Wednesday January 17, 2007

God's view

(photo by miami fever, formerly Incredibly Smooth Blondie) This photo was taken with a special lens, which allows the sharp focus line you see from the upper left to the lower right, while twisting everything else out of focus. This happens naturally at close focal lengths, which is why this effect makes everything look like a toy (or a model).

You’re getting the American Airlines Arena, part of Bayside, and, in the lower right, part of the amphitheater. Compare the google maps view. Possibly taken from this building. See also this shot, possibly more interesting, but less place-obvious.

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“The dumb ass Home Land Security people in Miami don’t even know the name of a Swedish Royal Family member, how on earth are they going to recognize the terrorists?”

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Hanging

I saw this while working on a series of photos of houses in Morningside. A crazy tree covered with huge flowers that hang straight down. The hedge around the house was blooming, too, with big flytrap-looking flowers.

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Eating locally

If you’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemma (and you should; it’s a great book), you know that eating locally grown food is one of the best things you can do for yourself, your community, and your environment (see also 100 Mile Diet). The bummer is that Miami is not an easy city to eat locally in. One of the less-then-perfect options is the Redland Organics CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) food subscription.

Rebecca at Greener Miami and Tere at the mom blog have gone in together on a one-month trial, and have posts up on their initial reactions. The pros: you get super-delicious food, and you’re very legitimately eating locally. The cons: not for the faint of heart —

  1. You have no idea what you’re getting from one week to the next.
  2. You get lots of food. Better suited to big families with flexible pallets and hippie communes.
  3. You sign up before the growing season, then you get food for about 20 weeks; November to April. The rest of the year you’re back on your own.
  4. You need to pick up your stuff from one of the “convenient locations” every Saturday morning.
  5. Pretty expensive: a “half-share” for the year is $350. That’s $18 per week. (The full share works out to about $30 per week, the trial about $38 per week.)
  6. Rebecca reports that the vegetables need serious washing: dirt, plus “a spider, a little worm, and a snail.”
  7. The shared-risk aspect: you’re paying for the farming, not the food. If there’s a drought, you agree that you’ll get less stuff (or nothin’).

Wow, that’s a lot of downside. Everybody should still do this, though. Send ‘em an e-mail and get on their waiting list for the 07/08 season. The thing about it is that each of those downsides makes a lot of sense. The stuff is dirty because it comes out of the ground. It’s expensive because it’s grown by (relatively) well paid Americans. You get whatever they’ve grown because, well . . . you get the picture. Local food is good food. Can’t wait to see how the rest of the month goes for Rebecca and Tere.

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Hey, what is it with the animal crossing road signs?

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