killing monday

the chocolate orchid is blooming --- dog got a bath --- we got to see a d hill and her crazy dog --- robt gave me a clean house --- and i finished memoirs of hadrian, one of the better books i've ever read ----

back to the pound

i've not been over there as much as i should have, what with mexico and my fkd-up eye and what not --- i gotta change that

a good picture show

i nearly forgot to record my watching of the television for much of a day late last week --- first, murder on the orient express (1974). which was really awful, and then king lear (2018), which was wonderful in every way --- although it was an adaptation, of which i generally do not approve, anthony hopkins was by far the best lear i've ever seen --- the whole thing was really outstanding --- 

high-maintenance body parts

rain, rain, rain --- we've already had a couple of inches, and more on the way over the next couple of days --- the lake will be full up after this

i fetched my umbrella and walked up to colony square to see eye doctor #1 this morning and got soaked, so i ubered back home after that and then to and from eye doctor #2 at emory midtown --- bottom line, the replacement lens in my right eye, installed in december 2000, is beginning to crap out like the left one, installed in january 2001, did in 2015 --- more immediate problem is high pressure in the right eye, but little drops each morning is supposed to fix that --- if not it will give them another excuse to mess around with that eyeball

banging my head in mexico city probably didn't help

gully tour

this is bill witherspoon, PhD, and a total geek for rocks --- he co-authored roadside geology of georgia, which is a book everyone interested in the state's natural features should possess --- he also has severe ADD --- but this is the second of his tours that i've experienced, and i enjoy his perspective a lot

we went down to the floor of providence canyon, which is really nothing more than a series of giant gullies, created by shitty farming practices and erosion over the last 150 or so years --- if you've seen bryce canyon, you won't be impressed

bright spots

it got kinda cold today, but the dendrobium is kicking off the seasonal efflorescence of the orchidaceae on the thirteenth floor

some dogs/people is sweet

museo delores olmedo

an excellent little museum --- wonderfully eccentric in the manner of sir john soane's museum in london and isabel gardner's in boston --- it was wonderful, even if a good chunk of it was either closed or over-run with chillen

xoxo!

 the serendipitous finds when one is on holiday can be the best --- e.g., the dogs at the museo delores olmedo in xochimilco --- the diego rivera was why we went, but the dogs blew me away --- precolumbian mexican hairless, xoloitzcuintli, or xoxo for short --- delores and rivera both kept them, and i'm betting these are descendants of her own dogs --- they worshiped the bronze xoxo

 and then to go inside, and there is a jaw-dropping collection of pre-columbian ceramic dogs --- the maya, the aztec, they all loved them some dog, clearly --- companions at home or on the hunt, and the puppies stuffed with bananas and sweet potatoes and roaster were dee-licious --- weird dogs, and not exactly cuddly, but supposed to be very friendly, in spite of the roasted puppies

souls in flight

 the zocalo was jam-packed with people, even after a rain shower, and loud with drumming and aztec dancers --- copal incense filling the air --- once again, the experience was so much that i kinda forgot to do it photographic justice

ofrendas maravillosas

ofrendas, or offerings, honor the deceased with calaveras, aztec marigolds, and the favorite foods, beverages, and objects (including ash tray of cigarette butts) of the departed --- in cemeteries, churches, restaurants, and stores and on street corners or spread over the zocalo, they were fairly amazing