In the mist, cheerful and colorful

Four unrelated good things this week - going from gray to colorful:

The skyline of midtown Atlanta was lovely and mystical looking, as viewed from the parking deck of Georgia Public Broadcasting on volunteer night.  We had needed rain so badly and it was welcome when it came.

More gloomy sky, but loved the cheery scarecrow wearing Santa's hat.  Madison, Georgia, last Saturday.

It took all week, but I got my little tree up.  It's sitting on a draped crate so that it will have more presence.  :)  I decorated it a little at a time and finally finished yesterday.  Richie Bear was purchased at Rich's department store, in the mid-1980s, when it was still open.  And the cardboard Santa to the right was given to me by my kindergarten teacher, way back when.  

Coworker Bobby salvaged peppers and green tomatoes from his garden last night, since the temperature was dropping into the 20s (fahrenheit).  It's cold here in the south today.  I chose two red peppers that he swears won't be hot.  :)  It was astounding to see these garden baskets on this wintry day.

I hope your weekend is full of good things!

Just breathe, pink haze and have a good week

This is by no means the best photograph of the super moon from November 14 (taken with iPhone 6 and a little grainy), but it represents my view, as I stood in the street of my neighborhood after a challenging week and just breathed.

I could still see that same beautiful moon this morning - the internet tells me that occurs because it's really the sun's light reflecting off of the moon's surface.  It was off to the right here, but I wasn't able to get a photo of it (don't worry - I was at a complete stop.)  I did get the hazy, pink glow over the skyline of midtown Atlanta (here on I-85 south).  The haze is from smoke blowing in from wildfires in northern Georgia and western North Carolina - not a good thing at all, but it did make the skyline look mystic.

I hope you have a good week.  Hugs!

Tranquility, what a beautiful morning and helping out

- Another tranquil photo from last weekend in the mountains.  This farmer has harvested his crops already, but I love the furrows left in the fields.  Not to mention the mountain range in the distance. 

- Someone is allowing camping on their property along the river (you can see campers in the background.)  What a beautiful morning that was!

- In Atlanta this morning the sky is gloomy - a result of Hurricane Matthew making its way up the coast (we are 362 miles, on a straight line, from coastal South Carolina).  Nothing good about this weather event, but I admire the people helping out others who had to evacuate from their homes, by taking them in.  My sister, in the Florida Panhandle (out of harm's way) is hosting beloved relatives from the east coast of Florida, until it is safe for them to go home.

I decided to reformat my photos a little, to make them bigger, so I don't have to say "click to enlarge" every time.  :)  Hope you have a good weekend. 

Hanging low, impala and latest book

- Waiting at the traffic light at 7pm on Tuesday at 14th Street and Techwood Drive in Atlanta, after volunteer work - I spotted the very low hanging cloud ahead, between the buildings.  Click to enlarge to see it better.  At first I thought it was smoke.  It was an otherwise very blue sky day, which I always call a Good Thing.  :)

- I had a flat tire (again) earlier this week, so decided to go with the expensive Michelin tires this time.  When I drove up to the tire shop, this 1966 Chevrolet Impala was sitting out front.  The owner just purchased it to restore and was amused that I was photographing it.  My dad had one in that same color, back in the day.  I liked that the person who sold it to the owner left a rosary hanging on the rear view mirror.  He said (drily), "It's so I can pray that it keeps moving when it's on the road."

- The manager of the tire shop was smiling at the three customers in the waiting area - all of us reading:  the young lady to the left of me, with a book, the man across from me with his laptop computer, and me with my little Kindle.  The manager isn't a fan of Kindles, but I told him I have run out of room for hardback books in my home, so I either read on the Kindle or get books from the library.  (Still love a regular book!)  These days - I really only buy Karin Slaughter's books, since she is a friend.  The latest one, "The Kept Woman," arrived in the mail yesterday and it went on her designated shelf.  I'll get it signed at some point, like all the others.  Can't wait to read it!

Karin was at book signing with the author, Ian Rankin, a few years ago and got him to sign that paperback book of Knots & Crosses for me.  It's a treasure, too.  

Have a great weekend, my friends!

Last blossom, shadowed and coddled

- Having never been a real fan of summer, I do look forward to fall, with its crisp weather.  But I do lament the passing of my spring and summer potted plants.  I finally got rid of my hanging petunia this week, pictured here in May, and found a lone blossom had fallen off while I was getting it down.  So here it is in a shot glass, gracing my cutting board.  The last blossom.

- At the elevator enclosure at my HMO on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.  Midday.  I went by to pick up a prescription and was struck by the pattern of leaves shadowed on the cut-out in the wall.

- The new addition to my egg coddler collection, found in the mountains at my favorite antique shop there.  Maybe I'll actually coddle an egg at some point.  You know I'll report back when I do.  :)

Hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful weekend, my friends!

Rolling clouds, moon with three names and captivated

- The skyline of midtown Atlanta up ahead during my morning commute this week.  And look at that beautiful sky!  Don't worry - we were all stopped.  Really stopped.

 - The Buck Moon that happened Tuesday night.  So called because bucks begin to grow new antlers at this time.  It's also known as the Thunder Moon, because of the frequent thunderstorms in July.  And it is also known as the Capricorn Moon.

- And more sitting in traffic.  On Thursday morning, I was captivated by this commuter pup - on an early morning trip with its person.

Here's something else to be captivated by:  the weekend!  I hope yours is lovely.

Catching a few notes, the bend of the river and finally finished

- Thanks to the US Founding Fathers, I got a long weekend, so headed to my sister's Nantahala mountain retreat for a few days.  There is no internet service in that spot, so I have to come into town to email, etc. from my phone.  I love that they display the flag on the gazebo, where bands play every Friday night.  When I was passing by on my way in last Friday, I rolled my window down and caught a few notes of the bluegrass music the band was playing.

- My favorite nonagenarian farmer, Mr. Martin, was busy all day Saturday and on Monday working his crops.  He is a slight man, who always wears an ironed, long-sleeved shirt and a large, white cowboy hat when he is working.  He has always had that farm across the river and it never ceases to amaze me that he has so much energy to keep on doing it.  

- Back in Atlanta this morning, I noted the mural on the building across the street from my workplace is finally finished.  The window company has moved out of the building, so we are looking forward to seeing who our new neighbors, who commissioned this artwork, will be.

Special gift, still a puppy and beauty at home

- Receiving this photo in a text message from niece Amanda, who lives in Madison, Florida, "This huge dragonfly was on our porch tonight, and Kloie saw it before anyone else & yelled, "Miss Amanda!  Please take a picture of this dragonfly & send it to Aunt Lynn!!!!"  Kloie is six-years-old and Amanda's future step-daughter (she and Kloie's dad, Travis, will be married next March.)  I am delighted to call her my Great Niece already.  She is already beloved to all of us.

I've always loved dragonflies.  And then yesterday morning, feeling unmotivated to get to work, I was sitting at a traffic light five minutes away - and three dragonflies swirled and soared around my car and then flew north.

- This photo, also from a text, taken by my older sister on a visit with niece Carla in Ankara, Turkey of  the family's not-quite-well-behaved dog Eva.  Our younger sister texted, "Is that dog standing on the table?"  :)

- And at home, neighbor Rhonda's bountiful flowers.  She and I conspire on planting every spring, but her flowers are always the most beautiful.

I love early morning watering.  The birds around the condos are fully awake at 6am and provide a glorious symphony of singing to each other.  I love their calls and answers.  

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Lighted beauty

A few of the zillion photos I took at the Chihuly in the Garden installation at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  

I named this one dandelion because...well, you know.

Inside the orchid house.

Flames in the water.

The botanical goddess is part of the regular exhibit at the gardens.  The lighted "boat" floats before her.  (Click to enlarge.)  A much better photo of her is here.

Beautiful torch.  

Barb and I plan to go back when it's cooler out - the exhibit lasts until the fall.  And this time I'll read the names of the installations and view more of these after dark.  We were early birds.  :)  A few more on Friday...

Humor in uniform, repurposed and let them eat cake

- You'd have to click to enlarge to see the City of Atlanta police vehicle pulled across the road ahead.  There was also a noisy hovering helicopter overhead.  The reason was a large sinkhole at 14th and State Street (in the intersection behind me.)  I didn't want to bother the workers by taking a photo of it.  :)  I was on my way to my volunteer work housed at nearby Georgia Public Broadcasting in the late afternoon yesterday and was detoured onto a side street to park. On the trip past this police car the first time, I asked the officer inside the car what was going on? (not wanting to walk on into a shoot out or anything):

          He:  Shark attack.

          Me:  What???

          He:  Shark attack.

          Me:  What??? (it had already been a long day)

          He:  Sinkhole.

 

- This bracelet was made by Juliet of the Crafty Green Poet blog.  She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and frequently takes us along with her on nature walks.  I noticed her Etsy shop link and visited.  She creatively "repurposes" materials, making them into one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry.  That's the pretty bracelet I got, above.  Do visit Juliet's blog when you can - especially if you love Edinburgh as much as I do.

- This is what my coworkers and I are counting on.  :)  In a fit of boredom yesterday (we are slow this week at work), Joanne went across the street to the commercial bakery (which also sells by the slice) and brought back cake.  (Image spotted on facebook.)

New life, morning light and if you can't beat 'em...

- The weekend weather in Atlanta was as lovely as predicted.  Sister, niece and I met cousins for lunch at Mary Mac's Tearoom for some southern food and then moved on to Ponce City Market for a look-around.  The large brick building there housed the Sears Roebuck & Company from 1926 until 1979 (retail store, warehouse and regional offices.)  My grandfather used to go there and pick up items for the family in the 1930s and '40s when he had business in Atlanta.  I like to think of that.  The city of Atlanta bought the building around 1980 and used it for police and fire department headquarters for about 20 years - it was called City Hall East.  It's so nice to see it reinvigorated as a mixed used development now - apartments, offices, shops, restaurants and a food hall.  I had not been there since its official opening last year, so it was fun to act like a tourist for a few hours.  And I can go there anytime!

- An unedited photo that I snapped last week at one of those pop up antique markets near my office.  I thought the coat rack might work in a coworker's new home.  I just love this photo for its lovely morning light.

- And I posted about this building near my office last February.  It has been plagued by graffiti art.  My post in February showed a lone painter painting over the graffiti with white paint.  Of course, the graffiti artists came back and covered the end next to the street with graffiti again.  So I love this window company for their "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude - they have hired mural artists to paint it.  Click to enlarge.  It's a train!  Can't wait to see what they have planned for the other wall.  :)

Favorite moment of the weekend.  My sister and I were standing in my parking lot, when the sprinkler came on.  A delighted robin hopped in and out of the water - reveling in the water drops.  My sister said, "I need to get a picture of that!"  But by the time she got it positioned, the bird had tired of the activity and flew away.  My sister is a kindred spirit, I think.

Goldengrove unleaving, déjà vu and a fine looking pie

- I had to have a tooth pulled last Monday morning, so this week has been rather confining.  And there was nothing good about the experience except it wasn't as bad as I expected.  But when I got home, I thought the golden leaves lingering on this tree were a beautiful sight.  And that turned out to be the only photo of the week. The reference to "Goldengrove unleaving" is from the poem "Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins that I was obsessed with when I was a young girl. 

- So as I have done before, I Googled "good things happened" and clicked on Images.  And in a déjà vu moment, this one came up from my post on November 16, 2010.  How about that?  And the weather looked about the same five years ago.  I remember that I was on a work errand, took a wrong turn, and was turning around here on this access road when I spotted this scene.  The funny thing is - I've never been able to find that spot again. I think it looks as if the two benches are having a conversation about the weather and lack of golfers on the course at Chastain Park.

 Photo from The Smitten Kitchen

- I'm excited about the American Thanksgiving holiday next week - my sister from Virginia is coming to visit and we'll be with family and extended family throughout that week.  She and I will make this pie that I discovered on The Smitten Kitchen blog to take to our cousin's home in Fayetteville, Georgia for the big day meal.  She's a wiz with pie crust and I am not.  And this recipe calls for "golden syrup" rather than the usual Karo syrup.  I have some cane syrup from one of the plantations in northern Florida, so we'll use that - it's definitely golden.

I'm taking a wee blog break, so my next post will be on Tuesday, December 1.  I'll be around to visit your blogs though.  Until then, may good things happen to you!  Cheers!

Meanwhile in Georgia..., the sun came out and at home

- I spotted this on facebook and laughed out loud.  Yes - after so many days of rain, it was amazing to see some sunshine. 

- My day was spent indoors on Wednesday, but I managed to get to the park near the office just in the nick of time after work.  There were so many runners, walkers, playground kids out - it was like a big celebration of the sun.  I got the tail end of it, but managed to get back to my car just before the sun completely shut down for the day.

- And I was thinking how cheerful this corner of my kitchen looked this morning, so I snapped a photo of it.  I got the aluminum tray at an antique shop in Murphy, North Carolina last summer.  I love its etched vine pattern.  And when I got home with it, I couldn't think where it would go, so I put my hodge podge of sugar dish and cream pitchers on it.  It's always bright in my kitchen.  :)

Happy weekend, my friends!  I hope yours is lovely.

Smiling faces, remnants and not stressed out

It's pretty telling about the week I've had when all I have to post about is a sandwich, cheese and bad traffic.  :)  But here goes anyway!

-Tuesday was National Sandwich Day, so I went to Jersey Mike's - my favorite submarine sandwich near my office.  This is the #4 regular served "Mike's Way" (onions, lettuce, tomatoes, olive oil blend, red wine vinegar and spices).  The #4 isn't on the menu, but was the featured sub a couple of years ago, so they still make it for me.  The employees behind the counter were all smiling at me when I walked in on Tuesday and the lead sandwich maker said, "#4?" and pointed up to the sign above him.  It's the featured sub once again.  :)

- I like to go through the cheese "remnant" basket in the Whole Food cheese shop.  It's a great way to sample interesting looking cheeses at a low price.  Wednesday lunch was Cotswold cheese - I always seem to love cheese from the UK. "Cotswold is a variation of Double Gloucester, which has been supplemented with chopped onions and chives for added flavour. Cotswold originates in Gloucestershire County of England."  It was delicious and a perfect lunch with a cup of soup on a rainy day. 

- Friend Caroline and I were grumbling last night about driving in rainy traffic this week (she referred to us as "the grumpy travelers" to another friend)  :).  It took me 1.5 hours to go 20 miles yesterday morning and the same in the evening - pretty common in the rain and not the worst commute in the Atlanta area I've heard of, by any means.  In the morning, a song by 21 Pilots came on the radio and I really listened to the lyrics.  It's called "Stressed Out" - the link to the video is here.  I love that their parents are included in the video!  Somehow this song made my morning go better, as I passed accidents and arrived safely at work (only 1/2 hour late) in the rain.

It's supposed to rain until the middle of next week.  I think I might go to Jersey Mike's for lunch again today - where smiling faces always await me.  Have a great weekend, my friends!

The answer has to be yes, bobble heads and the Pilgrims

- Spotted at the shopping center near work last Friday - this wondrously pink Thunderbird.  If you click to enlarge, you can see the pink dice hanging from the rear view mirror.  A woman walking up the sidewalk said, "Isn't that amazing?  I wonder if she's wearing all pink?"  The personalized car tag told that tale.  It read "PINKBRD" (Pink Broad.)

- These adorable bobble-head Halloween figures at the drive through window at Starbucks on Saturday.  I love that the girl has a blackbird on her head.  Alas - no trick or treaters came to my door that evening.  I had even bought some chocolate to add to my collection at the drugstore that afternoon.  Favorite moments there:  a woman, also buying chocolate, and I agreeing that it was really for us, not them.  And an Uber driver buying three large bags of candy for the "drunk" people he would be driving home from bars later.  Very thoughtful, that.

- And at home yesterday, my Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers got to come out of the cabinet, where they reside most of the year.  I firmly believe that Thanksgiving should be celebrated before we even start thinking about Christmas (having spotted Christmas stuff out in stores already.) 

View from the deck, lone golfer and left behind

- The view from the parking deck of Georgia Public Broadcasting in midtown Atlanta around 7pm last Tuesday evening.  That antenna thing looks a bit like an electronic palm tree to me.  A lot is going on in this photo for me - one of those buildings in the middle is the Equitable (insurance) building - the first building I ever worked in after I moved to Atlanta.  The building on the left houses AT&T headquarters in Atlanta, where I attended many meetings when I still worked at my telecommunications job.  And the building on the right (with red letters glowing) is Coca Cola headquarters - Atlanta is home to Coca Cola.  Maybe it's appropriate that there is a glow around that building.  :)  Click to enlarge if you can.

- View from inside Stone Mountain Park last weekend.  I was just about to enter The Commons restaurant when I spotted a lone golfer on the putting green beside the lake.  The sky was beautiful - it had been just a glorious day.

- And at home, it was finally time to take away the spring plantings.  The dragon wing begonia beside my front door gamely bloomed all summer, but had grown very leggy and was taking over the front door by last weekend.  Before I headed to the park on Sunday morning, I pulled everything up.  This blossom was left behind as a reminder that spring will come around again.

It's my 1500th post!  How about that?  Thank you for coming by - you make me want to keep doing it!