...near ruined by this Treo's stupid automatic exposure that refuses to match the viewfinder right now. Select the center point for exposure, not the top 20% you stupid, outdated, Palm refuses to care, overly-simplistic software! Grrrrrr.

A week ago Monday, on the fourth and heaviest day of rain, we heard a large explosion. We'll probably never know whether what we heard was the tree falling or the transformer blowing. What we could confirm was a 150' healthy oak tree fell, blocking our driveway, the street, and taking the utility pole, the power lines, and 4 smaller trees with it. And my brother in law and his Captain were scheduled to fly into Atlanta later that evening! No power, no ability to get a car out, and the knowledge that restoration was going to take more than just a few hours.
Well, thanks to incredible friends, we were soon extricated from our home, Hanji had a place to stay, and we had a vehicle to get to the airport and beyond (thanks T&T!). A few more calls arranged for a hotel at the airport, started Georgia Power on their way, and notified the City Public Works department of the road closure. Within a few days, the miracle workers had most of the tree cut down and hauled away, power restored, and my brother-in-law & his boss safely on the next leg of their trip with a few pleasant memories of Atlanta.
Once again, Georgia Power reminded us of how a well run, well regulated public utility operates. Makes you wonder why we ever deregulated the phone company nationwide and natural gas in Georgia. Kudos to all the linemen, supervisors, and support staff that worked so diligently, with such great attitudes, throughout the days following the Southeastern floods!
All that's left now of the event is some memories, some photos, and the root ball attached to maybe 30' of trunk. If time allows, I plan to count the rings and learn how old that tree was, before it's cut up and the ivy closes over what was recently a proud, majestic tree..

Six months, almost to the day, Frances' parents, sister-in-law, and our only niece arrived here in the USA. Today a tug pushed the 777-ER away from the gate. They'll always have a home in our hearts yet it's not the same as being in our home.

It was really great having them here.
Many folks expressed amazement that we all got along for as long as we did. Maybe I've just got the best in-laws ever?

Either way, we're both missing them heaps.

Love thy alarmist headlines! Seems today is 'Fala Day' and the Atlanta Scottish Terrier Association celebrates with costumes, events, bagpipes, and even a parade at Roosevelt's Little White House in Warm Springs, GA. Which means we came across this scene with Scottish Terriers and their owners filling the front lawn at the Little White House. We had a great time here and I recommend a visit here over touring the White House in D.C. And I've done both within a month's time.

Yup,in D.C. for days with hardly a photo. Then, one waterfall and *snap*. Trip's great, more tomorrow.

In the photo, the happy dragon's about to eat a nice fat red envelope. Red envelopes should be full of money and represent a lot of important gifts in Taiwanese culture. This was after the dragon feasted on several turnis for good luck. Happy, lucky dragon!

Today the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Atlanta hosts a '10 - 10' (Oct. 10 - 10/10) festival, commemorating Taiwan's independence for 98 years from the Ching dynasty. Frances and I brought her family here and her father's very happy. A few friends joined so I'm not the only caucasian at the festival, although sadly they missed the dragon dance (pictured). And now everything's in Chinese so neither I nor they know what anyone's saying. Probably good patriotic stuff. I really need to send the time to learn Mandarin.

Been in Atlanta most of my life and I'd never been to the Yellow River Game Ranch. Nice first trip, Frances' Family and the Hughes for a morning filled with feeding squirrels. And deer. And ducks. And goats and lambs and who could forget the donkey? Good clean fun, especially after washing your hands. Got some great pics.

One deer loved licking my pants leg. Strange since Tom was carrying all the food! And I think Frances' dad tried to feed every squirrel in the woods!

Now some lunch, and then a wedding!

You've worn us out. Off to dinner, then home.

A nice day.

...but the Shen's haven't. Til now. Ooh's and aah's and it's all good.

...ok, so maybe Indy's been here before...

A cool day, not cold. Puffy clouds floating along. A tasty cracker, enjoyed on a wooden bench. Perfectly intent upon the "Welcome to Rock City" sign across the street, where we just were.

Family touring's in full swing now. Savannah last month, the Atlanta Zoo last week, Fernbank Museum yesterday (yah dinosaurs!), and today a day-trip to Chattanooga, TN. We picked up the three attraction passes for the Incline Railway, Rock City, and Ruby Falls. Now I'm riding back down to get our car because there's no transportation between the three attractions. We're told there was a bus that they quit two years ago. (idiots). Oh well, we all enjoyed the ride up and the view at the top is spectactular!

Next up, Rock City then Ruby Falls!

Lady & Son's just opened for Sunday business. Two restaurant staff came out with a large triangle which they rang as the opening. They did this in front of the line ... across the street, those who have their spots reserved already from earlier today.

Me, I'm still in the first line, waiting to make our reservation. The couple behind me have dined here before and say it's worth the wait.

Greetings from Sunny Savannah! It's 9:30am and I'm sweating the line for a chance to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant, 'Lady & Sons'. This place came highly recommended by folks as disparate as one of my best friends, one of my tenants, and the manager of our local Enterprise car rental. This line, suggests a few other folks like it too. Keep your fingers crossed Frances' family likes it too!

Savannah's good so far. Everyone handled the ride from Atlanta well with most sleeping through the downpour we hit south of Macon. We're great tourists, we loaded up in a horse-drawn carriage for a 50-min tour of the historic area. Da-di even got to ride up front with glee on his face! Today we'll hit the historic museum and the riverboat cruise. Tomorrow likely adds a trip to Tybee island before hitting the trail home.

Progress - the line's moving. There's an occasional breeze helping to cut the heat, but I'm showering tonight!

Coming to you live from CNN Headquarters, star anchor Teddy Shen has an important newsbreak for the world. And now, Teddy Shen.

"Thank you. I am here today with a very special lady you should know. I am pleased to introduce the World's Greatest Chef, 'Shen-mama'. Her capabilities in the kitchen are quite unsurpassed. Mouths world-wide corraborate this finding. Furthermore, Shen-mama is well renowned for her abilities to 'feed an army' . For many of you, simply hearing she is in the kitchen causes the mouth to water and pangs of hunger not evident mere moments earlier. For the rest of you, keep the name Shen-mama dear, for your belly shall soon clamor for a taste from the World's Greatest Chef."

"And now, back to lesser news, with Russia invading Georgia. Will Atlanta burn to the ground again?"

Food at eleven.

Yesterday Leo flew down from Norfolk in time for a great Father's Day dinner with the rest of us. This was the first Father's Day with the entire family together (Mom & Dad and both children, Frances & Leo) for maybe 7-10 years. We had two Fathers and Shao-ping-guo was very obviously happy her father was back. For us, this was our second Father's Day this year. One American in June with 3 Fathers (my dad, Frances' dad, and Laura's boyfriend Dave) with the second Taiwanese. Taiwan picked it's Father's Day very well - '8' is 'ba' in Chinese, 'ba-ba' is 'daddy' in Chinese, and Taiwan's Father's Day is August 8 = 8/8 = ba-ba. Is there some reason America (western culture?) selected some day in June to celebrate our Father's? I like the Taiwanese way better.
We'd originally thought about taking the family to the zoo today. We figured Leo would enjoy sharing the experience with Shao-ping-guo. And I'm curious to see the gorilla's play with the wardrobe boxes we donated! Maybe tomorrow.


Instead of the zoo we're sitting in the Doraville Arena bleachers watching the 'Happy Olympics Atlanta'. Frances' dad read about this event, put on by the Atlanta Chinese Community, cherishing the 2008 Summer Olympics in Bejing with song & dance, artistic performances, and a replay of the opening ceremonies themselves. This was important to Dad and now we're all enjoying. The zoo will still be there tomorrow!


Dad picked up a t-shirt. That guy in the bottom left sells them.


That's it for now, but I bet I'll post more pictures as the event progresses...
-Dave

We had an interesting evening. After I finished spin class at the gym I noticed there was a big storm brewing in the area. I drove through a little of it on my way home. Upon arriving home, all of my visiting family greeted me at the front porch. a tad unusual for all of them to be out on the porch - usually it's just one or two of them there at a time. Turns out a half hour before I got home, the power went out with a big 'boom-boom'. There's a tree down in my next door neighbor's yard and others down throughout the neighborhood.

Fortunately, my mother-in-law had most of dinner ready before the outage (reminder to self: the next stovetop shall be gas, so I decree) and we ate. Then I took them and the majhong set to Mozart Bakery for a couple hours. We drank and played majhong. A good friend even walked over to visit and watch us play.

Mozart closed and we went home to find the power's still out. I've given everyone a flashlight (my 2-1/2 year old neice felt left out without one of her own) and we're all going to sleep now. Dunno when the power will come back on...hopefully during the night. Either way, I'm planning to take them to the Oriental Pearl area for breakfast / brunch.

Everyone's well although we may need new groceries and more ice cream soon though!

Of course, that doesn't explain the picture. The dark, sure, I mean, the power's out. Those three dots though shuld be salvation. They're from the second Georgia Power truck to show up. The first one left, they found our downed tree but were out of their assigned circuit. This one showed up not a half hour later and dug right in. I keep hearing them over the loudspeaker amongst the sweet occassional sound of the chain saw. Ahh, there it goes again. Georgia Power is a fine company, I'm confident they'll have our power back on soon.

Over, and out.

We took Frances' family to Provino's tonight. I caught our niece, Shao-ping-guo ('Little Apple') digging into her spaghetti with gusto. 2-1/2 year old Taiwanese girl likes her Italian spaghetti! Maybe we should see if she likes other American children's staples like fish sticks and mac & cheese.

Overall, the Italian was a hit. Largely due to consummate amounts of garlic rolls. Mmm, garlic!