call Ripley's. Today is overcast yet again, but a bit more so than yesterday. No complaints here. I've been talking about getting out for longer walks for a bit now. I haven't been getting the exercise I was getting in Los Angeles since I got out and walked everywhere there. My arthirtis has been a factor that has been postponing me getting out and hitting the pavement. But, this morning I was feeling pretty good and decided today would be the day I would start getting out there and moving. Once the sun came up and I saw how grey it was outside...well, that just sealed the deal for me. Nothing I like more than going for walks in this kind of weather. (The sun and I don't get along too well.) So, around 9:00 this morning, I threw myself together, grabbed the camera (can't go for a walk without taking some pictures) and headed out the door.
A few feet from the front door on a tree next to the stairs that lead to our upstairs neighbors, is a web. It's been there for at least a couple of weeks. There's one similar to it higher up in the trees opposite the stairs. The first web I mentioned is much lower and on an eye-level low enough to wear I can see the intricate design. The design and the designs' creator. A spineyback Orb Weaver Spider. One of the most interesting arachnids I've seen up close and personal. Like something out of a science fiction movie. The picture above of this particular type of spider wasn't taken by me...I found it on Google...but that's the same type of spider I'm talking about. Coloring, markings, everything. I did try to get a pic of "Spike" out here, but its been a little breezey and she's (it is a she) not very big so a clear picture wasn't happening. At any rate, whenever I've passed by, she's hanging up there weaving away. I'm not very squeamish when it comes to arachnids as I used to have a pet Tarantula (a mexican red-leg named "Danzig"), but I am cautious around spiders I'm not familiar with. A little research was in order, so I did some net surfing. Also known as the 'crab spider', the orb weaver is commonly found in the southern United States. They are known as a gardens friend because they like to create their webs in spots with high insect traffic. Their bite has not been known to be harmful to people (which is good since these spiders are very common in Florida fruit groves - grove workers encounter them all the time). They're only about a 1/2 inch long, so they're not a big spider, the males being plainer than the females. Their webs are quite beautiful. Anyway, Spikes' web won't be disturbed by me. The information I found also said that these spiders don't seem to be particularly bothered by close scrutiny or being touched. Well...I haven't touched her, and don't plan to. Moving on from the spider...but I do recommend that you go to Google Images and type in 'orb spider'. There are a bunch of different ones and some of them defy imagination.
Once I was headed up the sidewalk through the condos, the humidity started to really hit. It was right around 70, so there wasn't a heat issue just a moisture one. The surface of my skin in its entirety had a thin layer of moisture on it. When I would exhale, a faint steam would filter through the air. Kid you not. Was rather weird. My glasses would fog up a little if the slight breeze happened to direct my breath up that way. The mood outside was very calm. Grey and calm. Quiet, too. Was early enough that not many people were about. As I headed up the drive to the condo entrance, several cars did pass as they ferried people off to work, but that was about it. Oh, I did see one person who was also on foot behind me, but she was far enough back that I didn't feel the need to interact. Still felt like a solo adventure. It really felt good to be out walking. I miss going for walks. Passed the communal garbage dump/smasher. Passed the other smaller condo clusters. (Interestingly enough didn't see feral feline one while I was passing this particular area. I'll usually see one or two that look to be sentries. Watching out for the presence of 'man'.) Once I got to the entrance, I hung a right onto an asphalt bike path that runs along Johnny Mercer Boulevard, the main road there. I was on my way to the BP at the corner of JMB and the 80 (which leads over the bridge to Tybee Island). Not a far trek, but a leg stretcher.
The bike path is a great walking trail. I headed down the section next to JMB which turned off to the right and then behind the row of houses there. Hmmm...I paused. Looked up JMB at the BP on the corner. Looked down the bike path which went for several feet, hung a left and ran behind the homes. Kind of like an alley way with houses on the left and extremely thick flora of many types on the right. Almost a jungle of trees, moss, and vines. Guess I don't have to say which way I went. I hung a right. I stopped and snapped that first pic after the spider photo. The trail was beckoning me. The next few pics are of my side exploration down this section of bike path. Very quiet and very green. The fence on my left that ran along the back of the homes was pretty overgrown for the most part. The few houses I passed sat still and silent. Either their inhabitants had left for work, or they were sleeping within. As I mentioned previously, to my right was thick forest. Leafy and green. Unlike the area I discovered 'Stephen King trail' in, there were no signs of trail heads. The growth was much thicker here, too. I continued walking really enjoying the fact that it was so still and quiet. Then I noticed something odd in the foliage. The inanimate carcass of an old trailer. Wasn't small or particularly large, but big enough. Was placed vertically to the bike path, and some 50 or so feet back in the trees. It must have been there for quite some time because the growth was thick and pervaded it. I took a picture of it from the path, but you have to really look to see it. All of the windows were broken out, and the front door stood open at the top of some ramshackle wooden steps. Me being me, there was the urge to go in for a closer look, but who knew what I would find? What sort of critter(s)? I stood there for several minutes trying to find a good spot to snap a picture, and thinking about when I was a kid. My friends and I were big on constructing forts in the woods. This is the type of find we would have killed for. Of course we would've inspected it to see if it was a viable candidate for a fort. Who knows what we would find within? As I said, a part of me wanted to inspect further, but I knew I wasn't going to. And there was the added element of me being alone. So I forged ahead. I could see the path coming to a cross with a road/driveway. It appeared that the owners of the last house before this intersection had cleared the woods back a bit. A truck was parked there, and an above ground wood stove of some kind was sitting there, a log on oneside looking like rustic seating. Also sitting there were two big orange cats. Now I don't know if they were domesticated felines owned by the people in that last house, or were among the feral denizens of the area, but as soon as I was close enough for my presence to be know they froze with that skiddish, wide-eyed, 'who the hell are you' look that animals give strangers. I stopped briefly and said hello without moving in closer. They just continued their tense statue impressions, so I decided to snap their picture and moved on. At the intersection, I could see the entrance to the BP's parking lot. Hanging a left, I headed up and over JMB to get a paper.
In the same block as the BP, there is a liqour store called 'Chu's'. Owned by a man named Chu. Who would've guessed...lol. I'm not 100% sure if he owns the BP, as well...don't know if those are franchised. Anyway, as I rounded the corner of the building to pop my change into the newspaper machine, there the individual was who had been following me towards the condo entrance. An older woman, rather 'worn', and missing most of her front teeth. "You went the long way, huh?", she said when she saw me. "Yes, I did." I returned her big toothless smile. "Just doing some exploring." She told me to have a great day, and I told her to do the same. She entered the liqour store, and I got the paper and headed back in the direction I had come. Ya know, living in Los Angeles for almost twenty years changes a person. I'm from the south. People are nice in the south. Not saying that people in L.A. aren't nice, but...well, here strangers on the street acknowledge each other. Conversation happens at the Kroger check-out. They say 'hello' to one another here. It's just so...nice.
On my trip back, I skirted the edge of Johnny Mercer until I reached the turn in the bike path and headed back down it. Before leaving the edge of JMB, I snapped a picture of the moss covered branches that pretty much roof it all the way from the 80 to the strip mall where the Kroger is. Don't know exactly how far it is, but as they say in the south 'it's a far piece'. Snapped another photo of the bike trail into the condos. Once I was back inside the main condo entrance, I snapped the next picture to illustrate how brooding the sky is here today. (As I write this it's raining outside. The steady sound of it is reminding me of Ruby, a girl I used to work with. Said rain coming down sounded like bacon frying. When I think about it like that...it kinda does.) Passed by the cat territory without a sighting. The next picture I snapped is of a tree next to the condo sign. Took it because it's a beautiful tree. Looking at the picture I got, it's more impressive in person. Oh well...
As I started past the row of buildings leading back to home, I encountered the other person I saw on my walk. An older woman (maybe in her late 60's?) who was standing on her front deck, talking on the phone and the whole neighborhood at the same time. Know what I mean? I'm assuming that the person on the other end of the line was deaf because she was emoting at high volume. I'd seen this woman before. Done up white hair, a white tank top, tons of gold jewelry, rough voice (probably from cigarettes). She also looked like she could hold her liqour. From what I heard of her conversation, 'talks like a sailor' would definitely apply. I've only seen her a couple of times, but the first time I saw her walking to her car she reminded me of one of those older women who like to go to bars and pick up guys in their twenties. Not a 'cougar' though. She's a few years past that. Oh well...you'd have to actually experience the presence of one of these ladies to know what I mean. So I moved on, Ms. things voice fading as the distance was increased. As I neared the front door I saw a really pretty red leaf which I felt warranted a picture. (Not sure what tree it's from, but its a big one.) Came back, nuked a cup of the cold coffee in the pot. Hey, I brewed it this morning. It was nice and thick. Concentrated evil...perfect.
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