On Sunday 5 January we attended our Ellijay branch.  Happy New Year!! On the bulletin board were pictures of our participation in our branch service project at the Food Pantry. 

I was saddened to read of Phil Everly's death last week at age 74. 

"He was one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo, the Everly Brothers.  During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Phil Everly and his brother, Don (now 76), ranked among the elite in the music world by virtue of their pitch-perfect harmonies and emotive lyrics.

"Rolling Stone labeled the Everly Brothers 'the most important vocal duo in rock,' having influenced the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel and many other acts.

"Along the way, they notched 35 Top 100 songs -- more than any other vocal pair.

"The Everly Brothers' sound -- with Don's lower register generally ringing in perfect thirds with Phil's higher voice -- was the backbone of dozens of hits." CNN 

We kept an eye on the Weather Channel for continuing news of the winter storm and watched an episode of "Diagnosis Murder."

We also began packing and loading the car for our trip tomorrow.

On Monday 6 January we headed south about 10:30.  We left both master bathroom faucets dripping as the nighttime temperature was dropping to 2 degrees while we were away.  We stopped at Ingles for Eileen's peach fruit-2-O but they were still out of it.  Next was Walmart and they had some!  But they were out of the packages of crawfish tails as she planned on making crawfish étouffée at her brother Russ's home in Brooker, FL.

"Étouffée is a dish found in both Cajun and Creole cuisine typically served with shellfish over rice.  Étouffée is most popular in New Orleans and in the Acadiana area of the southernmost half of Louisiana as well as a popular dish in the coastal counties of Mississippi.  Étouffée can be made using different shellfish such as crab, shrimp or the most popular version of the dish being Crawfish Étouffée." Wikipedia

We stopped at Kroger in Jasper to get gas as it was $3.099, 5 cents less than Walmart.  Eileen found the crawfish there!  By then it was past noon.

We stopped for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel in Cordele, our first time at that one.

We arrived at Russ’s place in Brooker about 6:40 pm. 

Eileen made the crawfish étouffée and later, while watching the BCS Championship game between 1st ranked Florida State and 2nd ranked Auburn on my laptop, I finished reading "Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders, Or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold" by Victor Appleton.

A very exciting game!  Florida State won 34-31!

On Tuesday 7 January Russ and Sue arrived about 11 am.  At noon we headed for Shand's Hospital for Sue's 1 pm appointment with the interventional radiologist Dr. Beau Toskich.

Dr. Toskich

"Interventional radiology is a medical sub-specialty of radiology which utilizes minimally-invasive image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat diseases in nearly every organ system. The concept behind interventional radiology is to diagnose and treat patients using the least invasive techniques currently available in order to minimize risk to the patient and improve health outcomes." Wikipedia 

We enjoyed Eileen's  crawfish étouffée and rice with two loaves of bread from Publix for supper.

On Wednesday 8 January we were up very early and had Sue to Shand's by 7 am for her procedure.  She left us about 9 and returned to us about 12:45.  Dr. Darren Postoak did the procedure.  All went well and we will have to wait for scans to be read to ascertain what and when was next.  We left the hospital about 4 pm.

Dr. Postoak

While at the hospital Eileen and I got a lot of reading done.  I finished reading "The Great Events by Famous Historians Volume 4" begun on 2 October.  It reached 842 AD.

We finished Eileen's crawfish étouffée and enjoyed some episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show."

I finished reading "The Bostonians Vol. 2" by Henry James begun on 19 November, having begun reading Vol. 1 on 29 March.

Henry James (1843-1916)

On Thursday 9 January the hospital called in the morning and Sue's next procedure will be on 21 January.  That will involve radiation seeding in one lobe of her liver with the other lobe being done about six weeks later.  We headed home and Russ and Sue headed back to Sunrise, both at 11:30 am.

We enjoyed lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Tifton.

Now to explain about Georgia license plates and leaving I-75 to go to Pulaski County.  When we moved to Georgia in 2008, I observed that the Georgia license plates had the name of the county on the plate in most cases.  So I decided to take a picture of the plate for each county and collect them on my computer.  I also kept a document listing the counties seen-to-date.  Recently I compared the pictures on my computer against the counties listed in my document and saw that I was missing pictures of plates from Pulaski County and Jasper County, even though I had them listed on the document.  So on the way home today, I got off I-75 at exit 117 and drove through Dooly County to Pulaski County, where I photographed a license plate at Pulaski Middle School in Hawkinsville, the county seat.  I then drove west and got on I-75 at exit 127.  Next time we head to Florida I will take care of Jasper County which is just north of Macon. 

We got home a little after 8 pm after heavy traffic in Atlanta.  All well at home.

On Friday 10 January we went to the Country Kitchen in Ellijay for our Kids Ferst PR meeting only to learn that it was cancelled due to Judy Harvey breaking her ankle on Monday!  Eileen called her and got the scoop.  She was operated on Wednesday and is in a hard cast.  Eileen had a yen for fish tacos, so we went to Mucho Kaliente for lunch, never having been there before.

Mucho Kaliente in Ellijay

We went by church to clean.  The building had a thorough carpet cleaning a day or two before which made it much easier for us.  We emptied all the trash cans and cleaned the large windows in the foyer to include those that are part of the doors. 

189 Dogwood Drive, Ellijay

Then on to Community & Southern Bank to open a savings account for our granddaughter Megan.  We recently established 529s for college for the four grandsons.

In the evening we enjoyed watching "Nature" on PBS.  We had recorded "Legendary White Stallions" about the Lippizaner Stallions from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, and it was delightful! 

On Saturday 11 January we were up early and headed south to Jasper by 8:06 am.  We met Robin Hanks and Kali Pierce at Kroger at 8:50 and Eileen rode with them to the stake Primary leadership meetings at the stake center in Marietta at 10 am.  I also drove down and hung out at the stake center until they were done about 12:15.  That arrangement allowed them to discuss branch Primary business while en route.

The weather was pretty yucky as we had thunderstorms and possible tornadoes in the area!  It rained all the way to the stake center with occasional lightning and thunder.  I got there at 9:40 and moments later Sister Hanks arrived. I took my laptop and worked on e-mail and family history.

Then Eileen and I went to the Atlanta Temple to do sealings.  We sealed 10 sons and five daughters to their parents.  Today is our branch temple day.

Atlanta Temple

On the way home we stopped at Kroger in Jasper.  I gassed up and went inside with Eileen for salmon on sale and brown rice sushi.  We had to get a rain check for the salmon.  In Ellijay we stopped at Ingles for London broil on sale.  With all the rain the Cartecay River was brown and deep.  I took pictures of the "rapids" along Georgia 52 and the waterfall on Big Creek Road.

The Cartecay River along Georgia 52

The Cartecay River along Georgia 52

The Cartecay River along Georgia 52

The waterfall on Big Creek Road

The waterfall on Big Creek Road

In the evening we watched the 4th quarter of the Seattle Seahawks versus New Orleans Saints football playoff game, won by Seattle 23-15.  We watched a little of the Indianapolis Colts versus the New England Patriots which was 21-12 New England at halftime.  New England won the game 43-22.