Ah, yesterday. About dinnertime. Now, we were supposed to have a tea, hosted by John, and the person who came in the best steampunk costume would get a prize. Alice had found a brocaded dress in Goodwill that was just perfect as a "steampunky" look. She matched it with a motoring cap and swim goggles and a pair of boots. She was the only one that came in costume and won the prize, a little glass teapot.

The lodge restaurant had prime rib and shrimp in cream sauce on the buffet, so we went there for supper along with the Lawsons. We had a funny waitress who kept joking with Aaron. I discovered after I had helped myself to several slices of the prime rib and a big spoonful of the shrimp that they had chicken rice soup. Had I known I would have taken less beef and no shrimp (I was wary of eating it, as one year it had made me ill). The soup was excellent, and I'd rather eat good chicken rice soup any day over prime rib or shrimp.

Back to the commons area; a bunch of folks had gone into Helen to eat, and when they got back and everyone settled down, about nine o'clock four of us—Juanita, Shari, Alice and myself—started a game of "Cutthroat Uno." (In this version, if you pull a Draw Two, if the next person to have a turn has a Draw Two, they can put it down instead of drawing two cards. The Draw Two cards can pile up until the next person who doesn't have a Draw Two has a turn. That person has to then draw as many pairs of cards as there were Draw Two cards. Yowch! Same with the Draw Four card.)

After a few games Sue and Caran joined us.

We played until after midnight, and it was a barrel of fun! Sometimes we were laughing so hard we were crying, even Juanita and Shari, who had broken ribs and a bad back, respectively (Shari was sitting with a heating pad). Around us, people used laptops or phones, talked, read books, talked more, and the younger members of the gang were in the "ops" room watching videos. Even after the game broke up—we looked around bewilderedly; half of everyone else had gone to bed!—we were still sitting down there talking.

Unfortunately James and I had another restless night (bed too small and too soft!), and were woken too early by the sun coming into the skylight. I guess they think people will come here and always get up early. It is full daylight in the room by seven o'clock, and the skylights (well, really upstairs windows) really need curtains.

We had breakfast at the lodge and then gathered up all our things and decamped to the common area. Some folks were eating bagels or bread with peanut butter in lieu of breakfast. We cleaned up the common area, disassembled the foodstuffs and the appliances, checked out, and then drove up to Picnic Shelter 6. (Well, all except for Shari, who had to leave early. She's from Birmingham, and had to get past the Talladega Raceway before the morass of Nascar fans emerged after the race.)

We have had the gamut of weather this weekend! Friday it was dark and overcast and humid-damp, yesterday it was sunny but windy and cool and absolutely lovely, today it was sunny, starting out cool, but getting very warm by the afternoon. Nevertheless, early in the afternoon was perfect for a picnic, neither too warm or too cold.

Ken took over grill duty and produced burgers (beef and turkey) and hot dogs. We ate, talked, walked the several dozen steps down to Smith Creek and took photos or just contemplated the beauty; several of the kids waded in the water (but we are finally past the falling-into-the-water phase) and some folks sat down at the picnic tables closer to the stream. At one point we saw a bright green little inchworm working its way down a cardboard box and I coaxed it onto my finger and showed it around before I placed it on the bark of a nearby tree.

It was a nice few hours, but as always it came to an end. We packed up and drove down to Cumming listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," stopping at the outlet mall. We went into the Hanes store for a few things for James, and I found great sale prices on sweatpants/shirts: they were already on sale for $6, but were then half price! So I got two pairs of sweatpants and a sweatshirt to wear around the house next winter for $3/each!

Also stopped at Yankee Candle for some coffee-scented candles.

Then it was off to the vet to pick up the fids—Schuyler had learned to speak a few notes of "hairdo bird" [cockatiel] over the weekend—and come home. No sooner had we brought everything in than we had to run to Publix for the necessities of life (milk) and a few other twofers. When we got home, I stuffed the dirty clothes in the washer before bringing the suitcase upstairs. We didn't take much, so unpacking and putting up was easy, we were soon ready for work, and we sat down to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Holmes Inspection.

Another Atomicon is at an end. :-(

Labels: clothing, food, friends, pets, shopping, travel

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:46:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment