For Bob and Peggy: Food, Glorious Food, etc., etc.

By now you know the routine:  we fly to Atlanta, take care of appointments, spend a weekend with the kids, spend the next Sunday - Thursday with Bob and Peggy while the kids work and Nicholas is in school, and then go to the cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains before winding down to fly back home.

This is the time with Bob and Peggy when we weren't at the Skyview Atlanta Ferris wheel or the Candler Field Museum and airport.  And this is the time when Astrid in particular finally relaxes and says "This is vacation."

Fasten your seatbelts, especially if you like good food and drink.

First of all, Bob and Peggy got married in 2004 while I worked in assisted living before retirement.

Peggy was the executive director and I was lucky to attend their wedding.

Shortly after that, they started building their house out in the boonies south of Atlanta.

THIS house.  And I've been there every year since...now with Astrid.

In case you wonder why we like to go there, it's the FOOD, stupid!  HA!

Let's start with breakfast.  Look at who makes the waffles.

To tell you the truth, they both do the cooking.

And we all do the eating.

See, Peggy does her own part, this time for lunch.

And we all do the eating.

To cater to our Dutchness, they even make their own split-pea soup.

And we all do the eating.

By late afternoon, it's time to test the home brew!

This year we got to taste Bob's Chateau Roscoe Chardonnay and Chilian Malbec.

Roscoe is their dog!

See!?!?!  That's Roscoe.

We first celebrated the fabulous brew out on the wrap-around porch.

If it wasn't his wine, it was Bob's Brew of beer, Horansky style.

He's been making beer for years, so we knew what to expect.

We Cheer Beer!

And if that wasn't enough, Bob even made us a mean banana martini.

By now I know what you're thinking:  what boozers.  HA!

But you couldn't be farther from the truth.

Everything in moderation, one drink at a time...over several days, of course.

And to show you the truth whereof I speak, check out the basement.

I suppose if it were meth it would be Breaking Bad (which I've yet to see)?

By the time you get to supper, you'd better have an appetite...

as though you hadn't eaten all day, of course.

See how Bob and Peggy both do the cooking together?

It's a beauty to behold.  A joint collaboration.

And we all do the eating.

Then there's the fun-n-games, like with Bob's 1951 GM toy.

Last year he was just starting to restore it.

This year we were queens for a day, taking a ride.

Every morning Astrid and Bob took Roscoe for a walk.

Astrid put the GPS watch on her arm one day (above left).

The next day she put it on Roscoe's collar (above right).

Isn't that the cat's meow!

In the afternoons Astrid and I took our own walks together,

once to Jackson Lake right down the road.

That particular day and time the kids were getting out of school.

Did you know the Dutch have a few of these American school buses that are party buses here?  Yup.

Another day we walked two miles down the road to the corner store,

and luxuriated in the autumnal abundance in front of us.

And since it just happens to be Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, how's that for an ending note!

Good God, good friends, good food...let's eat!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!