Time to write

Coming to you live from beautiful Tifton, Georgia . . . where the humidity is high, the gnats are plentiful, and the temperature is always above 90.

It's been a good visit to this point. We had a (relatively) easy drive down to suburban Atlanta on Friday. We spent Friday night with MSquared (my oldest brother) and his family. Friday night was punctuated with a visit to the end-of-season swim meet celebration for my two nieces who are 10 and 7. The event featured a great many trophies for all the swimmers, plenty of ice cream, and a slide show of the teams greatest moments of the past five weeks. I think Sarah and Grace appreciated the ice cream a great deal and it might have motivated Sarah to work a bit harder on her swimming.

The next day we all caravaned down to Tifton, GA and began invading my parent's home. With my family of four, my oldest brother's family of four, and my sister MA's own family of . . . four, and Muleskinner's family of two (counting Rupert the Wonder Dog), its been a crowded house. Luckily, my sister lives a few blocks away, so there are other places to go. And Dad has a big yard (if you are willing to sit under the enormous shade of the pecan tree to escape the sun. Unfortunately, you can't escape the humidity. (It's a wet heat in Georgia, you know . . .)

Today (Sunday) was mostly spent at MA's house playing and swimming in her backyard pool. MA and EB provided a great spread of hamburgers and delicious grilled Greek chicken. Lynda and I spend some good time talking to Dad about his work experiences and comparing it to our own. It reawakened a desire in me to read more about the history of his company. (I once thought of making that the subject of a research topic, but I don't even know if it's possible. I think it would be interesting, however.) Tonight, after the kids had gone to bed, many of the adults played some poker with fictitious money. I ended the night with $20.50 more imaginary money than when I began.

Tomorrow MSquared and his family are heading back home to Greater Atlanta. It'll probably be more playing with the kids and spending some time talking and catching up with family. No commitment has been made to seeing Superman Returns yet, but I am sure that it will come.

I don't feel that I have spent adequate time providing illuminating details of the experience so far. I'll try to be more expressive next time.