This next adventure is not a tall tale but it is a wonderful one. A number of years ago, my three sisters -- Kathie (upper right), Rachel (lower left) and Laurie (lower right)-- and I (upper left) met in Chicago and after we gathered at my house, we headed downtown to explore the city a bit. At last we called it a day and checked overnight into a nice hotel, got a room with two king beds, and talked and laughed and drank wine into the wee hours. We had a blast! But we realized that someone was missing -- Mom (upper center)! So at the time we said that if we ever did this "sisters reunion" thing again, Mom would have to come along. And so it came to be.

Early in September, I had learned that Kathie was planning to visit Mom in South Carolina around the date of her (Kathie's) birthday in October. So with a little luck and lots of phone calls, we made some plans. As it turned out, they were upended when Laurie (who was put in charge of finding a nice hotel) learned that the first weekend in October is a very popular one for "leaf-peeping" in Asheville, N.C., and not a room was to be found anywhere!

But somehow we are very blessed, and some dear friends of Laurie offered their splendid home on Lake Rabun, which is about a 2-hour drive from Atlanta in the mountains of North Georgia. What a treat! And that's us in the photo above -- along with my Moms' dog, Gretel.

One of the highlights of the weekend -- oh, how can I say that? There were so many!! -- was an hour and a half hike on Saturday to a lovely waterfall in the vicinity. As you might guess, we took lots of photos there. Here we all had to pose individually with Mom and Gretel. Above left is Kathie. Rachel is next below, then me, and finally a group shot.