Marietta Diner is an EVENT!

There is one reason why There is a whole case full of reasons why I go to Marietta Diner.  If you ever go to or through Marietta, Georgia, then you have to come here!  You will not leave hungry – I promise you!  Celebrities have gone -  as their autographed posters are one the wall when you go in.  Like Miley Cyrus and Guy Fieri.

Just plan on at a minimum of 10 minutes to browse the menu because it runs the gamut.  I think that’s why they bring you the spinach in filo dough – to tide you over while you try to make a decision.

I wasn’t too hungry tonight and, of course, you I have to have dessert. 

So, I started with my friends cup of soup which she didn’t want.

Wait… back up.

Here’s my advice.  Pick your dessert first.  Go to the counters and “ooo” and “aah” and make a fool of yourself while you take pictures. 

You don’t understand.  These cakes, pies, cookies and everything else are HUGE. 

Big, fat, huge. 

Take a look.  {Try not to drool all over your keyboard, k?}.

Cakes, OH MY!!!

And pies and cheesecake (and my buddy, Sarah, below)  She goes for fruity and I go for chocolate. 

Fruit?  Uh-uh. 

Decadent. Chocolate. People. 

Take a closer look.

Baklava Cheesecake ya’ll. 

And if you can’t get your face close enough to see if you really want that one or not… Never fear, they’ll pull it out of the case and show you the cut-away view.

And don’t forget how big they are.

So, I find the one I want. Chocolate, of course.

Now that that’s done, where were we?

Oh yes, the soup.  Cream of broccoli.  That’s my veggie for tonight. 

{Don’t say it, I know what you’re wanting to say.}

Then I ordered the patty melt and got so distracted by the size of Sarah’s steak that I forgot to take a picture of mine.  Here’s hers.

Yes, I had a tape measure in my purse.  (I make custom window treatments and it’s one of my shopping-for-fabric necessities).

So, we whipped the tape measure out knowing the photos won’t show the true scale of the thing.  That’s not centimeters. Nope – that’s a 14-inch plate with an 8-inch long steak on it!  And, oh by the way, Sarah ate the whole thing because it was just that good… and got her dessert to go!

And here’s the part I’ve been waiting for… Million Dollar Cake.  Brownie on the bottom, cheesecake in the middle and chocolate mousse on the top!  I think that’s decadent enough for me!  Four inches tall too!

YUMMY!  (That was my thought before the first bite)!

I forget what Sarah’s was called, but it was a whopping 6+ inches!

DH was there too and that’s his thumb!  He was full and tired – he got the Beef Burgundy and helped me with my piece of cake.  I ate enough of it to be able to close the to-go box and we called it a night!

So, come on over and visit Marietta Diner and bring your appetite!

Disclaimer – I don’t have any affiliation with Marietta Diner and they did not compensate me in any way for this post.  I did, however, find out that a whole cake can be purchased for $60.00, so if you’re reading this, Dear MD, well… you know.

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Some of My Early Virginia Ancestors

I’m here in Colonial Williamsburg because DH has a woodworkers conference he’s attending for the week.  With all of the holiday planning and unplanned weather in GA, I did not do very well getting my research plan ready for our stay.  Fortunately, we came to the same conference last year and I did have a plan then.  Only I found that once I got home, my research notes from one book I studied were hard to interpret and I knew some of it was transcribed while other parts were abstracted… and I didn’t notate which was which.  So, today, I spent 5 hours in the John D. Rockefeller library with that same book cleaning up my notes and adding more details from it. 

But I’m happy now!

So, tonight I spent some time making a report from my database of all of the direct-line surnames from Colonial Virginia.  It’s very basic, but I have other details with me so this is just for reference.  Here’s what I came up with – a total of twenty.

# of Greats:	Surname:	Given Name:	Details:
9th	Banks	Katherine	d. 1686 Henrico Co.
9th	Biggs	Johanna	1642-1693
9th	Boddie	William	d. 1717 Isle of Wight Co.
9th	Brown(e)	John	Isle of Wight Co.
8th	Burton	Ann	d. 1746 Mulberry Island, Warwick Co.
9th	Chambers	William	1630-1677 Surry Co.
9th	Durant	Elizabeth	Widow of Richard Durant, m. Col. Thomas Pettus
6th	Ford	Christopher	b. 1730 d. 1788 Amelia Co.
9th	Hassell	Edward	m. 1675 Lower Norfolk
8th	Haynes	Christopher	d. Mulberry Island, Warwick Co.
8th	Humphrey	John Sr.	b. 1690 Surry Co. d. 1738 Brunswick Co.
8th	King	Dorothy	b. 1675 VA d. Spotsylvania Co.
7th	Lewis	John Zachary	b. 1702 Spotsylvania Co. d. 1765 Spotsylvania Co.
7th	Maule	Christian (female)	1706 moved from Chowan Co. to NC
8th	Overton	William	m. 1670 Yorktown
9th	Prime	Elizabeth	b. 1648 Isle of Wight Co. d. 1714 Surry Co.
10th	Ruffin	William	d. bef 1674 Isle of Wight Co.
7th	Stuart	Archibald	d. 1761 Augusta Co.
8th	Waller	Col. John	d. 1754 Newport, Spotsylvania Co.
8th	Waters	Elizabeth	m. Yorktown

I do this every time I travel to a state for a visit to an archives or repository for research (usually in a spreadsheet).  It keeps everything in perspective and gives me an overview of surnames from the area.  Now, this is NOT my research plan, as those are very specific goals.  Try adding this to your research plans and reports when you plan your next trip!  It really helps me!

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Did You Know I Have Wild Turkeys?

Yes, I am the corn Corn Lady.  Or the Turkey Lady.  I’m sure my neighbors have a name for me. 

We have wild turkeys that have been coming through our neighborhood for about 5 years now.  They are usually the gobblers (males), as the hens are more skiddish than the males. I do get the females on occasion but they are less likely to come near me.  I have to drop the corn under the tree and then back-up from the area.  With the boys, I can get right up close and be in their space.  I call them “my boys” and I cluck at them the way they cluck at me!  We have a good relationship and I love having them.  Until last winter, they used to go away all season and I would watch out my kitchen window as I did dishes looking for “my boys” to come home. 

One spring the grass had grown real tall and I noticed that around our tree the grass was waving around in spirals.  It was the strangest sight.  I went onto the deck for a closer look and then spotted the mama hen.  Her chicks weren’t quite tall enough to stick out above the tallest blades of grass – there were eight of them moving around in circles never straying too far from their mother.  And all the neighborhood must have heard me exclaim “I have BABIES!”

See, I believe I called them to me.  That’s a long story.  But they are my buddies, MY boys.  They are here to teach me something.  I collect their feathers in the spring, I give some of them names, I watch them strut during mating season and try oh so hard to catch them on film as any proud mama would do!  I even caught the mating ritual on video.  Now let ME tell YOU about the BIRDS and the bees!

Anyway, as the blizzard hit Atlanta last night I said a prayer for my boys.  I knew they wouldn’t be roosting this night in the tallest of Georgia pines like they usually do.  This morning I had a loner hunkered down under the feeding tree…waiting.  He started calling for me, which they’ll do if I don’t see them and go out right away “where is she, I’m hungry already!”.  I went out with my bucket of corn and he ran at me and clucked at me – and I clucked back saying “here I am and I’ve brought you food and I’m glad you’re OK”.
 
And I love you, my boy.
Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

In Need of Some Fun Genealogy Research!

‎"I pwedge awwegiance to da fwag of da United States of Amewica, and two da wepubwic for which it stands, won nation undew God, idiwisible, wif wibewty and justice fu aww."
Elmer Fudd
Transcribed by Joanne Schleier
Too much genealogy transcribing makes a girl do strange things...
(No disrespect for the Pledge was intended in this post)

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.