We had a fairly good Atomicon, despite being utterly exhausted from allergies and coughing. We arrived in Helen Thursday afternoon just about four, when several of our friends were checking in, offloaded our junk, and then lay down until I started texting to find out where we were going to dinner. Spice55, the Thai place, was the choice, and we had the usual yummy dinner. I wait for this every year, as they make the best pad thai.

Something sweet happened after dinner: Jessie and some of the others were enchanted by the black-and-white stray cats hanging outside the shopping center where the restaurant was. A lady was also interested in the cats and she and James started talking; she was ex-Navy and also had been a Marine. Now, we had had an appetizer, so I still a lunch-sized portion of leftovers, and it was supposed to rain on Friday. I suggested we stop at the Dollar General, which has frozen foods, to see if we could find him something for lunch there. We did find some taquitos. The same lady also was in the store, and she was quite disturbed by how cluttered the aisles were and that James could not get around in his power chair. She told us she was going to report the store for ADA violations. And on the way out she paid for his taquitos!

Thursday night I was feeling well enough to play some games, and we played Uno No Mercy, which is fiendish. I got kicked out of the first game almost immediately, and ended up winning the last one.

It did indeed rain almost all day Friday. It was probably good because James and I were both stuffy and miserable, and we stayed in with anyone else who didn't want to go out in the rain, talking, farkling around on the computer. I found Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent available and watched that, and last night's Law & Order as well.

For supper the weather cleared well enough to go to the Nachoochee Tavern and have some pretty good pizza. I had to share with James, so I had to eat cheese [bleah], but it was still okay.

One of the things James and I have begun doing since Atomicon has been held at the Country Inn and Suites is to have a daily walk downtown after breakfast. It's about a half a mile, and then we stroll around the little downtown area, maybe walk down to Hofer's Bakery, and then return to the crossroads of downtown and head toward the parking lots, strolling a road in the back down to the hotel. Total it's about a mile and a half, maybe more.

I was feeling so short of air from the congestion that on Saturday morning we took the truck instead; we haven't done that in years and I felt like I was regressing. But I did manage to totter around downtown. We visited the glassblower's shop, bought our annual candy from Hansel & Gretel, and visited the history museum that we missed last year due to food poisoning. This is in a building that used to be the City Hall. Helen was a tiny little logging town at one time, outside of what became Unicoi Park, and when the logging left, so did a lot of the population. Helen became basically a gas and food stop, so they turned the town into a "Little Bavaria" to attract tourists. We've been going to Helen with our friends for...well, Jessie and Aubrey both turned thirty last year, so...longer than that!

We also bought more white peach balsamic vinegar (love this stuff) and some blackberry ginger as well from the Alpine Olive Tree. I got James a neat gift: someone gave us a little turntable/light gadget: you plug it in and put a statue or something on it and it lights it up and revolves. They had laser-etched lucite items, and I got James a U.S. Navy one, with an aircraft carrier and destroyer and planes flying overhead. (I was going to get him a smaller one, but he said the planes weren't correct!) It looks really pretty on the turntable.

We then drove down to the Mount Yonah Bookstore—the owner always puts out a "Welcome, Atomicon!" poster and gives us a discount—and I found a brand-new copy of the annotated version of The Phantom Tollbooth, one of my favorite books in the whole world (seriously, what my life would have been without the Stadium School and Hugh B. Bain libraries I will never know). I also found a book about a woman FBI agent, a book by Robert Ressler (one of the first FBI profilers), and the book that inspired the series Homicide: Life on the Streets, which introduced Richard Beltzer's John Munch character.

And it was back to Spice55 for supper with Alice and Juanita. I had pad cashew this time, which was exquisite.

Sunday I was feeling strong enough to do the walk downtown, if a bit slowly, and we made it to the Christmas store before I started to be nagged by lower GI problems. It was a good walk, anyway. We spent the afternoon reminiscing about old television series, and had supper at Rib Country in Cleveland, GA. The ribs are so good and half the price of any ribs in the Atlanta metro area.

Alas, neither of us slept well, so we staggered up, ate the hotel breakfast, and packed up and left. Stopped at the outlet mall because I so much needed new socks. We also stopped at a knife shop where James went in; I sat and read. And finally, by the vet—$1300 for exams and boarding! Oliver apparently seems to be okay to them; it looks like they don't have an avian vet again. ::sigh:: Yes, they noticed he's shy.

Labels: Atomicon, books, events, food, friends, games, gifts, history, kindness, shopping, travel, walking

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:47:00 PM

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Of course, Sunday was better, but the con was almost over, too!

Another morning, another breakfast. Alas, no bacon today. Had to content myself with oatmeal, toast, milk, and a bagel and cream cheese. Walked Tucker in the green area behind the breakfast area/pool, and then it was back to the con.

I still hadn't found the art show or the dealer's room, so James escorted me there first. James bought an attractive piece of a spaceship against a starfield, and also an ironically whimsical print of an atomic cloud as part of a scoop of ice cream on top of a cone. He bought me a pretty blue-and-silver bracelet made of links. So blue. No purchases in the Dealer's Room.

LibertyCon always has a charity; this year it was Ronald McDonald House. One of the things that was auctioned for charity was a chance to play Larry Correia's roleplaying game "Gritty Cop Show," which is basically an amalgam of every cop show you've ever seen. Six people bid a total of $5000 to play, and we went to watch. The first hour was fun and I wish we'd stayed. Instead we went off to a panel that was supposed to be about care of your old books. But mostly the moderator talked about valuation and buying of rare books, which I find a bore. I don't buy books to collect, I buy them to read.

Finally we went to the tribute to Eric Flint. Yesterday was still affecting how I felt and I think I dozed through most of this. James enjoyed it, since Flint's 1632 universe is a favorite of his.

Finally we went to closing ceremonies, where they told us how much they earned for Ronald McDonald House, the guests for next year, etc., and then people complained or complimented and asked for different things for next year. It was lively and upbeat...

And then we emerged from the room and holy hell was going on outside!

It was pouring. Can't call it Georgia Monsoon Season. Let's call it Tennessee Monsoon Season. So we talked to Sue a little while and then walked the last time down the long, long hall, made it across the street without being drowned (the rain had slowed down). We waited a little while and the rain finally stopped, so we went out to go to McKay's Books (I bought a Valdemar book I didn't have and a book about a couple who sold their house and live permanently traveling in Europe) and finally get some decent food at City Café: James had a shepherd's pie (he should have sent it back; he said it was way too salty) and I had two exquisitely grilled pork chops, a baked potato, and of course City Café's outstanding chicken soup with broken-up spaghetti in it.

We brought a nice slice of Death by Chocolate cake back to the hotel. Whatever channel I found had Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes that were a tribute to Raul Esparza's Rafael Barba character, including the one where he left the show, so we watched those and went to bed at midnight—checkout time wasn't until noon, so why not? During commercials packed a few things up.

Monday morning we packed, made it down to breakfast just in time (have to remember ends at 9:30 on weekdays), then proceeded to walk Tucker, and pack, pack, pack. Then it was checkout time, and then getting on the road time.

We had stopped at "Buc-ee's," one of those giant rest stops, on the way up, so I could pee. Buc-ee's is a chain from Texas, with a restaurant, lots and lots of gas pumps, and a huge store that specializes in jerky. They have opened about a half-dozen of them down here, and one is on the way to Chattanooga, in Calhoun. Walking in is overwhelming: it's a big store and people everywhere, and noisy. I went in and pee'd and that was it. We talked about stopping on the way back, especially as Tucker had gone crazy when he saw the tumult, but we were tired.

So of course there was a traffic jam. We waited over a half hour in Adairsville for them to clear a fracas that appeared to have involved two tractor-trailer trucks. It was exhausting.

We got home safely, and the house was okay (the big storm we'd had in Chattanooga roared south and had hit Atlanta like a cannonball in some places; supposedly trees were down in Cobb County, but around us was safe). I shoved clothes in the washer and that was the end of LibertyCon.

We will go up on Thursday next year (if we get in) and stop at Publix or whatever, and buy food like pot pies or Hungry Man dinners. $26 for meatloaf indeed!

Labels: books, conventions, food, travel, weather, writing

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

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James has always wanted to go to LibertyCon.

LibertyCon has been going for 36 years now (having skipped 2020, of course), initially held in July, hence the name (there were three years it was held in May and for the last few years it has been reassigned to June). It is a small convention with a membership cap, and many of our friends have been going for years and years, until basically now it's like a fannish family reunion.

2020, James decided, was the year we were going to go. He bought tickets. And, of course, shit happened, and everyone's memberships rolled over to 2021. 2021 we were unable to go, and they rolled it over for us. Well, in 2022 we were unable to get hotel reservations in time. At this time, the convention was being held at the Marriott Hotel connected to the Chattanooga Convention Center, but the Marriott isn't pet friendly. However, the Staybridge Suites (our favorite hotel) at the other side are, and it costs more to board the critters than it does to pay the pet fee, so we wanted to bring them—Snowy has always loved "little rooms with teevee"!

But James waited too late to get reservations.

He managed to talk them into rolling us over one more time. It must be all that customer service he learned for IBM tech support.

But this year we were in and we were going to go.

I have to be truthful: I was ambivalent about it. Trips are hard on me now; since James' back and knee makes it that I have to do all the carrying, there's a lot of work for me. I have lists upon lists so we don't forget anything important, including his medical supplies which include bandages and tape in case his legs get a blister, the insulin, water for Tucker so he doesn't get diarrhea from strange water, etc. Plus, this is basically a science fiction writers con. I started out on Heinlein with some Asimov, but don't read any modern SF. There were a few writers' panels, but basically I'd be there to chat with friends, which would be the good part for me.

Let's not even go into having to travel in the summer...

So we packed a little day by day, and I had a long lead time to take stuff down to the truck; since we couldn't check in until three, we didn't need to leave until after noon.

We left at one and should have left earlier: Chattanooga used to be a nice 75-minute drive, now until you get out of the Atlanta metro area it's a morass of traffic. The freeway was backed up, so we tried the highway instead and, of course, traffic lights. Plus we hadn't covered the bed of the truck and we ran in and out of rain during the nearly two hour trip. Apparently Interstate 24, which splits west at Chattanooga and was the way we had to go, is always backed up during daytime hours. Of course Waze took us through teeny city streets, including one steep hill on which I was convinced the chair lift was going to scrape bottom.

However, we made it to Staybridge unscathed. Dropped all the stuff in the room, took Tucker for a walk—alas, Snowy never got to see another "little room with the teevee"—and then hurried to the convention center to get registered as there was a panel tonight that James really wanted to see.

Staybridge is literally across the street from the convention center; you can just enter at that end and walk the length of it—we didn't know that at first and walked the outside till we found a way in—a big long hall with meeting rooms on one side and big exhibit halls and banquet halls on the other (with more meeting rooms as well). I think at least six different exhibitions can be held here. When we got there there were two different church groups; one stayed all weekend. Also a hunting exhibition was there on Saturday. LibertyCon was all the way down the long hall at the Marriott end.

There was, alas, no food. The restaurant was horribly expensive—seriously, $26 for meatloaf?—so we ate some sandwiches from the downstairs café. I went to see a panel given by a woman who now works for child advocacy groups, but she was talking to us about serial killers. She is the daughter of a psychiatrist and a psychologist, and spent part of her childhood at the nurses station in a mental hospital. Her dad was one of the shrinks who examined Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler, for those of you who didn't grow up hearing about this dude on the news).

James was at a panel about "Guns of the Future," so I went back to Staybridge to take Tucker out before dark, then came back to the hotel. The panel James was looking forward to, "No Shit, There I Was," was at nine, but I wasn't all that interested. I had my tablet with me and I found a nice little nook off the hotel lobby and sat and edited a manuscript until he was done.

The Staybridge room (James got the baby suite, with a separate bedroom) was quite nice and they have feather pillows. As always, there is a little kitchenette and dishes and pans, stove, sink, even a tiny dishwasher, and a living room together, then the bedroom, and the bath, which was handicapped accessible, had a pocket-panel door. This was good. However, I was a bit ticked at a jerry-rigged repair. The roll-in shower had a low shower head, for a person in a wheelchair, and then a higher, removable shower head on a long vertical pole which, theoretically, could be adjusted high or low. But the handle that kept the shower head up didn't tighten, so it slid down when you had a shower, and, because the hook that fastened the removable shower head to the pole was broken, they had made loops to hang it with two zip ties!!! And they didn't even clip the ends, so we both nearly poked ourselves in the eye several times.

Oh, and body wash. I hate body wash. Give me a nice bar of soap every time. I hate "pump, pump, pump," wash one arm, "pump, pump, pump," wash the other arm, "pump, pump, pump," wash your stomach, on and on and on. We had soap with us, but there was nowhere in the shower to put it down. Sigh.

Labels: conventions, travel

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

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I'd packed yesterday and sorted two weeks of meds on Sundays, so that was the hardest part. The annoying part is all the stuff you have to wait in the morning for, like the charge cords for the phones and the last-minute meds. And then you have to wash the breakfast dishes so they don't sit for the weekend, and toss the trash.

Then, of course, one must decant the budgie into his carry box so you can wrap the cage in a trash bag to ride in the back of the truck. Snowy has discovered it's spring and it's time to mate. On Tuesday when I spring cleaned his cage he did a credible effort in trying to mate with my right hand, wings outspread, tail feathers open, the whole shebang. When I put him in the carry box he instantly crushed on the bell toy and spent the entire trip to the vet (a 45-minute drive) trying to make love to it. Tucker wanted to look outside, but finally decided he wanted to just lean against James and be petted on the ride (with a look on his face that said "can't you get Brother to shut up?"—probably not; Snowy sang all the way there). At the vet they let me set him up in his cage, and he attempted intercourse with my hand again. Yep, it's spring.

We had a nice ride up there except for being hungry. We tried one exit to get to Wendy's, but the road T-boned and didn't tell us which direction to go, left or right. So we went up to the next exit and a Krystal. I had three plain Pups and some fries and hash browns, and I was full and still hungry at the same time. It was sunny and high 60s, and a beautiful ride, but I was so sleepy! The trees are just blooming up here, so we're seeing the Bradford pears white again. Lots of cattle out grazing in the fields that haven't been pre-empted for houses.

Arrived at the hotel to check in just at three, with the Spiveys, Butlers, and Gibsons all waiting, too. We pretty much stayed in the conference room for the rest of the afternoon, and were wi-fi less, so did a lot of chatting. For dinner over a dozen of us went to Spice55, the Thai place, for supper. I love this place; they make the best pad thai. James had some sort of ginger dish and we shared a ginger salad and potstickers. I had enough to take back to the hotel for lunch tomorrow.

James gave a big tip to the waiter. I think he was the only waiter working, and he was on the run throughout the night (literally—he loped to and from the kitchen most of the time).

On the way out, we saw someone sitting on the terrace eating who had a white pitbull puppy. Oh, she was adorable, tail-wagging cute.

Spent the evening in the common room chatting and sharing computer stuff.

TV? Who watches TV at these things? We are too busy having a reunion (even if some of us saw each other last week—hi, Alice and Ken).

Labels: birds, dogs, food, friends, pets, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:15:00 PM

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Labels: birds, dogs, events, family, food, health, pets, sickness, traffic, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:58:00 PM

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Last year at this time we had need to make a serious decision: did we want to go to Helen at all? Everything in Atlanta was closing down due to coronavirus, but the hotel had begged us to come, said that they were taking additional precautions and there would be pre-packaged breakfasts instead of the breakfast bar. And we were desperate to get away before being housebound, for how long we didn’t know. In the end, some people did drop out of the trip, but most of us went. Helen was surreal that weekend. The streets were nearly deserted and some places had already shut down. We had dinner at Spice 55 (Thai) and the very next day they closed for dine-in. Bigg Daddy’s was already social distancing with a vengeance the following night. Some restaurants were already closed, as was the place we usually went for ice cream. On the Sunday we left we took up a collection for the hotel staff , knowing they would have tough times ahead. Next day Helen closed down for business.

This year, prep was about the same: James worked on the phone and I worked packing, checked off lists, added more stuff, and then packed more, including seed for Snowy and a shirt of James’ for Tucker to sleep with at “camp.” We had to remember the charger for the chair, the chargers for the phones, the charger for the tablets… And then there were the cookies for the crowd.

But it was eventually all in the suitcases, then all in the truck, and we even found a proper plastic trash bag that the birdcage fit in. As always, Tucker was harder to load than Snowy, so the bird was the last one out of the house (twice, because I had to run back in for James’ glasses and his kangaroo bag). There happened to be three hawks overhead wheeling and calling out, Snowy spotted them with huge eyes, and he was jittery on the drive as we started. Thankfully they let me into the vet’s office–they’re still doing the damnable curbside service–to place Snowy in his cage and prep him to stay (food and water), although the rest of the arrangements were made over the phone as we stared into the office from the parking lot.

And then we were James and Linda again instead of pet-Mom and pet-Dad, and by then it was after lunch time. We crossed Jett Ferry to the Williamsburg shopping center and I ran into the East 48th Street Market to get us both Italian sandwiches, a couple of zeppoli (since tomorrow is St. Joseph’s Day), and of course I bought a pack of fusilli (twisted pasta) to bring home.

It was the warmest day of our four-day weekend, so we were able to drive to Helen with the windows down, eating half of our enormous sandwiches and sharing a couple of mandarin oranges in the cab of the truck. When we first started driving to Helen over twenty years ago, our route was mainly country. At least one shopping mall (North Point) in Alpharetta, a small outlet mall in Woodstock, and a huge outlet mall in Dawsonville have gone up since then, and we remember when the North Georgia Premium Outlets and a couple of restaurants were the only thing on the road in Dawsonville! Now there’s a Publix, a Kroger, a Walmart, nearly two dozen restaurants, and more nail places than you can shake a stick at. It’s only when you pass the last of the stores that you’re in the country again: horses grazing in pastures along the river, places selling boiled peanuts and baked goods, little antique stores, and of course, our favorite little bookstore, the Mt. Yonah Book Exchange. When we pulled into the Country Inn and Suites we were greeted by Alice and Aubrey. After setting up things in our room, we were able to finish our lunch in the common room, spread out our cookie contribution, and talk with folks as they wandered in. It was a good thing we ate so late because supper took forever.

This was at Spice 55, which has killer food, but man, the service was s-l-o-w Thursday night. I’m not sure if they were down some employees or they just weren’t prepared for a crowd on a Thursday night, but we got there at quarter to six and didn’t get out until after eight. This wouldn’t have been so bad had we been able to talk properly, but they had very loud music playing in the background, so people had to talk loudly to be heard over it, with the result that the cacophony was dreadful. The food was still killer–I have had pad thai in several Thai places (and they all seem to make it a little differently), but Spice 55’s pad thai is by far the best I’ve ever eaten, with a rich, deep wonderful flavorfulness, and you get a great portion with a lot of meat. I was able to take a third of it back to the hotel. Juanita ordered some beef noodle soup that was a whole meal unto itself, but she didn’t like the cinnamon flavoring they had put into it, so James was the happy recipient of the remainder. The heat of the day (and the light) had gone by the time we emerged, and the wind was delightfully cool.

Then it was back to the hotel for the best part of Atomicon: talking to each other! It was especially sweet this year when some of us had been separated for so long. Shari even managed to make it from Alabama this year. Some folks colored as they talked, and the subjects ranged from coronavirus to other events of the past year to television to books.

I remember the days when we stayed up until one or two in the morning playing games and talking, but except for the young ones these days, we mostly wandered off to bed around midnight, looking forward to the rest of the weekend.

Labels: birds, dogs, food, friends, pets, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:36:00 PM

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Alas, neither of us slept as well last night. I guess the crickets/air conditioner ambient sounds from the phone didn't work on us well enough this time. This always seems to happen on the Sunday morning of Atomicon. (Other things always happen to me, too. Despite being careful, I had the usual case of "traveler's complaint," although it was largely gone by the time we left.)

We got our little breakfast bags and had our last breakfast in the conference room; slowly people started trailing in and eventually the room was full. I'd talked the front desk into giving us an extra hour to checkout, so we had good time to pack and visit with everyone, and then about 11:45 I closed everything up, and towed it all one by one into the conference room.

Just as I finished, the staff came filing into the conference room. Charles had had an idea last week: knowing that the coronavirus was going to completely shut down most of the hotel's business, he suggested we have a tip jar in the room and put extra money in it besides any tip we left in the room for the chambermaids. He also bought two "thank you" cards, one for the cleaning staff and one for the hotel management staff, and we all signed them. He did the honors of presenting them with the jar. Moneywise, considering what they are going to face in the coming weeks, it was pretty much a widow's mite, but it was something.


After that, we sat around for about another hour talking.

Ken was sweet and got us a cart, and he and Aubrey helped us load up the truck a little after one o'clock. It had clouded up, so we swaddled the power chair in its tarpaulin and put the suitcases and other things in heavy plastic bags, and then off we went. We bought gasoline at the Ingles supermarket, and then had to stop just before we reached Dawsonville so I could use the bathroom, and by the time we reached the vet's office it was (1) pouring down rain and (2) we were both full to bursting.

And then...snellfrocky! The vet had signs up saying they were doing curbside pickup! And when we got there part of the glass windows were papered over and an outdoor area was taped off! I called inside frantically. "You can spray us with anything you like, we'll wipe down anything you like, but we need the bathroom." (It's tough when you have that over 60s disease, Gottapee.) So they let us in and we tried to touch as little as we could; the secretary even took my credit card number from a distance. They had Snowy all prepped in his carry box, but I still had to empty the water dishes, and I knew the seed was toast; after the ride it would go all over the cage. The young technician who took Snowy back on Thursday was in scrubs and mask, and helped me put a bag over the cage. And then finally we piled ourselves and the fids back in the truck and drove home, where we would end up doing nothing more than dragging stuff into the house and putting up what we needed to put up (James' C-PAP machine, the phones and tablets on their chargers, etc.) and leaving the rest.

Something amazing happened when I had Snowy's cage wiped out, re-seeded and re-watered, and I opened the carry box to transfer him: he not only did not bite me, but he sat in my left hand and let me scratch him behind the ears with both fingers! Wow, maybe he did miss me! [Later: this didn't last long. He was back to biting me by Tuesday.]

We had prudently stored leftover turkey and leftover au gratin potatoes in the refrigerator, and so we had a nice supper of dark meat and cheesy potatoes, and split one of the zepolle we bought on Thursday for dessert.

I love Atomicon, really I do. I am so glad we got to go this year. But it's increasingly hard to travel when we have to drag so much stuff with us, and there is nothing like coming home to our bed, our fans, and my feather pillows!

And now back to "social distancing."

Labels: birds, events, food, friends, health, pets, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:28:00 PM

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The news was bad enough about sickness and death in other places, but then came local school closings, runs on supermarkets (the difference between Thursday and Friday was astounding), and doctor's appointment cancellations (we had three in one day). But our weekend in Helen was approaching, what should we do?

There was discussion online. The hotel had cancellations right and left and asked us not to cancel if possible; they said they would be taking extra sanitary protections, would not serve breakfast via buffet, and the pool and hot tub would be closed. There was no coronavirus in White County, where Helen is located.

Some folks dropped out. A few weren't feeling well already. One had to take care of her parents after a car accident. One just wanted some alone time after returning from a visit to her son's college. Some were still working. Another could not fly. Once the dust settled, we were under the 50 person limit for groups requested by the governor. So we all kept an eye on our health—James and I have been taking our temperature every day for about two weeks now—and one by one this smaller group came together, with bulletins flying fast the last couple of days of which restaurants were still open and if groceries could be had there.

Tucker arrives at "camp."

Our Thursday morning was the usual combination of remembering everything, including James' blood pressure cuff, the thermometer, etc. I discovered nearly at the last moment I had not packed Snowy's food! More flurry there. So instead of leaving the house at noon, we left...a bit late. Tucker allowed himself to be carried to the back and, after giving me a rather smart bite, Snowy went off with the extremely young-looking vet tech a few minutes later.

Before we headed up to Helen, we stopped at the East 48th Street Market across the street from the vet's office, which sells Italian food, sandwiches, and baked goods. It was St. Joseph's Day and they had zepolli, the traditional pastry for that holiday: a puff pastry filled with cream, with a little sqiggle of cream on top and a maraschino cherry as an accent. I got two, one with custard and one with cream, although I couldn't tell the difference once they were in the box! I felt bad that they were losing business because of coronavirus, so I also got a cannoli and two chocolate walnut biscotti, and a package of our favorite fusilli pasta. Everyone was very nice as we did the social distancing thing.

Then we headed up to Helen, the traffic very light on GA400 and therefore from Dahlonega through the country road that heads to Helen. It was all so normal compared to the "new normal" that I wanted to cry: horses calmly grazing in newly-green pasture where they give trail rides, the cattle (beef and dairy) scattered across great swaths of green grass, the trees blooming in whites and purples and pinks and the azaleas in pink and red, the little farm stands both still open and crumbling away. We used the new bypass and arrived at the Country Inn and Suites only an hour later than we wanted, at four p.m. The Spiveys had arrived just before us, and the Butlers pulled in soon afterwards, and we started setting up the common room with snacks.

Dinner du jour tonight was at Spice55, the wonderful Thai place we ate at last year. They would only take ten to a table, and we were just under the limit with us, the Spiveys, Aubrey, Juanita, and the Butlers, with the Boulers showing up later. It looks like we got there just in time, because they are going to take-out only starting tomorrow. Dinner (pad thai) was fabulous, and I had enough to make a lunch tomorrow. James had only a tiny portion leftover, so when we stopped at Dollar General—the person who was to bring disposable eating products was nursing her mother after a car accident—I not only picked up some plastic plates, but a couple of low-sodium burritos as well for a supplement.

Riley

After dinner is always gameplay, but we spent time talking instead. We don't see a lot of these folks often. John and Oreta live on the other side of town, as do Kristine and her husband, and Naaman Taylor as well, along with Nancy and Jake. Nancy's son Tony is a trucker and usually on the road, and we don't visit with his wife. There were two little ones with us this year, in fact, Max, a little over two, and August "Gus," an adorable little blond girl about two. They had a playmate in Juanita's new little Shetland Sheepdog puppy, Riley, who is being trained as a certified therapy dog, and Juanita hopes one day to train him to alert to her occasional spells of ill-health. Riley, is, frankly, adorbs! All these people except for Aubrey and Alice and a few more are new to him and he regarded the whole common room of people reading, talking, gaming with wide-eyed enthusiastic wonder, trotting about playing fetch, puppy romping, and desperately seeking and sometimes finding the odd crumb.

Alas, the nights when we stayed up until one and two in the mornings playing Uno are gone. Most everyone drifted out about eleven, as did we, to try and get some sleep in a strange yet familiar place.

Labels: birds, dogs, food, friends, health, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:37:00 PM

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Atomicon photos:

Heading up to Helen, Ga

The foothills of the Blue Ridge. Dinner at Bigg Daddy's Thursday night: Jessie, Terry, Shari, Juanita

Alice, Ken, and James at Bigg Daddy's

Christmas decoration among the spring flowers.

It was chilly Friday morning! James at downtown Helen.

More flowers sharing the stage with Christmas decorations.

Closeup of a lovely tulip!

This is Dog, who belongs to a hotel maintenance person. He stays where he's told!

The coloring contingent: Kristine, Alice and Ken with backs to camera.

The computer contingent: Damian and Charles

The chat contingent: John, Lin, Jerry, and Melinda

Lunch at Spice 55 on Friday: Alice, Ken, Aubrey, and Jessie

Spice 55: Alex, Pat, Damian, and Kristine

Spice 55: Damian, Kristine, Shari, Terry behind Charles, Juanita

Mt. Yonah Book Exchange was waiting for us!

Daisy, the bookstore cat

Not quite ready to leave Sunday morning: Oreta, Alex, Dorothy, Emily, Ron, Terry and Charles standing

Jerry and Juanita having a final Sunday chat

John, Melinda, and Pat shoot the breeze on Sunday morning.

Labels: Atomicon, friends, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 1:10:00 PM

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Seems I can't go anywhere anymore without a case of "traveler's complaint." Was awakened early with a rotten occurence and couldn't get back to sleep, so just continued reading On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service as I hung out in the bathroom. So I spent most of the day in a sleep-deprived haze on top of a late night and it being the final day of Atomicon. Luckily I'd started corralling items last night, so I did manage to be dressed before I woke James up and we had pretty much everything together by the time we left for breakfast. Unlike the first two nights we were here when the morning temps were in the 30s, this morning it was in the high forties, presaging the summery weather later on.

The conference room was quite alive when we arrived, although people were in various states of wakefulness. Some folks had gone to Hofer's Bakery for breakfast; the rest of us dug into the hotel buffet with gusto. I just had cereal, oatmeal, and toast with a glass of milk; even if I liked eggs and sausage it was beyond my digestion at that point. Then people began to trickle away home: Alice and Ken, Debbie Medina and her best friend Debbie, Juanita and David, Jerry. We did a slow Southern goodbye that turned unintentionally hilarious when I was trying to wheel out both suitcases at a time and one kept tipping over, and then I nearly tipped over a chair myself. At that point Terry, Aubrey, Kristine, and Damian helped us out with the stuff, with James trailing behind in his power chair. They were sweet and helped us load the back of the pickup, and then went off to Wendell's restaurant in search of lunch.

We took some more time getting everything settled, James used the bathroom one last time, and finally we loaded the power chair, then, due to a big truck attempting to turn into the driveway of the hotel, had to turn right instead of left and went around the back instead of via the main street. As we approached Wendell's, I suggested we stop and join them for lunch and then go on. So we did, only to find the place packed. This is a very popular local place and it looked like everyone was already lined up outside the door. We went inside and could not see them, so I walked up and down the strip shopping center and found Shannon extracting some items from her trunk. She said the wait was very long, so she was getting some games to hold them over. I found everyone in the back room and apparently they'd already been waiting 45 minutes and someone at the table next to them had been waiting an hour! So we just went on, enjoying the blossoming trees and the farms—one place had two tiny brown ponies!—and the antique stores, until we were finally out of the country and back on the highway

When we reached Dawsonville, we stopped at the North Georgia Premium Outlets. I simply had to have new underwear and socks. We were supposed to stop last year, but were too exhausted after the dialysis excursion and the emergency room visit, and then we were supposed to stop when we went up the August before that for the eclipse. James was already tired, and I was still hurting and didn't really want to stop, plus the temps were now up into the 70s and I was really, really regretting not bringing my broad-brimmed hat, so I just trudged to the Hanes place and bought three 6-packs of underwear and of socks, and two pairs of lounging pants for James. Then we went on.

Waze gave us what was supposed to be a shorter route to the vet's office. Not sure if it was shorter, but it was different than the ravening hordes of GA400 racing southward at breakneck speeds. We stopped at a Bojangles to get James a sandwich, but I just had a doughnut next door from Dunkin; tummy was still too upset. We discovered downtown Cumming (which looks a lot like downtown Roswell), and also went through Johns Creek, which appears to be one big shopping center! Eventually, we ended up driving past Jones Bridge Park, where PGO used to have our work picnics before they decided to change them to (ugh!) May and a different place.

Tucker was brought out first, all freshly bathed with nicely trimmed claws, and jumped on me, then tried to make for the doors. I'd asked Snowy be brought out in his carry box, and when he emerged I saw with some bemusement that his tail was gone. Looked like he gave the vet or the tech the slip and they tried to catch him, only to pull off his tail feathers. I did that once with Bandit.

So we arrived home sometime after four, only to discover a big box on the front porch. Damn. Wonder how long that sat there. It was from Vine (it's a new chair; hope it works!) and was sent FedEx instead of through the mail, which I stopped until tomorrow. James scraped up some chili and I had the rest of the rice in some soup, and we spent most of the night drowsily staring at the idiot box. Found two episodes of M*A*S*H I hadn't seen in ages ("The Price of Tomato Juice" and "Dear Ma"), and, of course these days, Perry Mason. We are back to the 50's ones again and much different from the later ones. Lots of smoking and much antagonism between Lieutenant Tragg and Mason.

And so endeth another Atomicon. 

Labels: birds, clothes, dogs, food, friends, pets, television, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:54:00 PM

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Something absolutely extraordinary happened today. It was a weekend we didn't have anything planned and it wasn't raining. Do you know how unbelievably rare that has been for the past few months?

So we shoved four of the most useful of storage conveyances—otherwise known as a Xerox paper box—stuffed with books we no longer want into the back of the truck, carefully covered with a tarp, since retired me no longer has access to the things and must take care of the ones we have, mounted the power chair, and made our way up to Chattanooga. We had a couple more pit stops than usual, and by the time we arrived, it was lunchtime, so we went to City Café first.

Last time we came here, I don't know what was going on, but the place was packed and we had to wait nearly a half hour to be seated. Today: plenty of seats, and we had a super waiter. Of course we ordered the chicken soup with our open-faced sandwiches (turkey for me and roast beef for James). It is the best tasting soup, with carrots and celery in it, and it's made the way my relatives did so long ago, with broken up spaghetti in it instead of noodles or rice. Its only fault is that it's really salty; otherwise it could be a food group all of itself.

We should have brought some home like we usually do; I practically inhaled the cup in one breath it was so good, but now I feel like I hardly tasted it. The turkey, while being only breast slices, was still delicious laid on the toasted bread with gravy all over it; I did manage to bring some home. I can get some French bread at Publix tomorrow and have at least one sandwich, maybe two. We also bought a slice of their chocolate suicide cake to take home. They carry these huge cakes for dessert, the size of small drums, as does the Marietta Diner and Pasta Bella and a couple of other places here.

Then it was off to McKays, where we sorted the contents of the four Xerox paper boxes into bins and sent them off to be considered while we wander amongst the books. James found a real prize, a coffee table book about the Spitfire aircraft with color photographs for $2. He got some other aircraft-related publications, and also a copy of The Bluejackets Manual (basically the instruction book for U.S. Navy recruits) from 1944.

I found some goodies myself: the latest Bess Crawford mystery which I was planning to get off Amazon with points and instead got with credit, two different linguistics books (Words in Time and Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions), Roger Angell's book of essays This Old Man, The Man Who Invented the Daleks about Terry Nation, a book I won't mention because I may or may not give as a gift, and two nearly free amusements: a book of etiquette "by" Hyacinth Bucket (that's pronounced "bouquet," dear) for only 75 cents, and, for a mere dime, a fannish collector's item, a nearly-new copy of Jean Lorrah's early Star Trek novel, The Vulcan Academy Murders. We received a combination of cash money and credit, and both had cash left over.

We usually take the books they reject and I donate them to the library book sale, but I didn't feel like loading them back into the truck and toting them up to Roswell Street, so I let them have the rest.

We had a nice drive home despite a traffic problem: they were fixing the Lake Allatoona Dam road and creating a nasty little backup on I-75 south. We'd observed it on the way up and knew we had to get off the freeway no later than exit 293. So we got off there, at Cartersville and the Tellus Science Museum, and followed a route that took us to the old state highway 41. We had to go through the main drag in Cartersville where all the shopping centers were, but, aside from that, traffic was not bad. By then we were so close to home we just stayed on US41 and were rewarded, just south of Cartersville, with a beautiful sweep of highway that brought us through a lovely valley view. James noted that we must keep this in mind next year when the leaves reach peak.

In a few minutes more, we were driving by the Books-a-Million in Acworth, and thus went through our usual route home via Due West Road and Dallas Highway just as sun was setting. James took the road through the battlefield park and, in a little copse of trees just at the right side of Chatham Hill Road, a place I've always been convinced is a deer yard, were two deer grazing undisturbed by the traffic scant yards away.

Home in time to take a look at the books, eat a bit, compute a bit more, talk to Snowy and walk Tucker.

Labels: books, excursions, food, traffic, travel, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:10:00 PM

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James slept so well last night I checked him to see if he was still breathing. I do that a lot these days, it seems. But it has been better to sleep this weekend. I found out when I checked out—the front desk people found out what happened yesterday and instead of asking me, automatically put us down for next year—that they did put a new mattress in that room. You can really tell. I could feel the springs in the old one, and my hips ached every morning.

Breakfast with the gang, then packing, portaging into the conference room, and then chat until one by one, couples and individuals began to leave. I took very few cookies home, and want to save them for a game night. Chris was nice and helped us get our suitcase and other things loaded onto the truck and then we were headed south under a cloudy sky.

We stopped at the North Georgia Premium Outlets. James got some nice pocketed t-shirts and a couple of pajama bottoms, but all the underwear they had that wasn't boxers was white. He grumpily got one pack. I couldn't find any six packs of underwear, either, just expensive three-packs for $22. Seven dollars apiece for panties? What are they made of, silk?

We also dropped into a little gift shop, where I got a couple of little gifts, and Yankee Candle, but, sadly, no roasted coffee flavor. Apparently it's discontinued and gone. ::sign:: (Yankee Candle actually has regional scents that sell in one place, but not in another. In 2015 they had a new scent called "Maple Pancakes" that I was going to get when I got home, but it wasn't for sale in the South, just in New England.)

We also ate there and was glad James didn't have Chinese with me: my sesame chicken was hideously salty. We're not used to really salty Chinese because Hibachi Grill doesn't overly salt their food and we go there most often.

Tucker came charging into the lobby of the vet's office when they fetched the fids for us, and thankfully they'd put Snowy in his carry box so I could put off being bitten by my cute little birdy buddy. Then it was off home and back to Snowy's "teevee" and having a load of clothes to wash (and also a load of towels). We had potlucks for supper and settled back to be earthbound creatures once more.

Was surprised to discover Call the Midwife began tonight! I thought it was supposed to start on Easter Sunday. Plus we got two episodes instead of one. Was so amused by Timothy's crush on the au pair, but the rest was so heart-rending.

Labels: birds, dogs, friends, pets, shopping, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:20:00 PM

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Well, slept a little bit better, but not much; still the hip problems and had to get up at seven to use the bathroom and then hoped to get back to sleep. When I did get back to sleep, it was a Louisa May Alcott-like dream where I was someone sent to take care of a young cousin and didn't find out until I got there that I had to stay a month. I was so upset in the dream that I called out and scared the family dog. Thankfully the alarm rang.

Came into the conference room to find a big table almost full of folks eating; we got our own food from the breakfast area and brought it in and helped clear a space for Lin as well. No French toast this morning, so I had extra regular toast. (I see the curse of A Discovery of Witches goes on.)

During the end of breakfast, Alice and Aubrey were talking about going to a little bookstore in Cornelia that we'd never heard of. After they left, I asked James if he wanted to try to go to it, too, and John Campbell was interested, as well. So we rushed into our room to finish getting dressed and grabbing money.

Because we were in the truck, John unfortunately couldn't ride with us, so he was following behind. Cornelia was about a half-hour's drive away, turning left at the big field where a big herd of Holstein cows are always grazing. It was cloudy again today, but not quite as chilly as yesterday, so we just brought our flannel shirts in case. Didn't really need them today.

Unbelievably, we caught up to the Spiveys about a third of the way there, until we got to someplace where the police were escorting a long ride of motorcyclists; we and John ended up between the police cars and the motorcycle riders, so we pulled over until the latter passed. A little further on, as we approached the Walmart, for no reason John got in the turn lane and turned around and went back. We hoped there wasn't a problem back at the hotel.

The GPS led us a merry chase as we got into Cornelia, which is a fairly large town with chain stores and a megachurch called the Torch, telling us the bookstore was on a street around the corner from the public library. It was, in fact, in a shopping center before the public library, a tiny little place that was also a notary public. And, sure enough, the Spiveys were there.

I didn't find anything (all that I was interested in I already had; they had a pristine copy of The Little House Cookbook!), but James got a nearly untouched three-volume set of the history of 20th century sea power for only $30 and another book of interviews with fighter pilots. Then we were all feeling peckish, so we went to a place that the elderly lady running the store recommended, Fender's Diner. This had an old diner vibe and was definitely a vintage place that is well-beloved by the folks in Cornelia. It was a nice lunch, too! I had roast beef and onions au jus with onion rings (truly I will need to pay) and James had a hamburger steak with vegetables.

We'd decided that when we finished at the bookstore we were going to detour to Clarkesville to go to The Art-Full Barn, which is part pottery shop and part comic shop and part art shop and part model shop, and Alice and Aubrey couldn't resist an art store. They used their GPS and we used our phone, and we made it there first, despite the phone telling me initially that we were going in the same direction. Whatever, we made it, and I had to go out and admire the animated metal pinwheels in different colors and styles that are out front. They remind me of the metal sculptures made by Aunt Meg in Twister. Really, they are not so expensive; the most expensive one was $150.

Alice and Aubrey did indeed enjoy this store, and so did Ken, who stocked up on comic books. James also found a comic, and, although the model department is now very small, he got two models. I bought a set of oil paints.

The Spiveys went on home, but we continued onto Cleveland and then turned back toward Helen so we could stop at the Mount Yonah book store. Surprise! Ron and Lin, their son Neil, Bill Ritch, and Charles Rutledge were already there. Some folks meet at bars, we get together at bookstores (and I do still miss those Friday nights at the Borders Books on the East-West Connector!). Bill had turned up a really neat find: there's no copyright on it, but it's a hardcover copy of Swiss Family Robinson with an inscription to a person for Christmas 1918! The pages are browning, but it's in super condition. (He let me look at it back at the hotel. I thought I had a complete version, with a different translation, but no, what I have must be still abridged, because there are some parables Father tells the boys that are not in my edition. Franz is called "Frank" in this edition, but I was delighted by the footnotes, that explained to the evidently younger reader what things like trigonometry and oil lamps are, and how when the book was written there were no trains. Plus it still has the color plates!)

Anyway, James turned up a book on fighter pilots and I found the next book in Gerald Johnson's history of America trilogy for young people, the first which I bought here a few years ago, and then on the way out I found a copy of Mercedes Lackey's A Study in Sable in paperback. James bought both for me.

After a short stop at Nora Mill Granary for James to get some white gravy and start on this year's Christmas surprise for Mom and Candy, we finally arrived back at the hotel. Turns out John thought we were going to the Mount Yonah store and turned around because he didn't recognize anything. As he said, a failure in communication. But I swear we said it was in Cornelia.

Saturday night we usually eat at the German restaurant, but James said that this year he thought the German food would be too heavy. Well, there I was typing and the next thing I knew James was asking where we wanted to go for supper, and when I looked around almost everyone was gone. Juanita and David, though, were about to head back to Wendell's for supper and asked if we wanted to come with them. Well, we'd love to!

Unfortunately, Wendell's isn't open for dinner, and another place the desk recommended was only a breakfast place. So we decided to try Cowboys & Angels, which Shari had spoken of favorably. This was downtown, close to where we had parked yesterday.

Cowboys & Angels is a bar/restaurant with live music, so we kind of expected it to be loud when we got there. But when James and I walked in, the sound was deafening: live band playing not-bad music, but amplified in a small space, and with everyone talking over the music, it was awful. When David came in, we asked if he thought Juanita would mind moving outside. David thought it was too loud, too, so we went outside.

The tables and chairs outside are set on dirt covered up by pine bark. James sat down in a chair and immediately started toppling backward as the thin legs of the chair sank into the dirt. David and I had to rescue him, and he found a different chair and took a different place. About then Juanita walked up from having parked the car, and we explained about the music. Of course then we had to smell cigarette smoke, but at that point it seemed the lesser of two evils.

Juanita has lots of health problems, including a penicillin allergy, a cheese allergy, and a shrimp allergy. The latter is so bad that she can't even eat fish fried in the same oil that shrimp has been fried in. But the waitress told us that they did not serve shrimp. Juanita also has some other health problems and had bariatric surgery some years ago. She cannot eat dry foods (like crackers or chicken breast) because it makes her throat seize up and causes a lot of pain. So when she ordered the fish, she told the waitress the only way she could eat it was if it was moist. The waitress assured her they could cook it that way. She was also asked not to include the tartar sauce as Juanita is allergic. The place was very expensive, so James and I split a ribeye and had salads for our two sides and David had a hamburger.

Well, when Juanita's fish came, it was cooked in a very thick sauce and inside the fish was dry as paper. Plus the tartar sauce had been included in a cup and had spilled over the second piece of fish. Juanita called the waitress back and said she was sorry, but the fish that she could eat was too dry, not moist as promised, and that the other piece had tartar sauce all over it. The waitress said she would get her a new batch. James had had some mushrooms as appetizers, with a very light beer-batter coating instead of the dry cornmeal coating, and Juanita asked if when they made her a new batch, could they fry it in the beer-batter instead? The waitress went off for fifteen minutes, then came back with Juanita's cold plate and said if they did her a new batch like that she would have to pay for it again! Can you beat that? We had to talk to the manager and they finally gave her a new fish dish with the fish fried in the beer batter, and it was indeed moist instead of dry and Juanita said it was good, but it was too much work to go through, especially since the food was so expensive.

This place also reminded me why I don't like bars. The restaurant and the surrounding buildings are in a pretty area with paths and metal sculptures and grass and flowers. When we had been there yesterday we noticed two domestic rabbits hopping around, apparently "free range," a black-and-white one and a black one (I swear I'd seen a white one earlier, too, but didn't see it now). Well, while we were eating, the two different bunnies came out to graze; they disappeared when some little kids chased them, but returned and we were enjoying watching them.

The people at the table behind us were frankly getting flat drunk. So when the bunnies came back out, a woman screeched "Oh, look at the rabbits!" and honest to God got up and tried to chase them, in a pencil skirt and high heels. She kicked off the shoes and went staggering after the black rabbit, and of course he hightailed it out of there. She then came wobbling back and was so tipsy she could hardly get back into her shoes. When someone teased her about the shoes, she shouted back than she "had blood on them from beating her husband." (Once back at the table, she admitted loudly that it wasn't true, she wasn't even married.) Mind-boggling. Why people want to get drunk and do stupid things are beyond me.

So by the time we finished eating it was full dark. David and Juanita walked to get the car, and we walked as far as James could go to meet them at the street. Well, the black rabbit had come back and stood there about 10 feet from us, just eating and swiveling his ears back and forth as I talked to him. A few minutes later a guy just walked four feet past him and he didn't turn an ear. He's just put off by drunks. Me, too.

So games were in full swing when we got back to the hotel. I watched them play a game called Anomia, where people who pull a card with the same symbol have to think of an answer before the other person does. That looked like fun. Then I joined in when they played something called Karma. There's a passing resemblance to Uno. And, then, of course, we played a couple of games of Uno! Always fun. I love Uno!

The "kids" wanted to play Betrayal, so we cleared the table for them. James was reading on his baby laptop trying to find a certain model from a model show to show to John Campbell, and I sat next to him and worked on a cross-stitch while watching Oreta, Ron, Lin, Shannon, and Phyllis play a card game called "Once Upon a Time," which seemed to be about making up a fairy tale. Shannon was also working on a beading project. Some folks were still coloring and Bill and Damian were talking politics (Damian has served in Afghanistan, so knows the politics of the military a little better than the rest of us).

The Betrayal game broke up about midnight when the gamers found a flaw in the scenario they were running, the fairy tale ended, and people wandered off to bed. We weren't the last folks out the door, but it was close. 😊

Labels: animals, books, dreams, food, friends, games, shopping, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:56:00 PM

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