Saturday, September 13, 2008

Excursions and goings forth.

It's picture time! Donnie and I have been trying to get to know our new home better. We've done this by getting out to different sites and exploring all the pockets Atlanta has to offer. There are more enticing restaurants here than we know what to do with, which makes eating at the same one twice something of an improbability. There are also heaps of museums, festivals, and happenings all the time. It's so refreshing to live in a city with so much going on, and most of it in English! I'm catching up on my museum lapse.

We managed to get in two Braves games in two weeks. Donnie bought tickets to our first game (against the Marlins) and we got there early enough to scope out Turner Field complete with Olympic bleachers.


There was a sweet drumline show before the game. This massive drum was actually the least effective, but looks pretty cool.

We stay in a lot, especially on weekends, but sometimes we are bad influences on each other. This is from a late night snack attack on our way to Wendy's. Even with all the wonderful restaurants around we manage to sneak some fast food in once in a while.

On Labour Day we went to Stone Mountain, which is not far from our house. It's a big round granite hill with 3 Confederate dudes (Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis) carved into the side.

D and I were tricked into taking the train around the mountain. We managed to climb the mountain and come back down, so we hopped on the "courtesy train" only to find out that at the next stop everyone had to get off, buy a ticket, and get back on to the other side where we'd parked. Obviously Donnie is impressed.

Last weekend we drove out of our apartment complex and were greeted by the next door Catholic church protesters. Half a mile from our place is a Women's Health Centre (it's actually wicked cool, lots of great initiatives) which causes some friction in the local religious community.


We were on our way to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. They were absolutely beautiful. There is a sculpture in motion exhibit on right now that showcases sculptures that interact with the elements. One of the first things we saw was a garden that seemed to be full of bees. We were fascinated.

I caught D sniffing this flower. It smelled lovely.

This is one of the sculptures, in the middle of their main water fountain as you walk onto the grounds.

Check out this massive lily pad! The reflecting pool was on top form... just look at those clouds.

Here are some more lilypads in the more traditional style.

In their massive conservatory the first room we came to was the carnivorous plants greenhouse. These plants have a sweet sticky substance in the bottom to lure insects. But once you're in you're not getting out. Brilliant!

In that same room was a Chihuly sculpture! This is a permanent piece, not part of the exhibit. It was really awesome to see it shrouded by the mist and carnivorous plants.

Donnie's a big guy... but these fronds are bigger!

I don't remember what these were or where they were from... but they certainly looked interesting.

Mmm, chilies.

And then on the way home from the Botanical Gardens we spotted this little gem: an emotional appeal to save the life of a fetus over a store with a huge sign for GUNS. Oh, Georgia.

The next day we had our first choir Sunday at UUCA. I say we because Donnie is the music director, of course, and I am in the alto section. It was a huge success. I overheard the ladies in the washroom talking about how adorable that new music director is. Damn right!


Tuesday afternoon my boss asked if I wanted tickets to the Braves game against the Rockies that night. Of course I said yes, but we were both feeling a little tired and thought we'd stay in instead. When we picked up the tickets they turned out to be in the 3rd row, so of course we had to go. We could practically see the sweat beads forming on the third base coach's upper lip.
This is Chipper Jones, apparently he's a big deal.

This man was hysterical. He was very energetic (and kind of a hardass) about getting the wave started in the stadium. Afterwards we had to get our picture with him. He said to me "You are cute as a button" and to Donnie "You're handsome, and I'm not a queer." We doubled over with laughter.


So that's a bit of an update of what's been going on with us. Today we went to the High Museum of Art and became members. We saw an exhibit on the Civil Rights Movement in America that was incredibly moving. Afterwards we sort of wandered through the permanent collection but after the photography it felt so far on the art spectrum that we decided to come back another time.
I started my job at Inman Park Cooperative Preschool. It's been a fun 2 weeks with the kids, we're still trying to get everything up and running but we seem to be getting there. I enjoy it much more than I thought I would. The kids are really great, and though sometimes we struggle to get through the day it's never boring and the time flies because we're always doing something. I'm still determined to get my MA and teach English, but for now this is a fun job.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great update, Thanks! Love the pictures. You both look very happy, except Donnie on the train ( you don't often catch him looking unimpressed but he does here).

MOM