Whoops

Whoops, time has gotten away from Ms. Packrat.

Work in the temporary quarters has turned out to be immeasurably more pleasant than she expected.  There are windows and we can actually see the light of day more often than when we are scurrying in and out of the building.  It's near I-85 and there is some traffic noise on one side of the building, but it is also not on the fringes of the city's red light district and it is near Buford Highway, which is Atlanta's ethnic food paradise.

Ms. Packrat's commute is slightly longer, but it is also somewhat faster because it is almost all highway and runs counter to the normal commute pattern at that time of day - and although she's driving about 30 extra miles a week, she is also skipping $1 a day in GA 400 tolls.  That toll has given her a certain amount of dyspepsia ever since it was ended (because revenue had paid off all the road costs) and then brought back a week later to fund more porkbarrel projects for the Georgia Department of Transportation (aka) We Build Roads, Roads and More Roads and You Don't Need No Steenking Mass Transit - she finds not seeing feeding the toll booth rather soothing despite the couple of extra miles.

Sadly, this move takes her a long way away from Il Bacio but the aforementioned proximity to Buford Highway is something of a consolation.  The range of ethnic spans the globe and ranges from Rather Americanized to Utterly Authentic.  Some of the Packratty coworkers are showing a bit of culinary courage, but there is one who has eaten nothing but Chik-fil-a, Mickey D's, etc. since the move, despite the fact that it takes a lot more effort to find chain food here than good food.  Sad.  Oh well, more for me.  Ms. Packratty finds herself particularly fond of the roast pork bahn mi sandwiches at Lee's Bakery and the proximity to the beloved Havana's new digs.

The other new thing in Ms. Packratty's life is a Kindle.  She finds herself quite surprised that a> she purchased one and b> that she really really really likes it.  It started with an email from Amazon Local offering a $20 voucher on a refurbished $79 Kindle, which sells for $69 and has the same guarantee as a new Kindle.  That dropped the price down to $49 with free shipping, so Ms. Packratty took the plunge.  Between free books offered on Amazon (of varying quality and age, to be sure) and the fact that Ms. Packratty can "borrow" Kindle books from the Atlanta Fulton County Library, she is delighted with the little gizmo, although she is still sure that it will never replace the paper and ink book for bedtime reading.  It is a game changer for the possibility of living overseas, though - because it means that American books, magazines and newspapers are available on the device.  Living someplace without bookstores or libraries with English language books was never a reasonable possibility for Ms. Packratty before.

The garden is going OK, although we have had a tomato wilt scare.  Ms. Packratty had to pull up a couple of plants, and trim some others, but it looks as though there is some hope for the tomato crop.  Maybe.

We made a trip to the Roswell Farmer's Market and bought some gorgeous strawberries and blueberries with the idea of making a berry fool.  Otherwise, Saturday kind of slithered away, leaving quite a bit to be dome before Monday, but Ms. Packratty is rested and that's a good thing.  And the allergy attack that hit her last week has subsided.  She suspects the residual sleepiness is just the aftermath of that attack. Next week is on call, so Ms. Packratty will not be a sound sleeper lest she manage to sleep through the phone ringing.