The wifi at the hotel quit working again last night. And they have business conferences there! What a joke!

We had a jolly Saturday evening: out to dinner with eleven other people at a new restaurant called "Tiny's." This was a bit of splurge, as their prices went up to $25, but we both had items under that amount: I had manicotti stuffed with beef and sweet Italian sausage and mushrooms, and James had a nice thick Jamaican jerk pork chop along with some sweet-and-sour pork soup. The place did not do your usual dishes, but things with a bit of a twist, like a chicken breast with a lemon sauce, etc.

Along with the food, there was great conversation, so it was a wonderful combination.

When we emerged from the restaurant, it was just twilight and we had a pretty ride back to the lodge.

Usually there is more game-playing on Saturday night, but no one appeared to be in the mood. We just sat and talked, with a couple of folks on computers (occasionally getting past the logjam of the wifi) playing a video or others reading. Since the internet was unavailable, I got on chat via my cell phone—a real shame when you can do more on your phone than on your computer! So, got to chat with Jen and Rodney and Emma and Mike anyway...sweet!

It was supposed to be down in the forties last night, so we had planned to leave the windows of the room open. Well, we did it for ten minutes and a bunch of little flies got in! So much for that. We finally just put the fan on low and it was cool enough (and quiet enough, as when the compressor kicks in it is really noisy) to sleep, and we did, if not eight hours.

We had breakfast at the lodge again, and then finished the packing we had already started at eight o'clock (we were pretty much complete in a half hour) and put our things out in the common area while we talked with everyone as the food table was dismantled. (We did very well with the cookies this year: one pack of chocolate chips, some half bags of goldfish, and a box of Wheat Thins left over. The cookies got eaten at the picnic, and I took home only the Wheat Thins and the cheddar goldfish for James' chip box.) At almost eleven, we checked out, packed the car, and drove up to Picnic Shelter 6.

It was a lovely day for a picnic, warm, but not hot, with a lovely breeze—in fact, when we arrived it was still a little chill and folks were sitting in the sun. Ken already had the fire going when we got there, and hamburgers were ready in short order. I had one and later shared a hot dog with Juanita. The kids played on the jungle gym, and, with supervision, walked down to the river. The teens took their own table. I wandered about happily schmoozing with everyone.

Surprisingly, I don't think anyone fell in the water this year. What's with that?

We left about one, and I let James off in downtown Helen and drove around the block so he could run in and buy a t-shirt. Molly the carriage horse was out with her person and her puppy.

Halfway home is the North Georgia Premium Outlets. We stopped so I could get some new socks, but also made a stop at the Yankee Candle outlet store, where I found more "Fresh Mint" (it's spearmint) and "Roasted Coffee" tealights, and Book Warehouse, where I picked up a Richard Lederer book I didn't have.

Although it was only in the seventies, we were hot and going on sunburned when we arrived at the vet. Schuyler let out a happy chirp when they brought her out and Willow pretty much dragged the attendant behind her. Yow! Almost $600 and we didn't even have to give Wil her three year shots. It's next year they're due.

The vet does want her teeth cleaned and her "old dog" moles removed. Oh, well, there goes our tax refund.

So we drove home, unloaded the car, dashed out to Food Depot for the necessities of life (another gallon of milk, buns for my sandwiches, and bananas), then came home to get cool. The laptop (which never worked in the hotel anyway) gave me fits trying to reconnect it to the network. We had some Hormel beef for supper, and now are watching the rest of Life ("Plants," "Primates," and the "making of" special).

Labels: birds, dogs, friends, pets, shopping, television, vacation

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:49:00 PM

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