Georgia on my mind

We're going to Florida, and that's why Georgia is on my mind.

Sounds strange, but it's because we're planning on meeting my cousin Ron (I have quite a few relatives in Florida and Georgia) for dinner one evening. I heard from him today, and his Mom, my Aunt Marie, will also be able to come along, and I'm delighted! Ron is such a cool guy, and so much fun to be around, and Aunt Marie is one of the sweetest people I've ever known. She's so sweet, you just want to squeeze her and hug her until she squeaks! She was married to my Mom's brother, my Uncle Lin, who passed away twenty-some years ago, and she is also my Dad's first cousin, so we're related two times over.

It's been a few years since I've seen Ron and Aunt Marie, and I'm really looking forward to it. It made me think about the fun times that we had when my folks had a place up in the northeast corner of Georgia, close to Uncle Lin and Aunt Marie. I spent my summers between college years there, and it remains one of my favorite places I've ever been. We used to go exploring in the area, driving around to sales or touristy places like Helen, a Bavarian village. We'd head out on dirt mountain trails and find old mills or pottery places. I was in the height of my punk college mode, but I dropped most of that persona in the summer and just enjoyed nature and exploring along with my folks and with Uncle Lin and Aunt Marie.

Uncle Lin was a natural prankster, and at the same time I was fuming at him, I was also laughing. He drove on those curvy north Georgia mountain roads like a bat out of hell (in fact, whenever we'd go to Helen, his usual joke was "Now we can say we've been to Helen back!"), and he'd do this thing where he'd press on the gas...then let off...press on it again...let off...so we were flopping back and forth in the seats like puppets. He'd just laaaaaugh...man, I miss him so much, but I'm so happy that we had so many happy times together. Whenever Ron and his sister Sandy or brother Bo would come up from Atlanta to visit, we would have such a great time together. Lots of laughter and a great time being with family...so you can see why I'm so happy at the prospect of seeing Cousin Ron and Aunt Marie!

I think we're going to go to J.B.'s Fish Camp--Ron said he doesn't think his Mom has ever been there, so that will be a fun new thing for her! It's a great place, and we go there every year.

On the way back, we'll be coming up through South Carolina and going through the area near where we used to live. I'm not sure if we'll cut through the far left corner of North Carolina or the far right corner of Georgia, but it will be such a pleasure to see the mountains again. (Perhaps we'll get a chance to hike a bit of the ol' Appalachian Trail. Hahaha!) For those of you in the area--Bob, Sheria, Dirk, Heather, Joy, Joyce, Lori...there are probably some that I'm forgetting!--we'll think of you on the way through! It would be fun to stop and see so many of you, but we'd need a week to make the drive!

We're pretty much ready to pack up and load the car. I did some last-minute things today like getting the mesh beach bag and the Frisbee out of the garage (Ken will have to find the kites), and I got the hummingbird feeders cleaned and refilled, as well as the thistle feeder, and cleaned and filled the bird bath. The suet and seed feeders will empty quickly, but I don't think the birds will starve--they'll find plenty of goodies to eat around the property!

We're taking both laptops, so you'll get some updates along the way, but like last year, I won't have time to do a lot of reading and commenting. I hope you'll bear with me, and know that I'll pick up with you all where I left off after we get back. Perhaps more later, but if not, an update before too long.