get it over with

in the 80s today, fifteen degrees above normal --- and dry as a bone --- maybe the weather will go back to nermal when this election is over

ashura

wonderful accident of streets alive today when we stumbled on the start of a procession commemorating the martydom of imam al-husayn, grandson of the prophet mohammed, at the battle of karbala in 680 CE --- that was the origin of the great sunni/shia schism in islam --- little girls passing out red roses to bystanders was kinda sweet, even if they had all of them and their mothers herded in at the back of the procession ---

stone mountain

a magnificent fall day, temperatures in the 60s! we did the 5 or 6 mile cherokee loop around the mountain, which is a nice little workout

skyviews for thursday

the last of the presidential debates last night made it clear that trump is toast --- especially his last line about keeping us "in suspense" as to whether he would respect the election results --- he ought to lose all fifty state over that alone, but he won't

 

near record highs in the upper 80s yesterday and today --- twenty degrees cooler tomorrow and maybe no more hot weather until may, if we're lucky

we have a contract!

fingers crossed that i soon will be a step closer to getting out of the rent-man business

the rude pundit

cutting to the chase

Instead of that, let's end with this: If you are voting for Donald Trump, you are a piece of shit. You are worthless, you are terrible, and I'm ashamed to say you are my fellow citizens. I have never felt that before about any election, and I've been through two George W. Bush wins. Well, one win. I don't want to reason with you. I don't want to convince you. I want you and your kind to dry up and become dust in the history of the nation.

feeling the pride

 we've come a long way from the few thousand who marched in 1978, against anita bryant and her anti-gay "save the children" campaign --- now it's just a great celebration of a very diverse queer culture

#07

i have neglected to post this baby, which started blooming a week ago --- the blossom stem got a little twisted coming out, but the blossoms are huge

columbus!

dog and robert and i drove down to columbus today --- first time i had seen the place in fifteen years --- the "restored" falls of the chattahoochee were excellent --- and downtown columbus sorta blew me away --- they've come a long way in repairing the wreckage of the last century

ad astra

iris' birthday was the 22nd and cousin carol's three days later, both people i miss more than any other who have left the scene to date --- bob and i weren't terribly close, mainly because i found him a little fearsome when i first met him in athens, probably in 1972, but we had a lot of friends in common and i soon found out what an excellent person he was --- it was always good to run into him on the belt line or in the botanical garden or wherever --- he died yesterday, and his passing congealed the melancholy of the last few days ---

so i spent a couple of hours this morning walking and thinking about dead friends

  

don't push the river . . .

for the first time in too long, dog and i got out to the river --- 

fall flowers

the fenestraria on the balcony has started a little early this year --- unless i kill it, it should blossom through the winter

in addition to the cattleya, the chocolate oncidium is showing off with two sprays and the alien oncidium is about to open

and what we called "big urnge," due to the size of its blooming, has now produced a very large and thick stalk--- it will be interesting to see how well it reblooms