Yesterday when I was picking up the girls, Georgie told me that cars are not good for the earth. "Bikes are good for the earth", she said. Well I don't have a bike so today I decided I would leave the car at home and walk to pick them up. It is about a 45 minute walk through our tree-lined neighbourhood, Emory Campus and Lullwater Park. I took the stroller and a backpack. It was humid enough to make an 85-degree day seem even hotter. I enjoyed all the beautiful flowers and trees along the way. The lower part of Emory Road is what Gudrun likes to call "the tree tunnel". This is the nicest time of year here, as long as you're not allergic to pollen. The azaleas are particularly nice.
I made my way through Emory pushing the empty double stroller. I stand out on campus amidst the coeds, all giddy about the end of term. A father among children. They all seem to be about 15 years old. Just when did aviator sunglasses come back? And why were they ever in? That's at least three iterations of that silly style in my lifetime.
By the time I got to Clifton Road I was a sweaty monster and was happy to reach the shade of Lullwater Park. Amazing that just a few weeks ago this place was barren. Not a leaf to be found and now it is a jungle. A snake-ridden jungle.
I got to the pool at the Eagle but changed my mind about going for a swim. Apparently, this was "Luau Night" and the place was packed with the aforementioned 15-year olds. I felt very old and out of place. There was one other old fart there but he was wearing a speedo. Poor guy, probably just moved here from some backward country where speedos are acceptable and just doesn't know how lost he is. And it was one of those high-riding speedos, too. I left him and his thinly-veiled genitalia with the partying freshmen and headed up the road to the Clifton School.
After a protracted pick-up (Georgie performed her slow-motion snack eating ritual) we were on our way. Georgie has a new teacher who is african-american and has a skin condition like vitilago or something so that her face is mostly white with what looks like dark freckles. Georgie said one of the kids asked her about why she had so many dots on her face. She told them they were "kisses from God". Funny that Georgie didn't ask us who God is. Maybe we've had that discussion already. I think we did, about all the different possible gods and belief systems, etc. From what I recall, she was bored beyond belief.
Anyway, we headed back through the park and ran into Alison's Dad, Chris. Alison is in Georgie's class. Chris is also coach of Georgie's soccer team, The Warthogs. He teaches biology at Emory University gets to walk from his office through the lovely park to the Clifton school. That's his daily commute. We had a nice chat there among the trees and flowers. He told me that the copperhead snakes hide out in the ivy bushes. Except the one that was after me, I guess. He was nowhere near any ivy. Apparently, the last University president, whose house is in the park, had a problem with copperheads biting his dogs. They kept going in the ivy. Kind of like a Darwin award for dogs.
We walked out of the park and to Gudrun's office on campus. We waited outside and sat on the grass. Elise and Georgie went up to some students who were studying and chatted to them about pre-school and Tinkerbell. Georgie reported to me about all the little red bugs she was finding. When Gudrun was done we went to 'Rise and Dine' for dinner. Gudrun ardently loves that place and would happily eat all her meals there. Growing up, she frequently ate pancakes for dinner so I think this formative pattern steers her to these type of establishments. She also loves Waffle House, a southern institution. I think Kid Rock got in a fight in the one here.
We walked home at dusk, still hot enough to make me break a sweat for the third time that day. Nice the mosquitoes are not here yet.
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