Friday April 2, 2010

Still people in and out of the house. So, we just hung out and visited for the day. That night we went to meet my good pal Mitch for a drink in Downtown Winder! My first legal drink in big Winder! ( not that was ever that young, it is just that I have never lived in Winder when they could pour a drink.) These are Mitch's friends, my cousin Greg and his wife Anne. We ate frog legs and had a couple of beers.

THEN the most lucky of all things, JODI was in Athens! She dropped Eli off in Atlanta for Spring break with his dad, then came over to the Classic City to bring some things from Jenny to Fraiser ( who is like a Junior at UGA, yes we are all O-L-D ). Very good to see her, no property was damaged, Kyle and Jodi, back in Athens. It had been a long time. We had to get back to Winder pretty early, so we must met out by the big mall , seen here with people that we did not know. Ate Calamari.
Hot Pink Leopard Mules.. because she can.
Not done with the food Odyssey for the night, add to the frogs and squid:

Sonic Jr. Fritos Chili Cheese Wrap

Ok, also, the prize that kiddies get in a Sonic Happy Meal: look closely. Yes, it is the killer killer whale from Sea World. You just can not make this stuff up.
Yes, our night cap was pepto. But, it was very VERY good to see my old friends after the past few days.

Saturday April 3erd, 2010

Things are a little fuzzy. Saturday Morning... we must have slept in, a little bit.

Got up, drove to Dunwoody, so Neil could go to The Great Vigil at Chip's church, St. Bart's, where we go for Christmas, but those kooky Druid Hills Episcopalians were doing their big day along with the Bunny, having TGV on Easter Morning. I did go to Ikea, since somehow , me going to my Ikea over in Hamilton, Ontario is a threat to national security.

Lucky for us Brenda was in town from L.A. and smuggled in her suitcase lots of avocados from the trees in her yard, so we made some very yummy guacamole! Grilled some burgers, hot dogs and vegan veggie burgers.. ( the LA crowd )

Then Brenda cut Logan's hair. Remember, Susan and Paul don't have cable.
Everyone went to bed pretty early. Brenda had to go to church in Clayton,

the Spencer's were headed to the beach, and we had to get back to Winder.

Sunday April 4th, 2010

EASTER SUNDAY

We left Susan and Paul's, came back to Winder. Everyone else went to church and to Easter Luncheon over and Mike and Laurie's. We skipped that and just hung out at the house till everyone else came over, to follow my Dad's wishes and scatter his ashes around his beloved garden in the back yard.

It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, really too hot for early April, just the kind of weather that he loved. So, it was fine. Neil wrote and read a beautiful prayer.
Gathered to drink a toast to Pete afterwards, he always liked that as well.
Little Laura Kate, who I would not hold, and her very sweet daddy Russell. The day before was her first birthday. We missed the party.
My nephew Ryan , who is home from the Marines.
Freta, who never drinks beer, drank ½ a bottle of beer, and asked " how could ANYONE drink six whole beers ? ", the tea I was drinking came out my nose. We just sat around chatting, very low key. Everyone left, Neil and I went to a yummy little local Cuban restaurant for some dinner. We loaded up the car for our early - long - day to come.

Monday April , 5th 2010

Freta woke us up at like 4:30, and shock of shock, We were in the fully loaded car, coffee in hand at 4:48, making our way down Mystic Lane. Leave that early and driving is close to a piece of cake. The sun came up over North Carolina

All was well until we hit some big ole cluster in Somewhere/Nowhere West Virginia. Stood still for over an hour.....
Made it to the Greater Fingerlakes area about 11pm, a fun 18 hour car trip. Picked up Koda , had our wonderful welcome home surprise and CRASHED, hard. Happy to be in our own bed.

Here comes Peter Cottontail....

Very traditional Easter here for us, wake up, come home, spread your Dad's ashes in the back yard ( it is a big back yard) have some darn good Cuban food! ( thanks for the tip, Jason ) pack the car and drive to Mendon, by way of Fairport to fetch Koda. Many thanks to the always wonderful and I am sure very tired Dahn for sending the pic of Koda enjoying his Easter lamb bone.

It really does seem like we have been down here for a month. For the happy happy Monk of Mendon, to be as outgoing as well as on the go for the last week has been an ordeal. I am glad that everyone gathered one more time today, so we got to say our good byes. This was a whole lot of hugging ,as well as ,a set of new parents that had yet to learn the hula hoop rule about Uncle Kyle. ( under 21, you may come as close as a hula hoop is large...) They seemed a bit put out that I would not hold their dear ( it is a very cute baby) child. BUT, someone down here found a picture of me holding my nephew when he was a baby.. so, I have done it once, and well, that is really enough.

I am tired, my liver is tired, my feet are tired, my brain is tired, my being is tired. I am looking forward to just me and Neil and some Stucky's pecan logs tomorrow. Every how many hours to just wind down from all that has gone on this past week. I'll say it one more time, before the official post to come when I am home on my computer: I could not have done this with out the love and support of so many dear friends, see, you can tell I am tired, I am being mushy. I do not really have a support system in Winder, so I was most happy to see pals from ATL here in Winder ( Moopahs in the house! ) and I could just feel the love just pouring out of Upstate NY ( and Tennessee and Texas and Florida and Alabama......) Who ever yall were sending those good thoughts too heard you and gave me a hand on the shoulder and a little dose of non pink football bravery to get through this. I hope I can find the words to let you all know how much knowing you were there meant to me.

Next post should be from my happy little sty of an office with photos!
Neil will facebook post from the road....

time, time , time, see what's become of my life

I have been a slack blogger, mia culpa, I mean, it is Easter and all.
Funny, more than a few people have mentioned how things are slower in the South than where I live. All of them are thinking New York City. The pace in good ole Mendon, makes Snails look speedy. So, for me, a lot has been going on. Pictures have been taken and stories will be shared once I get back to my little pocket of non real reality.

There are lots of things to share and many people to thank for the last week. Like I told an old Winder buddy, you can really tell who your good friends are in times like this, or did he say that to me? Time and space are a little bit confused at this point. There is a universe of kindness out there, and I consider myself very lucky to have the friends/family of choice, that I do have.

We are headed home on Monday, no stopping, express to Koda.

'twas beauty that killed the beast.

Very little on the planet is as pretty as North Georgia in late March early April. Every color you can think of exploding from every corner of every yard. Flowers, trees, bushes and vines, Welcome Spring!
It has been a long time since I have been down here for this annual extravaganza.... so I had forgot how freaking sick all this stuff makes me! My head is exploding along with the azaleas and weeping cherries. Right now, all that good old Mendon Mud is looking pretty good.