Happy New Year!

A pretty good day today--which, according to superstition, means the rest of the year will be good. (I hope.) I went for a walk in the woods this morning, then messed in the office for an hour or so before an early dinner (and a little TV football) with some friends.

The hike was along the new Pine Mountain Trail. In the past, I've usually gone to Red Top Mountain or the Etowah River. Pine Mountain is a bit more strenuous than Vineyard Mountain, which starts at Allatoona Dam, and not quite as scenic, but I like it. All are about 10 minutes from home, hence convenient.

Campus was quiet today, something that will begin to change tomorrow as the university reopens after the holiday. Classes start the end of the week. The big news on campus: Spaceship Earth has crashed! Spaceship Earth was a large (15 feet tall) globe made of Brazilian blue quartz--actually pretty striking, once the thing was polished. The stone had nice colors. Bronze pieces were added to indicate land masses, and then on top was a lifesize bronze figure of a man, environmentalist David Brower. (Some folks said it looked like Ronald Reagan, but then none of us knows what Brower looked like.) You can see the statue here; the web cam feature apparently no longer works, and that's the new social science building in the background.

Anyway, a few nights ago, Spaceship Earth collapsed. I've heard that the culprit was water seeping into the joints and then freezing when we had a cold snap recently. The piece is in a couple hundred pieces now. The bronze figure is on the ground, face up, a huge block of stone on his chest, his arm still outstretched as if calling for help. Sad.

Dinner was nice. We had pork roast with black-eyed peas, collards, and cornbread, and that green bean casserole with the fried onions on top. Mighty good.

It wasn't a perfect day, but all in all, a good one.

This blog, less than a month old, has had 968 visitors. I'm pleased with that. To those readers, and to everyone else, Another History Blog wishes you a happy new year. May 2007 be good for all of us!