Mom's Taxi Gets a Break

Well unfortunately for Bryan his football season that began with training in April ended abruptly Friday night when they lost in the first round of play-offs. Everyone was stunned, it was a really good season the team was 9-2, and I am sure he made lifelong friends. I can tell they are really making a man out of him, because this morning despite temps in the 30s and 40 mph winds he got up early and walked the 1/2 mile to the bus stop, not waking me for a ride. His workouts continue even though the season is over. It is so nice not to run him around everywhere, but I must admit, we have our best talks when we have uninterrupted time in the car, also when I am transporting his friends which happened often, I would get to catch up on the latest things going on in the mysterious life of 15 year olds.








So our nights are a lot less hectic now until March when baseball starts up again.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

We were all snuggled in our camper on Lake Allatoona Friday night. It was very foggy and still, when we were awoken by loud crash, when a 40 foot tall tree decided it was the perfect time to drop one of its branches. It came right through the window sending shards of glass everywhere in the camper. Luckily no one was sleeping under the window they would have been injured for sure. We spent the next hour carefully looking for glass pieces, which when we were sure we found them all, another one would appear. Jim and I were shaken up from the sudden jolt, the boys on the other hand, didn't hear a thing! Jim taped up the window and reinforced it with cardboard since it was going to be in the 30s by morning.

We managed to have a nice family weekend after that watching the new Indiana Jones movie, Get Smart with Steve Karel and a movie called 21, we liked them all. We also built a campfire, played Monopoly and Chris and I (a budding artist maybe?) drew pictures and took crazy pictures. Here are shots I took of the lake and fall foliage:

Rochesterians Everywhere

It is amazing how often Jim and I meet somebody from Rochester or Upstate NY. Last night we started Bryan with a Geometry tutor ($50 an hour!) to try and pull him out of a tailspin in that class and they saw my Adirondacks sweatshirt. Apparently they spend summers in Alexandria Bay, they honeymooned in the Adirondacks, her mother had been in Old Forge last year, their niece goes to Nazareth College and a nephew is at Brockport and on and on.

Then we find out a neighbor 3 doors down grew up in Fairport,NY. One of our franhise owners went to the U of R. Jim is working on a house of a lady from Rochester. And one of my coworkers here is from Buffalo with relatives in Rochester!

The same thing happened to us when we lived in Florida, I guess we always find each other because of the accent!

Autumn in Georgia

After living in south Florida for many years, one of the things we were most looking forward to when we moved "up north to the deep south" was getting autumn back. We really enjoy it, and are going on a chilly camping trip this weekend, looking forward to keeping warm by the campfire.

Recently, we had my nieces join us at the campground and they really enjoyed playing in the leaves... remember when this was the best thing?

Here is a great shot I took at the Chestatee River near Dahlonega:

My Brother's brush with the Pres

My brother and sister in law's band Double Funk Crunch http://www.doublefunkcrunch.com/ played for a rally when Obama was trying to get the nomination. Ever since he met him he was an over the top supporter. He had been very impressed with his charisma. Obama stopped to pose for a picture with the band:

What a keepsake this picture is now!

Way to go Bro!

Whatever Gets You Through the Day

I for one, don't know what I ever did before streaming became available. We have an awesome radio station here in ATL called Dave FM http://www.929dave.fm/ they play all sorts of new music I ordinarily wouldn't hear any other way. It really keeps my creativity flowing when I am faced with a new layout to do.

My office mates and I are frequently in stitches over our favorite DJ Mara Davis who coincidently got her start in Rochester. She has a program called Radio Free Lunch with a theme each day and we often send her requests. Being loyal listeners, she mentions us now and then and last year she even invited us down to the station to hang out during her show. We had a blast! If you are ever looking for something new to stream I highly recommend it!

Here is a pic from our studio visit:

Sushi

I have finally decided to give Sushi a try, ( it took until I was 20 years old to try Chinese food--believe it or not!) my girlfriends all seem to enjoy it, so recently at one of my perks of the job ( a restaurant review) we were treated to the best the chef had to offer, our reviews usually pack the restaurant for the next month. I get picture duty and the editor always seems to hit the mark with describing the essence of the establishment.

The Miso soup gave me the willys but my favorite dish was the Tuna Tartar, it was amazing, indescribable really! So now if I didn't have enough other food to crave now I keep thinking about my next foray into the sushi world. The chefs are truly artists!

Here is the shot I took:

Voting

I'm glad to say voting was no problem at all, after the news promising hours of waiting, Jim went to check it out this morning and called to tell me there was no line at all! So I ran over in did my patriotic duty in less than 10 minutes!

One down one to go

Chris's baseball season ended yesterday with a bang, he got a great hit to the fence, his first of the season (his hitting slump was tough on all of us). So I am happy to say Baseball is over for a few months, it makes the pace of our lives slow down a bit. Bryan still has a few more football games. Then mom's taxi service will have some time off!

It is nice to be "forced" to be outside and unplugged, watching the games.

Here is the slugger in action:

Halloween Update

The evening went off as planned, Chris finished up his costume and ran off with his buddies. I hung out in front of the fireplace the neighbors put out in their driveway , handing out candy with Jim. Schatzie dressed up as a ladybug.  Then I ran off to the football game and got my pictures for the magazine and watched Bryan's team make school history getting their 8th win. Here is the Hippie: