I had the opportunity to travel with my brother Fred and his wife Liz.
They were headed to Port St. Joe on the Florida Panhandle to escape the Minnesota cold.
Fred agreed to drop me off in Atlanta to visit a friend who had recently moved.
We met Ruth at Applebees for dinner.
Ruth moved to St. George's Village to be closer to
her son, daughter-in-law and 6 month old grandson.
We checked out the pool.
Ruth and I had spent many mornings carpooling to the GE Fitness Center.
She for water aerobics, me to swim laps.
Each morning, I swam laps in the far end while Ruth exercised.
Ruth took me on a tour of the grounds on Tuesday.
There is a quarter mile walk around the beautifully landscaped garden.
The weather was perfect the two days I was there - temperatures in the high 60's.
Residents may grow vegetables or flowers in a small garden.
Often residents share their garden plot.
Barb had been out cultivating her plot earlier.
In the background is the church that Ruth attends.
There is also an elementary and high school within walking distance.
Daffodils! In February!
After the tour, we sat on the 'deck' reading the paper and chatting with Barb.
The formal dining room.
The lake and gardens can be seen through the windows.
The Bistro. A less formal dining area for lunch.
The Bistro also has windows over looking the gardens.
Wednesday evenings before dinner,
residents are treated to free beer or wine, popcorn or peanuts
here in the Bistro.
For Wednesday dinner, a themed buffet is set up.
Our buffet included barbecue, potato salad, baked beans, hot dogs and hamburgers,
assorted vegetables, watermelon, corn and brownies.
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Thursday, I would be riding the MARTA red line to the airport.
Wednesday we drove to the station to purchase our Breeze tickets.
Ruth will be flying to Florida next week.
This was a 'dry run' for both of us.
Not content to just purchase our tickets,
we had to check out the trains.
And use our tickets.
Which invalidated our tickets.
The 'Breeze' ticket gets a rider in and out... we had gone in and out...
but had not ridden the train..
Oooops.
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Thursday morning I purchased a new Breeze ticket,
helped an older gentleman purchase his ticket
("How does this work?!?" he asked me.)
and was on my way to the airport.
A couple of very fun days with Ruth.
Thank you! Thank you!
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