Ohio and the South

As you may know, we have been traveling by car recently. Our first stop was Troy, Ohio, where we visited Paula, Ron, and Zipper. Zipper is turning out to be a pretty sweet dog. She has her first official haircut now in the style of the breed (Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier). However, she is still very much a puppy and wants to play nearly all the time. We have Josey with us, and she had a bit of a difficult time tolerating all the puppy playfulness. We have not seen so much teeth-baring and snapping impatience ever before. Maybe they will become friends sometime in the future. Zipper is a great friend for Paula and Ron, as you can tell from these photos. We had a great time playing cards, playing Perudo, seeing a couple of movies (including Pirates of the Caribbean, which actually includes a scene of pirates playing Perudo), eating Paula's great cooking, and visiting.


While there, Paula was using her cutting board--the one shaped like a pig that Robbie made for her (with a little help). Aunt Paula commented how much she likes the board and how she always thinks of Robbie when she uses it.

Our two-day trip to Florida from Ohio included a stop overnight near Atlanta. In Acworth, Georgia, just north of Atlanta, we stopped to see Kathie's relatives David and Vi. Their daughter Lori, son-in-law Tim, and children Brennan and Amanda also joined us. David and Vi prepared a wonderful barbecued chicken dinner, and we enjoyed visiting and seeing their home nestled in the Georgia pines.


On the day between Atlanta and Clearwater, Florida, we passed numerous signs for Georgia peaches, which are in season. We were finally unable to resist and pulled off to visit the Lane Packing Company, which offered fresh peaches in about every form imaginable. We sampled the peach cobbler with ice cream and a peach fritter, and of course we had to purchase a quantity of fresh peaches to take to Florida. We have been enjoying them thoroughly, while here in Florida, although I have to admit that I prefer fresh Colorado peaches, which I have frequently been able to buy when in Snowmass in August for professional meetings. Fresh peaches are probably my favorite fruit. Yum!!!!

It has been quite hot and very humid, but then what's new? Maybe more humidity here!! We have been helping Kathie's Mom with some home maintenance projects, usually early before it gets way too warm, and two evenings ago we attended a Florida State League baseball game (class A minor league) between the Tampa Bay Yankees and the Clearwater Threshers. Today, Mom treated us to a most amazing exhibit called Bodies--the Exhibition. (Note, the hot link I put here. Do yourself a favor. Go examine the Bodies web site!) This was simply amazing--an exhibit of at least 16 actual human bodies and many separate body parts, prepared with a special anatomical process, and presented in a very fascinating way to let you marvel and learn. I was blown away and highly recommend a visit to one of the exhibits that is around the country if you are ever in the vicinity. I don't know if they are traveling or not, but you can probably get more information here.