In the words of Joni Mitchell - they paved paradise and put up a parking lot! They were still building the extension last year on my visit. The new reality is a bitter pill to swallow! 😕
Indeed. Our parking area has merged with the building next door after they took down the fence between our buildings too. It’s losing the cost feeling it once had. When they sell off the land & building behind us, the developer (because it will be a developer) will knock it down and build more apartments. 😭😭
I remember when you first wrote about the losing your beloved forest. I see the same thing happening all around us. roadways expand, and with it, come businesses, strip centers, more cars traveling down to and fro. Sometimes, owners plant trees, but more often, they leave us with concrete. I am glad they haven't blocked your view of the beautiful sunsets. I do enjoy those!
It’s so hard watching natural spaces disappear, especially knowing how forests support each other. The hotel guests antics just don’t have the same appeal 😅
I’m so sorry, I would have cried too. “They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.” They’ve torn down two lovely natural areas in our neighborhood this year to build housing developments. We knew it would come but I still mourned the loss.
Thanks, Karen. I’m lucky to have beautiful natural spots close by but it feels wrong to cut down such a lovely little copse. The people who own the hotel live next door and have a paved backyard 🥺
Seems like you could write a nice little detective story, perhaps in the style of Hammett’s stories about the Continental Op, who often staked out suspects from a parked car. Describing people’s comings and goings like you did here would give the story a realistic feel.
Or even a Rear Window type murder mystery. When I saw this Dali painting years ago, I wondered if it had served as inspiration for that movie:
You already have some great details: the wasp, the coffee, the dumbbells, the flipping hair, the stretching feet.
In detective stories, those kinds of details often carry a lot of weight. If you’re familiar with Henning Mankell’s novels, you might recall how Kurt Wallander is always checking the outdoor temperature, which hints at a kind of OCD that I don’t think the various screen adaptations ever captured properly.
In Dali’s painting, my eye is drawn immediately to the foreground details: the coffee cup and the liqueur bottle (absinthe? anís?). In one of Hammett’s Continental Op stories, the narrator, who works for a detective agency, sends a kid from the office out to get him a couple of sandwiches (one tongue, one ham) and a bottle of milk. You need fuel for a stakeout!
Philip Marlowe often carried a bottle of “pretty good rye” for just such an occasion:
In the words of Joni Mitchell - they paved paradise and put up a parking lot! They were still building the extension last year on my visit. The new reality is a bitter pill to swallow! 😕
Indeed. Our parking area has merged with the building next door after they took down the fence between our buildings too. It’s losing the cost feeling it once had. When they sell off the land & building behind us, the developer (because it will be a developer) will knock it down and build more apartments. 😭😭
Oh that is a shame, that leafy, wooded street looked just beautiful. The view of the new human fauna seems a cold compensation.
I agree! I nearly choked on my coffee the morning I saw those blokes on the balcony. I prefer the exercisers
I remember when you first wrote about the losing your beloved forest. I see the same thing happening all around us. roadways expand, and with it, come businesses, strip centers, more cars traveling down to and fro. Sometimes, owners plant trees, but more often, they leave us with concrete. I am glad they haven't blocked your view of the beautiful sunsets. I do enjoy those!
It’s so hard watching natural spaces disappear, especially knowing how forests support each other. The hotel guests antics just don’t have the same appeal 😅
Particularly the flabby, bare-cheated men! 😵💫
I’m so sorry, I would have cried too. “They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.” They’ve torn down two lovely natural areas in our neighborhood this year to build housing developments. We knew it would come but I still mourned the loss.
Thanks, Karen. I’m lucky to have beautiful natural spots close by but it feels wrong to cut down such a lovely little copse. The people who own the hotel live next door and have a paved backyard 🥺
Seems like you could write a nice little detective story, perhaps in the style of Hammett’s stories about the Continental Op, who often staked out suspects from a parked car. Describing people’s comings and goings like you did here would give the story a realistic feel.
Or even a Rear Window type murder mystery. When I saw this Dali painting years ago, I wondered if it had served as inspiration for that movie:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/the-voyeur
And love that Dali painting!
I probably could do that, Frank! Balcony stakeouts, secret meetings, affairs... hmmm... you’ve got me thinking now!
You already have some great details: the wasp, the coffee, the dumbbells, the flipping hair, the stretching feet.
In detective stories, those kinds of details often carry a lot of weight. If you’re familiar with Henning Mankell’s novels, you might recall how Kurt Wallander is always checking the outdoor temperature, which hints at a kind of OCD that I don’t think the various screen adaptations ever captured properly.
In Dali’s painting, my eye is drawn immediately to the foreground details: the coffee cup and the liqueur bottle (absinthe? anís?). In one of Hammett’s Continental Op stories, the narrator, who works for a detective agency, sends a kid from the office out to get him a couple of sandwiches (one tongue, one ham) and a bottle of milk. You need fuel for a stakeout!
Philip Marlowe often carried a bottle of “pretty good rye” for just such an occasion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqoxk3SrZRw