concrete counters, with shells embedded

cubbies in laundry room

laundry room with sink--and dryer? how is that green?

Yes, I'm a sucker for closets

15% off anything from Ballard

not sure the purpose of the ceramic egg holders, but I like them

Becky in striped shirt, waiting to buy popsicle

a book for Amelia

Yesterday's weather was lovely--hot in the middle of the day, but cool morning and evening. We went to church and sang. Right after church, I met Becky and Janna at Schlotzky's and we got lunch to go--a Cobb salad for me. They had a young woman from Czechloslovakia with them. Her first name is Barbora--I can't exactly remember her long last name, although I repeated it correcly after her. She is visiting Athens, and specifically Covenant Presbyterian, for a few weeks and it was Becky's "day" to entertain her. Ron and Kent had claimed the right to 18 holes of golf for Father's Day. Ray was happy to work on his notes uninterrupted all day.

Janna and I had talked about going to this Southern Living "green" house for a while, and it is only open through June 30. When we compared our calendars on Friday, we thought this might be our best chance. So, Janna talked Becky into bringing Barbora. She is in her late 20s and seems very nice. Her English is good. She slept most of the way over and the three of us talked, but on the way home I asked her questions about things like health care in her country. (it costs about $2--50 crowns--to visit the doctor, to cut down on people going when they didn't have to when it was free). You can take 3 years off when you have a baby and get about 7000 crowns a month, not quite enough to pay for an apartment, but plenty if you have a husband. She has a job until the fall, when the woman she replaced comes back from 6 years of maternity leave, and she thinks it will be impossible to find another job, so she will have a baby.

old matches

The house is in a community southwest of Atlanta, which includes a really good restaurant (Serenbe) and an organic farm. We saw a couple of interesting modern energy-efficient houses. They were sort of crowded with furniture and showy items that look great in magazines and on TV. Janna was entranced--all the color schemes were gray. I told her it made me want to kill myself. She said, "don't come visit me, then." I said I could manage for a few hours, probably. She is redoing her bedroom and bath, the last part of her house that she has not renovated and decorated.

dining room at Serenbe

We had a good time, but it seems crazy to me to drive about 5 hours and spend about 2 walking around and looking at houses and some shops. Barbora bought a hematite and copper bracelet. The saleswoman was trying to explain the healing properties to her, but she bought it because she liked the way it looked.

It was a little after 7 when we got home and Ray cooked some pork chops on the grill. They were very tasty. I managed to stay awake through three TV shows and a bit of book reading, although I was awfully tired. Not looking forward to getting in a car again soon.