December 2018.
That’s B&D Comics at the end of Elm Avenue, right before the street turns into Main Street Bridge as it crosses over the railroad tracks and the Roanoke River. There’s something indefinably quaint and cool about the town’s comic shop being “down by the train tracks.” To answer the sign’s query, comics were 75 cents when I was a kid.
The shots of the bridge and river here are poor. (Sorry.) But it’s actually a pretty spot in Roanoke on a nice day.
It’s the categorically quiet Southern city. New Yorkers, this is midday during the holiday shopping season.
It’s an odd impression to get, but sometimes I feel as though I am walking through a university campus during Christmas break. (All the buildings are there, but all the students are away.)
But when you do run into people, they are the friendliest and most cheerful that you could ever hope to meet. I was just walking by and a local friend called out to me from her car on 1st Street. I love this sleepy town.
Pretty avant-garde, no? I’m calling it “Snowfall.” Bring on the accolades. (You know how I always want ’em.)
I’m … actually not sure that I could fully define “avant-garde” if you put me on the spot without Google. It’s a lot like “postmodernism” that way.
Anyway, this was the winter’s first snowfall here in Roanoke today, just two weeks ahead of Christmas 2018. Look at the size of those flakes. They are so big that you can actually hear them striking the ground. I’m serious! Play the video with the sound on!
Grandin Village in Roanoke, Virginia. November 2018.
Pictured is Grandin Road.
The Wall Street here has a different feel to it than the Wall Street in New York.
It’s a sleepy Southern city, but it’s nonetheless easy to love — especially on an encroaching Autumn morning.
