Golden

Sometimes when I want to make photos, I just sit back and watch my dogs.  Sometimes I get nothing, other times, I get something good, like this.  At least, I like it.

I woke up this morning to the news that the USA's #1 nemesis, Usama Bin Laden, had been killed by a team of Navy SEALs.  Photos of crowds celebrating at Ground Zero.  Film of cadets celebrating at West Point.

What do these two things have in common?  I'm grateful to those who serve in our military and reserves. I'm grateful that those who lost family and friends on 9-11 have some form of closure.

Grateful that I can be safe at home photographing my dogs.

Distracted

I'd planned to read some tonight, in the quiet.  But I'm captivated by the drama unfolding as the miners in Chile are so close to returning to Earth.  I imagine this is something like the Apollo 13 drama in the 70s.  I was alive then, too, just not old enough to really understand. 

But this - so many have pitched in.  Our very own NASA provided a liquid diet meant to combat all the ills of their entrapment as well as the drastic temperature change; a paramedic is descending to triage the returning miners (very brave, yes?); the capsule has been engineered to avoid friction, the shaft is not perfectly vertical...really mind-blowing stuff.

And have you seen the tent city? It's the dryest desert in the middle of Chile's nowhere and there is a tent city which is unbelieveable.



Back to my post on the edge of my seat.

P.S.  Yes, I got a Kindle.  Working on the assumption that I could continue to get new things to read that won't fill up my house, about 5-6 hardback books will pay for it.  And now I read the Sunday paper - I had given them up in disgust because I couldn't get them read in one day and then they cluttered up the joint.

Decoration Day

(both images from the Internet)

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. It was originally a national day of mourning, with flags to be flown at half mast until in 1971 Congress made it a three day holiday on the last Monday of May.

It is easy to lose site of the purpose of Memorial Day as it signals the start of summer, but it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

from http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Polarity

This is the view from my office on Tax Day, April 15th. I look out on the Georgia State Capital, which is covered in gold leaf from Dahlonega, Ga. I can also see Turner Field, home of the Braves and behind that would be the airport if I had framed the photo differently.

What's the point? The point is that if you look in front of the white building, you see lots of people.

Those people gathered for a Tea Party. Taxed Enough Already.

And the reaction to these parties has been interesting to me, and started me thinking. I wonder how the neighbors felt when all that tea was dumped in Boston Harbor. I'm sure then, as now, not everyone agreed. Were they as polarized as it seems the United States has become? After all, they were not that long departed from England.

As I looked at the capital, and the people gathering, I thought about something I heard a comedian say: "the extremes at either end will always protest. it's the people in the middle who don't protest. what are they going to do? show up in DC and chant "be reasonable"?".

Indeed.

Highlights from Westminster

Every year I watch Westminster. I watch to pull for the breed I own(ed).



Except this year. After noting that the dog show started Monday night I had an inner dialogue that went something like this:



ooh, it's already time for Westminster. I love that show.

what will I do? The Closer is on tomorrow night too.

Ah - I can watch Closer on demand later. Gotta watch Westminster.



Then I got home last night, and flipped the channels at length, fiddled around, made some supper, read while I ate and forgot all about Westminster AND The Closer.



Tell me, do you ever lose enough memory not to mind that you can't remember anything anymore?


So I remembered tonight but not in time to see the Golden Retrievers (that I own now), or German Shepherds (first two dogs owned me). It's all over for me. But I did put the TV on that channel, and heard that this little creature is from May-retta, Georgia. IS TOO SO how we say it down here. It's a suburb of HawtLanta (today it was 70ish).







This guy won the best of breed for Golden Retrievers, but came in second in the group. Sorry I missed it.

'Scuse me while I go see what my Golden is barking at AGAIN in the back yard. Possum or feral cat, you can never tell. Back now. When I called Gus and offered a cookie, he came bounding up the stone steps from the really dark back yard. When he got close enough for the light to hit, it was almost like I had my own show dog. Like below. With the serious case of red eye. Debbil Dawg.

Last but not least: the group winner for German Shepherd dog. My beloved first dog was a GSD. She was perfect. I miss her still. She looked a lot like this.

Westminster is always fun to watch. That is, if you remember you like to watch it.

May the best dog win!

Update!!

Oldest dog ever wins Westminster! Stump the Sussexx Spaniel is 10. That's 70 for you and me!! Old age doesn't mean you can't win Westminster.

Candlemas Day

From the family who brought you the Pilgrims and the giant snow man face...

Here's hoping you don't see your shadow.

As the light grows longer

The cold grows stronger

If Candlemas be fair and bright

Winter will have another flight

If Candlemas be cloud and snow

Winter will be gone and not come again

A farmer should on Candlemas day

Have half his corn and half his hay

On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop

You can be sure of a good pea crop

For a Good Cause

In early January a popular bartender was brutally murdered during a robbery. Thankfully, a young woman with him in the bar was spared.

Since then there has been a lot of speculation that the city's budget cuts indirectly led to the young man's death because of furloughs of the police force.

Patrons and area business owners are trying to raise money for a reward since there are no leads at present.


We are big supporters of downtown and the police force.

And lunch.

So when area restaurateurs decided to donate a portion of today's lunch and supper proceeds to the reward fund, we were there.

The restaurants were armed with the mighty pen. Really. We were offered the opportunity to fill out letters to elected officials, sort of a lunch list petition.

See that lovely, fresh, green celery on the far left of the bar? Does it make you think of Bloody Mary's? Is it wrong to think fondly of Bloody Mary's when you are eating lunch for a cause?

If it's wrong, I don't want to be right.

The fuzzy area on the lower right is a shoulder. That shoulder works in my office.

I should point out I was actually taking pictures today. Out in the open. No stealth pictures here.

The name of the restaurant we chose?

6 Feet Under.

Thoughts on Justice

When I first thought about a post today, I had a collection of random things I was going to post about. But I turned on the tv to the local news this morning as I dined on oatmeal and turkey sausage. There I found the televised sentencing of Brian Nichols, who killed 4 people and injured 1, took a hostage in a suburban Atlanta apartment complex and led authorities on a metro Atlanta wide manhunt.


This is the window in my bedroom and I think it creates an interesting graphic with the window panes and the deck. Although its sort of commonplace, it's more precious now that I recall how close I came to Brian Nichols back in March 2005. I had already bought this house, and was waiting for the painting to be done before I moved in.


At that time I had a GSD named Piper that I dearly loved. However, she had aggression issues and I had taken to walking her very early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid children, people, and dogs. And the walks had to be long to work off her energy. So on March 11, 2005, a Friday night, I walked Piper late in the evening, say around 11 pm (when one walked with Piper, personal safety was not an issue). I was in the habit of walking her from my small neighborhood through the nearby apartment communities since they had sidewalks and open areas and my neighborhood and it's neighbors weren't really walking communities.

This is my front walk this morning. It leads to a sidewalk in my current neighborhood which is a wonderful walking community. On the other hand, you will notice the blue thing in front of my walk. It is not my car. My car is peeking in from the left side. People who park in front of my house so that I can't park in front of my house are my pet peeve. Because then I have to park in front of my mailbox and get a nasty-gram from the mailman who says "if your mailbox is blocked your mail will be stopped".

So Piper and I walked that night, and it was cold. It was a Friday night, so I wasn't in a hurry since no work on Saturday. I had been following the Brian Nichols news story, but no one knew where he was after he shot the customs official. That followed the courthouse slayings. You can read about them here.

MFC had lost a friend, Judge Barnes, in the shootings. It had been widely discussed at work that day. So, Piper and I walked. We walked and walked and returned home ready for bed.

The next morning, I got up and turned on the tv, but no new news. I dressed and left to go to the new house to check the painting or something. Possibly to go house hunting with MFC because she was looking for a house about that time. As I drove the mile from my house to Satellite Boulevard to head to the interstate I noticed helicopters swarming around the area. The closer I got to the apartments I walked through the night before, I saw deputies, sheriffs, police and if I'm not mistaken, the GBI staging in the adjacent apartments (there were several next door to each other). Brian Nichols, I thought. It can't be here. In the suburban boonies.

It was. Turning on the radio I learned he had taken a female hostage in the very apartment complex I had walked Piper through. I'll never know if he was there in the shadows as we made our way through the quiet complex that Friday night. But we hadn't missed him by much. And I've always wondered if the big black and tan german shepherd with me changed the course of events that evening, or if we never crossed paths. She did alert that evening in the apartments. But then, she alerted for rabbits, mice, rats, cats, people and paper blowing across pavement, too. So between God and Piper, I was safe that evening.

My snow people look on this morning at the special box I received. I am drawing out opening it because inside is something special and scary. Scary in the sense that it will challenge me.

So as I ate my breakfast, with one eye on the box above and one eye on the tv, I considered what the judge was saying about how it was imperative, even in the face of complete certainty that someone is guilty, that they be presumed innocent until proven guilty. That our justice system with all its flaws is the envy of the world. That we shouldn't cut corners by bringing the accused to court in prison attire - that we should accord the accused every benefit of the doubt. Until they are proven guilty. As has been the case with Brian Nichols.

It's hard to keep that in mind when we have 24 hour a day news. There's a case right now, the missing little girl in Florida, where I'm sure we all believe the mother was more than just neglectful. That the family didn't react soon enough.

So in that case too, we should let the system work the way it is designed so that we maintain our right to be innocent until proven guilty.

But it's awfully hard.

Kitchen Sink

Hello, reader? readers? You there? tap. tap-tap. Anybody?

I've been surfing around looking at the news, other blogs and reading email for an idea, a spark, a germ of something interesting to blog about.

I don't have a new hamster like my nephew, or hot new neighbor like SSG, a ranch to use for photo fodder, didn't win the lottery ticket, didn't defy a deathbed like Patrick Swayze, didn't get revenge on a hunter like that deer, do not want to know what Gary Coleman did to get fined for disorderly conduct, can't bring myself to read about a chained teen showing up at a gym or discuss the stock market.



I voted today, have two dogs that I think are endlessly adorable and cute but needed Benadryl so that they are comatose and not up to playing. I am perplexed that Britney Spears is "most searched for" ahead of World Wrestling Entertainment and Barack Obama. Can anyone think what that says?




Oh, I've got it. In the real estate world, when a building owner has a new restaurant open, the restaurant has a week or so of soft opening, right? It's about the staff getting the feel of working together, working out the kinks, getting the timing down and putting into practice their training. Well, we've got such a restaurant sitch in our building. It's a NY restaurant which is opening in our building in downtown Atlanta, and I got invited under the friends and family plan. So four of us went to lunch there today and let me just say right now I was transported back to Tuscany without the confining and expensive 9 hour plane ride.



We shared antipasti. I had cream of tomato soup. They had salads, one house and one ceasar. I had the mushroom ravioli (with truffles), they had chicken parmigian, sliced steak and salmon with a mushroom saute. It was divine. AND, we shared a dessert: cheesecake with sabayon.

And paid nothing. Just filled out a comment card.



It was enough to make you clean your plate. The only thing missing was the chianti, but unlike Italy, drinking at lunch is frowned upon in Atlanta at lunchtime. Sort of.



Glad you stopped by, aren't you? Just never know what you're going to get do you?

The Drumbeat

News reports yesterday continued the drumbeat of bad news: 600,000 jobs lost in the last 90 days, GM will be out of cash at some point in 2009, Ford can make it through 2009 with it's cash, value continues to disappear from the stock market as they fall for 2 straight days..

One tries to keep it in perspective by limiting the volume of [bad] news you listen to.

We've had layoffs at work, and now one in my blogger friendship.

For whatever reason, yesterday it all got to me. Not sure if it was the market reports I was forced to read to prepare another report, or if it was reading the bloggy friend's post.

I didn't read it until I got home, because as I've said it's been arrive at work and turn on the whirlwind this week.

So, if you are coming by here, please go to her post and say hi. Just a little encouragement might help: Country Girl on the Chesapeake Bay

And for anyone else you know who's in the same boat, just offer a little encouragement. They will at least know they're not invisible or forgotten.

As for me - I think a news hiatus, and looking ahead to my photography seminar next week. Which is shaping up to be it's own story.

Hoschton Scarecrows and a World Record

In north Georgia, starting in about September, Fall Festivals pop up all over. One little town, named Hoschton, has just such a Fall Festival.

I knew nothing about it until my mother and some friends took a drive up to see the scarecrows.

Scarecrows?

Scarecrows.

It seems the citizens of Hoschton decided to pursue a Guiness World record for most scarecrows in one area. When Mother & Co visited, they think they had around 5400.

The point of seeking the world record was to create postive publicity for their Fall Festival. By all accounts, everyone pitched in. Mother reported Scarecrow Elvis, Scarecrow Bonanza (lil Joe, Hoss and Pa), Scarecrow Choir, Scarecrow Football team and spectators among many, many others.

There are a few pictures online, and you can view them by clicking on Hoschton.

I wish I'd heard of this in time.

I would have filled the front yard with scarecrows in a vote of solidarity.

We Interrupt this Friday for a Surprising Post

I was surprised to find this online from author Orson Scott Card, who wrote one of my favorite books: Ender's Game.

This originally appeared in Greensboro's rhinotimes and due to overwhelming response, was moved to an html site. Apparently OSC writes a column for the Rhinocerus Times.

http://www.linearpublishing.com/orsonscottcard.html

I believe I would call this Things That Make You Go Hmmm.

Has anyone else read this? Any thoughts?

Chicken Little

In the past several days and weeks of economic uncertainty, political grandstanding, and talking heads playing the part of Chicken Little, I finally heard something that made sense today:

It doesn't make sense to point fingers, unless you are pointing the way out.

I was in the next room, so I couldn't see who said it, and don't recognize the voice, so I can't give credit.

Once I read that there is a balance to be sought between the catharsis that comes from talking about problems, and having talking about the problem becoming the problem.

If you turn off the sound and look around you, life is going on:

Groceries are being bought, high school bands took the field at half-time last night, college football is on tv today, church bells will ring tomorrow, lost dogs are found, there's a farmer's market up the road, neighbors are jogging by or walking dogs, here in the south we have beautiful a beautiful fall day...

I am at some risk in this market like many people. But I think we have to hold on to the fact that the normal activities of our lives fuel America's economy. And those things are going on by the millions. Just look around.

That's what I'm going to hold on to.