It took me this long, but I finally got my holiday snapshots off the phone and on photobucket. Here's a link to the album I uploaded:

http://s685.photobucket.com/user/BrianSh...%20holiday

The thing looking like a penis standing up off the ground is an Ogham stone, and is about 6 foot high.

Beautiful.

I must visit one day.

Very nice, Constable.

Awww, I wish some of you lived closer to Charlotte.

(July 6, 2016 at 2:25 am)Thena323 Wrote: You know...if you release her on your own accord, Ms. Stuart (Martha) might be willing to ask the courts for leniency on your behalf.

Gorgeous cake, btw; almost too beautiful to eat. And I'd guess the work put into the jello shots was akin to having a second job.
Very impressive.

Thanks, but I can't take credit for the cake, it's an annual contribution from a neighbor who was trained as a professional baker so your (and my) feelings of inadequacy can be tempered by that knowledge

(July 6, 2016 at 5:41 am)Nymphadora Wrote: Can't wait to see CM in a few weeks

I'll probably ask her how to make those shots too. That looked awesome.

They're a "make once and never again" type novelty party item - they take a long time to prep but the final product turns out really cute

(July 6, 2016 at 8:44 am)thesummerqueen Wrote: Awww, I wish some of you lived closer to Charlotte.

It sucks that I don't have more time or money to travel or I'd totally come visit - never been to most of the East Coast or the South (I've only been to Louisiana in the South, unless Virginia counts as "The South" - I never know where the dividing line is supposed to be )

Maryland is the dividing line - although normally we don't include Florida because that's a whole 'nother animal no matter what Rhythm says. I guess maybe we'd take north FL.

Virginia is totally the south. I used to live right outside of the Bull Run Battlefield and I went to Stonewall Jackson middle and high school. Occasionally, once you move past the transplants and government stiffs, you realize it's still a southern area.

Charlotte though, if any of y'all ever think of visiting, is fucking beautiful. And we have amazing beer and food - and that's no joke. Our one-off (vs chain) restaurants are SERIOUS about food and the craft beer is some of the best in the nation.

I should take updated photos. Let me see if I can link some here from other people.

Look at that motherfucking skyline. It's not as big a city as some, or to many maybe not as impressive like Chicago, but the difference between us and some cities that have older architecture is most of our buildings are glass. The picture doesn't show it much, but during the day the glass reflects the sky until the two melt together in one endless sea of blue or sunset. Plus, when you approach from a plane, it's like a fairyland of white and glass rising out of sea of greenery. (Photo from wiki)


Our fountains are often like this - whimsical things where kids and dogs can play in them and the city just keeps them clean for that purpose. The picture doesn't show all the quotes and things melded into the sidewalk - that park is entirely devoted to literary themes. All the paths are named after authors, there are book statues everywhere, and local art embedded into hidden places. Plus interactive 'codes' on the sidewalks for people to decipher. (photo mine)



Can we talk about spring in NC? Because you will literally not find a more beautiful place. I know, I'm totally biased. These are all from gardens or city walks here in Charlotte (photos mine)



Let's not forget the rhododendron gardens at UNC Charlotte. You won't see a display like this outside of the mountains.

https://gardens.uncc.edu/gardens-and-gre...odendrons/

This park: it's right next to our ballfield, and while a lot of it looks brown (i think this is during construction still) most of it is grass and landscaping now, plus that blue lit fountain, which is again interactive. What this pic doesn't show is the little places to sit at tables and eat, or the pagodas and benches, and the musical games: stepping stones that make different tones when you leap on them, and pillars that sound different notes when you hit them with a mallet. (photo from wiki)



Also, our Renaissance Faire has Captain Drake - privateer extraordinaire. (photo of me by a friend)


Restaurants? The Cajun Queen is uh-may-zing. I'm sure people would argue about the authenticity of the food, but goddammit it's good AND they often have jazz playing. http://www.cajunqueen.net/

Mimosa Grille: right in uptown and holy fuck they take "southern flavors" to an art form: pecan crusted local mountain trout with peach compote. TO. DIE. FOR. http://www.harpersgroup.com/mimosa.asp

Beer: you want it? We got it. Everything from a German beer garden to a the hoppiest of hoppy IPA's at a 5 beer brewery in the ghetto side of time. We have taphouses with hundreds of beer from around the country, and growler shops that serve almost exclusively local or in-state brews with excellent small-plate options. This ain't your Bud-Light bar.

Let's put it in an atheist, pro-social perspective:

Seth Andrews, the Thinking Atheist host, loved visiting so much the first time, he asked us to do it again at cost - no speaker fees - just because he wanted to come back.

This city is the reason for HB2 - because we stood up against the rest of the state and put protections in place for transgender people.

We revamp our storm water systems to be "greenways" for cyclists and runners with branching off hiking systems, and create new wetlands and rain gardens.

The Obamas apparently really like it here.

TL; DR, I love my city. I was born out of country, and lived most of my life outside of DC, but Charlotte, the Queen city, that "hornet's nest of rebellion" during the Revolutionary War - it's home.

I love their NPR affiliate. 

Unfortunately, I've never gotten to go anywhere in CNC. That means Charlotte, The Triad, and the Triangle. A BFF at college in VT was from Winston-Salem, one of the Triad cities. Loved his thick accent, even though he didn't look the part at all (Italian with an afro. Drove a Sentra).

Most of us love our homes...

Have I ever told you guys about Lisbon?

There are a few glass buildings, but we don't care much for them...


Perhaps some green?


Wanna go Medieval?


Last, but not least.... food... sadly, this post can only have one more pic!

(July 6, 2016 at 12:08 pm)pocaracas Wrote: Most of us love our homes...

I'd argue with that. I know people who definitely don't, and some are just like "meh, I got my job here."

I'd like to visit Lisbon one day.