Aurora Borealis

Well, the showing happened.  The agent called from the Waffle House nearby and said her client should be meeting her there in a few minutes.  So we got ready and cleared out. Mr. Tldz decided we should use some of the money we set aside for this purpose and go out to lunch.  We tried the pit barbecue place near campus. It’s probably been 10+ years since I’ve been there, and I think I only went the one time, so I couldn’t really remember much about it.  (Though I think that was the first place I had Brunswick stew.)  Pretty good basic Southern BBQ.  We still like JR’s better, but this was good. And pretty cheap, too.

We had a fun time picking on Monday, and couldn’t have picked better weather – the end of a stretch of sunny but (relatively) cool, low humidity days. Due to scheduling necessities, this was later in the season than we’ve gone in the past, and it showed.  The picking was a little harder — really had to get to the underside of the branches and such, but we still did pretty well and have a reasonable haul of berries frozen to get us through the year.  We’ll have to pace ourselves with these more than we did last year, since we did two days of picking last year; but still.

Unfortunately, the place in Social Circle we’d hoped to go picking (because they have the bluebelle variety, that we discovered makes fabulous cobbler) was already closed for the season.  They had a poor crop this year.  So we went down to Fayetteville instead, which meant we got to got to City Cafe and Bakery. We really like it there.  It’s too bad it’s so far away. The German food, as usual, was wonderful; and of course, the desserts.  And we brought some goodies home with us.  (The folks at the farm were a bit rude, so we didn’t get any extra produce there and just spent that money at the bakery instead.) We got a great loaf of German rye bread to go with our stew this past week. And we’ll have it for sandwiches this week.  Agent Murphy liked the bread, too.  Gotta love that kid!

Last Saturday night, L. babysat for The Agent while Mr. Tldz and I went out to dinner with RW and S.  It was goofy how giddy I got about it in the days leading up to it.  Wow — I could actually get a little dressed up, spend time with adults, and eat a meal that didn’t involve keeping an eye on a toddler and his meal.  (Do you think maybe I’m feeling the isolation and lack of conversation of being stuck at home with a toddler all day?  And a non-verbal toddler at that?) Mr. Tldz and I tried to remember the last time we went out somewhere without the Agent.  We were horrified at that thought that maybe it was our anniversary in November; but then we remembered that we’d had dinner at the home of some friends from church in March or early April.  L. stayed with the Agent then, too, and we went over after our friends’ daughter was down for the night.  Okay, that’s not as pathetic as its having been November, but still.

Anyway, we met RW and S at Athens Pizza.  I’d had their pizza, but never been to the restaurant to check out the rest of the menu.  Good Greek food.  Including gyros.  Why didn’t I know about this before?!?  And fabulous desserts, too.  And always fun to see them.  Unfortunately, the conversation turned to politics — the proposed government healthcare plan, in particular — and I found it depressing to see in living color in front of me the stranglehold Leftist thought has on mainline Protestantism and academia. As Mr. Tldz said, it’s just further proof of the old academic joke about a Ph.D. being just “piled higher and deeper.”  Oh well.

Mr. Tldz and I had a lovely, lazy, relaxed weekend.  It has us looking forward to the upcoming long weekend!

We went out for pizza Friday night to clear out for some showings, and noticed that the ice cream parlor across the street from the pizzeria that has been “coming soon” had a banner up announcing a grand opening on Saturday.  So Saturday afternoon we went over there for ice cream.  Agent Murphy enjoyed his cup of strawberry for tea time very much.  Though the ice cream was good, unfortunately we were a little put off by the place because they had their “best customer” out collecting signatures for a petition to turn some flashing lights outside their store back on.  It didn’t really make sense, and when we didn’t just agree to sign immediately (partly, at least, because I had ice cream in both hands and Mr. Tldz had ice cream in one hand and a toddler hand in the other) she said loudly to the next group of people she approached, “They didn’t sign because they must be Communists.”  Way to lose some customers when you’re trying to build business for a new venture.

We had another showing on Sunday while we were at Mass.  Then in the afternoon we finished watching season 1 of Matlock while a pot of lentil and brown rice stew simmered away on the stove.  We’re happy to report that Agent Murphy likes this stew, which is good since it’s a family favorite.  (Tasty, and really inexpensive to make a vat.)

Although we’ve had an uptick in showings of the house since we reduced the price (6 since the change), no sign of an offer yet.  Hopefully we’re beginning the process this week of listing with the new realtor so we have a seamless transition — one listing expiring on July 2, the new listing going up July 3.

Today I’ve been busy with laundry, and Agent Murphy and I went to play group at church.  Small crowd today — one family of 4 kids, and a little girl just a bit older than the Agent.  The 4 siblings are 3 girls and a boy, so the boy, though he’s almost 5, was happy to have Agent Murphy to play with when we arrived.  (I use the phrase “play with” loosely.)  It was very sweet — he asked his mom if he could tell the Agent something, and when she said yes, he went over and whispered in our little guy’s ear.  His mom told me he wanted to tell the Agent that he’s going to his friend Frankie’s house.  I guess he was just very excited to have another boy to talk to.

My birthday was yesterday, but Mr. Tldz and I went out for dinner on Saturday.  (The restaurant isn’t open on Sundays.)  Yummy Thai food from Phuket.  Leftovers for lunch today.  It was a leisurely meal with no baby in tow.  Yep, it was a big day for Agent Murphy’s half-birthday – he stayed with a babysitter for the first time.  His Aunty M. was nice enough to come over for the evening, and apparently he comported himself well.

Even though it was a day early, I got to open my presents when we got home – Alton Brown’s kitchen manual for organizing our own recipes and kitchen notes and Joseph and Chico.  An authorized biography of the pope for children written from the perspective of a cat he used to own – how cool is that?!?  A quick glance at it suggests it will be a lot of fun and well worth reading.

Yesterday, we enjoyed sweet tea – our first batch of sun tea of the year.  That went along with leftovers for lunch – green tomato pie and barbcued green beans.  Gosh, you’d think I was a Southerner or something!  Then it was homemade pizza for dinner, followed by chess pie.  We also made an egg custard pie for the week, so we’ll be able to compare and contrast the pretty similar recipes.

All in all, a lovely weekend.

2 places are in plaza on Buford Highway south of Chamblee-Tucker, before LaVenture (4897 Buford Highway):

• Harmony Vegetarian (under $20)
  770-457-7288
  Sun, M, W, TH 11-10:30; F, Sat 11-1.

• Panang – Malaysian food ($21-$30)
  770-220-0308.

Himalayas Indian
in Chamblee Plaza
770-458-6557
$8.50 buffet on weekends.

Bombay Grill
2165 Savoy Drive
678-530-9555
I-285 to exit 30; left on N. Peachtree; right on Savoy.

Shingaar Palace (under $20)
3364 Chamblee-Tucker, Suite H
770-458-4466.

Slope’s Barbecue
Roswell Road just outside the perimeter