On the way home from work today, I came thisclose to getting in an accident. I was heading into the shopping center where Curves is. A car leaving the shopping center got confused about how the parking lot works and was trying to turn left onto the main road using the lane for people turning in from the main road — me, in this instance.

I got new tires about a month ago. I’m convinced if not for them, the other car would have hit me head on. I did stop hard enough that my cell phone, which was tucked under my hip in the driver’s seat, flew off the seat and onto the floor board all the way under the accelerator.

The accident would have been the other driver’s fault. But my car is a 2001 Ford Focus and would have almost certainly been totaled. Affording a new car would be extremely problematic at the moment. Thank you, Jesus, for good brakes and new tires.

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I hate the shorter days of the fall and winter, but I love the beautiful sunsets I seem to capture this time of year, going no farther than our driveway.

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The first Sunday in October, I saw in the Publix sales circular a buy one, get one free offer for Atlanta Braves’ tickets. It was the last day of the regular season, but I let it slide (no pun intended), because the circular had come out the previous Wednesday.

Then, I saw this in the Publix sales circular in today’s paper:

Maybe they’re just getting a REALLY early start for next year?

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Today, we took a road trip to work with Fox’s trainer. (She’s helping us with the fear issues I mentioned last week.)

As we were waiting for the trainer to bring out the dog we’d be using to work with Fox, Ed and I had this conversation:

Me: Is the sun hitting me? I’m afraid I’ll burn.

Ed: No, the sun isn’t hitting you, but do you want some sunscreen? We have some in the car.

Me: No, I’ll just sit with my back to the sun. I’ll be o.k.

And if I’d had nothing to do all morning but sit with my back to the sun, that would have been true. Clearly, however, this wasn’t the case.

How many times will I get a completely preventable sunburn before I finally learn? Wait, don’t answer that.

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As you would expect, fall comes late to Georgia. But this photo taken yesterday at Arabia Mountain demonstrates that it’s on its way.

We were at Arabia Mountain for our first hike with Atlanta Unleashed, an (often) off-leash Meetup group.

Fox wasn’t able to come on this hike. He’s working through some fear issues, and we weren’t sure if this would be a good outing for him. Ed “borrowed” a dog from a member of our group who had three dogs. The dog reminded us a lot of Fox. Looking at the photo, I almost think it IS Fox. :) As for Toby, he did GREAT with the five-mile hike. He still shows no signs of his heart disease almost two years in.

We had a lot of fun. Ed, Toby and I next plan to hike with this group in three weeks. We’re looking forward to it. Yay!

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Ed cut my bangs tonight. It was his first time cutting bangs.

Pretty good, huh?

I feel SO MUCH better. From the length of my shorter bangs, you can get an idea of how long they had been. I just couldn’t wait one more minute. Ahhhh…

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I’m not a big traveler. I’ve been out of the United States once, in 2004, when I went to Nicaragua on a mission trip. Most trips while I was growing up were to visit family. The first “real” vacation I can remember was a trip I took to NYC when I was 24. I like my vacations to be fairly quiet affairs, with plenty of time for naps and reading. (Even my trip to NYC involved plenty of down time with the friend I was staying with in Connecticut.)

On the other hand, Ed spent 6 weeks traveling through Europe in the late 1970s. He was on the move CONSTANTLY. Just hearing his stories makes me tired. He also tells me of a trip he took to Las Vegas a few years ago. I was exhausted hearing those stories, as well.

Clearly we’re not recreationally compatible.

But, lately I’ve been dreaming of taking a cruise. I like the idea of being able to sit around and do nothing if I want to. Ed likes the idea of being able to do EVERYTHING. :) This is, actually, part of the genius of taking a cruise; we can both have “our” type of vacation.

We’re hoping to do a 3-day cruise to the Bahamas. We’re not sure when.

I’ll keep you posted.

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Dragon*Con, which is held each Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, is “the largest multimedia, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US.” I am not much into science fiction and fantasy, gaming, and comics. I’m only marginally more interested in literature, art, music, and film.

However, I’d been told I really should go to the parade one year. This year we finally made it. I recognized the “Harry Potter” people. I recognized the “Star Wars” people and the “Dr. Who” people (the latter two largely because of my husband). Most everything else was completely lost on me.

Like who in the heck is this guy supposed to be?

(No, really. If you know, tell me. I’m dying to know.)

But when I saw a bunch of pirates, presumably from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” but I’m really not sure, I smiled. I don’t know why this make me smile — as “real life” pirates aren’t so nice, nor did I like the “Pirates of Caribbean” movies — but smile I did. These particular pirates went up the parade route getting the crowd to go “Arrrrrrrr!” on their count of “1… 2… 3…” They did it at least twice in front of our little group.

So, in honor of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, which also makes me smile, I bring you this, snapped right at “Arrrrrrrr!” :)

Aye, now enjoy your day friends. Aye, me dog me parrot concurs.

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The Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park attracts 500 crafters and artists from 38 states. Two hundred thousand people, including Ed and I, attend this event.

There is so much beautiful stuff there. But sometimes, all the arts and crafts just get to be too much. So, the organizers present the Men’s Den. The Yellow Daisy Festival’s Web site describes it this way.

“Send your husband, brother or father to the Men’s Den where they can relax in recliners while watching fall football games on a big screen TV.”

There were plenty of women there, too. If we’d been there much longer, that’s where you would have found me, as well. :)

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