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While doing some mini-research with google, trying to come up with a visual on Hambones I came across the above ads. You know to click to enlarge.

Hambone Hambone – Where You Been?

“Been around the world and goin’ again!” slap slap slap! (that is me slapping my stomach and legs to give a beat to the song).

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The Juba dance or hambone, originally known as Pattin' Juba (Giouba, Haiti: Djouba), is a style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks. It is similar to clogging and the jig, and "pattin' Juba" would be used to keep time for other dances during a walkaround. A Juba Dance performance could include:

* counter-clockwise turning, often with one leg raised,
* stomping and slapping (v.s.),
* various steps such as "the Jubal Jew", "Yaller Cat", "Pigeon Wing" and "Blow That Candle Out".

I tivoed Bamboozled yesterday and am watching it in bits and pieces. It is unbelievable. But, I’ll save that for another blog.

The movie reminded me of a guy that we named Hambone because he did the hambone body slapping to rhythm so good. Hambone was a white guy, about our age, but more or less a drifter. He somehow materialized among us Marietta boys in the summer of 1960 in Daytona Beach. We got a kick out of him because he was such a party animal.

After all, we were at Daytona Beach to party - not sit around and discuss physics of the stars and solar systems above us or oceanology or anything like that.

Weeks later on his way back to his home in Chattanooga he stopped by Marietta and looked up some of the friends he made on the beach and if I remember right, lived among us for a week or so. Then he went on his way.

It seems he made a second appearance in Marietta a year or two later on his way to someplace else.

Now Hambone is about 66 or 67 years old. I wonder if he ever settled down. I wonder where he has been? Did he go around the world and go again?

The Invisible Man Meets The Invisible Woman

I have mentioned many times on my invisibility. People look right through me. It is not like they are ignoring me – they just don’t sense my presence. It is probably because I am a quiet and mild nature… Who would notice a bump on a log?

never-the-less, I get heated up deep down in the pits of my soul when I feel I am being overlooked.

The latest case of me being ignore (that I know of) last week I was taking something back at Wal-Mart. When I entered the Customer Service area there were three people in front of me. I politely waited my turn. A man came up behind me and was yaking on his cell-phone and must not have noticed me.

Then, a lady came up in a store-electric wheelchair – or whatever they are called – “turn-abouts”? and got behind the man on the cell phone. When he said his goodbye’s he looked and saw her in line (at least she was sitting). One of the Customer Service ladies said, “Next!” He turned around to the lady in the machine with wheels and told her to go on, no sense for her to have to wait. And she pressed forward and went on. Then, another lady said “Next” and he went – and there I stood standing, still at the head of the line.

Then the third lady said “Next” and I was teed off. As I walked up to the counter I motioned with my hands and said “Those two broke in front of me!” The clerk politely changed the subject.

Today I took Willow to the dog park off Steinhaur Road. A lady came up to me and Willow and bent over and petted Willow and said, “Hi Willow!” After talking to her a few minutes I realized we have talked before at the dog park. But, I don’t remember her at all. Usually, since I feel I am on the outside looking in I remember people and details about them. Not this time.

An invisible person of the opposite sex?

Old Marietta Map - Those Were The Days

A couple weeks ago I put up a map similar to the one above and yanked it off within an hour or two. Someone emailed me and pointed out in the bottom right corner of the map was a notice of $10.000 award for turning anyone in for copying or reproducing that map.

But as I said, it was similar to this one, with only a few differences… the main difference I saw was there isn’t an award offer on this one.

This is a map of Marietta years ago. It is after 1965 because the I-75 is part of the map. But, not too much after it because also is Popular, Hansel, and Orange Streets are shown and the Marietta Parkway, aka Marietta Loop is not shown.

As mentioned in a previous blog the First Methodist Church of Marietta’s parking lot swallowed up Hansel Street. The Marietta Parkway swallowed up Popular and Orange Streets.

On the corner of Popular and Whitlock Avenue was a Texaco Station that I didn’t realize it was a landmark fixed in my mind until it was gone. On down the hill on Popular Street was Owenby Manufacturing that I think made mostly under garments such as tee-shirts, underwear shorts, and maybe socks.

I ran around with one of the sons of the owner of Owenby Mfg. Co. The other son was a little snobbish – but now, isn’t. I see him from time to time. They moved Owenby Mfg. Co., to Blairsville and the son I was friends with is the plant manager. The used to be snobbish brother runs the administration part in Marietta. I know he must be worth millions, but I have seen him break speed limits with his shopping cart to quickly get to the flashing light when a Blue-Light Special was announced over the intercom at K-Mart.

Orange Street, the best I remember, had a chicken processing factory, a stable (yep, a stable for horses), and a radiator shop.

Orange Street kind of ran parallel with the railroad tracks going through downtown Marietta..

On the other side of the railroad tracks on Whitlock Avenue was a building that housed Kelly Sporting Goods and Ken Stanton’s music. That was where we bought our 45 rpm records. Now, it is a Gone With the Wind Museum.

Across the street was Dupres which was a general store. They sold everything from groceries, feed, seed, appliances, and you name it. When we remodeled our kitchen in the 80s we bought our stove-top there. Now, no stores of that are downtown anymore. The store is still Dupres owned by the Dupres, but now it is Dupres Antiques Store.

In the 60s when passenger trains came through Marietta often it was not unusual for motorists going west on Whitlock Avenue have to wait in from of a dining car while people got onto the train.

Once my friend Larry was next blocked by the RR cross bar and in front of him was the dining car and people dining. It was Friday evening and he and his sister were taking a bunch to the Marietta High stadium for a football game. To Larry’s sister and her friend, who both were riding in the front seat, the diners looked like snobbish Yankees. They decided to give them a taste of the redneck south.

They put their butts up to the front window and down went their pants. Then, reached over and pressed the thing to make the horn blow. They mooned the diners.
Larry fussed at them the whole time.

Those were the days.

Emma Viola Hunter

This is my first cousin, once removed, Emma Viola Hunter Abercrombie (1891- ?). She was born in Cherokee County, Georgia, and died in Birmingham, Alabama. She married Andrew Joseph Abercrombie, who worked in a steel company. They are both buried at Carmel Baptist Church, Woodstock, Cherokee County, Georgia.

Change of the Holiday Moods

Yesterday was just about the last day of the Thanksgiving state-of-mind… by now, most of the turkey casseroles have been eaten and all the fall-look decorations have been replaced by Christmas decorations. The turkeys have been replaced by snowmen.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Thursday has for the past several years what I call Thanksgiving 2 Day. Anna’s niece and her husband, a preacher, have a little group over of her side of the family. Until this year we have been going to their home in nearby Acworth. This year, he has a new church and they moved to Lawrenceville, which is about 50 miles away.

We drove through the town of Lawrenceville slowly because we were looking for certain landmarks we had on our directions where to turn that the niece had supplied to us – for instance we were to turn right the first street past the post office.

As we were driving slowly through Lawrenceville looking around for landmarks I saw the courthouse. I wished I could have stopped and taken a picture of the big magnificent structure. It reminded me of the courthouse Cobb County used to have before it was replaced by a block – but most of all, because it is where Larry Flint was shot by an assassin wannabe years ago…. But the mood of the traffic was “keep it moving”.

I should mention that the niece’s directions was perfect. They were not from Mapquest or any other routing organization. She would give landmarks, along with miles in tenths. We only got lost only once and it wasn’t her mistake but ours.

The niece is a very efficient exact person. She is very proper and very neat. I don’t think she has an ounce of fat on her. She always wears a lengthy dress (nothing near the knees) and during these Thanksgivings-2 get-togethers she wears a perfect apron with ruffles with no cooking stains. If it was me wearing that apron and cooking a glistering stain would be from my lower lip, dripping off my chin and down the apron.

In her invitation she said this year instead of having a turkey again, so soon after a turkey, she was having soups and cornbread. And she assigned different things for each guest to bring. Anna was assigned brownies.

Excellent idea!

While we were on a long stretch of road outside of Lawrenceville I kept thinking the niece remind me of somebody…. Who?

Anna wondered if the niece would have something, I forgot what and I replied just as I thought who she reminded me of: “I’m sure the Stedford Wife will – all details will be taken care of.”

The meal was great. She had a beef vegetable soup and a vegetable soup which was mostly broccoli and was nice and spicy. There were two types of cornbread, regular Southern cornbread, and Mexican cornbread laced with peppers. I chose the Mexican cornbread.

While we were eating the niece spoke directly to me, tell me that she had a cut of coffee brewing. She remembered I thrive on caffeine.

Later, she brought me a cup of coffee, black as I prefer it, of course – the Stepford Wife had that on her memory disk.

Her husband, the preacher, has a very down-to-earth informal way about him. He is very likable and is crazy about his two grandchildren that he doesn’t get to see often enough since they moved to Lawrenceville.

Afterwards, we had to go to Sears and buy a new glass stovetop. We cracked our present one on Thanksgiving day by either working it too hard or before hand stacking pottery-type dishes on it.

Sears lured us there with a sale. They had what we thought was exactly what we needed, just like what we thought we had now. While there with the hook in our jaws and salesman reeling us in he said there is a ½ inch difference in the one on sale and what we had already… in other words, the stovetop would fall through the hole that the present one fitted in…. HOWEVER! His computer did show one with the exact dimensions that we need for a about a couple of hundred bucks more – then, add installation fee and so on.

Yesterday we finished up with our Christmas decorations. And to top things off Willow ate a few candy-canes off the tree and one miniature reef.

Thanksgiving-fall- festive has passed and Christmas time is here.

Doonesbury – 2 Versions

Above is the first three panels of Doonesbury in today’s Atlanta Journal and Constitution paper. (Click on picture to enlarge!)

Below is the whole thing printed in today’s local paper. Noticed the first two panels was eliminated, which puts a different slant or meaning on the cartoon.

Eagle Eye Anna called my attention to this.

Drought Report in Georgia

One thing about it. The Drought does not see class, gender, money, or color. The Drought effects everybody in this area. Everybody is asked to sacrifice.

For instance, in a previous blog, I told of getting a form letter from the water department saying we were consuming about 15,000 gallons more than my neighbors were averaging.

I found that strange, because for months we have not watered our grass or washed our car, and there are only two of us that live here, compared to our neighbors who wash their cars, water their lawns, and most have more than two people dwelling in their house.

I checked the water meter and it was covered with months and months of spider webs and caked with dust and dirt. I called the water department and said I believed that their private contractor who is supposed to have read the meters have been estimating.

They sent a man out and looked at my meter and assured me that they have been checking it but told me not to worry about it. Then my water bill fell from $35 a month to $15 a month. Yep, they were estimating the numbers, without even coming near.

Now, I heard on the news that a house on Thunderbird Drive in Marietta, it was leaked (get it?) to the news that the house was using enough water for 60 houses (on the average).

Thunderbird Drive is in one of the most expensive areas of Cobb County. A view from a news helicopter of the house showed a very big house with fountains and I thought I saw a manmade waterfall.

They interviewed the Chairman of the Commission board and he said the man who owned the house said he didn’t realize there was a water shortage and he will try to cut down.

I think what he probably said was that he didn’t think water restrictions applied to the wealthy. By the way, he did cut down.

Yes sir! All they had to do was talk to him and he cut down on his water usage. Good for him! And this is the truth: He cut his water usage from the amount for 60 houses to the amount for 9 houses. If that isn’t sacrificing, I don’t know what is.

That is what America is about! All of us doing our part, rich or poor! – right?

Probably Not Photo-Booth Picutres

At first I thought these were taken in a photo-booth. But, on the other hand, I don’t think photo-booths were in operation then. I googled photo-booths and could not find the date they started but I did find that the Polaroid process were patented in 1929,

These are Anna’s mother’s aunt and uncles, a sister and two brothers. I think they planned to have their pictures taken that day. They dressed up and two brought their hats.

The sister is Lena, born in 1877, the middle picture was of the brother Luther, born in 1879, and the bottom brother was Claudius (Claude for short) born in 1888. It appears Claude was after the carefree image and the other two were after a more formal image.

I estimate that the pictures was taken about 1909, before Lena’s marriage December 28, 1909.

There Are Many Ways To Give Thanks

I was thinking over the past couple of days that there Are Many Ways To Give Thanks

I don’t think there are as many ways to say, “You are welcome.”

Maybe that is why God fixed things in a way that we don’t normally hear him reply to things we say to Him.

It would be very hard to say “You are Welcome” and be original in content each time someone gave thanks to You – especially on Thanksgiving. There are just so many ways you can say “You are welcome”; “My pleasure”; “No, no! thank you!”; “Think nothing of it.”; "Ah, forget it!" and “No problem!”

Now, you perceive His silence as a Holy You Are Welcome with a certain mystic and maybe that is the way it should be.

Thanksgiving Traditions in Georgia

Note – the flag on the right looks dirty and dingy doesn’t it? You can’t tell, but it has 48 stars on it. It was produced back in the mid ‘40s,

This will be my Thanksgiving message for tomorrow. I will be busy being the go-for and host to put much thought it a blog – here goes tomorrow blog:

I love Thanksgiving. Well, love is a powerful word. Maybe it would be more accurate to say I like Thanksgiving… or more accurately, would be I enjoy Thanksgiving and all its many traditions.

In high school or right after our school years we enjoyed going hunting on Thanksgiving. We did that a time or two.

Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on TV with its high school bands, floats, huge helium filled characters, with Santa at the end officially bringing in the Christmas Season – that is nice to watch with the aroma of turkey cooking in the background.

Ever since I remember there has been on Thanksgiving night the lightening of what used to be the Rich’s Department Store Christmas Tree but now it is the Macy’s Christmas Tree… it unofficially officially opened the Christmas season in Georgia.

Rich’s Department Store on Forsyth Street was across the street from itself. On each side of the street was a Rich’s. If I remember correctly, on the east side was the clothing store and on the west side was the house furnishing section. Between both stores was a four level bridge with an interior and windows. The Christmas Tree was on top of the bridge and the night of the opening, on each level was a choir group or maybe a soloist signing… the lights would go off on one level and another level would light up and a church choir or whatever would sing something inspirationally Christmas from that level, and so on.

The two top department stores in Atlanta were Rich’s and Davison’s. Davison’s was owned by Macy’s – who finally after many years, changed the name to themselves. Then, in time Macy’s bought out Rich’s and their name was changed also. I was surprised the old timers around accepted the name changes – but just don’t mess with the lightening of the Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving night and the Pink Pig (a ride for children at Christmas time at Rich’s – now, Macy’s).

I think a few of our neighbors have beat Santa in the Macy’s Parade to the punch – the exterior of their houses are very well gaudy well lit in decorations.

The National Dog Show on TV after the parade is always nice to watch on Thanksgiving. And speaking of TV – there will be football games.

When I was growing up every year on Thanksgiving there would be a freshman game between UGA and Georgia Tech. The money collected for admission went to charities. For two years when I was in the Boy Scouts I had the experience of ushering that game… which was very interesting to watch the people – a good deal of them drunk.

I know a family that traditionally killed a hog on Thanksgiving. Providing it was cold enough. The family worked almost as a team, each knowing what to do in the right sequence. Once the hog was dead they moved in swiftly removing body parts to preserve and pack. They no longer do that. The head of the family that raised the hog died in his 90s. That is a traditional of the past. With subdivisions to have livestock you would have to get a special permit… then, the gutting of the hog would have all the neighbors fainting… it’s just isn’t work it… and it just does get cold enough on Thanksgiving anymore – global warming, tch tch.

Another tradition each year in Atlanta is the Hosea Williams Thanksgiving Dinner For the Poor and Homeless. More closer to home each year is MUST Ministries food line for the homeless… it is getting to be a social thing for the upper crust to serve food to the poor that day. Hosea died but the tradition Hosea started continues.

Of course some people on Thanksgiving actually give thanks. Can you believe that?

Of course, there are many traditions for the day, but the tradition mostly carried on is pigging out like there is no tomorrow.

Christians and Pumpkin Pie Ingredients.

This is a vague story about the ingredients of pumpkin pie. I am sorry I did not take notes when I listened to it on the car radio, but I got the jest of it and the punch line.

Columbus discovered the Americas while sailing to find new spices. It is unsure where he first landed on his first trip, but on his 2nd trip he landed on what would become Nassau in the Bahamas.

Other ships from England, France, Spain, and other European countries came because this was the land of the spices. One of the spices found was the perfect spice for Pumpkin Pie.

The natives refused to let the Europeans have the spice. The Europeans got very brutal with the natives to take the spice by force, killing many…. After all, not knowing Jesus, they were only savages.

The punch line: It was a near-genocide, almost destroying a group of people just for a spice for pumpkin pie.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! And enjoy your turkey and pumpkin pie.

I have a new sports hero! Tom Glavine!

And I am not even a sports fan.

Tom pitched for the Braves for years. Then he played for the New York Mets for four years or so. The Mets were going to renew his contract for $13 million and he turned them down and decided to take a pay cut to return to the Braves.

He said he didn’t think he is worth $13,000. He had rather be close to home he said.

Good for him! I hope he is an expiration for other professional athletes. They do play for inflated salaries it seems.

Hoorah for Tom!

The Movie Mr. Brooks

We rented the DVD MR. BROOKS. It is pretty good, pretty good – but maybe a little too bloody and violent.

In this movie, unlike most movies, the good guy kills people for his own pleasure.

Earl Brooks is Kevin Costner who is a successful business man… who has a little oddity - he loves to kill people. He will pick his target and learn all he can about the person or at times two people and picks the right moment and WHAMO!

For some unexplained (or maybe I just missed it) a ghost or a figment of his imagination played by William Hurt is his running buddy.

Tracking Mr. Brooks down is a sharp detective is played by Demi Moore, who is a millionaire’s daughter, but loves her job as a detective… she is going through a nasty divorce – which ads a little spice to the plot.

There are three more humans thrown into the plot to keep it interesting and unpredictable.

We enjoyed it, and we sat on the edge of our seats as people do when watching a good thriller.

From my Pulpit

The Golden Rule, sort of:

I was in high school with a guy named Ken. Ken was a very nice person, all smiles. I did not know him that well, just well enough for us to smile at each other and call each other by our first names or nicknames.

Recently there was an article in the paper about Ken. Ken married a French lady, who inherited a From my Pulpit near Normandy, France that sleeps something like 150 people.

The article said Ken invited 20 of his closest friends of the class of 1960 and their spouses for a ten day visit at the Chateau. The article told what a nice time they had.

I felt slightly hurt that I wasn’t invited…. Especially after I read the details of what good of a time they had.

Our graduating class of 1960 had 300 people, the largest yet, at that time. Ken’s close friends, excluding the ones who have already died, made up about 1/12 of our student body. I felt excluded.

Then, I put the shoe on the other foot, so to speak… or walked a mile in his shoes, or something of a Zen nature like that.

I asked myself if I married someone who inherited a French Chateau in France and wanted to invite 20 close friends and their spouses to spend ten days, would I have invited Ken?

Of course not! Why would I? We were not that close.

I feel better now.

(In all fairness to Ken, no one in the class was excluded from a visit to their place. After the article came out he massed email everybody in the class offering a second trip to his chateu)

A Firm Handshake Could Mean a Lot

Did you know it was not until1867 that people used toilet paper? True. It was put on the market in 1867. My grandfather was born in 1879. My great grandfather lived a good portion of his life not knowing the pleasure of toilet paper.

Catalogs were not that plentiful before 1867 either. I wonder what they used? Leaves and corn cobs? I think I would think twice before shaking hands with someone.

And just think, in this modern society we whine if we have to open the restroom door from the inside without a paper towel to hold. Things could be worse.

Happy Birthday Frances!

Today my sister Frances is 70 years old. She looks much younger, doesn’t she?

Seriously, this is her on the porch of the first house she lived in. It was on Hansell Street, about two blocks or less from the downtown Square. The house is no longer there. The street is still there, in a way, with the parking lot of the First Methodist Church of Marietta paved around it – it is a little drive to take you from one parking lot to another.

That was before I was born, but as you can tell, my family was rolling in money....NOT!!

Frances worked at the First National Bank in Marietta and Kennesaw University in Kennesaw, where she retired.

Sonny the Rainmaker

My friend Steve suggested that our Governor Sonny Perdue do a rain dance. I was going to help out and find a picture of Sonny in paint and feathers to fit the occasion. Above is the best I could come up with, which might fit the occasion just fine.

Macland Cemetery

This is the Macland Cemetery, west of Marietta, in Cobb County, near the Paulding County line.

The above looks like a holy Mecca or maybe a royal shrine but it is the family plot of the McEachern family. The McEachern family was the wealthy elite family of the area. I think they still are. A high school there is named after them, which they donated money to, which looks more like a ivy league college than a high school.

I took photographs here because of the Pettys buried here. These are very distant relatives, way up the line, these Pettys and I share a progenitor. Our latest common ancestor was William Petty (c1708-1770) and his wife Elizabeth Randsall, they lived in Orange County, Virginia. See the marker of William A(lexander) Petty (1847-1898)? He and I are 4th cousins, 3 times removed. I could probably pick anybody in the phone book and be more closely related.









Robert Guffin – Guffin is a family name on Anna’s side of the family. I do not know Robert’s relation, but if I ever come across it, I’ll have a picture of his grave.



And the same about the Hunters here. I know they are not generated from my grandfather through my great great grandfather, but before that the information is broken.

Praying For Rain

Georgia’s Governor Sonny Perdue is to host a pray for rain this week sometime, if he hasn’t already. Some people are not happy because he is doing this.

Some atheists and strict Constitutionents (I made up that word) are not happy. They both feel he is doing this as the head CEO of Georgia who has sworn to uphold the United States Constitution. And, the United States Constitution says a separation of Church and State will be maintained.

However, I don’t see anything it could hurt. And, it might help. It is like a group of positive thoughts causing an outcome to go their way. You don’t even have to believe in a supreme being to accept that. Nature is full of positivisms.

Some good could come from praying for rain. The only bad thing, if it happens to be in the books to rain anyway, the people who prayed might claim credit for something they don’t deserve. Or, it doesn’t rain, and they can claim it was “God’s Will”.

They can’t lose.

We Need a Good Dishonest Politician Now!

Seriously, it is the good old boy politician who gets most his money from under the table is the type of person we need to solve this water problem. Back when Cobb County was just getting by along came several politicians who made a fortune in making Cobb County the clean neat yuppie kingdom it is today.

The proposed and got the ball rollings on several big things that moved Cobb County up in the world, such as McCollum-Cobb Airport, Pinetree Country Club, and Kennesaw College to name a few... hey! the fact that the people who had approved of the county buying the land just so happened were the private owners of the land was just a coincidence.

Now, we need that same kind of "how can I make a buck on this drought?" mentality to solve our water problem. They know how to get things done.

Johnny May Starve! You Can Save Him!

You can help!

Johnny is a policeman for the Griffin, Georgia, Police Department. A memo has surfaced from the head of their police force saying that each patrolman is expected to write at least 20 tickets a day.

Wow! That could be dangerous. Lets say there are 20 patrolmen around the clock on the Griffin Police Force. It is not a real big town, but not a small town either. They probably have more than 20 patrolmen around the clock, but lets use 20 for the sake of calculating.

Twenty patrolmen and times 20 traffic violations = 400 tickets.

Now that this memo is now public knowledge, we can assume most people will obey the traffic rules. So, there may not 400 traffic violations in a 24 hour period.

This may lead to some traffic cops to be creative with their ticket books.

And Johnny, a honest cop, may go to bed hungry. You can help! All those people who live within 20 or 30 miles of Griffin can cruise through town, run a few lights, break a few speed limits, and do anything else you want. It might mean you are saving Johnny’s job.

Culture Weekend

Above is one of the two post cards I bought that the originals were at the High Museum. Look at the picture. Does it look like the person is flipping their lip and humming making a “bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh” sound?

Sometimes I think I an’t got no culture. But, if so, then over this past weekend I just about caught up with myself, as far as culture goes.

Friday we went to the High Museum to see the latest installment of what the High had borrowed from the Louvre Museum in Paris and also another exhibit of impressionism.

We carried with us a friend who is an ex-co-worker of Anna’s. We knew she appreciates fine art from the oldies – her birthday is around the corner, so this was a birthday gift, sort of.




Both sides of the brain, the right and left, have to conserve water or it will show on the meter.

When we first walk into the Museum the first order of business was to get our tickets and a camera permit.

When you walk up to the man in charge of camera permits he first gives you a three or four page thing you have to read of the rules and regulations of photographing. I asked him has the rules changed in the past couple of months and he said no. I said I knew what it said, where do I sign. I signed a statement saying I was aware of the rules and would obey them.

As I was putting the camera permit on my upper torso our guest walked up and said she had better get a permit also. Without giving her the thing to read or the form to sign, he handed her a permit sticker. That didn’t seem right.

The rules, I remember, more or less said that with a permit you are allowed to photograph permanent art, such as the Howard Finster exhibit, but not stuff on loan, such as the art on loan from the Louvre. And if you are unsure ask a representative, always standing near by.

Two see the latest Louvre latest loan you cross the walk over to another building. Here they assigned you a tape player-guide and tell you to take the elevator up to the next floor. In the center of the floor is a huge statue of a god of something or another that had something to do with the Tiber and Nile River and servants, trade, exporting wheat, and maybe more… it told it all.

I wanted to take a picture of the huge statue but wasn’t sure if it was part of a loaned exhibit or not. I asked the guy handing out tape-player-guides. He flatly said “No.”




Our guest took a picture. She took another picture. Nothing was said. Well, she didn’t know the rules anyway, and on top of that, she signed nothing that she would obey the rules anyway.

We got our little electronic guides and took the elevator up. The Louvre latest exhibit was mostly was Napoleon and Josephine collected during their rein as Emperor and First Emporess. The art stuff were mostly antiquities and much of it was thousands of year old from Egypt that Napoleon pillaged while invading that country.


Our guest took a picture of a vase or a jug. A lady guard politely told she couldn’t take pictures in that room.

The electronic audio guide was partly spoken by Diana Haag. The neighbor that lived behind us was named Diana Haag. I do not know if it is the same Diana Haag or not. The one that lived behind us, not long after we moved there, her husband left her with two teenagers, a boy and a girl. In time she sold the house and moved.

One time I ran into her and she was a hostess for a restaurant and another time she was back in law school and also working part time as a clerk in a lawyer’s office. Does she now give guides at the High Art Museum… if so, I wonder how she ended up doing that? Maybe, just one thing led to another.

Many years after they moved at different events and shopping her son would come up to us and speak. I always thought she raised him to be polite.

I learned more about the Rosetta Stone. I remember seeing a video article on it on an educational channel. Neopoleon’s men found it and somehow it wasn’t long before they knew it held the key to all the carvings and drawings, whatever, to understand it you should be able to read all the carvings in Pyramids and so on. They had a very detailed illustration of the symbols and so on.

Here is my second post card, which the original was hanging in this room.





While there, we visited the touring art of the impressionists – which some was good. Some was “ho-hum”.

Afterwards, when we were leaving, just outside of the building where I the man told me I could not take the picture of the giant God of the Tiber and Rhine Rivers I saw the statue. I was outside not inside. If I took a picture outside looking in - he could not chase me down. He who laughs first get laughed out secondly? Something like that. Anyway, here it is:

Then on Saturday we did some art anticipation. We painted the vanity, the wood work, and me white. Now, I look something like a mime…. I need a derby and a walking stick to do my act in public places.

Sunday we continued our “An’t we got Culture weekend” by going to Oglethorpe College in Dunwoody to the Rodin exhibit. I was impressed with the glorious fine college looking campus with the castle-like and fortress-like buildings. I was also impressed with Rodin’s work and the docent’s knowledge she shared. What I wasn’t impressed with was Rodin’s ego. I guess it takes that, or other wise he would have been making wine or cheese or something in Paris.

Here is an interesting fact, the original The Thinker Rodin made was something like 8” or 9” high. But with the aid of a Collas machine, which in a way traces the original, with a series of extended arms, you can make the statue much bigger. Some The Thinkers are 5 foot high, others are six foot, and they are all considered original, if they were born from the original mold, even so after Rodin died in 1917…. With the mode, melted copper or whatever, and the Collas machine they can still turn out original sculptors by Rodin.

Or they could until fairly recently. In something like 1989 the French government declared it would allow 7 more originals from each mode be originals, then after that no more… after that, there would be no more reproductions that would be considered original work of Rodin.






Interesting, Rodin’s The Gates of Hell was probably his biggest and most time consuming work – but yet, it wasn’t completed and made full size until 1981, which was long after Rodin’s death. Here is a detailed view of it. Notice the figures above the frame? The figure on the left is also has an original but human size at the High Museum in Atlanta. It was a gift of France when some 40 plus members of the Atlanta Art Society’s plane crashed in Paris and everybody was killed.


And here is another detailed view, which shows The Thinker as one of the details, smaller than we are used to. And I thought it was meant to be in the park in the Dobie Gillis sitcom.

Also, I noticed at the exhibit most of the likeness of humans sculptured were all butt naked. And most had good bodies. You could use their ribs as a keyboard to play a tune.

Postal Fun with Customers

These are actual conversations at a Post Office window with six stations. It may not be exactly, word by word, but, close enough.

An elderly man and woman coming up to a window clerk and said somebody knocked down their mailbox and they needed another one and they wanted to know what the Postal Service recommended. The clerk pulled out a laminated sheet, showing the various mailboxes accepted and it had the measurements of the box and the required height of the pole supporting the box and so on. The elderly couple very seriously studied the pictures of recommended boxes and after a little private discussion between them the man told the clerk they would take “That one.”

The postal clerk let out what sounded like the beginning of a giggle but ended with a cough with his mouth covering the cough and biting his lip said he would have check with his supervisor. He went and get a supervisor and stood aside while the elderly couple told the supervisor what mailbox they decided and wanted to know the cost and the labor cost to installed it. The supervisor also let out a similar strange cough and covered his mouth. He explained to them that the Postal Service didn’t sell mailboxes they would have to buy it at a hardware store. The clerk said, “I’m new!”

A lady with a white shirt came up to the window. Her shirt was thin and it was evident she had no bra on. Then, on the PA system an announcement came on saying someone left their headlights on in the parking lot, a white Ford. Then suddenly supervisors, distributing clerks, and carriers found a reason to be behind the counter, parading through looking at the customers.

The week before someone left their headlights on in a yellow Ford which coincidentally, caused another parade of postal employees behind the counter.

After the window was closed for the day, Jackie a female clerk was filling out a form to send a passport in and supervisor Steve walked by and leaned over and said, “Are you sure this was a woman? It looked like a man dressed like a woman to me.”
Jackie: “The I.D. said female… damn! What should I do, tell her I have to check to see if she has balls or not?!”

Another lady filled out an application for a passport and when presenting her drivers license as a form of I.D. the clerk almost cracked up. Her smile looked like a skeleton’s smile, all teeth with a strain. Obviously she was the type to put on a big fake smile when she smiled for the camera.
When she posed for the passport photo she did the same… all the clerks behind the camera cracked up.

Morning Walk

This shrine with all the changing of the seasons and the flowers being changed of the book LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold.

The reason I photographed this site again is because of the pink sign to drive carefully. Kayla did not drive carefully and she got killed on this spot. If any good came of this it is this sign warning others. It just might save some lives.

Thursday morning it was cold and windy when Willow and I went for our walk. The day before it was windy also. I decided if I wanted to share some pretty leaves with y’all I had better carry my camera along – with the wind it may be my last chance.

The route I thought would be the most eye pleasing is a three mile walk. It is going around some country blocks. We leave the house going north, and make a loop eastward, then return to the house also going north.





Ironically, the pond, the horse farm with the white fence, and the two lakes are less than 2 tenths of a mile from my house – as the crow would fly. But, we aren’t crows. We have to walk around very long blocks, the pond, which is closest to my house is about 1.1 miles away, via the a two subdivision street and road.



This is a nice lake to look at as you walk by. Sometimes there is a blue heron perched high in a tree waiting for a fish to surface, and sometimes a big turtle is sunning on the log halfway out of the water.





The first church is a Greek Orthodox Church. Out front they have a sign saying Tuesdays – Greek Food, Drive Through. Every time I walk by I make a mental note to do that the next Tuesday, then promptly forget.

Except the Memorial cross shrine of Kayla Gattis site all the other pictures are lined up, next door to each other.





The other bigger pond or small lake is a hosting area of traveling Canadian Geese that I have mentioned from time to time. The owner before the owner now owned a building supply company. His son is a big time auto racer. One times two of their cows wandered through a security breach in the fence and hung out in our yard for a couple of hours until they could be rounded up.




The last church is a Latter Day Saint Church (LDS; Mormon). I go there occasionally to do family research.



Behind the LDS Church is a parking lot and behind the parking lot is a little break or picnic area. While I was trying to photograph this a hawk swooped down to grab a squirrel and Willow tried to get in on the action too. Mr. Squirrel get away without a scratch, Mr. Hawk had to look elsewhere for a meal, and Willow looked up at me.