Week in review - November 28th 2008

Happy Anniversary to us!
Hard to believe, but November 23rd was our first anniversary and we went out to dinner at Roy's in Atlanta - one of our favourite places for excellent fish and wine.

Photo stuff
Another publication has chosen one of my photographs for their web site. A couple of months ago, Whole Foods used one of my pictures on their product pages. This week, Schmap(!!) asked to use one of my pictures from Key West on their map guide for Miami (I know - I was confused too). Schmap!!

Thanksgiving
Dinner was good - we had pork loin with a blackberry reduction which was great as usual. Oddly we had this almost exactly a year ago and it was just as good then.



Cats
Catnip seems to be the drug of choice still. Curiosity got in on the action the other day by rolling around in the box with the catnip and becoming quite satisfied with her delinquent state.

Of course this often leads to turf wars over who gets to loll about in the box of recreational substances.

After that, she felt the need to rest a little...


She did recover long enough for me to take a portrait shot.


Two week countdown
Yes, two weeks today we'll be on a plane bound for Europe. Quite exciting. I'm sure I'll be posting photos when we return.

Not that we're counting but...

Merry voting day

Tuesday 4th November 2008
Yes, it's voting day here in the jolly US. That means I got to exercise my vote again - all very exciting. We'll see what the ballot fairy brings in the morning or whether she has to be dragged through court first. Not being one to be pessimistic, we just don't want blood and gore from beating around the bush.

Fawking around
Tomorrow is of course the 5th of November. It's always entertaining to consider that as one country elects its leaders, another had tried to blow them all up and for that, we are generous enough to bestow this fine calendar event on the world. Guy Fawkes was clearly one who resented the status quo (I think they played their first concert in 1605) and took matters into his own hands to see that they change for the better. Needless to say he probably didn't intend for us to celebrate burning effigies at the stake for the next 400 years although he might be impressed at the fireworks.

Who says the electoral process doesn't work?

Everything is bigger in Germany
As seen in this recent exchange between the heads of state from Germany and France.

Clearly had Gordon Brown (look him up if you have no clue who he is) been there, it would have been a different story.

Light relief
Thanks to Pat(ricia) for this recent gem.


Reading etc...
Sorry, haven't done any.

On parole.... Sunday 28th September, 2008

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Yes, a day of rest on Sunday following a successful and relatively short database maintenance period from midnight to 4am. Invigorated by a lighter schedule, we both decided to escape the coop and visit the Atlanta Botanical Gardens as planned.



Yes, it's predictable and in twenty years when we go back and I'm still taking pictures of Claudia and the frog, I know that one day it will that proverbial straw. Until then, I'm going to enjoy it.

The day was great and the weather was kinder than of late although still a little on the warm side. One thing I like about the gardens is that sometimes we see things that we could implement at home. When looking for ground cover last year, I found the juniper plants that one day will provide it (I planted a few sample plants that have survived so it's just a case of getting it done). This weekend's inspiration comes from the Japanese garden they have which uses plants, rocks and pebbles.



With a sloped back garden, soil erosion due to water run-off and also the shade provided by all the tall trees makes a lawn somewhat impractical - and mowing it really is a pain. So one idea would be to terrace it in Oriental style and try something like this. Well,I'm just thinking out loud but I find myself talking to myself a lot of late so this is of no surprise.

As usual, we visited many of the traditional garden highlights, including the unassuming pond in front of the orchid house. This often has some lovely plants including these which remind me of islands in the South Pacific.

Not that I've been to the South Pacific... Pity about the reflection of the pavilion; evidently an event was just finishing and I believe Lexus had something to do with it.

Unless they have an exceptional special exhibit there, the favourite is always the orchid house or the hot climate cactus environment. I like purple so it's only reasonable that I'd take pictures like this one...


..or this one...




Claudia framed by Spanish moss. It's not moss nor is it Spanish....

More orchids..



A rare picture of me. Anyone watching the BBC (America) series Primeval will recognize the thing behind me. Those of you who do not shall remain in the dark.

More frogs...




Dinner
One advantage of being diabetic - if you need to eat, you tend to get something pretty quickly. With the warmer weather and walking around, I was in need of food so we were going to venture to Top Spice in Marietta for an early dinner. As we were discussing it, we passed their location on Piedmont and instead ended up at Ru San's - a Japanese sushi place. Now I don't eat sushi but I love tempura so I got tuna and vegetable tempura with enough wasabi to kill a rhino. It was great and I really recommend it - the food, but not necessarily the ambiance. It's cheap and cheerful and then there's the green paste o' desire.

The week ahead
Well, this may be a quieter week. Perhaps time to take more photos to bore everyone with on flikr.com. Have a lovely one yourself.