newbie

filling the unit with the stench of chocolate, replacing the coconut of the recently completed efflorescence of the maxillaria --- i killed the last one of these "easy care" orchids that i had

joining the oldest one, which is now into its fifteenth year --- it didn't bloom for the first few years, but now is more or less reliable for a solstice efflorescence, winter and summer

holiday!

i have been totally bummed out of late, even before the shits and heaves of the last few days --- getting and not yet using hearing aids last week didn't help --- therefore i made arrangements for a short holiday in nueva york next week, and i feel better already --- a day traipsing out to the bronx to view the ny bot gdn, which has old-growth forest, a la fernbank i guess -- and another day at the met and central park, and whatever --- and a half day at either end just milling about nyc

staying at the jane, on the hudson, oughta be swell too

wow

The Last Words Of Copernicus

Ye golden lamps of heaven farewell with all your feeble light

Farewell thou ever changing moon pale empress of the night

And thou refulgent orb of day in brighter flames array'd

And thou refulgent orb of day in brighter flames array'd

My soul which springs beyond thy sphere no more demands thy aid

And thou refulgent orb of day in brighter flames array'd

And thou refulgent orb of day in brighter flames array'd

My soul which springs beyond thy sphere no more demands thy aid

there are several recordings of this out there that all manage to keep the same tempo --- mesmerizing

the old guy recovering from brain surgery or something is awesome

i have acquired tickets for atl utd's next two home games

spectacle

soccer is the only sport i ever enjoyed watching, and a live match is of course the best --- atl utd 2 --- chi fire 0

crazy terminus legion kept things amped up

death watch for a giant

i wouldn't bet that our poor red oak across the street will be alive next year --- it might just go ahead and die this year --- most of the main trunk is severely rotted, and i've half expected it to fall over already

the top pic was taken 30 march 2016 --- the bottom one just now

going to the dog doctor

dog has another little tumor, this time under his tail — this morning while i was in the shower he gnawed the vicinity of it bloody, and then didn't touch it again for the rest of the day — went to the vet anyway — a sample to the lab and antibiotics for secondary infections after all the gnawing, and see how it goes — he was the best he's ever been at the vet — a little panic to begin with but he dealt with it — even lay down on the floor and rested while we waited for doc to come back — 

gardening on cement in the sky

i have continued to strive for oblivion this past week through, especially, the ongoing revamp of "old buildings" — nine are done, a tenth almost, with nice hard copy and semi-adequate web presentation for all, including the one about the tara movie set, the remains of which are about to be auctioned off by the talmadges — still every time i look at the goddamn things i see another issue — done a little nps database stuff, too, but that'll be over in two weeks — satisfying work all in all — if i just weren't in trumpistan. . . .

then angela comes along and criticizes the empty spaces in my orchid garden, created in large part when i finally gave up on the zygopetalum and thrust it into the dumpster — so i was forced to climb into the car, go fill it up with gasoline, and then drive 35 or so miles each way, nearly to hickory flat, wherever that is, to visit peach state orchids, the only major source for orchids in the metro area — i found a swell little zygopetalum as well as a chocolate oncidium with three flower spikes ready to go and a little yellow cattleya, not yet budded up — specimens of each of these i have already killed — they can only tolerate so much (the succulents love the environment on the thirteenth floor), and they die — but then that's why god made peach state orchids . . . .

I've been feeling like this old guy in the beer garden scene in "cabaret" --- listening to the young nazis going on

special event

the atlanta chamber players at first presbyterian sounded interesting so we went -- good stuff --- hard pews --- i told robt that next time they should do it at a baptist church where there are bound to be nice thick cushions on the pews --- brahms trio for violin, horn, and piano --- and schubert's "trout" quintet for piano and strings --- the brahms wasn't all that, but schubert was good --- i had never spent so much time in the building (w t downing, 1919), which has some tiffany glass  [also too, downing got run over by a streetcar and killed in philadelphia before the building was done]

it was a nice little interlude after a semi-productive week --- typing and what not --- a little more time for the NPS, but not much, which is good --- thanks for the $$$ but it has all reminded me of why i left

rocking on

it's been a fine week, if one can ignore the wretched political situation --- i spent the better part of the first decade of this century and then some digitizing stuff i've done and getting it posted to tomitronics, particularly old buildings -- now i am making sure that i have hard copies of it all --- acid-free paper and all --- you never know when we're gonna be hit with an electromagnetic pulse that destroys all our data --- nowhere near finished, but all god's chillen need a hobby

it is not godawful hot yet, so everybody is glad of that

evil times

"It is hard to think of any president in the past 230 years, including Nixon, who has ever sabotaged the rule of law so flagrantly or so successfully to protect his own hide. And, sadly, it is hard to imagine that anything can be done about it before Nov. 3, 2020. . . . .So for the next 18 months, at a minimum, this nation is at the mercy of a criminal administration. I am in despair as I have never been before about the future of our experiment in self-rule. Before Mueller filed his report, it was possible to imagine the president being brought to justice. That fantasy is no longer tenable. Instead we are left with the dismaying likelihood that the president will now feel emboldened to commit ever greater transgressions to hold onto power — and thus delay a possible post-presidential indictment."

that's max boot, once a stalwart conservative voice — but i think a lot of us feel what he's writing these days — especially since we have some perfectly serviceable articles of impeachment already compiled —

That said Andrew Johnson. President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office and the dignity and proprieties thereof . . . [in order] to excite the odium and resentment of all the good people of the United States against Congress and the laws by it duly and constitutionally enacted . . . [did] openly and publicly, and before divers assemblages of the citizens of the United States convened . . .to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as the Chef Magistrate of the United States, did . . . on divers other days and times, as well before as afterward, make and deliver with a loud voice certain intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues, and did therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces as well against Congress amid the cries, jeers, and laughter of the multitudes then assembled and within hearing . . .

PITY THE NATION

(After Khalil Gibran)

Pity the nation whose people are sheep

And whose shepherds mislead them

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars

Whose sages are silenced

And whose bigots haunt the airwaves

Pity the nation that raises not its voice

Except to praise conquerers

And acclaim the bully as hero

And aims to rule the world

By force and by torture

Pity the nation that knows

No other language but its own

And no other culture but its own

Pity the nation whose breath is money

And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed

Pity the nation oh pity the people

who allow their rights to  erode

and their freedoms to be washed away

My country, tears of thee

Sweet land of liberty!

ferlinghetti wrote that in 2007

soul-crushing" is an over-used term, but applicable to these times—i am glad for the flowers and the guys to help me sorta keep things in perspective—i miss john a lot

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.  Ecclesiastes 1:9

a great american

i dunno about this past week --- more databases and trying to make sense of the garbled mess that is a lot of project descriptions --- i may be doing a little good, but otherwise . . . . a morning with that and then i spend the afternoon reading and walking the dog

giving books to a bibliophile is always fraught, especially if it's a very thick book, like blight's biography of frederick douglass (1818-1895) which i finished today, but robt did it anyway, and it was a very worthwhile read even if it could've been cut by a third and still been purty great --- he was definitely a great american, which i knew, but now i know why he was that --- thanx robt

atl utd and the stupid new stadium

first atl united match and first time inside the new stadium ---- ms kidd had more fun that i did maybe, and that was a lot --- 

the display of football helmets creeped me out a little, reminding me of the racks of skulls the aztecs liked to display

short and sweet

"The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack." eliz. warren

 "The simple takeaway from the Mueller Report is the President betrayed his country and spent two years lying and breaking the law to try to hide that fact. He should resign and be tried for his crimes." josh marshall

now, on to impeachment ----

"the world just became a little less wonderful today"

a friend of mine posted that thought today, and it's too terribly true --- losing a great building is not unlike the loss of a good friend --- but notre dame? one of the world's greatest buildings

i only went inside once, but i'll never forget the real awe i felt looking up at this window and just being in that wonderful light of the interior --- it was the soul of paris --- it'll get rebuilt, i'm betting, but the 800 year old cathedral is mostly gone

right now, i am sick

UPDATE: clearly all was not lost --- even the rose windows did not suffer catastrophic damage