Almost Done

I haven't posted for months because what free time I have (which is not all that much) has been taken up with other things (probably more about that later), so it's time to catch up on some things going on in the neighborhood.

At long last the never-ending construction at the Pelham/East Rock Springs/North Morningside intersection seems to be almost complete.  For months it seemed like nothing at all was happening (Tom had heard there was a lawsuit, but I assumed it was just taking a while to get a new design finalized and approved that would leave the bypass lane that allows drivers from East Morningside to North Morningside avoid the four-way stop).  Whatever the reason for the delay, not long ago the work restarted and at this point is nearly complete.  New curbs, new sidewalks, and new sod are all in place, although there still are some orange cones around and things are not quite finished.  But yesterday when we went by the new grass was already turning brown.  Without watering, I don't think it will make it, and no one is going to water it.  So there you have it.

Likewise, the de-paved area at Cumberland and North Morningside is now filled and sodded, with stone neighborhood marker in place (either that or it's a tombstone indicating the burial place of a Mr. or Ms. Park).

Walking through the area last weekend I asked Iain what he thought the new parklet should be used for; right now all that is there, besides the neighborhood marker/tombstone is a single, lonely-looking shrub.  He said he thought bands should set up and play there, which I thought was a great idea.

This conversation took place on the way to Celebration of Summer, MLPA's annual celebration of the end of school.  It used to be on the Friday at the end of the last week of school, but this year (presumably because of Memorial Day weekend) it was the Saturday of the weekend before APS ended classes.  There was music and snow cones and pony rides and inflatable jumpy climbing things for small- and middle-sized children and ice cream (which was fabulous) and beer for adults. The neighborhood was there blankets and lawn chairs.  It looked to me like everything came off without a hitch, in spite of the repeated last-minute requests for volunteers that kept being posted on the neighborhood email lists.  And somehow the tradition of older elementary school and middle school kids armed with powerful water guns has been eliminated, much to the relief I am sure of the organizers and the musicians with instruments and electronic gear.

And for weeks if not months on my way to work in the morning I've seen workers going into the former Caramba/Waffle Tap location on North Highland.  The brown paper still covers the windows except for the one now covered plywood, and new neon signs, not yet turned on, promise pizza and calzone at some point in the future.  Here's hoping the next restaurant in this location does better than the last two did.

Update:  Iain and I stopped by the former Caramba/Waffle Tap site so I could take the pictures posted above and learned that the new restaurant will be called Timone's (or is that timone's?) and that they are now hiring.

But that wasn't the only sign posted -- there was also this one, on the door.

More to follow, I'm sure.