Abt 12, a 'quadrupel' abbey ale, brewed by Brouwerij St. Bernardus in Watou (West Flanders, Belgium). Seen here, served, on draught in appropriate glassware, at My Parents' Basement —a combination pub and graphic novel/arcade game emporium— in Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA, on 6 March 2024. Monks making beer? Why not? Beer —brewed from water, hops, yeast, and barley malt— is, after all, liquid bread. So, please give us this day our daily bread! But, like any good story, there's more to it than meets the glass. *************** St. Benedict and the Trappists In 529 CE, an ascetic Christi ..read more

In late winter and early spring, tiny red diamorpha succulents are adorned with white blossoms atop Arabia Mountain, a 955-foot high granitic monadnock in southeastern DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 27 March 2024. Also called elf orpine, diamorpha —a rare plant endemic to the southeast United States— appears, during during winter and spring, as a vibrant red covering patches of Arabia Mountain in shallow solution pit pools. In March and early April, the diamorpha flowers, growing delicate white blooms. The blooms do not last long – they will soon begin to fade as the diamorpha prepare for th ..read more

Framed in a window, Boccherini, as the sun falls, Dreaming a double sonata. Seen in the upper windows of a violin shop in Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA, on the afternoon of 21 February 2024. *************** -----more----- Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays. Photo 12 of 52, for year 2024. See a hi-res version on Flickr: here. Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons. Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II. Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R Settings: 92 mm | 1/1000 sec | ISO 400 | ƒ/5.6 For more from YFGF: Follow ..read more

Look down! Tiny blue winter speedwell blossoms have popped up, low down, in large numbers, seemingly overnight. So small, so unassuming, and, yes, some might say, so weedy. Lanier Gardens Park: Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA. 24 February 2022. I've so often walked by over ubiquitous winter speedwell, paying no heed, until one winter afternoon, when I felt the need to get down on the ground and look at them on their level. My clothes became muddied; I probably received bemused glances from motorists passing close by this tiny strip of streetside greenspace. But there I lay, taken aback by ..read more

In a winter garden, It teases Of a spring fling. Northlake, Georgia, USA. 11 February 2024. *************** -----more----- Lee Morgan's waltz, Haeschen (1968) Personnel: Lee Morgan: trumpet, leader Bennie Maupin: tenor saxophone George Benson: guitar John Hicks: piano Reggie Workman: bass Billy Higgins: drums Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays. Photo 9 of 52, for year 2024. See a hi-res version on Flickr: here. Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons. Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II. Lens: Lumix G 20/F1.7 II ..read more

"Listen with the ear of your heart."  — Prologue, Rule of St. Benedict (c. 530 CE). A Lenten rose (hellebore) blooms in mid-winter. A small garden on the grounds of Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit in Rockdale County, Georgia, USA. 3 February 2024. *************** -----more----- On 5 February 2024, Flickr's editors selected this image for inclusion in Flickr's daily Explore feature. Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays. Photo 6 of 52, for year 2024. See a hi-res version on Flickr: here. Commercial reproduction requires explicit permis ..read more

A winter storm blows away in late afternoon. Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA. 9 January 2024. *************** -----more----- For brevity (and appropriateness) I embedded only Storm, the final movement of British composer Frank Bridge's 1911 tone poem, The Sea. For the peroration at the 20:20 mark, an oboist plays a brief, bittersweet tune, that could easily be an elegy to those lost in a storm. After a beat's pause, the full orchestra returns with a concluding, emphatic orchestral recapitulation (also brief) of the main theme. Resplendent! Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of ..read more

"A rolling stone gathers no moss" ... but a polypore mushroom can! Briarlake Forest Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 7 January 2024. Trametes versicolor is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. Meaning 'of several colors', versicolor accurately describes this fungus that displays a unique blend of markings. Additionally, owing to its shape being similar to that of a wild turkey's tail feathers, T. versicolor is most commonly referred to as turkey tail. The top surface of the cap shows typical concentric zones of different colors, and the margin is always the lightest. Ol ..read more

Looking for shapes in the winter woodland. Seminary Wood in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 27 December 2023. *************** -----more----- Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays. Photo 3 of 52, for year 2024. See a hi-res version on Flickr: here. Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons. Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II. Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R. Settings: 53 mm | 1/160 sec | ISO 800 | ƒ/5.6. For more from YFGF: Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables. Follow on Flickr: Cizauskas. Fo ..read more

When the dew point and the temperature are both 9 °C (48 °F), a jogger disappears into a fog bank. Freedom Park, in the Candler Park neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 3 December 2017. Freedom Park is is the largest public park in Atlanta, Georgia, comprising 210 acres of linear green space and six miles of hiker/biker trails. The park was created in 1992 from condemned land which originally was to be the Stone Mountain Freeway, a multi-lane divided-highway that would have bisected nine historic neighborhoods and destroyed a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. — Freedom ..read more