Calloway Gardens is about 80 miles north east of Atlanta and Decatur on the edge of the mountains. It is near the Roosevelt State Park and the hot springs where the president went to heal from his polio. It is 17 miles from LaGrange where the founding Calloway had his first department store at the age of 18 and made his fortune.
Eleanor, Mathew and I are driving through the little mountainesque town of Pine Mountain. Mathew, who is eleven, is doing "stand up comedy" in the back seat. On the side of the road a muscular middle aged man with a golden pony tail is marching back and forth from his baggage and water canteen strapped onto five packed wheeled carts to another space down the street just a block. One cart has a big white printed sign proclaiming "ON A MISSION FROM JESUS". The man is wearing an orange safety vest. a white T shirt, shorts and good hiking boots.
At Calloway Gardens and after a lot of discussion, the three of us embark in a canoe onto the lake. We paddle out from a covered stone boat dock and circle the lake, visiting ducks and blooming azaleas on the shore. After an hour, we paddle back into the dock.
We visit the Butterfly House, a beautiful glass green house where there are tropical plants blooming, water vapor misting and butterflies and moths in all the colors of the rainbow, flying and alighting on dark green leaves. A brilliant blue butterfly is spreading its wings on the back of a turtle and suddenly flops into the water below. There is a splash and in an instant, it is gone, eaten by a hungry fish.
Going home, we stop, for gas in Pine Mountain where the man on a mission has made almost no progress in moving his carts. One by one, he slowly wheels them a few more feet down the street.
We eat supper at the little Saigon restaurant near Eleanor's house. She gets Pho for Mathew in hopes the clear soup will help him recover from the pollen.
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