New Security

Busy day today so my close proximity to the mall made it the better venue for today's walk. I noticed four new security cameras. At least, I think I would have noticed them before today if they had been there all along. Work is continuing on the new Stein Mart store and it's great to see that there are two window displays on the outside of the building. As I walked by the music store a clerk was vacuuming the carpet. Is it me, or does it seem odd to you too that there was no sound of music coming from the store? What are they thinking? I think most of the other women at the mall would agree that the sound of one vacuuming is not going to entice your typical female shopper into the store.

Not much noticeable progress on the new escalator in front of Penney's so they must be working on infrastructure. I hope I'm there when they actually bring in the new equipment so I can see what it looks like before it's wrapped in its cosmetic outer frame.

The windows of the MLC Furniture store were dotted with pink sale flyers and I could see pink stickers on a lot of the floor merchandise. I have seen many of the same pieces in the same place on the floor for months! This is in contrast to Stein Mart where much of their merchandise is moved every day. I think the latter is a much better approach to selling. Every time I visit Stein Mart I will see something that I didn't notice before. And if I see something that I really like, I will buy it because I know it may not be there tomorrow.

Lastly, I took special notice of Lee Nails store window. The owners proudly display their Buddha which always has an offering usually consisting of fruit. Today, however, the offering was a very large Hershey's chocolate bar. The smile on Buddha's face seemed extra large today!

Segway Test Drive

Today my walk consisted of a trip around downtown Roanoke. First stop was to have lunch at Thai Orchid Restaurant. I had the Tom Kha Gai soup, which was so flavorful and delicious with the limegrass, coconut milk, and cilantro broth. I also had a chicken and vegetable dish with peanuts, but they left out the green pepper so it was lacking in the flavor department. I also ordered my favorite, Thai iced tea. Yummy!

Next, it was on to the "Green Day Awareness" exhibit so that I could test drive a Segway Personal Transporter. What fun! I was surprised at how easy it was to maneuver. I don't know how long this link will be active, but if you forward to time stamp 1 minute and 49 seconds you can see me tooling around the parking lot. But don't blink or you might miss the show.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/category.asp?C=100383
Select the "Auto pollution is also a health issue" link.

Happy Mother's Day

I've been too busy with gardening these past few days to be out walking. But today was a day of rest and I went with my family and some neighbors to Chateau Morrisette for a wonderful buffet dinner. The ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway only added to my enjoyment of the day and I hope you will enjoy a couple of shots from the trip. I am also including some shots from my last walk this past Thursday when I went with a friend to the Jefferson National Forest near Pembroke for bird watching. We saw about 2 dozen different kinds of birds and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. I wish that I had picture to show you, but those little buggers are just to fast for me to shoot with my camera.

Birding Trip

Spring Cleaning

It was still a little on the cool side this morning, but I decided I'd rather walk the park than the mall. As I approached the bridge over the river I noticed that the water was flowing more freely. Then I could see the reason why. Someone has been doing some Spring cleaning of all the debris that was blocking the flow tubes under the bridge. It looks a lot nicer without the branches, cans, bags and other junk. Fisherman lined the river banks hoping for a bite and the bluebirds were popping in and out of the houses that have been provided for them to nest in. There was no sign of the mama and baby ducks I saw during my previous walk and I'm hoping that they weren't swept away along with the debris.

Let There Be Light!

Too rainy and cool to walk outdoors today. Besides that, I needed a manicure. So, off to the mall I went. For cryin' out loud it's only been about a week and there are so many changes! The escalator in front of Penney's is now completely removed and there's not even a stray bolt to be found. The tobacco shop and news stand on the second level has been replaced by gift shop. The entrance to the new Stein Mart location from within the mall was open for peeking inside and workers were building the window display cases facing into the mall. The best mall improvement I noticed, however, is the new lighting in the MLC Furniture store. I have always thought it was too dimly lit to be inviting for browsing and it now looks so bright and welcoming - good Feng Shui feeling. Now, if they would just add some covering to those Hair Plus windows.

House and Garden walking tour

This past Saturday I logged around 3 miles of walking throughout South Roanoke while participating in the House and Garden Tour. Although I had visited Fork in the Alley Restaurant, I never realized what beautiful homes are located within a few blocks walk. I think the entire neighborhood looked great with manicured lawns and trimmed hedges. Oddly though, except for the other tourists, I saw hardly any signs of life outdoors. This seemed peculiar since the weather was so gorgeous. I was impressed with the organization of the event. Each home had an attendant in just about every room and it seemed that great care was taken to minimize the effect of many people trekking through the rooms. Not a stray twig or weed was to be found in the gardens and I wondered which owners did their own gardening and which ones hired landscapers. I will look forward to future events as I enjoyed this one very much. As an added bonus, my friend and I had lunch at the new Tony Pope's Restaurant. I love outdoor seating and their porch provided the perfect dining spot. The special being offered was roasted pig and paella. I opted for homemade pasta with wild mushroom and Parmesan cream sauce. It took an extraordinarily long time for us to be served (I guess they had to make the pasta from scratch) but it was worth waiting for. YUM!

As for Monday and Tuesday, I walked the Smith and Wasena park route. I was curious as to the distance so I drove it as closely to the actual route as I could and was shocked to learn that it's about 4 miles! The warm sunshine and singing birds provide enough interest to take your mind off of the distance. I even noticed a lemon-scented fragrance in the air but I couldn't determine which blooms it was coming from. The Blue Heron was keeping cool in the river and I guess he must like Roanoke enough to stick around.

Today I walked around downtown Roanoke. Market Street is sporting the new blue and white stripped awnings. I must say that I prefer the original yellow and white. The upgrade also means that other older awnings look all the worse next to the new ones. There were lots of potted flowers, plants, and herbs for sale today and thought the market seemed busy for a Wednesday afternoon. I'll be back for the Strawberry Festival this weekend as I can't resist the shortcake. Of course that means walking a few extra miles to work it off!