first people

dog and i went out to cochran shoals this afternoon --- gobs of people, since a lot of people weren't working today ---  one of the best things in that unit are the rock outcroppings that sheltered paleo-indians hunters for thousands of years as they roamed the georgia piedmont ---  the national park service has identified sixteen natural rock shelters along the chattahoochee that produced archaeological evidence for human use as early as 8,000 BCE --- some are very small, but large enough to have provided one or two people some protection from the elements --- they've also identified eleven fish weirs, some of them prehistoric, but i'm not sure where those are ---

this is the largest of the rock shelters along the river --- it towers some twenty or more feet and could have sheltered several people comfortably --- the chattahoochee rock shelters were never more than temporary camps, but they preserved some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in these parts --- which is purty cool

thanksgiving on the 13th floor

thanksgiving with animals and friends on the 13th floor this year --- and no stressful trip to fayetteville --- everybody brought something, including home-made yeast rolls, creamed corn, and apple pie!

passages

the last of ma's siblings died this morning ---  first anniversary of her death is friday, so this news makes me extra sad on an extraordinarily dreary november day

donk!

olden times

this is a great little piece on the evolution of a piece of gay culture ---

"Many gay men under the age of 30 are totally clueless of almost lost tradition of the Sunday Tea Dance.(A tradition that really must be brought back.)So here’s a little history primer on the tradition of the “Sunday T-dance” and how and why we embraced it in the LGBT culture."

dog space

i have another glass shelf, but dog needs it worse than the plants --- he can lay there in the sunshine, his chin resting on the window sill, and take in the world

happy saturday

adult beverages with mary, robt, and aaron, then surprise fireworks at atlantic station --- (robt's pic --- all of mine were crap)

gray november

too soon for christmas

the river

dog and i do a 1.5 mile loop with an elevation change of 100 feet --- if i can keep him moving, it's a good walk, but there's a whole lot to sniff at --- whatever, the woods are excellent this time of year

too many dog pictures

gotta love arabia mountain --- dog sure does

itly!

got my ticket today for a first visit to italy! 25 dec - 4 jan ---  I'm meeting some friends, one of whom lives in rome, and may go with them to umbria for new years, but basically I'm looking forward to wearing myself out walking rome, with maybe a day trip to pompeii (save florence for the next time!) --- 

first people at work

one of decatur's best little objects is the steatite boulder on the northwest side of the courthouse --- it came from one of the paleo-indian quarries on soapstone ridge in south dekalb --- three thousand years ago, somebody started but did not finish girdling the stone in order to remove blanks for making bowls --- apparently they used chisels made from deer antler and wooden mallets

a finished soapstone bowl from the archaic period, retrieved from a site in alabama ---

saturday night

it was almost balmy on tenth street --- so much so, they rolled up the windows at gilberts, where we had a seat front and center

a most awesome press conference

why can't we be friends

the long view