Just easing back into things after a trip to Atlanta to be with my 3 sisters. This used to be an annual event — our Sisterfest — but we hadn’t done it in 6 years or so. Thanks to my Atlanta sister’s excellent hosting and pampering skills (she’s the middle child — always aiming to please), we visiting sisters had a great, relaxing time (although I’m not convinced SHE did). And I’m sure I gained 5 lbs. in 5 days, happily tossing aside the last 5 months of dieting to eat absolutely everything in sight. It was heaven, on many levels.
I didn’t take a camera — sometimes taking pictures of the 4 of us together can be a little too “Picture of Dorian Grey” for my taste — except that we’re aging in real life, too, not just in pictures.
But I was glad to have my phone camera to snap a few shots of whimsy.
My favorite is this…on my seat on AirTran Flight 993, non-stop service from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, someone made my day.
Someone fun and mischievous and talented who sat in that same seat sometime before me had knitted or crocheted a “cozy” around the tray table arm. (I’m thinking crochet, since I don’t know if they let you have knitting needles in your carry-on!) Seamless, it would have to be cut or unraveled to remove.
No way of knowing how long it’s been there. I didn’t notice it for a while. When I did, my sister and I checked all the seats around us, wondering if this was some new design element. But no, it was just for me.
How cute. How unexpected. I’m sure I’d love the woman who did it (because, you know, it had to be a woman).
My other “wish I had a camera” moment came on our visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
They had a “living wall” — something Mike and I have talked about adding to our side patio, but haven’t managed to execute yet.
It’s so cool. Chock-full of herbs and succulents, it looks and smells great. A guy was watering it by wringing out a wet sponge over the plants. In Atlanta’s heat, I imagine that would be a constant battle…or they have some other, faster watering method too.
I want one!
I’m also a sucker for garden art.
Loved this rustic and beautiful St. Francis statue.
Coveted this awesome wrought gate.
As my sister and I noted, there’s nothing like a trip through someone else’s glorious garden to make you feel like you better get home and get to work.
So I am. Too bad it’s not all in the garden.
Sisters are different flowers from the same garden.
~ Author Unknown
It could happen, right? 
more far-fetched futures to dream about. (That place on the beach, for example.)
Writing by Ear 
