Sunday, May 24, 2009

Georgia Trip

We got up before 4:00 a.m. on Thursday the 21st and left not long after for the SLC airport. Richard picked us up from the Atlanta airport after we got in from Houston. We did enjoy fish tacos at Pappasito's in the Houston International Airport. We ate at a new 50's diner behind the Blue Willow Inn that night.

Right across the street from the Sells' (Richard and Rosemarie) downtown home (they live in their country home most of the time and let us use their home in town) a young couple moved in. Turns out that the young man grew up mostly in Logan. His dad was down helping them move in. The parents now live in Alaska, but spent many years in Cache Valley.

We jog (Gayle walks while I go back and forth) in the mornings. Typical of trees in town are the ones shown here. I'm standing next to one of many huge Magnolias. The next shot is one of many, many Pecan trees.

And here is one of the Magnolia blossoms close-up.

This is typical of the architecture in town.

We were surprised, after coming to Social Circle (the town) for over 30 years (but never getting around town much) that not far from us is a beautiful lake with homes around it.

This is one of the homes we like in town that we saw on our morning jog. We especially liked the landscaping.

On Friday evening I went with Richard. He is certified as a boxing judge and scores pro bouts about once a month. This one was at a venue in downtown Atlanta, but in a rather less than desirable part of town. Here's the next door building and some of the rubble near the boxing gym where the matches were held. Usually the venues are better.

There were many amateur bouts, followed by two pro fights that Richard helped score. This is a clip from the first pro fight. There was a lot of down time so I read magazines (the Liahona in Spanish and the New Era).

The Blue Willow Inn is a great restaurant in town. Here it is from the front.


Behind the Blue Willow is a row of new businesses, including this 50's diner. We stopped back in to get an orange freeze and take some shots.

Next to the diner is a Creation Museum of Natural History. This is from a wall of butterflies.


And this was from part of the minerals section.


There was a good animated presentation about the plan of salvation featuring Mr. Lion and his little friend the lamb. Note the cross and stone in front of a tomb in the background.


Here's Gayle in the lobby of the museum.


On Saturday we spent time with Richard, Rosemarie, David, and Katie out at their country home. Here's Gayle drinking apple juice out of a bottle that had held a mango health potion that Rosemarie bought from a chiropractor who claimed it had healing properties (against arthritis, etc.) And while at the house, we got to see some of the family of red foxes that have a den next to their long driveway, and also Rosemarie's vegetable garden (from which we picked snow peas for lunch).


Here are Katie and David. Katie's an OB-GYN nurse and is ready to go to work. Here she's cutting up celery for Rosemarie's home-made lentil soup.


I have just sauteed the snow peas (or sugar snap peas) and Rosemarie approves. We also had black-eyed peas, corn bread, chicken, new potatoes with cheese, fried okra, etc.


While Richard and I went to boxing in Atlanta, Rosemarie and Gayle went to Athens to do pottery. Here are some previous examples of Rosemarie's pottery. The piece with the flowers is named "Multi-Tasking." Both they and Richard and I stopped at different Varsity eateries. The Varsity is famous in Atlanta and surrounding areas as a hot dog/burger joint.

Rosemarie had left peaches for us to eat at her home in town. Here is one Georgia peach holding several others.

That's it for now. We're already having more experiences we'll share later.

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, after Church, we (Gayle, Spencer, Alicia, Jesse, and Avril) went up to my folks' home and met up with Patricia and Kelly as well. It was a beautiful day and great people to associate with.
Before going in for the afternoon dinner we stopped to take pictures of the berm out front. It was gorgeous with the new flowers.
Here's a shot from the other side of the berm.

Alicia, Jesse, and Avril.

About to dig into a great meal. Spencer, Patricia, and Kelly.

The Matriarch.

Earlier that day Jesse, Alicia, and Avril accompanied us to our Church meetings. Riley Nelson, Rod and Valene Tueller's grandson, substitute taught the Sunday School class we attended. A couple of his cousins (Comadenas) also attended. In this picture we have Jesse, Riley (a BYU quarterback) and Kaden Comadena.

Avril ws dressed up too. Note her green bracelet.

And here's a clip of Avril making a few sounds and smiles.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Miscellaneous

Today Jesse, Alicia, Jared, and the great-grandparents (Joyce and L. Spencer) attended our ward to see Avril blessed. Later Gayle, Spencer (K.), and Joyce all bore testimonies. We didn't get any shots of Avril all decked out, but later maybe we'll dress her up and shoot a photo to post.

Alicia's putting together a photo history and wanted one to show me reading, since I like to (but don't do it often). Here I am, posing with a collection of Faulkner's writings (which I have not read yet). Note my St. George Marathon shirt, which is now 11 years old ('98 marathon).

Steve, Susan, Joni, and Drake visited in late April and I forgot to post a few shots from that evening. We had dinner at the folks' house. Here are Steve and Susan.

Jared also joined in the dinner.

Here's Joni helping in the kitchen.

And of course we can't forget Drake. By the way, that kid's table thing must be many decades old and sure has served the family well.