Spooky Season

I missed last week's update. Monday and Tuesday after my trip to Helen was Fall Break at Oglethorpe. Unfortunately, I had jury duty on the Monday. I had to get up even earlier than usual in order to ride MARTA to Decatur before 8 am. Then I sat around most of the day, waiting for 60 of us to be questioned. I finished a book and started another. I went to a Mexican restaurant a block away for lunch with three other people during our break and the server messed up the order so two of us didn't get our food in time to eat it. We carried it back to the courthouse and I ate mine sitting on the floor outside the courtroom. Anyway, after all that I wasn't selected for the trial.

Waiting in the orientation room at the courthouse.

Tuesday I stayed home and did some grading and other school work with breaks for meals and to read books. It was nice to have a little time for doing "nothing."

The rest of the week was quite a blur, with the second General Chemistry exam on Thursday evening. I had a bit of a meltdown when the copier refused to scan my stack of exams. 

On Saturday I attended the Atlanta Gladiators home opener. It was a warm evening. They had a live band playing outside the arena that I enjoyed. The crowd was surprisingly small (maybe half capacity?) but energetic. Since I am now classified as a season ticket holder, I was able to stand in a long line for the special giveaway: I received a blanket, an aluminum tumbler, and a coupon for a cookie. I was also invited to sign the special dasher board. Then I waited in an even longer line to pick up my pre-ordered Gladiators cap. 

New hat!

Last Sunday I had brunch on Zoom with J & J. I made Dutch baby bunny and it actually turned out well. In the afternoon, I took MARTA downtown and met Katy at her hotel. She was in town for an infectious disease conference. We had beer at Skol Brewing (Viking theme, a Minnesota Viking fan club event had just ended) and then dinner at Alma Cocina.

Beer at Skol Brewing.

Dinner at Alma Cocina.

The rest of the week was pretty ordinary. I went to board games Monday evening, cribbage club on Tuesday, Wednesday I went home and forced myself to stay awake until I had finished the book for Thursday's book club meeting. I really liked the book, but Wednesday I did not feel well at all and I kept dozing off while sitting on the sofa holding the book. Regardless, it was a good book club meeting on Thursday; everyone loved the book (it was Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury). Friday I came home and watched TV and did some knitting. It is starting to look like something.

Knitting progress.

Yesterday all I did was grade student papers at home while doing laundry and cooking crock pot ribs. I also got more reading and knitting done. 

Today, I met CH at Stone Mountain Park and we hiked the trail up to the top. It was a cloudy day, but we could still see the Atlanta skyline as well as some other city skylines (we argued about which cities they were - I think Cumberland/Vinings and Sandy Springs/Dunwoody) and a number of other mountains. The trail up is strenuous: bare rock most of the time and occasionally steep. Lots of people on the trail. At the summit it was windy. The walk back down took half the time.

Selfie at the summit of Stone Mountain.

Atlanta skyline.

After our hike, we drove into Stone Mountain Village for brunch at the Sweet Potato Cafe, which was tiny and adorable. The food was great! I had a not-very-adventurous breakfast plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, and a sweet potato biscuit. Then we walked a block or so over to Outrun Brewing, which I had visited once before. We had a couple of beers each there. Then we drove back to the park and I drove us around the mountain. We visited the Memorial lawn, with the view of the infamous Confederate carving on the side of the mountain.

Difficult to make out in my photo, but that's Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson on horseback in the carving.

The mountain is certainly something amazing. Just a big stone lump there surrounded by forest. I climbed Arabia Mountain to the south last spring and it is exactly the same kind of thing. The Park is huge, with lots of shops, restaurants, and activities. Someday I should go back when the weather is nicer to play mini-golf, ride the train, and whatever else. There are also lots more trails that are free, and I have the annual parking pass so I can go anytime I want (regular parking is $20 a day). Our last stop, as the rain started sprinkling, was at the Carillon on the lakeshore. I will have to find out when it gets played and go back to hear it. It has 732 bells and was made by Coca-Cola for the 1964 Worlds Fair, then donated to the park.

The Coca-Cola Carillon.