First tooth, old home week and lucky to get them

- Great nephew Monroe has gotten his first tooth and is feeling chipper about it (at the moment.)  :)  He's six months old now.

- Some fat Carolina wrens visit the bird feeder on my back porch and hop about.  They have been around for a few days, making me wonder if they are from last year's nest in the bird house.

- The hot food bar at the natural foods grocery is a hit and miss kind of thing by the time I can get there sometimes.  Last night at 7:30pm, there were two brussel sprouts left, which I quickly nabbed in my takeout container.  The young man who refills the dishes says I need to get there earlier because "everyone loves them."  

Rain delay, it wasn't just me and great dessert

- Walking at 11am instead of 8:30am on Saturday morning.  It was raining pretty steadily earlier, but at 11am it was down to a light to nothing drizzle.  Beauty can still be found in puddles, I think.

- Attending a lecture in the afternoon about Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, whose work is on exhibit now at our High Museum in Atlanta.  I mention the little nap I had during the droning lecture and my friends say they fell asleep, too.  

- Discovering the second half of a dark chocolate bar in a ziplock bag in the pantry for an Oscar worthy dessert.

The end of it, I liked it and I liked that, too

- When the train was approaching on this trestle, during my Wednesday after-work walk, I got a toot toot from the train engineer; either because I smiled and waved or because they do that anyway.  Either way, I liked it.  By the time I circled around the trail, the train was leaving - this was the end of it, snapped with my phone.  And near the end of my walk, too.

- Enjoying the music on my iPod during that walk.  It's fun walking with friends, too, but I still love a solitary walk, listening to music.  The very energetic song, "I Like It," by Enrique Iglesias came on and the joy of it made me walk faster.

- Having an after-work catch up with friend Leisa on Thursday at a very energetic Irish pub / restaurant, Fado.  Our fries chips arrived with three lovely sauces, red chili aioli, Marie Rose sauce* and American ketchup.  :)  So good.

We are looking at a rainy weekend here in Atlanta.  OK with me - there's always reading and movie watching waiting here at home.  I hope you have a great weekend!

* Same as what we call Thousand Island salad dressing here in the states, I think.  :)

Caress, nurturing the tomatoes and caregiving snapshot

- That plant will get a trim before it returns to the back porch in about six weeks, but until then, its tendril looks so pretty caressing the apples.

- I enjoy the weekly email that comes from farmer Doug from the organic farm near the greenway park.  This bit about tomatoes is lovely:  "I have 150 tomato plants that are a foot tall now, and looking great.  600 more started and another 1000 seeds planted.  I slept with them last night to put wood on the stove and watch that they did not get cold.  Looking at their green leaves glow in the morning sun makes it worth it."

- On a warmish afternoon, two women sitting at the picnic table in front of the grocery store near work, with a just purchased container of strawberries open on the table before them.  The younger (granddaughter, caregiver?) dabs the elder's mouth.  So loving.

Thinking of her, messages from the phone and the upside

- I was able to quickly snap this photo with my phone on Friday morning as we paused to let someone make a right turn.  The truck made me think of niece Amanda, who is a die hard University of Florida "Gators" fan.  That driver is a Gator fan, too - if you look carefully you can see the Gator sticker on the back window.  I texted the photo to Amanda after I parked at work (just down that hill) and we had a quick texting catch up. That was also a gorgeous 7:30 am sky.

- Earlier in the week, friend Colin texted that he was going to my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia on Friday and where should he and his friend have lunch?  I texted suggestions and remarked that I so miss Milledgeville.

Around lunch time on Friday, this text from him:  "At Georgia Bob's Barbecue for lunch and then on to Savannah." 

My reply:  "You should stop at my friend Susan's shop, The Red Door.  I have my parents' '60s china cabinet and buffet on consignment there.  And next to that is the best bakery in Georgia.  I love their German Nut Bars."

Then this instagram photo came:

 - My reply:  "Ah - there it is!  At least they can put things in it."  (It's been there since last August - people look, but don't buy.)  I like that his friend is doing the Price is Right gesture there.  :)

And then this instagram photo:

- There they are - German Nut Bars there in the center.

Me:  "You're getting at least one, right???"

Him:  "Of course."

Me:  "Have one for me."

Him:  K

Thanks for indulging me on my Friday journey through texting - it was a very up and down day (the down due to work drama), but this was definitely the upside.  :)

Moonstruck, ignore and annual visit

- A most lovely and thoughtful friend sent this "un-Valentine's" present from far away - a note on gorgeous notepaper and Moonstruck chocolate:  dark chocolate sea salt almond.  Yum.  I always think of that film "Moonstruck" when I see that word and those fun, quirky song lyrics, "When the moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie, that's amore..."  

- And just to show how amore resistant the blogger spell check is, it wanted to correct the spelling of amore to:

am ore
Armory
armorer
More

And there was my favorite option:  Ignore.  :)

- Seeing my already beleaguered accountant perk up when I show up for our tax appointment bearing Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (she got the loose sleeve, pictured on Wednesday, not that other whole box - it's mine, all mine.)

She's got a long way to go until April 15 - so glad my taxes are 90% done.  :)  And I'm loaded up with chocolate goodness - look out weekend, here I come!  I hope your weekend is loaded up with good things, too, my friends!

It's that time again, coffee break and delicious description

- It's Girl Scout Cookie time!  My favorite Thin Mints, purchased from a polite young lady (a coworker's daughter.)  That's freezer condensation you see on that tube of Thin Mints remaining from the first box; frozen so I am not so inclined to pop so many of these addictive cookies at once.  :)  Back in the freezer they went after their morning photo shoot.

- Thin Mints arriving at work while I still have half a travel mug of coffee from home left.

- On our third day of rain, reading a friend's facebook post last night:  "The stars are amazingly bright.  The breeze.  Delicious."  And then going back to see where she might be (because it didn't sound like Atlanta right now) ... and she is in the Virgin Islands.  :)

Brief encounter, reorganizing the closet and not reorganizing

- That's weekend walking friend Laura's husband Bob there with Macintosh (aka Mac) and Dorrie.  We encountered them on our walk and it was fun to see the looks on their sweet faces when they realized that it was Laura walking toward them.  They were beside themselves, as if they hadn't just seen her in the hour before at home.  :)

- A Saturday afternoon reorganizing of the bedroom closet making it such that I can actually walk in there now.  And the trunk of my car is full of bags of shoes and clothes to take to Goodwill.  A lovely feeling.

- Foregoing the reorganizing of the second bedroom closet on Sunday in lieu of sitting on the couch watching TV and playing Mahjong on the laptop.  A hard rain set in during the late afternoon and it turned to pure bliss.

So good, reminder of home and thinking of them

- I suppose food bloggers would put this in a bowl to photograph it, or at least wipe the sides of the soup pot.  :)  This delicious recipe came from the smitten kitchen blog and I loved making it.  Crushed tomatoes, lentils, carrots, celery, onion, Italian sausage, garlic, spices, greens.  So good!  Click the Smitten Kitchen link above to get the recipe.  It could easily be made vegetarian by omitting the sausage.  It's for lunch today - topped with some grated romano cheese.  Yum.

- Switching to Gain laundry detergent just because of this story:  my sister Jo and her husband own a small business and one of their employees was deployed to Afghanistan several months ago.  They keep in touch and he told Jo in an email that what he misses most is fresh sheets on the bed.  His always seem to feel sandy.  So she bought some sheets in the correct size, washed them with Gain and packed them in a zipped plastic bag and sent them off to him.  He told her that he hasn't wanted to put them on his cot - he just likes to unzip the bag and breathe in the smell of the detergent every now and then.  It reminds him of home.

- The delightful smell of that detergent when I walk by clothes that I hung to dry in the doorway.  They also make me think of my sister and the young man in a faraway land.

It's the weekend!  I am looking forward to my two days off and hope you are, too.  Have a great one!

Message to the tooth fairy, chocolate cake and another treat

- My sister Jo used to ask her girls to put their tooth in an envelope for the tooth fairy, so the tooth fairy could find the tooth easily and transport it better.  She recently rediscovered the stash of envelopes the tooth fairy kindly left behind and this note from niece Amanda was the funniest.  (Note that the "t" in "not" has been cut off.)  There was another that said, "Please leave money, I'm begging!"

- Having a post breakfast piece of chocolate cake at work with the delicious coffee from a travel mug from home.

- And packing a couple of buttery Caramel Pecan Bars for today from the bakery in my sister's little town in Florida.  They are my favorite and she brought them Friday when she came up to visit.  They are in an air tight container and just begging to be finished.

Sleeping on the back porch, weekend recap and watching

- This sleepy cat on the back porch of a nearby antiques shop.  There was a wide-eyed gray kitten, too, who disappeared under the swing just before I snapped the shot through the back door window.  The owner says the kitten belonged to another cat, who has vanished, so she and this shop cat take care of it.

- Friday night dinner, Saturday morning walking, antiquing, The Flight of the Monarch Butterflies at the Fernbank Museum IMAX theater, Rummikub, Saturday night dinner, Sunday morning walking, church (where everyone said we look just alike), brunch, more Rummikub and then...

- Watching my sister's car until it leaves my sight.  It is our family custom to do this with each other when we depart.

Knickknacks, living in the treasure trunk and coming to visit

- Rediscovered in my "treasure" trunk - this dog and cat that used to sit on my grandparents' fireplace hearth.    They loved knickknacks and these two were just part of their ceramics collection.  They were meant to be planters or perhaps to hold flowers.  During the seemingly endless Sunday afternoons while we sat in their living room to "visit", my eyes used to wander around the room.  I can still see everything:  the red couch and draperies, my grandmother at her piano, my grandfather proudly watching her (he adored her).  All the knickknacks and bored siblings.

- When mom and dad were clearing out my grandparents' home years later, I asked if I could have the dog and cat planters.  I always thought the dog, in particular, looked kind of sad.  They are safely back in the trunk this morning and await the day I move into a place large enough to have a curio cabinet in which to display them.  :)

- One of my siblings, my sister Jo, is coming to visit this weekend!  I should thank her for generating the cleaning and organizing spree I've been on for the past few days.  That's the best good thing - her visit and having such a clean and tidy house.

I had to look up how to spell knickknacks.  :)  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends!