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Images of Autumn in Ashland

Nov 252011

Now that fall is nearly over, I thought I’d post some pictures taken around Ashland over the last month or so. Of course, you might say, “Oh yeah, another batch of autumn color pictures. <yawn> Ho hum.” To that I say, “I know,” and “I’m sorry,” and “No one is forcing you to look at these. Or… are they?”

Let’s face it, if you’re being forced to look at these, you have bigger problems than looking at yet another set of pictures of autumn leaves.

Besides, how many times does such a collection of pictures include a monkey tree?

And so, without further ado… Well, just a bit more ado. I’m also trying out a different way of displaying photos, so this is a sort of experiment. Thanks for participating! Clicking on the photos should bring up the full-size images without leaving the page. Also, I’m sprinkling this post with links to photos posted on Ashland Daily Photo.

One thing I’ve loved about Pacific Northwest autumns is how the trees turn gradually and not all at once. It’s not that uncommon to find trees with the leaves covering the spectrum from green to red all at the same time. This picture was taken half a block from home.

Or, I’ll come across a tree that is a blazing orange, surrounded by other trees not quite ready to turn.

Here’s a sweet spot in Lithia Park.

I’m not sure if it’s faulty memory, but I don’t remember seeing as many leaf-covered sidewalks around Bellingham as I do here in Ashland. I attribute that to a larger proportion of deciduous trees here, and perhaps a more laid back approach to clearing fallen leaves. In fact, so far I’ve only encountered two instances of those horrible leaf-blowers running in Ashland. (The first of those instances was in Lithia Park!)

Just for fun, I’m including a picture of a house nearby that looks to be abandoned (or badly in need of a paint job) and, therefore, haunted. Of course.

And, finally, the monkey tree complete with red leaves and a Halloween mask on a pink monkey.

Haunting music, zombie crypts and cats

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Oct 282011

Have you ever listened to a song that made you shiver? Or that made you feel something you couldn’t quite put your finger on, but that was both compelling and uncomfortable at the same time?

Here are some songs that I find haunting. Now, for me, the hauntingness comes from the music itself. If the lyrics contribute, that’s great, but music has rarely (if ever) been about the lyrics.

I doubt I’ll post music often because I know how subjective music can be. I have no reason to believe you’ll like any of these songs. Then again, I’ve discovered some awesome music by stumbling upon someone else’s selection, so…

These videos are all on YouTube. Most of them are just recordings of the track with some image for the “video” part. In other words, they’re for listening not watching.

I’ll list these in chronological order, not of the recording date, but of when it was current in my playlists. This first one is Under Ice by Kate Bush. In this case, the lyrics are part of the hauntingness, so I’m already violating my earlier point. Sheesh!

Next up, Sandman by This Ascension. This band was one of my favorites for a long time. There’s something deliciously creepy about their music.

This one may be a little obvious given the title is Ghost (by Lunasect), but the title of a song doesn’t necessarily say what the music itself evokes. I don’t know if this song makes me think “ghost” but I do find it haunting.

This next one, Buried Alive by Unwoman, features the cello, one of the most beautiful and haunting instruments ever created.

If you like dark, moody music, Katatonia might be up your alley. This is Soil’s Song.

Another group that serves up some consistently dark music is Trance to the Sun. I really wanted to post their song, Reach for the Throat, but I couldn’t find an online source, so here instead is Homewrecker.

Finally, Red Water by Type O Negative.

Do you have any songs that haunt you?

Other Tidbits — zombie crypts and cats

Awhile back, I posted about a zombie crypt in the Mt. View Cemetery. Well, I’ve been informed that the crypt has since been removed! That means two things:

I may have taken the very last photo ever of that monstrous structure.
The city clearly removed the crypt in response to my previous post. You’re welcome, Ashland.

I have reason to believe our cats are possessed. I’m not sure why I think that.

Possessed cats

Happy Equinox (and other embarrassing stories)

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Sep 232011

Fall colors Happy Equinox! Or is it Merry Equinox? (I forget these little details.)

Yep, it’s all downhill from here.

It’s the first day of autumn, yet it still feels like summer. I’ve noticed that before. The “first day” of any season seems to come before the preceding season is really finished. If I get ambitious later, I’ll make up a spreadsheet and some charts to illustrate my point. (Embarrassing story: I’ve actually DONE spreadsheets on silly things like pedometer step counts, or tracking character levels on World of Warcraft.)

But I’m getting sidetracked. You see, as of yesterday, I’m licensed to drive again!

Random, license to drive

I have not driven in nearly two months. Shortly after arriving in Ashland, I realized that my Washington driver’s license had expired in July! I guess when I renewed my license five years ago, I should have made a mental note, “Renew license in 2011.” But, I’m embarrassed to say, I didn’t do that.

Finally yesterday, I went to the DMV and got an Oregon license. Luckily, I didn’t have to take a driving test. (I guess they figure someone who has been driving for many years probably has so many bad habits there’s no hope of passing the test without tying up some driving examiner for hours and hours of re-tests.)

I did, however, have to take a written test. I squeaked by with an 84%, but a pass is a pass. So, yay!

However, I feel one answer was unfairly marked against me. The question was something like:

You are driving on a two-lane road and you come upon someone riding a horse. The rider holds up a hand as you approach. What does this signify?

I don’t remember ever reading about that scenario in the driver’s manual. In fact, I find it hard to believe this is such a daily occurrence that it warrants inclusion on a 35-question test. But, I’ve been driving for years, so I should have been able to figure it out. In my head, I came up some possibilities:

This person was in on the switch from 10 and 2 o'clock to 9 and 3. Good for her.

The rider is friendly and is waving at you. You should notwave back since that would require taking your hands from 10 and 2 o’clock. (Oh, now it’s 9 and 3? WTF? Have steering wheels changed? Have clock-faces changed?)
The rider is signalling you to stop. You should quickly drive around the rider. They are not the boss of you.
The rider is asking for help deciphering the note they wrote in pen on their hand to remind themselves of something. You do NOT stop to get out of your car to read their hand (because you can’t just park your car on a two-lane road willy-nilly), but instead, you stop briefly, turn on your emergency lights, open your window, and shout back and forth with the rider to exchange cell phone numbers. Then, you each continue on the road until you find a safe place to pull off and call each other to arrange a time to meet up so you can help them with their indecipherable note.

Believe it or not, NONE of these was on the list of possible answers!

Sure, I took a stab, but guessed wrong. And no, I’m going to tell you what the right answer is. If you really want to know, you should move to Oregon and keep taking the written driver’s test until you get the one with the horse question.

The bottom line is, I’m legal to drive again. Of course, I may be rusty, so you might want to avoid Ashland for the next couple of weeks.

Domain transfer update

As of this morning, I am still getting to my old site with randomsays.com about half the time. Due to technical issues* that I’d be happy to elaborate upon (but won’t), I was not able to access the new site when randomsays.com was pointing to the old site. Yesterday, I changed some settings that will allow me access no matter what those crazy domain name servers are doing with my domain. The only thing you should notice is that the URLs up in the address bar look funny.

If you notice anything else wonky, please let me know!

* Technical issues elaborated

I know I said I wasn’t going to elaborate. I like to think I wasn’t lying so much as I changed my mind.

The WordPress software I have installed on my site has settings for the address of the site. As soon as I was directed to the new site when entering randomsays.com, I changed the settings so WordPress used randomsays.com as the site address. However, when randomsays.com directs me to the old site, I can’t get into my WordPress installation because it’s trying to get at the old location instead of the new.

Because this was annoying the crap out of me and had me feeling like I was in a sort of limbo, I changed the settings so my WordPress installation now uses the numerical address.

Two implications of this for you:

If you enter randomsays.com and are taken to the new site, the address bar will read “randomsays.com” unless you click any of the internal links on the site, after which the address bar will have a numeric address like 184.173.252.140/~random/…..
If you really wanted to ensure you always got to the new site, you could just enter: http://184.173.252.140/~random

I don’t really recommend you do this second one. Soon, I believe the internet will stop “remembering” the old location and this won’t be an issue anymore. Even if it doesn’t happen on its own, I’ll track down the head of the internet if I have to!

Blog move status update and Improv in Ashland

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Sep 172011

Greetings!

A few days ago I said I was going to be moving randomsays.com to a new host “in the next day or two. ”

You may notice that “next day or two” equates with 1 or 2, but “a few days ago” equates with 3. What gives?

Turns out that, because my domain is so new, I can’t redirect it until the 17th. That’s tomorrow here. But, the 17th might be today there, in WordPress-land, so let’s just say this is all gonna go down soon.

I’d like to remind you who subscribe that your subscription will probably not get transferred. So, if you would like to continue to receive updates on my posts, you may need to resubscribe. (Sorry for any inconvenience.)

Then again, I could be wrong. All of this is in theory. I’ve never done this before, so it’ll be an adventure. Fortunately, my experience with software is that things always go smoothly the first time…

Here’s my understanding of what will happen:

I’ve already created the website and it’s ready to be viewed.
Next I will go and try to change the nameservers for my domain, randomsays.com — preferably without breaking the internet.
Then it’s a matter of waiting (supposedly 24-48 hours) for the switch to propagate through whatever it is it needs to propagate through.
In the meantime, randomsays.com should continue to point to this site.
Once the switch has happened, randomsays.com should point to the new blog site. (Duh.)
This should be transparent to everyone but (maybe) subscribers.

As a safety measure, here is an address for this blog that will work even after the transition: whatrandomsays.wordpress.com

Good news! My plea for improv has not been in vain. Thanks to help from one of The Hamazons, I have found an improv class in Ashland, conveniently starting in only two weeks!

To all my improv buddies up north, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Mt. View Cemetery and Emily Dickinson

Cemeteries No Responses »

Sep 152011

Remember way back when I said I would soon post about “possibly the coolest headstone ever?“* Well, five days later here it is!

I found it in the Mt. View Cemetery here in Ashland. Coming from Washington, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a grave marker made of wood. (It makes sense. Given the rain there, those markers would be nothing but lumps of moss after a few years.) Yet, this particular marker I’m writing about is only one of four I’ve seen at the three cemeteries around here.

Since I have never seen a wooden marker, it still amazes me — partly because it’s unfamiliar, but also because it seems so temporary. Of course, this one is topped with a copper covering. The metal cap must protect the end of the wood from rain and snow. Maybe in this climate it will last for years.

The third image above is a close-up of the brass plate on the front. It has an inscription that reads:

Irving Tracy Lord
1.17.1926-3.17.2001

I asked no other thing,
No other was denied.
I offered Being for it;
The mighty merchant smiled.

Brazil? He twirled a button,
Without a glance my way:
“But, madam, is there nothing else
That we can show today?”

Though it’s not credited on the marker, the poem was written by Emily Dickinson, and is titled I Asked No Other Thing.

One curious thing is that Irving Lord died in 2001 — not that long ago. For some reason, that seems too recent for a grave marker to be made of wood. Obviously I’m stereotyping grave marker materials. Shame on me!

Do you know any of the history behind Irving Tracy Lord and his headstone**?

* I can’t truly say this is the coolest headstone ever. I can’t even say it’s the coolest one ever that I’ve seen. Let’s just say it’s “pretty cool” and leave it at that, okay?

** The term “headstone” seems misleading. Should it be “headwood?” That sound vaguely pornographic. What about “headcopper?” Um, kinda clunky. May I suggest we agree that “headstone” encompasses a broader definition that accepts grave markers of all denominations or materials!

Walking around Ashland: Barbie warning, the monkey tree and zombies

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Sep 092011

So many things I could post, I feel… like. My. Head… is going to…

My head imploding

implode. Oops, too late.

The masked mannequin

I went on a very long walk this afternoon along the Ashland city trail that runs from the railroad district all the way to the east end of town. Along the trail I found this gem I really have to share:

Masked mannequin with note
On the right side of the head’s neck is a “tattoo” drawn in pen that looks vaguely like a woman’s head.

Written on the piece of paper at the base is:

“All your Barbie
are belong to
us!”

Since I don’t have a Barbie, this does not really affect me, but some of you out may want to take the appropriate precautions.

The Monkey Tree

Just a few doors down the street from us is this sweet tree with dozens of stuffed monkeys hanging on its branches. It’s fun to look up and keep seeing more and more hidden behind the leaves.

The signs hung on the tree trunk are there because someone stole a large monkey from the tree and the owner is asking for its return.
Stealing a stuffed monkey? Really? Sheesh!

Zombie Warning!

Of course the cutesy little stuffed monkeys were just a distraction from what’s really on my mind. Zombies.

I haven’t really given them much thought, and don’t quite get the current zombie “craze.” But, I think we can all agree that this picture gives clear evidence that at least one zombie is loose somewhere in or around Ashland.

I don’t know. Does it even makes sense for a zombie to have broken out of a mausoleum in the middle of Mt. View Cemetery? Maybe some other kind of undead?

It would be good to know what we’re dealing with here.

Coming up soon:

Possibly the coolest headstone ever!

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