On Sunday 12 January we attended our Ellijay branch.  President and Sister Boland spoke in sacrament meeting.  I chatted with Sisters Barbara Bishop and Peggy Espersen about them being on my church cleaning team.

At home I finished reading the January Ensign, our LDS Church magazine. That is one of my 2014 goals! 

I posted the following to Facebook:

'I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that I totally agree with. "Abortion the Ultimate Child Abuse".

“Abortion is a growing evil that we speak against. Certainly the terrible sin of premeditated abortion would be hard to justify. It is almost inconceivable that an abortion would ever be committed to save face or embarrassment, to save trouble or inconvenience, or to escape responsibility. How could one submit to such an operation or be party in any way by financing or encouraging? If special rare cases could be justified, certainly they would be rare indeed. We place it high on the list of sins against which we strongly warn the people.

“‘Abortion must be considered one of the most revolting and sinful practices in this day, when we are witnessing the frightful evidence of permissiveness leading to sexual immorality."

President Spencer W. Kimball 

President Kimball (1895-1985)

Here is an excerpt from Victor Hugo's “Toilers of the Sea.”

I considerate it an excellent description of my wife!

“There is in this world no function more important than that of being charming The forest glade would be incomplete without the humming-bird. To shed joy around, to radiate happiness, to cast light upon dark days, to be the golden thread of our destiny, and the very spirit of grace and harmony, is not this to render a service? Does not beauty confer a benefit upon us, even by the simple fact of being beautiful? Here and there we meet with one who possesses that fairy-like power of enchanting all about her; sometimes she is ignorant herself of this magical influence, which is, however, for that reason, only the more perfect. Her presence lights up the home; her approach is like a cheerful warmth; she passes by, and we are content; she stays awhile, and we are happy. To behold her is to live: she is the Aurora with a human face. She has no need to do more than simply to be: she makes an Eden of the house; Paradise breathes from her; and she communicates this delight to all, without taking any greater trouble than that of existing beside them. Is it not a thing divine to have a smile which, none know how, has the power to lighten the weight of that enormous chain which all the living, in common, drag behind them?”

We watched a goodly portion of the Denver Broncos - San Diego Chargers football game won by Denver 24-17.

On Monday 13 January we went to our six-month checkup at dermatologist Dr. Alan Gardner's in Ellijay in the morning and to our family doctor Dr. William Raisig in the afternoon.

Dr. Gardner's

Dr. Raisig's

Dr. Raisig agreed with me that, due to the higher blood glucose readings, Eileen should start on metformin medication.

We were delighted to receive what is almost surely our last Christmas card of the year from the Thompson's in Milford, Nebraska.  We home taught them prior to our mission and two more daughters have joined their beautiful family since we left for our mission.  We visited them in Dublin, Georgia, before they moved to Milford, Nebraska. 

Aaron and Bethany Thompson and family

I finished reading "Genealogical Research in England and Wales (Vol. 2)" by Frank Smith and David Gardner and began Vol. 3. 

We watched another episode of "Lark Rise to Candleford" and "America's Test Kitchen."

Christmas decorations are starting to be put away.  I unplugged the outside lights :(

On Tuesday 14 January we were up early as Eileen had her beauty parlor appointment at 9:30 at Barbara’s Hair Designers. 

Barbara's

I mailed more family file cards for LDS temple work to Bud and Jan Farr in Mesa, Arizona.  They were part of our missionary group on our mission and we visit them whenever we get out West.  They help us a lot with temple work for our ancestors. 

Jan and LaMarr "Bud" Farr

We visited Darlene Burgess in Blue Ridge and enjoyed stopping at the Taste of Amish store for several varieties of cheese and pickled asparagus. 

Taste of Amish in Blue Ridge

At home Christmas decorations continued to come down as we put away the larger items such as the two nativity scenes, nutcrackers and Santas atop the wall unit, the ceramic Christmas tree on the deck, Joseph and Mary into Egypt statues, etc.

On Wednesday 15 January we picked up the sister missionaries, Sisters Childs and Wilcox, at Ingles (this helps save them mileage on the mission car) and went to the new food pantry location for the first time.  It was very nice and spacious!  We helped about 130 families.  A police car sits across Georgia 52 with its lights going as so many cars will be turning in there.  I wonder how long that will go on? 

Gilmer Community Food Pantry on GA 52

As we were in the Ingles parking lot after dropping off the sisters at their car, we did some shopping there.

We mailed the application to Kids Ferst in Madison, Georgia, for our grandson Liam to begin getting a book a month for his parents to read to him until age 5. 

At home Christmas decorations continued to come down as Eileen began working on the smaller items on the counter and the credenza.

Thanks to correspondence with my cousin, Ed Grice, in British Columbia, I worked on the Stubbs genealogy.  They had married into the Frith family, my maternal grandmother's maiden name.

After supper we enjoyed watching "Rick Steve's Europe."  This episode was all about London, i.e., "London: Historic and Dynamic." 

Then we watched "Fabulous Fox" about the Fox Theater in Atlanta that we visited in September 2012.

Fox Theater

On Thursday 16 January we went to our monthly Kids Ferst meeting at the Head Start building in Ellijay at 10 am.  We made a donation to Kids Ferst. 

Gilmer County Head Start Building

Then we met Ralph and Holly Hughes for lunch at the Happy Family II Chinese restaurant in Ellijay at 11:30. 

Happy Family II 

Inside Happy Family II 

Holly, Ralph, and Eileen
in Happy Family II 

We shopped for the menu for dinner tomorrow when the sister missionaries are coming here.  When we got home Eileen realized we had not bought some nice bread, so she made her own! 

Homemade bread

The Christmas decorations are all put away!  The tree and its decorations were last.  How sad :(

In the evening we watched "Unlocking Sherlock" that I had recorded.  

"Unlocking Sherlock"

Then I finished reading "The Mill on the Floss" by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) after 9 1/2 months.  What a sad ending that almost brought tears to my eyes! 

George Eliot (1819-1881) 

On Friday 17 January Eileen began her smoked sausage cassoulet for dinner.  

Smoked sausage cassoulet

I took down the outside Christmas lights and put them away until next December.

Next Eileen made the shrimp chowder for dinner.  

Shrimp chowder

So we would have two courses along with the leafy salad and yummy "sand" brownies for dessert.

I finished reading "Captains Courageous" by Rudyard Kipling.  I was amazed that Kipling, who has been called “the great chronicler of the British Empire,” wrote about fishermen off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

I picked up the sister missionaries in the Ingles parking lot and brought them home for dinner which was delicious!  After dinner we had a spiritual thought and prayer, and I took the sister missionaries back to Ingles.

In the evening we watched part one of three about "Appalachia." 

Then we enjoyed two episodes of "Father Brown."

On Saturday 18 January I finished reading "The Life of Lord Byron" by Scottish novelist John Galt.  Poet George Gordon Byron, known simply as  Lord Byron, lived from 1788 to 1824.

Lord Byron

John Galt (1779-1839)

While Eileen was working on materials for Primary for Sunday, I caught up on the blogs of some of our friends on their missions, i.e., Moulder's in Borneo, Powell's in Landshut, Germany, Metallo's in Armenia, and Brown's in Hungary, the Flynn's now home from their mission and back on the British floor of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and Kathy Kidd whom we served with as workers in the Washington D.C. Temple years ago.  

Washington D.C. Temple

We enjoyed watching "Rick Steve's Europe."  This episode was all about North Wales, i.e., "North Wales: Feisty and Poetic," including a trip to Liverpool.  

Conwy Castle, North Wales

Snowdonia Park, North Wales

In the evening we did something we almost never do!  We went to the movies!!  We enjoyed "Saving Mr. Banks" very much. 

"Saving Mr. Banks"

East Towne Cinemas, Ellijay

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.