They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, let's see what that one of Lillie Pearl PT Cruiser is saying over there (left). Hmmm...Obviously, she's parked in front of the Homewood Suites. Yep, she took me to ATL last week...hooray, hooray! I no longer have to fly to my favorite work destination 3-4 times a year. I can now drive, as it's only 5-6 hours...Interstate 85 all the way. Some of you might be saying "only" 5 hours?? But those of you who have to fly regularly probably understand: with the increased security measures increasing the "wait" time at airports (remember, you have to get there an hour ahead of your scheduled flight...and that doesn't include drive time to the airport, parking your car, or hopping the shuttle from the Parking Spot, etc....and, of course, there's the baggage retrieval and rental car experiences...:), a two-hour flight can end up costing you 4-5 hours to get to your final destination...and you are exhausted.
Driving yourself? Hey, you are in charge of your own schedule and itinerary...start when you want, stop when you want, and, best of all, you get to listen to your latest book-on-CD (I enjoyed "The White Queen" by Philippa Gregory and "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, read by Brit fav Hugh Fraser...which I downloaded to my iPod, along with all of my favorite podcasts from Cast On and Car Talk...:), if you are fortunate enough to have an MP3 port (which LP does). Oh yeah...much better.
While you can't tell it from that photo, I arrived in ATL on the day after The Big Storm. You probably saw it all on CNN or the Weather Station. Rain water everywhere. News reports of death and destruction. Bridges washed away. Roads impassable. Homes destoyed. Schools closed due to flooded buildings. Unbelievable. What is barely visible in the pic is the reminder of what is necessary in the aftermath of such a deluge: those vehicles in the upper left? All commercial cars with logos from Safeco, Nationwide, and Farm Bureau Insurance companies, along with one from Independent Adjusters. Happy to see they are johnny-on-the-spot. Fortunately, the sun shined every day I was there, so they were drying out and cleaning up by the time I left on Thursday.
Of course, my ATL trip was for business...but I work in a little shopping where/when I can. Who wouldn't? Only...where most people might head to Buckhead for the fancy shoppes, I check out places like JoAnn's Super Store in Duluth. Hey...I never said I could lay claim to being a Big Spender.
I came away with some Halloween/Harvest/Thanksgiving decorations for my new front porch. Since major Druid Holidays are not exactly my cup of tea, I have almost NO scarey items and only a limited number of seasonal specialties, including some 20-25 year old Caspar-like ghostie wind socks for the porch lights on either side of the door. The creepiest item we have is a spooky songs cassette tape (which tells you just how old it is...:) which we play...if we can find the only working cassette player we have.
Anyway, back at home now. Mr. T located the Halloween storage boxes in the attic, so I decorated the house this weekend. He said "for someone who says she doesn't like Halloween, you sure have a lot of Halloween items, dear." A lot? Nah. I've just done a good job of grouping what I have...dear. Took a picture of one of the Caspar wind socks on Saturday...sent it to Missy M, as these things have been hanging around (literally) since she was a child. Her response? "Mom...it's not even October yet, and you're putting up the Halloween stuff already?"
Well, it might not be October yet, but it is feeling like Fall around here. I took N/M/E to the doctor yesterday, and between the time we left his parking lot and I came out of the pharmacy with her prescription (20 minutes...max), the thermometer dropped from 86 to 66 (as a swift moving storm-front dumped 1/2 inch of rain on us)! Today? In the sixties, after dropping into the mid-40's last night!
To get in the mood for the change of seasons, I've had a pot of Autumn-smelling potpourri on the stove for a few days. I put some orange peels and lemon rinds in a pot of water, add some cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, and let 'er boil. As the water reduces, I just add some more to keep it from going dry. Then, every other day or so, I add another cinnamon stick and/or clove or two. OMG...smells heavenly. And, Fall-ly.
Mr. T and I were glad we had gotten our Fall planting done on Sunday: 210 new daffodil bulbs (including King Alfred, Ice Follies, and Tahiti), 20 new iris rhizones (several different varieties of purple iris), and 10 new daylilies (two new varieties called Blueberry and Chicago Comanche)...along with dividing and relocating countless daylilies from around our front yard. We'll be so happy with the results come next Spring...which helps us deal with the achy-breaky backs and knees this Fall...tee hee.
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