(Also posted to the abandonedplacescommunity)

Charles and I went out yesterday looking at some old, abandoned places that he knew about back from his days as a Surveyor, and found what I thought were some pretty interesting things at the site of an old wood mill by the river built in the 1800's, and a couple of very old cemeteries. All of these were taken just outside of Atlanta, GA.  Hope you enjoy, and that this isn't too long or picture-heavy!

Here is the exterior of the mill from the side we couldn't really get to by foot.  This picture was taken with a camera phone, but the rest of them were taken with a different camera, and are of better quality: 

 (#1)

Along the trail, there was an old, grown-over mill house that I really loved:

 (#2)



 

Well, I had expected food to be available at the Fair, but I had absolutely NO IDEA exactly what kind of volume would be there.  Truly, it was overwhelming.  Once we walked past all of the giant buildings full of livestock that I actually decided to not gawk at, due to the many piles of poop that were apparently inside, if the scent wafting out of the buildings was any indication, we walked past the clock tower, and it was ON.  Food, food, food, as far as the eye could see.  I was awestuck, and didn't expect there to be quite so many choices.  At first, I was all, "HEY!  Apple dumplings with ice cream!  No, WAIT!  Smoked turkey legs!  Oh hold ON!  Caramel apples that are ALREADY SLICED for tidy consumption!!!!!'" but ultimately ended up just taking some deep breaths and reminding myself that we had to use moderation if we wanted to survive this thing, so we started out slow, with a bag of cotton candy.

We shared the first layer as we strolled along and gaped at the piles of food that glassy-eyed people were carrying around in search of a place to sit down and dig in, and we found ourselves being drawn towards an intoxicating smell that came from an enormous covered area featuring a giant grill that stretched for about 50 feet, and had many people manning each section of the grill.  There were sausages and chicken and hot dogs and hamburgers, of course, but there were also a million enormous steaks.  Steaks!  Many people were lined up to get themselves one of those there steaks, and at first I myself thought, "Mmmmm....steak", but then we both agreed that the steaks looked really, REALLY fresh, which is certainly good when you are going to eat meat, you want it to be fresh, but realizing that perhaps those steaks had just hours before been walking around in the livestock building, well...we decided to think on it for a while and not be too hasty with the steak eating just yet.  It's not that being faced with the harsh realities of slaughter had made us rethink our carnivorous ways, we just at that moment weren't in the mood to think that hard about the Circle of Life, so we moved on.

What we landed on instead still involved beef, but in a more lighthearted context - Roast Beef Sundaes!

Tomorrow morning at 8:00 SHARP we drop the dog off at the kennel, and then we hit the highway in the direction of Myrtle Beach.  There aren't words to describe how ready I am for this trip.  The forecast now calls for rain pretty much the whole time was are there, and I'm not even that upset about it because I am just happy to be gone.  Far away.  Out of reach.   Until Monday, when all the people I can't wait to hide from will have access to me again.  

I'm really hoping that we can spend lots of time doing stuff like this:



and when the sun disappears behind the hotel we will go here:




And then when it's too cold for all that, we will go inside and NAP, because naps are AWESOME!

We will later go have ourselves something to eat - preferably fresh seafood if we budget things right, and hopefully can even work in a round or two of miniature golf.  I don't care that we can't hit all of our usual haunts, because just being able to see and hear the waves crashing from our balcony will be enough to wash away some of the grouchiness that has been caking up on me like so much filth.  There is no way to be at the beach without undergoing a massive attitude adjustment for the better.  

Y'all have a great weekend, and if you really miss me, you can look for me on the beach cam on the hotel's website:

http://www.beachcove.com/

Or, you can show up and surprise us, because it's $89.00 per night!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm still not quite over that price.  It makes me feel like I'm getting away with something.

Dang, I have lots of reading to catch up on around here! Not sure if I will have time to today, or even soon, because I'm due back in Hell right away, but I intend to get back around here regularly eventually. I had challenged myself a while back to write at least 3 entries in a row that were completely positive, but alas, that proved to be impossible. Add to that the many circumstances that have been making me very super-ultra busy lately, and not in a good way, and what you get is me going sort of AWOL for a bit. I've also given up on the "positivity" challenge, but that probably goes without saying.

On the plus side, hopefully, I have not taken any Zoloft in something like 9 or 10 days. Last time I went that long, I thought my brain was going to shimmy itself right out my left ear, but this time I'm having an easier time with the withdrawals. OH! And last week I rolled my ankle and took a giant digger in the parking lot when I was leaving work. It was awesome, because afterward I got to walk around WITH AN ALUMINUM CANE, for DAYS! And I went so long without a shower that I reached the point where I couldn't even stand my own smell! And even now, 7 days later, I'm still sporting the ankle wrap that I will apparently need for a while, and the GIANT, SEXY scabs all over my other leg are now at the stage where they itch tremendously! Who's jealous? (Not Nellymom, because she has me beat with her ultra-sexy air cast).

Charles has been incredibly sweet to me through it all, including but not limited to, bringing me Church's fried chicken (my very favorite!)for lunch on Friday when I was still trapped downstairs, and doing dishes, and grocery shopping, and bringing me peroxide to wash out my gaping wounds. I don't know how he tolerates me, but I'm very glad that he does.

Hope everyone is well. I'll try to catch up soon!

...that Charles can't blame his farts on the dog (or cats), because I can tell who did what by each fart's distinct odor?

I do have an amazing sense of smell, which I would gladly trade for a keen sense of pretty much anything else, so maybe it's not completely normal that I can pinpoint every fart down to the exact colon that produced it. A smart nose is what I got instead of good vision. Without contacts or glasses I can get around okay in my own house, and recognize pets by the color of their blob and the way their blob moves around, and I know that Charles is always the tall blob, but if I was dropped outside in say, the back yard, and had to find my way home, I don't think I could do it. Blind as a bat, I am, but I can sniff out a fart like nobody's business. Sometimes it's hard to count my blessings, there are so many.