What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Anyone and everyone who knows me one little bit knows that I have sleep issues. First of all, I love it, but my sleep schedule is erratic at best. Because of the nature of my job, I do not have a set schedule - I may need to be at work at 4am one day and the next day I may not be able to leave until 12:45am. These are extreme circumstances, but you can see that it's hard to get into a regular sleeping pattern when you do not have a set schedule. It hurts me to say this but it sort of makes me miss college! At least when you are in a semester you have a routine that you can follow, even if it is hard to stick to.

Today is Saturday, and I have the weekend off. I love my weekends off because I generally do not make any plans and just lounge about. Well, thanks to my lovely sleep schedule, I woke up at 5am this morning. I willed myself to go back to sleep, but I woke up again at 6:30, and there was no hope of going back to sleep, so I threw in the towel and decided to get up and walk to my favorite local coffee shop. Little did I know, there was a race this morning! I was so confused and kept crossing paths with the runners. It was a perfect morning for a run, too: it was cool & cloudy and not humid, which is a miracle for the South in May!

Here is a little picture timeline of my morning walk. Once I started, I just kept going and walked for about two hours!

The view from my window as the sun rises. I know, I know, you can go ahead and hate me because it's beautiful.

My almond mocha. I usually don't drink "fancy" coffee, but it has been about 6 months since I have had one so I decided today was a good day to splurge. I love the artwork they have on the cups!

I live really close to this elementary school and drive by it at least once a day. It was built in 1938, and although you can't really tell from this picture, it has a really neat Art Deco feel to it. The city is planning on shutting it down because of low attendance, which really saddens me. I hope that they don't tear down this awesomely historic building.

Some lilies on their way to blooming. I really hope they are tiger lilies because those are my favorite, but I couldn't tell just yet.

More pretty flowers! The whole town is blooming this time of year.

Local street art.

KITTY IN THE WINDOW! I am such a cat lady. This cutie caught me off guard because I was not expecting an animal in the business district. It kind of warms my heart to think of a lawyers' office having an office cat. I would like to work at a place like that.

Many, many koi fish.

This is billed as the first canal in Alabama, incorporated in 1820. That has always cracked me up, because I'm pretty sure that canal has been there long before 1820 and besides, how do they know it was the FIRST canal in Alabama? It mystifies me.

Mama duck and her ducklings at the park.

It's Canadian Geese time.

Empty lot near my house.

Where my favorite piece of graffiti used to be located. Now it is just a grey splotch.

I have a graffiti-related rant about my town. I love my town and there are so many great things about it, but graffiti tolerance is not one of them. This town has some truly talented street artists, and I have seen some really cool graffiti around time. The problem is, it never stays around for long. The city paints over it before it has a chance to be appreciated. I realize that some people think that graffiti is degrading to the community and a way for gangs to flourish, etc etc. I also don't approve of obscene graffiti that drags the community down. However, graffiti gives a town character and makes it unique and is a form of expression, just like painting or writing or making music. There used to be an old water tower that was located in town and I passed by it most days, and someone had spray painted "Tim the Tre[e?] Man" on it. I thought that was so nifty and wondered about the person who had done it for so long. Did (s)he climb up there at night? Was that person scared to get caught or fall? Why did they do it? It sparked my imagination and I'm sure it did to others as well, because it was unique. Big surprise, the city has since repainted the water tower and now it just says Lincoln Mills. Not cool. Maybe I'm just being a "radical", but I don't see the harm in graffiti. If I owned a building downtown, I wouldn't mind it. This is not an invitation to paint a giant swastika on my building or something equally inappropriate, but a display of artwork wouldn't be shunned.

I think I feel so strongly about this after visiting Berlin and seeing all the amazing graffiti in the town. Some people think it is a dirty town because of it, but really, it's one of the most clean cities I have ever visited. Graffiti has just become part of the cities' culture, dating back to the end of WWII.

See what I mean?

I was in Berlin this time last year, so I think I am nostalgic. Also the weather here has been "Berlin Weather" as of late, so I am really feeling that, too. The street art is just so cool, though! It's not just graffiti, there is just street art EVERYWHERE. And of course, there is the Berlin Wall!

Really, it's anything to show off some Berlin pictures :-)

Ah, enough. I want to return to Berlin so bad! It's one of my favorite cities for sure. I miss the feeling I had in Berlin: I was completely out of my comfort zone (in a good way), I was learning new and interesting things and for some of it, I was completely on my own. It felt good to be able to rely on only myself. I did not have an international cell phone, so I had no way of getting in contact with anyone! If I got lost, it was all just part of the wonderful journey.

I'm hoping today will hold as much allure for my hometown as Berlin did. It's BREWFEST! The only thing I love as much as traveling is fancy beers. I plan on sampling as much as is reasonable!

-B

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