seeing the city

a friend had a book for me and, picking it up, i was too close to my new favorite atlanner place not to go up there and walk the dog --- the quiet and the long views are purty great

view east to park place and plaza towers

view southeast to midtown and, below, northwest to kennesaw mountain and vinings --- it is a shame that the developers just could not live unless they crammed their houses right up to the cemetery, basically screwing the view for everybody --- but they certainly got to exercise their god-given right to maximize their profit on any given piece of real estate, whatever the cost to public space --- usa, usa, usa!

wasting atlanta, redux

i walked downtown yesterday to see again this old house on ellis street, two blocks east of peachtree --- scheduled to be wasted for surface parking, which is the worst of insults to one of only two houses left downtown --- as late as 1970 there were still four houses on this block alone, but they've fallen one by one --- after this, the rose house on peachtree will be the only one left, and it's in ruinous condition

also to be trashed for surface parking is this 1920s building next door, original headquarters of mack trucking, designed and built with two floors for parking! 

i hope there will be some sort of documentation on the house before it's gone, but that probably won't happen --- it's undergone some obvious alterations to the roof line, probably for a modern attic expansion, but some or all of the historic windows, some perhaps with original sash, remain in place --- differences in window casing suggests two historic building campaigns 

the old union mission will stay, but the loss of the house for surface parking just makes me ill

summer sunset

had a fine evening on the balcony watching the storms roll by


missed the full moon festivities at piedmont park 'cause we decided to go eat instead

life-style adjustments

i haven't been able to get into 32" jeans since sometime last century --- but i can now --- all well and good if i can avoid being like the poor anorexic woman that walks peachtree eating packets of splenda, which i think i can manage since there are much better diet changes than artificial sweeteners

i am disappointed however: weight loss and exercise has been great for blood pressure; for cholesterol, not so much --- doc really wants me back on the statins ---

enjoying the amenities

another fine, sultry evening in the garden --- we sat on the bench at the fish fountain for a long time and just watched the parade of people and the gorgeous sky --- an excellent location for imbibing an adult beverage or two

"blowback time"

this country will never learn, i guess --- we've repeated the same mistake over and over and over again

glomming on to history

i hate real-estate developers who publish crap like this, which is most of them, sooner or later --- "glomming on to history" should have been the title --- makes a mockery of historic preservation

from the city too stupid to be ashamed

this city doesn't have many real landmarks, but capitol view baptist church on stewart ave was one until the library board wasted it for a new library --- it sat at one of the highest points on the street (which has been stupidly re-named metropolitan parkway) directly across from the equally imposing masonic hall

(the photos are not mine --- i think they were taken by adrianne serrano proeller, and posted on atlanta preservation professionals fb page)

zygopetalum update

now that it's open, this zygopetalum has developed an excellent peppery perfume

rebuilding spring street

spring opposite abercrombie

across spring from the publix at plaza midtown

puppy dogs and paste board

i would imagine that having a dog might make homelessness a little more bearable, if you could keep it fed --- three guys here, three dogs, and behind the tree a huge bag of purina, which would be no easy thing to carry, especially after it's been opened ---

gardening on the thirteenth floor

the orchidaceae summer garden is in full flower: cattleyas, oncidium, phaleanopsis, dendrobium, and zygopetalum --- little bits of paradise all over my place



this little unit, a dendrobium teretifolium, has not bloomed for me before --- it is supposed to be fragrant at night but i haven't experienced that yet

this oncidium is the most-frequent bloomer, two or three times a year --- i split it during the spring re-potting, so i may wind up with a more or less continuous show

this is the best of the phalaeonopsis, not only for its color and pattern but for the fact that it has been in bloom since the middle of april!

this is a first re-bloom, too, for this zygopetalum ---

happy fourth of july

a perfect morning for the road race, and every trash can in midtown looks like this


then a fine evening at robert's 20th floor for sunset and endless fireworks

another day in paradise

atl bot gdn was open til 10 this evening and it was just way too nice not to walk over --- fine ending for a fine day

clearing skies

excellent weather today --- high in the upper 80s, supposed to be down in the mid-60s tomorrow morning --- perfect for the road race --- the clouds of a type of which you don't see very many this time of year are a byproduct i think of the hurricane off the east coast

pre-holiday recreation

started the day with mary and robert at bab's, best breakfast in town, bar none

then checked out the fed museum --- good exhibits, i thought, on history of money, with great artifacts on display --- big windows so you can stand there and gawk at the automated vehicles that move great crates of money around ---

another walk through the gulch

went back down in atlanner's nether parts with some friends this afternoon --- awesome stench in places and always good to get back out in the open, but a great walk still

this is what's left of the platforms for union station (c. 1930) ---

and somewhere down under these tracks is what has long been called atlanner's oldest structure, the monroe embankment constructed in 1838-1839 --- only the "structure" is no longer evident amid later fill

a great assortment of viaducts (spring street here) and odd little relics of one sort and another

dex

he spends a lot of time checking out the terrace --- wondering what he's looking at

decadanal anniversaries

it's been right at ten years since i smoked a cigarette --- it's too bad i don't remember the exact date but it was sometime in the summer of 2004

and around the same time i ate my last piece of warm-blooded flesh --- unfortunately for them, i keep eating fish now and then

i'm trying to get to a vegan diet, even taking up soy milk instead of the real thing --- but sometimes, i still gotta eat a piece of fish or a hunk of cheese --- all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god

weight is down 5% (half way to my goal), activity is way up, and i feel better than i've felt in years --- i'll prolly keel over with a heart attack this afternoon