4-26-18  Dicky Doos and Ivy Creek, too:

Before Angie and Josh moved to Perry, they gave us a $25 gift certificate to Dicky Doo's that Josh had won at a work party.  So today Ken and I decided to go check it out.  I was impressed!  Quite an a variety of entrees and sides!  And it was all very good and cheap.  We did manage to spend the whole $25, but we both got drinks and dessert with our meals. 

 Cute little place.  Too bad we didn't know about it sooner.  Don't know how often we would  have gotten there since it was a pretty good distance away---20 minutes or so when traffic on I-85 is good.  It's just scary to get on I-85---you never know when it's going to come to a complete stop.

 Back at the apartment complex, we stopped at the dumpster to throw some trash away.  I'm always amazed at the stuff people throw away.  This time I found this tri-pod there.  This is a $100+ tri-pod!  It is missing the quick release piece, but they're easy to find online and only about $15.   Ken also grabbed the yard stick.

 Back at our apartment, Ken had managed to get most of the garage items into the 5x8 trailer to haul down there this Friday.  It hasn't been this empty the whole 2 years we "lived" here!

 Later I headed out on the Ivy Creek Greenway.  I'm really going to miss it!  Even though the traffic here is awful, the preserve the runs along our apartment complex is convenient.  Often when Ken and I are out, I have him drop me off up by Costco and I walk back through the preserve.  I've heard people express concerns of safety there, but I've never encountered anything strange there.

 Except maybe some of the wildflowers.

 and flowering vines.

 Quite a few people do use the trail, even though it may not look like it here.

 The apartment amenity area of the trail---which leads up into the complex.

 the stairs and ramp to the complex.

 I always take a break here and enjoy the sounds of the creek.  Great place to sit and drink the water I often bring with me.

There will be a lot I won't miss about this area, but the Preserve is one place I will miss!  Hopefully I can find somewhere to go that's conveniently close to our new place in Perry, Ga.

4-15-18 back to Buford by way of Lane Farms:


A couple days later, Ken was anxious to haul some more stuff to Perry for the kids.  so off we went again!

Micky still being the king.  We only stayed 1 night.  Josh's Dad was there, too.  It was a nice visit.

We had to get back Sunday night so we could be at the kid's rental house on Monday to meet the bug sprayer guy there.  Part of the lease agreement they had with the management company since they had dogs there.  On our way back, we stopped at a farm restaurant we saw signs for near Perry.

This place is awesome!!!  Will definitely be going back here a lot!

Fun cafe and great farm market.

Great food, too, and very reasonably priced.  Even got a senior breakfast of 2 eggs, bacon, grits, hash browns and toast for $2.99.

Rest of the trip back was uneventful.  Seems odd that the kids don't live there in Suwanee anymore.

10-13-17  Supranos Grill and Sunset Cove sunset:

I forget how Ken found this restuarant, but it's a nice little place that we've gone to a few times now--- just had to get away from the Mall of Georgia area.  I believe this is still part of Buford, but it's up I-85 a few more miles.
Today I happened to notice their juke box.  Gone are the days of the record players!  Now you put an app on your phone and play the juke box from your table!  It's neat and sad at the same time!

 Looking towards the kitchen.

7-15-17 a trip to Athens:

A day in Greece!  OK, maybe not, but Athens, Georgia, isn't so bad.  Angie and Josh had talked about heading up to a waterfall, but it was so hot, they decided to go check out Athens instead.  So they invited us along---for our first ride in their new vehicle---their brand new 2017 Ford Explorer.

  The trip started out a bit horrifying!  Shortly after we got on I-85 northbound, we witness an SUV veer left, then over correct to the right, sending it into a spin in the grass along the Interstate, then what seemed like slow motion, it rolled 1 1/2 times landing upside down in a water filled ditch.  We were only about 3 cars behind it, so we pulled over right away.  By the time we got out, there was a young woman and young man smashing the heck out of the windows of the overturned SUV and calling out to the passengers.  By now another couple cars had stopped and we were all on our phones trying to get 911.  After it rang about 30 times, I hung up.  Never having called 911 before, I didn't know the phone would stay in emergency mode.  A few minutes later a dispatcher called me back---about the same time everyone else was called back.  In the mean time, we chatted a bit with the young woman who busted out some of the windows.  I mentioned to her that it looked like she'd done that before.  She said more then she'd like to admit.  Turned out she and the young man were off duty policemen on their way to a pool party!  It was amazing watching them take control of the situation!  They were on the vehicle in less then a minute working on getting the occupants out.     Miraculously all 5 passengers were able to crawl out of the overturned car and even walk around.  At highway speeds, I would have thought there would be more serious injuries then a few bumps and bruises.  After all was under control, even the police woman was shaking.   Not sure what any of us would have done if they weren't there.  I've only been around an accident similar to this once before.  That time the lone passenger was thrown from the car and laying face down in a puddle of cold water.  My Dad and I covered her and called for help.  Fortunately a First Responder happened upon the accident right after we did and took care of the lady.  It's stuff like this you never hear about on the news!  All the media wants to report is how evil police are.

 After hanging around the accident scene for about 20 minutes, the fire department arrived.  Figured the police were soon to follow.  Figured we should get on our way and out of the way.
First thing we did when we got to Athens was get brunch.  We went to a place that is a customer of the company Josh works for.  Angie and I shared an egg biscuit (with Tillimook cheese), oven potatoes, and double chocolate pancakes.  It was excellent!  I wouldn't hesitate to go here again!

 Oh yeah---the name of the place---Heirloom.  Certainly not fancy or very big, but great things sometimes come in small packages.

6-18-17  Castelli's Moonlight!!!!

One of our all time favorite restaurants.  And our order is always the same----half chicken, 2 house salads, and fries.  A bit far from our home in St. Louis, but well worth the trip!

6-10-17 Atlanta with the Hickes:

I'm so glad we get along with our kids' inlaws so well.  They really married into some great families!   Josh's folks were still in town and we all decided to go into the city for lunch and to a really nice old historical cemetary there (very botanical!).
It was after noon by the time we got downtown, so we decided to eat first.  Josh, his folks and Ken had never been to Mary Mac's, so we decided that's where we should go for some really great Southern food!  Unfortunately we weren't the only ones with that idea.  Our wait was over 30 minutes.  This was just a fraction of the people waiting.

 Don't know why it's called a Tea Room---they have a full menu, complete with fried chicken, turkey, pork chops, sausage, chicken and dumplings, even stuff like cube steaks!  You write your own order---pick an entree (I got fried chicken and it was really good!), then you choose 2 sides (I got black eyed peas in rice and home made applesauce---loved them, too). 

5-24-17  Dinner and camera club meeting in Lawrenceville:

I was glad the camera club meeting wasn't while we were in Florida.  The speaker today was a bird photographer and apparently makes a living doing so. 
But first, we met Angie and Josh in Lawrenceville for dinner.  Then Ken went back to their house with them and I picked him up after the meeting.
Dinner---another new place for us---Universal Joint.  An interesting bar in the old town area of Lawrenceville.  We were even able to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Hope we get back there!  Gotta get Ken to branch out and leave the Buford/Suwanee area for dinner!

5-12-17 my Birthday dinner!

Angie and I rushed home (4 hour car ride) from KNoxville so that we'd be back in time to go to dinner.  They wanted to take us out to dinner for my birthday before Ken and I left for Florida for 10 days.  I didn't plan that trip too well, we were gone for Mother's Day, as well as my birthday.
I made them choose the restaurant and they chose Bare Bones in historic Buford.  We had been there once before---for Josh's birthday last June---and really enjoyed it, but it is expensive (although not for us since they picked up the bill!).  I was happy to be going back!

 Although I was tempted to go with a salad, I decided to splurge.  Josh suggested we share the special which included porterhouse steak for 2, a side, and a dessert for something like $50.  Guess that's really not bad for 2 people.

2-23-17  a day in Gainesville, Ga:

One of the times that we drove through Gainesville on our way to or from the northern Georgia mountains, we accidentally came upon a really neat street----Green street.  I LOVE Victorian style houses and this street was lined with them.  Each house was different from the next.  I can only imagine what it was like back when they were all residential houses!  Now they're almost all a business of some sort.  In fact, Angie told me one of them is a Mellow Mushroom Pizza parlor.  I've been wanting to go there for a long time.  So today we decided to fulfill that wish.
The Mellow Mushroom restaurant.

Ken decided to try their Italian sandwich.  Guess it was good, he ate it all.

Feb. 1-17  sunset walk to the Costco parking lot:

A while ago we discovered the Costco parking lot was a pretty good place to catch sunset.  Another advantage is that it's only about 1/2 mile from our apartment and on top of a hill.  It looked like we were going to have another pretty sunset tonight, so I decided to walk up there and check it out.  Even found that if I go to the back of the building, I can sit on some steps while I wait for sunset.  Didn't turn out as pretty as last night, but it wasn't bad and the weather was up to 70 again, so it was a great night for a walk.
The clouds looked very promising----

 But I guess the different levels of clouds made for a rather odd sunset.

 The lower clouds were dark by the time the higher clouds turned to colors.

 Looking East was pretty nice, too.

 On my walk, I also took a picture of the sign for our upcoming event at our complex.  Since we've moved to the Preserve at Mill Creek, they've changed management.  I believe this is the 2nd time in a year or 2.  We liked the management when we moved in, but the new ones seem to be very good, too.  The new ones are always trying to do something to involve the renters.  They've had a cheese and wine reception, a movie night, and I think there were a couple other things.  We've been out of town for all of them.  We'll be around for this one, but don't think they want our blood.

For dinner we ended up at Friend's Bar and Grill for wings Wednesday.  Love the tables with the stickers laminated into the table tops.  Especially liked this sticker.

 Great little bar and great wings!

We even went to a couple thrift stores.  The corner of the livingroom where I normally sit when I'm in there is pretty dark.  So when I saw this lamp/side table for $6, I figured it would serve the purpose!

Another beautiful winter day here in Georgia.  Now we need to get the trees full of leaves and flowers again!

1-28-17  Big day for the old guy!

Ken turned 65 today!  Another milestone reach---he's now on Medicare!  Can't believe we're that old already!  Where has the time gone?!  Just so happened his birthday was on a Saturday and the kids decided it was a good time for our monthly meet up brunch.  So the girls picked Maple Street restaurant in Chattanooga as the brunch spot this month and we met Tim and Faith there about noon (a 2 hour drive for us and a 1.5 hour drive for them).  Brunch and our 1.5-2 hour visit was great.

 It had quite a line of customers waiting to order their lunch at the counter.

 Mostly biscuit items which they're known for

 and a few other lunch items.

 a table opened up while we were in line, so Josh went and grabbed it. 

 They have quite the system going.  Food was ready very quickly.  They asked what your goal was for the year and that's how they announced when to come pick your order up.  Ken's goal was to live another day, Angie and Josh's was to have a baby, and I don't remember Tim and Faith's.

I got the Reinhold.  I was a little concerned about the honey mustard on the biscuit, but it wasn't bad.  I did disassemble my sandwich and ate the chicken and biscuit separately.  Josh had ordered a side of Hashups which I helped him eatup.  It was all very yummy!

There were lots of presents there, too.  We had seen Tim and Faith a couple times in the past month, but Angie and Josh hadn't.  So they brought Christmas presents for them and a birthday present for Tim whose birthday was Dec. 22.

 Faith taking a group photo.

 Angie and Josh

 Birthday old guy with one of his gifts. 

 brother and sister----our babies!

 The happy couple wanting to get a baby this year.  Adoption papers are all done, now they wait.

 Faith showing off where we are.

Angie told Faith now that she's a Southern Belle she has to have monogrammed stuff.   So she's started them off.

 Tim moving on to birthday presents.

Tim and Faith Christmas present was a double hammock for their hiking.   I kind of blew that surprise when we were there in Jan.  I went shopping with them and when we were in REI Faith kept talking about getting a hammock for their hikes.  I asked didn't Angie and Josh get them one for Christmas to which she answered they hadn't gotten presents from them yet----ooops!

Our time in the parking meters was running out, so we took that as a sign that it was time to part.  But it was another wonderful brunch with all the kids----something we didn't do that much of when we all lived a couple miles from each other! 

Took us all moving away to make the time to all get together!  Should have moved years ago!!!