Categories
General

Goodbye, Jake

jake_close

Today, we had to be put Jake to sleep. We were privileged to take care of him for over 16 years.

19971000_kath_jake

Jake was unquestioningly loyal and protective.

19980600_mazzy_jake_couch

A wizard with the frisbee, as a young dog, he could leap over 5 feet in the air and run faster than we could throw it.

20110914_lia_mazzy_jake

Jake was a healthy dog, up until his final year. Even when ailing, though, he always lived up to being our best friend.

We’ll miss him.

Categories
Travel

7th Annual Memphis Walk

image

On Saturday, October 19th, Richie, Robert, and I completed our 7th annual Memphis Walk, where we start at the cobblestones in downtown Memphis, at the Mississippi River, at sunrise and walk in a general direction (usually east-ish) until sunset.

The day started off cloudy, cool, and a bit rainy, and it stayed cool and cloudy most of the day. By the afternoon, the sun started to break through the clouds, and we finally started warming up a bit.

This year, our route took us from South Main to Germantown, largely following Barron St., which turns into Rhodes, which turns into Quince. We ended up on Poplar Pike, entering Germantown. Highlights included the (finally open, maybe) Beale Street Landing, safety warnings from firemen near Foote Homes, walking through Orange Mound on Barron Ave., crossing the MUS campus, and finally leaving Memphis.

image

Beale Street Landing has been under construction since at least our 2008 walk, and it seemed that they would never finish the project. In fact, they haven’t, as half of the site is still construction. Why it has taken 5 years to get this far and still not be finished is a mystery to me. The whole project smells like a boondoggle, but the views from the grass top of the main building are impressive.

image

Beale Street Landing is supposed to be a dock for passenger riverboats that travel up and down the Mississippi, but the use of the structure is very light right now.

image

We traversed some old downtown underpasses on our way to our traditional coffee spot on South Main, Bluff City Coffee.

image

image

We turned east after the Tennessee Brewery, ever the eyesore with enormous potential.

image

image

The vacant lot beside Ernestine and Hazel’s is now partially an art installation, with a grassy yard in the back that, strangely, meets the original tile floor.

image

image

Walking down Mississippi Boulevard near Foote Homes, a fireman called out to us and asked us what we were doing there. Apparently, he thought we were lost tourists, wandering through a bad neighborhood. After showing off their bulletproof wall in front of the fire station, he (perhaps only half-jokingly) asked us to write our social security numbers on our forearms for identification. We ignored him and strolled on.

image

image

Within a few blocks on or just off Peabody Ave., you can find older Victorian-style homes in various states of decay near stately homes only slightly newer but in much better shape.

image

image

image

While not as interesting as Summer Avenue, Lamar Avenue always holds lots of interesting sights, such as the old Lamar Theater, which appears to have a newly painted sign.

We discovered a cool entrance from Lamar to Glenview Park, under the railroad tracks.

image

image

image

To me, Barron Ave. was a real surprise. For all of the time I’ve been in Memphis, I’ve never traveled down the street, with runs through the southern part of the Orange Mound neighborhood. We ended up walking the length of the street, as far east as Ridgeway, watching the city transition from a troubled, working-class neighborhood to East Memphis homes and finally ending up at high-end, exclusive private schools, a real contrast.

image

image

When Neil’s in Midtown Memphis burned down a couple of years ago, we wondered where he relocated. We found his new building by accident at Quince at I-240.

image

image

I had never been on the Memphis University School (MUS) campus, so we strolled across it. The athletic fields reminded me of Rhodes College.

image

Balconies without doors or windows to access them, anyone? Another example of East Memphis architecture run amok.

image

By the time we reached the Germantown city limits on Poplar Pike, we had walked about 18.5 miles.

image

Categories
General Travel

Boat Time on Greers Ferry Lake

image

image

image

Beautiful weather and smooth sailing.

Categories
General Travel

Memorial Day at the Parkers’ Lakehouse

image

It is going to be a great weekend…

Categories
General

North Mississippi All-Stars at the Shell

image

Best show at the Shell I’ve ever attended. A great way to start the season!

Categories
General

Zartez Graduates from Kindergarten

Katherine and I are so proud of him!

image

image

Categories
General

Dork Legion of Anthropologists

Katherine won an “award” from a couple of students in her department, which they took it on themselves to manufacture. Pretty funny.

image

image

Categories
General

Nephews Birthday Party!

image

Ethan and Jacob (brothers on each end of the line) advance a year.

Categories
Travel

Afternoon at the Shack-Up

Cool but sunny Saturday afternoon.

image

Categories
Travel

Porch at the Shack-Up Inn

Easy mornin’…

image

Categories
General

Katherine’s Article in Diversity and Democracy

kath_and_manNT

I’ve got a pretty awesome partner/wife/spouse/best friend, but sometimes it takes reading one of her articles to realize all that she does and how deeply she thinks.

To that end, take a few minutes and catch up with the recently published Engaged Pedagogy and Neighborhood Change in South Memphis by Katherine Lambert-Pennington.

Categories
General Travel

Tahoe Panorama

This was the view before I started my last run of the day. Gorgeous!

image

Categories
General Travel

Second Day at Tahoe

We’re enjoying almost perfect conditions today. Jeff, Scott, Larry, and I are carving up the Nevada side.

image

image

image

image

image

image

Categories
General Travel

First Day at Tahoe

We all had breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe (a tradition), and then Larry and I hit the slopes, tearing up the California side.

Now, we are on the Nevada side, warming up in the lodge. Outside, it is about 12 degrees and blowing hard. Near perfect snow, though!

image

image

image

Categories
General Travel

6th Annual Memphis Walk

CameraZOOM-20121215065649155

Robert Bell, Richie Trenthem, and I completed our 6th Annual Memphis Walk on December 15th, 2012. As in previous years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), we met at the cobblestones of the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis at sunrise and started walking in a general direction. This year, we kept an almost due-east track, ending up at Wolfchase Galleria and catching a bus for the trip back downtown.

CameraZOOM-20121215071405384

It is getting a little harder to find an original route when we head east, and we tried to stay on different streets from previous walks while trying to take in a new perspective when traveling over streets we often see while driving.

CameraZOOM-20121215081431034

Some highlights:

  • While crossing Danny Thomas near Jefferson, we used a pedestrian crosswalk that was open on one end but barricaded and locked on the other end. We were able to get over the barricade and make it through, but it wasn’t clear why it was closed off in the first place or why there wasn’t a sign warning pedestrians not to try to use that bridge.CameraZOOM-20121215071704952
  • We discovered the stone marker for Edison Park, a city park that was decades ago essentially taken over by the Edison Park Apartments, near Danny Thomas and Jefferson. I never realized that there was originally a park dedicated to Thomas Edison there, due to the fact that he lived in Memphis in 1865-1866 as a telegraph operator. Nothing really remains of the park today, except for the marker, because it was turned into a parking garage for the nearby apartments.CameraZOOM-20121215080227400
  • We walked through the area south of Poplar Ave., near Cleveland St., that was demolished to make way for a shopping center development, featuring a Target, that never happened, probably use to the Great Recession of 2008. The area is marked off with fencing that is full of holes and seems ready for a grand building project, like the Mall of Memphis area. Instead of heavy construction, it has the feel of a park the public isn’t allowed to enter, a pleasant, empty area, with trees and grass, bisected by city streets, covering 4 or 5 blocks.CameraZOOM-20121215121435330
  • We walked the northwestern regions of Shelby Farms park, finding a pleasant lake behind trees, hidden from the I-240 and I-40 interchange. The entire area is crossed by bicycle trails, but we didn’t see anyone else, as we walked from the Greenline through the woods to Summer Ave.

CameraZOOM-20121215122717808

The total mileage on the walk was 20 miles, but despite some on-and-on rain, the weather was warm and pleasant, especially for December. I’m already looking forward to next year’s walk.

CameraZOOM-20121215161609773

View all photos of the 2012 Memphis Walk here.