Today was my birthday, and normally I would reflect back on the past year. But I am going to copy things I've read on facebook about the Newtown/Sandy Hook shootings.
"Like everyone else, I am heart broken. I alternate between waves of heartbreak and waves of anger. 300 million guns in America...when is enough- enough. It keeps happening, we say it's bad but we seem to accept it. It truly makes me sick." --a friend at church
"I find it sad and sickening that we have gotten to a point in this country where we refuse to acknowledge or believe that our violent, gun-obsessed culture has nothing to do with these massacres. And we keep saying MORE guns is the solution. Yeah, that's working isn't it?" --a friend in Reno
"Mike Huckabee's god won't protect public school children because they don't pray in class. Huckabee and his god can go fuck themselves." --a friend in Florida
"Confuse liberty with weaponry and watch your kids act it out." --a friend in Florida
"WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT GUN CONTROL, AMERICA?! Do you think now is maybe the time??" --a friend in Canada
"I am gun owner I am so tired o f people blaming guns... Guns aren't loading themselves nor are they pulling trigger...It's people ... People are always using other things for them being sick and twisted.. These people need there ass kicked .. Kids really .....just sick..." --a friend from high school
and in response to his post: "It's not even people...It's demonic spirits who are controlling people!!! The world needs JESUS!!!I wish people would wake up and recognize how bad the world is because it's so evil and everyone just rejects God!! THE BIBLE says it very clearly....this is what we are dealing with........Ephesians 6:12
King James Version (KJV)
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
"I'm not going to say anything about the school shooting other than it is horrific and I am heartbroken for all the families." --a friend in California
"I obviously am heartbroken over what happened today in CT, so many lives lost and so many innocent children. I do not mean to take away from that...but every day hundreds (if not thousands) of children die from equally preventable causes: Lack of mosquito nets, lack of clean water, being born the wrong sex in the wrong country, lack of medical care, being in a war zone, like Syria, I could go on and on. Let us all try to do better by ALL of the children of the world and truly live as one, sharing the same planet and loving ALL. That is my wish for the New Year." --a friend from high school.
"What a sad day
What a cowardly no good shitbag 5 year old children !!!!!!
This shitbags soul will burn in Hell forever. How can we share the sorrow for famlies esp. Moms n dads of the Victims /children's, so much pain what a tragic loss my eyes tear up for them ,the world seems to have stopped for a moment!!!!!" --a friend from high school who changed his profile pic to one of him holding a gun.
"I am so horrified. 18 children dead. The majority of the shooting done in the kindergarten classrooms. 4-6 year olds. EIGHTEEN KIDS DEAD."
I will say it now. I don't give a fuck about your right to bear arms. This is not ok. This is NOT ok. There is no way 18 fucking children would be dead right now if he didn't have a gun." --a friend from Colorado
"I'll take a little gun control with my Friday glass of wine."
"Today my heart broke into a 1000 pieces. People kill people. It's happened since we walked the earth and it will continue to happen until our brains and hearts evolve. #guncontrolnow" --a friend in NY
"'ll be honest: Ronald Reagan is one of my least favorite presidents, but the old saw about how "Ronald Reagan let all the crazy people out of the asylums when he was Governor" is an over-simplification of why we have a mental health problem in this county. That being said, we DO have a mental health problem (which dovetails with our larger healthcare problem), and we DO have a gun problem, and the two compound each other." --a friend in Reno
"I've been sitting here reading all of your posts about today's horrific events and simply don't know what to say. My heart is broken and I am so angry. Being a mother of 4 children, it's sickening to think about every good-bye kiss and "have a good day" could end up like this. I know we cannot live in fear and we have to talk to our children, but how do we comfort them when we ourselves are so hurt over this?
I've spent the evening mourning over this and the same question keeps coming to mind, WHY? I'm am sick thinking about the extreme unbearable sadness the families are experiencing, especially right before Christmas.
Hold your little ones tight and cherish them daily. Turn off the news and talk to your kids. We don't need the media or politicians sensationalizing these events and desensitizing our children. My thoughts and prayers are with not only the families of those victims, but with all parents who are as devastated by this as I am." --a relative
"Everyone on this page knows I spent the entire fall rooting for you Barack Obama. You are not making me proud in this moment. DO. FUCKING. SOMETHING." --a blogger
"Thank you, Mr. President" with a link to the video Obama weeps over school massacre. --a friend in Reno
"No more guns." --a friend in Canada
"We are a nation of guns, violence and disrespect. Listen to talk radio, vitriolic hatred is rampant there. To correct this we need to pay attention to the dishonesty, manipulation and rhetoric of our advertising, watch the violent games our children and even adults play, watch the horrific films and television... this tragedy is a result of all this negativity and hatrid." --a friend in Reno
"So sad to hear about the CT school shooting. These incidents are such huge red flags about how we need to get serious about treating mental health issues. No "well" person would go in the the kindergarten at their child's school and start firing." --a friend in WA
"We had a gun massacre here in 1996. 35 people murdered (the youngest three years old, the oldest 72) and another 23 injured by a young man with a semi automatic weapon and a grudge.
Our government introduced some of the toughest gun control laws in the world in response.
Since then, yes, the criminal element do still manage to access guns. Generally they shoot each other. Occasionally an innocent bystander is hurt. Most of our firearm deaths are suicides.
We have had one attempted spree shooting that I am aware of in the years since. The young man in question had a legally obtained handgun and he managed to kill precisely TWO people at his university, wounding five. That's a grand total of seven people he was able to shoot before he was tackled by fellow students and subdued. He is currently under psychiatric care.
You cannot convince me that the death toll would not have been greater had he had access to larger weapons. We lost 2 people that day, not twenty.
Gun control makes a difference." --comment on blogger's wall
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
28 October 2012
Today was a beautiful day, sunny and mild. I took the dog for a walk at 8 pm not, no jacket, because it was still warm enough to enjoy the stroll without one. The night was breezy and the moon was bright, almost full. The street lights shine then dim out all along our street, and at the end of the street where the trail goes up into the hills, it gets dark. I could see the moon shining on the light stucco walls of the houses on the hill above me. There were a few stars twinkling, their intensity dimmed by the moon's glow on the rabbit brush covered hills. I love how expansive everything feels, I love how the treetops blow in the breeze, the moonlight makes it all seem exciting. And there was a scent in the air of backyard BBQs, so it felt like it could be a night in August. August and October have always seemed the two months that are the farthest apart, but in northern Nevada maybe this is not the case. Leaves start to turn as the August nights cool down, but the sunny days of October keep many trees green for a long time.
My daughter loves the brightness of day, and enjoys the sunrise more than the sunset. And the sunsets though pretty can be melancholy in a way, the sign of another day over and realizing it's time to wind up. But then the nights feel broad and open, like there is a deepness above you. We can come back out in the night and enjoy the soft beauty of it, we can still come together and do things. I sample the fresh air and enjoy the movement of walking with the dog in the dry coolness of it, and I want to write about it, but when I come inside it's closer, warmer, louder, brighter. It all feels so much more compressed and heavy, and there are many sounds and demands on my attention, and I can't think how to write about the outside, the night walk.
My daughter loves the brightness of day, and enjoys the sunrise more than the sunset. And the sunsets though pretty can be melancholy in a way, the sign of another day over and realizing it's time to wind up. But then the nights feel broad and open, like there is a deepness above you. We can come back out in the night and enjoy the soft beauty of it, we can still come together and do things. I sample the fresh air and enjoy the movement of walking with the dog in the dry coolness of it, and I want to write about it, but when I come inside it's closer, warmer, louder, brighter. It all feels so much more compressed and heavy, and there are many sounds and demands on my attention, and I can't think how to write about the outside, the night walk.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
4 September 2012
A typical day or atypical day?
Wake up, offer very minimal help to getting the child off to school--lunches are already made, I just forgot to lay out clothes. Since I don't have to drive her now, my day is so different. Get back in bed, write a book review. Decide I must get dressed and walk the dog now that it is already 10.
Get dressed, walk dog. Plan day; not only this day, but plan to adopt a more rigid schedule, one with timers. Two hours for this, two hours for that, see, you can be productive I tell myself. Decide what needs to be done today. The paperwork for my mother's estate, can't keep procrastinating, it is due soon. But laundry, there is so much of it, the counter in the laundry room now has a pile above my head, and like a gold mine, the efforts at getting a pair of underwear for the kids takes more work and yields crappier results with each sifting.
Come back in house, carry a giant armful of laundry to the living room, dump it on the man's chair. I am declaring my absolute intention to deal with laundry by doing this. Now it has to be folded today, it's on his sitting place. Think about how it's too bad the second season of Downton Abbey isn't on Netflix, otherwise I'd get all the laundry folded. Feel guilty about estate paperwork, stop myself from running upstairs to get it. Tell myself sternly, no, two hours for laundry, then you can work on paperwork.
Turn and see counter across from chair, it is full of papers, they are messy. Decide to shred the man's trash papers in his "for the shredder" pile. Throw away some of my own papers--not all of them, naturally not. Find paper that needs to be mailed or turned in by Thursday. Decide to mail it today even though it may not make it by Thursday, and then I will have to explain I decided to mail it on Tuesday, when I am seeing the person face-to-face on Thursday.
Go to drawer to get pen to fill out paper. Can't find pen? Why not, I have plenty of office supplies in bags on top of the counter, but can find nothing in the drawer. It hasn't been cleaned in 5 years. Decide it absolutely must be cleaned now. NOW! Start pulling everything out and setting it on the kitchen table. Imagine the categories into which I will sort these things, imagine which can be thrown away. Find pen. Fill out paper, get purse from car, write check. Look for address for envelope. Can't find address. It must be in a directory upstairs in the computer room, where the Estate paperwork is. Suddenly realize that going upstairs is an anathema, it somehow blasphemes all that is holy in the world. I can't go upstairs! I had to physically restrain myself from running up earlier, but now, no. Can't do it!
Look on phone for address. It's not there. Think about checking computer. No, no way, if I log onto computer, that is the ABSOLUTE END OF THE DAY! Check e-mail on phone for roster. No, still no address. Google it. OK, there it is. Wait, is that the right address, I thought that was whatshername's, not so-and-so's. Consider running upstairs for directory. Nope, still an evil choice. Boot up computer.
Find whatshernames address--oh, see, very similar, not the same. Decide google address for so-and-so is correct. Fill out envelope, put on stamp. Again consider it will just be quicker to hand it in face-to-face on Thursday. Go to mailbox anyway, so I don't lose the paper before then. Which, you know, could easily happen.
Somewhere in all of that prepare and pour a cup of coffee. Look at mess of drawer on table and start sorting. Paper clip pile, safety pin pile, eraser pile, pen cap pile--why so many pen caps? I don't know. I think their pens are gone, but I decide to keep the caps for the time being, until I'm done sorting. Throw a small amount away. Coffee is now cold.
Look at bedragged laundry on chair. Think about how it and all the rest of the laundry still in the laundry room needs to be folded. Sit down and drink coffee and go on computer. Get up and throw a few things away from the pile, because I can see them staring at me. Look at rest of mess, knowing I will probably cram most of it back in the drawer. Write this blog post while drinking coffee. Decide to leave out many pronouns and articles for no apparent reason.
Now it's noon, yay, I can finally eat breakfast! Decide to drink more coffee and catch up on SongPop first.
Wake up, offer very minimal help to getting the child off to school--lunches are already made, I just forgot to lay out clothes. Since I don't have to drive her now, my day is so different. Get back in bed, write a book review. Decide I must get dressed and walk the dog now that it is already 10.
Get dressed, walk dog. Plan day; not only this day, but plan to adopt a more rigid schedule, one with timers. Two hours for this, two hours for that, see, you can be productive I tell myself. Decide what needs to be done today. The paperwork for my mother's estate, can't keep procrastinating, it is due soon. But laundry, there is so much of it, the counter in the laundry room now has a pile above my head, and like a gold mine, the efforts at getting a pair of underwear for the kids takes more work and yields crappier results with each sifting.
Come back in house, carry a giant armful of laundry to the living room, dump it on the man's chair. I am declaring my absolute intention to deal with laundry by doing this. Now it has to be folded today, it's on his sitting place. Think about how it's too bad the second season of Downton Abbey isn't on Netflix, otherwise I'd get all the laundry folded. Feel guilty about estate paperwork, stop myself from running upstairs to get it. Tell myself sternly, no, two hours for laundry, then you can work on paperwork.
Turn and see counter across from chair, it is full of papers, they are messy. Decide to shred the man's trash papers in his "for the shredder" pile. Throw away some of my own papers--not all of them, naturally not. Find paper that needs to be mailed or turned in by Thursday. Decide to mail it today even though it may not make it by Thursday, and then I will have to explain I decided to mail it on Tuesday, when I am seeing the person face-to-face on Thursday.
Go to drawer to get pen to fill out paper. Can't find pen? Why not, I have plenty of office supplies in bags on top of the counter, but can find nothing in the drawer. It hasn't been cleaned in 5 years. Decide it absolutely must be cleaned now. NOW! Start pulling everything out and setting it on the kitchen table. Imagine the categories into which I will sort these things, imagine which can be thrown away. Find pen. Fill out paper, get purse from car, write check. Look for address for envelope. Can't find address. It must be in a directory upstairs in the computer room, where the Estate paperwork is. Suddenly realize that going upstairs is an anathema, it somehow blasphemes all that is holy in the world. I can't go upstairs! I had to physically restrain myself from running up earlier, but now, no. Can't do it!
Look on phone for address. It's not there. Think about checking computer. No, no way, if I log onto computer, that is the ABSOLUTE END OF THE DAY! Check e-mail on phone for roster. No, still no address. Google it. OK, there it is. Wait, is that the right address, I thought that was whatshername's, not so-and-so's. Consider running upstairs for directory. Nope, still an evil choice. Boot up computer.
Find whatshernames address--oh, see, very similar, not the same. Decide google address for so-and-so is correct. Fill out envelope, put on stamp. Again consider it will just be quicker to hand it in face-to-face on Thursday. Go to mailbox anyway, so I don't lose the paper before then. Which, you know, could easily happen.
Somewhere in all of that prepare and pour a cup of coffee. Look at mess of drawer on table and start sorting. Paper clip pile, safety pin pile, eraser pile, pen cap pile--why so many pen caps? I don't know. I think their pens are gone, but I decide to keep the caps for the time being, until I'm done sorting. Throw a small amount away. Coffee is now cold.
Look at bedragged laundry on chair. Think about how it and all the rest of the laundry still in the laundry room needs to be folded. Sit down and drink coffee and go on computer. Get up and throw a few things away from the pile, because I can see them staring at me. Look at rest of mess, knowing I will probably cram most of it back in the drawer. Write this blog post while drinking coffee. Decide to leave out many pronouns and articles for no apparent reason.
Now it's noon, yay, I can finally eat breakfast! Decide to drink more coffee and catch up on SongPop first.
Monday, September 3, 2012
3 September 2012
Sometimes people really anger me. More and more I despair about the human race, or feel disgusted by things that we do. I told my sister once that I'm naive, I want to believe we can find the common ground, I want to like people. So I have a love hate relationship. I guess we all do.
Really, I wanted to start this blog post with the statement that some of the people in Reno are jackasses. But people everywhere are jackasses. I went to a birth choice rally today. It was a peaceable small little thing, like-minded folk on the birth front getting together to advocate for the concept, and to share in a national thing. There were rallies all over the country. It was very small, but since it's Reno, the news showed up.
KOLO News 8 posted a photo on their facebook, and negative comments started coming.
Trinity: I want to throw water balloons at them. Gently of course. =p
Christine: Did someone confuse Labor Day with April Fool's Day?
Christine: And where is the rally against invasive appendectomies vs. laparoscopic procedures? (cue hyperactive, humorless, outraged comments about comparing a piece of one's digestive tract to a human life)
What a bunch of idiots !.......this won't be an issue when your country goes down in flames! For your country's sake get your bloody priorities right!!!!!!!!
Thankfully a lot of the reponses were positive, and it looks like some of the negative ones were removed. Most of the negative ones were about how there are more important things to worry about. Worry is like love--there is more than enough to go around for everyone.
Really, I wanted to start this blog post with the statement that some of the people in Reno are jackasses. But people everywhere are jackasses. I went to a birth choice rally today. It was a peaceable small little thing, like-minded folk on the birth front getting together to advocate for the concept, and to share in a national thing. There were rallies all over the country. It was very small, but since it's Reno, the news showed up.
KOLO News 8 posted a photo on their facebook, and negative comments started coming.
Trinity: I want to throw water balloons at them. Gently of course. =p
Christine: Did someone confuse Labor Day with April Fool's Day?
Christine: And where is the rally against invasive appendectomies vs. laparoscopic procedures? (cue hyperactive, humorless, outraged comments about comparing a piece of one's digestive tract to a human life)
What a bunch of idiots !.......this won't be an issue when your country goes down in flames! For your country's sake get your bloody priorities right!!!!!!!!
Thankfully a lot of the reponses were positive, and it looks like some of the negative ones were removed. Most of the negative ones were about how there are more important things to worry about. Worry is like love--there is more than enough to go around for everyone.
Friday, August 31, 2012
31 August 2012
Today is the last day of August. Today I noticed the sky was a deep blue with wispy white clouds. The smoke from the California (Chips) fire has moved through. But then this afternoon, the sky was a lighter blue and there were more clouds, and the forecast for tomorrow is a cooler temp and partly cloudy.
I sat out in the shade today, sitting with the dog while I read a book. It was a nice temperature then. August is such a strange month, school has started, but it's still summer. We have weeks left, but already the signs are here that summer is leaving us. No two months ever seem as separated to me as August and October, but last week I saw Halloween displays of candy going in at the local grocery store.
In Reno, there are things happening at the end of summer. The Rib Cook-off is happening this week, and then there will be the balloon festival, the air races, street vibrations, all in September. All of July is Artown and there is the Independence Day holiday to boot. July always feels very busy. August always feels very lazy, as if we've given up trying to get anything done, and we are just holding onto the days of vacation that we have left. But some schools are starting back up in August, and next year my children's schools will begin in mid-August.
Last weekend the older girl and I went to San Francisco where we saw Les Miserables. It was chilly there, overcast the whole time, we had to wear jackets. On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at a little place with a patio and a heater there, which was needed because of the cold. I want to visit San Francisco more frequently or at least one good sightseeing visit, but I don't want to live there.
The past couple of years, we've ended up in Sacramento in mid to late August, and we visit the old town area. It's near the American River, and we see all the trains there, but it's empty. Everything feels empty there on a late afternoon in August. I don't know where the people are, but there is something so lovely about it all in the late afternoon.
Since it is Labor Day weekend, the husband is home early, and we are all sitting comfortably in our house with the beautiful day around us. I can see it out the window, but I'm not in the 90˚ temperatures.
I sat out in the shade today, sitting with the dog while I read a book. It was a nice temperature then. August is such a strange month, school has started, but it's still summer. We have weeks left, but already the signs are here that summer is leaving us. No two months ever seem as separated to me as August and October, but last week I saw Halloween displays of candy going in at the local grocery store.
In Reno, there are things happening at the end of summer. The Rib Cook-off is happening this week, and then there will be the balloon festival, the air races, street vibrations, all in September. All of July is Artown and there is the Independence Day holiday to boot. July always feels very busy. August always feels very lazy, as if we've given up trying to get anything done, and we are just holding onto the days of vacation that we have left. But some schools are starting back up in August, and next year my children's schools will begin in mid-August.
Last weekend the older girl and I went to San Francisco where we saw Les Miserables. It was chilly there, overcast the whole time, we had to wear jackets. On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at a little place with a patio and a heater there, which was needed because of the cold. I want to visit San Francisco more frequently or at least one good sightseeing visit, but I don't want to live there.
The past couple of years, we've ended up in Sacramento in mid to late August, and we visit the old town area. It's near the American River, and we see all the trains there, but it's empty. Everything feels empty there on a late afternoon in August. I don't know where the people are, but there is something so lovely about it all in the late afternoon.
Since it is Labor Day weekend, the husband is home early, and we are all sitting comfortably in our house with the beautiful day around us. I can see it out the window, but I'm not in the 90˚ temperatures.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
18 August 2012
It's been gray, overcast, smoky and humid for awhile now, it seems; at least two weeks, which isn't particularly long, but then it starts to feel like this is the normal way of things. About a month ago, we went to visit friends who live in a wooded area near the Steamboat Ditch trail. The kids played in the water, but I didn't realize they could actually go swimming, so they didn't take suits. They had fun in the ditch nonetheless, getting completely soaked and just air drying outside. Then we had dinner.
It was somewhat overcast and humid then too, with thunderstorms moving in. Sitting in her house I could smell smoke at one point, but it wasn't until we opened the door that we realized there must be a fire somewhere. My friend's house backs up to tall hills, and I looked up the little valley to the peaks to see if I could see flames, but all I could see were whitish drifting clouds from the rain. It did rain at her house, but it's always such a small amount by the time it crosses over the Carson Range, so I fire could be burning somewhere.
We decided to go and drive up in the neighborhoods on the hills above. I'd never actually driven up there, and there were lovely night views of the city. We drove for awhile until we hit a new subdivision that said it was part of Caughlin Ranch. I decided I had gone far enough without seeing anything so I turned around there. I passed a firetruck heading the way I had just come, and figured if there had been a fire, someone already knew about it. We continued to wind our way around when I saw a frog right in the middle of the dark street. I asked if the kids had seen it, and neither had. I was worried that it might get hit by a car, so I made a U-turn and went back. No one was coming, so I stopped with the blinkers on to get out and examine it. A car did come while we were trying to scare the frog across the road, and they waited for us, but then honked for a long time as they drove by.
We ended up finding a place to park, and then I took a photo of the frog. After I got home, I walked the dog and thought I saw something in the distance, like flickering lights. So when the walk was done, I got in the car and drove up the hill, just to make sure things were fine, that there weren't any errant fires in the nearby hills. It seemed like an odd night at the time, but since then there have been more thunderstorms, sudden downpours and unending smoke from the California fires.
It was somewhat overcast and humid then too, with thunderstorms moving in. Sitting in her house I could smell smoke at one point, but it wasn't until we opened the door that we realized there must be a fire somewhere. My friend's house backs up to tall hills, and I looked up the little valley to the peaks to see if I could see flames, but all I could see were whitish drifting clouds from the rain. It did rain at her house, but it's always such a small amount by the time it crosses over the Carson Range, so I fire could be burning somewhere.
We decided to go and drive up in the neighborhoods on the hills above. I'd never actually driven up there, and there were lovely night views of the city. We drove for awhile until we hit a new subdivision that said it was part of Caughlin Ranch. I decided I had gone far enough without seeing anything so I turned around there. I passed a firetruck heading the way I had just come, and figured if there had been a fire, someone already knew about it. We continued to wind our way around when I saw a frog right in the middle of the dark street. I asked if the kids had seen it, and neither had. I was worried that it might get hit by a car, so I made a U-turn and went back. No one was coming, so I stopped with the blinkers on to get out and examine it. A car did come while we were trying to scare the frog across the road, and they waited for us, but then honked for a long time as they drove by.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
15 June 2012
Tonight I went to a Reno Aces game with my younger daughter. The last time we went, we parked out on the street somewhere and walked in. This time I missed what was the last parking space on that street, and as I drove closer, there were weren't anymore, so we parked in the parking garage. A group of people from church went, so we all sat together in section 102, which is always pretty fun. I walked around the stadium, trying to do the 3 laps for a mile, but I found other people I knew from church, so I stopped and talked to them all. The Aces won, then we watched the fireworks.
After it was over, the girl and I went out and played in the big grassy area near the entrance. People were throwing balls and running, and one boy was riding a bike. I figured that it would take a long time to get out of the parking garage, so we just hung out there for awhile, until some of the lights were turned off.
Leaving the garage, we drove out on second street, crossed over the Truckee and took High street down to Ryland. Once I got in the vicinity of Art Museum and Arlington, I feel like I'm in the Reno I know. It's funny how the downtown part can seem almost foreign. Even driving up Virginia to midtown is a different experience. This got me thinking about how there are so many people here, working on really building up some of these parts of town to make them well populated business areas that draw a lot of people. I like that we do that, yet I don't know what the answer is for the concrete ghost towns we have now, that used to be thriving shopping centers.
Recycled Records could have stayed where it was, in my opinion. I hope their new location helps their business, but I actually liked going to their old location because it was easy to park, Swensen's is there, and I didn't feel like I was going to drive over bicyclists and pedestrians just trying to slowly make my way down the road. There is almost nothing left where Swensen's is now--the hair cutting places, the big furniture stores, the Mervyn's are all gone.
Parklane Mall was torn down supposedly to be revitalized or rebuilt, but that never happened. It's fenced off to keep people out, which has had the effect of turning it into a seagull refuge. Maybe the owners should think about putting a pond in, and just giving the whole thing over to the birds. Heidi's, which was on Virginia and not really a part of Parklane, got torn down as part of it all, since their property was owned by the same people. And now that cute restaurant is gone, and I'm sure their business has suffered as a result, because the only location in Reno is now way south where Denny's used to be.
All of this reminds me that we've driven up to so many restaurants only to find they had gone out of business: Jeremiah's, Austin's, the little restaurant where Extreme Pizza is now, Bajios, Tahoe Burger, Sezmu (and Bec's Custard before that), Cheeseburger Island Style (and Friday's before that), Washoe Flats Steakhouse, Batch Cupcakery. But the Freighthouse District, which is where the Aces Ballpark is located, and the fairly new CommRow District seem to be doing well.
After it was over, the girl and I went out and played in the big grassy area near the entrance. People were throwing balls and running, and one boy was riding a bike. I figured that it would take a long time to get out of the parking garage, so we just hung out there for awhile, until some of the lights were turned off.
Leaving the garage, we drove out on second street, crossed over the Truckee and took High street down to Ryland. Once I got in the vicinity of Art Museum and Arlington, I feel like I'm in the Reno I know. It's funny how the downtown part can seem almost foreign. Even driving up Virginia to midtown is a different experience. This got me thinking about how there are so many people here, working on really building up some of these parts of town to make them well populated business areas that draw a lot of people. I like that we do that, yet I don't know what the answer is for the concrete ghost towns we have now, that used to be thriving shopping centers.
Recycled Records could have stayed where it was, in my opinion. I hope their new location helps their business, but I actually liked going to their old location because it was easy to park, Swensen's is there, and I didn't feel like I was going to drive over bicyclists and pedestrians just trying to slowly make my way down the road. There is almost nothing left where Swensen's is now--the hair cutting places, the big furniture stores, the Mervyn's are all gone.
Parklane Mall was torn down supposedly to be revitalized or rebuilt, but that never happened. It's fenced off to keep people out, which has had the effect of turning it into a seagull refuge. Maybe the owners should think about putting a pond in, and just giving the whole thing over to the birds. Heidi's, which was on Virginia and not really a part of Parklane, got torn down as part of it all, since their property was owned by the same people. And now that cute restaurant is gone, and I'm sure their business has suffered as a result, because the only location in Reno is now way south where Denny's used to be.
All of this reminds me that we've driven up to so many restaurants only to find they had gone out of business: Jeremiah's, Austin's, the little restaurant where Extreme Pizza is now, Bajios, Tahoe Burger, Sezmu (and Bec's Custard before that), Cheeseburger Island Style (and Friday's before that), Washoe Flats Steakhouse, Batch Cupcakery. But the Freighthouse District, which is where the Aces Ballpark is located, and the fairly new CommRow District seem to be doing well.
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