Yesterday was so busy I didn't have time to write anything.

Friday turned out to be quite complicated.

Walk Elisa (very cold but not raining). Get dressed, go to UGA. Go to class. Go to volunteer at the soup kitchen with Molli.

Leave there before eating anything to babysit for Carter, who ws a sick baby. His Mom took him to the doctor and then got a prescription filled, so I was actually at their house foa about an hour before he was there. He was pretty unhappy. I gave him some pain reliever (as directed by his father) and he fell asleep almost instantly. He slept for a couple hours, waking up once and crying a little. I patted his back and he went back to sleep. About 3, he woke up and was clearly uncomfortable. I tried changing his diaper. Nothing there. I offered him some applesauce, but he wasn't buying it. I gave him a bottle and he definitely liked that. He fell asleep before he finished it, but woke when I tried to put him back to bed. I held him in the rocker for an hour or two before he seemed deeply enough asleep to put in his crib. I sat in his room and listened to his stuffy breathing. A sick child is sad and endearing. The medicine will start working soon.

Whistle Stop Cafe: Elisa and ribs

I left at 5:30 when the Mom came home--in some ways, an easy way to earn $45. I also ate some of their leftovers, with their encouragement.

Then I had to stop by my Dad's and he wouldn't let me leave until we chatted for about 15 minutes. Then I drove to Winterville and picked up Molli, who moved all her things home again. Becky and Kent were home from their cruise and we had to talk some.

Molli in the reconstruction of a lodge

At home, Ray had made the pot roast and cut up all the vegetables, but it was 8 before we could sit down to eat.

Yesterday, we got up to another frosty morning. I ate some breakfast and took the dogs out to the mailbox. All four of us were taking showers (and a bath) within a half hour and there wasn't enouchg hot water. Ray drove my Dad's car to his house (he had borrowed it the night before so he could go home before I finished my babysitting and picked up Molli). The three of us met him there and we started on our road trip.

We drove through Madison to Eatonton to the Uncle Remus museum. The woman there, Georgia, is 72 and talks folks' ears off. Fascinating stuff. Joel Chandler Harris was a shy boy, whose father left the family soon after he was born. He apprenticed with a newspaper publisher at 13, who became a mentor and father figure. The older man, J. A. Turner, lived on a plantation and it was from the slaves there that he heard the Uncle Remus stories. There are lots of Turner artifacts as well as Harris ones.

view from the mound

We drove to the Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette. Some of the food was better than others. The service was very bad, with wrong orders and slow refills. But the atmosphere is great--trains going by out the window and memorabilia all around.

We got back in the car and went to the Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon, one of my favorite places to take visitors. I figure you should start learning about Georgia history with the oldest people to live here. There are mounds and a reconstructed underground lodge. It was a beautiful sunny day, cool but good for walking.

Then we drove through the campus of Mercer Univeristy and to Ruth's house in Atlanta, where Elisa was spending the night. She dozed some in the car. We visited for a bit, then headed home. Lots of driving for not much sight seeing, but very satisfactory.

We ate leftovers, watched TV, and went to bed.