weekend

It's the little things, isn't it? Even not working, I love the weekends.

Today, we went to the Yellow Daisy Festival, at Stone Mountain Park. Which I thought would be fabulous, and maybe would have, if not for the fact that every one else in north Georgia had the same idea. Plus, I did not know it would cost $10 to park at Stone Mountain. And didn't know it, til we'd braved horrendous traffic to get to the entrance. The festival was free, though, with music and people watching, some of it irritating, as it was a real draw for families with ginormous strollers to amble through the sweaty crowds. I didn't have much money, and having just unpacked a house with far too much of my stuff, didn't feel the need to buy much more. I did get some nice hand-dipped beeswax candles, and some lavender and spearmint soap. But all in all, the Yellow Daisy Fest has demystified itself for me into a never-to-be-repeated experience.

Strangely, there ARE yellow daisies that grow everywhere here. I have never seen this variety, and knew only the classic white-with-yellow-center oxeye daisy.

I finally remembered to take a pic of our house. Here it is, the Atomic Lodge.
Note the flat roof, and the multilevels. It's almost always this dark overcast shady look, here, which can be a bit disconcerting, except that it adds to the cool, and the light coming in the windows is rather green, due to all the trees. I am dreading the leaf fall, a little bit, and wondering if it might just be a matter of letting them fall where they may and just raking them off walkways and grass, but in the back, leaving them to mulch themselves out? Still trying to decide a final answer, but I know one thing...those leaves are coming down! I read somewhere that a mature poplar tree may have 20,000 leaves on it. Yikes. Deciduousness is exhilarating. I do know that I will love the winter light, it was one of my favorite things in Arlington, when all the leaves were down, and our house was luminous inside, due to the sunshine, that we never saw during the summer months.

And a gratuitous Cricket shot:One of the things we are learning in the new class we're taking, is to send the dog to a spot and have them hold their place with distractions. He is watching Ella playing frisbee with P, and was extremely distracted, but held his stay really well. When I released him, he was so intent on watching the frisbee action he didn't even hear my release word! The training is fun, and is helping me to be less frustrated with my crazy dog. Meanwhile, Cricket is already more manageable, and I feel a better bond with him. In our earlier moves, I always took classes with Ella, upon arrival at the new place...she seemed to fall apart as badly as Cricket upon changing venue. She is a little crazy right now, still, but I'm trying to concentrate on the dog who is a danger to himself and others, so it's Crick who's getting the formal training. Ella goes on the fitness walks and we're mostly managing her craziness with some at-home obedience work and exercise. She seems a lot younger, here. I think she likes the woods and all the swimming.