The Date: A Retrospective

Yesterday started out most innocently with a morning Barker walk in Midtown and an invitation to breakfast at the new NooN on the ground floor of 1010Midtown. Since we would have Barker with us, and there is no outside seating offered, we decided in advance to get takeout and sit in the lovely gardens of the Federal Reserve Building, which is about a half block away. It was warm, but there is always a marvelous breeze blowing down Peachtree....and our warm baguettes of proscuitto, parmesan and butter accompanied by iced coffee were to die for! YUMMMM

After a very light lunch, we walked up to the High to see the new and of course stunning Monet exhibit, plus the accompanying and complimentary Richard Misrach digital photography show. The other current exhibit at the High is Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell.



I was in heaven!!! I could have spent ALL afternoon there, just admiring Mr. Driskell's work and also attempting to figure out his layering process for each piece! You can hear Driskell describe a couple of his woodblock prints here. I tried in vain to find a pic of his "Jonah in the Whale" 1967 which was one of my all-time faves, but it was nowhere to be found on the net. Maybe you can find it....if so, please leave a comment and let us all know! In the meantime, I'll share these pics with you:

Temptation in the Garden, 1999

The Herbalist, 1999

The Jester, 1999

I dawdled just as long as I could, soaking up every last little bit of Driskell's marvelous prints, and then we hurried back to the condo, taking Barker for a quick walk, and then meeting up with our friends Dee and Bill, to take in Every Little Step at Midtown Arts. What a great documentary!!! C and I had seen A Chorus Line in Miami Beach during its original run. Was it at the Theater of the Performing Arts? We can't remember! Anyway, I do recall how captivated I was by the story, the Marvin Hamlisch tunes, and the dancing. Wow: could they kick! Dee and Bill have not seen A Chorus Line, but they were as enthralled as we were by the movie. So, it comes highly recommended!!!

Then we headed to Apres Diem for a glass of wine, and on to Nam for a sumptuous dinner. We began with the seafood net spring rolls and the traditional Vietnamese spring rolls, and then Dee and I ordered the Flounder special, while Bill had the short ribs, and C ordered the Shaking Tuna. We all came away very happy! We enjoyed spending time with our 'condo friends' as we don't often have the opportunity to get together, and we all obviously enjoy one another's company.

So yesterday was a fun, fun day! I have spent several hours this afternoon dyeing in the studio. It is very hot and humid: great batching weather, and I am taking advantage of the gifts of Mother Nature! I hope to have a few pics to show in the next day or two!

Enjoy!

PEACE!!!

Weekend Update

We had another weekend where we literally hit the ground running...........well, almost! Friday afternoon we hurried down to Atlanta, gave Barker a quick walk through the neighborhood (which is gorgeous right now with all of the spring flowers and trees in full bloom!) and then met friends to enjoy a sumptuous wine dinner at the Oceanaire Seafood Room. Not only is the food and service excellent there, but the atmosphere is terrific AND, and this is a huge plus for us, it is well within walking distance of our digs! The featured wines were from the Lambert Bridge Winery in Sonoma County, and they were introduced by Andy, one of the winery's owners. We began our meal with fresh Spring Rolls of Ahi Tuna and Mango, followed by Seared Alaskan Halibut, then Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon, then surf and turf consisting of grilled sirloin and smoked rock shrimp risotto. Dessert was incredible: warm center chocolate cake and coconut ice cream. Phew!!! Did I mentioned that we walked? (The amazing thing was that when I stepped on the scale this morning, I had actually lost weight!!!)

With the help and guidance of my dear friend and Web Mistress Eva, I labored over my website a lot on Saturday, but we took a break and enjoyed "Tent Meeting" at the Theatrical Outfit. (If you follow the link, you'll hear the opening song from the musical.) What a great production....but we wouldn't have expected less from the fabulous director, Tom Key!! We again walked to dinner that night.........we walk a lot in the city! Sunday morning included another great walk, this time through Piedmont Park, which is lovely this time of year.

During all of this time, I was fiddling around with this scarf:

It was indeed a labor of love! I'm thrilled with the outcome, and can't wait to wear it!!!


A few detail shots:



It has been overdyed, tied, salted, alchoholed..............you name it! But it was great fun and I love it!

PEACE!!!

Have a Heart.............

............or at least a part of it! Our friend Troy is the best cake baker we know, and yesterday we were the proud recipients of one of his yummilicious strawberry Valentine cakes. As you can see, we couldn't wait and dove right in before I could photograph it. (It's even smaller now!) Thanks Troy! You're the best!!!!!



I've spent every free minute over the past two days reading, digesting, and enjoying the wonderful images in this book by Sherrill Kahn:

Thanks to Linda for recommending it to me!

Many of you recall that about a year ago I had surgery to remove a malignant melanoma. So, now I visit my lovely Dermatological Plastic Surgeon every six months for a full body check. She is adorable, witty, extremely wise, and a very talented surgeon, so I rather enjoy our little visits. Today she found another suspicious spot:

If you are young and you are reading this: use sunscreen and stay out of the sun!!!

So, for most of the day 'my public' has viewed me as you have now! C makes light of it, in order to get me through the day, which is both aggravating and most appreciated. We went to see "Frozen River" this evening, and then ate dinner at The Majestic, a wonderful old Atlanta dining institution.

Which reminds me, I really want to thank Elizabeth B for her wonderful and thoughtful comment on yesterday's blog. It's so nice to 'know' some of the folks who drop by to read my blog. And yes, Elizabeth, I did know about the new Georgia SDA blog! Isn't it great!!! Are you going to the conference in Kansas City in May? I'm going and am very excited about it!

YES WE CAN!!!

BRRRRRR!

It's chilly here in the South: 22 when we walked Barker this morning!



A glue gel resist piece that I'm working on:

Is it bright enough for you????

It was still wet when I took this pic. After it dries I will iron it to set the colors, then soak it in a bit of water to remove the glue gel, then let it dry, and finally iron it once more....then, who knows!

I love Garrison Keillor and always feel lucky when I'm listening to NPR and the Writer's Almanac airs. Yesterday happened to be one of those lucky days. Did you know that Keillor has a Writer's Almanac web site? Did you know that the pilgrims landed in Provincetown, MA in 1620 on my wedding anniversary? That is rather coincidental, as that is where C and I had our honeymoon! I loved his reading of Robert Fanning's poem, "A Deer in the Target".

Thanks for all of your anniversary wishes. We had a wonderful dinner out with K & D at the Depot. It was so nice being with our kids that we enjoyed brunch with them this morning!

Enjoy your weekend!

PEACE!!!!

One Proud Mama!

Kristin and her friends Sarah and Suzy participated in the Aflac Iron Girl Triathlon bright and early this morning (Kristin and Sarah left our house shortly after 5:00 AM). It was a first for all three, and judging by their smiling faces at the finish line, I think it was quite a positive experience and probably won't be their last. The event consisted of a 1/3 mile swim in Lake Lanier, then an 18-mile bike ride, and lastly a 3 mile run. The terrain is hilly in that area, thus providing a bit more of a challenge. I cannot imagine swimming a third of a mile, then running barefooted across a sandy beach and up a hill to a transition area to put on my biking/running shoes (over wet and sandy feet) and then getting on my bike and riding 18 miles, only to dismount at the transition area and run another 3 miles! These are some tough young women!

Dave and I made it to the finish line shortly after the girls did, and I was able to snap these pics:

l to r: Suzy, Sarah, Kristin

I've been happily knitting away on my newest pair of socks and I've gotta tell ya that I just adore this pattern and the wonderful Hand Maiden yarn! I dropped back by Knitch on Friday and picked up another skein so that I can get going on another pair when I finish these. Here is sock number one:

The yarn is called Casbah and it is 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon. The best part is that the socks are machine washable! Aren't they cute!!! The pattern is Simply Lovely Lace Socks by Karen Baumer and it is so easy to follow. I love her directions and really found the heel simple to work.

We are finally getting some much-needed rain here in the south. Here's a rather lovely 'thunderbump' that I photographed the other evening while we were at the condo:

If you enlarge this pic and look carefully, you'll see a jet just about to enter the cloud on the left side of the cloud, about halfway down. We watched that plane from our 14th floor perch, wondering if he'd go around the storm and just pass right through it. Hope everyone had their seat belts on!!

Our friends K & M visited with us in Midtown last week and we had a great time! They enjoy so manyof the same things that we do......including great food! We walked to Mitra on Friday night and all partook of varying renditions of the prix fixe menu. Well done Mitra!!!

Hope you've had a great week!

PEACE

One Down, One to go....AND MORE!

We closed the sale of our present Midtown condo yesterday afternoon. So for the next couple of weeks we will be renting from Douglas, the new owner, while the present owners of our new condo find a home and prepare to move. That closing is set for March 10th, the our actual move to follow on the 15th.

We had a celebratory glass of dark ale with our realtor Michael at Silk, which is on the ground floor of our new condo building, then walked over to Mitra for a fabulous dinner. We shared the Chef's Choice Appetizer plate and a Hearts of romaine salad with Chipotle lime Caesar dressing. C enjoyed their surf and turf entree, while I had mustard encrusted lamb chops. MMMMMMM!

I had hoped to post kitchen pics this morning, but left my camera cable at home. Speaking of which, we are hurrying home as the cabinets are being installed this morning! WooHoo!!!!
I will close with the picture of my granite-to-be..........as I just love it!!!!

I posted the above earlier this morning, and now we are home again, after loading our new tile in the back of the Tahoe on our drive back to Gainesville. We found lots going on at home:
the cabinet installers are here and working away, and the tilemen are here, putting down the wonderboard. This is all very exciting to me!

Here is one of my pictures from yesterday afternoon:


Bill is hammering down the plywood flooring. The windows look out on the pool patio and an ugly old arbor that was pretty well covered in Confederate Jasmine. We both hated the arbor, as it blocked the view of the pool and my perennial garden beyond, not to mention our new and improved fence! So, since we've been in the demo mode, we asked Pat and his crew to remove it and build us a more sightly version. Here it is coming down:


Below you can see the beginnings of our new kitchen with the cabinets being installed. This is essentially what we saw when we walked in this morning:




This is how that wall looked yesterday, with Pat our contractor supervising the plywood floor installation:

The island will go in soon.......so I need to go take more pictures!!!

PEACE

What'll Ya Have?

Both C and I are exhausted! We met Michael, our realtor, yesterday morning at 9:30 AM and started looking at condos. We walked around Midtown and saw a total of 6 condos, finishing up our time together at about 1:30 PM. I was scheduled to teach a short class at Intown Quilters in the afternoon, and we all needed to get home and walk our doggies! Michael thought it would be nice to see the views from our prime interests that evening, so we agreed to meet up again at 6:30. C and I invited K and D to join us, and they did. Being engineers, they see things totally differently than we do, and they have lived in the city longer than we have, so they are a bit more "streetwise" and savvy. They had lots of great input and were very instrumental in our decision-making. Boy it's nice to have grown-up children!!!

Here is player number one and it's view from the 14th floor. If you look real carefully you can see Stone Mountain, right smack dab in the middle of the window to the right of the lamp. Piedmont Park is off to the left and the Midtown residential neighborhood is off to the right. (Our current condo complex is the tile-roofed development in the foreground.)

And below is the same view last eveing, just after the sun had set. We are looking east. Robin, that's the Piedmont & 10th intersection all lit up on the left.

This is option number two, on the 17th floor of the same building, so virtually the same view just a bit highter:
And here it is at night:

Both of these are corner units, with the livingroom and diningroom windows facing east, and the kitchen windows facing north. All of the windows are floor to ceiling. The patios, which are very small, are on the north side of the building.

This is the view from option number three, on the 7th floor of a different condominium.

All three units face east, just at different elevations and are within a block of our current unit. This last condo development is a much smaller "boutique" style condominium, with fewer units. All three have underground parking, a consierge, and were constructed within the last 5 years, meaning granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, newer styled windows, etc. and all have pools, gyms, dog walking areas, etc.

We discussed the pros and cons of our final contenders over dinner at Zocalo's, also within walking distance of "home", and then parted company: the kids going out dancing with friends and the old folks going home to bed! C and I slept fitfully and while walking Barker this morning, we thought we had come to a final decision. One of the units was having an open house this afternoon, so C and I decided to go back for one more peek. We met up with Michael at his office, also within walking distance, and wrote up a contract. I'm not telling you which one is top contender, so I'm eager to hear what you think! I'll let you know how it goes!

We are back home, eagerly awaiting phase two of the kitchen demolition, which will begin bright and early tomorrow morning. C and I think we have chosen our floor tiles, so now it's on to light fixtures. Phew!!! Interestingly enough, Rayna's kitchen demo began last Friday too, and our former cabinets are all vintage 70s! I think her new appliances will be much more grand than mine, but if mine were too ritzy, I'd be expected to turn out a lot of good meals....and Lord knows that's not going to happen anytime soon!! LOL

Hope you had a great weekend. It was warm and sunny here, as you could see, with high temps in the mid 60s in the city.

as for my title, "What'll Ya Have?": that's what the waiters ask when they take your order at the Varsity, another adventure in Atlanta "fine dining".

PEACE

Final Notes

After my purchases of the past two days, it appears that I am looking forward to another artful year in 2008.

C, Barker and I walked over to Utrecht, one of my favorite art eye candy stores, yesterday afternoon. We all love going there for various reasons: it is a pleasant walk down fashionable Peachtree Street; the clerks welcome Barker inside the store with open arms and lots of warm hugs and praise; and I get more help than I know what to do with while browsing the aisles.

Here are yesterdays' purchases:

I can't wait to go home and get busy playing with these little goodies!

This morning we purchased my Mom a cute little Jitterbug phone, so that she will be entering 2008 in style also.

Then we drove over to Virginia Highlands and stopped by what is now my all-time favorite knitting shop, Knitch:

The entrance is really cute, but unfortunately that young man decided to walk right in front of the metal sculpture as I was taking the picture. So, I googled Knitch and found Pixie Purls' blog, with these great pictures that she had taken of the shop entry.

(you can see inside shots of the shop if you go here)

I'm not allowing myself to purchase any more yarn until I complete my two present knitting projects, but I did purchase these two great books:

By then, our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time, so we stopped by this barbecue "joint":

C loves barbecue and considers himself pretty much an afficionado, and Fox Bros. is one place we hadn't had time to try out before today. I thought these two signs on the smoker were pretty clever:

Here was my lunch: shredded pork, onion rings and cole slaw:

YUMMMMM!

C enjoyed the beef brisket, collards, and pinto beans. I had a sampling of each, and liked them all too.

Last but not least, I must show you the book that my dear friend Bobbie gave me for Christmas. I am so excited about it:

When my buddy Diane became one of the premier subscribers to Cloth, Paper Scissors, I said, "No, I don't want another distraction"...........but I was wrong! Imagine that!!!! I LOVE each issue (and am now ordering the back issues!), and have become a huge Claudine Hellmuth fan.....so I adore the book! Thanks Bobbie, and thanks Diane, for leading me further into the wonderful field of art!

Hope you all have or have had a happy and safe New Years' Eve. We are staying in tonight and enjoying some light munchies, perhaps taking in a dvd, and getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I suppose that translates as being old...........and we are that!

PEACE

p.s. My friend Sheila has posted even more about our Boxing Day festivities, so if you want to see some really disgusting pics of moi, go here! But I'm warning you in advance, it won't be pretty!!

Out and About

in Atlanta, GA........our home away from home.

Yesterday was another beautiful day in the southland. We've been in Atlanta for a few days of wonderful R&R. In the afternoon we mosied on up to St. Anne's Episcopal Church where the folks from "Work of our Hands" are holding their annual holiday sale to benefit Emmaus House and Holy Comforter Church.
Here's St. Anne's, a most lovely church:

While I was paying for my goodies, C had a guided tour of the fabulous nave with none other than Elizabeth Allen, wife of retired Bishop of Atlanta Frank Allen, who had once been Rector of St. Anne's. I have met and spent time with Mrs. Allen, so I was pleased when I met up with the two of them touring around the nave. There is an incredible mosaic surrounding the Baptismal Font and also a most marvelous piece of needlework in front of the organ, done by Doug Johnson, an old friend of mine from EGA. The stained glass windows at St. Anne's are just incredible. Here is the rose window with its incredible dove, viewed from the outside:

After leaving St. Anne's, we headed over to the OK Cafe for a very late lunch (or was it very early dinner?). Our friends Margaret and Jeff had told us about it and said that it is one of their favorite eating establishments in Atlanta.

C had the vegetable plate: corn muffin, black eyed peas, collard greens, cabbage casserole, and macaroni and cheese (only in the South is macaroni and cheese considered a vegetable!)


I had the very rare cheeseburger, with Maytage Blue Cheese:

Those are deep fried pickles on top of the tomato...I didn't really care for them, but then again, I love my pickles plain. The french fries were fabulous, but I only ate a few. And don't worry, I couldn't finish the burger........and barely touched the bun. But it was a yummy meal!

We headed back to the condo in rush hour traffic and found a kindred spirit in front of us on the road........check out those bumper stickers:



We avoided much of the traffic on the interstate by keeping to the surface streets and enjoying the Georgia Tech campus:


Last evening we walked up to the High Museum for a bit of culture. The new Louvre exhibit is open, emphasizing the Egyptian works that Napoleon and Josephine brought to the collection. It was very interesting and educational. I hadn't realized that Josephine dressed in flowing Egyptian style gowns because they favored her shape over the attire that Marie Antoinette had worn. Josephine also wore her hair in an Egyptian fashion. We enjoyed the new Impressionist Exhibit, and are hoping to go back and revisit both before they close.

Today we are going to the Balzer Theater to see "Gee's Bend".

Have a great weekend!

PEACE

Super Sunday

There is a small Atlanta Midtown paper known as "The Sunday Paper" and we love to read it. This week we found the following article:

The article lists a few of the writer's recommendations for purchases at TJs, but nothing like my friend Gerrie's illustrated list. What a treat that was! The article ends by saying that they are still unsure of the opening date, but our friend Mitchel from MetroFresh assured us that it would be next weekend! I am so ready, and I will have Gerrie's list in hand on my first visit!!!

It was such a lovely day that we ended up taking three long walks with Barker. We were in Piedmont Park at around noon time. Here's the first really pretty dogwood I've seen this Spring, and behind it is my all-time favorite Red Bud - be still my heart!!

I hope you will be able to spot the hawk in this tree. He was enormous and not very pleased at a nearby squirrel who was scolding him.

After lunch we hopped in the car and headed north on Peachtree Street to the Cathedral of St. Phillip. Here it is:

Our organist at Grace Church in Gainesville, David Burton-Brown, was giving an organ recital at 3:15 and then our parish choir was singing Evensong at 4:00. It was a wonderful afternoon with much fine music in a marvelous setting.

Outside the Cathedral, the cherry trees were putting on a show of their own.


We met up with our friends Troy and John after the service and headed to the Colonnade for dinner. This is an old-timey restaurant that is still one of Atlanta's favorites. John and Troy love it there, as do we, and we hadn't been for years. We enjoyed lots of laughs and some great food. It was packed when we went in and there were oodles of folks waiting to be seated when we left.




I had the broiled flounder stuffed with "Krabmeat", fried okra and creamed corn. It was delightful! YUMMMMM



We came home and took Barker for yet another walk....two out of three of us were waddling this time, wonder who!

Cheers!