Thursday, May 26, 2011

The old BellSouth Bldg.

You can just barely see the BellSouth Bldg. from my apt. (you got to love the billboard - the movie was actually filmed in Memphis)...


Ooops, well, you used to just barely see the BellSouth Bldg. from my apt.

Maintaining the block

A nice looking block takes a lot of work from a lot of folks...












...but is a riding mower really necessary for a 5-foot front yard?!

Bike lanes in the media

The City recently announced plans to add bike lanes to Madison.  Some business owners along the street object to the reduction of vehicular lanes that would be necessary to make room for the bike lanes.  Here is Mike Cooper, owner of Mercury Valet Cleaners (as well as its building), speaking to Jackie Orozco with WPTY on the matter...


And here is Jeni DiPrizio (also with WPTY) getting some footage of the street...

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Frank and Eric Vernon

The Bar B-Q Shop, located directly across the street from me, is a family-owned enterprise.  The Vernon's purchased the old Brady & Lil's Bar B-Q restaurant on South Parkway in 1983.  Brady & Lil's had been an institution at the corner of Parkway and Lauderdale for more than 30 years at the time.  Now on Madison Avenue, the restaurant consistently ranks as one of the best barbeque restaurants in the city - dare I say, the world?  A good interview with Frank Vernon and his son Eric can be found here: http://www.southernbbqtrail.com/tn/bbqshop/bbqshop.shtml.


Here's Eric doing what I am doing - taking pictures of a rare snow in Memphis...


Entertaining the crowd...


A good, old-fashioned father and son chat.  Those of you who know Eric will get a kick out of this series of photos...







That's a big carryout order...


Frank and Eric Vernon trying to help a European biker find his way back home...

History of Mercury Valet (BBQ Shop) Bldg

The commercial building across the street from me houses (from east to west) Mercury Valet, Tangles, Pizza Hut and the Bar B-Q Shop.  



Here is a brief history, taken from historical clippings.  Below is an article from the February 24, 1924, Commercial Appeal announcing its construction.


From the April 27, 1924, Commercial Appeal:


From the May 4, 1924, Commercial Appeal:

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

My urns

The summer of 2011 marks the sixth summer I have lived in my condo.  And for each of those six summers, I have dressed up my balcony urns in slightly different ways...

In 2006, it was magenta petunias.
  

That following December, I planted small bushes in the center of the urn to get through the winter with some green...


But those little guys didn't quite look right with petunias around them, so they were replaced that following spring with dwarf Alberta spruces (and for the second year in a row, bright magenta petunias)...



The petunias gave way to pansies (jumping jack violas, to be exact) that winter...


And then to pink petunias for the summer of 2008...


And then red and pink for 2009...



In the winters, the Alberta spruces got hit with ice...


And snow...


But those pansies didn't give up...


By the summer of 2010, the Alberta spruces had about had it.  I had to remove them that fall.  This is a picture of their final summer in my urns, with some miniature purple petunias keeping them company.


Moving Day

Some of my neighbors have rented a truck that comes automatically with movers (I highly recommend this approach!)...


 While others rent a truck and elicit help from their friends...
  

While some get their moms to help...


But sometimes a good old pickup truck does the trick just right...