Pre-Halloween

We went with the grandchildren to a pre-Halloween buffet for kids at the VCC Friday night.
Jimmy gives Batman, A/K/A Jake, a push on the swingset,

while Mademoiselle Butterfly, Caroline, looks a bit hot and uncomfortable.

Two Friends (three, counting the photographer)

Mary Young Manning (nee Smotherman) is the "glue" that has held the VHS class of 1967 together for over forty years now. She's maintained friendships, kept up with all of us and our disparate lives, and made sure that we reunite on a regular basis: she is our Command Central.

Today Ed and I took Mary Young to Two Friends restaurant to celebrate her birthday, and had it not started raining mid-afternoon, we'd probably still be there, talking and talking.

Barney Fife comes to Highlands

Highlands is like Mayberry: quiet, civilized, peaceful. Second-home owners make up a large segment of the population, many of them older and retired.

About the only thing you'll see in the weekly crime report is somebody's cat having to be rescued from a tree, so when the local police force recently purchased nine new police cars to supplement the five it already had, it seemed a bit excessive.

Do you remember the old Andy Griffith Show episode where Andy goes out of town, leaving Barney in charge? An overly zealous Barney goes nuts, arresting most of the town, including Aunt Bee, Opie, and the mayor.

That comes close to describing what's going on in Highlands: to justify all the law being enforced in our tiny crime-free burg, a few cowboys with badges are harassing this gentle citizenry until everyone's now afraid to have even a glass of wine at the already recession-stricken local restaurants.

Not content with that, they have taken to parking their shiny new vehicles around town, with dummies in the driver's seats. At least these inanimate fellows are exhibiting more good sense than their real-life counterparts.

Move over, Barney!

How would you like THIS for a job??

We've been in Atlanta for Jimmy's every-60-day tests at Emory, and we stayed at the Intercontinental this time: Priceline, $85. They were BUSY, and our bellman told us that they have been running at 80% occupancy, gratifying news in this economy.

We watched in fascination as a window-washer worked his way down the building across the street. We feel the same way about him as we did about the Tarzanesque tree-cutter in Highlands: glad somebody wants to do it.

Little pishermen, big pish

The Kerns boys hauled in a nice bass from one of the ponds at the Valdosta Country Club this afternoon.

Milestones

It's hard to believe that on October 4, Max and Elizabeth celebrated their first anniversary, and that on October 9, Max turned 30 !!!!!! Tempus fugit.

Sleepless in South Georgia

Last night's thunderstorm kept us from getting much sleep, but not for obvious reasons: Andy has developed a ...THING about thunder. Every time there was a lightening bolt, which was often, he leapt from under the covers and started barking.

We tried to calm him down, but he couldn't stop trembling. Or barking. Last Fourth of July at Amelia Island, the fireworks display on the beach completely unnerved him, and that's probably where this little phobia came from.

After a while, I carried him into the living room, where I dozed, and he shivered and barked until the storm had passed.

Some of my favorite boys

Ed Hanahan and I drove down to Lake Park today to have lunch with our old friend Mike Strom from Dothan. What is it about relationships developed in your formative years? As we sat there laughing and talking in the Farm House Restaurant, it was like forty years dropped away and we three were back in high school again.

While spending the afternoon with two of my other favorite boys, William asked me, "Ellen, do you love us?" (He knew full well the answer, but I think he just wanted to hear me say it again.)

"Yes, I do."

"How much?"

"As much as all the stars in the sky."

He kept on painting, apparently satisfied with my answer.

Our Jakey loves to paint, and I have an inkling that he may be my little artist.

William, obsessed with all things electronic and especially computers, is, at less than five years old, remarkably proficient.

Plein air painting

Painting has a reputation for being a leisurely pastime, but these recent workshops would quickly dispel that illusion. They're hard work: physically tiring and mentally draining, for most of us anyway.

You always come away from workshops with some little nugget of wisdom, and the main thing I got out of this one is that I'm not very good at landscapes. But I'll keep on trying.

An October afternoon

Art instructor Julyan Davis begins a painting

It's COLD in dem dar hills!