The Pinhoti Trail: Georgia Edition

A couple of weekends ago the philosopher and I trekked to our beloved Pinhoti trail - this time in Georgia, between Rome and Summerville.  We went to Taylor's Ridge, and parked at the Mack White Gap trailhead.  Unlike many of the other trailheads we've visited, this one required no forest service road nightmares, or muddy bogs, or other things most unfriendly to small compact cars.  Yay!

From the trailhead we headed south towards a side trail that goes to Sloppy Floyd state park.  We didn't *quite* make it that far, but it was still a six mile hike in the back country!

We saw wild turkeys (though we weren't fast enough to get out the camera) and some rather creepy fungi:

Of course this one reminds me of Alice in Wonderland...

Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, `One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'
`One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself. `Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.
Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly round, she found this a very difficult question. 

I could relate to you the adventures we shared when we were three inches tall and descended into the rabbit hole, but I'd bet you wouldn't believe for One Second that we actually nibbled on a wild mushroom.  My husband was a boy scout - he knows better!  ::grin::

There were also some very cheerful late fall flowers, which were quite encouraging after the mushroom encounter!

But the ground did not hold a monopoly on beautiful things - late fall in the Georgia mountains is a gorgeous sight to see.  Who needs New England foliage when we have the Blue Ridge Mountains and Piedmont?

The trail took us along a ridgeline, and we came across a mountain meadow .  We stepped out from the trees and walked into this clearing.  If the ground hadn't been wet from yesterday's rain, I would have stretched out on the grass in the sun!

So that's our first "real" hiking adventure since we moved to Georgia in the spring.  (State park trails just aren't the same, somehow.)  But I've added a new list to our hiking log, and on those warm winter weekends you may just find us venturing forth to find another trailhead!

Halloween Fun

I'm a crafty kind of person, so of course I love the challenge of carving a halloween pumpkin "old school" style - no template, no pattern, no fancy carving tools.  Just a steak knife (freshly sharpened) and a pencil.

This year I think I created my Favorite Pumpkin Ever.

In the afternoon....

And late at night...

Two weekends' hard labor...

and we finally have ourselves a beautiful new front bed.

Way better than the ... disaster ...

it was when we bought the house.  Yes, that is a multi-level pond (er... "mosquito breeding system") with no pumps.  And pavers are being used for pond stones.  And *retaining wall* blocks are being used for edgers.  Oh, and did you notice all the lovely heat-retaining lava stone?  Yeah.  Ugh.

So we scooped out all the rocks.  We used the pavers as pavers around back, and stacked up the retaining wall blocks for a future raised bed.  And all the other medium river rock we spread out underneath the deck in back, so we could put a chair under there in the shade.  (The lava rock?  We created a drainage area under where the gutter downspout and the AC drip line come out, so it's not mushy and we don't have to mow it!)

Then the bed looked like this:

(Do you notice the appropriate use of retaining wall blocks?)  Ahhh.... Georgia red clay.  So we rented a tiller and chunked up the clay and roots and rocks (well, we raked out the rocks, anyway).  And then we bought a cubic yard of "planter's mix soil amendment".  And tilled the bed again!

To this result:

Talk about a clean slate!

We traveled to east Atlanta to Maple Ridge Nursery and bought a Acer Palmatum "Crimson Queen" - a lace-leaf Japanese maple.  It's a high graft, and so should eventually have a nice umbrella shape to it.  We also added a Camellia sasanqua "Yuletide" and a Gardenia jasmonides "August Beauty" as the foundation shrubs.  And, finally, my grandmother's hostas, ferns, and caladiums have a home too.

I'm also planning to add some Heucheras and some Dinathus in the front, but since they're perennials they can wait until spring. ::whew::
Oh, and did you notice we also added proper edging stones??  We'll eventually extend those around to the bed on the side.  Yes, the side bed is also full of river stones... and red clay and a bunch of sickly teeny-tiny azaleas.  There's also some lovely Coreopsis and a Sweetspire (I think) - but moving all that is a project for another day.  I really need to do some thinking about what will work well on the north side of the house.

In the meantime, I'm going to sit in my living room and relax, and admire my happy plants!

What Do Julie Andrews and Hiking Have in Common?

"Do, a deer, a female deer"
While hiking at Red Top Mountain last weekend, we saw a doe!  Our new camera allows us to take a much better picture of far-away things, but she wasn't *that* far away.  And we didn't even faze her a bit!

"Re, a drop of golden sun"
The trail took us to the banks of the Etowah river, and the sun glistening off the water made a very pretty picture.

"Mi, a name I call myself"
Well, obviously it wasn't just me that went hiking - the philosopher went too.  It was our first Georgia hike, and we had a great time.

"Fa, a long, long way to run"
Five-and-a-half miles, at least.  So not a *long* hike. And really, it was a much easier hike than the Pinhoti.  When I get my "hiking legs" stretched out, we'd like to try a longer run on the Benton-Mackaye Trail up near Ellijay.

"So, a needle pulling thread"
How about, erm, threading a needle?  (Is there some way I can really stretch the metaphor here?)  While on our hike the philosopher's cell phone rang.  That was a surprise in itself - we usually don't have cell phone service when we hiked in Alabama!  He's been trying to thread that "job needle" for a while, looking for a teaching position.  So the phone call?  An offer of two philosophy classes in the spring.  Score!

"La, a note that follows so"
Hm. I don't actually sing when I hike (disturbing the wildlife is a no-no in state parks, you know)!  But we do TALK when we hike.  Most recently it's been about his book project, with subjects like transformation, classical philosophy, contemplation, liberal arts, and Werner Jaeger's Paideia.  Erm... I do a lot of nodding.  And sometimes I get distracted and say things like "Oooh - look at that tiny frog!"  or "MmMMmm - do you smell that?  It must be a sassafras tree!" or "Did you hear that - that was a bird, right?"  But my completely random, distracted interjections keeps the philosopher on his toes, and that's just fine.  ::heh::

"Ti, a drink with jam and bread"
And to top off the afternoon, we had a cold glass of good, old fashioned, southern iced tea when we got home!

The G.S.E., a happy ending

For those two or so of you who read this blog, you'll know that we've been looking for a church now for a couple of months.  (And that was after the two-year search in Alabama, where we moved 6 months after we finally got settled at a church there!)

I tried hard not to be pessimistic about our first two visits, but even though we're *close* to Atlanta, it still takes an hour to get to the city, and that's where most of the churches we'd be interested in are located.  So we Googled, and perused various denominational websites, and scoured the phone book (anyone else notice how dated a paper phone book seems these days??!?) and came up with a church about 30 minutes away, in Douglasville.  Way closer than our last church, so we gave it a try.

It's a storefront church, tucked away in a strip mall.  I had visions of folding chairs and a folding table as the altar, and no communion rail...  much like our church in Anniston was.  We walked in the front door and folks greeted us joyfully, introduced themselves and introduced us to others.  Straight back were what looked like offices and classrooms, and to the left were the doors to the sanctuary.  (Yes!  A sanctuary!  In a church in a strip mall!)  We walked in, and - wow - they had taken great care to do everything they could to make the space *feel* like a church.  Beautiful shades covered the windows and other exterior doors - it looks like they have several small storefronts that they've merged into one big space.  Unless you look carefully, you don't notice that at all.  They even painted stained glass motifs on the high windows above the shades!  They created a raised area for the altar, and yes, there's also a communion rail.  (Here's a picture from when Bishop Beach visited recently, so you can see what I mean.)

Now, I know, this is all surface stuff.  What's Really Important is the mission and the message.  But having a space *feel* like a sacred space does so much to ease the heart and, well, I don't know about anyone else, but I feel more at peace, more able to hear that still small voice.  So I can't say it's not important at all, at least to me.  And they keep the service liturgical - they use the '79 prayer book (but not the "star trek" Eucharistic Prayer D!)  It's funny, I've been in a '28 church for almost 6 years now, but the '79 language comes back in a hurry.  I miss the comfortable words and the prayer of humble access, but I do enjoy the '79 version of the Gloria.  I think we're using a Michael Card setting for it - I'll have to remember to ask.

The good news is, they scored high on the Really Important stuff too!  The rector is awesome.  Great sermons, and truly a pastor's heart for his flock.  He and the philosopher had coffee the week after our first visit, and by our second visit we were pretty sure we'd found our new church home.  Sunday School has been awesome, and I'm hoping the philosopher can connect with a men's group too.  Yes, you heard right.  We actually found a church that's large enough to have two services, a Sunday School, Bible Studies, and small groups.  Shocking!!  8-)

I even volunteered for the music ministry, which they're trying to grow.  It's mostly praise music, with an AMAZINGLY talented worship leader, but there's also a pianist so we do get to sing some hymns too.  The worship leader seems eager to start a more involved ministry, which is great.  I did warn him, however, that I bring enthusiasm, not talent, to the mix.  Heh.  Hopefully when the Paulding campus library is ready, I will be able to participate fully, even in weeknight practices.  And I haven't been able to do that since 2002.  Wow.   Time to pull out the guitar and see if I remember how to play, right?  (Or worse, see if I actually remember how to sing!)

Anyway, thanks be to God for Trinity Anglican Church.  It's always in His time that He brings us where we need to be.

The Great Kitchen Renovation

Yes, this is the third kitchen we've renovated.  Every house we've ever owned, we've made major changes to the kitchen. It helps when your dad is a cabinet-maker, of course.  ::grin::  But I think this is my FAVORITE kitchen so far.  I've always wanted white beadboard (even when it wasn't fashionable) and I love the mossy green color in contrast with the floors and the counters.  But the coolest thing is the rolling cabinet - the kitchen is tiny, so my dad built another cabinet on wheels so we can move it around to use, and tuck it up under the window when we don't need it.  It also added tons of storage, which was also a critical addition.

So without further ado, here's the "Before" - yeah, it looks all nice and pretty, but the philosopher pulled those off the walls with almost no tools.  Cheap, crappy fiberboard and they weren't even put together correctly.  We were afraid to put anything heavy on the top cabinets for fear they'd actually fall off the walls.  Bad, I'm telling you... BAD.

 

So we started the disassembly on Sunday evening.  We took everything out and stacked it in the living room and the dining room (making sure the toaster oven would be accessible, and moving the dish rack to the bathroom since we wouldn't have a kitchen sink for a few days!)  

Oh, yeah - and the coffeepot - that was the LAST thing to be moved!

The philosopher finished up the demolition on Monday, while I was at work.  Apparently he tossed the cabinets off the back deck, and they broke into lots of tiny pieces that he then had to go and clean up.  (But really, that was probably easier than one guy trying to haul sections down the stairs, right?  And it made large crashing sounds, which is always satisfying!)

What a mess.  What a BIG mess.  So this happened on Monday.  Tuesday morning my dad and one of his guys showed up with a trailer full of cabinets.  The philosopher actually worked for dad for a semester, so he was able to help do a lot too - dad's crew got the cabinets hung, leveled, and installed, then G and I hung the doors.  

 We also put on the knobs and pulls - which doesn't sound so hard until you realize that we also had to drill the screw holes in the right spot for each one.  (I won't as you to look for the ones that may not be *exactly* even....).  Then, finally, I added the new paint. Whew!

 VOILA!  And the first meal cooked in our spiffy new kitchen?  A vegetable pot pie with a cheddar biscuit crust.... YUM.

A long time coming...

This blog post has been a long time coming, that is!  I just got back from a trip to Seattle (!!!) and boy oh boy - I gotta tell you... talk about weather shock!  It was 72 degrees most day, sunny except for one cloudy drizzly day, and no humidity.  I slept with my windows open (no screens, but no bugs bothered me either!)

I spent a week on the campus of Seattle University attending a library conference/educational program called Immersion 2011.


The campus was simply astounding in its lushness.  Deep green beds of all kinds of wonderful plants, gardens and courtyards everywhere... and the lavender.  Wow.  So I'll just share some of my favorite pictures....

 See what I mean?







And since it was Seattle, a group of us ventured out to the famous Pike's Place Market to witness some fish tossing, glass blowing, coffee grinding and cruise ship docking.  It's right on Puget Sound, and (I'll say again) simply beautiful.

We also visited the Seattle Public Library, a wierdly famous library that is...goofy as all get-out.  (Really - check out the photo at the link!!)  They have one floor dedicated to conference room space.  The rooms are pleasantly pastel and comfortable.  The halls of the conference floor?

Red.  Everything.  Red. (And no, my camera wasn't malfunctioning!)  I kept thinking of bad Stephen King short stories - is was CREEPY.  The whole place is really industrial modern (*so* not my style) but I have to give them credit - while I don't like their form, the function was spot-on.  The six floors of book stacks were arranges in a gradual spiral, so you didn't have to navigate stairs to move from floor to floor (and in the core of the book spiral was a large lime-green escalator, so you didn't have to wind your way all the way up if you needed to go to the upper floors).

All in all, the conference was fantastic, I brought home some fabulous Caffe Vida coffee and Washington State wine, and I enjoyed the weather immensely.  But I'm a southern girl, and it was good to come back home to the deep south where mosquitoes thrive, the humidity curls your hair, and where folks know about sweet iced tea and grits.  Yeah.