thanksgiving! and the countdown...

I spent a very pleasant Thanksgiving with my mom's cousin and family.  Adam and Bernard took charge of an amazing turkey, mashed potatoes, chickpea salad, collard greens with smoked turkey wings, and Georgia shrimp.  Linda cooked up some delicious stuffing and sweet potatoes with marshmallows and pecans.  Rachel added some oven roasted asparagus and squash and I brought my homemade bread.  Top it off with pumpkin pie and Dutch apple pie and you have six happily stuffed people!

Traditional after-Thanksgiving family Christmas picture

Rachel and me

Linda and me

Dinner was followed by Monopoly which was followed by card games.

I went home the next day and pretty much straight to work.  Now I'm trying to catch up with all of my end-of-semester projects and it's probably time to start studying for finals.  BUT, the countdown is ON!  I will be flying back to California eleven days from now!

sweetwater creek state park

On Saturday, a small group headed out to Sweetwater Creek State park, about 15 miles due west from downtown Atlanta.  We were hoping to catch fall colors in their full glory, but realized before we left that it was probably a bit late - especially with the wind and rain we've had recently.

We took the Red Trail out along the creek and the Blue Trail back through the woods - the Red Trail is a mile to the waterfall, and we were somehow under the impression that it was supposed to be an easy trail, good for families.  The trail was actually quite rocky with lots of roots, several wooden staircases, and some seriously sloped areas.  The Blue Trail was a winding two miles, and quite pleasant.

Dan and Marie along the creek

"five-story ruins of the Civil War era New Manchester textile mill"

D, Lara, & me with Timber and Nika

the sun came out just as we were getting back to the parking lot.

These photos have been enhanced with Photoshop - it was pretty, but the colors had definitely begun to fade, and most of the leaves had already fallen.  Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and it was great to get out and take a short hike!

walking around the block

I know, it's been a while.  In the past few weeks I've survived 4 exams, worked a couple days, endured what seems like endless hours of physiology lecture (how's 10 hours in a week sound?), and ended up on an intramural basketball team.  I went climbing late (the wall is open from 4-8 pm) one Wednesday so I would finish just in time to watch our intramural basketball teams play their first games before I went home.  I watched the "A" team win by a huge margin, and somehow ended up on our "B" team in order to keep us from a forfeit - co-ed basketball teams MUST have at least 2 female players on the court to start the game, they only had one at the beginning of the game.  This is particularly funny since I haven't played basketball since 7th grade.  It's been fun, and I even scored a basket in each of the last two games - the first two games I avoided getting the ball on offense at all.

I slightly sprained my ankle in a game November 2, so I haven't been climbing or much else.  In order to get some exercise, I've been walking around the long block on which I live - it's about 5K, or 3.1 miles.  Here are some highlights from that stroll:

 Fall colors come out in small pockets.

 I just find this street name amusing.

 If you look closely, there's a plastic snake in the top of the shrub - Halloween decoration!

 Yes, this is really someone's mailbox!

 Another pocket of color.

And a pretty leaf.

I also went for a hike with some friends this past Saturday - that's a subject for another post.