Sunday, October 26
On a beautiful Sunday morning we found ourselves visiting the late service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Toccoa. We almost didn’t go, but both of us felt that little last minute tug and decided we’d visit; and boy, were we ever glad we did…we got just the sermon we needed to boost our flagging spirits.
After church we came back to the dining hall at the conference center and joined several of the volunteers for Sunday lunch. Some of the group we worked with had either gone home for the weekend or had finished their work and left, so the lunch bunch was small.
After lunch we returned to Big V. It was such a beautiful afternoon that we decided to take a few pictures of our surroundings. While we don’t have a great view of Lake Louise from Big V, it takes only a few steps to see the lake and the gorgeous surroundings that gave us some wonderful photo opportunities.
With the picture taking completed, we went back inside to work on the journal and relax for a couple of hours, exchanging conversations with others who were parked near us.Bob and Nell returned later in the afternoon and invited us to join several of the group for Mexican food at a restaurant in Toccoa. Soon, nine of us were clustered around a group of tables, talking, eating, and generally having a good time.
Later, the volunteers met for a couple of hours so we could get acquainted with all the newcomers and hear from Nancy about the activities that would be going on at the conference center in the coming week.We received this picture of Mike and Kelly’s “homecoming” as they returned to Richmond tonight. Their friend Beth happened to be arriving on another flight about the same time that Mike and Kelly were coming in and got this shot of the happy couple.
Monday, October 27
Today set the tone for what the musician in me would call “Theme with Minor Variations.” Since I had established my presence in the dishwashing room on Friday and Saturday, I decided I would just stay with that job and all it entailed. Following today’s meals, I worked at the conveyor belt, sorting silverware, removing trash and leftover food, putting glasses and cups in racks, and whatever else needed doing. When it got really hectic, I could only think of that old “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy and Ethel were working in the candy factory, trying to sort the chocolates. Just substitute dishes and silverware for the chocolates, and you have a great picture of the mess we were making as dishes, silverware, glasses, and cups were flying everywhere.
The team scattered all around the conference center when we were finally done in the dining hall this morning. Some 350 or so senior citizens were coming in this afternoon for the first of two Fall Festival conferences and there were rooms to be cleaned, towels and sheets to be washed, etc.
Bob Brewer and I joined some of the maintenance staff at the King Hotel rotunda to set up chairs for conference events. Those two years of graduate school and 28 ½ years of being a band director finally paid off as we took chairs off of stacks and set them out in semi-circles, taking care to leave proper spacing between chairs and rows…I felt just like I was setting the stage for a band concert!
Barbara: While Jim was getting dishpan hands and playing like a band director, I was busy in the dining room fixing gallons upon gallons of tea and coffee. (I can hear my family and friends falling out of their chairs with laughter since they know how I feel about coffee!) I had the privilege to mostly work with a couple from Blairsville, GA, Gwen and Jere as well as Bill from VA; and with their company we took care of drinks, ice, plates, silverware, etc.
Occasionally I’d sneak out with my trusty camera and take photos of all the different jobs the volunteers were doing. Jim and I had decided that we were going to put together a DVD to commemorate the time here so we needed as many photos as possible. Once again I know that what I’m about to say won’t shock any of my family and friends, but I think people were ready to run when they saw me coming! However, when they learned that I really had a purpose for all the photos and was making a DVD movie with the photos, they were good sports about the whole flashing lights bit.
Since the seniors wanted 3 meals a day (imagine that!) …Jere, Gwen, and I became quite proficient at dining room attendant skills (which include setting out food, utensils, desserts, etc. as well as the coffee, tea, or me bit!)Jim: Tonight we went to the concert that was being held in the King rotunda. The Cleghorns, a regional gospel-singing family, was performing for the Fall Festival attendees. Because we were late getting out of the dining hall, we only got to hear part of the concert, but really enjoyed what we did hear. There was a reception in the dining hall following the event, but we opted to return to Big V and call it a day…the 5:00 a.m. wake-up alarm is taking its toll.
Tuesday, October 28
It was “up and at ‘em again” at 5:00 this morning to go through much of the same routine. With 350 conference attendees, 23 volunteers, and who knows how many regular staff members to feed, our work was cut out for us.
We’ve both settled in to semi-regular jobs during the meal times. Barbara makes the tea and coffee (no small chore) with the able assistance of Jere Akins, a retired U.S. Army major general. Together, they keep the tea and coffee makers going throughout the meals. I (along with others) help with the odd jobs that go along with having all the food set out on the line and the desserts set up in one corner of the dining hall.
As soon as we finished eating, several of us scurried to the dish washing room to get ready for the trays and all their contents to come down the conveyer system. There were no trash cans or other containers at the window where the trays were placed, so we had to pull out the paper trash, get the silverware and sort it out before we throw it in buckets to soak, pull off the cups and glasses, empty them, and set them in racks above the line, and empty the leftovers from the plates and bowls into large trash cans before sending them down the line to be hosed off and placed in racks that then go through the dishwasher.
This morning I got a new job in the sequence. Because grits (a major element of a Georgia breakfast) and the strawberry pancake syrup are so sticky, they don’t come completely off the dishes even after spraying and going through the high-pressure dish washer, so I got the job of standing over a hot sink and hand washing every dish that had either grits or syrup on it; that’s in addition to scrubbing nearly every pot, pan, and metal tray that came out of the kitchen. Believe me when I say that I literally had my hands full for a couple of hours as I took plates and bowls from the line to the sink, scrubbed them with steel wool, stacked them on my counter, and then carried them back to the conveyer belt to go through the normal process; all this while doing a delicate dance with Bob, who was removing clean dishes from the dish washer and stacking them on a rack behind us, and Nancy or whoever else was coming into the room to pick up the dishes from the rack and taking them back out to the serving line.Barbara: Since hearing how heavy the coffee and tea urns are, how hard the packages of each are to open sometimes, how fast we run out of cups and glasses, how much sugar it takes to sweeten the tea, etc. could get a little boring, I will share some important info instead.
Did you know that the # 1 question on the food line is…”Where is the sweetener?” Our guests were looking for little packages and instead overlooked the sugar and saccharine containers right beside the coffee urns.“Where is the butter?” ran a close 2nd. And, in their defense here, we could understand this one better since it was by the salads instead of by the breads.
And…boy! Did we learn a valuable lesson about seniors! Don’t try to give them coffee from a carafe since they are convinced that coffee from them is NOT hot! In fact, I encountered my only rude customer because of the carafe. Here’s how it went…we ran out of coffee on the front line in 2 urns today (these are serious drinkers!) So…while they were brewing, we filled carafes from the back line to assist their morning caffeine.
I had just filled my carafe from another urn and poured a cup for this lady. She spit the coffee back in her mug and slammed it down…jostling coffee all over the counter (and holding up the line). When I asked if something was wrong, she informed me that that coffee was cold! So…I got her another cup, turned to the back line urn I had just filled my carafe with and got her another cup. This pleased her and she merrily went on her way thanking me for finding her hot coffee! Go figure.
More stories from the Diary of a Dining Room Attendant will follow in the coming days.
Jim: Meanwhile, members of the volunteer team are assisting the cooks, picking up trays from those guests who have trouble carrying them to the beginning of the conveyer belt, and restocking the four food lines.
Afterward, everyone pitches in to get the place all cleaned up so we can do it all again for the next meal session.
Tonight’s meal was complicated by the fact that we had a large men’s choir (150, with some family members) who ate first so they could get ready for a concert. By the end of the shift, we had fed over 500 people.Although we were not quite finished with our assigned chores, most of the volunteers left the dining hall a few minutes before 7:00 to go to the conference center auditorium for a concert by The Sons of Jubal, a 120-voice men’s choir and brass ensemble comprised of Baptist ministers of music from across the state of Georgia. Their name was inspired by Genesis 4:21, “His brother’s name was Jubal, father of all who play the harp and the flute.”
Founded as a male chorus in 1954, the choir is primarily a music/missions organization. Its members are committed to both worship enrichment and gospel proclamation. A unit of the state missions program of Music and Worship Ministries, Sons of Jubal presents an annual series of concerts throughout Georgia. In addition to those programs, they have presented concerts during tours of Russia, South America, Italy, Israel, Canada, Costa Rica, and the Czech Republic. Tonight they appeared under the auspices of the Northeast Georgia Community Concert Association.
About the concert…all we could say was “WOW!!!” Whether singing a capella, with the brass choir, or piano or organ, the group was beyond fantastic. We’d never heard of them before, but we’d certainly go out of our way to hear them again.
There was a reception for the group and all the guests following the concert, but with a very full day behind us and another creeping up, we once again voted to go back to Big V and call it a day.
Wednesday, October 29
Today was more of the same except that our 350 were leaving right after lunch, only to be replaced by a new batch of around 260. The morning and noon meals were as hectic as ever; but, oh, what a difference a hundred or so fewer people made in the way things went tonight.
With a new group of guests arriving, the laundry crew was up to their necks in sheets and towels as they washed all the linens and bedding from each room, then folded it and sent it back to the hotels…another unsung part of this operation that no one thinks about very much.
We were telling Nancy about the wear and tear on my hands since I was doing the fulltime pot scrubbing, and she came up with a pair of good kitchen gloves…talk about an improvement. I fill the basin with the hottest water I can stand and add a special detergent solution created just for heavy duty scrubbing. I got to thinking that if that stuff can dissolve burned-on eggs and potatoes in just a couple of minutes, it can’t be doing my hands much good, so I was grateful for the new gloves.Barbara added to her resume’ today by moving into food line supervision. That meant that she had to keep watch over the food lines and be prepared to take full steam trays out to the line to replace empty trays and then bring the empty trays to me to be scrubbed. Since no two trays on the line go empty at the same time, it can become quite a juggling act.
Barbara: Well…don’t get too impressed about that, because in the process of changing Brunswick stew trays, I sloshed it all over my sleeve. Deborah, one of the Center’s regular dining room attendants, just smiled at me and suggested that maybe I should do like her and wear short sleeves. Oh, yes, she also suggested that I soak my shirt in cold water! Gotta love that Deborah! She’s a jewel.
Jere had a really cool experience today; and, yes, the pun is intended! He was standing guard on the drink line when we saw a woman fill her glass with ice, and then pour it all out. Fill her glass with ice, pour it out. This continued 3 or 4 times, so he went over and asked if there was a problem with the ice. She just smiled and said, “Yes, I kept getting too much in my glass, but I’ve got the right amount now.” How he kept from rolling in the floor with laughter is beyond me…must be that military training!
Jim: Since the second session of the Fall Festival is a repeat of the first, we had an opportunity to hear the Cleghorns again, but our weary bodies opted instead to return to Big V a little early for once and we spent the evening working inside. Barbara is creating a DVD slide-show of our time here at Toccoa, and had a lot of downloading and editing to do.
Thursday, October 30
Today was pretty much a continuation of yesterday. As I said before, this week has been one of theme and variations, and the variations aren’t very striking. One thing that really helped us in the dishwashing room was that because of the smaller number of guests at this conference session, Barbara and a couple of the other ladies were able to break away from their regular dining hall duties and do “triage” on the trays before sending them down the line to us. They were able, in most cases, to separate and sort the items on the trays so we could more easily get rid of the trash, pull off the silverware, cups, and glasses, and send everything else down the line so someone else could reload it in racks to send through the automatic dishwasher.
I never thought about it before, but as soon as one meal is set out on the feeding lines, the cooks are preparing the next meal, using many posts, pans, and kettles. The net effect of this is that as the dishwashing crew is handed the dirty trays and dishes from the dining hall, we are also constantly receiving a large assortment of cooking dishes and utensils from the kitchen.
Barbara: One quick note about the 2nd photo on the left above...the halo over John was a reflection made by a ladle hanging on the wall, and I didn't take that one...Rene sent it to me.
What should have been a much easier day for the dining room attendants began with a splash and pretty much continued that way. First, Jere made it to the dining room ahead of everyone today and started the coffee and tea. While he was busy, tea began leaking all over the counters and floor. It seems as though someone replaced the tea urns last night and accidentally turned two of them upside down and Jere didn’t discover that until tea was splashing and dripping everywhere! Thankfully, I came in after he had the mess cleaned up and probably it didn’t help that as he recounted this tale of woe I was laughing up a storm!
My laughter soon died away though when we discovered that Jere, Gwen, Bill, and I were flying solo…no paid dining room attendant was there for breakfast or lunch! We were scurrying around here and there with never a chance to catch our breath! But, Deborah and Kayla had taught us well and we had no major mishaps, if we ignore the river of tea.
Jim: Thankfully, the smaller group of attendees at the second session of the conference has helped us maintain a schedule that gets us out of the dining hall at a decent hour in the evening so we can get back to Big V and enjoy some family time.
We did have a short meeting of all the volunteers tonight. About half of the group is leaving tomorrow and this would be the last opportunity for all of us to meet together. Nancy gave us our marching orders for Friday along with the welcome news that we would all have the week-end off.
Friday, October 31Happy Halloween Everyone!
Today was bittersweet as we said goodbye to our new friends who would be leaving the team to return to their homes.
With the smaller group of guests, some of whom left soon after breakfast, we managed to complete all of our kitchen and dining room duties in record time, (only because Barbara and Lynn joined us in the dishwashing room and helped clear the trays) and were much relieved to hear Nancy tell us that we were through for the week after finishing the lunch run.Barbara: One reason things went smoothly this morning on the dish line was that Gail and Joan were placing trays on the conveyor belt with everything arranged neatly for us. In fact, I even had time to grab my camera, call Gail's name, and snap the shutter as she looked through the tray window. (bottom middle photo of collage above)
Jim: We high-tailed it to Big V for what we thought would be some much needed rest, but Barbara started working on her newest DVD project and I got started doing dishes and scrubbing the bathroom. We didn’t have very many dishes; after all, we hadn’t had a meal in Big V in a week, but the house was in sore need of cleaning and straightening.
Bob and Nell came by later in the afternoon to invite us to join them and several other couples for Mexico food. Barbara said that would be fine as long as it wasn’t dining hall Mexican food. Nell assured us that wasn’t the case, and soon we joined Bob & Nell, John & Lynn, Mike & Renee, and Billy & Lillian for a real international dinner: Dutch-Treat Mexican.
After dinner we rode to Wal-Mart with Bob and Nell, our first off-campus adventure in a week. While we had a list going at Big V, we decided we’d just wait until another time to buy groceries and supplies and spent our time just looking around.
Back at Big V, we felt that we were just too tired to continue with the DVD project or listen to the Bulldogs football game, so we turned off the alarm clock and called it quits around 9:30.
Saturday, November 1
Today was adventure time…an opportunity to play tourist and see some of the sights of this beautiful state.
Bob and Nell picked us up around 9:00 a.m. and we drove first to Helen, Georgia, a quaint little alpine village nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee River. This was the final weekend of Helen’s annual Oktoberfest, the longest Oktoberfest celebration in the South.
We were fortunate that we got to Helen before the large crowds started arriving and had time to walk around and see the sights without bumping into everyone. Bob and I bought a couple of cups of coffee and sat outside by the town fountain while Barbara and Nell began their trek through 250 of the town’s 200 shops. But, we soon joined them and did both some shop-looking and some buying when a couple of items screamed out, “Buy me…buy me!”Around one o’clock the crowds and traffic started getting very heavy, so we made our way back to the car and drove to the outskirts of the town where we stopped at a series of shops that specialized in mountain crafts and foods. We found a few items of interest there and were separated from a little more money when we found some fresh pork skins and I located some cane sorghum syrup, along with a few other regional delicacies.
From Helen, we drove to one of the premier mountain sites in the state, Brasstown Bald. Set deep in the Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia’s highest mountain (4,784 feet above sea level) lays claim to the most inspiring vistas in the state. Brasstown Bald offers commanding views of the unique environment of the Brasstown Wilderness. In the distance, the visitors to this beautiful place can look into Tennessee (I even saw the famed “Rocky Top”) and both North and South Carolina. On a clear day a keen eye can even see the tops of the skyscrapers in Atlanta.
Brasstown Bald is part of the U.S. National Forest System, which maintains the wilderness area and the observation deck on the visitor information center at the summit of the mountain. The center has one of the most comprehensive groups of exhibits that we have ever seen, including interpretive and interactive exhibits of the area’s geology, ecology, climate, weather, history and culture, all housed in an 8,000 square-foot hall.
Of course, we were just blown away by the multitudes of colors that we saw among the trees. This weekend was considered to be the “peak time” for the fall foliage tours, another reason for the many visitors at each of the places we went.
All the viewing and driving made us hungry, so we drove from Brasstown Bald to the little community of Hiawassee for lunch, electing to stop at the local Hardee’s restaurant for some hamburgers.
When we finished our meal, we started the drive back toward Toccoa, but had to make one more sight-seeing stop, this time at Tallulah Gorge, where we stood looking down 700 feet at the Tallulah River as it cut through the mountains. The gorge’s claim to fame, aside from its remarkable beauty, is that Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas, once crossed the gorge on a tight rope, bringing great crowds of people to this remote part of the state to observe his death-defying act.
Barbara: Just as a side note…I found the Gorge the most awesome place for photos…I have not doctored these photos at all…these are the actual foliage colors I was able to capture. Once again, we say…God does great work with His paintbrush!!Jim: We left the gorge and drove on back to Toccoa and our campground, weary, but greatly enriched by all we had seen and done today. Bob and Nell were great tour guides, and are obviously very proud of the sights that their state has to offer.
Tonight was campfire night again. John had prepared the firewood, and after dark John, Lynn, Barbara, and I were joined by Bob and Nell as we sang, talked while enjoying the beauty of the night and the great outdoors.
When everyone had left, Barbara and I returned to Big V to watch the second half of the Texas and Texas Tech game from Lubbock. I cheer for Tech in all of their games but one, but tonight my cheers for the Longhorns just didn’t hold up as Tech won a nail-biter, scoring their final touchdown with one second left on the clock. Oh well, you can’t win them all, and I guess this was an opportunity for me to demonstrate my good sportsmanship in a losing cause.During the week we received some photos that we wanted to share. The first is of granddaughter Randi and step great-grandson Rhett in San Antonio. Rhett got his first pony ride and got to walk/run through a hay bale maze.
Next, is a photo of Barbara’s great nieces (sister Nancy’s grand-daughter.jpg)
s) Keylin and Eva. They are casting for High School Musical Part IV.Nancy also shared what we call a Keylism...
Keylin: Do you know anything about Indian Symbols, Nanny?
Nanny: Well, as a matter of fact I do.
Keylin: Do you know what this is…
Nanny (very proud to be so smart and know something a 2nd grader knows): I sure do – that is the Indian sign for “sun.”Keylin: How did you know that?
Nanny: Well, honey… I went to school in New Mexico with several Indians and we studied the Indian Symbols when I was in school.Keylin’s eyes flew open as she leaned over to get closer to my face, and she looked so very excited as she said…
“Nanny, I had no idea that you knew the Pilgrims and the Indians… WOW!!! That is too cool.”
Needless to say that took the wind right out of my “smart” sails…
Finally, to close, we received our official family picture from Mike and Kelly’s wedding.
“Instead of counting your days, make your days count.” – Church SignsFrom beautiful northern Georgia,
Jim & Barbara
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