The second week in October Gayle and I flew to Georgia to visit our family out there.
We always enjoy jogging around Social Circle, GA (where we stay at the Sells's home in town) and taking photos on walks. Here is a typical southern home in town.
And this one is across the street from the other. Lots of pecan and magnolia trees all around.
Some of the homes were already festooned with Halloween decorations. This one had a pirate theme.
They only had a skeleton crew working when we went by.
A symbol of the old south.
Gayle, in them ole cotton fields back home.
A shot of some of the beautiful foliage at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. When Gayle attended it was Women's College of Georgia. We walked the campus and spoke with folks and were quite impressed.
Some leaves on campus
More changing colors on campus
Beth (Gayle's younger sister) and Gayle on a shopping spree in the Milledgeville mall.
Beth and her husband, Robert Meier.
Gayle and I at the Meiers' home.
We also visited Rosemarie (Gayle's older and other sister) and Richard Sells. One day they took us via Rutledge to Madison. Here they are in Rutledge outside the hardware store, near where we had lunch at the Yesterday's Cafe.
Rosemarie and Gayle in Rutledge
Richard Sells and I in front of the cafe, hangin' out with a local.
Here are some pretty flowers in downtown Madison, Georgia. Gayle's mother always loved Coleuses. Richard taught High School and worked for many years in Madison.
Downtown Madison (named after President James Madison).
The city added a beautiful new park and stage area near downtown. Emily's family bluegrass band performed on this stage. Emily is Rosemarie and Richard's daughter (our niece).
Two sisters by the park fountain in Madison.
We later went to the restored underground area under the old ice box facility where there are several great art stores and a cafe.
Richard next to the Madison Artists' Guild sign outside the building.
Richard and Rosemarie now live outside Social Circle in the country and let us use their home in town when we visit. Their home in town was built in 1833 and is a historical marked house. In the country, they have a garden. Here are some of the remaining okra pods that haven't been picked yet (and are getting a bit too large). Richard says they're on steroids. Note the chili peppers growing below the okra.
Among other things, Richard made this sign for their anniversary this year: "Sandy Ford Experiment Station - Rosemarie Sells, Plant Manager, Master Gardener."
They gave us a guided tour (in this golf cart) around their 13 acres in the country.
Gayle shot this from the back of the cart while looking back down the path
Richard and I admiring the pretty brook that flows through their property. In the next several years a dam is being built and they will have lakeside property.
Richard is an artist and loves creating sculptures out of metal. This one he's thinking of calling "Hell Bee" (note the butcher knives in the wings).
This is Predator and was featured in a magazine
This is out of focus because it's too close, but it is a wild plant called Hearts a Bustin' and grows near their home.
And this is called American Beauty Berries. It also grows wild around their house.
This is looking down at their driveway, which leads out to Sandy Ford, the road near their home.
Still life on their kitchen table. Note the eggplants.
Rosemarie used the eggplants as inspiration to create these handmade pottery pieces.
Custom made majolica glazed tiles by Rosemarie (also an artist).
Emily's husband, Chester, is an engineer. With the slow economy he had to leave his building firm and take a job as a city engineer quite a ways away from Social Circle. So he got a pass at the city's RV park and converted a small trailer into a sleeper that can be pulled by his Miata. Here's a shot of the back end, where he opens it up to do cooking.
A side view into the trailer showing part of his bed and the TV (the campground has cable, and he has a cable connection on the trailer).
Here's his Miata and the trailer, which also has ventilation and air conditioning. He stays down part of the week, and commutes the other days.
Abbey, Emily holding Amanda, Chester, Ashley, Aaron, and Andy (Andrew). Abbey, Emily, Aaron, and Chester play in a blue grass band with a relative and call themselves Blue Heaven.
We went to church with Richard, Rosemarie, David, and Katie in Monroe at a Baptist Church.
We had a brunch at Hardee's after the service.
