Some Rambling Thoughts About Atlanta

You know you're old when you don't immediately recognize this 1957 photograph of downtown Atlanta as "vintage," but instead wonder "When did the Woolworth's close?"

The extreme, high 90s temperatures of the past week have finally abated, dropping from 90 to 55 like a motorist spotting a traffic cop. Taking my daily walk along Tanyard Creek today, the 68-degree air felt downright cool. The good news is that the high temps are not forecast to return, at least not until next year, and that rain is finally on its way. We're in a state of drought here in Georgia - it's only sprinkled lightly one or two days since I retired three months ago.

I live in the D2 Severe Drought zone

The map may seem quite detailed for one state, noting conditions ranging from "abnormally dry" to "extreme drought" across a single county, but Georgia is a large state - it's the largest state east of the Mississippi and almost as large as all of the New England states combined.  In fact, the State of Georgia is larger than the country of Georgia.

The native-American travel writer William Least Heat-Moon (Blue Highways) once said that to the best of his recollection, he's been in every county in every one of the United States, except for some counties in Georgia, because there's just so many of them (159).  The only state with more counties (254) is Texas.  Having once worked what seems like a couple of lifetimes ago for the now-defunct Georgia Geologic Survey, where I had to drive around the state checking on stream gauges, rock outcrops, and project sites, I think I've managed to travel to all 159 Georgia counties, even if ever so briefly to some of them.

But anyway, these are the things I think about when I look at maps and photographs of Atlanta and Georgia.  With free time now to surf the web during the day, I've found that Reddit and the sub-group r/Atlanta in particular is an excellent source of pictures of this lovely city, some of which have already appeared in this blog.  Here are a few more, ranging from the beautiful:

 

to the whimsical:

My house, this pile of bricks on a hill, is not visible in the picture above, but would be right on the horizon, just above the nine o'clock position.

I'm glad the drought's forecast to end soon - I have enough problems with trees and don't need them dying on me from thirst.  But I also know I need to replace my roof soon and was able to ignore that need all summer while the sun baked down on me.  The time's not far off, however, when I have to deal with that problem.

But who cares about that? It's finally fit outside for humans, and my A.C. can stop running 24/7 to keep me from heat stroke.  It's time to be happy, and outside, and carefree.  It's time for a pumpkin-spice something-or-another.