Sunday Morning at Carlene's House

The Apple Festival in Ellijay is one of the many Georgia mountain fairs featuring apples, crafts, and music.  We spent Saturday afternoon, our last full day together, looking at local crafts, watching cloggers, eating funnel cakes, and watching children riding on the backs of camels.

Our favorite booth sold bird houses made of barn wood, kettles, lunch boxes, coffee cans, graters, and other vintage metal things.  As I was choosing mine and Day choosing hers, I noticed that the artist was a school-mate of mine from high school in Cochran I hadn't seen for fifty years!

We recognized each other immediately--and he remembered my parents all those years ago.  "He was a prince of a man," he told Carlene about Lloyd--"And you two were always such a beautiful couple."

Algie Jones is now a retired school principal who makes these funky little bird houses and sells them at crafts fairs.  It was fun to meet someone from that other life so long ago!  (We moved from Cochran to Lawrenceville my junior year of high school.)

After Carlene bought a red and green kettle bird house for me and a barn wood one for Day (covered with keys and cookie cutters and other odds and ends), I spotted my other favorite thing--a great bit metal sun face.  Here we are with our finds:

Carlene, Algie, and I

Day and Algie

With Our Treasures

It has been an unforgettable time with Day and Carlene.  We ended our retreat this morning by taking Day to Marta (she's now in flight between Atlanta and Virginia) and deciding that this should be an annual affair.