We have had a full day!

It started at 8 a.m., when we got up and ready to go to the Farmer's Market. It was a bit warm already, but we could still ride downtown with the windows down. Bought some veggies for next week's supper, chicken salad and jalapeno cheese for James, garlic cookies for Willow, and samples from each of the booths, including beef pot pie, salmon, sun goat pesto, and others. We also got a loaf of apple bread and of peach bread to take to Hair Day.

Drove to the Butlers via "the back way" (Polk Street to Whitlock to Villa Rica Road). Once we got away from the big housing developments we went past the little farms with horses and cows, a peaceful setting on a busy Saturday morning.

Everyone welcomed Jen and asked her questions about her enlistment and future. Neil left for Savannah and college just after we arrived. The peach and apple bread seemed to be a hit. We had "cheesy chicken" with rice, noodles, and salad for lunch, and, of course, talked and talked.

We left about 12:30, brought the veggies home, then went to the hobby shop for a little while. Corley was regaling Jen about his short naval career, and he and James were telling service stories.

We stayed a bit too long, since when we finally arrived at the Atlanta History Center we discovered it was going to close at 5:30. So we only had three hours of looking around and never did get to the farm/smithy outside. We first went to the special exhibition of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia. There was an astonishing amount of handwritten material, including the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's letter accepting the Republican nomination, Stephen Douglas inviting him to debate, and so many more. They even had the exchange of letters between Lincoln and Grace Bedell, the little girl who wrote to him suggesting that he should grow a beard because his face was so thin. Lincoln actually visited her after he "grew whiskers."

Another case held the contents of Lincoln's pockets the night of the assassination (including two pairs of glasses and a stray button), and they also had his silver inkstand.

We then took Jen through the history of Atlanta gallery, from Indian arrowheads to the interstates. This includes an original log cabin and a shotgun house that were taken off their original properties and put into the museum, a brougham (horse-drawn carriage) made in Atlanta, and also an early motorcar called a "Hanson."

Walked through another temp exhibit that compared what Atlanta looked like during the Civil War and what the places look like today. This had some artifacts as well, such as rifles and bayonets, but was mostly photographs and maps. One little gallery was projecting original stereopticon photos that had been made into 3D slides that you viewed with the red and blue glasses. The depth was amazing—there were landscape shots and it really seemed as if you could walk into the photo itself.

But boy, did that give me a headache. I don't see how anyone could sit through Avatar or any of the other 3D films.

We had only enough time to partially go through the permanent Civil War gallery—outstanding, full of memorabilia collected by a father and son, firearms, medical supplies, clothing, furniture, ordnance, and more—before the museum closed.

For supper we went to the Colonnade.

Of course I had the turkey!

On the way home we came by Barnes & Noble. Juanita had given James a gift card for his birthday, and there was a new book out that he couldn't find at Borders. I found Jane Brockett's The Gentle Art of Domesticity in the remainder rack. I wish I could find her Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer, which is about the cool foods written about in English children's books.

We emerged from B&N to find a thunderstorm about to explode, and explode it did as we moved out of the parking lot! It was truly Georgia Monsoon Season, with the wind whipping through the trees and leaves scattering everywhere, the sky lit by lightning (the whole sky, not just lightning bolts), and the thunder roaring in unison with the lightning.

It petered out by the time we arrived home, and spent the rest of the evening watching more of From the Earth to the Moon.

I completely forgot to put the big flag out today. I feel bad.

Labels: family, food, friends, museums, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:31:00 PM

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