“Mauve-lous”
One-Word Wednesday: 12/15/21
Tag: Photography
T-shirt Tuesday: “Dunkin’ Donuts Advice”
Robert and I were walking down Peachtree Street in Atlanta the other day, heading to Dunkin’ Donuts to get my coffee. (Remind me sometime to tell you about perhaps the biggest disagreement between the two of us—I like, no LOVE, DD coffee, while he’s a Starbucks fan.)
Inside the heavenly aromatic wonderland, I saw this little sign:
Such GREAT ADVICE. And it SHOULD be on a t-shirt, don’t you think?
12/12/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks
For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.
Panola Mountain State Park near Stockbridge in metro Atlanta is a unique park. Because of its protected status, the park is considered the crown jewel of the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, one of just three National Heritage Areas in the state. It’s also a National Natural Landmark.
And “Why is Panola so protected?” you’re undoubtedly asking. Oh come on, you know. Of course you do. Because there’s a MONADNOCK there! And you don’t just find a monadnock in every nook and cranny. What? You don’t know what a monadnock is? Well, my goodness, let me define it for you then. Take out a pen and a piece of paper. It’s like I’m back in the classroom teaching again. Here I go: “Monadnock, students, is an isolated hill of bedrock standing conspicuously above the general level of the surrounding area. Monadnocks are left as erosional remnants because of their more resistant rock composition; commonly they consist of quartzite or less jointed massive volcanic rocks… Do I need to repeat any of that?”
[Robert is annoyingly INSISTING that I tell you I was reading the definition—while mispronouncing many of the words—straight from Brittanica.com.]
It was wet the day we visited.
To keep one foot from getting so wet, I should have stood on one leg, like the ducks. Or as I started calling them, the monaducks.
More info: “Panola Mountain is a 100-acre granite outcrop similar to Stone Mountain, but smaller and much more pristine. Park visitors see the outcrop and its rare ecosystem just as Native Americans did centuries ago.” (Park website)
We hiked along a boardwalk perched above the granite outcroppings.
The granite looks bleak at first glance but is covered with a variety of lichen species, resurrection moss and other rare plants.
We are so lucky to have such an enchanted environment in our state.
If you are interested, here is a link to a fascinating article about the entire Arabia Mountain area:
My Saturday Evening Post: “Yes or No?”
We’re “shopping” at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta.
Yes or no?
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Yes. Definitely.
12/11/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks
For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.
Red Top Mountain State Park is a lovely densely forested park located on 12,000 acre Lake Allatoona north of Atlanta. The name “Red Top” comes from the high iron-ore content which causes the soil to have a rich red color.
Our cabin (with me trying my very best to figure out how to open the door) followed by the cottage we rejected …
We stayed at Red Top during the height of the pandemic, so we laid low around the cabin for most of our visit. Joyful quietness.
Here I am, looking slightly crazed, but adding to the already existing totems in our cabin’s back area leading down to the lake. Sending healthy thoughts and energy to all.
May we be Happy. May we be Healthy. May we be Safe. May we be at Peace and live our lives with Ease.
And here are some beautiful images Robert captured. (I thought about claiming that I had taken them. But you know my impeccable standards with TIB—Truth in Blogging.)
A perfectly peaceable park.
See you tomorrow.
12/10/21 Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks
For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.
Hi there.
Welcome to the 10th day of my “Countdown to Christmas” series. Today we head over to Chattahoochee Bend State Park, near Newnan, Georgia. We visited on a short day trip in early March of 2020 before Spring made much of an appearance.
Chattahoochee Bend gets its name from, well, a bend in the Chattahoochee River.
Lots of hiking on this day.
The color scheme for this post is brown. But Robert found a few bits of color …
Here’s a riveting short, narrative-driven film, entitled, “Stick Gear: Winding Down by the Bend,” written, directed and filmed by Robert John Smith Jr, choreographed by and starring Neal Saye.
Good day to you! I hope things swing your way.
P. S. Robert says “Friday Hi!”
Five Friday Happy Bringers
1. Robert’s hasselback potatoes the other night. Yum!
2. Always having enough water. And being aware of always having enough water.
3. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s holiday concert, Christmas with the ASO last night.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choir, the incredible Morehouse Glee Club and the Gwinnett Young Singers joined the Orchestra to get us all in the holiday mood. Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky mixing it up with contemporary composers. And “Hallelujah!” special thanks to Handel.
But that’s not all, Blog Fans, I have some Very Exciting News to share with you about last night. News which, if I know you like I think I know you, will make you even prouder of me than you already are. Are you ready? Maybe you should sit down.
Robert and I were SPECIFICALLY INVITED to sing “The First Nowell” (their spelling, not mine) and to be backed up by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra! Seriously. Little us from Savannah. Can you imagine how thrilled I was the moment I realized that Robert and I were being asked to sing?!
[I’ll pause and give you a couple of minutes to try.]
I’ve always thought I had a terrible, adequate, good, stellar voice, but I was just so very humbled yet honored to be asked. I am so glad I wore a sports coat and put a little Suave Professionals Styling Gel in my hair. I tell you my my knees were shaking when we stood up to walk up to the stage and sing. And the performance was, in my unbiased view, nothing short of festively spectacular.
P. S. Robert is insisting that I include this minor and inconsequential (if you ask me) “fact” (according to his definition) from the above concert program …
Well, “we” did get an invitation.
4. Visiting Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta. The Gothic-Tudor style mansion was built by Coca-Cola president/zillionaire Charles Howard Candler in the 1920’s as a private home. Each Christmas they have a neat beautifully decorated Christmas extravaganza.
Do you see what I saw on the holiday garland to the left of Robert? Pine cones (HUGE) from my favorite tree, the Longleaf Pine!
I could … bearly contain myself with excitement!
5. Hope and expectation.
A Weekend of Wonder to You!
Happy Anniversary!
So today is my anniversary! Well, not just mine. It’s Robert’s too … our Fifth Wedding Anniversary … December 9th! (We’ve been together longer, but purist Robert didn’t want to get married until we could legally do so in Georgia— back in 2016.)
We’re in Atlanta to celebrate. The Alliance Theatre’s new adaptation of A Christmas Carol last night. So good, with deeper character development than usual. God blessed us everyone! And heading to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas with the ASO tonight. “Culture” is our middle name.
Here’s the very cool anniversary pop-up (or is it pop-out?) card Robert gave me.
Again, always the purist, he likes to find cards that are made Specifically for Gay Folks. (Whereas I just grab one from the Dollar Tree and use white out to get rid of the woman’s hair and … etc. and use a permanent black magic marker to messily but effectively transform “wife” into “husband.”)
Isn’t it cute? I loved it. It’s so pop-uppy, colorful and GAY — in every sense of the word!
TIB (Truth in Blogging): We’re not both black.
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And here’s a little anniversary bouquet we got for our midtown Atlanta rental’s little “dining room” table.
Wait, you need a close-up, don’t you? Let me snap one real quick.
Here you go. Well, Lo and Behold! Look toward the back of the pic above. Santa pants! And we all know from yesterday’s post “Robert and …” #6 EXACTLY what that means: Robert’s nearby!
So I interrupted him fussing around in the kitchen doing who knows what (he’s always throwing it up to me that he went to ”Chef’s School”) and told him to wave at our thousands, hundreds, dozens single-digits of blog fans.
P.S. Google just reminded me that a traditional Fifth Anniversary gift is Wood. (And my phone’s calculator cruelly taunted me that I’ll be 114 on our Fiftieth Diamond Anniversary! I just depowered my phone.) Anyway, on the off chance that you haven’t gotten our Wooden Gift yet, here are a couple of suggestions:
We watched The Queen’s Gambit! And I would like to try that looking-up-at-the-ceiling strategy.
I see nothing.
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This wooden nutcracker would SO come in handy. Remember that big bowl of nuts from yesterday’s post?
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
One-Word Wednesday 12/8/21
SERIOUSLY?
