Like a kid with a new toy

I went to yard sales yesterday. It was one of those rare Fridays that I didn't have to work, the weather was perfect and I was in slow and easy mode. I saw the yard sale sign and it had toys everywhere and tires stacked up... not really things I'm interested in... but then I noticed tackle boxes and they looked like they had bait inside. I stopped. I got an old Avon Christmas plate that was only given to representatives. I got two boxes of beautiful old Christmas cards, a old bottle "Lunds Beverage" bottled by the Dr Pepper Company. I've never seen one of these bottles before. The prize at the sale was the 1962 Sears catalog in mint condition.

Stopped at another one and found hand quilted treasures. Here is a pillow and a quilt top of knit material. This top is so dated to the seventies when knit clothing was the in thing.

Here's the good part. Bottle 25 cents, plate 50 cents, Sears catalog one dollar, quilt top one dollar, pillow 25 cents.... I went to five yard sales and spent less than twenty dollars. I found other things and I got Missy flower pots for her patio. I had fun, didn't spend much money and helped these people get rid of things they don't want anymore.

This experience is a perfect example of how we need to try thing even if we don't think we'll like them. You never know what treasures you'll find.

So Proud but Worried

My oldest granddaughter, Jaselynn, went to the Red Cross volunteer center and got permission to go help in Phil Campbell today. How many 17 year old girls would want to get down and dirty to help people. The worried part comes in thinking about how there is people still missing in the area... most likely in that debris and I wonder how seeing that much suffering will affect her.

I'm fine and family fine

But I have shedded many tears today. Lauderdale County in north western Alabama was very lucky but our friends and neighbors in Franklin, Limestone, Madison, Cullman, Marion, Marshall, Jefferson, Tuscalsooa were not as lucky
No pictures with this blog only a request that you hug your kids, wife, husband, mother, father, friend
When your internet is down or you cell phone just remember thousands and thousands of people lost their home and some their life yesterday

Pray for north Alabama

Guardian Angels watching over them

These pictures are of my brother's office and my nephew lives in part of this house. It wasn't a tornado just straight line winds but it took out four trees and broke limbs on all the rest. We're getting my bad weather tonight and all day tomorrow. I guess you have to pay a price to live in God's country.

I know... some people might debate me on that statement.

Unexpected Gifts is what makes life wonderful

My house smells like a bouquet of Peony.... that is because I have a huge bouquet on my kitchen table. I was dozing on the couch watching Wheel of Fortune when my sister-in-law calls... "You want a bouquet of Peony? The rain will ruin them. Come get you some."

Every year Eunice makes my house smell fabulous for days. If I every win the lottery I will have a bouquet of Peony every day. I like their scent better than roses.

Small unexpected gifts like this makes the world seem better and makes you feel loved.

Happy Birthday Lakelynn

To my strawberry blonde, green eyed, always smiling, horse loving, tender hearted, middle granddaughter...I hope that you have a wonderful day ... and my wish for you is that you always see the good and cry about the bad.

Happy Easter

I hope you find the most Easter eggs and eat too much food... candy, chocolate or ham... you choose.

I hope you are blessed to have your family with you to celebrate.

And I hope you remember that this day is more than candy and colored eggs.

Well, I've got to hop on down the bunny trail and cook that ham, white beans, stewed potatoes, corn, dressing, and poke salad. Yep I said poke salad.... get ya some. Heheheheee

Oh yes, a big slab of onion too. Good thing blogs don't have smell!

Saying Good-Bye to Beverly

She was known to the world as Beverly Barton, author. I've read her books from Yankee Lover (her first book) to her mystery fiction. My favorite series was "The Protector"... lordy those guys were heart stoppers.

But I met Beverly before her first book was published. I groomed her cocker spaniel at my shop in the eighties .... well in truth I groomed her cocker in the nineties too.

Beverly was more than a famous author, she was a true example of southern grace and charm. She always had a smile on her face and witty soft words to say about any given topic.

She will be missed by friends, family and even people like me that knew her sightly. My deepest sympathy goes out to her family.

Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits

One of my favorite Easter memory is my brother hunting for the Easter Bunny. We watched Bugs Bunny on Saturday mornings and Logan would get his BB gun and take off across the pasture looking for wabbits. This one Easter he got marshmallow chicks in his Easter basket and he hates them, so he decided he was going to hunt down the Easter Bunny and explain that he didn't like marshmallow chicks and to stop leaving them every year. What was so funny he did fine a wabbit and tried to talk to it but it ran into a hole in the hay barn. Mother found him pumping that BB gun and firing into the hole and mumbling... you asked for it... I wanted to talk about this but you just won't listen. He really did look like Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits.

Big Congratulations to my friend Irene Latham

My dear friend Irene Latham will be at the Alabama Library Association Conference where she will be the breakfast speaker tomorrow and accept the Children's Book Award for her first novel..."Leaving Gee's Bend"..

At her website and blog she says, "I am a poet and novelist who writes heart-touching tales of unexpected adventure."

As a poet you know that her fiction will touch every emotion and be so tightly written you will have the chapters read and wonder how she packed so much in so few pages. If you have not read her book, you have missed a wonder southern novel about had times, good friends and family bonds.

Check out her beautiful website www.irenelatham.com
or
Check out her blog www.irenelatham.blogspot.com

Rainbows and barns

Rainbows always make me think of peace and reaching the end of a journey. I get this flutter in chest as if my soul knows God is speaking.

Old barns always make me think of when I was growing up and how all the cousins played in the barn. How I would climb the ladder to the hay loft and not be able to climb down... have I told y'all I'm scared of heights? How we would climb under the crib to get to Ginger's puppies. She had a litter every spring. We would build scarecrow bandits and have a hanging... I was always the Sheriff. My horse, Cookie, loved it when we played Hang the Bandits, she would run when we slapped her rump but she wouldn't stop. I look back and see how smart she was... wouldn't you run too if anywhere from 4 to 14 kids were crawling all over you?

I hope this picture makes you search your memory for a time when a rainbow made your heart flutter or when you had a good time with friends.

Beauty of Spring

It always amazes me how the cycle of life renews itself every spring. Starting January we start wishing and hoping for it, February that turns to praying then in March we get a hint and April "Bam!" spring is here and we are sneezing so bad we can't enjoy it.

There is an important message Mother Nature teaches us with the changing seasons. We start off beautiful then we mature to lush and working on producing, then we enjoy the harvest and start to feel spent. Winter comes and we watch those seeds we produce in their life cycle and we realize that WE are the root system of the future and that should make us happy.

Another grandbaby has a birthday today. Kane is 11 today. He is a sweet boy.. I mean he would have to be, look at all those angel kisses on his face.

In these hard times don't forget ....

Your local library still needs new books and especially the children's department

I've pieced a reversible quilt for the local Elk's Lodge to sell chances on with all processes going to Sheffield Public Library the Children's department. One side is a Charm Quilt and one side is a patchwork Christmas Quilt.

I do not live in Sheffield or work there or even live in that county but they are the poorest library in a twenty mile radius and I want to help them. You can help more than you know. I donate books to the Friends of the Library used book store, I donate new released books to the library for their selves, I donate picture books and middle readers to schools in lauderdale county, I write read and write AR test for books that are older and don't have AR test available (the kids really love some of the older books)

Don't think you can't make a difference... YOU CAN

Have a bake sale and donate to the library... have a yard sale and donate... go through your kids books and donate --- oh yes, since Monday is tax day, this might be where I should say that all donations are tax deductible. Just ask for a receipt.

Give your magazines to the library used book store instead of pitching them in the garbage.

I don't look in Mirrors....it's too scary

Have you ever looked in a mirror and asked the person looking back, “Who are you and what did you do with my body?” If you’re over fifty I’m sure you have.

I once heard a preacher say the golden years where the most beautiful ones of a person’s life. From my coarse white hair that is so unmanageable my hair spray bill should be covered by Medicare to my diamond-tough toenails, I’m here to tell you there is nothing beautiful about old age.

Wrinkles, sags, age spots and flab are all signs of aging. When I look in a mirror I see bulldog jowls hanging below my chin, character lines at the corner of my eyes that have turned sinister, breasts whispering to my navel and my under arm wing span waving at my reflection. Noticing a dirty smudge on my face, I try to wipe it off, but it won’t wipe off. Feeling depressed I turn from the mirror and notice my behind has moved south.

I’ve decided I’m not in my golden years; I’m in my plastic years. Why plastic you ask? Because I’m stained with age and my skin is splitting, cracking and peeling. I have deformities from misuse and my body snaps, crackles and pops when I use it. I see nothing beautiful in mirrors now that I’m over fifty. I remember mother’s warning to take care of my body or live to regret it. I do.

Take me out to the ball game... make that a T ball game

I love watching little kids play ball. They have fun and if they don't they just sit down, pick clover blossoms or cry. They don't care what the score is or if they win. Does this make them non-achievers or does it make them smart???

Let them be kids! I think the Daddy's need to play with them like we did back in the dark ages. When we played ball in the pasture we nearly always had adults playing too. The ditch was the line down lst base, the fence down third and if you hit it in the pond you only got two bases and you had to catch the horse and wade out to get it or jump in the muddy full of cow poop water.

Look at the picture of Kane batting, do you know people that go through life acting like they know what they are doing but when it comes to the "moment" they have their eyes closed.

I wonder how many ball Lakelynn caught in center field playing in the dirt??? Look at her behind and shoes.

Kane isn't that small anymore... sob sob... he will be 11 on Sunday. And Lakelynn will be 14 on April 25th.

Thorns are what makes the rose perfect

Because we have to work for the rose enduring pain and giving drops of our blood to reach it is what makes it the queen of flowers. The rose's beauty calls to us and its sensual smell beckons until we reach to make it ours... that is when the devil pokes us with the reminder that nothing worth having is without some sacrifice.
I only wish some of my roses were close to the edge of the bush and I didn't have to feel the sting of so many thorns to get the reward.

I was hoping to keep these for great grandbabies...

but it looks like my grandbabies and friends are going to ride them until they are grown and married. That is okay with me. My granny would always tell me and my cousins... you're only a kid for a short period of your life, enjoy it.
My granny was such a special person and she help shape me into the person I am today. She was the one that show me how we should give to others because by doing so we harvest happiness for ourselves. She raised 8 children, my dad was her only son, and every one of them acted like they were the only child. How can someone make each child feel so special they feel secure enough to act spoiled and rotten???
I remember one evening my dad came home with a plate full of fried apple pies. Mom asked him why he brought the entire plate home and didn't leave any for his parents. Dad said, "Mother can cook them more."
He didn't leave one pie for them and he didn't feel bad or like he should have. I love my Dad but he is spoiled, even at 82.

Chalk Pictures.... say I love you

Since Jase was big enough to sit up alone, I've had her drawing pictures with chalk. When she got big enough to ride tricycle we've had malls, Mickey D's , Walmart. etc where she could shop and drive on roads. Once Kane got big enough to join in the town roads became race tracks and had ramps and jumps with pretty pictures at the side of them. Now that the grandkids are older and rather be doing stuff (I've not figured out what this stuff is yet) the chalk doesn't see action every time they come. I think this spring days are bring back memories of when they were little. This entire weekend a garden of hearts and flowers and one chalk outline of a murdered monster greet me when I step outside. There is also little chalk people with big hearts that say "I love you Granny" That is a snapshot I will keep with me forever.

I feel so old... dang I AM old

Had a great day today with entire family present for lunch and to celebrate Jaselynn's 17th birthday. Seventeen years ago I discovered that grandchildren really are your reward for not killing your kids.

Lakelynn, Jase's sister will have a birthday the 25th of this month and will be 14 and Kane, my only grandson, will be 11 next Sunday. Ella, the baby, will be 9 on July 31st.

Every time the kids went on vacation to Gulf Shores in July we had a April baby. Must have been something in the water.

If the shoe fits... wear it

Here we go again with sayings. If the shoe fits, wear it.... well wouldn't that shoe belong to someone else and wouldn't that be stealing??
Walk a mile in their shoes... what if the shoe doesn't fit, wouldn't that be painful??

Now don't get me wrong, I understand what these saying are meant to express but it makes it so hard to travel to other states where they have regional sayings and understand what they are saying.

Do you want me to carry you to the store? I remember the editor's face when I asked her that... she was from Ohio.

As a writer, I have to be careful not to put slang or regional language in my writing.

My favorite southern saying is "Well bless your heart" which sounds sweet but really is saying... Hey get over it and shut up. I'm so proud of my Yankee blood because I say... "Hey get over it and shut up" and I rarely say "Well bless your heart"

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

My grandmother said that all the time... what does it mean anyway. Have you ever thought about all the unclear sayings we say???

Raining cats and dogs.
He looks like he's been rode hard and put up wet
Useless as teats on a boar pig
Nobody will ever notice it on a galloping horse
He's two bricks short of a load
He ain't got a pot to pee in Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil
The guilty dog barks the loudest
That's finer than frog's hair
He couldn't hit the broad side of a barn
She's about as useful as buttons on a dishrag
She slapped him like a red-headed stepchild
you can catch more files with honey than with vinegar
He's steal the bridle off a nightmare
He's tougher than a two dollar steak
He's as mad as a wet hen
Sober as a judge
That's as scarce as hen's teeth
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride

I'm a country girl

Alabama raised & proud! Where summer starts in April, front porches are wide & words are long. We don't have fireflies, we have lightning bugs, macaroni & cheese is a vegetable, pecan pie is a staple, y'all is a proper pronoun, chicken is fried, & biscuits come with gravy. Everything is darling & someone is always getting their heart blessed.

For National Poetry Month here is one of my not great but heart felt poems. Y'all have to remember I'm a fiction writer not a poet but I like to try.




The Barn

Smells assault the senses
Horses, manure, hay
A haven free of fences
Misunderstandings fade

Puppies run to greet me
Attack my laces, lick my face
Wanting to be fed
My horse blows and stomps

A blanket in the loft
I read of perfect worlds
Stroking my cat, so soft
Dreams spin and whirl

Years past, I’m now a Mom
Dropping by for a visit
My children go to the barn
Old dreams fade but new ones begin

Age, the barn must pay the cost
A dozer chews at rotten wood
As our haven is lost
My children and I sob

Metal beams and metal sides
Foundation of concrete
New dreams begin inside
The barn

I want to dance my way into Heaven

Call me old fashion or a romantic but I feel so loved when my husband has me in his arms, one hand cradling my back and the other holding my hand. Our heart together, me smelling his special scent and his breathe touching my cheek as he sings the songs to only me.

I had a wonderful time last night dancing with my husband. Great band, great company.

Yesterday was a good one from start to finish. Spent the day with partners in crime... writing that is...Jana and Sheila and got to see my great friend Irene. We all enjoyed the informative talk Ginger Rue gave at the Birmingham schmooze.

I might be blogging less since I'm starting a month of writing to reach projected goal with Jana and Sheila.