Sue and Kim (Folkstar) have a REAL rock and roll Christmas tree!
There are a LOT of soup kitchens around here. A LOT a lot. It seems like every single church is advertising food to the needy – and there are a LOT of churches. A LOT a lot.
I wonder how much that influences peoples’ views of how much the government needs to get involved in redistribution. I mean, to someone who’s just driving around Atlanta (as we are at the moment) I could certainly imagine thinking that the churches are taking good care of the homeless and the needy just fine sans any kind of state or federal assistance.
Of course, in Baltimore – every time you see a sign advertising food for the needy you ALSO see a huge line wrapped around the block. We hear regular reports of food pantries bled dry and of shelters having to turn people away. Do southerners have more to give? Are they better at advertising what they’ve got? Is it a church thing?
It would probably be almost impossible to get really good numbers on this, and in addition it’s such a politically weighted subject, any sort of studies that ARE done will probably be tainted with someone’s weighty thumb on the scales.
Last night we met up with my cousins and aunt and uncle, had really great barbecue and really REALLY great Brunswick stew (much tangier and sweeter than what I’d had in Savannah) and ate it beneath the biggest cow head I’ve ever seen next to a framed picture of George Bush. We ate fried pickles and we enjoyed them. And I know my politics are different from my aunt and my uncle’s, and I DON’T know about my politics vs my cousins’, but we had a wonderful dinner totally devoid of conversation of such things and everything was Loverly.
Entering Savannah, GA accompanied by grey and the threat… nay… the promise of rain.
I guess I Live in DC and spend too much time on Facebook and forget that you can spend time without having someone drop a political statement across the conversation like a log across a high speed rail line. It’s awfully nice.
It was my first time encountering my … what’s a cousin’s son? Not a nephew. Not a second cousin…. Well, it was my first time encountering my cousin’s son and Petey was cautious with new faces, but swiftly grew comfortable enough to chuck some Goldfish at us, which I took as a sign of acceptance. I definitely understood this to be the case when my uncle stood up and the rattling cascade of Goldfish crackers showed that this was definitely Petey’s favoured method of expressing affection.
Kids kids kids. We’ll be staying with my nephew in a couple of days. Then it’s a couple of other cousin’s kids before we return to the saner world of other peoples’ pets. Not sure what to do with kids. I try to just maintain an even demeanour, make no sudden movements, defend my crotch against high-velocity hugs and, well, I guess I should plan to have some Goldfish crackers about my person.
Of course, my brother’s warned me that my nephew’s into headbutting now, so my defenses will have to span to the upper half of my body as well. And Kristen will just have to fend for herself. My hands are going to be full.
The chainsaw. So – since the highway of Alabama seems to have calmed down into a state of absolutely nothing interesting, I figure now’s the opportunity to discuss the chainsaw.
Nope. Never mind. Mississippi. Time for me to drive!
Crazily enough – there was a huge pile of snow in one of the parking lots at Savannah College of Design. Even weirder, and unfortunately unpictured, there was a house back in Wilmington, NC that was covered in snow… the only thing we could figure was they’d listerally had it shipped in in some way. Absolutely crazy! No mystery to the Savannah snow, I guess it’s where the pile had been biggest – still I’m kind of shocked that they’d gotten enough snow for ANY sort of pile. Polar vortext indeed!
Below – a TON of photos from January 10th, wandering around Savannah, GA.
I know if Heather was here she’d know why there were these walls of the dead in the cemetary, but alas she wasn’t and I couldn’t remember and we haven’t looked it up… so… mystery. The stunning Colonial Cemetary in Savannah, GA. Kristen wins with this shot. A big part of our walk was taken up by viewing the absolutely exquisite way in which parasitic Spanish Moss gets all up in the everything. — Huh. Electric lemonade. We woke up in Savannah, GA and went for a walk in the drizzle. We grabbed a delicious breakfast down the street (grits, grits, grits) and then walked down to the Colonial Cemetary (that’s the entrance there) – the SECOND most famous graveyard of Savannah (since the MOST famous one – the one from the Garden of Good and Evil) was simply in the wrong direction. It was a beautiful walk.!
After we’d left Savannah, we had some time to kill before we were due to meet up with my aunt and uncle and cousins in Atlanta, GA. On the way we stumbled across an absolutely exquisite church in Macon – this is Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church – finished in 1903. I was sooo sad they didn’t have their doors open because I was reading that the interior (entirely lit by Bavarian stained glass) is utterly unbelievable. We’d actually stumbled across THIS church first – while LOOKING for the other one – I believe my words when we stumbled across the Mulberry St. Methodist Church were something to the effect of “THIS ISN’T GOTHIC! THIS IS SHIT!!!” While wandering around Macon, GA we ran across these camels on the top of a local Mason’s building. It’s for sale Ash, if you want it! Huh. A rather swishy lion makes it’s home in Macon, GA…. Guess who’s in town tonight!! I really, really wish I’d known THAT ahead of time! Kristen’s never SEEN Angie!
