bring it on

seventh day of christmas

the other cattleya has started to open! a fresh flower for the new year! it was actually the first orchid i ever got to rebloom, usually twice a year ----

sixth day of christmas

the camellia sasanqua are looking good --- took a load of stuff to salvation army, a total of about four cubic feet! el condo seems a whole lot lighter all the way around ---- 

fifth day of christmas

christmas wars

for centuries, various sects of christianity have fought over holy places in israel --

"The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Dec. 28, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened."

one more time . . . .

the lights at the garden have been the best thing about this christmas

more lights

took cousin angela last night and it was great except that it was absolutely mobbed

get outta the car!

Megabus.com and BoltBus led U.S.curbside bus companies that boosted trips by 32 percent thisyear as travelers opted to leave their cars behind and surf theInternet while traveling, DePaul University researchers said. . . . “Bus travel is suddenly cool,” Schwieterman said.“There’s a fatigue over driving combined with a revitalizedimage of the bus.”

a friend took a bus to savannah over thanksgiving and loved it . . . .

christmas surfeit

peachtree is a dead zone this evening ---

the real war on christmas

The Puritans, who rejected ceremony in favor of direct communion with God, were opposed to all of the old seasonal celebrations. They also objected to the license and disorder of the winter festivals. Among the practices they took exception to during the Christmas season festivities was cross-dressing, a vestige of ancient winter saturnalias. Role reversals were a common feature of the winter celebrations: the fool would be king for the day, peasants would temporarily command the wealthy, men and women would exchange roles. According to a minister writing in the early 1700s, Christmas mumming often involved “a changing of Clothes between Men and Women; who when dressed in each other’s habits, go from one Neighbor’s house to another … and make merry with them in disguise.” The merry making involved the objectionable habit of caroling, which, the minister said, occurred “in the midst of Rioting, Chambering [fornication], and Wantonness.”

"rioting, chambering, and wantonness"

a merry christmas to all

from the folks at atlanta lab rescue

watching the sun go up and down

solstice ceremony

i had only gotten as far as a strand of white lights and the christmas pickle, but a box of excellent ornaments arrived from dallas and forced the issue --- i should have gotten out the stepladder so the ornaments were more evenly distributed, but i didn't

besides being the solstice, which actually occurs at half past midnight tonight, today was the last day at rich's for twelve consecutive days!!! and having gotten every loose end sorta tied up, i can relax and enjoy some quality time with the dog

waiting on the train

we have a range of messages expressed here

crescent avenue

i love midtown: slick and shiny in one block, the old neighborhood in the next

winter solstice sunset

it'll soon be moving north again --- more light!!!

bright lights in the rain

it was a damp night at the botanical garden and some of the lights had shorted out, but it was still quite the spectacle, even the third time around --- i'll probably go again before its run is done

intown building

novare, the crew that built metropolis, spire, and viewpoint is supposed to be building a 23-story apartment tower with a w. ptree street address, location marked in red below --- i haven't been by recently to see if they actually broke ground for it yet --- 12th&midtown also announced a similar building --- wonder if they'll get built --- at least this one would replace nothing but surface parking lots

christmas on peachtree

 georgian terrace

st. mark's













federal reserve

805 peachtree

he was fearless

writing

via andrewsullivan

If he has not made himself a worthy vessel, he has in the largest sense failed. Call it complete and utter nonsense, but when it eludes you — the tone, or the feeling of surprise, the current you can feel when the circuit is complete — when you know what that’s like and don’t have it — then such repudiation is useless. The psyche is irrational.

harmonic convergence at 1308

after six years, i still love my sky house --- sunlight flooding every room, including the entrance hall where, once a year for about a week around the winter solstice, the sun reaches its conjunction with the rbc bank building and the setting sun illuminates the hall --- and the only reason that happens is that when they straightened out the old country road into peachtree street in the 1880s, they laid out the street about four degrees east of north --- cypress, juniper, myrtle, and penn along with third through seventh are laid out accordingly --- eighth street and beyond are laid out more or less true east-west

america

Where else could six heirs to a brutal retail megamarket’s founders own more than a third of the nation, simply for their luck in being born to the Right People? Where else could a business that has done more than any other business to cheapen and scar the entire American landscape then turn around and throw nearly a billion dollars at a fine art museum dedicated to natural American landscapes? What a country!

yes, we are bitter

atl bot gdns lights

 just as good on a second visit --- runs through the twelfth day of xmas

ending bush's war

what a fukn waste --- 4,500 of our guys killed, 35,000 with permanent injuries, and at least 100,000 iraqis dead --- god only knows the war crimes that will never be prosecuted --- never mind the trillions pissed away in the process --- where would be if we still had those lives and that money?

the changing view

sunset is almost always colorful but the sunset this evening was above average

city hall christmas

city council confirmed my appointment to the urban design commission --- swearing-in in january begins a 3-yr term --- wheeeee!!!!

fading fast

all things considered, it's been a decent fall