I guess it's just what we needed

This story was in today's Washington Post.

Fans of John P. Marquand should be happy. And Richard Simkins, owner of The Grog ... and the Maritime Museum ...

Nice piece.

Greetings from New Zealand

No, I'm not in New Zealand ... but my sister (the one that lives in Gloucester) is. And she's been sharing photos on her blog, seagardensandglass.

The pics of that town, Hokitika, remind me so much of Bridgetown, in Barbados. I guess there is a definite Colonial style of architecture that was used in all tropical and/or sub-tropical colonies.

Now I want to go there, but I'm too old to spend that much time in an airplane!

Sniff sniff

I'm watching more about the plane that landed in the Hudson River yesterday afternoon. What a great story.

And they were just saying on the radio the other day that there hadn't been a major crash of a U.S. carrier in some time ...

I guess it was 'due;' but thanks to that pilot and first responders in NYC, a happy ending.

Triple cheers to all.

Our own Private Idaho

I am beginning to shift in my opinion about the waterfront. No, I'm not jockeying for that ethereal official blogger position that never materialized (unless Salemi pulled a fast one) - I mean the NRA lots.

In doing research for the post about 'free' parking, I saw plenty of images of parking garages. It was not the garages themselves that caught my attention, it was the slimy, oily residue left in each parking space in the garages.

In two places in each spot (one for pulling into a space forwards and one for people who backed in).

I know this has been an issue at our waterfront lots - leaky cars.

In any case, I would hate to see that whole area paved over, even if "paving the parking lot leads to paradise." (That quote, or something very like it, has been attributed to our mayor, although I've never heard him say it.)

I just read (here) that one pint of oil can contaminate an area larger than a football field. Considering that cars spend, on average, 95% of the time parked somewhere or the other, that's rather alarming.

Paving does not stop this, by the way. It just runs off with the rain, usually right into the nearest storm drain.

Americans spill 180 million gallons of used oil each year into our waters. (I got that here.)

So if the choice is ONLY between park and parking, I guess I'd have to lean towards park at this point (Good God, she's reversed her opinion!).

But I still think there has to be an alternative. It's probably too much to expect that people will keep their cars in good repair and get leaks fixed, so .... *gulp*

Maybe we can make our own little Greenfield Village (with the focus on ships, not cars, of course). This is a very popular destination in Detroit.

Houses I could afford and tourism

I found this house on Craig's List. It's for sale.

Three bedrooms, one bath, 1,188 sf, near a hospital - $39,900.

At last! A house I probably could actually afford!

Problem is, it's in Flint.

How far the mighty have fallen.

I found this in the description of another house, a 3-bedroom "bungalow" priced at $25,000:

The upstairs is one large room finished in naughty pine ....

Michigan is famous for its naughty pines, did you know?

Flint has a bunch of assets, such as a branch of the University of Michigan, Kettering University and Mott Community College; a cultural center, an art museum, the Sloan Museum, and a planetarium.

It's a place where the automobile industry started, for heaven's sake. And still, it's a dead zone.

Does anyone know that there was actually a man named Buick (David)? Or Olds (Ransom)? Or Chevrolet (Louis)? Or that the car model Cadillac is named after the French explorer who founded Detroit, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac?

For all that Americans love their cars (got a feel for my automobile), why did AutoWorld, which was to be the grand attraction to Flint when I was still living there, fail so miserably?

It had this giant internal combustion engine, so you could see how it all works ... but it's gone. I wonder where that engine is? It was way cool.

Attracting tourists is a tricky thing. Flint, and indeed most of Michigan, is on the way to - more Michigan. People driving cross country might pop into Detroit, which is southerly, but who's going to drive 60 miles north to see a giant car engine?

To get to any other state, you have to head back south or waaaaay up north to the Upper Peninsula (the 'UP') - or take a ferry across Lake Michigan. Those damn Great Lakes.

Location, location, location. It's all about location.

Another tidbit: Did you know Detroit is the only place in the U.S. that is north of somewhere in Canada? Yep, Windsor, Ontario, is south of Detroit. Remember this, as it's the answer to a question in Trivial Pursuit (Does anyone play that anymore?).