The Cumming Country Fair, 2013

Many of you know that "we" have taken Nicholas to the Cumming Country Fair every year since he was two.  Well, except for last year, because we made our annual trip in August (instead of October) in order to make it to Peter's wedding!

That makes 11 times in his 13 years!  Yup.  He's a teenager and still wants to go to the fair...maybe now more than ever.

And this time we roped Uncle Mark into going with us...like a couple of times before.

We went on a Friday night after school, just before supper, while it was still light.

And since we started out "tame," we did the bumper cars first...all of us.

G'ma becomes maniacal on that ride.  Watch out everybody!

Actually, Astrid had already made a stab at her prerequisite sharp-shooting skills.

Don't ever double-cross a woman like her with a gun in hand!  HA!

That's one serious sharp-shooter.

She and Nicholas also had their first twirl on the twirl-a-whirl, but more on that later....

It was time to eat our turkey-leg supper...one of our favorite memories.

This year Nicholas ate an entire leg all by himself!  Yup.  He's a teenager!

Then one of our favorite rides...a calming one for after supper...the skylift.

This was my first day/event to use my new Canon PowerShot camera.

I was like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

Besides, it's the longest ride of the fair at almost 15 minutes.

It gives you a slow, lazy overview of the fair, to see if there's anything new this year!

Also, at the end of the skylift ride, you're a hop, skip and a jump away from the Indian Village.

It's the calm, cool and collected thing you want to do after you eat.

Which we did.

The shows are the same each year, so we didn't stay...

just long enough for the photo-op of this Cherokee cleaning out his gun before his next shoot-out.
(Don't mess with Astrid!!!)

Walking back to the fair from the Indian Village, we saw the one ride that was new for us.

Astrid and Nicholas had already tried it earlier but wanted to have another go at it.

But while Mark and I watched (and A & N stood in line waiting!), someone else didn't "make" it,

and the cleaning crew had to come out.

Since that took forever...A & N stopped waiting....

...and decided to go back on the twirl-a-whirl.

Let's just say Astrid really knows how to "manipulate" it!

Then we ate their homemade strawberry ice cream like we do every year...and that was it!

Nicholas has already decided that NEXT year he'll take his friend with him.

There's always next year to look forward to...when maybe he'll dare take some other rides.

He's nearing that fearless age.....

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Since this is the last post on our time with the kids, here are a few more images of in-between times in Atlanta (in-between time in Savannah with Bob and Peggy and our time at the cabin in the North Georgia mountains, last post):

 Astrid wanted you to see how much of the 2000-pc. puzzle we finished while at the cabin

Amy rolled it up to finish at home.

One of the first things I did after arriving was look at the photobook I had made of Nicholas.

Once he turned 13 in July, I got the idea to make a book for Amy of his pre-teen years.

All 110 pages, 1,000 images...Shutterfly's limit (which you can puruse on my left sidebar).

And did I mention I also bought an iPad4, waiting for me?

Amy helped me get with the program.

You really CAN teach an old dog new tricks...and I LOVE it.

(BTW, selling my heavy bazooka lens was enough to pay for the new camera AND the iPad4...

a win-win situation, I hope, for my sciatic problems!)

 Surely I've told you before that Amy is a gourmet cook and we're the lucky guinea pigs.

Since Astrid took these images, I threw in her delightful manhole cover...

with no possibble connection whatsoever!

Here's Oscar, a real lover-boy (while CC hides who-knows-where).

And speaking of lover-boys, here are Bob and Marc meeting us the day we flew back home.

It's always good to catch up on friends....

Speaking of which, next up will be our time with Bob and Peggy in Savannah!

Till then, BOO, in honor of All Hallow's Eve tomorrow.

 This is the full moon from the cabin on October 18th...hand-held with my new camera,

and tweaked with some PicMonkey art.  :)

The North Georgia Mountain Cabin

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, we're back from our annual trip to America!  Did it really come and go so quickly?

And since we packed a wallop into that 2+ weeks, I'll start with the last first...our time with the kids in the North Georgia mountains. 

It's my 4th year as a family (Astrid's 3rd) to rent a cabin 2 hours north of Atlanta, but this time in a different one altogether...just as nice and with another spectacular view:

We're so lucky that owners rent out these homes away from home.

It's not hard to settle in immediately.

This was our first year to add an extra night, making it Thursday - Monday.

We kept saying it made all the difference in the world!

As you'd guess, our time was often centered around food.

Daughter Amy and Dennis were the cooks....

...along with son Mark's bran muffins (and carrot cake!)...

...and s'mores, of course, at least twice in between games of Spades.

Astrid and I were the chief bottle washers.  A nice exchange!

There was also ping pong, pool, football, jigsaw-puzzle making, laptop time...

Square Up (a new game for us)...

...and the hot tub for Uncle Mark and Nicholas, the boys.

I even had time to make the lining for Amy's last (of 5) cross-stitch Xmas stocking.

And then Astrid and I were off on our own, taking walks in the beauty of Mother Nature all around us.

Do you notice something????  A new Canon PowerShot camera for me, yes!

It replaces my 28-300 mm bazooka lens that was aggravating my sciatic issues.

I sold that lens to a fellow blogger and used that money to buy the new camera and an iPad4.

The new camera is 24-1200 mm, for you camera buffs...my new travel camera that also shoots in RAW.

 This was October 17-21, just about peak time for the autumn leaves.

My favorite time of the year!

That time of the year, too.

Trick or treat?

Impressions, impressions, impressions...even in the North Georgia mountains!

How can you say NO to that!  

We were there during the full moon on October 18th...and the sunrise on the 21st, the day we left.

All my images here are with my new camera, barely tweaked.

I'm a happy camper!

TRIER, Germany: Part 2

So, to carry on from my last post, here's what we saw the rest of our day in Germany's oldest city, Trier.

Besides the Porta Nigra and the Kaiserthermen Roman baths, it was the Dom, Trier's Church of Our Lady cathedral, where we spent our most time.  It is Germany's oldest cathedral, from the early 4th century, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

Before we saw it up close and personal, we saw it from afar all day long.

 Later, when we stood in front of it, we couldn't get it all in one frame!  It's HUGE.

And as you'd guess, there's a lot going on all around it, no matter where you are.

Like a wedding, for example, when we passed by in the trolley car!

Inside, of course, is something else.

The nave, towards the altar, shows the Baroque chapel above,

supposedly holding the Seamless Robe of Jesus, from shortly before his crucifixion.
See all the people waiting in line to peek in!

Like all the other tourists, we climbed up behind the altar to the chapel but weren't allowed to go in.

We used the opportunity to look back to the opposite end of the nave, to the west-end choir.

Back down on the main floor, we were able to view the choir's Baroque 1196 stucco-work in the vault.

How many times have I told you that the museums we go to in Europe are these cathedrals!
What more could you possibly need?

It's true!  We're always short of eyes.

We briefly went outside the main nave to the cloisters, to get a different vantage point.

But it was this boy with his mom inside the nave who stole my heart that day!

I thought of grandson Nicholas, now 13, lighting a candle for someone...maybe for me?

 The rest of the day we wandered around and saw more churches, of course...

St. Paulus Church (left), St. Irminen Monastery (top-right), the New Synagogue from 1957 (bottom-center), and the former Clarisse convent of St. Mary Magdalene (bottom-right).
Just glimpses.

And since I'm on the subject, niches everywhere in Roman Catholic country....

...sacred and secular.

And gable stones...

...and other fun stuff.

Impressions.  Impressions.  Impressions.

...even if I do show an image more than once in 2 different collages.  HA!
It's true:  I often don't know if I'm coming or going.  :)

By now it was time to go back to the car, but first, we wanted to see the Moselle river
with its Römerbrücke Roman bridge from the 2nd century AD--Germany's oldest bridge.
The bridge itself, of course, is much newer but the pillars beneath are O.L.D.
Nearby, a railing along the river bank sported a few love padlocks...something I now "collect."

 And then walking a bit further down the river, we found one of 2 old treadwheel cranes
for loading and unloading river cargo, this one from 1413.
Doesn't it remind you of a windmill, kinda sorta?



And as we say in Dutch, Dat was het.  That was it.  Trier.

We got in our car and drove into Luxembourg for the rest of our trip...

Good-bye, Trier.  Hello Luxembourg!

And now the Luxembourg Trip is done!  In case you missed the other posts (in order of posting but not in order of when we saw them on our trip), nine posts altogether from our 4 days, including this one :

Eschfeld, Germany: the St. Luzia Parish Church
Clervaux, Luxembourg: the Church and the CastleBELGIUM: Bastogne and La Roche-en-ardenne
The Luxembourg-Trip Picnics
LUXEMBOURG: Echternach
Germany and Luxembourg Border Skirmish
Luxembourg City
TRIER, Germany: Part 1

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As an FYI, Astrid and I fly to America on Saturday for our annual trip to see family and friends.  (Now you know why I wanted to finish this Luxembourg trip!)  We'll be gone for almost 3 weeks, back on October 23rd.  And if I'm lucky,  I may even post something before we return, but if not...you'll know why!