wintergarden

edgeworthia, euphorbia, and early narcissus, as well as the dead hydrangea heads do not mind the cold

waiting on the ice man

the camellia at the garden were perfect, which is one of the reasons that i wanted to go over there today, before tonight's big freeze

it's still winter

it's not spring yet, unfortunately for the camellia and japanese magnolia

port gibson, mississippi

mississippi has some small towns that are simply spectacular, including oxford and natchez --- i'll have to add port gibson to the list --- it has entirely too much good architecture for its size --- the gothic-revival presbyterian church (1859) and its gold hand has got to be the finest piece of architecture that the denomination has ever produced ----

and a weird moorish/byzantine synagogue (1892) !!!

aminals

go here for some really amazing images of dogs underwater --- gotta love 'em --- and the video is your cute wild-animal overdose for the day

following the trace

the historic hwy 61 is mostly gone and although the present four-lane isn't awful, the natchez trace parkway parallels it between port gibson and natchez and is a great drive

a few days on the big river

natchez is a great little town --- and adams county is a little bastion of liberality in the wilds of mississippi ----

big 'uns

we have a bit of a cross fetish across the evangelical south, so there are a lot of them --- these near baton rouge, however, were exceptionally large, even if somewhat diminished by the power pole in the foreground

updating the view

a spectacular afternoon and another crane on the scene

it just fell over

the giant euphorbia trigona behind the teevee was touching the ceiling until a couple of hours ago --- about 5 friday morning, it just toppled over, sliding down the wall behind the teevee --- way too top heavy so it's starting over --- looks kinda bare now

late winter color

 it's been a crazy week at work --- too many numbers and excel spreadsheets and too much talking to whoever --- but the flowers are getting going, jasmine, plum, early jonquil, quince --- and orchid daze at abg starts today!!!

filling in the gaps

bakeshoppe is all gone --- lime fresh is in the works --- by spring, we should have four new dining opportunities within a two block radius of the building ---

The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the speaker to deny any responsibility for the racial content of his message. The code words in this game are 'entitlement society' —  as used by Mitt Romney — and 'poor work ethic' and 'food stamp president' — as used by Newt Gingrich. References to a lack of respect for the 'Founding Fathers' and the 'Constitution' also make certain ears  perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core 'old-fashioned  American values.

you don't say

winter flowers

the helleborus is starting to bloom --- and, no, it's not too early

nuttin to report

the garden

somebody gave my ma the orchid on the right for her birthday last september, but she was killing it due to the fact that they don't believe in sunlight in the house --- it has recovered nicely here and continues to set buds --- for xmas, my nephew gave me, weirdly enough, a gift card to whole foods, which i wasted on the other two orchids --- robert gave me the variegated violet last year sometime, which i repotted, causing it to double in size --- a number of stalks of incipient phalaenopsis are under development in the other room --- orchid daze commences at the botanical garden next weekend ---- there are reports of jonquils blooming out doors --- wheeeeee!

a damp evening

our tax dollars at work

the anti-govt people forget or, more likely, just don't care about things like nasa

leave it to the dutch

this is one of the most wonderful bridge designs that i've ever seen and possibly the all-time best for sensitive design at a historic site

boogering up the bank

i'm not even sure what they're doing to that poor building now, but it looks like they're putting in new, deeper metal trusses, which is not an easy thing to do and still leave a roof on the building --- probably because somebody told them that "it didn't meet code" --- that is one of the bullshit phrases that cost us a lot of historic buildings --- of course, it doesn't meet code, no building does except those built in the last ten years --- even the building codes recognize that, but there is no incentive for an unscrupulous architect or contractor who might be making a percentage off all the work that he directs to do less rather than more ---