Atlanta Botanical Garden

I had probably chosen the wrong season to visit Atlanta's very extensive 30 acres of botanical garden.  In the Spring (and probably Summer if you could stand the up to 99F temperatures and extreme humidity) the garden must have been full of flowers.  Now only the hardiest remain and even a few late flowering roses had been cut down by the recent very cold nights.  So the beds were full of informative plant labels and not much else..  Fabulous colour though in this wonderful Dale Chihuly glass sculpture in the fountain garden and another one, depicting Southern plants .. such as the rather unusual pitcher plants .. suspended from the roof of the Visitor Centre.

At this time of year the garden is illuminated in the evening for visitors and so many of the trees and garden sculptures are wound around with fairy lights.

By the restaurant there was a cute but huge seasonally dressed grass sculpture of a dog (I think)..

He was around 10 feet tall and completely made of growing grass.

The garden has a substantial orchid collection - said to number some 10,000 species in all, divided over two orchid houses, one of which imitates the climate of the high altitude areas where the orchids growing there originate from.

There was a huge variety of orchids in flower - from huge blooms to tiny almost moss or grass like flowers.  I didn't photograph them all but here are some - together with other tropical plants growing alongside them - which caught my eye..

And just a few from the high altitude house..

And an extraordinary shrub from the same house..

An interesting postscript to the lack of outdoor colour in the Botanical Garden was this Camellia flowering happily - but surely unseasonally - in a small roadside garden in the centre of Atlanta..

Fox Theatre and Piedmont Park

My first stop this morning was at the Fox Theatre for a guided tour.  

The theatre, built in 1929, bears a strong resemblance to a mosque..

This is because it was originally built by the Shriners, a sub-group of the Masons as a temple and meeting place.  It was then taken over by Fox and operated as a theatre and cinema until the 1970's when it was threatened with demolition.  

Funds were raised to preserve it and it is now celebrating 40 years since its renovation and renaissance as a 3,500 seat 'atmospheric' theatre venue.

It is very highly decorated in Moorish style in the auditorium and also Egyptian revival style.

The auditorium has a wonderful blue roof simulating a clear sky - complete with twinkling stars and passing clouds..

Adjoining the Fox Theatre is the Egyptian Ballroom..

From the Fox Theatre I walked to Piedmont Park, with a great view of Atlanta's Midtown..

Off to Atlanta

This afternoon we flew from Dulles to Atlanta, Georgia where David has a meeting for the next few days.

By the time we had taken the metro from the airport to our hotel in the Midtown area, it was dark - this is the view from our window.

We had dinner at a local restaurant, including a Southern speciality - 'Shrimp and Grits'.

Ice-Breaker

After yesterday's heavy rain the temperature plummeted overnight and the bird water dish had become an ice and leaf sculpture by morning.  It continued to freeze regularly throughout the day as the wind chill took the temperature down to 'feeling like minus 11'.

Several of the smaller birds were at a loss to know how to deal with the frozen surface but not the Blue Jay, he simply hammered his beak into the ice until he had created a drinking hole..

The smaller birds were then pleased to take advantage of his efforts.  Firstly a pair of chickadees..

Then the Tufted Titmouse..

It's wet deer...

Our efforts to clear more of the leaves yesterday seem to have pleased our local deer who came along this morning to graze on the acorns which had been uncovered.

There were six of them in total including this rather handsome stag who appeared to be shepherding them all along.

They were grazing very close to the road but after appearing to contemplate crossing over, the stag moved them on.

No sooner had I put the camera away, but a hawk artived in the tree at the side of the garden..

He stayed a short while, surveying the area, but as it was so wet, no squirrels, chipmunks or even little birds were around.

Holiday Lane at Macy's

Yesterday afternoon we went to Fair Oaks mall.  The branch of Macy's there was full of Christmas decorations of all kinds in its 'Holiday Lane'.

Today we visited L'Auberge chez Francois at Great Falls for lunch in honour of David's birthday.

We had a great meal including an additional, complimentary dessert in honour of the birthday boy.,

It would have been quite adequate as a dessert by itself but, as a raspberry soufflé had already been pre-ordered..

It was a good lunch but probably just as well that we had bagged up our ten bags of leaves this morning as we didn't achieve a great deal this afternoon..