spring fever

 took the train downtown for an 8:30 am meeting at city hall --- riding the train at that time of day reminded me of olden times when i worked for a living --- we selected this year's audc award recipients and then i walked back home --- adult beverages with a conversationally intelligent friend was a nice two hours ---

the oaks are technicolor green, the banksia roses are blooming, and it's gonna rain tomorrow and wash all the damn pollen away

walky walk

walked over five miles today for first time in nearly a month --- yay, me!

blackberries blooming on peachtree, azaleas everywhere, and the air thick with the smells of spring

peachtree place

whas bloomin upstairs?

six of the orchidaceaen alliance are in flower in this moment --- as well as two of the euphorbian alliance and one rude anthurium --- the last three of which never stop blooming, ever, thereby guaranteeing blossomage on the thirteenth floor at all times

notes

the meeting was only 3 and a half hours last night (!) but it felt reasonably useful ---

the orchidian alliance

unit #32 --- it hasn't bloomed for me before

priorities

today the hound and i got out to the river for the first time in a couple of weeks --- in the 50s and breezy --- plush

the river was extraordinarily clear, and running low --- there were several trout fishermen out in it trying to catch a fish ---

i just discovered that georgia's dept of natural resources has, in its wisdom, made trout fishing year-round, not on account of the abundance of nature so much as the mendacity of state government, which spends a lot of state dollars maintaining fish hatcheries so they can keep those rivers [artificially] stocked

but is too stingy to expand medicaid

first people

i just finished reading this book and an excellent read it was --- i did not know much about the tribe, the main impression being they were the ones who were always attacking davy crockett and daniel boone on the teevee in the 1950s ---

the shawnee were in georgia as early as the late seventeenth century, mostly near the falls of the savannah river --- they were able to take advantage of a more mobile lifestyle, especially since the shawnee language was a sort of lingua franca all across eastern north america --- one eighteenth century trader called the language "fine, smooth, and easy to be got" ---

i've heard that suwanee, northeast of Atlanta, was a shawnee village in the eighteenth century

it's spring!

which has gotten the kitten all worked up

another friend fell over and broke a leg, making 3 over the last year or so --- i spent part of the day helping the previous breakee, who has gone a bit stir-crazy, having both a broken leg and a broken wrist ---

ready or not, it's spring

nearly spring

members evening at the atl bot gdn, and can be no finer nearly spring evening to be wished for, even if everything, including dogwood, is at least two weeks earlier than it should be ---

decennial

ten years ago today i started this stupid blog --- it's interesting to be able to go back and see which plant might have blooming when or whatever --- i like being able to post things here without getting everybody on the facepiece upset, although i've been known to do that anyway

ten years ago, the skyline from the verandah was very different --- there haven't been too many changes in the eastern viewshed other than welcome light around ponce market and the too-tall thang on n. highland behind the baptist church ---

the action has been and is on the opposite shore where the ebb and flow of the city are most evident ---the financial crisis in 2008 put an end to everything but, whoa, the last two+ years have been something else --- over 1,000 residential units (nearly all apts) "delivered" in 2014-2015 with another 4,000 under construction --- in addition over 5,000 more are in various stages of planning, with a couple of those already breaking ground --- howdy, neighbors!

after all the decades of demolition and neglect, midtown atlanta is booming --- some people who don't think about it long enough start asking about "the traffic" and "the crime," but honestly i feel much safer here than i would out in the countryside somewhere --- my nemesis however remains the suburban suv driver chatting on the cell phone --- rolling through an intersection without looking and running my poor pedestrianated ass down --- anyway, bring on the city!

look at midtown alliance's summary

2005 (top), just now (bottom)

changing demographics

today, i said good-bye to the last of the guys who were living on the 13th floor ten years ago -- all of the other eighteen units on the floor have changed hands now at least once since i moved in --- there have been four units sold in the last six months vs virtually none during and after the great recession --  not sure who the new neighbors are yet but times, and neighbors, change --- nearly 12% of americans moved 2012-2013, with an average of 11 or 12 moves over a lifetime --- i moved a lot in the 1970s, then sat down on sinclair for 28 years, and here 10 years --- maybe i should move to the country now

the boom continues!

survey points have been established and test wells are being dug --- site work oughta start soon --- we shan't miss the parking lot or the miserable frontage along juniper street

a new developer in midtown and i gotta say i'm not crazy about the way it meets the street --- see for yourself

 

catching the breeze, catching the view

everyone, especially dex, is glad the weather is suitable for using the verandah without an overcoat

civic duty

five hours worth tonight --- into my sixth and last year, the new has worn off

rock or stone?

one of the succulents on the balcony didn't survive the winter --- replaced by species of lithops, which will be next winter's sacrifice

roof geekery

every dog walk has something new to see, even just roaming around midtown --- the asphalt shingles in this gable end must date to the building's construction in the 1920s -- typically there would have been a matching roof

iris remembered similar roofing installed on their house, to replace wood shingles, in the 1920s --- said it looked like a carpet

reading in the sunshine

i'm making progress on the tremendous backlog of unread and partially read books in my office --- today, meyer's the highland scots of north carolina, 1732-1776

doubting can turn men’s see to stare
their faith to how their joy to why
their stride and breathing to limp and prove

 e e cummings

paper trails

spent a mindless couple of hours in the sub-basement of the courthouse this afternoon, running a chain of title for my old house in inman park --- all or most of the names were familiar since our old friend sarah blackwood, who had lived on the street since the 1940s, remembered them and much more --- she told me, e.g., that the reason the elbows in the metal heating ducts were rusted out is that certain trashy tenants let their kids pee in the registers --- i'm not sure how she knew that ---

deeds document a lot --- i was not aware that the first deed (1912) for my old house included "whtes-only" restrictions --- some things have changed and  i'm glad to say that we did our part to ensure diversity in its residents

and this little tidbit was in a quitclaim deed (1961) for the house from the crespo brothers to mrs. faulkner, the widow who buggered up the interior when she turned it into an owner-occupied rooming house after the crespo's father, to whom she had been engaged, died in september 1957 ---

"short fingered vulgarian"

which is what vanity fair editor graydon carter called him 25 years ago and he's never gotten over it

as well he shouldn't

doncha know