Atlanta Botanical Garden

We went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to see the Henry Moore show.

The sculptures were magnificent, the setting as well.
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And being with these friends is always a pretty great experience, with or without the gorgeous gardens and art.

Trader Joe's

One of the highlights of this Atlanta visit was Mark's & my first ever visit to a Trader Joe's.

We liked it.

Eddie's Attic

We drove up to Atlanta Friday, May 8th, the day after Barbara's birthday, the day before Sarah's birthday, and 5 days before mine. Soon we were back in a car, heading down to Decatur, to Eddie's Attic, a great place to eat acceptable food and hear excellent music.

We started out with dinner on the roof, joined by the Schindler kids, Sarah and Grant, and their partners, Jake and Joanna.
I was excited to see Richard Shindell arrive and unpack the car.
Eddie himself took this picture of our whole group.
It was a fun family dinner and then the younger half of the party left and the older half went inside to hear Richard. He was great, as always. Enjoyed the opening act, Meg Hutchinson, too.

Belated Happy New Year!

Barbara & Steve came from Atlanta for New Year's Eve. They brought along Chaos, Sarah's dog (Sarah welcomed the New Year in San Francisco) and Barbara's cousin Meryl drove up from South Florida where she's renting a house for a couple of cold months. When they got here, our previous guest, Sarah (the dog) Nichter, was still here so for a few hours we were a five dog house. The big dogs really had some fun together in the backyard.When Sarah left we all settled down for a few hours of talk, relaxation, etc.Later we headed over to Skipper's for some greasy food and music of 1968 played by local bands of questionable talent. The crowd was hopping at the WMNF party, but just before midnight we decided to head home and drink our champagne with the dogs.The next morning we discovered how hard it can be to get four dogs to do the same thing at the same time, even for food.We all read the paper and had a good breakfast. Some napped at the table.The weather was gorgeous for January and so we spent much of the time around the house, enjoying the backyard. Dylan showed Steve how you are really supposed to use the hammock.

We did get out a bit and had a good time at the aquarium, followed by yummy dessert crepes in Ybor City.


But mostly we relaxed, at home, all together.


And took lots of walks with dogs.
It was a great time, as always. And when all the dog company left we gave our dogs their holiday gifts. Marley loves his new elephant.

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

As always, we had a wonderful long Thanksgiving weekend in Atlanta at Barbara & Steve's home. Mark, Dylan, Marley and I drove up Tuesday night, and the next morning we headed down to Little Five Points to pick up Jesse, Thom and Jasper who spent the night at the home of Jesse & Whitney Chamberlin, wedding photographers extraordinaire. They have an amazing abode, it feels like country but is literally right in the middle of the coolest part of Atlanta.

We got to pick up the gorgeous wedding albums we had ordered, to meet the Chamberlin pugs, and then we took off.

Stopped for a little lunch at the bakery in Decatur where we picked up the cakes Jesse had ordered for our Thanksgiving dessert. Back at the house, we got to show off the albums. Then Mark and I headed out for massages.

We went to R. Thomas for dinner.

Then we headed over to Grant & Joanna's apartment for dessert and some fun with Rock Band.

The next day was Thanksgiving.

We played Wii tennis (Thom actually made an avatar for every single person who came),

sampled some great beer brewed by a friend of Krin,

sat down at our longest table yet, twenty people, for a wonderful, nearly vegetarian dinner.Afterwards the guys cleaned up,

we ate those amazing cakes,

and played Trivial Pursuit.

It was fun to have the Chamberlins -- Whitney, Jesse & their son Gracyn -- join us this year. You can see the great photos they took here.

During the weekend lots of laptops were always in evidence.
Sarah got the chance to catch up with old friends

and to do a lot of work.

Dylan relaxed in Mark's suitcase.

Chaos relaxed in a sunny spot with a good view of the front door.

Friday we went to the High Museum to see a fascinating show about the Terracotta Army discovered in China.


Later we went to see Milk, an important and beautiful film, had a great veggie dinner at Dynamic Dish, and did a bit of bar hopping (and played Random Article Wikipedia Charades once again).

It was a wonderful, if exhausting, holiday with great friends.

Obama in a red state

Barbara and Steve live in Alpharetta, a very red suburb of Atlanta.

But their Obama/Biden sign is not the only one out there!

Falcon Ridge

After driving for a day and a half with very patient dogs, we arrived in Hillsdale NY Thursday night. Barbara, Steve and Alec beat us there by several hours but Susan & Paul, whose home we all congregate in for Falcon Ridge, were away picking up their daughter Leandra from art camp. Alec greeted Mark and me and the dogs.
We enjoyed the use of the Solovay home and pool, and were joined on Friday by Judy Zerden (an old camp friend of Barbara's & mine) and her husband, Hank, on Friday. That night we saw and heard some great music. The Strangelings were wonderful, and the Friday night song swap, with John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, Vance Gilbert & Patty Larkin, was the big late night favorite.
When we woke up Saturday morning Susan, Paul, & Leandra were home and soon Barbara & Alec's cousin Meryl arrived from Bklyn. Saturday was a long day of music at the festival.

Janis Ian is as great a storyteller as she is a musician. Dar Williams & Eddie from Ohio were wonderful as always.

And Susan was brave enough to do some contra swing dancing.

A great festival, if a bit too hot, too cold, and too muddy at times, but greatest of all is being with old, good friends.