James had dialysis two days in a row this week. Since Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year, and they obviously didn't want to take the dialysis patients away from their own celebrations, they scheduled James for Monday and Tuesday dialysis. Monday went fine. I bought last minute foods at Kroger and made gravy with boneless pork ribs for Christmas Eve dinner. James watched Landman and Battlebots on his tablet.

Tuesday seemed to go as well. James had dialysis. I did some last-minute grocery shopping. We had spaghetti and pork ribs and watched The Homecoming and some of Midnight Mass.

We had plans with friends for Christmas which went down the drain on Wednesday morning. After making and eating breakfast and post gift opening, James suddenly got lightheaded and giddy. It happened twice. His blood pressure was something like 83 over 45. I looked it up and this often happens after consecutive dialysis sessions. So we rustled the emergency turkey out of the freezer, paired it with Yukon Gold potatoes, and a cucumber salad, and had a Christmas dinner on our own after giving James some salt and more liquid, and we both had a nap. Then we watched this year's Call the Midwife special, which was fabulous; there were several intertwined plotlines, including a tense but sweet incident involving Reggie, the young man with Down Syndrome.

Before bed, it was time for The House Without a Christmas Tree. A quiet ending to a quiet day.

Thursday we had a better day: James was feeling much better and we drove out to Books-a-Million and then had lunch at Brooklyn Joe's. We got a large pizza and once again brought half home. [Later: We had it as another meal several days later.] On the way home we stopped at Barnes & Noble.

Early Friday morning we got a call from DaVita. They were shortstaffed and couldn't accommodate James at Bellemeade that day. They had found a seat for James either that afternoon in Hiram at three or Saturday in Douglasville at 10:15. We chose Hiram even though it was a chilly, wet day because Douglasville was just too far to drive. However, getting there at three meant James wouldn't be out any earlier than 6:30. It's only fourteen miles, but it would be in the dark. I wasn't driving back that distance in the dark. Driving the two miles to the one near the house had been bad enough. So I basically packed up the laptop and planned to spend most of my time in the lobby waiting for James.

We got there and they were slammed. Two ambulances delivered patients that they weren't ready for yet. One of the ambulances would have to wait until 3:45 and they were expected in Douglasville at 4 p.m. and the driver was fit to be tied. Anyway, after 45 minutes they finally called James back.

I took the truck back down a mile and gassed up at Sam's Club. I have never seen that Sam's gas station when it wasn't five to eight cars deep at each pump! Today, only ones and twos--maybe the damp, chilly weather? Next I went to the next shopping center over, got some candy and a cool gift at Five Below, then went to Michael's.

If you're not looking for anything on clearance after Christmas, Michael's has to be the most depressing place on earth. I did get James a storage box. Went next door to PetsMart to get cheered up only to find all their budgies gone and one poor little lone conure left; I feel bad that I didn't stay longer and keep him company.

Finally I bit the bullet and went to Walmart because I was out of yogurt soon, then went back to DaVita. The Hiram location is in an area with all doctors' and dentists' offices (except for a gym) and parking was wide open.

The waiting area at the Hiram DaVita had a lot comfier chairs, at least (Bellemeade has nasty bucket chairs). They had a sofa, but there was no electrical plug at either end, and my laptop is old enough that the battery only lasts about an hour. There was a plug at a chair next to the Christmas tree, so I sat there. (No one turned on the Christmas tree, either, so I did that, too!)

James got home way after seven, at which time it was raining lightly. We stopped by Dragon 168 and had Chinese for dinner.

On Saturday we didn't do a blessed thing except I made a meat sauce so we could have spaghetti for dinner and Tucker got his two daily walks. Watched season one of Law & Order on Hulu (this began on December 16 and I've been looking forward to it, because as many times as I've seen the show on USA, WEtv, Pop, BBC America, and Sundance, I've never seen them in order and, indeed, have actually never seen some episodes at all, as first season proved), and then the final three episodes of Bull. I liked this series pretty well; it was enjoyable watching most of the characters grow and change, especially Chunk and Dani and Taylor. Jason Bull himself wasn't the most likeable character, but Michael Weatherly made him fun to watch. My absolute favorite character in the series was Geneva Carr's Marissa Morgan. It was nice to see her get her due in the final episode of the series.

On Sunday we found out that Jimmy Carter had passed away. Of all the presidents, I think he has had the most notable post-presidential career, and was just all around Good Folks. God bless, President Carter. You're back with Rosalynn at last.

Labels: Christmas, errands, events, food, health, outings, sickness, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:52:00 PM

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We actually did something amazing on this long, long weekend still in effect: we went places that weren't supermarkets, buying clubs, or a doctor's office. And we did it safely, too.

As usual, on Wednesday we went to Publix (there I am, going the wrong way up an aisle again) and Lidl, early enough that we found everything we needed. But we also stopped at Walmart; while James did get sugarless candy for himself, mainly we went there to get him more sleep shorts. We thought about ordering them, but wanted to look at what was available and what material they were made from. I don't know names of material from Adam; I just know I hate jersey. And even when I looked up men's sleep shorts on Walmart's site, I kept getting directed to items that were fleece. Fleece shorts? Seriously?

So we masked and I carried my trusty squirt bottle of isopropyl alcohol and some folded-up paper towels, and I liberally sprayed and/or wiped the cart and the self-checkout machine. The fabric department was completely out of cloth; lots of mask-makers have gone through here. Bet you can't find bandanas at JoAnn right now, either.

That was enough for a Wednesday; on Thursday, another novelty: James had his hair cut! (His hasn't been cut since February. I've been trimming it, and was told I did a good job, and James has his beard trimmer, but he was still looking like a sheepdog.) His stylist was taking one appointment at the time, cleaning and wiping down between cuts, which were scheduled at one an hour. We also got to see friends leaving there (within social distance, of course) and waved at friends arriving (we all use the same stylist, and this day had been arranged). On the way home we made a call and—calloo! callay!—our favorite Chinese restaurant, Dragon 168, had reopened! They're a real hole-in-the-wall place anyway, and you don't really go in there to sit inside and eat, although you can, there are tables and chairs, but they have fashioned a plywood pass-through structure that fits into their door. You call in your order with your credit card number, and they give you a number—we were number one on Thursday! number two showed up as James was waiting—and then you get your order through the pass-through.

Before we went home to eat, we gassed up the Kia at Costco because it was $1.29⁹!

Friday we had a real treat: talking to live friends in an outdoor setting! Alice had scoped out Heritage Park, which had a pavilion with picnic tables. She and Ken and Aubrey had showed up early to wipe down a picnic table (they were still covered in pine pollen from the park having been closed for six weeks) with disinfectant, and we sat in chairs at one long end of the picnic table, and they sat in chairs on the other end, six feet apart and sitting so that neither group was downwind from the other. We had a nice lunch and a nice chat, and I think it only broke up because all of us needed to use the restroom (the park facilities were still closed though the park was open, and the trash cans had not been maintained).

Saturday we decided to go out and see if we could see the tribute flyover the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels were doing for the healthcare workers. The flight plan was published on Facebook, and it looked like it was going right down highway 41 or I-75. We picked up lunch, then went to a couple of places before settling in at Akers Mill shopping center. (Alice and Ken went to the parking lot near the closed AMC theatre and they got some nice shots, but it was too crowded; in retrospect, the way the flight came in, we should have stayed in Barnes & Noble's parking lot, as we could have seen from the top of the whole hill.) The planes came in from a totally unexpected angle so we were just able to gape as they zoomed over.

On the other hand, everyone we saw at Akers Mill was pretty cool about social distancing. Cars parked in every other parking space and many people wore masks. We were sitting in the shade in front of a closed restaurant and no one was near us. We saw footage on the news later on about people crowding together on overpasses to see the planes and were glad we didn't go there, although the overpass over I-75 near the Monstrosity (Truist Park) would have been the best viewing spot of all.

Best of all we discovered Hobby Lobby was back open, so we put on our masks and went in, mostly to use the restroom, but just to look at something different. We stayed away from other people and when we got home quarantined our few small purchases in the library until next weekend.

We also finished watching both seasons of Star Trek: Discovery (yes, second season was a big improvement; my favorite characters are still Sylvia Tilly, who manages to put her foot in her mouth more than I do, and Jett Reno, the engineer with attitude) and Star Trek: Picard, plus all the behind-the-scenes "Ready Room" shows on both series. I'm about Star Trek'd out for a while! To my surprise, I found the most recent animated Lassie cartoon with the kids' programs. I managed to download all 26 English-language episodes from You Tube, as apparently the series was never shown here in the US, just in Canada, Europe, and parts of the Middle East, and figured they were just repeated here, but was gobsmacked to discover a 26-episode second season on CBS All Access instead, labeled as season one. This left me in a quandary: our free subscription would end on May fifth.

So I sat down Saturday after we got home from the flyover and binge-watched for five hours. (Later: and then I watched more between chores on Sunday and four final episodes on Monday and got through them all. I canceled on Tuesday as scheduled, since I couldn't see any reason for keeping it any longer. If I want to watch other Star Trek, it's on Netflix, and the other shows on CBS All Access I might be interested in (Perry Mason, I Love Lucy, Caroline in the City) are not intact. Oh, the episodes are uncut, but they don't show all the episodes in each season. If there are thirty episodes in a season, for instance, CBS All Access carries only fifteen or twenty of them. In addition, with Perry Mason they don't show any season six or nine episodes. What kind of a deal is that? Why say you "carry __________ series" and then not have every single episode of every single season?

Labels: food, friends, hobbies, outdoors, outings, shopping, social distancing, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:23:00 PM

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We were up at nine to go to breakfast, having missed several groups of others who were just finishing up. However, as we were eating, the Lucyshyns arrived and we had a lively discussion about "cutting the cord" (cable) and Titanic.

Then I had to trot to the room while James paid the bill to finish getting us packed and out of the room by checkout time, which is eleven. I think the Rick Steves' "Civita" bags we used this weekend would certainly work again as long as we carried the toiletries case separately. I love the toiletries case, which keeps all our things sorted and together; I wish I'd bought one sooner. But it was still a bit bulky and heavy for the little backpack.

We passed the common area, which friendly elves had almost finished breaking down, so we just checked out and went on to Picnic Shelter 6. Alice and Ken, with Aubrey and her friend Isabel (who is a hot sketch), and Juanita and David, had been out there for an hour or more, getting the grill going. It was very, very breezy today—we had a wind advisory—as well as delightfully cool for April (low 60s) and they could barely keep the fire going, so they built a windbreak with a plastic tablecloth. By the time most of us arrived, they had a batch of hamburgers already done.

It was a swell picnic, from our point of view, although some found it a bit chilly! It was cool and you didn't suffer sitting in the sun, and the talk was jolly as always, from new cameras to Sophie's antics on the jungle gym next to the picnic shelter to absent friends. Alice had arranged to take a picture of all of the "Bori," as we call the family, and then I said, "Wow, if you had a tripod you could take a picture of all of us using the timer." Alice keeps a tripod in her car, so after we did the family picture, we had a group picture.

I figured we needed it. Next year they are closing Unicoi down for some time and we are going to have to find another place to have Atomicon. But even then we are not sure we can ever come back. The story is that they are not just remodeling the lodge buildings, which desperately needs doing, but they are going to create suites or larger rooms. Daniel suspects they might even wall off the common area and have you spend extra to access it. We don't even know if we will be able to afford the place once they refurb; it might be for "higher-end clientele" only.

It's very disheartening. As much as we've complained about the tatty condition of the place, and its abysmal wifi, it's very much home and will be very much missed if we lose it.

We left sometime after one, listening to a Rick Steves' program about visiting D-Day sites. On Friday James had bought a couple of polo shirts at the Hanes Outlet, but he had liked a third one. So we went back to get that one. He had also looked at one of those Soda Stream things, where you carbonate and mix your own sodas; Williams-Sonoma had the kits on sale. But he hadn't quite decided to buy one until, during the picnic, we walked down to the edge of Smith Creek and sat chatting with Daniel and Clair, who were perched on a rock at water's edge. They have one and love it. So we went to Williams-Sonoma to get the kit, but they didn't carry the syrups. We compared the prices at Kitchen Collection and Le Gourmet and got a bottle of cola syrup at the latter. As we walked around we kept bumping into Ron and Lin; we always manage to run into a few people who are stopping by the outlet mall on the way home.

We picked up Willow and Schuyler at the vet. Schuyler was fluffed and happy and Willow came dashing out, dragging the attendant behind her. And then we drove home, plunked everything inside, went to Kroger for milk and things, plus some soup for supper as it is so chilly, then unpacked. I have settled the ties on my new shoes so I can wear them tomorrow. Frozen Planet is reaching its conclusion. Schuyler is preening and grinding her beak in contentment. Willow has settled happily.

Back to the real world tomorrow.

Labels: friends, outings, pets, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:38:00 PM

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Today was our annual work picnic, preceded by an all-hands meeting, so I had to be up promptly by the alarm for dressing and breakfast before heading out the door a little after 7:30. I left all the fans on in anticipation of a warm day and was not disappointed—darn it.

Traffic was hideous, although I managed to skip part of it by using Akers Mill Road rather than taking I-285 all the way. Spring Road was bumper-to-bumper, though, and I thought I'd never reach the freeway. After Roswell Road—and what the dickens is it about the Roswell Road exits, both directions, that makes traffic thicken up so?—the traffic vanished and I did fine until reaching the last turn into the street that led to Jones Bridge Park. I counted: the left turn signal stayed green for three cars only every single time. Considering the line was usually twelve cars at the time, you can see this turn took a while.

Thankfully they ditched the Stone Mountain area park from last year and went back to Jones Bridge Park from 2009. No pretty fall photos this year; the leaves have hardly turned at all. In fact, they are falling off the trees having just gone sickly yellow and brown. However, it was nice and cool this morning, with a good breeze, so those errant leaves were swirling around everywhere. I walked down to the river almost as soon as I arrived and had leaves dropping in my hair.

Everyone else was late due to that left turn as well, but about 9:15 we did have our meeting—some attaboys, some awards, some time-in-service acknowledgement (the smallest I have seen in several years!)—and then I whisked down the path along the river. There are stone steps down to the river in several places, and at the bottom of one was a dad with a small girl feeding Cheerios to the mallard ducks. There had to be two dozen (at least) male and female ducks pecking hungrily at the food.

By this time it was already too warm, so I stuck my jacket back in the car and then went back for a real walk down the entire path, and then into the woods, just in time, as someone had put on some loud music. Sigh. This is such a pretty place, with its own music: the rattle of the river, the quacking of the ducks, the birdsong...why ruin it?

It's only a small wood; if you climb the hill along any part of the path you come up behind a house. But if you angle yourself correctly, you could be Laura and Mary in the Big Woods, or Caddie Woodlawn running about in pioneer Wisconsin. (Heck, once down the steps to the foot of the river, looking in either direction, it's sheer Huckleberry Finn, and with the breeze playing through the trees and ruffling the water, you could understand the appeal of independence on a raft.) There were already brown and yellow leaves underfoot that crunched pleasantly, and the distinctive sound of a wren, a cardinal, and a chickadee up in the trees, even if I only saw the wren.

I returned to the picnic complex just as Richard said grace, and then we queued for lunch: chicken and pork barbecue, beans, potato salad, fruit, chocolate chip brownies, and various drinks (I just had water). Later someone put out chips and brownies, but I just grabbed a handful of the latter and then went back to the lakeshore for a while, watching the ducks go "bottom up" as they trolled for dinner, and also watching three geese come in for a landing on the river, gliding in with their wings spread and finally their webby feet making contact with the water, then taking a shorter stroll in the woods.

I did get back for most of the cakewalk, which is fun to watch: everyone goes in a circle, from one chalked, numbered spot to another. When the music stops, you must be on a number. A number is called and you get a dessert. Elmira made everyone laugh during one circuit, doing a daisy chain in and out of the other participants. Also chatted a bit, then headed back to the lake to take a few more pictures.

I missed the two I really wanted: I heard a rustle along the leaf-strewn rocks and mudflats that edged the lake. When I looked down, there was the cutest little chipmunk, both his cheeks crammed skin-tight with food, darting in and out of the rocks, scampering right at the base of the stone staircase, coming from my left and finally disappearing to my right.

Plus I am pretty sure I saw a blue heron flying across the river. It was a bluish-grey bird, and certainly was not a goose, which fly with their necks stretched out; this instead had the S-kink of a flying heron. That was so cool!

So I took another tramp in the woods, emerging at a culvert where I took some photos of the varied foliage growing around the water source, including a berried bush, bright orange flowers, and a huge bush taller than myself with leaves bigger than platters.

By then I was casting eyes at my watch; there's a reason I picked Thursday for my sole telecommute day during end-of-fiscal-year—on Thursdays, it can take up to 90 minutes to get home, and it has taken me two hours on the worst days. So I decided to leave while the going was good. I was diverted by a new shopping center on 141; it had a Barnes & Noble, so I nipped in for a few minutes. Found a new "Good Food" magazine for James and also The Sherlock Holmes Companion on the remainder shelves, which contains ordinary synopses of each of the canon stories, but also fascinating illustrations of Holmes covers and interior art over the years, and inserts with various information: about Doyle and his creations, about the inspiration for Holmes (Dr. Joseph Bell), actors who have played Holmes or Watson, Holmes in the movies and on stage, etc.—worth it just for that!

There's only one thing wrong with Barnes & Noble...

...it's not Borders. ::sigh::

The fresh air was making me sleepy anyway, and although I'd avoided the sun most of the morning, by the time I drove home the sun striking my arms made them feel burned.

Got home to discover James already home. I logged back on to work, but not much going on yet, as they haven't yet authorized FY2012 to be spent.

Turkey for supper with wild and brown rice, and now watching the last part of Prohibition.

Labels: animals, birds, food, fun, outings, television, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:33:00 PM

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We actually went to bed early last night, after I played James the "Readers' Digest condensed version" of the wedding, skipping the talking heads and concentrating on the scenery (well, and those hats, too—I felt like Curtis in the eponymous comic strip viewing the church ladies in their flamboyant hats). So many beautiful shots of London and the beautiful historical items in the Abbey, like the medieval mosaic flooring!

So we were up early to go the farmer's market. It went down to the high 50s last night, so it was very nice walking about, the temps around 60, even if there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was like a brassy disk. We'd filled up our Paul's Pot Pie card, so we got a free pot pie, more veg, some chicken salad, and breakfast before leaving.

We've discovered how to handle the Smyrna Jonquil Festivals: we go to them early. So from Marietta Square we meandered down Atlanta Road, stopping at the bakery to pick up some dessert, and arrived at the Jonquil Festival early enough to get a parking space behind the library.

We began walking around and almost immediately discovered a booth selling homemade jellies. They had two that were very unusual, garlic, and balsamic vinegar with onions. James liked both of them, but we had enough money left just for one. And then we found a booth with some hair fasteners...

So we walked down to James' bank, which was only a quarter of a mile down the road, then came back, hugging the shade as much as possible. It wasn't really that warm—unless you were walking in the sun, so we were very glad to get back in the shade, especially of the buildings where it was lusciously cool. (Have I mentioned lately that I love my new hat?)

So we bought the garlic jelly as well (the folks who make it have suggested recipes, and James is already plotting a pork roast, or some steak on the grill finished with the balsamic vinegar and onion) and more "normal" cherry-flavor, too, and the hair fastener, and also some fresh Vidalia onions. Looked through the books and got a library bumper sticker, petted a very shy Australian Shepherd at the AS Rescue booth, and had an early lunch, having been seduced by the Williamson Barbecue side of the force: nice, moist hunks of barbecue pork on a bun. Sadly, the lemonade we shared was Country Time, but you can't have it all. :-)

We brought the food home and put it away, then went to the hobby shop. I finished Atlantic and played a couple of games of Jewellust Christmas edition while the guys shot the bull. Then, since we were halfway there anyway, we went to Borders. I got Affinity Bridge with my coupon and a couple of books from the clearance boxes, an A.J. Jacobs book and a story about Queen Victoria as a princess. Also found something for James' mom.

By this time it was around four and after our early lunch, hunger came calling. So we headed home, both a little bit worse for wear after being out in the sun. (James takes medication that makes him sun sensitive, and I've been sensitive since the radioactive iodine treatments. Not to mention that the warm weather makes my fingers swell. Very uncomfortable.) So we drove home, had dinner, watched Color Confidential and Drew Carey, until it was time for Doctor Who. All these time-streams are making my eyes cross.

Labels: books, events, food, outings, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:03:00 PM

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Our annual picnic took place today, at a different park than previously, Wade-Walker out in Stone Mountain. Man, what a drive! and I don't mean that in a complimentary sense, either. It takes us about an hour to get to Stone Mountain Park, so, knowing it was a weekday, I accordingly left 90 minutes before I was supposed to be there.

I just made it. There was an accident on Spring Road and I had to backtrack and go down Windy Hill instead. It took me nearly 50 minutes to go the seven miles to the freeway, which was a little slow between I-75 and GA400, but otherwise was quite nice, as was Route 78. Then I had to twist about some surface streets to get to the park, but the trusty GPS on the Droid got me there fine.

Of course since I got there on time, it didn't start on time; our branch chief's GPS couldn't find the park. :-) So we had awards—I got my 25 year certificate and pin—and then lunch: burgers, hot dogs, bean salad, potato salad, regular salad, and cookies and cake for dessert. It was quite chill when we got there (even I was huddled in a jacket), but by the time we had lunch it was again getting warm. I had, by this time, put the certificate and pin back in the car and disposed of my jacket.

The path to the pavilion area led backward into the trees, and I had a nice walk, perhaps about a mile, through the trees where it was nice and cool, and then back. Several other co-workers had the same idea. On the return route I stopped to watch a chickadee flitting back and forth between two trees, and you could hear nuthatches nearby. I stopped to watch the volleyball players for a while, then took another walk through a wooded bit and past the baseball fields.

Unfortunately they were playing really loud music at the pavilion and after a while the sound began to make my head pound and the sun just added to the ache. So I came home by the office, where I left out a folder for an order that may be needed, and then went home to write various e-mails and to call a vendor about an upcoming modification. Finally I nursed my headache for a half-hour before James came home with some grilled chicken.

Labels: outings, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:55:00 PM

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Had a blast tonight, although it started off on the wrong foot: James got out of work 15 minutes late, so we really didn't leave until almost 5:30. Juanita had the idea that we could go to the Colonnade for dinner, but we wanted to stop by the box office and get tickets first. Well, here it was Friday and traffic was just creeping through midtown, so we figured we'd better find a nearby restaurant instead.

Well, when we got to the Fox, there was a parking lot right next to the theatre for only $5!, so we pulled right in! We ate supper just a block and a half down at the Quiznos. I had soup in a bread bowl, which was really good, but it's a good thing Juanita didn't order it because it has cheese in it and she is allergic.

So we got back to the Fox just after they had opened the doors. We'd talked about going up to the balcony, but when we got up there, it was nearly full! No six seats together at all—and downstairs was all but empty! So we hurried downstairs and got seats in the center three rows from the front. It was a great seat as the screen just filled your view.

The Fox is a beautiful old memory from back in the days when theatres were plush and lovely and people went to the movies in suits and dresses. It is done in a Moorish style with minaret designs and a ceiling that can look like the sky. Even the ladies' room is beautiful; it's downstairs as bathrooms used to be in the larger movie palaces and you first go into a large central carpeted area with armchairs and then a smaller, also plush antechamber before the black and white tiled bathroom that still has an old ceramic water fountain.

The program was great: the playing of the "Mighty Mo" organ (bought in 1929 when it cost the incredible amount of $42,000), then the singalong, some of those dang commercials, then a newsreel (!!! yes, it was from Castle Films and was a set of clips from different years, including Amelia Earhart's flight, the death of Thomas Edison, film of Babe Ruth from when he was with the Red Sox, and a couple more), an MGM "Barney Bear" cartoon (from the fifties, I think it said, very color-shifted), and finally Star Trek. It was a strikingly sharp copy, except in a couple of scenes with Leonard Nimoy near the end, and looked and sounded fantastic. Still love Karl Urban as McCoy best!

Best of all, when the film was over, we just walked to the right, went out the exit door, and there we were in the parking lot. Too cool!

We came home the way we had arrived, through surface streets, as part of the freeway was closed down, and immediately popped the DVR on to watch the final part of Torchwood: Children of Earth. Wow. What a roller coaster of a mini-series this has been. Enjoyable storywise, but quite heartrending, especially if you were fond of a certain character. Jack Harkness has had his heart ripped out so many times you would think he would be dead by now. I'm glad they didn't kill off Rhys first season. I like Rhys. Heck, I married his clone. :-)

Labels: movies, outings, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:58:00 PM

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A quiet Sunday during which we put pleasure before business—we went to Barnes & Noble, since we hadn't been for a while. When we finished browsing there, we had a coupon for a twofer beverage at Borders, so we treated ourselves to a Cocoa Trio. James bought an orange cake, about the size of a large muffin, for us to share as well. It was quite good, not overly sweet like most purchased cakes. Also made a stop at Michaels; found some supplies for something I could use as a gift.

Michaels is next door to Petsmart, which was doing pet adoptions. For once they had small dogs! They had two darling little terriers there, both females, one a particolor Cairn and the other a wirehair mix. The little Cairn looked a lot like Willow with folded ears and more white on her. She was even undershot and smiled at us with that little upside down grin that Wil has. Awww. Gosh, I would have taken either or both of them home in a minute. Pity Wil doesn't like other dogs.

Finally we got back to business: went to Lowes so that James could look for some piping, and then to Kroger to stock up on the usual weekly things and also some birdseed (which we nearly forgot) for the ravening flock. We refilled the birdseed container and almost immediately a fluttering flotilla came gathering around.

It was after four by then and we spent the rest of the afternoon reading the newspaper and catching up on some things we had recorded. Got a real surprise watching Antiques Roadshow—this was the episode we missed on account of Westminster and I had recorded the second showing—about fifteen minutes into this showing (part 3 from Dallas), a very familiar woman showed up with an unusual rocking chair made in 1884 in Italy. She had bought it in Pennsylvania five years ago and was told it was from the estate of P.T. Barnum, and the appraiser told her it was probably worth about $15,000, more if she could prove it actually was Barnum's. Anyway, I kept squinting at her and finally rolled the DVR back a little and said to James "Isn't that Ronnie Claire Edwards?" [Corabeth Godsey from The Waltons]. He said it sure looked and sounded like her, so I did a little web surfing and found out she did indeed appear on this installment. Too Cool.

This particular edition of Antiques Roadshow also featured Frances Hodgson Burnett memorabilia (including the first page of her manuscript for Little Lord Fauntleroy) owned by her great-granddaughter—the woman's grandfather was Vivian Burnett, who inspired the Cedric Errol character!

We also watched some What's My Line? and the final two episodes of the first disk of the third series (there, that should be enough numbers...LOL!) of Rosemary and Thyme.

We had found some thick pork chops on the markdown shelf at Kroger a week or two back and James grilled them for supper tonight after marinating them in teriyaki sauce. Oh, gosh, they were delicious. I could have eaten all of mine since we never did have any lunch, but put some back for a lunch for work. Yum!

James asked at one point, "What are you going to do tomorrow?" Well, I had no plans for today. I did sweep and then wash the kitchen floor, ditto for the hall bath, did a load of towels, swept the foyer and the downstairs hall, and thawed and cooked some chicken for supper (men goof off on their day off; women do housework <g>). We had Michaels and JoAnn coupons, but I couldn't see going off to look for things I really don't need. Between Gatlinburg and fall and Thanksgiving and Christmas and the party, I spent a ton of money. Not good. I'm trying to be better this year.

So I settled in and watched two of the Region 2 Disney films I bought a few months ago: Big Red and The Moon-Spinners. I had the latter recorded off the Disney Channel (back when they showed real Disney programming) and had never bought the DVD because it was done in full screen. Big Red and That Darn Cat were also released in full screen in the U.S., but all three were widescreen in their Region 2 incarnations.

I may have seen Big Red in widescreen in a theatre, but I don't remember it. I chiefly remember it from airing on The Wonderful World of Color. The only resemblance that this film has to the Jim Kjelgaard story is that there is a boy who loves an Irish setter named "Red," who belongs to a Mr. Haggin who lives on the Wintapi estate. Usually I hate it when they change the story of a book, but Disney's Big Red is good enough to stand on its own. It's the story of 13-year-old French-Canadian orphan Renè Dumont (the original character is a 17-year-old backwoods boy named Danny Pickett whose father is still alive) who, after the death of his guardian uncle, seeks work at the Wintapi kennel of Mr. Haggin, a cold man obsessed with money. We find out indirectly that he has never gotten over the death of his son, who was in the military. Today multiple "morses" would probably be made over Haggin's withdrawn state and there would be this big sappy ending where he breaks down crying, but back then movies were more subtle. We find out about the son only because of a photo picked up and briefly commented on by the housekeeper; everything else is implied. This isn't a big flashy movie, just a plain tale of a boy and a dog in the vein of Kevin Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables. Just lovely, and even better in the original widescreen.

The Moon-Spinners is based on a romantic suspense novel by Mary Stewart and is basically "Stewart-lite," with her heroine reduced to being a teenager (Hayley Mills in her first adult role for Disney) and the story altered somewhat (Lambis in the film is one of the villains, in the book is one of the "good guys.") Still, there is certain charm in the Cretan setting, and suspenseful moments (I still jumped when the hand appeared in the crypt!) and it looks great in widescreen (I would only have seen it widescreen in a theatre, but that was long ago). The Region 2 edition is definitely not restored—quite a bit of dust and threads, including one that skitters right in a scene with Nikky and her aunt—but the color is bright and true.

When I finished with Disney I put on the copy of Misty I bought Saturday. This film is from 1961, and I probably never saw it in a movie theatre; I only saw it for the first time on videotape, and, sadly, that experience was terrible. There was something wrong with the tape and it jumped and shimmied, so I didn't really get to enjoy it until I bought the full-screen DVD, and even that was a bit of a disappointment since it was definitely not meant to be viewed fullscreen (it was originally done in Cinemascope) and the print was a bit faded as well. The new widescreen version is great. I'm still ambivalent about how the story was filmed—it's pretty close to the original novel, but the business with everyone thinking the family was on hard times because the kids were working so hard always set badly with me.

Something cool, though; I found the DVD company's e-mail address online and sent them a note complimenting them on the widescreen release and asking if they could possibly release a widescreen edition of A Dog of Flanders (the David Ladd version). I actually received an e-mail in return a few hours later! They said they are looking into re-releasing the film, but it being widescreen would depend on if they could find a widescreen print. I hope there's one somewhere, especially as that movie was filmed in Antwerp and has some very beautiful location footage, including that of a cathedral and some Peter Paul Rubens paintings.

I cooked chicken thighs for supper, which we had with mushroom-flavor rice, and watched Jeopardy, House, and Antiques Roadshow.

Labels: dogs, food, movies, outings, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:37:00 PM

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I had a brief "bathroom bout" in the wee hours of the morning and now am seriously wondering if I am allergic to crab. Although these incidents seem to be happening every other Saturday evening. Odd, since Saturday is such a hit-or-miss day here; I can't think of any one thing in common that might trigger it.

We started out at Publix to scan the "twofer" items (a bumper crop of good staples today including juice and macaroni) and get a little cash to go to a Blue Ribbon Affair. We passed several gas stations whose prices have risen alarmingly since Friday. (I must confess that, as coughing and wheezy as I was on Friday, I did go out briefly for gasoline since I received several e-mails from friends about price increases. I didn't get the bargain 3.50s of Wednesday and Thursday, but did manage a reasonable 3.64⁹ at BJs. On the way home, the QT stations were already up to 3.79⁹. I wasn't afraid of the price increase as much as I was of people running out in panic to get gasoline, leaving the stations empty when I needed to fill my tank to get to work, and my instincts were sound, as Saturday morning most of the gas stations we passed were out of gas.)

Blue Ribbon Affair was made nicer this year by a nice brisk breeze James said was caused by compression from Ike's rampage out west. It was still in the mid 80s and humid, though, so tramping about between the stalls of sellers was warm work. We got the last of our fudge for the year and bought a small treat of home-made dog biscuits for Willow. As we were leaving, we stopped by a stall that sold mostly wooden products like trays, napkin holders, plate holders, etc., and there was this adorable little feather tree, just about a foot high and no wider than 8 inches, with red beads on the tip of each branch, and a block painted with a holly graphic for a base. It was quite inexpensive, so I brought it home. How I wish Yellow Daisy and Blue Ribbon had been reversed, as the Country Pickin's people's miniature things would have been perfect for this little fellow. I would want it to look like a pioneer's tree with home-made ornaments or perhaps a 1920s vintage-type tree. Will have to think about an appropriate decorating scheme.

We then went to Kroger and luckily found milk on sale so we didn't have to go to BJs. This left the rest of the afternoon for blessed repose, since a few hours in the sun had done me no good—my fingers were so swollen from the heat I could barely make a fist. We put the groceries up and then I caught up on my group reading.

James had marinated some beef short ribs and we had them done on the grill as I continued dubbing off What's My Line? to get the DVR a bit more "uncrowded." Frankly, I wanted to copy off the episode done after Fred Allen had died before the silly DVR possibly hiccuped and croaked like the previous two had. Damn. Fred Allen died over 52 years ago and this one still makes me choke up. He never liked television although his mastery over radio was unparalleled, but he enlivened the show with his ridiculous puns that gave Bennett Cerf a run for his money and it was a somber leave-taking.

Need to put the last Rosemary and Thyme on so that James can pop the disc into the mail tomorrow.

Labels: crafts, food, health, outings, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:41:00 PM

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Up early this morning to go to the farmer's market. We had to stock up on just about everything "vegetably," get a baguette for ourselves, and then one to take to Hair Day along with some tomato and basil cibatta and a tomato pesto flat loaf. Alex and Pat were making the main dish, a baked ziti and some meatballs, and Phyllis was bringing a tossed salad with vinagrette dressing, so we figured the Italian-themed breads would go well.

We made someone very happy today. Our friend Nancy has been wanting a laptop for such a long time and has been asking around if anyone had an old one they weren't using anymore. We warned her ours was rather slow and clunky and she said she didn't care, so we delivered it to her today, cleaned off, defragged, and with certain useful things on it. She was so happy! She opened it up immediately and started investigating what was on it and was still saying thank you when we left two hours later. Well, I hope she uses it in good health.

James went off to his meeting, I went back to my project, and also addressed some problems with the covers that I make for my self-recorded DVDs. Dull stuff but necessary. When James got in we went to Costco for milk and a few other things, then took the 30 percent off coupons we unexpectedly received (James answered a survey) and went to Borders. I was so excited last night when I found the first of the fall magazines, but Midwest Living was a really disappointment. Maybe Blue Ridge Country will be better. I've already received the autumn issue of Country, now I just have to wait for Country Extra. And Yankee, of course. I didn't find a book I wanted (don't faint <g>), but I did get something called "Scrabble Express."

We came home to spend some time with the fids. I was so busy most of the afternoon that poor Schuyler was just chirping forlornly, so tonight I set her cage next to me. She is fascinated by gadgets! I was working the remote, playing a couple of What's My Lines and The Name's the Same--one near-Christmas show had Mr. Gimbel and Mr. Straus (the actual owner of Macy's; Mr. Macy sold out his ownership in the mid 1800s). She was staring at the remote as if she were examining it through a microscope! Later on I played a YouTube video on the laptop and she was agog: "teevee" in two places!

Found something cute on television tonight—perfect thing to have on when you're not going to pay much attention to it. Animal Planet always has a "Puppy Bowl" the same day as the Super Bowl, with puppies romping around an area decorated like a football field. Well, tonight they were having "Puppy Games," puppies romping around different areas meant to emulate the Olympics. There was a small splashing pool, a "gymnastics" court, a soccer field, and a wrestling/boxing ring. Closing ceremonies, which I missed due to "unavoidable delay," was performed by kittens.

Oh, and speaking of making someone happy, DragonCon finally posted their darn schedule online. It wasn't linked on the main page, though; Ron knew where it was and sent us the link. Thanks, Ron!

(Not to mention the weather was wonderful today—well, for a summer day, anyway. We are getting the edge of the clouds from tropical storm Fay and it was overcast all day and never got over 80, with a nice stiff breeze coming in from the east. You could almost imagine you were at the beach.)

Labels: friends, outings, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:17:00 PM

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Not much to tell about this morning: packing, breakfast, finishing packing, including what was left (thank God, not much) of the food we bought, and taking things to car, checking out, then returning to the common room to see what was going on. Betty told me that someone that used to work with us is coming back to PGO, but she'll be working down in Construction and Facilities.

James and I were one of the first folks to leave for the picnic shelter for this year's picnic, so we got one of the plum parking spaces. Picnic Shelter 6 was taken, so the Spiveys, who are usually in charge of the picnic, relocated to #4. The parking space there is very limited, so we were all squeezed in.

The picnic was, as always, fun. Alice and I were wandering about taking pictures, as was Juanita. We had hamburgers going on one grill and hot dogs on another. It was really warm later on, but it was cool enough at that point that even James wanted a jacket. Very nice! The two little Baskin girls got excited over the chance to roast marshmallows over the grill and it was wearying for their dad to try to explain to them that they had to wait until the grilling of the meat was done. This picnic shelter was also creekside and I took some photos of the sun peeking between the trees and three yellow butterflies looking as if they were playing tag over the stream.

We left about one—after, amazingly, not one of the kids had fallen into the creek—since we had to pick up the critters, but as we were driving through Helen, I noticed that the Christmas Shoppe was indeed open, so we parked and stopped in. I bought a sheep Christmas ornament, a collie ornament that is not Christmasy that I can put with my collection, and a very small German pyramid at a very reasonable price. (These have vanes at the top that turn when candles underneath are lighted, and the little wooden scene underneath revolves.) The old Christmas Shoppe was better, with items upstairs, but this is very nice, too, and the ornaments are all reasonably priced.

We also saw a man with a huge dog on the main street. It looked like a curly-haired Irish Wolfhound or Scottish deerhound and indeed was the size of one, but it turned out to be a "labradoodle." Much larger than either a standard poodle or a Labrador retriever!

By now the sun was very strong, but we did stop at Cumming at the North Georgia Premium Outlets so that James could purchase some briefs. We dropped in Kitchen Collection to get him a new medium-sized spatula to replace the one he "loved to death," and discovered John Campbell in the store. It turned out that a bunch of the people that had been at the picnic had also stopped by the outlets: I knew the Butlers were going to stop by, but Bill and Caran and the Taylors were there as well.

Already tired and thirsty, we went by the vet and picked up the animals. Schuyler seemed to be happy to see me and bore no malice about having been manhandled by her yearly examination. She even kissed when she saw me. Willow, as usual, was panting so loudly that I could hear her coming out from the back while I was in the bathroom.

We got home early enough to drop them off (poor Willow was whining—"You guys just got home!") and run to Cumberland Mall so I could pick up my new glasses. I also got gas at Costco and we bought dinner to go from Fresh2Order.

The glasses, as always, will take a bit getting used to. I need to re-gauge my distance to see the computer screen. But everything is put away or in the hamper, suitcase back in the closet, and we've eaten, and now we are planning to watch the new production on Masterpiece Theatre, which is about Rudyard Kipling's son, apparently played by Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter film fame.

Labels: Christmas, food, friends, outings, pets, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:33:00 PM

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We just got back from Toccoa, Georgia, former home to Camp Toccoa during World War II. Airborne infantry trained here, and it's best known for being the home of "Easy Company," the subject of Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers and the subsequent miniseries on HBO. This is the home of the Currahee Heritage Museum.

It is only a 38 mile drive from here in Helen to Toccoa; we started out just before lunch. It had rained last night and it was actually still "misting" when we left, with the clouds very low, but as we drove away from the lodge and toward the town of Helen, we emerged from the fog. It was still misty and nicely cool as we turned left past the Indian mound and the hills in the distance were a lovely study with emerging sun on the tree branches but surrounded by clouds. Cows were grazing out in tremendously green fields and we also saw wild turkeys feeding in one empty pasture.

The route was easy, although the GPS unit tried to steer us down a gravel road initially. We went through Clarkesville (but there was no last train there...LOL) and reached the museum, housed in the old train depot, easily, although the GPS told us we were there about three blocks ahead of time.

The exhibit is cool. The first small hall is a history of Stephens County. Like the Marietta Museum experience we had back in December, these are just bits and pieces of different things donated by various people. 19th century furnishings in a typical home occupied one wall, there was some train memorabilia, doctors' equipment, various musical instruments and a very odd piece: a ticket to a radio show in New York City, and an exhibit for a gentleman named George Hitt, who was crippled by rheumatoid arthritis but who supported his family by his creation of beautiful, detailed silhouettes, cut with a plain old set of long scissors.

There was also a tribute to a local manufacturer and a switchboard and dictaphone from the old Coats & Clark thread factory, plus an exhibit for a local young man who was a weightlifter in the 1956 Olympics.

The main part of the museum, however, is for Camp Toccoa, and about a fourth of the building is taken up by one unit of the stables that the men bunked in when based in England. At that time, any place that could house troops was used, and the men of "Easy Company" lived in a sturdy stable that had been converted, with four bunks to a horse box. Each of the six boxes contains a different exhibit (one is of general war memorabilia, the rest of World War II items except for the last which is set up as if the men were still living in it, with a letter from one of the men's mother, that was found in the wall when they dismantled the stable in England to ship to the US, displayed prominently.

The rest of the exhibit is a display of the deceased men's medals as well as display cases full of all sorts of WWII memorabilia. Two cases had displays of German items with swastikas on them and there was a disclaimer that this items were being displayed for historical purposes only and that the museum did not support any distasteful ideology. Is this really necessary in a museum? Are we going to have to start posting notes next to guillotines or medieval torture implements saying the museum doesn't support torture or executions??? Geez...

When we finished with the museum we drove out to the actual camp site. There is one concrete building left, and a concrete platform shaped like a parachute with monuments for the four different airborne divisions that trained there and what campaigns they were in, with a stone monument at the foot of the parachute. The place was now an industrial park, but there is a map and markers on the road that show you where various things were located and you can drive up to the top of the mountain that the men used to have to climb as part of their training ("three miles up and three miles back"). We figured we wouldn't do it with the car. They're having an open house next October 1 with one of the "Band of Brothers," so maybe we'll come back with the truck.

Anyway, we let the GPS plot the route back and when we neared Helen it told us to turn left on Bear Creek Drive.

You can see this coming, can't you? Bear Creek Drive turned into a narrow gravel road and we came out on the same gravel road James wouldn't take this morning. LOL.

Labels: history, outings, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 4:51:00 PM

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We had a nice evening despite my fit of anger at the laptop. :-) I read for a bit (I have just started a fascinating social history of the 1920s, Flapper), listening in on conversations around me that ranged from government spending to a lot of computer neep to the kids raising ned as they ran around the common area. This year a whole new generation of kids are the little ones, with the older kids riding herd on them. They won't have the fun of bouncing up and down on the built-in sofa seats in the sunken area near the fireplace since they have been removed and big armchairs substituted.

They are redoing the lodge and to our delight the beds have been replaced. So perhaps maybe next year we will come up on a Thursday, too, if that opportunity presents itself.

Also played a game of Chronology. Caran was going to "sit the game out" because she didn't know how to play, but we instructed her—and of course she won. :-)

Sadly, I slept very badly, and finally gave up a little after nine (we had probably gone to bed about 2:30) and we all had breakfast up at the lodge; they gave us the little meeting room. I got some pictures of the Baskin girls playing with the newest member of the flock, Jeffrey Alexander "Alex" Bateman, as well as a cute photo of the little guy himself.

After breakfast we were off to Toccoa, but that's another story...

Labels: outings

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:40:00 AM

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We freshened up a bit and went into town for a walk. We stayed on the shady side of the street since the sun had already done a number on us: James takes two medications that say he should stay out of the sun and I haven't been able to tolerate sun since the radioactive iodine treatment 18 years ago. I usually buy myself a once-a-year treat, dark chocolate almond bark, but it is nearly $10 for a half pound. Just isn't practical anymore. We did have our dessert before our dinner (ice cream) and also went down to Nora Mill to buy James some gravy mix. It was so warm they had all the doors open and a nice breeze was coming off the river. Two men were fishing just out of the influence of the falls that run the mill, several yards from the millrace. The wheel was running today and making a great chugging noise as you walked through. This is a neat place to visit because the sales shelves are made in part from antique shelving units. Not sure what held what when, but they are beautiful medium-stain woods with drawers below and shelving above.

We also walked down to the old Christmas shop since it looked like it might be open again. For a while a Christmas shop was on one of the side roads, but then that closed, too. Well, it apparently is reopening, but not until weekends in May. I pressed my nose against the window like a kid at a closed toy shop, since they stock German pyramids.

When we came back we were hoping to have dinner with friends, but James was starting to crash, so we went across to the lodge restaurant, which was mainly a fish buffet tonight, some type of fish and fried shrimp, and also barbecue ribs. I didn't eat a lot; really shouldn't eat fried stuff and this was more breading and less shrimp. The ribs are really good, but I only allowed myself two since too many will make me sick. Did have au gratin potatoes and tried the clam chowder, but they put some sort of strong-tasting herb in it that made it inedible. I could have eaten it, but it would have given me indigestion all night.

So by the time we got back everyone was out to dinner. We put on cooler clothes and are now sitting in the empty common room catching up on our computing. The wi-fi is better than last year; I can actually get a 68-75 percent signal sitting near the windows. Last year I had to go out into the courtyard to get any sort of signal at all.

(Meanwhile I am still worried about Schuyler. When I called to see how she was doing on her first "campout" they said she had not had her physical yet. Aieeee! And I was thinking it was all over and she could relax.)

Labels: food, outings

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:04:00 PM

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James gave the kitchen a good cleaning and put the grates in the dishwasher while I did the bathroom thing; by the time we both finished and went through the newspaper, we decided it was time to go out for a little bit and enjoy ourselves. We swung by the post awful to mail Easter cards, then went out to the Borders in East Cobb to redeem our Valentine Seattle Best coffee shop freebee coupons, which expired today. James doesn't like coffee and I can't drink it, so we both had cocoa trios instead, sharing the coffee shop space with mostly college (maybe high school) students doing their homework. I found a great book called Sara and Eleanor, about Eleanor Roosevelt's relationship with her mother-in-law.

The Borders in East Cobb is located in a shopping center called "The Avenue at East Cobb." (There is also an "Avenue at West Cobb." That one has a Barnes & Noble.) It is arranged around a horseshoe shaped road with trees, bushes in flower beds, and benches dotted periodically on the sidewalk. Many people go there just for a walk-around and we found folks just enjoying the sunny, low-60s temps. One lady had a rambunctious, long-coated half-grown dog who came bouncing toward us. He looked like a wheaten-colored briard. (Maybe he was.) Then, along the sidewalk near Williams-Sonoma, there was a balding, middle-aged guy in a tank top and shorts, supervising a pack of tiny Yorkshire terriers, all male. They had just been shorn for the summer with only their heads left fully furred and without the hair looked tinier than chihuahuas.

Before we stopped at Borders we had gone to Trader Joe's. Picked up more of their delicious chicken apple sausage, some popcorn, thai ginger carrots, etc. I found a salad bag full of nothing but what Harry's calls "Chinese endive" and what Trader Joe's calls "frisée." Whatever. I love this stuff. I suppose I should have gotten some baby greens to go along with it, but I was just so excited to find it.

So now I'm off to have a nice frisée salad, sprinkled with slivered almonds and scattered with a bit of Asian Sesame dressing. Bye...

Labels: books, dogs, errands, food, outings, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:55:00 PM

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James' computer's power supply is sending up signals that it's about to die, so we went to Fry's this morning to get him another. We had our lunch there: cream of potato soup...yum...but no bread bowls. Oh, well. James also had a sandwich, since he hadn't had breakfast (I had a Slim Fast meal bar).

Since I am about to convert to a larger hard drive soon, I was about to once again back up the portion of the drive I use for storage to CD-ROM and then a conversation during chat this weekend came back to me. Instead I looked for a thumb drive. What I got was a jump drive less than two inches long and not even an inch wide that holds FOUR GIGABYTES. Good grief. It copied back the contents of that storage partition, about a gig and a half, in a couple of minutes. Wow.

We also had to stop at Kroger for the yogurt I forgot yesterday and after I had tested out the jump drive and we'd put up the yogurt, we went to the fall edition of the Smyrna Jonquil Festival. This is a small craft fair with some stage shows and those inflatable bouncing things for the kids, and of course a line of "carnival foods," all fried. We passed them by, but I did accept a sample of the pumpkin latte the Starbucks people were giving out. It was in such a small sample cup that I hope there wasn't enough of the caffeine to "get" me.

I bought one thing: the library was having a used book sale and I got a thick 1954 volume called American Science and Invention: A Pictorial History. It begins with the crafts and trades of colonial America and ends with the atom bomb and television. Too cool.

Another nice sunny day—enough for me to get the beginnings of sunburn on my face—but I had to change into short sleeves before we went to the Jonquil Festival. It wasn't hot, but it was too warm for hanging out in a black long-sleeved shirt!

Labels: computers, outings, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:18:00 PM

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Yesterday was "Hair Day" and it was our turn to provide the main dish.

About a month ago, knowing our turn was due, we came up with a "scathingly brilliant idea, " to quote Mary Clancy, which we promptly forgot in the morass of weekend work, end-of-fiscal-year, and assorted chores. Last Saturday we decided to make crock-pot chicken cacciatore and bought boneless skinless chicken thighs at Costco. Every night we would cook as much of the chicken as would fit into our crock pot in tomato-and-basil, no-sugar-added tomato sauce with an onion, a couple of small slices of green pepper, and a sprinkling of granulated garlic, and then put it up in plastic containers, so that yesterday at lunch all we had to do was decant it and warm it up. Someone else brought bread to "zoop" and we had the most delicious crab dip and a bacon-lettuce-and-tomato cheese ball provided by our hosts.

Afterwards we took our weekly trip to the hobby shop and also stopped at Book Nook. James got two books about aviation and I found a copy of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. This book was very popular in the wake of the success of the series Upstairs, Downstairs in the mid-1970s. The author was an English countrywoman who lived on a large estate. She taught nature studies to girls—one of the few "ladylike" sciences acceptable to teach to women back then—and the Country Diary was originally written in 1906 as an example of the type of nature diary that she wanted her students to keep. The journal was "discovered" as the popularity of the British series brought a demand for Edwardian-themed programming and books, and printed in an exact facsimile in Edith Holden's own handwriting, with her meticulous watercolors of birds, birds' eggs, plants, leaves, and even paintings of the countryside. In the 70s there were Country Diary notebooks, journals, flower albums, diaries, photo albums, cookbooks, etc. until the craze ran itself out.

The book itself is a precious snapshot of times and flora and fauna gone by, with lovely watercolor portraits of different birds.

We were up early this morning to attend the Apple Festival in Ellijay, about sixty miles northeast of us. I had read about it in a flyer given out at one of the craft shows earlier this year. It is held for two weekends and because James had to work last weekend, we actually got the better of the two weekends to go: it was in the high forties this morning when we left at 8:30, but despite the fact that it got into the high seventies, it never got unbearable, except for the sun being relentlessly bright; even though there were mostly cool temperatures and we remembering our hats, we still were slightly sunburned. (James takes medication that makes him sensitive to sun and I've burned easily ever since the radioactive iodine treatments.)

We arrived promptly enough to get parking next to the Lions Club field where the festival was being held rather than having to take shuttle buses and spent an enjoyable three hours wandering over a hundred different craft booths. This one was a very nice mixture of crafts, clothing and other odds and ends; I got a few country-themed Christmas and Thanksgiving decorations, but the coolest thing I found were removable appliques. I have a lovely fall sweatshirt and a cute Hallowe'en sweatshirt, but I don't get to wear them very often because it's usually warm straight into November. These appliques—I got the fall pack with leaves, pumpkins, a turkey, a black cat, and a purple bat—will stick to any shirt, long or short sleeved, then come off and stick to a different shirt. When the adhesive eventually starts to weaken, you can buy the glue to renew it at any craft shop.

We contributed to the Lions Club by purchasing lunch from them and to the Boy Scouts who were taking parking donations as well.

We also found another Christmas gift...yay!...and bought a bag of farm-fresh apples, Granny Smiths of course, before we left at one, just as the crowds were getting thick. There was one huge apple the size of a softball that we munched on all the way home.

Labels: books, food, outings

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:50:00 PM

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Got a good workout doing a deep-clean on the bathroom this morning: took an hour to get it all done.

Then I recycled plastic bags, got the newspaper, and took a quick-step walk once around the mall before buying gas and then purchasing some chicken drumsticks for supper.

I picked up a cheap DVD set at Dollar General: 1950s mystery series. Again, "digitally remastered and sound enhanced" plastered all over the box, and the pictures not much better than having seen it on an old television. So many of these 1950s show copies have a black halo around the edge.

Anyway, what I watched was two episodes of the 1954 series Sherlock Holmes, which was produced in England and starred Ronald Howard, the son of Scarlet Pimpernel/Gone With the Wind/other classic films star Leslie Howard. He quite favored his father. One of the stories I watched was an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes "Greek Interpreter" short story. It was changed to a French interpreter and Holmes' brother Mycroft was not involved. The other was an original story called "The Case of the Eiffel Tower." It supposedly took place in France and indeed the Eiffel Tower scenes looked as if they were filmed there; however, the background shots of France in 1890-whatever were supplied by old silent films of Paris!

Labels: DVDs, food, outings

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:52:00 PM

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We were up early this morning to go to the Yellow Daisy Festival. Nothing remarkable to report upon: the guy from Alabama who made our kitchen table and chairs wasn't there (I guess he's retired), nor were the bread knife people, or the person who made the affordable German pyramids. Ah, well. We bought our yearly fudge, got more "Smack Yo' Mama" barbecue sauce, and sampled the dips (bought more garlic dip to make garlic butter with).

I did allow myself an extravagance: there's a gentleman there every year who sells shelved small frames and miniature cupboards. To go along with them, he makes little wooden, metal, and resin items to go on the shelf/in the cupboard. They are in themes like pets, sewing, Christmas, autumn, Hallowe'en, winter, etc. For instance the sewing theme had miniature spools, little bolts of cloth, tiny thimbles and sewing machines, signs that say "I ♥ Sewing," etc. They're like small dolls' houses. I've always wanted one of the cupboards, but settled for two shelf frames: one has a scarecrow in the background and I bought little items like an autumn angel, an apple basket (to give you an idea of the scale, the apple basket is only about an inch tall), an "Apples 5¢" sign, a watering can with a pumpkin on it, a birdhouse and a couple of other things.

The other has snowmen in the background and says "Love," "Friends," and "Be Kind" on it. It is mostly winter-themed but has red cardinals and the snowman has a star. So I bought four little Christmas-themed bits for it (Santa, reindeer, etc.) and four winter-themed items (bottle of "snowballs," winter birdhouse, etc.) and it can be interchangeable winter and Christmas.

Since we were already on that side of town we went to the DeKalb Farmer's Market for boneless skinless turkey thighs, and also stopped at BJ's for the necessity of life (milk!) and other things. By that time both of us were suffering from sun overdose, although it was better this year (some clouds), we remembered our hats and I rigged up something with heavy-gauge floral wire so we could carry a bottle of water without having to have it in our hands all the time (James brought his carry pouch at the last minute and didn't need his). Heat and sun just leach energy from me; by the time we got home I was sleepy. But by the time we put the turkey up, wiped the counters, gone through the paper, and put away the rest of the groceries, this had passed.

Labels: decorating, fun, outings

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:46:00 PM

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We did a quick grocery shopping "in the forenoon" as the old books say and then were off to A Blue Ribbon Affair at Jim Miller Park. We were there about two hours, having lunch, then wandering among the craft booths. It was still small as it was last year, but some solid vendors and we bought a couple of Christmas gifts, some art prints, and I bought another dip crock for parties. Unfortunately they had stopped making the seasonal ones, so I couldn't get the pretty fall design they had last year.

We also bought the last of our fudge for the year and then James indulged in some boiled peanuts—I guess it's an acquired taste, because the first time I had some I grimaced and wouldn't touch another—and I had some roasted ones.

We picked up a flyer for the North Georgia State Fair, which starts next Thursday and runs through October 1. Usually it's so warm that we shy off going, and last year when there was a cool day we had something else planned. I'd love to go, though; they have something called the "Extreme Canaines Stunt Dog Show," which is comprised completely of rescued dogs. The idea reminds me of the last part of Walt Disney's Kilroy, where Kilroy brings the dogs from the pound about to be destroyed to an elderly pair of vaudevillians living outside of town and they train them as a dog act. We'll see.

We had to make a trip to Kroger afterwards, but decided not to go to the usual store, but to the Kroger we used to go to when we first moved into the old house, the one on Whitlock Avenue, because they have a gas station (gas was $2.18⁹ with the Kroger card). As we walked toward the store a blonde lady who was wheeling her carriage out called out "Is it the Youngs?" OhmyGod, it was Diane who used to live next door to us!!!! I gave her a hug and we stood and talked for ten minutes; it was so funny because we had just mentioned her dog Huey last night—he was the only dog Willow ever felt comfortable enough with to play with (and not run away from). Too cool! (The first thing she said when I said we'd moved was "I'm so glad you got out of there! I remember watching the drug deals going on across the street from my living room.")

We both belong to Borders Rewards, and on your birthday they give you a coupon for a free dessert at their coffee shop. Well, wouldn't you know that every single one of the Cobb County Borders coffee shops have been closed to put in a new coffee bar that sells Seattle's Best Coffees. However, at the Parkway Pointe Borders last night, they told us the Buckhead coffee shop was still open, so since we were done before 2:30, we decided to go. This gave us an opportunity to peek at all the new "McMansions" going up on West Paces Ferry Road (still a pretty drive; miss going that way to work) and the high rises in Buckhead itself ($300,000 to $1 million! For a condo! My GOD!).

I still had another 25 percent off coupon and had intended to buy something else, but right up front I stopped dead in my tracks: hurrah! another Imponderables book!

Also, Ken Jennings has a book out. He'll be signing them at the Buckhead Borders on the 26th.

So it was a super-nice afternoon. Off to read the paper...

Labels: books, friends, outings

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 4:58:00 PM

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