Tooth trouble

Last Friday, Jimmy developed an abscessed tooth, and normal procedures to fix it are complicated by fact that the Zometa infusions he's been getting can have the serious side effect of causing osteonecrosis of the jaw. After a week of antibiotics and conferring with local professionals and Dr. Lonial at Emory, we went to Atlanta yesterday to see about it.

When he'd finished examining Jimmy's tooth this morning, the endodontist decided that we need to wait a few more weeks to give the Zometa time to get out of Jimmy's system, meanwhile on antibiotics to keep the infection at bay, and then extract the tooth. Nothing's simple these days.

This particular dentist's practice is in Snellville, about twenty miles east of Atlanta. As usual, Jimmy did Priceline for hotels in the area, and got us accommodations in Stone Mountain Park, of all places. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had dinner last night at a wonderful little restaurant on the lake, looking up at the mountain, watching the sunset, with flocks of Canada geese honking in to roost.

It sure beat a root canal.

More office photos

Here are some more of the photos Jimmy has hanging in his office - I like them so much I brought them home to scan and share.

Jimmy, the game warden, John McNeill, and Ed Jared, circa 1980

Why are these guys laughing? They just got arrested for shooting ducks over a baited pond.

The legendary John McNeill, the late great Joe Lawson, Easy Ed Jared, Jimmy Himself, and the fabulous Frank Haralson, at the Callaway Gardens steeplechase, about twenty years ago.

A rogue's gallery: John McNeill, Ed Jared, and Jimmy, aboard Jimmy's Hattaras, the Caper.

Fun at Jimmy's office

"Will you stop?" groused Jimmy. "You're driving me crazy! Every time I turn around, you have that camera stuck in my face." We were in his office, and I was bored, so I started taking pictures of his stuff, since he wouln't let me take any more of him.

Jimmy speared this 10 pound lobster, now mounted and enshrined, on the first day of lobster season (August 1) in the mid-eighties, on a reef near Walker's Cay in the Bahamas.

In 2003, Jimmy and Kenny Scruggs (with a wee bit of help from Barry, a local Bahamian guide) got 86 lobsters on opening day. We kept what we could eat and gave Barry the rest to use or sell.

A few years ago, I painted Jimmy this watercolor of Susie, one of our favorite pointers, now long gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds. ******************************************************************************

More photos will be added tomorrow.

Low country boil

Saturday when I went to the farmers' market on South Patterson Street, the green peanuts were in, so I bought a big bag for boiling, and a dozen ears of wonderful sweet Silver Queen corn, some Vidalia onions, a pound or so of tiny new potatoes, and some outstanding locally grown tomatoes.

Leaving there, I swung by Robert Goff's Oyster Bar on Oak Street and got a few pounds of large shrimp, and we were all set.

We threw the potatoes and onions and corn and butter in a big pot of boiling water, along with several links of sausage, cut into chunks, then at the end, the shrimp. Et voila: Low Country Boil! We sliced the tomatoes and cucumbers, set out boiled peanuts, and the to-die-for gravlax with dill that William had made. Max made his crab dip; we all thought it was good, but Max didn't think it up to his usual high standards.

The piece de resistance was Mary's strawberry pie: she and Jackie had picked the strawberries Friday, and with whipped cream, it was so fresh and good.

Afternoon with Ed

Best friends since I moved across the street from him when we were six years old, Ed Hanahan and I, fifty-four years later, still have a great time together. After lunching at Antoine's today, we happily frittered away the rest of the afternoon, wandering around and reminiscing, as only lifelong friends can do.

Ed chats with Sarah Bartholomew on the lawn of the Lowndes County Courthouse where the annual Brown Bag Concert Series has been going on all week.

May flowers

One (and there are few) of the positive things about Jimmy's being so puny this spring is that because we've been at home, we've enjoyed our yard and the flowers more than usual. I'd planted some things in 2006 and this is the first time we've seen them bloom - or if they did, we weren't paying attention.

There's a hydrangea that was scrawny and peaked-looking from drought, and was fighting for survival, much less trying to bloom, and it blossomed for the first time this week. I was expecting blue, maybe pink, but it's a big snowy white puff.

Even the daylilies that I've always taken for granted make me happy this year.

Something ( I'm blaming it on the squirrels) ate the caladium bulbs, but the more mature plants we replaced them with are doing well,

and the jasmine has exploded.

Claudia: still waters run deep

Today is Claudia Mullis' birthday, and I can't resist saying a thing or two in honor of the occasion. While rummaging around searching for an appropriate photograph, I was surprised at how few pictures she's in; she was present when most were taken, but was usually sitting with me, behind the camera. So I settled on a scan from our high school yearbook, circa 1967.

Claudia was a year behind me in school; we knew each other then, but didn't really become friends until she and Stuart moved back to Valdosta in the early '80's. We were neighbors, our families inseparable, and Claudia and I enjoyed our children's growing up probably more than they did.

There are so many things I could say about Claudia, about what a wonderful, unique person she's always been, about how you couldn't ask for a better, a more steadfast friend, about her being so complicated and free spirited, but I won't embarrass her and go into all that stuff. I'll just list a few lesser known tidbits.

1. She went to see the movie Top Gun at the theater nineteen times in 1986. This does not include the times she later watched it on video at home..

2. She loves Jimmy Buffett. Never misses a concert.

3. The first time she flew in to San Francisco, she DID wear flowers in her hair.

4. She graduated from Mississippi State in three years.

5. She and Stuart got married in Frances and Tommy Hatcher's back yard.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure Claudia thinks I've said quite enough already.