Late summer afternoon walk

No, if it appears I haven't been walking very much, that's quite true. Too dang hot; I don't do summer heat well. However, with our monsoon moisture skittering away, we had a sunny day with autumnal breezes and temperatures. A perfect time to head over to Grove Street to inspect the Moroccan fountains and otherwise to see what was to be seen along the way.

The time: late in the afternoon, as shadows of the stones in the roadway should attest. However, despite unseasonal dryness along the way, this big Park Avenue trumpet vine was lush. (FYI: we have had absolutely lousy rains this summer.)

Here's the historic white house which was gutted, then waited and waited for the expansion/remodeling to begin. Finally, the job is almost complete; below is a handsome new set of doors at the front.

Another handsome door, this on Grove Street.

Of course, there's always infrastructure that's in need of repair -- and no federal bailout money available for the work, either. I guess for that you need to be a bank or a government operation, not just people.

Along the way, I found the auction sign, tucked away in a planter by the sidewalk. Waiting, no doubt for the next auction to be announced; I believe they happen at least once per week.

I'm still trying to puzzle out just how (or why) this juniper got scalped. Was it possibly growing higher than its mate (below), and so cut back to the same level resulting in this misfortune? Any landscape experts out there? Will new leaves cover that barren understory? How long should it take?

A more pleasant sight along the streetside next to the gutter: pavers in circular patterns.

Then there's the question of that large square building at the northeast corner of Sheldon and Grove. It appears to be 1) empty and 2) the victim of vandalism, unless all that boarding up of what had been plate glass is/was to create more privacy inside. I wonder, too, about those circles: paste-on decal graffiti?

Right across the street is this Prescott College building currently being remodelled. At the moment, however, it looks like an extra big package was just dropped off by FedEx or the boys in brown.

I guess tonight is my night to be querulous, as I have yet another query. To wit, how do two competitive C-stores both survive when plonked down cheek-by-jowl? I don't get it. They both appear to stay in business. While we're stopped here, do note the flower in the lower right hand corner of the pic (enlarged below). It's a healthy volunteer snapdragon, one of the garden flowers that does extra well in Prescott, wouldn't you agree.

By this time on my walk, Grove Street had segued into Miller Valley and I could get a picture of that lovely stone building which is, once again, looking for an occupant. Too bad. Catty corner at the CVS, I was reminded that there will always be a marketing man: specifically, the sort of charlatan who invents a so-called "collectible" out of whole cloth, signs up a factory in China to make the geegaw and sets about making his fortune off the clueless. Neat toys they might be, but "collectible"? Come on.
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The downtown Sunday scene

As I walked from the Square down to Sharlot Hall on Sunday, there were the inevitable photo ops along the way. Floral, for example. Above, the new hanging baskets that now adorn the street lights across from the Square; the city fathers must have read my mind when I suggested that if Palmer, Alaska, could afford hanging baskets of flowers, surely our much larger city could. Plus a different approach to flowers at Genovese's -- bright R.E.D. poppies painted right on top of that great window reflection of busy Gurley Street (below).

Sunday was a day for promenading. One's gleaming street rod, perhaps, or the crowd's bikes, up from the Valley (or maybe LA for all that matter).

Of course, vehicles belonging to exhibitors on the Square must double as good totemobiles. As for people, quite a few were in costume, such as this frontiersman who obviously needs a bewski after a day at the Folk Arts Fair.

More western themed scenes on Gurley: above, The Sheriff, a coin-op machine explaining the west, old and new; below, a cool painting of horses in the Huckeba Art Gallery.

Sandwich signs were all over the place this weekend. Fancy That with its Save Our Store sale ... the live-healthy folk with their show and tell at the St. Michael. Among others.

A reminder of one more event, in this over-crowded weekend that I missed, in the Dinner Bell window. And, below, the melancholy after-the-curtain-goes-down moment for a tourist town. Nor should one complain -- there was no trash on the sidewalk!

End of May neighborhood walk

And so I set out on another short neighborhood walk. Good reasons this time: first, to see what the unusual, slightly damp weather has wrought amongst the plants and, second, to take a look at progress on the old house that was gutted, then sat for several weeks with nothing happening. I did get a chance to talk to one of the owners who explained that the venerable structure had always been in her family. At last, the new addition is moving along expeditiously and should at least double the size of the building.

A discovery which had been in front of my nose all along -- another old brick structure with bolts, tho these might have to do with holding the garage roof up. Further along this alley: a basket of artificial flowers adorning a utility pole.

Which is not to deprecate green, growing things, which, having received more May water than they were expecting, have responded with gusto. Here, a volunteer hollyhock on the alley, with buds ready to burst into flower.

The wild four o'clock along the alley are lush with blossoms -- very early. But much, much earlier is the lone aster below. Poor thing must think that it is August, which is when asters are scheduled. (Even my wild asters that get regular watering wait until the proper time of year to produce flowers.)

This neat little garden belongs to one of the little cottages that fronts on the alley.

The neighborhood vines are thoroughly greened out and looking for new territory to climb and conquer. The grape (above) has, to my knowledge, never set fruit, though it blooms every year. On the other hand, a Virginia creeper (below) is about to flower; this vine always sets those big dark berries that consist entirely of one big seed.

More vines: in this case, wisteria, with one lone panicle, tho if you look closely below, you'll see that the expanding vine is ready to grab any unwary passers-by.

Yet one more vine: honeysuckle. Unfortunately, it is still not possible to capture the fragrance electronically. Surely the bright boys and girls of Silicon Valley should be able to remedy this shortcoming Real Soon Now.

On Park Avenue, there stands a small tree, possibly a locust. Today I realized that this was not a single tree but five or six twined about one another. Strange! And, below, my final botanical note of the day: the Spanish broom is abloom and quite thoroughly covered with brilliant yellow pea-type flowers. Quite as fragrant as the honeysuckle, but headier.

I close with trees of a mineral sort: manganese "trees" on a small slab of granite that I've seen many times but never Seen.

On my way to the Thai take-out

Prescott is rapidly moving into walking season. I had a taste for a Thai take-out dinner and so set out shortly after four, hence the long shadows you will see in today's pictures. Number one is my white evening primrose, with at least three buds, one of which might possibly open tonight. That is, if the javelina don't show up; they're quite fond of evening primrose roots. Over by the school, there was an outstanding bit of civic graffiti (below).

I've never taken a picture of these granites; aren't they handsome? As are the gnarled limbs of a turbinella oak. The big knots most likely resulted from major mistletoe infestation once upon a time.

This particular walk takes me past two fine sets of digital fences, particularly the specimen below which races downhill, section by section.

The owners of the truck above were scouting a house; said house was on the market two years ago at over $600Gs; today it's a short sale at $325 thou. Fancy That, BTW, has long since moved here from the Valley -- it's located over on McCormick. The truck below? No idea what it was up to; however, the trailer boasted a mighty long bed.

Signs of gentrification...

vs. the down-home neighborhood that was...

At Tai Phoon, I was invited to join Nigel (above) and Tracy (below) for a beer with my curry. Not only is Prescott a friendly town -- but in what other small town will one casually meet a student from SE Asia who hopes to fly jets for Singapore Airlines or a young woman from Brooklyn who recently got her degree in global security and intelligence studies?

Blogger Meet-Up: a reminder of our picnic this Sunday at 1 p.m. over at Flinn Park, 280 Josephine. Hope to see you there.