'Dairy' Revisited

Here's a supplemental shot of the theater sign, taken with a better camera.

Since these shots were taken (this one was taken on March 29) "Dairy" has been changed to "Diary", but last I saw they still had the "H" added to "wimpy."

Update 8-24-10: I just now now noticed "Ailce" in the title above. I wonder who put up the sign that day.

Another Ice Cream Shop Opening Downtown

They were putting up the sign while we were eating across the street. I tried to take a pic from there, but the other patrons in the foreground inside confused the phone and it was making the outside scene too light and washed out.

(Note that this post was originally posted with a title and text about the furniture being moved into the new hotel downtown. I had intended to post that too, but got confused about which shot I was posting and never actually got a shot of the hotel. Sorry.)

UPDATE: We've since stopped in and were not impressed. With a name like "Scoops" we were expecting scooped ice cream in a number of flavors like you can find at Lee's, or Fudge Factory, both of which are a short walk away. Nope! Just chocolate & vanilla soft-serve, with optional "flavor shots", and shakes & malts doubtlessly of the same flavors. The atmosphere left a bit to be desired. They have a toy train overhead which might briefly entertain the kids, assuming they sometimes turn it on, but the place also reeked of smoke from the tobacconist next door. (If I owned the shop on the left, I would consider buying or renting the building to maintain a buffer against the smoke smell, lest the tobacconist expand into it.) If you want soft serve with an additional flavor choice and better atmosphere, I suggest Carl's. Hopefully for the sake of Scoops, they can figure out how to block the smoke out, and get some actual scooping and flavor choices in there.

In line to vote

Moving fast

Update: An election worker mentioned they had had about 400 voters come through so far by the time we got in line. It took us about half an hour from parking to pulling out. The A-G line was slower than the others for some reason. Slower readers working there, I guess. I had to prompt the one looking up my name to look on the next page. I guess not everyone's all that fast at looking things up alphabetically.

Addendum: Virginia 2008 Presidential election results.

Click it to see details on the Virginia state web site.

Finally Friday

I have no idea what it's about. There's a live band tuning up, food vendors setting up their stuff, a castle-shaped moon bounce, and some sort of palm tree climbing thing.

It seems to have something to do with final exams, and since it's apparently sponsored by a beer company it's probably connected with, or aimed at, the college kids.

UPDATE: According to this local events calendar, today's event is "First Friday." Another is scheduled for June 6. (The first Friday of each month, in case you didn't notice.) For 7/25, 8/29, 9/26, and 10/31, the last Fridays of those months, they have scheduled "Finally Friday." I suspect someone just put up the wrong banners today.

That's what I suspected it was when we saw it from up the street, but the "Finally Friday" banners threw me off.

Post a comment if you have more information, particularly if they swap in the correct banners.

Puppet Show At Hyperion Espresso

It's too noisy on the street to hear what they're saying.

Update: Later I saw them leaving with a bag of puppets. I don't know if they're doing promotional work or what.

Weird Art at Outback

Does anybody know the story behind this? We didn't get a good look, but the signature looks like A Nolan. There are several other paintings in the restaurant with the guys in black masks fighting soldiers.

Update: It's the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang. The art is prints of paintings by Sidney Nolan.

Might Miss The Lunar Eclipse Tonight

It's a little bit cloudy. The clouds are moving by rapidly and spectacularly. I tried to take video, but all you could make out was the moon itself.

UPDATE: 10:04PM - The clouds have cleared away and the view is great. If I had a camera capable of it I would take and post a supplemental shot.

Cafe New Orleans Roof Blows Loose

Fire truck and police cars block William as the roof of the Cafe New Orleans blows loose in high winds, sending bricks falling to the sidewalk.

EDIT: Here is a supplemental shot, taken with a better camera, of the roof blowing in a gust of wind. You can see a bit of debris blowing loose, and the damage to the brickwork.

By the time we walked off, the police had taped off the entire block of William, no doubt in anticipation of part of the roof blowing loose entirely and flying down the street. We've not yet heard if anything more happened. Please leave a comment if you have any further information.