grandmammies and grambears

despite the 30 year pause in flying and notorious motion sickness, my grandmammie flew into atlanta last friday for a 5 day weekend. it had been quite a while since we had spent so much time together, even though we have lived together for a total of 2 1/2 years of my life (while in college and when I was a baby). i used to spend almost every other saturday night with her: shopping at talbots, watching an old movie, eating dinner, chatting with her elderly neighbor, etc. they are all very happy memories.

a few months ago, we were excited to know that gram had found tickets and was willing to come for fall break. we had incredible pizza at slice and pint (the carlos was unbelievably delicious), spectacular ice-cream at butter and cream (the cashew creme brulee and bourbon toffee were divine), perfect latkes and bagels at the nearby bagel palace, etc. thanks for making your way over to the humid southern jungle, grandma 🙂

grammy at southern sweets bakery (best cake in town)

determining our cake for the day. went with coconut.

grammie waiting for her omelet and bagel (whole wheat with strawberry cream cheese)

grammie and matt walking into piedmont park with midtown in the distance.

my ginger boy exploring

matt trying out the camera

baseball fields

first lamp post of atlanta, but not first red head…

gram-bear at the bagel palace

my cali-husker moving crew

mad and bex aka “sweet trouble”

 

sexy ginger britches

 

papa b. aka “techno-master”

 

my nebraska mama

 

beca-maggie aka “organizer-magnifique”

 

mama b. aka “busy-b”

 

the only picture i caught of my pop’s face. a bit ironic…

thank you. could not have done it without you guys. everything is hanging up. our new office is looking sharp.  matt and i are settling into our new space. bit weird to have an upstairs. explored an eastern indian strip mall today. our favorite store was the grocery store: the spices were all in bulk and RIDICULOUSLY cheap. let’s just say we’ll be cooking a LOT of indian in the next few months…or years.

musgrove orchard

boys walking the orchard rim

 

pretty weed

 

matt and the red-er leaves

 

nathan eating donuts and caramel (photo courtesy by mb)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

indi

 

 

last sunday, our church plant went north to indianapolis for church. since we are still small, we do not yet have our own worship service. therefore, we have been visiting other churches in the bloomington area (mainly one), but every 4th sunday we go up to redeemer, a presbyterian church for worship.

it was so great to go up to redeemer. i miss the routine of a pca (presbyterian church of america) worship service: the hymns, confession, doxology, benediction, communion, etc. in bloomington, we do not get the rich traditions of the presbyterian service. i really miss the worship team that we had back at our old church in lincoln (especially the banjo and paul’s choice of music!!!!!–the link for his new worship album: http://noisetrade.com/thesilverpages).

there is something also very moving in confessing your sins silently with a whole congregation on their knees. it used to be a time when i was small, where you would sneak peaks at everyone else and try not to catch your tights on the rough wooden floors. but now it is a time of spiritual reflection. taking weekly communion is too something i very much miss. i cannot wait for our church to reach enough congregants (around 50 or so) so that these things my heart longs for can become part of my routine again.

redeemer church in indi is beautiful. it’s attached to another building that is for local artists to show their work. it was built around 1904. since then, it did fall into disrepair. so much so that the city removed one of the main stained glass panels to the history museum: a tiffany made stained glass window of an angel. i cannot imagine how glorious it must have been then. the other stain glass in the church is exceptionally lovely.

after church, we went out for pizza. our group split for home and for meandering around the city.

our group meandered.

i would not mind moving to indianapolis. one afternoon, on its streets were not enough. i have let matt know i could easily spend a weekend there. it is beautiful in every way–not chicago by any means, but it still holds some grandeur and delightful downtown eating and shopping venues.