On Sunday 2 March we were up and at Shand's by 8:45 am.  It is an unusual Sabbath as we didn't watch "Music & the Spoken Word" and we didn't attend church.  We will try to observe Fast Sunday next week.

I finished reading "A Tramp Abroad" by Mark Twain which I had begun on 27 March last year.  "It is a work of travel literature, including a mixture of autobiography and fictional events published in 1880. As he and a friend make their way through Germany, the Alps, and Italy, they encounter situations made all the more humorous by their reactions to them. The narrator (Twain) plays the part of the American tourist of the time, believing that he understands all that he sees, but in reality understanding none of it." Wikipedia

I recently read "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain.  I have also read "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." 

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Sue was able to leave the hospital shortly after 12:30.  It was great to bring her back to Russ's!  It looks like we'll head home on Tuesday.

I received an e-mail from Lee Snyder of our stake high council.  Our stake is participating in a food drive in September for local food pantries.  I was asked to serve on the food drive committee.  I replied that I would be happy to assist as our branch covers three counties, each with its own food pantry.

We enjoyed Italian sausage and the sauce that was the recipe of Russ and Eileen's dad's.  We have enjoyed it for many years and had it often at Eileen's parents' home for various holidays.

In the evening I read "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams.

(1881-1944)

On Monday 3 March we enjoyed a fine "country breakfast" which Russ had prepared, i.e., Nettles sausage, home fries, and scrambled eggs.  The sausage is from Nettles Sausage Company of Lake City, Florida.  I "liked" it on Facebook.

I finished reading "The Vicar of Wakefield" which I had begun on 23 January.  It is a novel by Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith. It was written from 1761 to 1762 and published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)

I posted my blog for this past week.

Supper was also excellent.  Russ made black-eyed peas with string beans and ham along with Bivins' sausages (also from Lake City, Florida) and more of his dad's sauce.

On Tuesday 4 March we all headed out about 9 am.  We filled up our gas tank at Sam's Club in Valdosta as the price was back down to $3.189.  As we had no breakfast we stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Valdosta which we had never been to before.  We both picked something from their breakfast menu.

Cracker Barrel in Valdosta

Even though it was only 3 pm, the traffic was still heavy heading north of Atlanta on I-75.

I-75 north of Atlanta

Everyone got home safe and sound. We stopped in Canton, Georgia, for a few things and at Rite-Aid in Ellijay for a prescription.  We called Dr. Raisig’s office and got the results of our lab work done back on 7 February.  By and large all was good.

Then at home came the unpacking of the car and going through all of the mail that had been on hold for us.

On Wednesday 5 March we were up early and picked up the sister missionaries, Sisters Wilcox and Burgess, at Ingles to take them to the food pantry.  We were only somewhat busy for the first Wednesday of the month (about 117 families assisted).

We were busy afterwards, partially due to having been away so much.  We had to pick up Eileen's Windows laptop from Appalachian Computers, my suit from the dry cleaners, and copies of the local weekly Times-Courier newspaper for the last two weeks.

Times-Courier office in Ellijay

We also mailed a birthday card to our daughter Colleen and an anniversary card to our daughter Heather and her husband Tom, and went to the Blue Ridge Olive Oil Company, Ingles, Walmart, Piggly Wiggly, Rite-aid, and R&A Orchards. We were definitely pooped when we finally got home!  It was like yesterday unloading the car, only now it was lots of groceries, etc.

Blue Ridge Olive Oil Company in Ellijay

We had a nice chat in the evening with our son William (our youngest) who lives with his wife Erin in Mesa, Arizona.

I finished reading William Shakespeare's tragic play "Titus Andronicus."

William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)

On Thursday 6 March we went into town for Eileen's appointment at Barbara's Hair Designers.  While she was there I ran a number of errands.

Eileen and Barbara Rittenberry

Afterwards we had a nice visit to North Georgia Diamond about a new bracelet that Eileen would like to get for me.

North Georgia Diamond in Ellijay

In the evening I finished "Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up" by Clarence Edward Mulford that I began on 21 November.

Clarence Edward Mulford (1883-1956)

On Friday 7 March we met Phil and Carol Messina and Cheryl Dawson in the morning for the cleaning of the church.  This is done by my "team" once every two months.  I did lots of vacuuming while Eileen worked in the bathrooms.  Phil, Carol, and Cheryl also worked all around the building.

Ellijay Branch building

Then we went home to get the lemon cheese bars that Eileen made for the Food Pantry open house from 3-6 pm.  We dropped them off at noon and went to our Kids Ferst PR meeting at the Country Corner Kitchen.  We enjoyed lunch and discussed the large wooden playhouse that Kids Ferst will be raffling off as a fundraiser.

Country Corner Kitchen

At 3 pm we went to the Food Pantry open house.  There were lots of visitors including former volunteers Bob and Julia Hughes and Helen Gordon.  Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston attended and said a few words.  The local Methodist minister said a prayer and the local Hope Lutheran Church minister who has had a lot to do with the pantry offered a prayer of dedication of the pantry.  Eileen and I both noticed that neither minister closed in the name of Jesus Christ.

There was a ton of delicious snack food and both of us ate more than we should have.  Eileen's lemon and cream cheese bars were awesome!  On the Wednesdays that we volunteer at the pantry, I work at one end of these tables preparing the plastic shopping bags for the "shoppers" like Eileen to use for the food they gather for the patrons.

My wooden box of plastic bags

The wooden box full of plastic bags is normally placed at the end of the long tables.  The bags are then put into the shopping carts for the "shoppers."

Eileen guided several visitors around and we took lots of pictures.  Following are several pictures of the innards of the pantry.  

Food shelves

Coolers

Food shelves

Interview room

Refrigerator/freezers

Waiting area

Waiting area

Here are pictures of those making some remarks and presentations, including the ribbon-cutting, all with the front door and reception area behind them.

Judy Farmer and Tom Rippy
with plaque from Faith, Hope, and Charity

State Representative David Ralston

David Ralston, James Elliot, Judy Farmer, and Tom Rippy

Ribbon Cutting

Volunteer Judy Harvey provided some wonderful painting, both on the walls and in the Kids Ferst reading area for children.

On the back wall of the reception area

Kids Ferst reading area

The Little Engine That Could

In the garage was the playhouse that will be raffled off as a fundraiser for Gilmer County Kids Ferst.

Emil Harvey and Eileen

Eileen

We stayed until 6 pm and headed home.

On Saturday 8 March we went to the Atlanta Temple by way of Costco in Kennesaw.  Gas at Costco was $3.189.  We went on the 1 pm endowment session.  It was unusual as there were seven sisters and 13 brethren.  And the film was another new one which I liked very much, unlike the other new one which I did not like.  This new one brought a tear to my eye at the end.

Atlanta Temple

We were thrilled (and mystified) to discover as we checked our folder of family file cards as we were leaving the temple that our youth could not have done any of our baptisms and confirmations when they came to the temple this morning!  29 of ours (male) were done on 25 February during stake temple week while we were in Florida and 31 (female) were done by someone yesterday!!  We learned on Sunday that Brother Mark Ramick had done all of the temple work for us on 25 and 27 February.  We still had no idea who had done the work on Friday 7 March.

We set our clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Saving Time.  Of course, one doesn't need to do one's computers and iPhones.