The Boys

These "boys" have remained best friends since they pledged KA at the University of Georgia in 1961.

Kenny Youmans, John McNeil, Jimmy, and Easy Ed Jared at Helen and Comer Hobbs' last night

Down the hill to Franklin

Jimmy and I decided to take advantage of the perfect fall day and make the scenic 15 mile drive to Franklin this morning.   Franklin is the county seat for Macon county, where Highlands is also located, and I've been wanting to do a little title research in the courthouse there.  I'd always heard that my great-grandfather had a place in Highlands before he bought the house in Hendersonville, and I thought it would be interesting to find out where it was.

No luck.  There were not a lot of transactions in the time frame I was searching, and none for Bray.  He must have rented a place or stayed in a hotel like the Highlands Inn, which has been here for 125 years.  I guess he didn't like it here because he went a few miles east and bought the Buncombe Street house in Hendersonville that we all remember so fondly.

The Franklin courthouse is only a few blocks from a popular local restaurant, Cafe Rel, which serves excellent French cuisine, and is incongruously located in a large gas station. Jimmy got linguine with clam sauce (clams in the shells) and I had chicken livers and shallots braised in brandy.  The recipes all seem to be a la Julia Childs, in that they must use a stick of butter in every dish. Rich but Good.

FORE!!! Here comes the bride....!!!

Highlands has become a hot spot for destination weddings, largely at The Old Edwards Inn. (Incidentally, The Old Edwards Inn was voted #3 in the US by Conde Nast in the small hotels and Inns category, behind The Cloister and The Sea Island Lodge.)  We heard that they did over 150 weddings and receptions just this summer.

A couple of weekends ago, I was driving by the golf course, and there was a wedding couple being photographed on the cart path/bridge of the 18th hole, on a beautiful afternoon with golfers everywhere.  I hate to miss a photo op, so I parked my car and took a picture, too.

One of the best obits ever

I just read this on the 'net and thought it was worth sharing.  I hope you can pull it up, 'cause it's worth the effort.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/savannah/obituary.aspx?pid=166950349#fbLoggedOut

Jackie and Mary arrived safely in Philadelphia after a long, long drive, and they're moved in.  They're exhausted but sound happy and excited about their new home and like the neighborhood.

They gave both of their cats sedatives to make the trip easier for them, but it must have had the opposite effect on one of the kitties, because she yowled the whole way up. I don't think Jimmy and I could have stood it much past Cordele.

Jackie and Mary's Big Adventure

Jackie and Mary, with their two cats and their dog Charlie, left yesterday on their move back to Philadelphia.  We're sad that they'll be so far away, but are excited about their future.  And Phillie is a great place to visit.

 

R.I.P. Fred

Portrait of Fred by Hugh Harris West

I've never had to euthanize a pet until today, and it's hard.  We got back to Valdosta last night, and it was immediately obvious that Fred the Cat had deteriorated.  Shirley Crowder, who helps me, feeds her, and Mary, my daughter-in-law, comes by when Shirley can't, and they both have been concerned lately.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Fred was 20 years old.  She was a stray that took up at our house years ago, and when I finally decided we were stuck with her and took her in for shots in 2004, they said she was  an older cat, maybe 8 or 10.  I'd been calling her Fred for a year by then, thinking she was a tomcat, and when the vet told me he was a she, it was too late to start calling her something else.

Today she looked thin, bedraggled, was unable to control her bodily functions, and was barely able to eat or walk, and  appeared to be in pain.  When I called her, she hid under the sofa on the porch.  She must have sensed something was up. I lured her out with a piece of meat and drove her in her pet carrier to the vet, with her meowing and me crying all the way. When they brought her towel-wrapped body back to the car for me, they said she had been in bad shape, and that I had done the humane thing, but still...

I buried her in the backyard by Teddy the chihuahua, with Mama's statue of Francis of Assisi standing watch.

Go Dogs!!

Jimmy is very, very, very serious about his Bulldogs, and he doesn't want any distractions when Georgia's playing.  Kenny and Jane Youmans are as big Dawg fans as Jimmy, so they're perfect companions for watching Spurrier get stomped.

This boar's head hangs over the TV downstairs.  About 10 or 12 years ago , we were staying with Mac and Susan at their beach house in St. George, and we went to the St. George volunteer fire department auction.  "Sister, do you see anything you want for your birthday?"  It happened to be my birthday.  "Yes, I'd like to have that big old boar's head over there," I answered.  At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with a boar's head, but Jimmy and Mac bid on it and won it for $100, and I smile every time I look at it.

Be young, be foolish, be happy

My children Max and Elizabeth are in Denver celebrating their 5th anniversary, and I think they might be having just a little fun.

Revlimid increase

We got the results from Jimmy's blood and 24-hour urine collection tests today, and the cancer is stable and at the same level as last month.  It's good that it isn't going up, but we need for it to keep dropping, so Dr. Lonial is going to double his Revlimid dosage and see if that gets it moving in the right direction.  We hate that it zaps him so hard, but we've got to do it.

He's having pain in his ribs and back so he's getting an MRI at the end of the month.  It could be nothing or it could be the myeloma causing trouble again.

He's doing well, all things considered, although chronic fatigue continues to be an irritant, but if he gets plenty of rest and paces himself, we can enjoy a relatively normal life.

Globetrotters

I think Jimmy and my traveling days are over - I just can't see us dragging suitcases and negotiating airports any more.  We have friends that travel a lot though, so we get to vicariously enjoy their adventures, just hearing about them.  Carolyn Eager and Dan Coleman have a house in Highlands, but we've hardly gotten a glimpse of them all summer as they've kept up a hectic pace, bouncing from one continent to another.

They were here for the Labor Day weekend however, and we enjoyed being with them.  Carolyn was showing me some pictures she'd taken of the different courses they'd had at a fabulous dinner in Paris. The presentation of each course was very artistic and beautiful, but the picture I liked the best was the one the waiter took of them.  I liked it so much I e-mailed it to myself, and here it is:

True grit

I marveled today, watching Diana Nyad wading out of the ocean after swimming 103 miles from Cuba to Key West in a little under 54 hours.  She's 64, the same as I am, and this was her fifth attempt in 35 years. Through swollen, sun-burned lips, she said she had three things to say: one, never, ever give up; two, you're never too old to chase your dreams; and three, it looks like a solitary sport, but it's a team.

Watching her, I started mentally comparing her to my friend Janice Allen, who is also 64 (well, almost- she'll be 64 on November 23rd).  Janice doesn't swim the Florida straits like Diana Nyad, but she DOES regularly hike from the Dillard Road here in Highlands, up to her condo at VZ Top and back down again in 45 minutes.  It's only about 3 miles round trip, but the elevation rises from 3600 feet to 4200 feet, and it's a steep climb.

My first memory of Janice - she was Janice Wisenbaker then - was when we were in the 2nd grade at Sallas-Mahone.  She looked like a little doll, with blond hair and big blue eyes, but what I REALLY remember was this sweater she had.  It was all pink and fluffy and I coveted it something awful.

In 2009, the year before I was diagnosed with lymphoma, Janice was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and like mine, her prognosis at the time looked pretty scary. But 1949 must have been a good year for tough women, because here we are now in 2013, and Diana is conquering oceans and Janice is scaling tall mountains (but with bells hooked to her belt to ward off the bears), and I'm ...hanging in there.

Janice's (and Reuben's) portrait by Fay Bridges Hyatt