Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #2 for 2020... "A Hell of a Woman", another masterpiece by Jim Thompson, this time from 1954.
Black Lizard / Vintage Crime Edition Cover
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Monday, January 20, 2020
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Enjoyable mid-afternoon 4-mile run along Main Street, once the sidewalks were cleared of last evening's snow (3" or so through the night).
Also, wonderful news -- from the Berkshire Eagle (January 17, 2020) concerning DCR:
After a decade offline, the forest's recreation area will reopen this year, the state says, first to day use. Overnight camping might return later.
When the commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation announced in May 2009 that the Windsor site would be shuttered due to budget cuts, he was asked when it might be back.
"I don't think it'll be fiscal 2010," Richard K. Sullivan Jr. told The Eagle.
Turns out, it was a decade.
A spokeswoman for the DCR, says the state will invest $1.2 million to make a slew of capital improvements at the River Road site, located along a fast-moving section of the Westfield River not far from the Hampshire County towns of Cummington and Plainfield.
Work at the remote area, long popular with local families, is expected to start in April and be complete by late summer or fall. The site will open as soon as work is finished, Dorrance said.
Work will include restoring a riverside beach, upgrades to the area's bathrooms and other public buildings, fresh pavement, accessibility improvements and new guardrails along River Road and over the bridge that provides access into the area.
Some of the coming construction will lighten the impact of use on the environment. By rebuilding the parking lot, the DCR will seek to reduce stormwater runoff into the Westfield River, a prized cold-water fishery that carries a federal designation as a wild and scenic river. Similarly, new landscaping will seek to channel and filter water before it reaches the river.
When closed in 2009, the site was one of two state-funded parks in the Berkshires to be affected as the agency moved to cut 15 percent of its workforce in the wake of the Great Recession. That forced the DCR to lay off 330 workers, it said at the time.
Since then, the agency has struggled to operate its facilities in the region due to austerity, a report in The Eagle revealed in 2016. But, recent grants have enabled the DCR to improve trails.
Also, wonderful news -- from the Berkshire Eagle (January 17, 2020) concerning DCR:
Mothballed Berkshires
recreation area to rise
again!
State to reopen Windsor State Forest park area, once
power restored.
Windsor State Forest, which was closed in 2009 for state budgetary reasons, is set to reopen this year, after an investment of $1.2 million from Massachusetts has been used for capital improvements.
The lights already had gone out at a popular scenic destination here when the double whammy came. The popular Windsor State Forest was closed in 2009 to save the state money.
After a decade offline, the forest's recreation area will reopen this year, the state says, first to day use. Overnight camping might return later.
When the commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation announced in May 2009 that the Windsor site would be shuttered due to budget cuts, he was asked when it might be back.
"I don't think it'll be fiscal 2010," Richard K. Sullivan Jr. told The Eagle.
Turns out, it was a decade.
A spokeswoman for the DCR, says the state will invest $1.2 million to make a slew of capital improvements at the River Road site, located along a fast-moving section of the Westfield River not far from the Hampshire County towns of Cummington and Plainfield.
Work at the remote area, long popular with local families, is expected to start in April and be complete by late summer or fall. The site will open as soon as work is finished, Dorrance said.
Work will include restoring a riverside beach, upgrades to the area's bathrooms and other public buildings, fresh pavement, accessibility improvements and new guardrails along River Road and over the bridge that provides access into the area.
Some of the coming construction will lighten the impact of use on the environment. By rebuilding the parking lot, the DCR will seek to reduce stormwater runoff into the Westfield River, a prized cold-water fishery that carries a federal designation as a wild and scenic river. Similarly, new landscaping will seek to channel and filter water before it reaches the river.
When closed in 2009, the site was one of two state-funded parks in the Berkshires to be affected as the agency moved to cut 15 percent of its workforce in the wake of the Great Recession. That forced the DCR to lay off 330 workers, it said at the time.
Since then, the agency has struggled to operate its facilities in the region due to austerity, a report in The Eagle revealed in 2016. But, recent grants have enabled the DCR to improve trails.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Snow was predicted for mid-afternoon, as well as more very cold temperatures. I didn't let it intimidate me any. Finished up a nice 11-mile run through some alternative trails to the Metacomet in Penwood, and a bit of exploring in Talcott Mountain / Hartford Reservoir on assorted trails and paths.
Nice Stone-Crossing of an intermittent brook
Old Chimney Remains below Heublein Tower
Back in Penwood, along the rim
Friday, January 17, 2020
It was going to be cold, and windy, but I had confirmed company for a long run along the Nipmuck Trail. Wuzzam met me at the Mansfield Hollow Dam (I believe that is what it is called). We ran out to the "split" just past 50-foot, and ventured south again towards Puddle Lane.
During the run, we saw two really delightful sites; Schoolhouse Brook was really scenic - I planned to take a few photographs on the return, but the trail extended so much further south that we didn't come back the same way. Secondly, we ran in the Joshua Trust "Wolf Rock" Preserve, and Wolf Rock is a beautifully balanced rock as awesome as any.
Despite the low twenty-degrees, it wasn't ever cold for us, and we rambled through the trails for a meaningful 11.5-miles.
Memorial Bench at 50-Foot
Entry to Wolf Rock Preserve
Wolf Rock
Wolf Rock
Wolf Rock
Wolf Rock - notice "daylight" underneath the balancing
Wolf Rock
Wuzzam running strong
Table Rock
Wuzzam on Table Rock - giving size perception
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Last summer, I stopped talking about commuting to work by bicycle, and did actually achieved it.
During the late 80's into the mid 90's, I commuted by bicycle pretty regularly. For five-years (1985 to 1990) I didn't even own a car. For a decade or more since the mid-90's, I would try to ride the bike, but nothing really developed consistently.
But... in 2019, I managed some success! I began riding a few days a week to work and back, starting on June 24th. I stuck with it until August 16th. In the end, I put 233.5-miles on the bike in 2019, over a six-week period.
I hope to get back to it in 2020. Once the weather warms of course. But, during the first month of this new year, it is good to look back to see what went "well". Bicycling did.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Monday, January 13, 2020
Music 2020...
Effort #2, The final recording from Dark Heart Duo's After Noon Sessions of April 2019...
"You're Gonna Miss Me" by the 13th Floor Elevators.
"You're Gonna Miss Me" by the 13th Floor Elevators.
You're gonna wake up wonderin'
Find yourself all alone
But what's gonna stop me, baby?
I'm not comin' home
I'm not comin' home
I'm not comin' home
Find yourself all alone
But what's gonna stop me, baby?
I'm not comin' home
I'm not comin' home
I'm not comin' home
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Parked early at Phelps & Mountain Road, ran the "free and clear of snow and ice" Metacomet north to the gasline cut between Rising Corner and Route 57, for 7.6-miles.
Bent Tree Limb
Welcome to Massachusetts
Welcome to Connecticut
Drove out to North Reading & then over-night'ed in Plymouth visiting family.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)