Road Trip -- Watkinsville

Yesterday was a gorgeous, hot day, and perfect for a little adventure. I had read about a pottery exhibition nearby, and convinced Roland that instead of hanging around the house, we needed to get out. I was just about over my empty nest depression!

Lunchtime saw us heading east toward Watkinsville, a little town just south of Athens. Quite a different drive this Saturday than in recent years when a September Saturday would see us all in red and black, ready to cheer on the Bulldogs. But I digress. Lunch was at a newish sub shop called Submarina, in a strip shopping center on Sugarloaf Parkway. The GPS was on the fritz, due to some unexpected falling off the window last weekend, but how hard can it be to find the Oconee County Arts Foundation building in Watkinsville.

Turns out, a bit harder than expected, but Roland's trusty Nokia phone with GPS got us there! There was 2 parts to this pottery exhibition, called Perspectives 2009: Georgia Pottery Invitational. The first we ventured into was this white building that indicated we would find a giant pottery sale!

Those people on the left were watching a pottery making demonstration. Inside, we found several aisles of treasures!

After roaming the aisles for awhile, and seeing lots of lovely pottery in different styles and techniques, but not buying anything, Roland discovered part 2. Turns out, there was a gallery exhibition as well in another, better airconditioned building. I don't have any pictures of that, but the same artists were represented, but the gallery appeared to show their best pieces. Some of those were for sale, but some were not.

All this pottery viewing left us quite thirsty, and since we were so close, we headed north about 8 miles into Athens. Seemed quite strange not to have anyone to visit (see post about daughter's graduation), but Athens does have a special place in our hearts anyway.

We stopped here, at The Grill, for a milkshake and a root beer float before heading back to Atlanta. Heading home after that, we decided more road trips will definitely be in our future (and not just trips to see football games)!

Back to School

The Etsy Blogger Team's Blog Carnival is always so timely and topical, and this time is no different. What does back to school mean to me? For all those Etsy Bloggers with the young children heading off to elementary school, getting up early, making lunches, and mounds of homework... enjoy it if you can, because all too soon back to school will mean something totally different. Time flies is a saying that really is true!

My oldest graduated earlier this month, but my youngest is just starting his sophomore year in college. Back to school for us meant last minute packing, with nagging on my part, and declarations like "it will only take me an hour to pack all my stuff, mom" on my son's part. Shopping was kept at a minimum this year (unlike heading off to a freshman year) so that was good.

So, after a day's worth of packing (that was one LONG hour!!), last Saturday we headed north, spending the evening walking around campus, scouting out the new dorm, checking his mailbox for the coveted parking permit, and a last evening of bonding. OK, honestly, after dinner he met up with his friends that he hadn't seen in a couple of months, returning to the hotel room in the wee hours of the morning. We didn't even hear him come in, but about 2:45 a.m. I heard my husband shuffling around, and then a frantic, "have you heard from Kyle?" Um, no, I was sleeping, and my cellphone was somewhere in my purse across the room. But then, he said, "never mind, he's here sleeping." About 3 feet away on the sleeper sofa.

Sunday, after snagging a prime unloading spot by the dorm, we had a nice "free" hotel breakfast, and then the unpacking started. Kyle's dorm room is so small, that it's crowded with 2 people, downright uncomfortable with 3. He's so happy to be there, though.

Mama and her Baby Bird in his new nest

Since getting home, I have been wallowing around in our nest, which seems much too big for just the two of us, looking for birdies to take care of. I should snap out of it soon, and enjoy sleeping through the night again. Life is so much easier when you don't know what time they get home or what they've been doing!