dragoncon!!!

as always, dragoncon is a total mess --- just regular humans walking around the mall or whatever can be inneresting, but dragoncon takes people-watching to a whole nother level --- angela and robert!

warm bodies

i had my annual physical today, with a new doctor in a practice with its roots in little five points nearly forty years ago --- he's my third doctor there and at least makes a good first impression --- flu shot and blood drawn --- i'm officially sick of needles being stuck in me --- my arm still isn't over the catheter from three weeks ago

meanwhile i'm really wanting me some dog --- this afternoon i walked over to the humane society (3½ miles round-trip, so i got in some steps, and i thought it would discourage any sudden impulse to bring somebody home with me) --- many sweet puppies and many big barky bull-terrier types  

i still think i ought to get a grown dog, although i think dex would rather raise a puppy if he had to deal with another dog --- but how to avoid a puppy that will grow into a 60 or 80 lbs bulldozer that would, sooner or later, pull me over and break my bones? or an adult dog that has had years to nurse a grudge against cats?


i need dog

el rey!

the peaches make this work (josef martinez, for the uninitiated)

 forgot to post an image of our annual pool party yesterday, an excuse for a number of people to get quite wasted and an opportunity for me to get annoyed about too many hours of disco or whatever

the lagerstroemia speciosa, aka crepe myrtle, is of course ongoing this time of year, but the callicarpa americana, aka american beautyberry, and the koelreuteria paniculata, aka golden raintree, are really special right now

lows in the mid-60s and highs in the mid-70s are a minor miracle for atlanner in august --- enjoy walking much more

sliding toward fall

trying to get in a decent walk morning and evening --- continuous walking is more helpful than the slow sniffing walking with dog --- but i still miss his ass

this is one of the odder things i've come across in the course of historical research --- seems totally inappropriate for a business check, but maybe it was the bank president's grandchild

gone but never forgotten

today was the last day for our lead concierge, mullu hussen --- family issues are calling her back to ethiopia and she doesn't know when or if she'll return --- in the three or four years that she's worked here, she has been the epitome of grace and civility and efficiency --- her saying "have a lovely day" each morning, in her impeccable british accent, has been a wonderful way to start each day ---

she loved, too, giving the dogs little treats --- the day dog died, she asked to come up and see him a last time, genuinely sad he was going --- 

she was a good, kind soul --- we were friends and her absence seriously diminishes our lives --- she is also a perfect example of the great things that immigrants can bring to our country if we will let them

late summer

i can't think of a title

i tossed and turned last night, but on one of the turns, around 3 in the morning, i saw these amazing clouds pouring along the horizon like plumes of smoke --- when i woke again it was overcast, but then turned into a sunny semi-hot day

robt and i checked out fernbank forest, which i had not seen in thirty years --- a wonderful place --- its 65 acres are supposed to be old-growth, as are 35 or so acres at the Frazier Center south of Ponce, and maybe the 20 or so acres in Deepdene Park --- if all of that is in fact old growth, it is more than the acreage of old-growth forest in the entire state of maine

lobelia, plum-leaf azalea, and rudbeckia were in bloom --- the semi-new "wildwood" was good too, especially all the early twentieth-century garden ruins

“dogs' lives are too short; their only fault, really.”

 --- carlotta monterey o’neill

flora

sweaty walk to the garden this morning, but always worth it, dendrobiums to dahlias

 

a few yellow leaves on the poplars, a late-summer reminder that fall will get here sooner or later