on the fifth day of christmas, it was spring!

one expects the brilliant colors in the orchid house in late december, and maybe even a camellia japonica or two --- but iris, jonquils, and japanese magnolia?

third day of christmas

on this third day of christmas, the boys and i were wore out --- finally got up a little before 10 this morning, and guinness wasn't ready even then --- finished the party cleanup and read and took a long dog walk, but mostly felt like these turtles this afternoon in clara meer

second day of xmas event

an excellent event on the thirteenth floor in honor of ryan and bethany's descent from vermont for the holidays --- old friends and new, who didn't eat enough but drank plenty, so a good time was had by all

last ones out after midnight, but robert helped me sorta clean up, so to bed a little after one --- dog was still snoring at 10 am when i poked him to get out of bed --- party wo' his ass out --- mine, too

lotta water in the river

a balmy christmas eve

over 5" of rain today and temps around 70 all day --- 

robt and i went to henrys for dinner, which was good

sounds of the season

quince shouldn't be blooming this time of year . . . .

the wilds of s. fulton

nice little hike to henry mill falls on bear creek at cochran mill park in s fulton --- 5.5 miles, part of it along the upper wootan road, which is closed to vehicular traffic, cept for mtn bikes ---

a great little cascade at the end ---

plus guinness got to ford a creek and also availed himself of the opportunity to rub his head in horse shit, so he got a bath when we got back home

ten years ago today, i moved

it was a long day waiting on "danny delivers" to deliver -- but he finally did

 the viewsheds have changed a bit in ten

olden times

it was a very different environment, very much not oriented to the outside, except may be the front porch

dignity

this was my happening tune in december 2005 --- actually i think the sad-dog picture was not the best choice here ---

a relocational anniversary

ten years ago, i spent my last night at 394 sinclair --- an absolutely wonderful place to live for, lo, those 28 years, which included three excellent relationships with people i still love a whole lot --- and a it was a lot more than that --- not the least of which was making a semi-silk purse out of a sow's ear --- with angela's help on the roof and all over, and a lot of other help besides --- ivory and joyce, adding local color; jeremy and heroin freaking us all out; rob, steroids, and epilepsy, freaking us all out; roger being roger; carol, ditto; cmcc ditto twice --- bob, willis, ida clair, sinclair are still there so to speak ---

and ten years later, i gotta say that i have had not regrets --- sometimes i try to think about what it might have been like if i had stayed on sinclair, and i can't -- midtown was as "urban" as you can get in atlanner --- and it's only got better over the last ten years --- 10 or 12 construction cranes within the viewshed today --- a second generation of condo/apt towers in midtown --- but metropolis was the first

midtown tacky

i don't know why i hate this sort of decoration, but i do ---

subduing the savages

archibald montgomerie, 11th earl of eglinton (1726-1796), scottish general, m.p., colleague of washington, and the patron of the poet george burns --- that's him all done up for joshua reynolds --- what's not to like?

he was up in northeast georgia way back when, seeing what he could do about those pesky cherokee ---

In June, 1760, a strong force of over L,600 men. under Colonel Montgomery, started to reduce the Cherokee towns . . . . Crossing the Indian frontier. Montgomery quickly drove the enemy from about Fort Prince George and then, rapidly advancing, surprised Little Keow'ee, killing every man of the defenders, and destroyed in succession every one of the Lower Cherokee towns, burning them to the ground, cutting down the cornfields and orchards, killing and taking more than a hundred of their men. and driving the whole population into the mountains before him. As the army advanced every house in every settlement met was burned ninety houses in one settlement alone and detachments were sent into the fields to destroy the corn, of which the smallest town was estimated to have two hundred acre-, besides potatoes, beans, and orchards of peach trees. The store- of dressed deerskins and other valuables were carried off. Everything was swept clean, and the Indians who were not killed or taken were driven, homeless refugees, into the dark recesses of Nantahala or painfully made their way across to the Overhill towns in Tennessee, which were already menaced by another invasion from the north.

it happened again in late september 1776 --- different general, same result for the lower and middle towns of the cherokee ---

The inhabitants having fled, the soldiers burned the town, together with an unfinished townhouse ready for the roof, cut down the standing corn, killed one or two straggling Indians, and then proceeded on their mission of destruction. Every town upon Oconaluftee, Tuekasegee, and the upper part of Little Tennessee, and on Hiwassee to below the junction of Valley river—thirty-six towns in all—was destroyed in turn, the corn cut down or trampled under the hoofs of the stock driven into the fields for that purpose, and the stock itself killed or carried off.

a hard winter after that history is depressing sometimes --- but no more indians for a while: i finished chpt 1-3 today and put away the indian books

the pre-georgia frontier. ca. 1717

the two indian villages at 'coochee are both shown (upper left) as being deserted in this 1755 map --- i thought it might have been because of the smallpox epidemic that killed half the cherokee in 1738 --- but maybe that wasn't all --- below is the earliest historical reference to 'coochee that i've yet found, probably dated 1717 ---

In the mean time the Creeks came upon a Town call'd Nogoutchee and Destroyed it, carreing off a abundance of slaves and kill'd most of the Rest of the inhabitance and the next morning before they left the place kill'd three of our Factors in the Path between Chottee and the aforesaid Town they being about a mile asunder.

the creek and cherokee did not like each other much

skeery thoughts

somebody put this up on the buford highway connector today, and i thought it was purty funny --- but actually the better analogy to trump would be benito mussolini --- trump could never be as purely evil as hitler, but he could certainly be as pompous and dumb as mussolini

fortunately, i believe, like sinclair lewis, that fascism will come to america wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible, and trump really doesn't have a bible

for your convenience, this area is closed . . . .

i love all the building going on in town, but i sure do hate the way the city manages it some time, especially in closing sidewalks so construction won't be inconvenienced --- somehow they saw fit to keep the sidewalk open for the p'tree/seventh construction, under a plywood tunnel which today has been removed, but everywhere else they don't want to go to the trouble --- today it finally happened: there were "sidewalk closed" signs on both sides of peachtree south of pine street ---

sometimes you just gotta walk in the street and hope for the best

five down, one to go

i have now served on the atl urban design commission for five years --- last meeting of the year was tonight and it only went on for three hours --- there are a few applicants to whom you wish you could just say "no, go home," but i gotta say that with so many different commission members (always at least six) we're never precipitous --- everybody has a perspective

well, it took long enough . . .

my left eye went to shit the middle of september 2014 --- multiple visits and i finally forced the issue and the doctor that did my lens replacement in 2001 replaced the lens in july  --- which went ok but fkd up my retina in the process --- it has slowly repaired itself, and today i had my last followup checkup --- it's not perfect, but it'll do

orchid daze!

i don't know why but i have always been a pervert for flowers --- i was planting flowers when i was 8 or 9 years old i think --- the orchidacae are proof that one does not necessarily need acreage to satisfy one's lust for blossoms --- to have all of these blooming at once is purty great --- the fact that they have already bloomed once in 2015 is just the best

this one is in my office, which it fills with the most excellent fragrance