from the bowels of the courthouse

deciphering 19th-century handwriting, some of it poorly photocopied, is purty good mental exercise --- i need to find out what they did with the original volumes

is it spring yet?

felt like spring today, dinit --- blue skies and sunshine and jonquils starting to bloom in the park --- 

downtown is a big ol' mess with streetcar construction --- 

looking forward to more quality time with superior court records

things that get me excited

i've been working on the genealogy, as it were, of real-estate transactions in midtown --- this is from baylor's 1895 atlas of atlanta and shows all the property owners in land lot 106 at that time --- the hatched area at upper right is a 5+ acre parcel that henry hoyt bought in 1866, from the estate of samuel walker, the farmer that first settled there in the early 1820s --- i think it was hoyt who laid out new streets and platted the northwest quadrant of the parcel into the smallest lots found in midtown --- he apparently intended commercial development, perhaps in conjunction with one of the expositions held at the park in 1887 and 1895, but there was only one building there for the 1911 sanborn, and there is only one there today --- i've got to continue the chain of title, but this could very well be the oldest, intact building in midtown --- it is likely contemporaneous with one of the expositions*

* the walker house (c.1869) was adapted for the first clubhouse for the Piedmont Driving Club, but continuous additions and alterations have left little of the original house intact. There are also older historic structures in Midtown, including the belt line (c. 1870) and several streets that date to the 1860s.

errata

the snow and ice are almost gone and the day was beautiful ---

the tear-downs continue, this one on eighth street --- sad

i think there is a record number of bush angels on that poor hedge on ninth --- four, maybe five since one could have involved two fall-overs --- lotta drunk young people coming out of taco mac

and the alley view has stabilized

saturday festivities

a fine evening with some old nps friends --- me and dog enjoyed the company a lot

yay, virginia!

the federal district judge declared virginia's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional --- he referenced scalia's dissent in the doma decision, too, which must drive the old bastard crazy ---- he also had some good language of his own:

Our [declaration of independence] declares that 'all men' are created equal. Surely this means all of us," wrote Wright Allen, an Eastern District of Virginia judge in Norfolk. "While ever vigilant for the wisdom that can come from the voices of our voting public, our courts have never long tolerated the perpetuation of laws rooted in unlawful prejudice. One of the judiciary's noblest endeavors is to scrutinize law that emerge from such roots."

r.i.p.

this orchid was one of my favorites, but i am now having to come to terms with the fact that i have killed it --- and, worst of all, i don't know what i did wrong

it had the most wonderful aroma

i am sad

clusterflake 2014, the end

the storm wound down by putting down an inch or two of snow overnight and this morning --- sun came out in the afternoon and got a good start on melting --- all real purty but i'm tired of winter ---

ruined history

 in 2001, the atlanta chapter of the DAR sold craigie house to inman park properties, a real-estate development company that had successfully renovated several historic buildings in atlanta --- but went into foreclosure in 2008 ---- in 2013, it had new owners who started rehabilitation and conversion of the building into a private residence---

last night, all but the front quarter of the building collapsed under the weight of ice and snow --- the owners have vowed to rebuild

ice event

it's been mostly non-stop precipitation today, more sleet and freezing drizzle than freezing rain for us, which is good, and it is supposed to transition to snow soon ---- major ice storm further east

they ran a plow up peachtree this afternoon, so one lane is good, but there is really almost no traffic ---

dog likes the sleet --- it doesn't get clogged up in his feet the way the snow did a couple of weeks ago

---

winter storm pax!

 started sleeting in the wee hours, now mostly freezing rain --- still sorta driveable out there, but it won't be for long --- ajc even delivered the paper this morning --- and, weirdly, la tagliatella is open!

i'm still not sure why they named it "pax" ----

big weather again

the hysteria has been building since yesterday --- govt offices, schools, and a lot of businesses were closed, even though today has been dry --- "historic," "catastrophic," "crippling," etc. are adjectives being used by nws in forecasts --- we might miss the worst of the ice, but middle georgia, especially augusta, is gonna get hammered ---

this winter is just not gonna end

late winter garden

i'm loving my winter garden --- it may not be as splashy as the atl bot gdn, but i get to look at mine every day, including this zygopetalum in my bedroom

atl bot gdn orchid daze got underway yesterday --- it's worth it for the orchids of course but their usual attempt to jazz it up in some way was fairly lame i thought --- they need to just concentrate on showing off the orchids --- 

the gardens were a bit of a mess --- all the cold weather has left its mark: the sago palm in the japanese garden is probably dead, and there are a lot of other things that are going to need a lot of pruning --- a few early jonquils and crocus but almost no camellias   

i'm ready for spring

i've neglected the blog for an unusually long period i guess --- been deep into historic maps and land records and federal census schedules from decades long past --- the census alone is a rabbit hole that i fall into every time i look

but still unusually cold, with a winter storm watch for the next two nights --- this spring will be interesting i think since it won't begin in january or maybe not even february, although there's a little glimmer of spring there if you look close

remembering

killed at cu chi, rep. of vietnam, forty-six years ago today --- i still think it was a total waste

already starting a new month . . .

into the low 50s today and most of the snow and ice is gone --- yay! --- even mid-30s walking the dog this morning felt like spring --- wasted (in a good way) the middle part of the day with some friends eating and checking out every bakery on buford highway --- 

orchids are looking good and smelling good, keeping winter at bay --- along with 78 degrees in the unit with no furnace running! --- the heat-gain from south-facing windows is wonderful in the winter, not quite so much in the summer --- trade-offs, doncha know, but that kind of warm in winter is fine