(no subject)
huge weekend SATURDAY
The boys are with their dad, so that means Arin and I are off to the mountains!!!!! As cool as the airshow is, 2 full days of the traffic and noise is too much.
We started on our usual travel plan, and suddenly diverted. By dumb luck we came across the most lovely house in the world in Ball Ground.
It was built in 1906, has 4 bedroom, 3 baths all new electical, plumbing, HVAC, and a sprinkler system in the house. There is a fire place in every room. The current owners were going to open a Bed and Breakfast, but the project became too much for them. The one acre has 2 wells and an out building. It would take a serious 2 full days of 4 people cleaning out til they dropped. The couple used both (up and down) wrap around porches to dump everything during renovation. And they had ferrets. Maybe 3 full days. And a really big dumpster. My heart literally ached with affection like a memory for this place. There is a pros and cons list going. We'll look at it again with a more objerant eye.
Did I mention the spiral staircase that is the back entrance to the upstairs balcony?
AND THEN.............
We cruised up to Dahlonega, had some rocking BBQ, and took the Trooper for it's maiden off road voyage with us. We went up the hill and down the hill and up the hill and down the hill. Then we went to Helen for a super tasty dinner (who knew fried pickles were so good?!) and spirited off to Dukes Creek Falls. Good thing we can do an uphill mile in 25 minutes, because it was already nearly dusk when we got there. We stayed in the unlit parking lot on top of the mountain to watch the stars come out - that is until a racoon in the bushes freaked me.
When did I become so afraid of the dark?
We stopped for coffee at The Moon and listened a bit to an awesome band (like, totally dude...) called Hoots and Hellmouth. Hope they do well, hope we get a chance to hear them again.
Got home around 10 pm.
SUNDAY
Picked up the boys in Loganville at 9:30 am.
We just got back from Free day at the High. The Louvre Exhibit had changed since the last time we were there, which was cool.
In the Medieval and Renaissance Treasures area were several- lots of- ivory carvings of book covers and decorations. There were stained glass pieces. I was surprised how much depth and perspective was created by the layering of different colors in the glass. The reliquaries was so lovely and there are some jewelry pieces: Viking brooches and a lovely pearl salamander. There are silver and gilt bronze statues, incense censers, cups. The icon wood carvings are so lovely. I saw 1 Donatello putti, and a DaVinci sketch.
Having DaVinci's notebook one foot from my face was a dream. I was surprised how poorly the scanned copies came out, considering how clear the original is, but I guess it's really not too terribly unexpected. When stuff gets upsized that much, will the grain and colors of the paper dominate over the ink and sketches?
The Medieval was impressive, though I would have liked more paintings. There were none in the exhibit today. However, there are some in the permanent collection on the second floor, I think.
All in all a great visit. At the instrument petting zoo, the boys discovers they love violin, bass, and chello. We colored on the sidewalk, made puppets, and did studies in achitechture. The children's theater costumes were, well costumes.
Now, we are going to watch trash tv and eat a lot since 4 1/2 hours at the Woodruff Arts Center means we didn't have a proper lunch.
And look up things about Ball Ground to see if it's a good place to live.
Did you ever open your eyes and realize everything you ever wanted is right there in front of you?
The boys are with their dad, so that means Arin and I are off to the mountains!!!!! As cool as the airshow is, 2 full days of the traffic and noise is too much.
We started on our usual travel plan, and suddenly diverted. By dumb luck we came across the most lovely house in the world in Ball Ground.
It was built in 1906, has 4 bedroom, 3 baths all new electical, plumbing, HVAC, and a sprinkler system in the house. There is a fire place in every room. The current owners were going to open a Bed and Breakfast, but the project became too much for them. The one acre has 2 wells and an out building. It would take a serious 2 full days of 4 people cleaning out til they dropped. The couple used both (up and down) wrap around porches to dump everything during renovation. And they had ferrets. Maybe 3 full days. And a really big dumpster. My heart literally ached with affection like a memory for this place. There is a pros and cons list going. We'll look at it again with a more objerant eye.
Did I mention the spiral staircase that is the back entrance to the upstairs balcony?
AND THEN.............
We cruised up to Dahlonega, had some rocking BBQ, and took the Trooper for it's maiden off road voyage with us. We went up the hill and down the hill and up the hill and down the hill. Then we went to Helen for a super tasty dinner (who knew fried pickles were so good?!) and spirited off to Dukes Creek Falls. Good thing we can do an uphill mile in 25 minutes, because it was already nearly dusk when we got there. We stayed in the unlit parking lot on top of the mountain to watch the stars come out - that is until a racoon in the bushes freaked me.
When did I become so afraid of the dark?
We stopped for coffee at The Moon and listened a bit to an awesome band (like, totally dude...) called Hoots and Hellmouth. Hope they do well, hope we get a chance to hear them again.
Got home around 10 pm.
SUNDAY
Picked up the boys in Loganville at 9:30 am.
We just got back from Free day at the High. The Louvre Exhibit had changed since the last time we were there, which was cool.
In the Medieval and Renaissance Treasures area were several- lots of- ivory carvings of book covers and decorations. There were stained glass pieces. I was surprised how much depth and perspective was created by the layering of different colors in the glass. The reliquaries was so lovely and there are some jewelry pieces: Viking brooches and a lovely pearl salamander. There are silver and gilt bronze statues, incense censers, cups. The icon wood carvings are so lovely. I saw 1 Donatello putti, and a DaVinci sketch.
Having DaVinci's notebook one foot from my face was a dream. I was surprised how poorly the scanned copies came out, considering how clear the original is, but I guess it's really not too terribly unexpected. When stuff gets upsized that much, will the grain and colors of the paper dominate over the ink and sketches?
The Medieval was impressive, though I would have liked more paintings. There were none in the exhibit today. However, there are some in the permanent collection on the second floor, I think.
All in all a great visit. At the instrument petting zoo, the boys discovers they love violin, bass, and chello. We colored on the sidewalk, made puppets, and did studies in achitechture. The children's theater costumes were, well costumes.
Now, we are going to watch trash tv and eat a lot since 4 1/2 hours at the Woodruff Arts Center means we didn't have a proper lunch.
And look up things about Ball Ground to see if it's a good place to live.
Did you ever open your eyes and realize everything you ever wanted is right there in front of you?