out roaming

long walks are just too hot for dog these days, so this weekend i left him home so i could put in some steps --- walked robert around tech, which he had not done before, and then this afternoon east palisades to devils racecourse shoals --- nearly 16 miles the last two days

living in interesting times

the democratic convention this week has been a purty stark contrast to all the doom, gloom, and pissed-off white people last week --- the speeches last night rocked the house

biden: "we are america, second to none, and we own the finish line."

bloomberg: "together, let's elect a sane, competent person."

obama: "that’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end."

finished wills' henry adams and the making of america, on a friend's recommendation --- was underwhelmed, but got a different overview of the first quarter of the nineteenth century

this little unit blooms twice a year --- love it -- gonna have four blossoms this time, six if i'm very lucky,

culture shock

i finished up this little tome today --- five stars for a different perspective on america's history --- weirdly appropriate after last night's totally weird republican convention, which i could only watch in fits and starts

the river is low and the lake is down five or six feet

fireworks and pokemon

new color

these miniature cattleya were given to me after they had finished blooming, so i didn't know what to expect --- #28 and #29, they are blooming together

fort mountain

a dead place

as it was the two or three other times i've visited, new echota was just depressing ---

spring place

i got a few more chapters of the coochee project off to the client and, after writing about the cherokee, i decided to check out new echota and spring place in the twenty-first century ---

i was dismayed at the vann house (1805) to find that the state, guided by its republican sense of priorities, stuck a plywood-boxed column under the cantilevered stairs

but it's still there

the good, the bad, the ugly

a grim week in america --- police executing civilians, and snipers killing cops --- i buried myself in my work and the flowers, and tried not to think about it --- except for the march to the park on thursday

the fourth of july

it celebrates the birth of the united states, which began the demise of native america --- but those things happen i guess

the whole "make america great again" thing is just dumb, all things considered

reading

i just finished john lahr's tennessee williams, mad pilgrimage of the flesh, a really excellent biography --- that williams was born in 1911 is a fact i missed learning along the way

what implements have we but words, images, colors, scratches upon the caves of our solitude?

last day of spring

orlando got me down, made me want to just bury myself in my work -- which i did, and so i've gone the longest without posting since i started this stupid blog --- and now it's father's day and i'm sposed to have warm fuzzy thoughts ---         ---- as i told someone the other day, you just can't let the bastards get you down ---

i have dog, a few friends, a few flowers, and all the books i can think about, so i'm probably ok

plus i may not have to play rentman much longer --- anybody need a nice house in sylvan hills or college park?

great sky yesterday