4-29-17 Slotin Folk Art auction:

"The Strange, The Unusual, The Vanishing America!" ---straight from their webpage.  And they are right about that!  There are some, what I call, really great pieces, then there are the strange and unusual pieces, too.
OK, this one I do think is really nice.    It sold for $1,300.

close up of some of the cute little animals.

4-28-17 up to the Gwinnett County Environmental and Heritage Center and a stroll through George Pierce Park:

I actually found a photography club to go to last night and they mentioned the Environmental Center right by our apartments is looking for photography items to sell in their gift shop.  I've been wanting to go check it out (I've only seen the center from the outside), so I decided to walk up there today.  It's only about 3/4 miles walk from our apartment, through part of the Ivy Creek Greenway.
Lots to see there right now.  I think this is a tulip tree? 

I think these are wild rhodies.

4-25-17  on the road again----

Time for our 10+ hour trip back to Atlanta!  Managed to get loaded up and out of the house by about 9 am.  It was another nice day for a long ride.
First---a view of our house---minus the huge tree that use to be where the mulch is!  I didn't even notice the tree was gone until the 2nd or 3rd day we were there!    It was nice seeing my azalea and rhodie blooming.  Missed the lilacs this year. :(  There were even a few irises blooming by the time we left.

 Illinois farmlands

4-24-17  chilling out in St. Louis:

One more day in St. Louis.  Sara's flight wasn't leaving until the evening and then we had a 35th anniversary party for Bill and Lena to go to.  So we had the day free.  We started the day by meeting Becky at Old Town Doughnuts to return her table.  --- and eat doughnuts!  Had a nice visit, too.  Then we took the other table to their store---Fischer's of Florissant sporting goods store.  That proved to be profitable for them.  All 3 of us found things to buy.  Mine was a Blues t-shirt.  They've finally made it to the 2nd round of play offs.  Don't know when that last happened!
Yesterday Emily had said she and Brian could meet us for lunch, so we took them up on that.  They joined us at Mi Ranchito for a nice visit and tasty lunch.  They are great people!  So smart, but so down to earth.  They also adopted through the same company Angie and Josh are working with ---a christian organization named Bethany.  I'm sure they've been a wealth of information for Angie and Josh, as well as great friends.
As we were driving to the restaurant, we rode by the place Angie got the first of her tattoos.  To which Sara mentioned she was wanting to get a tattoo of a B.  So after lunch, we went to the tattoo parlor---a first for me!  Who knows, maybe someday I'll get a tattoo---a tropical flower of some sort?

 Her tattoo artist.  Angie goggled him after the fact and said he's a very good tattooist.

4-23-17  The big day!!!!

The day that we came back to St. Louis for was here.  The culmination of about 2 months of planning, exchanging ideas with Carol and Emily (my co-hosts in planning the shower), preparing, and doing stuff for the shower.  I've never been to a "couples" shower, let alone help organize one.  I was in charge of the invitations and cake.  Carol took care of the food and most of the worrying.  Emily took care of the rsvps and all the drinks (2 large coolers of wine, large cooler of beer, and large cooler of soda) and the favors (bags of candy).   Angie took the initiative to find the venue and lock down the reservation.  Originally she had booked a different pavilion at Tower Grove, but it only had about 7 picnic tables.   After making out 53 invitations, we realized we needed a larger place with more tables.  But it wasn't available on Sat. the 22nd, so we settled for Sun. the 23rd.  Glad it wasn't available on Sat.  It turned out to be rather cold and dreary---high of about 52.  Sunday was beautiful---sunny and about 68.  Only negative was the winds were a sustained 1000 m/h!  Anyway----

Angie and Sara brought the SUV over to me bright and early (about 9).  We loaded up the tables and some more supplies, then they headed back to Carol's house.  I loaded up the rest of the stuff and was on my way to the park by 9:45.  Pulled up at the park behind Carol and Darryl.  Spent the next 1 1/2 hours setting up---putting table cloths on all the tables and setting up a few decorations that wouldn't blow away!  Several of the decorations we had brought didn't go out---like balloons and table decorations.
Almost ready----

 The diaper cake I made---except this is the back of it.

4-22-17  baking and cake making!

The kids took off in the morning to pick up Sara from the airport and spent the rest of the day and night at Josh's folks place.  I spent the day baking cupcakes, making icing, decorating cupcakes, making a couple corsages for them to wear, and building a diaper "cake".  I've seen them at showers before, but had never made one.  We thought it would be a cute way to help decorate the pavilion by having it on the gift table.  Luckily, I had asked Becky if she had a table we could borrow.  When she called to drop it off, I mentioned the diaper cake I was making and she offered to help me.  That worked for me!  Especially since I had no car so she ran to get stuff like a base to put it on, foil to cover the base, hot glue, baby spoons to hold the layers together, wash cloths to make whales out of, and I'm sure there was more.  It was nice having the company and catching up with her again.  I even got the cupcakes iced between her trips here and there.
about 75 cupcakes--done

 diaper cake in the making.

4-21-17 settling in for the weekend.

Today was a day to start gathering stuff for the shower---cake mix, icing ingredients, all the stuff I had sent to Carol, and Josh.  So we met Carol and Darryl for breakfast, followed them to their house, got my stuff.  Then Angie and I killed time by getting manicures.  Then to the grocery store.   Eventually to the airport to pick up Josh.  Finally to meet Carol and Darryl for dinner at Stef's.

 St. Louis pizza is totally different from pizza elsewhere.  I guess it's the provel cheese used instead of mozzarella.  Love their italian salad, too! 

And thanks to Ken's brother, Bill, for getting us seated in a timely manor during such a busy dinner time!

4-20-17  back to St. Louis for another baby shower!

This time it's for Angie and Josh!  Now that they're approved to adopt, it was time to start thinking about what all they need.  Her friends in St. Louis, who have also adopted from Bethany, suggested we throw a baby shower for her.   Angie wanted it to be a "couples" shower, so we let her find the time and place.  She chose Tower Grove Park in downtown St. Louis at the Turkish Pavilion on April 23rd.  So Angie and I drove her SUV to St. Louis.  Josh followed on Friday night after work and flew home Sunday after the shower.  Ken stayed in Georgia and watched the dogs.

So----my frequent visits to St. Louis continues!  2 so far this year, with another one planned for June.  It's a long drive---10 hours, but not too bad when the weather cooperates.  Angie picked me up about 9 am and we were on our way.  Instead of going down I-85 to I-285 and sitting in the mess of traffic, we took SR 20 across to I-75---not really quicker, but a lot less stressful (usually) and more scenic.
I bet this house along the "hills" of SR 20 has quite a view!

 A few of the many horses in Georgia.

4-19-17  My 1st, but not last, bike ride on the Suwanee Greenway!

This is what's suppose to be connected to the short greenway by our apartments, but apparently they're still trying to buy land for the extension.   But I was curious about riding my bike on the Suwanee Greenway, especially after walking a mile of it to take pictures a couple times.  So today I loaded up my bike and drove to the greenway.  I only got about 7 miles in, but didn't feel like riding along McGinnis Ferry when the trail came to it.  But it was a beautiful and easy ride!
A lot of the trail is shaded with lots of trees.

 There were also a fair amount of boardwalks---all in excellent condition.

4-18-17  Pool is refinished!!!

Now if they would open it up and turn the heater on for a couple days I'll be really happy!

4-15-17 back to Amicalola Falls!

Any chance I get, I'm ready to head up into the mountains.  So after having brunch with the kids in Chattanooga, Ken and I took the long way home by way of Amicalola FAlls.  We had been there about a month ago when we were leaving from our weekend in the cabin with Angie and Josh and his folks.  But it was still winter then and quite cold and cloudy that day.  Now it's Spring and getting quite green.  It was also a beautiful day with white puffy clouds and lots of blue sky.
Since we were coming from Chattanooga instead of Buford, we got to see some different areas in North Georgia along our way.
Although this was right along I-75 before we got off onto a state highway.

 This was the rest stop where you first enter Georgia on I-75 South bound. 

4-15-17  to borrow the phrase from Angie, "Chew Chew and Choo Choo":

We've been trying to meet up with Tim and Faith, and Angie and Josh once a month for brunch.  Chattanooga is almost the halfway point for each of us, so today we did our April meet up.  Usually we ride with Angie and Josh, but they were in Chattanooga for the last couple of nights while Josh was there for work.  So Ken and I drove ourselves and made a day of it.  We left a bit early, so took a different route there.  This route took us through the country up to I-75 about 30 miles from Chattanooga.  I enjoyed the scenic ride.
Well, mostly scenic route!  This section of highway 20 was a bit chaotic.  Was really happy when they finished the part of Highway 20 closer to our apartment, but now we get to contend with this construction near Cumming.  Still beats taking I-85 to I-285 to I-75!

 Getting into the hills of North Georgia.

4-13-17 walking another part of the Ivy Creek Greenway:

Since the "kids" are gone again---off to Chattanooga this time for Josh to check out Cintas there---Ken's dog sitting again.  He didn't go over until late afternoon, so I went with him for a late lunch, then walked home from Moe's.  That took me to a different route then I normally walk.  There's a ramp from the shops and restaurants down to the greenway.  I had checked the ramp out from my bike a long time ago, but this is the first time I walked it.
Heading down to the greenway.

 I determined these were blackberry blossoms.  Looks like this might be a good area to try and pick blackberries when they're ripe.  There certainly are a lot of wild blackberry plants along here.

4-11-17  our 2nd trip to the Marta:

My first was a few days ago when I drove Angie to the Doraville station so she could take it to the airport.  She was off to visit a college friend in Texas.  Today Ken went, too, to pick her up.  Since the I-85 fire that caused the interstate to collapse, it's really hard to get around the city.  So she took the Marta.  I was impressed----from the time I dropped her off the other day until the time she was through security was only about 35 minutes!  And Doraville is the northern most end of the line.  Coming back, though, she had a minor problem---she got on the wrong train.  But it was still coming north and we were early so we drove over to that station to get her.  It was still about a 40 minute drive from our apartment.  We tried to avoid I-285, but ended up on it when we were heading to the other station.  This is 10:30 am---and there was still a ton of traffic!

 Everyone has to take the perimeter highway now to get to the other side of Atlanta since I-85 was the one that cut through the city.  Hopefully they'll have the highway up and running again in a couple months.

4-10-17  back to George Pierce park:  And the start of our pool renovations!!!!!

This time I took my "birding" lens---my 150-600mm lens.  Only we (Ken and I) got there about 2pm.  By then it was a bit warm and the sun was beating down.  It got up in the 80s today, but it was still really nice.  Birding wasn't as good today.  I presume it was because of the time of day that we went---or that it's easier to find birds when 16 other people are telling you where they are.  But I was happy to be able to use my good lens again.

I believe this is a blue gray gnatcatcher.

 I was excited to see these guys.  I didn't see them Sat.---but I imagine the rest of the bird watchers did.  I saw a couple of these guys 1 time in Florida at Green Cay.  They are very distinguishable---cedar wax wings. 

4-8-17  Southern Wings Birding Club at George Pierce County Park:

Yea!  I found a club!  Unfortunately they only meet once a month, but today was the meeting for this month.  I almost missed it----I did an internet search a couple days ago for birding clubs and saw this one with an outing to George Pierce Park today.  I've been curious about the Suwanee trail there since that's the trail that's suppose to eventually connect to the one here by our complex, so I emailed the person listed on the site and waited for a reply.  Come Friday there was still no reply.  So when we were out, we stopped by the Wild Bird Store nearby and asked if they knew anything about the event.  She gave me a couple phone numbers and info on where they were meeting today.

So I got up bright and early---8 am, and was out the door about 8:20.  Made my way to the park and easily found the group.  It was a brisk morning---about 60---but warmed up into the mid 60s by noon.  We had 17 in our group.  Everyone was very friendly.  We spent about 3 1/2 hours wandering a mile or 2 out and then retracing our steps.  I believe they tallied 47 different species of birds.  The birds here were much harder to find then the ones at Wakodahatchee, but it was still fun.  And I loved the walkway!  I didn't take my "birding" lens since it's so big and I didn't know if I'd be able to rest if on railings now and then, but someone else had one like it on a tripod.  Turned out there were several rails that I could have rested it on for taking pictures.  I will be going back there with that lens.  I will also be going back there with my bike!

And we're off----

 looking back at the rest of the group. 

4-4-17  Little Mulberry Park:

I was looking for places to go "birding" nearby.  Came across a birding club---Southern Wings Bird Club of Gwinnett Co., that are going on a group walk this Sat. at a nearby park.  So I asked Ken if he wanted to drive over to the park so I could scope out where they might be meeting.  So we went----didn't actually come to a conclusion as to where they're going to start from--so we'll see what happens.  I did email them, but noone has responded. Anyway----
After leaving George Pierce park, we went to another park recommended by a neighbor---- Little Mulberry Park.  I remember seeing that name on the list of birding parks, so was happy to check out another new park to us.  Must say, I was quite impressed with it!   There's a nice walking/biking path all the way around the lake.  Not really long---only 2.2 miles, but very scenic.   It was a beautiful day for a walk.

Or to just hang around on a log.

4-1-17 Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Gainesville:

Wanted to get to the Gainesville extension of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens while the tulips were blooming.  So when Angie asked if we wanted to go there with her and Josh today, I didn't hesitate to say yes!  Since we're sort of along the way to Gainesville from their house, they picked us up.
While I was waiting for them to get here, I checked out the woods to the south of our condo.  Imagine my surprise when I came across a dinosaur?!

 I managed to escape and soon we were on our way to Gainesville.  This is another reciprocal garden to MOBOT, so we got in free.  Angie and Josh did, too, since they're members of the Atl. botanical gardens.