down in the dog back

guinness has hurt his back --- how i do not know --- he tried twice to jump up on the sofa with robert on sunday, gave a sharp yelp each time and quit trying --- he hasn't been back on the sofa or the bed since then, and can't even hop up to get a treat from the concierge --- he spent yesterday on his pillow except for a walk outside a couple of times --- finally got him some pain meds so i think he's feeling better --- in my experience, you mostly just have to wait out a hurting back

it's high time

orchidaceae

crazy weekend after the hoo ha on friday --- nice calm day today, beginning with a great morning in the park, mid-60s, light breeze, perfection!

got a catalog of the orchids (36 of them!) finished today --- can start better keeping up on when they bloom and what not

two cattleya, two oncidium, a zygopetalum, and a die-hard phalaenopsis are blooming now --- nice little pools of fragrance around the unit

oh, my

a magnificent trifecta

the stupid rebel flag is coming down all across the south, the supreme court upheld obamacare, and now have confirmed equality of marriage ---it's bittersweet for me, having failed repeatedly to hang on to a marrying relationship, and the thought of all the waste, lost love, and hard feelings that too many gay people have had to endure to get to this point has me all verklempt --- but, yeah, what a week

and none of this was inevitable --- as andrew sullivan just wrote: "history is a miasma of contingency, and courage, and conviction, and chance."

i love the last paragrap in the gay marriage decision, read from the bench by justice kennedy:

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed. It is so ordered.

 and it was a 5-4 decision that could have been a lot stronger --- but whatever . . . .

of course, scalia has just been irate, bitching in the obamacare dissent about "interpretive jiggery pokery" and instructing the other justices in the marriage equality decision, "go ask the nearest hippie"

there were rainbow lights on the white house last night, and on niagra falls, the chrysler building, and i don't know what all

east pernt!

the idiots in charge of east point, where i grew up, have been threatening to tear down city hall (1930), auditorium (1931), and the old library (1939) in order to "redevelop" the block, which really is the heart of the city, which still hasn't recovered from the "redevelopment" that never happened after they tore down half of the old business district in the 1970s

it is now part of the national trust for historic preservation's 2015 list of the eleven most endangered historic buildings in the nation 

serendipity is a wonderful thing

seeing the end of one project and wondering if anything would follow, when comes a call that, yes, something will, reminding me that old proposals never die, you just think they have

eyesores

in the space of a few days, there's been a cascade of news about the confederate battle flag after the massacre in charleston --- it is as if the country has just suddenly discovered that it was a mean and racist symbol that was resurrected in the 1950s as a symbol of white resistance to desegregation --- not much of substance has actually happened yet, so i'll believe it when i see it, or rather don't see a confederate battle flag flying over state capitols and what not, except that walmart and amazon have led the way in banning the sale of the confederate flag crapola --- we'll still have to look at it when we go to the country, but at least the damn thing not flying over public buildings would be a step forward ---

a second major eyesore in my life is already gone: the billboard on peachtree between seventh and eighth has disappeared --- no more giant hiv ads, which is i guess another sign of the times

beet!

i'm nost sure why i've had this urge to pickle, but i have --- first batch of dills had way too much red pepper all up in them


update: the pickled beet product would have approached perfection had i cooked the beet more thoroughly --- they still taste good

the south side of eleventh street is a wasteland --- pumps are running non-stop to keep the springs from flooding the block --- this was the original source of the water for clara meer

bogus holiday

the photo is my father with my older brother, who would be killed in vietnam 25 years later --- this was a side of j.c. that i almost never saw --- i saw him cry when his brother came to the door while we were waiting for my brother's body to be shipped him, and remember thinking, wow, he really cared about us

i have mixed feelings about this day, especially now after he's been dead over two years and after reading all the facebook posts from people who had the most awesome daddy in the entire universe

solstice!

the summer solstice and a spectacular conjunction of venus, jupiter, and the moon --- that's not my image but it was spectacular last night ---

tgif

there is something deeply ironic in my association with the preservation of tara

it's been a productive day, but i kinda feel like dog looks

redundant?

i don't have a real sweet tooth, so it's hard for me to know if this little unit at viewpoint is a redundancy, given the sweet hut at metropolis

zygopetalum!

this is the one off of which i accidentally broke its first spray of buds --- it will smell good when it gets going -- will have cattleya shortly

lenticular wall cloud!

whoa howdy and it didn't even rain here, or not much anyhow

breaking up the week

an impromptu soiree this evening with some NPS friends ---  it was a great evening, except for my eye crashing almost the minute they walked in the door

i think they liked the dip

cold comfort

one of the most depressing things going on these days is the mindless destruction of cultural artifacts by stupid religious fundamentalists in the middle east --- but unlike the countless stained-glass windows, statuary, and relics of kings and saints destroyed during the protestant reformation, there's a digital record developing now --- yay, crowd sourcing and rich people!

winding up the weekend

nice end to a mixed bag of a weekend --- the rain frogs and other critters in the conservatory, especially the coqui, were really wound up tonight and making a lot of noise --- probably because it finally got hot --- i think we're about to have several days of mid-90s, something we barely have had the last two summers

the 106 club

we shoulda been keeping count, but we're into our tenth year of these once-a-month friday night dinners --- this time, pasta da pulcinella on peachtree walk b/t 12th and 13th --- thanks susan, susan, and don, and sometimes frances ---one appointment i never mind keeping

"and now we see through a glass darkly . . . "

a productive day at the keyboard, the arrival of a paycheck in the mail, and a pleasant hour of cocktails with a friend --- with a spastic eye coming on in between --- it went to shit ten days ago, got better, and now again this afternoon --- i guess the blurry vision will clear up in a day or two, as is its wont, but in the meantime it's a nuisance --- we will be quizzing the doctor closely about options for treatment at our next scheduled visit three weeks away, since the current prescription falls somewhat short of ideal

woden's day

a nice low-key meeting of audc this evening, only 2 1/2 hours --- and in the old city council chambers, which are really nice even if the furniture sucks

rock and roll!

won't be able to see them, but judging from the sound check, i ought to be able to hear them purty good

fox block party!

40th anniversary of the successful campaign to "save the fox" --- it is very hard to imagine peachtree street without the fox