Wednesday, 18 February 2009
There’re two major things wrong with this: 1) it’s February (and a lo-o-o-ng way from watermelon season); and 2) half the fun of eating watermelon is doing it as a group thing, including seed spitting contests!
Maybe other people looked at this display with similar thoughts—the piles of melons looked rather orphaned….
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Foot of La Penserosa, an 1856 marble statue of a woman (see face photo here) by Hiram Powers. At the High Museum of Art, last year.
That is: the tooth the dental specialists call number 18—middle molar, left bottom.
Failed root canal. That’s what I heard last week about number 18 from the periodontist the dentist referred me to. Ugh. Today, I had the first step in getting the bad tooth (Bad tooth! Bad!) replaced with an implant—oral surgery, or extraction of the offending dead tooth (dead from the root canal). Now, step two, I’m healing—and hoping that goes as well as the extraction, which took half the scheduled time—a very good sign. Then on to the next step(s).
And I caught a cold yesterday. Oh, fun. (Sniff! Blow! Discard.)
Speaking of face problems…. This is why I’m not on Facebook—the NYTimes reports that Facebook has changed their terms to retain the right to use whatever you put on their site forever, even if you delete your account:
This month, when Facebook updated its terms, it deleted a provision that said users could remove their content at any time, at which time the license would expire. Further, it added new language that said Facebook would retain users’ content and licenses after an account was terminated.
Although some argue this is not a big change. In short, Facebook’s “trust us” model is not good for users. However, all this is why you read about me here, on my own domain.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Midafternoon, helicopters chopchopchopped overhead, and hung around. Two of ’em. But why? Oh, a house on the next street was afire. Nobody home, fortunately.
Those poor people. Fires are worse than trees.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Saw a lot of flora on our Flora Street area walk today, and not much fauna, other than humans and a few watchdogs and birds. Low biodiversity, I’d say.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
With the drippy-breezy weather we’ve been having lately, the camellias are sustaining damage, yet they’re still bright spots in the transitioning-to-spring landscape.
Friday, 13 February 2009
I spent this morning on a mini-bus.
Rather uncharacteristically, forward thinkers in Atlanta (not a particularly strong habit in these parts, recently) have marshaled money and public sentiment in favor of a 22-mile trolley or light rail route encircling downtown, mostly following abandoned or current rail corridors. The rails will be paralleled by sidewalks and walking trails, with frequent access to/from adjacent neighborhoods, parks, schools, and businesses.
This project is called the Beltline, and to continue to build bottom-up public pressure, one thing they do is offer free tours of the route, with a guide (Derrick Duckworth, for us, who did a fantastic job) to present history and discuss plans.
There’s lots worth remarking upon regarding this project, but I’m going to focus on just one. Trees Atlanta is part of the partnership, with an eye to planting trees along the Beltline corridor to make the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum, extending for the entire 22-mile circle. For a city deficient in public parkland, this is visionary.
Kudos to EMH, who suggested this adventure and accompanied us. Her last major adventure was to the Valley of the Kings, so you know she’s flexible in her travels.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Juice of three blood oranges cooking down; I later added about a half-teaspoon of sugar—it’s still pretty tart….
I never have made a sauce of blood orange juice before; I have eaten it maybe once, in a restaurant long ago.
I’m not sure why, on a night seven will be sitting down at the table (guests! company! and 82nd birthday celebration—not mine!), I decide to give it a try—maybe because I saw the oranges glowing quietly among the other citrus at the store, almost beckoning me with their rich, almost coppery colored skins?
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
You can’t see them waving, but they are.
You’re looking at the tops of the trees in our backyard at 6 pm. Storm warnings. Wind warnings.
Sure makes me nervous!
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Wonderful.
Outstanding performances by Bardem and Cruz.
Woody Allen’s script—extremely well done. Tight. Strange to hear so many typical Allen comments from the mouths of such different characters. Yet, he made the movie totally work in a Spanish setting. Loved the music (but then I’ve been partial to Spanish guitar music for years…).
The sign in the picture? From Piedmont Park. Why here? Dunno. Still searching for the answer. Me and Cristina….
Monday, 9 February 2009
This photo, taken a year ago today, kinda fits my mood: angular and upside-down! Or perhaps this is the architectural version of having your slip showing!Fuzzy would also fit my mood, but not the photo….
BTW, our photo collection shows the camellias were full out this day in 2008. Not this year. Instead, they’re still buds, big ones, but not open yet—at least on our [benchmark!] plant.