Musings

Raindrops from last night’s precip lasted through the day…in a few places.

Look near the crossed wires and you’ll see a small flock of sandhill cranes. These were much lower than the group I saw the other day. I suspect this group was looking for a place to stop overnight to rest and feed—central Atlanta is a poor choice for that…keep heading north, birds!

Evidence that film shoots are once again outside the studio….

And, yes, the family of the stinkhorns in the scientific classification system is Phallaceae. Hard to put one over on taxonomic specialists.

Posted at 6:57 PM | No Comments »

1. The days are noticeably longer—and the nights are shorter.

2. I practiced shadow-walking for the first time this year (sunshine avoidance—too hot!). This was rather tricky as nothing’s leafed out.

3. I heard sandhills overhead for over two minutes. They were very high, and I couldn’t see them, but I could hear their distinctive calls for long enough to suggest a large flock migrating.

Posted at 6:39 PM | 3 Comments »

No flaw in today’s weather whatsoever.

Might not have been so happy if I had to pick crocus stigmas, such teeeeny little things!

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Always glad to see crepe myrtles that haven’t been butchered, with many sunward-bound branches/withes. Quite enjoy the gnarly quality of the limbs.

Don’t know the story of the practice of drastic trimming…but, ouch. [Speaking for the plants.]

Posted at 8:51 PM | No Comments »

We skated through The Time of the Polar Vortex, because we had no polar and no vortex. We had some cold, yeah, but mild cold, not polar cold. Here’s camellia proof; the inner petals will be just fine.

Posted at 7:49 PM | No Comments »

I know this is a battered specimen, yet it’s the first hyacinth I’ve found in my neighborhood wanders this year. So, it’s a record-breaker!

I was additionally surprised at my find because the overnight temps dropped below freezing last night, and it stayed cold all day, and will drop further overnight tonight. I know the polar vortex is a nightmare elsewhere, and the comparatively mild cold here lacks parity with the snow and power outages elsewhere.

But. For here: brrrrrrr. As in: wore my Goretex neck gaiter for my ENTIRE walk (first time this winter). And my gloves for all but the last half-mile.

Posted at 9:22 PM | No Comments »

We don’t “do” Val-Day here, although we did have a fancier-than-normal dinner as a nod to the hubbub…the menu included roasted potato chunks…which have better browning these days in our “new” stove with the fan in the oven.

Can you say we roast veggies instead of saints?

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Always easy to ID beech trees in winter…they hold their leaves through the winter and are among the last to lose them in the spring. And they are pale, pale beige.

Posted at 10:12 PM | No Comments »

It occurred to me as I watched snippets of the videos presented by the House managers that for some years the Republican Party has essentially been an uncomfortably coupled coalition, rather than a united party. And this, I keep thinking, will make it increasingly difficult for elected Republicans to do the logical and rational thing regarding the President and the January 6th insurrection. Mostly, it seems they feel they must do what they can to “unite” these major factions, in order to have enough support to make a run at national offices. [And ethics be danged.]

Posted at 6:58 PM | No Comments »

I saw no owls today. Didn’t hear any, either.

About two months ago, several times over a ten-day period when I was at the southeast corner of Orme Park I heard an owl high above in a tree…not always the same tree, but the same area. Not since, however. [Do they migrate????]

No owls, not even superb owls.

Posted at 9:27 PM | 1 Comment »