Goodbye Historic Tree, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Weight(less)

We were starting out for a walk on a rainy day last August when I took this photo of Sam’s favorite tree. The canopy in the misty distance is (was) an Eastern Cottonwood on the corner of 7th and West Peachtree.

Eastern Cottonwood at The Historic Academy of Medicine

Here’s the mighty trunk, with magnolia leaves in the foreground…

We admired it every time we passed. With pictures of a tree and a photo challenge “Weight(less)” asking to explore the effects of gravity, it’s no mystery where this is going. Last weekend when we walked by, the tree was gone. Trees that old and mighty seem like they’ll be here forever, and it was a shock to see not even a trace of it left, and nothing but a bed of pine straw in its place.

I found an article on the Georgia Tech website explaining that the trunk was splitting despite efforts to save the tree, and that it was being removed before limbs fell. How big was the tree? It’s described as “82-inch caliper” — that’s diameter. Here it is with Sam on a sunny day last June —

And one more look up, before gravity had its way —

I’d love to know how old the tree was. I hope there’ll soon be a young one it its place.

Do you have a favorite tree?

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Weight(less)

More on Georgia Tech’s efforts to save the tree

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A New Year, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Circle

A year comes full circle every day, but it’s the first week of January that brings it to our attention. This week I’ve been reviewing my 2015 goals, and feeling under-accomplished.

Here’s the scary thing about a clock with a visible pendulum — you can see the seconds (and the year) flying by.

This was my Grandmother’s 8-Day clock. These days it’s more like a 4-Day clock, and has to be babied along a bit. It’s loud, but comforting, and I have no trouble sleeping through it. I heard it every hour in my parents’ house when I was growing up, and now it strikes the hours in mine.

Desperate to call something an accomplishment, I took this little lamp out of the donation box I’m accumulating, and cleaned it up. Here it is “before”…

It’s a “Television Lamp” from the 1950’s, and used to sit atop my parents’ TV. Cute, yes. I don’t need to keep it, but now it’s relatively clean, so I’m tempted. eBay may be full of vintage TV lamps but, funny thing, with our modern razor-thin TVs there’s no place to put them.

Jasco Tele-Lite TV Lamp — Griffith, Ind. Maybe it can find new purpose as a night-light.

Now, to bring this post full circle back to clocks, here’s another — this is a vintage Perivale Westminster Chimes clock, a souvenir from a past trip.

Perivale Westminster Chimes Clock

It’s attractive, but it’s a pain to keep wound, so right now it’s functioning as sculpture.

What should I do with all these circles?

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Circle