the first of the maxillaria bloom, with six or eight more buds in process --- last year it had a single blossom, i think, but i must have taken better care of it this year --- on the other hand the smaller one that i hived off a couple of years ago, still hasn't seen fit to bloom

the blossoms are barely the diameter of a quarter, but for the next two months, the bedroom will be filled with the fragrance of coconut

inflorescences

ms troy and i had an excellent morning at the atl bot gdn this morning --- got there early and missed the school buses full of chillen all over --- i'm glad somebody took them there and also glad we kinda missed them

a lotta great shades of blue there

recreating midtown

i'll kinda miss these buildings, especially the little mid-century office building on seventh --- all fenced of to be demolished for a 31-story office tower --- midtown grows

people piss and moan about this sort of thing, but they knocked down an early 20th century bldg to build this, and before that dug up somebody's cornfield or cut down somebody's woodlot

before that we stole the land from the indians

keeping up with the animals

this time of  year, guinness gets to be a shaggy mess, as does the house from all the fur flying around --- so time for his annual shearing --- robert does a great job, and we only had a couple of snarly snappy moments ---   

the finches came in to celebrate

a near miss

i just came across a nice image, i think, that captures the moment when i fell over at arabia mountain back in january

how to ruin a neighborhood

 while i was gone to texas, the city issued a permit for construction of a  32-story tower just south of us ---it will include demolition of this excellent early twentieth century apartment building at the foot of our alley, one of a very few left in the heart of midtown, west of piedmont

small things

asmallfiction.com is one of those things that makes the internets worthwhile

an excellent holiday with ms troy

lady bird

can you see the great horned owl nesting behind the yucca? lady bird's wildflower center was great --- especially the way it melds into the natural landscape --- the hardscape and more formal, demonstration gardens, and what not, i failed to photograph as i should have

lady bird johnson was a great american

a karstian landscape

mckinney falls state park, five or six miles southeast of downtown austin, was an excellent place to be on a crisp sunny sunday morning --- the limestone all up in here is wonderful

boom town austin

we met an old nps friend and his wife at georgetown, and they took us to the deep eddy vodka joint in the wilds of dripping springs ----texas military institute (ca 1868)

but omg austin --- i was there last in 1986, and it's over twice as big now --- the UT tower, the site of our first domestic massacre by a fukd up white man (sixteen killed in 1966), and the dome of the capitol are difficult to discern in the skyline today --- our friends drove us around and we saw a little of sixth street but not much of anything until a drive and walk to the top of mount bonnell

the park at the top is called covert park, apropo i thought, given the numerous trails i observed meandering off into the bushes --- turned out to be the family name of the donors of the land

the graffiti park, located just off 11th street, west of the capitol, was great,
--- started in olden times, 2011, on the foundations of a failed residential development, and now, lo and behold, is "iconic" --- also since the first of the year at least, it has been behind chain-link fencing, under armed guard

the armed guard seems a little pointless given they're gonna tear it all up anyway --- but people sue and what not and the new owners' accountant suggested restricting access i'm sure ---

graffiti art is by nature ephemeral, i guess, but still . . . . especially irritating in this rendering is the little slash of color across the front there