the center cannot hold

the news yesterday that our fkface president* will get to appoint another supreme court justice has almost done me in --- for the first time, i am sure that we have crossed our rubicon, and the country that i have known and (mostly) loved is no more --- something else is replacing it, driven by racist, nativist, christianist populism, at least for the time being --- deeply depressing, i have finally been disabused of the foolish notion that our progress is always upward --- it's feeling like 1968 again, which was not a particularly great year for me or the country --- i miss john so much at times like this --- he was always good at helping me make sense of things --- whatever, he's dead and gone, but as john lewis posted a bit ago: 

Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. #goodtrouble

it helped to spend a great couple of hours at the botanical garden this evening with friends and visitors from finland, who were entranced by what they saw --- i was, too, especially by the rather large frog that sat on the walkway wishing we would all go away 

onward and upward 

awesome

thor's day

lunch today with an old NPS friend who is always an uplifting soul --- and then i went and got my old-people's marta card --- a dollar a ride! i shoulda done it years ago, but i guess i didnt know abt it

coincidentally, another old NPS friend invited me out this evening and forced me to drink adult beverages

then i came home and made a bunch of stickers saying "fuck racism," "deport racism," and "make racists afraid again" --- to be distributed all over

it's a dog's world

spent the morning going with a friend to pickup this poor, half-starved mama dog and her eight wormy puppies and bring them back to smyrna to hand off to someone else who had driven down from flowery branch to take them all back to the vet in buford --- surely they are on their way to a better life now

depressing

we have screwed ourselves

flower power

an excellent evening walking the garden with poor disemployed robert --- i think flowers always improve one's spirits

pot in the city

old white guy with the dog, walking up p'tree sidewalk
three young af-am guys sitting on the patio at sweet nut
old guy glances at them and one of them asks, "you want some marijuana?"
old guy sez, "no, i've got some"
young guy sez, "that's why i love the atl"

walking and talking

another great streets event --- marietta st from five points to howell mill and on to chattahoochee ave --- we walked back, too, so it was a nearly seven-mile hike

after we got home, robt told me that pike had laid off him and nine other people --- all of those who had been there a while, were paid more, etc. --- fkrs get a massive corporate tax break, and this is what they do

thursday!

an excellent evening for cocktails in the garden with two of my most favorite humans

reconstructing midtown

 i wish i had been a better photographer and more methodical in taking the images --- i miss seeing kennesaw mountain on the horizon and a glimpse of the downtown connector

blooming everywhere

the wildflowers, especially along the coast, were wonderful, nevermind all the domesticated rhodadendron and roses that were absolutely spectacular

california is a dangerous place

i think this stampede references a place and not a particular hazard --- however, twisty-ass roads, rock slides, plague, tsunami, bears, and boiling mud all warranted warning signs --- earthquakes, wildfires, and rattlesnakes didn't but were potential hazards along the way nonetheless ---