Pic(k) of the Week: It's Time for a General Strike

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

"Defend democracy. It's time for a general strike!"

No Kings protests took place nationwide in the U.S. on October 18, 2025, as part of a series of demonstrations against Donald Trump's policies and actions during his second presidency. The demonstrations, which followed the June 2025 No Kings protests, took place in some 2,700 locations across the country, including the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City, [and in Atlanta]. Approximately two hundred organizations collaborated to coordinate the October protests, which drew nearly 7 million participants nationwide, marking it as one of the largest single-day demonstrations in American history.

— Wikipedia (accessed 28 October 2025).

In Atlanta, an estimated 10,000 gathered to listen to speakers near the Atlanta Civic Center in the historic Old Fourth Ward. Following the speeches, they marched, en masse, 1½ miles to Liberty Plaza, situated downtown in front of the State Capitol building.

More photos from the rally: here.

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Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated
Album: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
Label: Vanguard, 1978.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Stone Mountain summit at sunrise

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It was 'blowing a hoolie,' at sunrise on the summit of Stone Mountain, that is, cold and windy!

A minimalist 'blue hour' silhouette in DeKalb County, Georgia, USA, on 10 October 2025 at 7:20 a.m. EDT.

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Thelonius Monk: Crepuscule with Nellie
Album: Monk's Music (Label: Riverside, 1957)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Old Grist Mill in early autumn afternoon

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A restored 19th-century water-powered gristmill in Stone Mountain Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.

Photo taken 10 October 2025.

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About the mill

The mill was originally built in 1867, operating along a creek in Fannin County in north Georgia (near the current town of Ellijay). It fell into disuse and was eventually abandoned.

In 1965, the mill was dismantled and moved to Stone Mountain Park. There, the mill and its milling equipment, including the mill house and millstones, were reassembled. Additionally, a thirteen-foot-diameter wooden overshot water-wheel and a stone millrace were replicated and put in place.
— Scenic USA.
— Stone Mountain Park.

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Photographer's Notebook

The mill is a well-loved spot in the park, easily accessible from the perimeter road. So, it took some time to capture the image without any visitors in the frame. Fortunately, I finished just as a large group of school children arrived.

The entire scene featured deep contrasts between sunlight and shadow. To capture the full range of tones, I took four separate exposures, blending them later during the editing process. Wind gusts were strong, and some of the foliage shows motion blur. C'est la da-guerre-otype!

Per Merriam-Webster, "gristmill" is one word; the park spells it as two.

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Weather Report: American Tango (Vitouš/Zawinul)
Album: Mysterious Traveler (Label: Columbia, 1974)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Afternoon of an owl

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"Chiefly nocturnal, a barred owl does not generally tolerate close approach." Yet there he was, in late afternoon, perched only a few meters in front of us.

Seminary Wood in Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA, 24 September 2025.

The barred owl (Strix varia) is a chunky owl with dark eyes, dark barring on its upper breast, and dark streaking below. It is a common resident in dense coniferous or mixed woods of river bottoms or swamps, and upland woods. Its distinctive call is a rhythmic series of loud hoots: 'who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all.'

— National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America.

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Gonzalo Rubalcaba: A Quiet Place
Album: Skyline (Label: 5 Passion, 2021)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Sunrise tree

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Tree in morning sun.

Lakeside Park: St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 4 September 2025 (7:38 am EDT)

I was leaving a sunrise photoshoot in the park's sculpture garden, and I paused in the parking lot to glance back at Lake Anhinga. I saw this: the morning sun backlighting the branches of a perimeter tree, reflected on the lake. An afterthought had become a highlight. (Photographic moral of the story: don't forget to look behind you!)

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Ahmad Jamal: Poinciana
Album: At the Pershing: But Not For Me (Label: Argo, 1958)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Blue Mistflower in Georgia autumn

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Native blue mistflowers, blooming adjacent to a wild-garden pond.

Trailhead Community Park of the East Decatur Greenway, in Decatur, Georgia, USA, on 3 October 2025.

Conoclinium coelestinum — commonly known as blue mistflower, mistflower wild ageratum, or blue boneset — is an herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern and central North America, growing in moist soils, wood edges, sandy woodlands, wet meadows, and stream banks.

The plant grows to a height of 1 to 2½ feet (30 to 76 cm) with round, light green stems; the opposite-growing leaves are ovate to triangular in shape, with blunt teeth; it flowers from late summer until frost. Flat-topped clusters, or panicles, of blue, purple, or lavender flowerheads, measuring 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 cm), are located at the end of the stems. Each flowerhead consists of about 40 to 50 disk florets with tiny tubular corollas that have 5 spreading lobes.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Tommy Flanagan: Delarna
Album: Sea Changes (Label: Evidence Music, 1997)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Coquina rock in surf at sunrise

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A coquina rock is battered by the Atlantic Ocean surf, captured in a photograph at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park in Palm Coast, Florida, on September 6, 2025, at 8:21 a.m. EDT.

This boulder is part of a ¾-mile-long coquina rock formation, the second-largest of its kind along the east coast of North America. The largest formation is located further south on a barrier island in Jupiter, Florida, Blowing Rock Preserve.

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What is coquina?

Coquina rock is a type of sedimentary rock (specifically limestone), formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of mineral and organic particles on the floor of bodies of water at the Earth's surface. The coquina rocks at Washington Oaks are part of the Anastasia formation —stretching from the city of St. Augustine to Palm Beach County — that was created during the Pleistocene era (12,000 - 2.5 million years ago). Lower sea levels allowed slightly acidic rainwater to dissolve calcium carbonate in millions of exposed shells. This process effectively bonded the shells to the sand, resulting in the creation of rocks that solidified over time.

One characteristic of coquina rocks is the regular, perfectly cylindrical holes in many sections of a formation, formed by erosion of rock by rainwater. These weathered formations create shallow tidal pools that support crabs, sea snails, anemones, and other small marine life The word 'coquina' is Spanish for 'cockle' and is the name given to Donax variabilis, a small, burrowing clam that lives in the sand just at the ocean’s edge, and is the main shell component of the rock.

— Florida State Parks.

Sunrise took place at 7:04 a.m. EDT; I didn't capture this photo until 8:21, an hour and seventeen minutes later. Why the delay? When I arrived at the park entrance at 6:30, the gates were locked. Florida state parks don't open until 8 a.m. The moral of the story? Do your research.

And yet, a beautiful moment to experience.

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Thelonius Monk: Brilliant Corners
Album: Brilliant Corners (Label: Riverside)
Recorded 1956; released 1957.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Gulls & waxing moon over surf at dusk

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Gulls fly by, as a waxing gibbous moon, 89% illuminated, rises over an Atlantic Ocean beach at sundown

City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 4 September 2025 (7:47 p.m. EDT).

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Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage
Album: Maiden Voyage (Label: Blue Note, 1965)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Hawk on the PATH

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Perched only a few yards from a boardwalk over a wetland, a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) was warily observing me from over its shoulder...but obligingly remained posed for the camera.

South Peachtree Creek PATH in Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 16 August 2025.

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Danny Gatton: Sky King
Album: Cruisin' Deuces (Label: Elektra, 1993)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Cross & statue

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A patinated bronze statue of a Catholic missionary appears to beseech heavenward, positioned before a nearly 200-foot-tall 'Great Cross,' whose silvery stainless steel gleams golden in late-afternoon sun.

Mission Nombre de Dios: St. Augustine, Florida, USA.
3 September 2025.

About the mission:

Mission Nombre de Dios (Name of God) is a Catholic mission founded in 1587 in St. Augustine, Florida, on the west side of Matanzas Bay. It is likely the oldest extant mission in the continental United States. The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, the oldest shrine in the southeast U.S., is located on the mission grounds.

The mission traces its origins to September 8, 1565, when Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed with a band of settlers, including a Catholic chaplain, Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales. The mission would serve the colonists and nearby villages of the Mocama, a Native American tribe.

The 'Great Cross' was dedicated in October 1966 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the mission's founding. It is made of stainless steel and towers 208 feet above the Matanzas marshes. An eleven-foot-tall bronze statue of Father López stands in front, created in 1958 by Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962), a Croatian sculptor (then dean of Art at Notre Dame University, in South Bend, Indiana, USA).

— National Park Service (pdf)
— Wikipedia.

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Donald Byrd: Cristo Redentor

Album: A New Perspective (Label: Blue Note)
Released 1964; recorded 1963.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Españolas de la alborada

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Españolas (2010)
painted concrete
— Marianne Lerbs

St. Augustine Sculpture Garden: City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 12 September 2025.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the continental United States, established by Spanish explorers in 1565. One can easily picture the female colonists, known as Españolas, leisurely promenading on Sundays with their parasols, reminiscent of the scene depicted by the sculptor. The sculpture garden sits just beyond the city's southeastern border, in St. Augustine Beach, a suburban-esque town of mid-20th-century vintage.

I first made the acquaintance of these charming ladies on a visit to St. Augustine in 2018 and took their portraits. I wasn't overly pleased with the outcome, so I returned seven years later for another try. The park appeared a bit worn, in need of some care, and the sculpture's plaque had gone missing. Nevertheless, the ladies, with their fans and parasols, appeared resplendent at sunrise. Felicitaciones!

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About Marianne Lerbs

I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela during the sixties. Now, I am a multidisciplinary artist, painter, muralist and sculptress. I am a College level art instructor and recipient of Artist in Residence grants in Jacksonville, FL. I have participated several times in Jacksonville's Cultural Council Art in Public Programs, developing murals, banners and large art panels. I was pre-selected by the Police Athletic League with a proposal with large size colorful concrete pillows for their outdoor areas. I have designed and executed large mosaic murals for the Florida Museum of Natural History. I recently completed two commissions, a collection of paintings inspired on St. Augustine's female historic figures, and a series based on Floridian history. I completed three monumental sculptures for the St. Augustine Sculpture Garden in St. Augustine Beach, Florida.

— Marianne Lerbs

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Return to Forever: Spain

Album: Light as a Feather (Label: Polydor)
Released 1973; recorded 1972.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Jewelweed corolla

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Close-up blossom: just one in a riot of orange jewelweed wildflowers blooming on a woodland trail.

Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 21 August 2025.

Impatiens capensis — commonly known as jewelweed, orange jewelweed, touch-me-not — is an annual plant in the Balsaminaceae family, native to North America, growing in moist soil including forests, streambanks, and bogs.

Jewelweed is a herbaceous plant that grows 3 to 5 feet tall (0.9–1.5 m), branching extensively. The leaves are ovate, with shallow, rounded teeth on the margins. The plant blooms from late spring to early fall. The flowers are orange (sometimes yellow), ¾ to 1¼ inches long (2 to 3 cm), with a three-lobed corolla[collection of petals in a flower, sometimes in the form of a tube.]

The seed pods have five valves which coil back rapidly to eject the seeds in a process called explosive dehiscence, triggered by a light touch, hence the name 'touch-me-not.' Dew or rain beads on the leaves forming sparkling droplets that give rise to the common name of 'jewelweed.' "

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Charles Mingus: Orange Was the Color of Her Dress then Blue Silk
Album: Revenge! The Legendary Paris Concerts (Label: Revenge. Released: 1996; recorded 1964)

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Pic(k) of the Week: River Oats on the Creek

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River oats in dappled morning light.

Cecilia Creek along the East Decatur Greenway: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 27 July 2025.

Chasmanthium latifolium — commonly known as river oats, inland sea oats, and wood oats — is a clump-forming, upright grass in the grass family (Poaceae), native to the central and eastern United States, growing in wooded areas and riparian zones.

River oats reach a height between 2 to 5 feet (⅔ - 1½ m) and a width of 1 to 2 feet (⅓ - ⅔ m). Their distinctive flat nodding seed heads resemble oats, emerging green in spring, turning tan in summer, and then purplish in fall. The bamboo-like leaves often turn yellow-gold in fall.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
— Wikipedia.

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Nat King Cole: Nature Boy

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Pic(k) of the Week: Black-Eyed Susans on the PATH

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Native black-eyed Susan wildflowers bloom in a pollinator garden.

South Peachtree Creek Trail in Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 18 July 2025.

Rudbeckia hirta — commonly known as black-eyed Susan and yellow coneflower — is a flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae), native to eastern and central North America.

The plant grows to 3½ feet tall (1 m), blooming from late summer into early autumn. The flowers have daisy-like yellow heads, up to 4 inches in diameter (10 cm), with yellow ray florets circling a conspicuous brown or black dome-shaped cone, containing many small disc florets. The species epithet means 'hairy' and refers to short, stiff hairs on the leaves and stems. The genus name honors Olof Rudbeck, a 17th-century Swedish botanist.

— Wikipedia.

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Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine: Cheek to Cheek
Album: Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine Sing the Best of Irving Berlin (Mercury, 1958)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Should I stay or should I go?

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What I really want to know,

Should I stay or should I go?

An American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) sits in a small, artificial pool fed by a natural spring. Decades ago, the pool was a source of water for dairy cows. Now, it's a haven for amphibians and waterfowl.

Seminary Wood in Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 13 June 2025.

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Sheila Jordan: Anthropology
Album: Lost and Found (Muse Records, 1990)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Woodland morning

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Softly camouflaged,

Morning in the woodland

Fending the summer beast.

Melton Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 23 June 2025.

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Thelonius Sphere Monk: Pannonica
Album: Thelonius Alone in San Francisco (Riverside, 1959)

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The return of Red Sky at Night

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor take warning.”
— old sailing adage

Heavy Seas Brewing's Red Sky at Night Saison, served on draught (with a side scoop of hummus) at My Parents' Basement (a combination good-beer pub, graphic novel shop, and arcade game parler) in the City of Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA (some 570 miles south of the brewery).

22 July 2025.

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About Red Sky at Night

Heavy Seas is a thirty-year-old 'craft' brewery, founded in 1995 (née Clipper City Brewing) in Baltimore County, Maryland, USA. The Red Sky at Night appears to be a limited re-release for the brewery's anniversary. Here's the brewery's description of the beer in 2010, when it was an annual spring release:

Brewed in the style of Belgian farmhouse ales – using a unique Belgian yeast and authentic Belgian candi sugar. It is a potent and spicy ale with deep complexity. Pairs well with Thai cuisine and mussels.

• ABV: 7.5% [alcohol by volume]
• IBUs: 17.5 [international bittering units]
• Hops: French Strisselspalt
• Malts: Pale, 2-Row, Wheat Malt

My impression (now, in 2025):
The beer poured with a pleasantly hazy appearance, typical of the saison style. In flavor, there were hints of spice (such as anise), notes of candi sugar fusel alcohols, and a 'red delicious' apple character. Tasty!

My Parents' Basement mistakenly, but humorously, referred to the beer as Red Rum Sky at Night, mixing a cinematic horror allusion with a nautical aphorism (quoted above). To be fair, so had the beer-review app, Untappd.

About Saison

(pronounced: "say ZAWWN")

Beers in this category are gold to light amber in color. Often bottle-conditioned, with some yeast character and high carbonation. Belgian-style saison may have Brettanomyces or lactic character, and fruity, horsey, goaty, and/or leather-like aromas and flavors. Specialty ingredients, including spices, may contribute a unique and signature character. Commonly called 'farmhouse ales' and originating as summertime beers in Belgium, these are not just warm-weather treats. U.S. craft brewers brew them year-round and have taken to adding a variety of additional ingredients.

— CraftBeer
a website of the [U.S.] Brewers Association

A series of occasional reviews of beer (and wine and spirits).
No scores; only descriptions.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Like a caress

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Like a caress,

A woodland embrace.

Vernal fancy.

Seminary Wood in Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 25 April 2025.

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Dinah Washington: Crazy He Calls Me
Album: Dinah Jams (EmArcy, 1955)

"The difficult, I'll do right now. The impossible will take a little while."

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Pic(k) of the Week: Into the green

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After the rain,

The urban duo

Goes into the green.

Trolley Trail in Gilliam Park: City of Atlanta (Kirkwood), Georgia, USA. 28 June 2025.

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Dexter Gordon: Cheesecake
Album: Go (Blue Note, 1962)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Festival dancers

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Dance (drink!) to the music.

Inman Park Festival: City of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 26 April 2025.

Taking place on the last full weekend in April, the Inman Park Festival & Tour of Homes is Atlanta’s largest all-volunteer festival. Organized by the Inman Park Neighborhood Association since the 1970s, the festival has grown to become a full weekend jam-packed with events, including music, kids' activities, a Tour of Homes, a marvelous street parade, an artists’ market, and some of the city’s best people-watching.

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Sonny Rollins: Tune Up
Album: Newk's Time (Blue Note, 1959)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Halfway Crooks' draught "Farina"

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"Farina": a delightfully delicate 'Kölsch-style' beer brewed by Halfway Crooks Brewery (in Atlanta, Georgia, USA).

Here, served on draught (in its own glassware!), at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, Georgia, USA, on 24 May 2025.

"Farina" is a top-fermenting lager brewed with German pilsner malt, hops sourced directly from Seitzfarm in Bavaria, a classic Kölsch yeast, Atlanta water. Notes of white wine, pear, German pilsner malt, floral German hops, and a refreshing dry finish. 4.8% ABV [alcohol-by-volume]

— Halfway Crooks

Light herbal, earthy aromas. Mild bitterness, moderate spicy, earthy hop flavors, then some light white-grape acidity. Subdued soft fruit esters come out in the middle. Nicely balanced sweetness and bitterness.

— Craft Beer & Brewing

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What is Kölsch (-style beer)?

1) Kölsch has the pale color of a fine Pilsner but the fruitiness of a fine ale. It has an aromatic bitterness and noticeable hop character, is well-fermented [like an ale], but is lagered cold for 14-40 days. Kölsch is properly served in a tall, narrow, straight-sided 200-ml (6.8 US fl oz) glass about 5 inches (13 cm) tall, at 55 °F (13 °C), with a pale white collar about an inch deep.

Kölsch is defined by German law as top-warm-fermented and cold-aged, with an alcohol content of 4.4 to 4.9 percent by volume. Also by German law, the beer must be brewed from Pilsner and Vienna malts, but may also contain up to 20% wheat malt.

— Encyclopedia of Beer (1995). Christine Rhodes, Thomas Bedell, Fred Eckhardt, et al.

2) Since 1997, the term 'Kölsch' has had a protected geographical indication (PGI) within the European Union, indicating a beer that is made within 50 km (31 mi) of the city of Cologne (Köln) and brewed according to the Kölsch Konvention as defined by the members of the Cologne Brewery Association (Kölner Brauerei-Verband).

— Wikipedia.

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A series of occasional reviews of beer (and wine and spirits).
No 'scores'; only descriptions.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Pre-concert preparations

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Bassist Teja Veal prepares for Rhonda Thomas' Red Dragonfly concert.

Inman Park Festival: City of Atlanta (Inman Park), Georgia, USA. 26 April 2025.

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Rhonda Thomas at Inman Park Festival.

Soul/jazz vocalist Rhonda Thomas incorporates jazz, soul, gospel, house, and funk in her music. From 1997-2008, Ms. Thomas was a background singer and soloist for soul music legend, the late Isaac Hayes. She has also performed with Roy Ayers, Roberta Flack, Eric Roberson, Avery Sunshine, Frank McComb, Stephanie Mills, The String Cheese Incident, and others. She performs internationally, in her own right.

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Rhonda Thomas with Isaac Hayes: Do Your Thing.
Montreau Jazz Festival, 2005

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Pic(k) of the Week: Black Sheep brass

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Black Sheep Ensemble performed during the WigWag Art & Music Festival — "a hyperlocal art and music festival, celebrating local artists and musicians" — in Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA. 31 May 2025.

Black Sheep Ensemble is a modern brass and percussion band from Atlanta, Georgia. Our performances are rooted in Second Line traditions but with a repertoire that blends Prohibition-era Swing, Jazz, Balkan, Latin, Ska, Punk, and more into one danceable sound. We bring a crowd to its feet and keep them there. Low brass belts out the bass line while drums drive the rhythm.

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Black Sheep Ensemble: St. James Infirmary.
Clips of live performances, in 2020, in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Boston.

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Pic(k) of the Week: At Rest

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At rest: street tableau as a festival abounds.

Decatur Arts Festival: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 4 May 2025.

The Decatur Arts Festival brings the community together through a multi-day offering of live music, dance, comedy, theatrical performances, children's book festival, exhibitions, and an expansive and diverse artists’ market.

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Count Basie: Cute
Album: Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette, 1958)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Before the storm

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Swamp thing! A dead tree retains grandeur as a spring storm gathers.

Frog Bog in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 3 May 2025.

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Leo Parker: Blue Leo
Album: Let Me Tell You 'Bout It (Blue Note, 1961)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Redbud in the field

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The vibrant yellow and green foliage of a native Rising Sun redbud tree, in spring.

Trailhead Community Park of the East Decatur Greenway: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 7 May 2025.

Cercis canadensis —commonly known as the eastern redbud tree— is a large deciduous shrub or small tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), native to eastern North America.

The Rising Sun™ cultivar —Cercis canadensis (JN2)— was discovered in a Belvidere, Tennessee nursery in 2006. Of unknown parentage, it had been planted from collected seed and was growing in a row of nursery seedlings. Unlike a 'standard' Eastern Redbud tree, the Rising Sun grows only 8 to 12 feet tall (2½ - 3½ m) but is drought and heat-tolerant.

Rising Sun's abundant pea-like, rosy pink flowers appear in early spring before the foliage. Its heart-shaped foliage emerges deep golden orange and matures through shades of orange, gold, and yellow to a speckled lime green. New leaves appear throughout the summer, resulting in a continual mix of colors. The fall foliage is yellow and orange.

— Missouri Botanical Garden.
— Wikipedia.

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Clifford Brown: Sandu
Album: Study in Brown (EmArcy Records, 1955)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Dwarf crested iris

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A native dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata) wildflower, blooming creekside.

Trailhead Community Park of the East Decatur Greenway in the City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 7 May 2025.

Iris cristata (also known as dwarf crested iris and crested iris) is a species in the genus Iris, and is part of the subgenus of Limniris (bearded iris). It is a rhizomatous perennial plant, endemic to the eastern United States. Purple blossoms arise on a stalk above the 4 to 8 inch tall leaves. There are 3 unmarked petals; the yellow, fluted crest is on each of three sepals. It is usually found in colonies of several to many plants, growing in chalky soil, in oak woodlands, on rocky hillsides, in ravines, and along streams.

— Wildflowers of the United States
— Wikipedia

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McCoy Tyner: Love Surrounds Us
Album: Uptown Downtown (Milestone, 1989)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Clarkston poppies

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Brilliant red poppies (Papaver rhoeas) bloom in an urban wildflower meadow planted along a CSX railroad track.

Stone Mountain Trail: City of Clarkston, Georgia, USA. 13 May 2025.

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Hank Mobley: This I Dig Of You
Album: Soul Station (Blue Note, 1960)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Sextuplet brood

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

A mallard hen (Anas platyrhynchos) was swimming in a bog, right in front of me, just below the camera's angle. She noticed me and, not pleased, let out a stream of loud, agitated quacks. Her six ducklings, alerted to danger, quickly scattered for safety. I couldn't help but apologize to them all as I exited...but not before capturing a photo!

Frog Bog in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 24 April 2025.

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Maurice Ravel: String Quartet (II. Assez vif – très rythmé)
Musicians: Auryn Quartet
Album: French String Quartets (Tacet 2003; Naxos 2020)

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Pic(k) of the Week: 3-2-1 Sketch!

Pens down! In a 'sketch-off,' participants had only a short time to draw a portrait of the person sitting across from them.

Atlanta Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park: Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 13 April 2025.

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Sheila Jordan: You Are My Sushine
Album (George Russell): The Outer View (Riverside, 1962)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Five Points ceiling

Ceiling over subterranean rail station.

Five Points MARTA: Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 13 April 2025.

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John Coltrane: Giant Steps
Album: Giant Steps (Atlantic Records, 1960)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Tree over beaver dam

The residents of a beaver lodge have been busy building a dam on Cecilia Creek.

Seminary Wood in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 15 March 2025.

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Reuben Brown: All My Tomorrows
Album: Blue and Brown (SteepleChase, 1998)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Tree over hill

A tree comes into blossom

Over a dun hill.

A moment recursive

In Brigid's turn.

A municipal golf course, as seen from the Stone Mountain Trail in Candler Park of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 21 March 2025.

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Nina Simone: My Baby Just Cares for Me
Album: Little Girl Blue (Bethlehem Records, 1959)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Spring comes to Beaver Pond

The trees were blooming on Beaver Pond.

Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 2 April 2025.

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As I was framing the shot, a bird photographer (aka 'birder') was standing nearby, wielding a 'bazooka-sized' lens. Unbeknownst to me, he had sidled very close.

"What did you spot?" he asked, catching me off guard. "A tree!" I replied. He smirked, saying, "There are many of those," and strolled off. Of course, that was the point.

Quam stulti isti mortales sunt. 

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Shirley Horn: A Lazy Afternoon

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Pic(k) of the Week: Vernal celandine poppy

A native yellow wildflower —celandine poppy— blooms in an early-spring woodland.

Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA.
2 April 2025.

Stylophorum diphyllum —commonly called the celandine poppy or wood poppy— is an herbaceous plant in the poppy family (Papaveraceae), native to the eastern United States and Ontario in Canada. Its typical natural habitat is moist forests over calcareous rock, particularly in ravines.

In spring, the deep yellow flowers of the celandine poppy appear as a brilliant display on the forest floor. The flowers have 4 yellow petals, two soon falling sepals, many yellow orange stamens, and a single knobby stigma. They appear singly or in umbels of two to four flowers from early spring to early summer. The flowers issue from between a pair of leaves at the top of the flowering stems. They produce pollen but no nectar.

After fertilization, a bristly blue-green pod hangs below the leaves. Seeds with white elaiosomes ripen in midsummer and the pod opens by four flaps.

— Wikipedia

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Maurice Ravel: Mother Goose Suite (The Fairy Garden)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Morning bird in winter forsythia

And smale foweles maken melodye

A peripatetic ruby-crowned kinglet (Corthylio calendula) momentarily stops to sing in a forsythia bush, its red crown shining in winter morning light.

Ruby-crowned kinglets typically inhabit northern North America. I spotted this male, however, much farther south (in DeKalb County, Georgia, USA), where it was probably preparing for its imminent migration back north.

26 February 2025.

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Ralph Vaughan-Williams: The Lark Ascending

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Pic(k) of the Week: Vespers for Callery

A copse of Callery pear trees (Pyrus calleryana) is limned by low-angle late-afternoon late-winter sun on the shores of Postal Pond.

Although beautiful when blooming, Callery pear trees —also known as Bradford pears— are considered invasive in the eastern and midwest United States. Plus, they stink!

Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 7 March 2025.

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Frank Morgan: A Flower is a Lovesome Thing
(Album: A Lovesome Thing, 1991)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Flowering Quince, flowering in winter

Native to China, a flowering quince shrub (Chaenomeles speciosa) blooms in winter, far from home.

Briarlake Forest Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 25 February 2025.

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Scott Joplin: Solace (Joshua Rifkin, piano)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Pink gnome #7

Pink gnome no. 7,

Whimsy on a front stoop.

Diagonally, I'm hip.

DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 1 March 2025.

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Blossom Dearie: I'm Hip

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Pic(k) of the Week: High Alley

Mural and cityscape, up high.

As seen through the windows of the Skyway —connecting the Anne Cox Chambers Wing and Wieland Pavilion— of the High Museum of Art: Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 9 February 2025.

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Bill Evans: Some Other Time (Everybody Digs Bill Evans, 1959)

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Pic(k) of the Week: Follow yellow line

A warehouse dock during golden hour.

As seen from the Stone Mountain Trail —a 19-mile urban pedestrian trail— in DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 13 January 2025.

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Benny Carter: Crazy Rhythm (Further Definitions, 1962)

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