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about "Short Notes"
"Short Notes" was the title of a column I wrote while
working for a newspaper in the Adirondack Mountains some years ago.
The format was similar to what you'll find here, except augmented
with pictures and maps. The subject matter shall sometimes be personal,
at other times comments on events or situations of which I am aware. Comments,
suggestions welcomed but not always acted upon.
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LEGAL & DISCLAIMER NOTICE: © 2000 / Will Brady
I hope you’ve found this site interesting, even thought provoking.
Please don't write to me about the content of other peoples' sites linked
from here. On the other hand, please let me know of any inactive links.
Constructive comments, suggested links to add, are welcome.
This website is maintained by Will Brady / wbrady@connix.com /
Last update: see most recent entry
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4 feb 00
| santee watercolor
Okay. Here's a rendition of the Santee painting. The color is not
true, too yellow and this is just 'cuz I didn't feel like fooling around in
the graphics and scanner software all that much tonight. But you can get
a sense of the image. Also, the line about 1/4 of thw way into the pix on the
left is from two different photos not quite matched in size.
| arbitron
26 jan 00
| more on santee & san diego
Until I get the photos back, I've a paucity of imagery about the place,
yet I feel like there's still more to tell. So for the time being, I am
including this little pen/ink sketch that I did on a diner napkin.
 The location
was somewhere at the top of a hill along rte 125 and toward the back of a
community college campus.
While up there I listened to
Andraes Vollenweider and
John Serrie CDs, pretty
apt material for looking out into space.
Staying for only little more than a weekend is hardly adequate time
to get a strong sense of what a place is like. Knowing what kind of
weather conditions I was headed for back east I'll readily admit to
have been partially seduced by the climate.
And my brother Ken's new family was worth getting hitched up to.
Yet there were some things I was uncomfortable with: California is
not a place to live as much as it seems to be a lifestyle. And
the highway system combined with the SoCal manner of driving - chilling;
And figuring out direction was difficult - doubly disconcerting since I usually am real good at figuring out
how to get somewhere without a map. And for an area so conspicously wealthy
it was disturbing to see so many people homeless, unattended and
desperate for shelter. Lucky for them it was warm -by New England standards,
at least.
But the area was stunning and beautiful. Well worth returning to paint
...and revisit some of the natives. (P.S. Wolf's definitely gets
my vote!)
25 jan 00
| after san diego
The weekend of my brother's wedding went well. From the great car
rental deal (an SUV with cell phone for 4 days for $151 dollars [USA]
through Alamo rentals) to the
"place of sanity" with folks I know in Marsden Heights, and the weather
...most everything was great! Except that I missed seeing the lunar eclipse.
Oh, and I did have difficulty navigating around the area,
even with a Thomas Maps Guide
helping me out. Once I ended up out at Cleveland National Park (west
of the Anzo-Borega Desert), but that was alright since some of the
eye candy driving pick-ups on the highway seemed worth the detour
(no, nothing happened beyond the looking, thank you, dammit!).
Got a watercolor completed of a view from Ramshaven Lane in
Santee, CA which looks upon the hills of the Mission Gorge Park district.
The photos below give you some idea of the image I'd painted
I'll post an image of the painting once I get a copy back from the photolab.
Can't say enough how much a pleasure it was to be able to stay in a home
and not at a hotel. Special thanks for my stay to Neil, Bo, Darryl and Jason,
and Xavier. Since I didn't actually lose the dog, think I might be able to visit
again?
20 january 2000
| enroute to san diego
I'm sitting in a
laptoplane passing the time while waiting for my transfer
flight to San Diego. So I thought I'd experiment and see how easy
it was to change my page while on the road.
Seems my scheduled flight did not get off the groud this morning
and I waited for some 2 hours before we could take off. Icing wings
and a stuck wingflap prevented takeoff. My understanding is that
this is what the weather looked 
like on Doppler radar from Hartford's
WFSB, channel 3. It appears as though the worst of the storm
has passed Connecticut but my guess is that Bruce might be stuck on
Cape Cod. Fortunately, David will be able to feed the cats.
[gawd! I can't believe I'm getting so detailed in minutae here]
HCFA and patient complaints
Outside of this, I have spent time mucking about the HCFA site,
looking up what they have available (and how easy it might be to access -
not!) on a patient's right to file grievances.
When I get back to work
I'll have to do a presentaion with staff on two of the units about access to this
and how they can facilitate the process on behalf of folks in the Restoration
to (Legal) Competency Program. I'll want to quote precisely what is and isn't
okay to do.
But back to what got me here today. Sure, it's frustrating to have to wait
three extra hours, and in Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport no less, but it's also
exciting to learn that I can make changes on the page wherever I might be.
Now, if only I can figure out how to access my e-mail.
18 january 2000
Artists evicted for cleaning up the area
In Norwalk, Connecticut, a group of artists and craftspersons have been
forced to move out of a building that they undertook to save back some 20
years ago. Known locally as "the Lock Building" it had been in a rundown
 section of the city and the artists moved in, cleaned up and restored the building.
More recently, these artists (together with the support of historic
preseravtionists and neighborhood association groups) fought to keep the
building from being torn down and replaced with a multilevel above ground parking garage.
They won on that battle
The latest development in this saga, and as more proof of the adage that
"no good deed goes unpunished," is that
Spinnaker Companies the current owner of the building, (itself well known for upscale residential
development projects) have given the Lock Building's eviction papers
since Spinnaker has other plans.
No sense writing Spinnaker or the city of Norwalk in protest, since the
majority of residents have already moved on. But the loss of the artists' center
will change the character of the district significantly. Sooo... not unlike
San Francisco's
SOMA District (and other similar areas) those who pulled a slum out of
its morass, get kicked out once the developers could see profit from the progress.
The 16 jan 2000 issue of the New York Times quotes Jeff Kapec, who has had a
studio in the Lock Building since 1983, as saying "...we were here before the
artists started coming in the mid 1980s and this building and neighborhood were in
terrible shape. When the artists started coming it was like magic and the wole area started getting
better. I don't think the city has any idea what it is losing"
The Times article goes on to suggest that the "...city would regret not taking a more
active role to keep the artists..." but this is no consolation for lack of thinking, is it?
that's all fer now.
17 january 2000
Absolute bitter cold tonight. Well below
zero degrees, whether you use Farenheight or Celsius.
Went through at least a cord and a half this winter season. That's face cords
for those counting.
Made it through the holidays with not too much for wear. The Y2K scare was a
bust, as most all of you know by now. Spent New Year's Eve with Tom and Deb and
Bruce and Lindsay and Rich Tennant and a couple from Vermont. Watched fireworks from
Lake Sunapee
although it was actually some 15 miles away.
New, the winter temps in CT have been unseasonably warm, that is, until today.
We had virtually no snowfall until Friday, enjoyed weather that made me worry if I'd
 be pulling
ticks
off the cats until Spring Equinox.
Although I did see from a distance, some guys with ice shanties down
on some protected streams in New Hampshire, all this means is that this winter
I have yet to get and
walk on the frozen lakes
. A small pleasure I enjoy even though it makes Bruce very nervous
to even contemplate.
I'm hoping the sub-gale winds shall freeze over some nearby pond solid enough.
At any rate, the cold weather is allowing me to use that wood so carefully stacked
and split earlier this year. ...itself a good enough excuse to post the picture
to the left which, incidentally, is one I did ages ago and is based on a photo
of
Dr. Ann LaBastille (want to thank a recent correspondent, Marty Hogan, for reminding
me of having done this sketch).
archives:
23 may - 14 sep '99 |
6 nov - 19 dec '99 | feb 2000
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Catch you on the rebound!
~Will Brady
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