Our Atlanta Trip 2024

 

So swiftly fly the years!

Once again, it's the schedule/routine we've grown to love:  one week with daughter Amy, a week at the cabin, followed by a week with son Mark.

1:  At Amy's, October 17-24.

First and foremost, we met her new cat, Nacho, her lover-boy!

And then reacquainted ourselves with her neighborhood on our daily walks

at this fun time of year, with Halloween and Thanksgiving just around the corner.

That first weekend we rendezvoused with Mark and g'son Nicholas for Mexican,

celebrating all our birthdays in one swell foop.

[photo credit:  Astrid]

And then Amy and I voted.  [More on that at the end.]

Even Nacho wanted to vote:  "Please, oh, pretty please???"

I think Kamala wanted to let him!

As we had done in 2015 with Dennis and Nicholas, we decided to go back to Six Feet Under,

the restaurant across the street from the Oakland Cemetery, with just the 3 of us.

Oakland Cemetery is Atlanta's oldest "public park," worth seeing over and over again,

which I'm sure we'll do maybe even next year...again.

But what was new for us this year was Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground.

It's one of Georgia's best-kept secrets I never knew!

And we saw only part of the 300+ acres!

[photo credit:  Astrid]

2.  At the Cabin in the North Georgia Mountains near Blue Ridge, October 24-28.

It was a new cabin this year and, even before opening the door, I took this pano iPhone pic

and immediately said to g'son Nicholas, "This is the one!"

[photo credit:  Astrid]

4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 1 powder room, for 8 people (but only 6 of us).

A kitchen for Amy (the cook) to die for, great walking access, and a view for the soul.

Absolutely nothing to complain about; everything to praise!

And we finally got to meet Mark's girlfriend, Melissa!

Sorry for the duplicate image but what a joy it was to meet her

and to see them both happy and in love with each other.

[right-middle image is from Mark's house the next week]

Speaking of good walking access, Astrid and I got back inside just before the only rain of the stay.

And, yes, that's actually a rainbow in that top-middle image.

One day Mark drove Astrid and me to the nearby Stanley Rapids off the Toccoa River.

[Melissa had to go back home early--long story--and wasn't with us, sadly.]

Lots of Swoop (new card game), movies, football, and GOOD FOOD,

thanks to Amy who loves orchestrating the breakfast and dinner meals.

All I did was bake Mark's all-bran  muffin mix each morning and wash the breakfast dishes!

3:  At Mark's, October 28-November 5.

First order of business once down the mountain at Mark's house

was getting reacquainted with Piper, his cat of 14 years.

As Nacho is to Amy, Piper is to Mark!  She's very loyal to him.

Besides lazing around and playing lots of Five Crowns, the 3 of us took 2 trips.

The first was to the quaint city of Dahlonega for lunch, 33 miles away,

followed by a visit to Amicalola Falls another 20 miles further.

Both were past memories I wanted Astrid to see.

The second trip was to the Cherokee Bluffs Park less than 5 miles from Mark's house

and a new place for all of us, which we will definitely want to visit each year

for the exercise and the therapeutic, soulful beauty.

We had one last chance to see Melissa, who came over for a game night,

while grieving the loss of her dog of 10 years, Watson, who had to be put down

because of terminal cancer (which was the reason why she had to leave the cabin earlier).

All that plus movies in Mark's newly-upgraded home theater, plus one evening of football

for GEORGIA (Mark) and OREGON (Nicholas) and MICHIGAN (moi).

The grand finale with Mark, 3 years in a row now, was his Dungeon's & Dragons potluck,

where Mark cooked a brisket on his pellet grill.  Enough food to sink a ship!

Needless to say, we left for home with full tummies and hearts and souls.

* * * * * * * * * *

That was the 5th, Tuesday, Election Day for America's Presidential Election.  We arrived home in the Netherlands the next day, finding out soon thereafter that Trump was to become our next President.

This is the only story I can tell right now, a week+ later, following the initial gut-punch:

Kamala Harris did NOT lose.  

She ran one of the greatest campaigns in American history FOR the middle class.

Trump did NOT win.

Sadly, it won't be long before Americans and the world find out why.

DISINFORMATION won!

And it's happening all over the world, including here in the Netherlands.

Can we figure out how to counter it?  I sure hope so!

Our Atlanta Trip 2023

 

Just like clockwork, it's that time of the year again, when we look back on our annual reunion with my kids in the Atlanta area, which just happened October 19-November 7.

We've settled into a 3-part routine, now that son Mark has his own house:  Amy's house, the cabin, and Mark's house.  It works like a charm, 3 years in a row thus far.

1.  Amy's House in Roswell, GA, October 19-26 (Thursday-Thursday):

It was a 24-hour travel day for Astrid and me on Thursday, arriving late at Amy's,

which, for the record, will change going forward (says she who is too old for this sh**).

So, Friday was our day to settle in before Angie joined us for Mexican that evening.

Angie has been Amy's BFF for years and finally got to meet Astrid.

[credit:  Astrid]

Astrid, btw, had a chance to walk the neighborhood that day while I went through mail, etc.

Saturday was game day (MICHIGAN football), so Amy helped get me in the mood.  HA!

We hadn't even had a sip of her Bloody Marys before something set me off laughing.

It was probably the celery "trees."  😁

The good news is that son Mark joined us at Amy's for a 'wings" spread before the evening game...

and also that MICHIGAN blew out the game against rival MICHIGAN STATE, 49-0.

For all the times I've sat through nail-biters, it felt good to finally just relax.

I neglected to mention that Amy treated us to brunch that Saturday morning

at her favorite Kona Grill, continuing a tradition she started with us last year.

Also, because Mark was there, this was when I gave both kids my new book, Hart Whispers.

Sunday was grocery shopping, playing games with Amy, and watching an evening movie.

At some point Astrid and I also took walks in the lovely neighborhood.

Monday morning we took a walk at the park along the nearby Chattahoochee River,

a tradition started 2 years ago, and a favorite of ours.

This was Amy's "take" on us.

That evening she treated us to one of her favorite meals:  clam linguine.

It was a first for me and was delicious!

Tuesday's big event was eating lunch at J Alexander's where g'son Nicholas works in the kitchen.

It was a proud moment for Mom and G'ma to watch him work,

as well as enjoying him for a few minutes while on break,

Nicholas is now 23.

[credit:  Astrid]

Another walk from Astrid outside the neighborhood on Wednesday...

as well as restringing the lights on Amy's Japanese Maple tree in her terrace.

She had done this once 2 years ago, lasting 6 months before the squirrels chewed them off.

This year Amy has a mint spray to apply twice weekly to hopefully solve the problem!

I guess we'll find out next year...but talk about a labor of love, twice.

2.  The Cabin in the North Georgia Mountains, October 26-30 (Thursday-Monday):

What we all love about this middle time is that it's neutral ground where we can all live together for 5 days in the same house, forgetting the outside world and just having fun.  "Eat, drink and be merry" comes to mind.

[photo credit:  Astrid]

First of all, it was a new cabin for us this year, in one of the valleys.

We won't choose it again because we all decided we love the huge windows of the other cabins better,

allowing us to overlook the mountains surrounding us.  But for this time, it was was lovely and cozy.

It's hard to say what's most important to us in those 5 days, but my guess is it's the food,

around which we have several hours total at the same table, enjoying each other!

Amy cooks breakfast and dinner, the boys clear the table and dishwasher,

and Astrid and I do the dishes...every year.

Amy's shrimp boil on the porch was the winner this year, added to the "tradition" list.

And then all the rest:  jigsaw puzzle, board/card games, football and movies.

Because the weather was unseasonably warm (in the 70s F each day),

we spent most of our daytime on the covered porch, playing games.

Oh, and Astrid and I learned Cribbage this year, finally.

Astrid and I were the main ones who did the puzzle this year,

on the new (movable!) puzzle case Amy found for us to use each year!

For some strange reason, Astrid and I are almost always the only ones who take walks!

Because we were in the valley, we had incredible options for walks in the forest.

Just what the doctor ordered for us both!

[credit:  Astrid]

But I must say, Astrid does the most walking, beating even me!

[photo credit:  Astrid]

Once Monday comes, it's time to pack up and drive down the mountain back home,

eating a late breakfast around 10:30 at Waffle House.

You can see why this "Middle Time" is our heaven on earth, every year.

3.  Mark's House in Flowery Branch, GA, October 30-November 7 (Monday-Tuesday):

From Waffle House we said our good-byes to Amy and Nicholas and headed with Mark to his home for the duration.

At Mark's, it's MOVIES in his downstairs theater on his full-wall screen.  OMG.

The new Avatar movie was what we had especially been waiting to see (and did not disappoint).

But he's also the food genius when it comes to his pellet grill...another "hobby."

It was my first time to ever eat meatloaf cooked on a grill.

And speaking of the grill, he made another brisket for Dungeons & Dragons night

with one of his 4 campaign teams...another tradition we love keeping, making a potluck out of it,

and still getting our education about that game, while we listen in the background!

Sometimes the good eating was while we were out-n-about at lunch time,

with Mark's special "take" on us, which made us happy.

(BTW, this was the year Astrid and I both bought clothes we needed...a first for us!)

Even Piper, the cat, seems to enjoy the life we live at Mark's.  

More walks for Astrid and me in the neighborhood on beautiful, warm days...

[credit:  Astrid]

and on one unexpected very-frosty morning for Astrid.

[credit:  Astrid]

Astrid wins, hands down, the walking challenge, no matter where we are.

I'm proud of her and am inspired by her.

And then, when all good things come to an end, we have our "last supper,"

with Amy and Nicholas joining us for Japanese hibachi...another tradition.

It's when we all say good-bye to each other until next year.

This trip is the biggest peg on which our year hangs and will continue as long as we're able.

We're getting smarter each year with how we travel, flying direct, for one thing,

using smaller suitcases and taking fewer clothes with us.

And, as Astrid says, we're old enough to finally start being "selfish" about our choices.

I hope that makes sense to you because it sure makes sense to us!