stepping off the edge

I should perhaps explain the cryptic last comment in the title of this post. For those either too young or not quite in touch with baseball or popular sayings, it refers to the perfect triple play executed by three members of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. I will leave it at that except to say it is a saying also used to describe a combo of events or actions leading to success.

As for the picture? I have precious few of the three points on this leg so I have included something that I sent to Mrs. T in bed one morning. I should mention that every day for over ten years we lay in bed reading for an hour or two before our daily exercise or as I call it, “The Marquesa DE Sade hour.” Preceding the torture time two things are inevitable… first, the wonderful Mrs. T brings me a morning latte, second, I interrupt her reading with inane cartoons I text to her way over at 24″ from where I am.

This particular one underscores my dislike for the entire pickleball craze. Maybe because it came from nowhere or perhaps it seems a silly endeavor, but mostly it is because of what I call the “dances with wolves effect.” That is, if everyone is rushing to do something it inevitably creates an instant dislike and aversion to that thing in my mind… too much information?

As we leave Savannah our next stop is Senoia, Georgia. A place perfectly in the middle of nowhere whose only claim to fame is it was the location for the shooting of “The Walking Dead.” Two dear friends from Capitola relocated here to be with family, but it seems the family was hit with a divorce and they scattered! So much for good intentions. Some of the locals do have a quaint custom of dressing up as zombies and shambling around the downtown (all of two blocks long, so the shambling is brief) and having visitors pay $5 to have a picture taken with them.

A quick dinner and one night sleepover and we were off to Knoxville to visit cousin Darla. It was an absolute blast owing in large part to my sister-in-law Deb flying our to be with us from California. You remember deb, the one with the Chico Adult Daycare Facility.

Much game playing, eating and drinking, and drinking, and drinking ensued. Might be the reason there are not many pictures! Well, none that my trusty editor will let me post that is.

Quaint outside dining in downtown Knoxville. The town and the state in general is not too much north and not too much south but a whole lot of country. This is evidenced by an entire isle in every liquor store of moonshine. Various flavors, various fruits suspended in the classic mason jars fill with spirits qualified to refill your zippo lighter.

This shot was taken by Deb of me, Mrs. T and Darla strolling through old town Knoxville, Do those pants make my ass look fat?

No need to anser that.

we went to one of my favorite stores there, Mast Store Provisioners. Everything you need and plenty you didn’t know you needed, including a vast array of old school candies. Mary Jane, Chick-o-Stick, root beer barrels, and everyone’s favorite, dots of hard candy deposited on strips of paper that you bite off getting 90% candy and 10% paper, yum. A walk down that isle and you are a kid again trying to figure out how to fill your pockets with penny candy for the least penny and most candy. I settled for a jar of strawberry rhubarb preserves, Mrs. T’s favorite, and a bag of white grits.

A great BBQ and a smoked shrimp and grits dinner by yours truly and we were on our way to Marietta, Georgia to visit my nephew.

Danny and Rene are a power couple with two amazing children. They calm my fears of where our future leaders are coming from.

Below, Danny and the great and powerful Bruce…

And again, one dinner and one overnight in their basement (Terry and Paul put us in an attic so it was a perfect complement to this leg) we were off to the true East Coast.

Washington DC here we come…