The Abditory

In classic fashion, we’ve had a busy couple of weekends in a row. Two weekends ago we headed down to Tifton (with a kid in tow) for a family birthday party. I spent most of that Saturday either behind a couple of grills or being chased around by kids. This past weekend we rambled around the city including a stop at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market and a trip down to Decatur to meet up with old friends at Brick Store Pub.

We had a great time both weekends but I’m looking forward to a (hopefully) more laid back time this weekend.

Birthday Party

Two weekends ago we went to Tifton to celebrate John’s 60th birthday. It also happened to be the local church pastor’s birthday so the party ended up being a combined party involving both family and most of the church membership. I spent the better part of the day outside behind a couple of grills playing with fire. Post-party, we pitched in to clean everything up and get stuff put away. I helped as much as I could but the kids decided that my services were no longer required.

Running for dear life. The little one in pink has a screaming superpower. She could be on Heroes, no joke.

I managed to survive their attack, escaping with only minor hearing loss and a renewed sense of why we haven’t had kids yet. We hung around the parking lot for a while with some of the folks we went to high school with.

Two statements that seem to have nothing in common, but clearly do in this case: 1) Wanda rarely smiles that big. 2) I can't see the hands of the guys on either side of her.

Dekalb Farmer’s Market

This past weekend we headed down to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market after hearing a lot about it. It was much larger (and much colder) than I had expected. It took us a while to explore the whole store.

The place is gigantic and crowded (at least on a Saturday). If you go, be sure to bring a jacket!

We saw durians. You may recall that durians have been discussed here before. Wikipedia says this about the durian:

Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the “king of fruits”, the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk.

That entire quote is a study in understatements. Large size? The smallest one we found was bigger than a human head (a comparison requested by Ben of fortunemegastore.com) and weighed over 6 pounds. Unique odor? If by unique, they means “smells like feces,” then it’s completely accurate. When we ordered a durian smoothie at a Vietnamese restaurant a while back, the waitress warned us, “it’s an acquired taste.” Yes, feces definitely is an acquired taste. Wanda wanted to pick some up just to try it. Perhaps some other time… like when I’m out of town for a week or something…

We picked up some coffee beans, which seemed like a bargain (I haven’ tried them yet). I was curious if they roasted their own beans or had them shipped in from some other roaster. I mentioned, “I wonder where they get their beans from.” Wanda asked the lady behind the counter, “where do these beans come from?” and pointed at the bag of Sumatra I was holding. Her response? “Indonesia.” Touché, coffee lady. Touché.

Decatur

That evening, Kishan and (more surprisingly) Brent actually came into town… at the same time! It’s amazing to me that Kishan has lived in TX for a while and is about to move to Chicago yet has been to Atlanta more in the last year than Brent, who lives like 2 hours away. Nonetheless, both were in town Saturday evening for a bit. We met up with them at the same place we always go when we can’t think of where to go:  Brick Store Pub in Decatur.

Ben, Jen, me, Wanda, Kishan, and Brent. I was accused of parental behavior for handing my camera to a stranger for a group photo.

It was great to catch up with them. Perhaps in another 2-3 years they’ll come back…