Pics outside my apartment

When I talk to friends on the phone, they always ask what I've been up to lately. My usual answer is "not much," which is only partly true. My job keeps me very busy and is wonderfully stimulating, but nothing that I really want to bore people by talking about for any length of time. I haven't been doing much that would be considered thrilling or exciting. I've been pretty content, after all the upheaval of last year, to be rather boring for the time being.

I had two fun, though rather uneventful, trips to Detroit for a financial coaching training. I spent two days in Atlanta attending a training on home buyer education. I got to visit the Dovers in Habersham for a few days, which is always a pleasure. But when it comes to day to day life, it's pretty quiet. I take Harley for walks, work on craft projects, read, cook and look forward to the fall (when I can go for a walk and not come home drenched in sweat!). Joy is coming to town this weekend, and we're going to explore some of the bookstores in town (not that either of us really need any more books...) and some very dear friends will be visiting at the end of the month, so I will try to fit in touristy sightseeing with them.

I picked up some beautiful Chinese cucumbers from the farmer's market yesterday and will be trying Suzanne's recipe for dill pickles. I've never made pickles before, and if it works out then I will have officially started making Christmas gifts. You may be thinking, isn't it a little early to be thinking about Christmas gifts? To which I say, absolutely not! When you make all your gifts by hand, it is NEVER to early to start.

As I was coming back from my afternoon walk with Harley yesterday, I saw this beautiful banana spider in front of the house. I say "beautiful" because I can appreciate the design of this amazing predator. I was once told that they lay eggs under your skin when they bite you, but I haven't been able to confirm that anywhere.

John stopped by yesterday on his way to North Georgia. Harley was still being a bully to his dog, Colorado, but we had a nice visit all the same. In a moment of bad photographic planning, I snapped this picture with us both facing into the sun. I took another with the sun behind us, but I liked how John is making a Popeye face in this one!