2017 in Pictorial Review

Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas from the Deep South!

The surprisingly warm September weather has continued into early December.  We broke heat records on October 12th and 13th when the temperatures reached 87 and 86 degrees.  The previous records were established in 1939 and 1931. With the exception of some truly wild wind from hurricane Irma and a bad ice storm in January, the rest of the year has been unremarkable.  The winter was mild.  By January 15th we had a record high that was more typical of what we would have had on April 11th.  We had the warmest February on record, which triggered an early onslaught of pollen.  The winter ended with an unprecedented 31 days at or above 70 degrees.  The winter of 2017 was the third warmest on record. The spring and early summer were rainy, but not hot.  

We experienced a near total solar eclipse on August 21st.  The path of totality was in extreme north GA and from there it made an arc through Spartanburg, SC.  Even so, the North Atlanta area had 97% of the full effect at the peak which was between 1:30 and 2:30 pm.  We joined many of our friends at the club’s pool for a party. I brought Moon Pies and Sun Chips in honor of the occasion.  Both Mike and I thought it would havebeen darker.  We did hear an outburst of cicada noise when the eclipse was at its peak. 

The other major weather event was hurricane Irma.  We were on Hilton Head Island, SC when Irma was “on the approach”.  We were under mandatory evacuation orders, so we had to cut our trip short.  It was a shame as the weather was very nice in advance of the storm.  We encountered major delays en route home.  Fortunately, it is a “one tank trip” between Hilton Head Island and home, so we knew that we would not be stranded due to lack of gas.  Irma did come through Atlanta on September 11th.  For almost twelve hours we were battered by sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph and 60 mph gusts.  The accompanying rain was pretty bad but amounted to only four to five inches.  Two metro counties to our north and east were very hard hit.  There was no school there for a week.  Fulton County, where we live, had to close school for three days to allow time for power to be restored and to get the roads cleared of fallen trees.

2017 has been and continues to be a year full of travel from beginning to end.  In January we were on a 12 day southern Caribbean cruise.  We visited St. Martin, St. Lucia, Barbados, Martinique, Antigua, St. Thomas and St. John.  These islands, as well as the FL Keys, had devastating damage from hurricanes Irma and Maria.  We are glad that we made a trip to the Keys in 2016 when we saw it all from Key Largo to Key West.  Now, much of the Caribbean and Keys are in ruins and will be for some time to come.  

We spent Easter in Rincon as Kristin and Jim had just moved into their new home.  It is quite large at three and a half times the size of their original home.  We spent one day at Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah.  It was the colonial estate of Noble Jones (1702 – 1775).  He was a carpenter who arrived in GA in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first group of settlers from England.  Jones survived hunger, plague and warfare. Hewent on to serve the colony as a doctor, constable, Indian agent, Royal Councilor and surveyor.  Jones planned the towns of Augusta and New Ebenezer.  Wormsloe remained in the Jones family until 1973 when GA acquired most of the plantation.

Shortly after Easter, Eric, Amber and Ethan visited us.  Ethan is a true joy; he is living sunshine.  It was a great few days and we hated to see them leave for their trip home.  In early June, Kristin and her family were here to celebrate her birthday.  The two older girls, Alexis and Keira, went fishing in the lake behind our house.  Each of them caught a few fish – blue gills.  They were so happy.  At the end of June we made a trip to Fairfax to celebrate Ethan’s first birthday which was earlier in June.  We drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway, making the usual stops in Little Switzerland and Lynchburg.  Before we left GA, we had driven into rain brought on by tropical storm Cindy, which caused heavy fog at times along the parkway.  Things cleared up when we arrived in Lynchburg.  We visited the nearby Poplar Forest, the summer home of Thomas Jefferson.  One of its unique features is that many of the rooms are octagon shaped.  The grounds are very pretty, also.  Archeological work continues to this day at Poplar Forest. In addition to enjoying our time with Eric, Amber and Ethan, we had two great afternoon excursions.  One day we went to the Udvar Hazy Center at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA.  It was fascinating and I know that we will make a return visit.  We saw quite a bit, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay - a Boeing B-29 Superfortress which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  The Gemini VII space capsule was there along with an Air France Concorde, part of the supersonic transport fleet.  There are thousands of exhibits, all well-annotated, along with approximately 200 aircraft and over 150 large space artifacts.   We also had a nice afternoon at Burke Lake Park, where the five of us rode the train and took a pontoon boat ride.  For part of the weekend, Ethan’s other grandparents visited.  It was wonderful to see Roger and Cyndi again.

Our most recent trip was to Hilton Head.  The weather was great, even on the day we had to evacuate.  That was disappointing, but in the grand scheme of things, the early departure was only an inconvenience.  We were not left lifeless or homeless due to the hurricane as so many people were.

We will be gone for most of December when we travel to Southeast Asia for a river cruise.  Mike has wanted to do a river cruise through France and Germany; I had no interest in that because we have already made numerous trips to Europe.  I am tired of castles and cathedrals.  I told him that the only river cruise I would consider is one in Asia along the Mekong or Irrawaddy.  We will begin in Saigon.  After a few days there we will embark on the Mekong River cruise.  The 8-day cruise will take us to many places, including Phnom Penh.  Many people we know who have seen post-war Vietnam say that it is truly beautiful.  Since we came of age in the Vietnam War era we definitely wanted to see Vietnam.  Most recently we watched the entire Ken Burns documentary of the Vietnam War on PBS.   After we disembark we will tour Angkor Wat in the Siem Reap province of Cambodia for two days.  Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century on 402 acres of land.  It is the largest religious temple in the world.  Initially, it was a Hindu center for worship; within the first 100 years it became a Buddhism temple and has remained that way to today.  From there we fly to Hong Kong for a four day visit, which will include a day at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Closer to home, I got a new refrigerator this year.  My 31 year old GE finally stopped working.  All of a sudden I had a lot of spoiled food on my hands.  The freezer was also showing signs of not keeping things as cold as it should have.  We started shopping online, and then we went to the big box stores to see the refrigerators “up close and personal”.  I definitely wanted one with the freezer on the bottom and country French doors on the top.  We narrowed our choices down to Samsung and LG because they were well rated by Consumer Reports.  It also had to be counter depth.  In the end we chose the LG.  It was delivered over the Memorial Day weekend.  After we got over the refrigerator hurdle, I noticed that my 37 year old oven was no longer heating.  I had saved all of the documentation from 1980.  Mike was able to locate the part number for the heating element.  Miraculously, the part was still available so he ordered it.   We are long overdue for a complete kitchen remodel, so I guess we need to get serious about that!

Thankfully, neither of us has had to face any health issues this year.  I have kept up with daily walking - weather permitting - as well as going to the Silver Sneakers Cardio Fit class twice per week. 

We have also had some Trump political fallout here.  Former HHS chief, Dr. Tom Price, lives in Roswell and belongs to our church.

November will be busy from beginning to end with getting ready for and celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as getting a head start on packing for our trip to Southeast Asia.  

We hope that all is well with you and that you have a wonderful holiday season.    

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