Misty Morning on the Oostanaula

 

I was out at 6:46 to get my walk started this morning -- in time to see the sky just turning pink in the east.

By the time I got to the Little Dry Creek bridge the sky was barely blue and the moon was bright and full in the western sky.

Today I will try to take pictures of ALL of the arboretum memorial stones on the "clockwise circuit".  This is the first one near the "Post Office Trailhead".

After the arboretum of the east side of the Oostanaula was completed the Mt. Berry Trail began to be used for that purpose. Here are a couple of newly planted trees near the big pond. There are no engraved stones at the trees yet.

The city has been actively clearing underbrush from the sides of the trail to keep it open and friendly. There are also regular patrols by uniformed "ambassadors" on bicycle. The trail feels very safe.

This colorful swing overlooks the Oostanaula just across from Chieftains Museum.

The mist this morning made for a picturesque walk.

Stacking Blocks

I don't know what we paid for this set of cardboard Winnie the Pooh stacking blocks when Brannon was a toddler -- or maybe it was a gift? -- but it was well worth it. It's a little ratty now but I'll bet it will entertain Margot too.

A Very Big Oak

I took an unusual walk today -- west from our house on 10th Street to the Staples/Chick-Fil-A shopping center then out Shorter Avenue to the Hospitality House thrift store. 

Along the way I passed this huge oak that I have admired from the street for many years. Several of its huge limbs extend impossibly far from the trunk horizontally. 

the lower limbs are covered with Resurrection Fern.

Close-up of the dry brown Resurrection Fern -- when it rains again it will turn bright green. 

One of the limbs had been reinforced with an upright post.

If look closely you will see my five foot walking stick placed to give an idea of scale.

 

Marie Deserves Better

Marie deserves better.

Listen to the first story about Marie. It begins right after the ad, at about 6:30.

The damage the MAGA movement is doing to real, ordinary, productive, good people is boundless. People who go to work every weekday. People carrying out important functions in our economy and our society. People paying taxes—yes, often lots of taxes. People making life better for the rest of us, including those of us who happened to be born here.

I understand the desire for sensible border control. I know that better control of immigration was one of the issues that helped the MAGA movement gain control of the presidency and Congress, and therefore a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court.

BUT the concentration camps, un-American ICE tactics, the cruelty, the abandonment of constitutional principles, the ankle monitors placed on peaceful, hard-working legal immigrants—none of that is what most Americans voted for.

Please understand: I know that not everyone who supports MAGA is evil. But I truly believe that the MAGA movement IS evil. Some of its supporters know what is being done in their name; some do not.

The 2026 elections are our opportunity to put brakes on that “carnage,” to borrow one of MAGA’s favorite terms.

These midterm elections are critical to the future of America. We are in for two more years, at least, of very difficult times. But if the MAGA movement continues for two more years without, at minimum, the check of an independent legislative branch, I honestly am not sure our republic can recover.

Even if I were a conservative—if I opposed many of the goals of the Democratic Party—I think that, as a constitutionalist, I would still vote only for Democratic candidates this year. With both Congress and the judiciary so firmly aligned with the MAGA movement, our whole system of checks and balances is in danger.

We desperately need to re-establish an independent check on executive power. That is not a liberal principle or a conservative principle. It is a basic and critical principle of our constitutional system.

Marie deserves better.

And so do we all.

THISAMERICANLIFE.ORG

Label Maker! - This American Life

Our President Supports North Korea

I am angry about this. And I think Americans of every political persuasion ought to be deeply troubled by it.

The President of the United States is siding with one of the most repressive dictatorships on Earth. 

Clay Fuller, are you OK with this?

Rick Jackson, you have said you want to be Trump’s “favorite governor.” Will you condemn this?

Mike Collins, you have been an enthusiastic MAGA loyalist. Are you really willing to side with the Communist dictatorship of North Korea over the free people of South Korea?

Katie Dempsey, you are running on the MAGA  ticket; where do you stand?

These are not rhetorical questions. I would genuinely like to know where each of you stands.

As for me, I will vote for NO ONE who supports the MAGA movement.

I did not arrive at that position because I believe America was perfect before MAGA. It certainly was not. I did not agree with every president—or even particularly like every president—of my lifetime.

Here they are:

Truman. Eisenhower. Kennedy. Johnson. Nixon. Ford. Carter. Reagan. George H. W. Bush. Clinton. George W. Bush. Obama. Biden.

Democrats and Republicans. Liberals and conservatives. Presidents I admired and presidents I strongly opposed — even Nixon who committed crimes.

Through all those administrations, America already WAS great.

We made terrible mistakes. We sometimes failed to live up to our own ideals. But the basic American commitment to constitutional government, individual liberty, democratic allies, and opposition to authoritarianism endured.

That is what I see being abandoned by MAGA.

Economically, diplomatically, in our commitment to liberty, and in our standing among the nations of the world, I believe MAGA is diminishing the country it claims to be making great. We possess the most powerful military in the world, yet even that strength is diminished when our allies cannot be certain that the United States will stand with them against dictators.

I have lived through Republican presidents and Democratic presidents. I have voted for candidates who won and candidates who lost. That is democracy.

This is different.

This is about the kind of country we intend to be.

And I will not support any candidate who chooses MAGA over the constitutional, democratic America I have known all my life.

On the Kingfisher Trail

Bubba and Roxy

I had not seen these new murals under the swing bridge at Unity Point. I am quite impressed.

I had forgotten that there was a race underway this morning. (First Avenue at Broad Street)

The Etowah looking toward the confluence.

The Kingfisher Trail is named for Cherokee leader Kingfisher who fought Gen. John Sevier near here. The stone marker commemorates that battle.

The graceful arches of this 110 highway bridge across the Etowah at the end of Broad Street is showing its age. The city of Rome has not yet decided whether to replace (est. $4M) or refurbish (est. $12M) this historic structure.

Only one picture of many I took of the kudzu monsters along this walk.

The old railroad bridge above is now a pedestrian bridge and a part of the Kingfisher Trail extension of the ECO Riverwalk.

More kudzu monsters.

Silver Creek near its mouth.

This exposed bit of the earth’s crust along Silver Creek near the Kingfisher Trail bridge has fascinated me for years, though I suspect relatively few Romans have ever noticed it. These ancient sedimentary layers, originally laid down nearly horizontally, have been folded and tilted almost on end by the immense forces associated with the continental collisions that built the Appalachian Mountains, perhaps 300 million years ago.

Ivy-leaved Morning Glory (Ipomoea hederacea)

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

I've been curious about this giant-roofed building for years. Now it is being rehabilitated. Anybody know about it?

Frostweed (Verbesina virginica)

White Flannel Moth caterpillar (Norape ovina) Watch out: it has stinging bristles.

Virgin's Bower (Clematis virginiana)

The same railroad bridge (now pedestrian bridge) pictured earlier, now up close.

Almost back to First Avenue.