A glistening day

Enjoy this bit of sparkle and shine.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Earlier this week I, along with my daughter and granddaughter, spent a few days with my parents in Georgia. When we arrived home on Thursday I happened to catch the news and saw a report on how the grocery stores were out of bread and milk. Hmmm. Seems there is something going on that perhaps I don’t know about. Oh, I see. A BLIZZARD!

When my sweet husband arrives home I said, “So tell me about this blizzard prediction.” He proceeds to show me the radar (from his favorite Google Earth). Wow. Really? Ok.

Mady was staying the night (I keep her on Fridays) and I had my contractor, plumber and electrician coming to the house at 10:30 a.m. (oh yeah, I am getting ready to remodel the kitchen). Around 11:30 my contractor noticed it snowing pretty heavy. And it kept snowing. School was called, and the radar was GREEN, PURPLE, PINK, BLUE. It was nasty! Around 1:00 my husband called to say he was on his way home. By this time we probably had a good inch or more on the deck and it was also sleeting. He arrived home safely but, said he had a few rough spots on the side road. My daughter left work at 3ish but had to wait in a parking lot for her friend to come get her. She finally arrived at her destination at 7:15. Craziness! By nightfall it looked as though we had about 3-4 inches and the radar showed there was more headed out way.

We woke to no electricity but beautiful scenery! After breakfast and some play time we ventured out into the snow for more play and pictures. What an awesome day to take pictures! Since we weren’t really prepared to snow, we dressed Mady in whatever we could come up with. Layers of pants (including pj’s), layers of shirts, jacket, my socks and gloves and a toboggan. She loved the snow. Since we didn’t have the appropriate shoes we were only able to stay out for about 10 minutes. It wasn’t very cold and later in the day a fog rolled in. As we took Mady off the mountain to meet up with her daddy, we saw some beautiful scenery around the mountain. What a beautiful day!










































 

An Exciting Day!

From Positively Pooh – chapter 1 – For Your Inner Bear

Think about all the exciting things that are going to happen today (particularly on Monday mornings).

”When you wake up in the mornings, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
”What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
”I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
”It’s the same thing,” he said.

What exciting thing is happening today? Sally’s birthday! Sally is my mother-in-law. She came into my life almost 10 years ago. She is beautiful, intelligent, gracious, crafty (I could go on) and has a radiant and sparkling smile. She was an extraordinary math teacher for 30 years. Her previous students say she was awe-inspiring, patient, and kind. Many of her students (and her husband’s) still keep in touch regularly. Those that live elsewhere schedule a visit when they come into town. There is a unique bond between these two teachers and their previous students. She is a wonderful friend with a giving spirit. Sally is adored by her family and friends. 

In 1969 Sally married a handsome man, also a math teacher, with two boys, ages 15 and 13. Wow! Now that is LOVE! According to her now 55 year old son, “Sally brought hope, joy, a revitalizing energy, food and clothes into the lives of 3 men who had been devastated by the loss of our mom (and wife). She made our house cozy, warm, and beautiful.”

That is Sally. Cozy. Warm. Beautiful.

Thank you Sally for joining the lives of 3 men 41 years ago. Thank you for loving, caring and nourishing them. Thank you for loving me. I love you dearly! 

Pink Lemonade

What do you want to drink?

Pink lem-mo-nade.
Her new love…….

Play. Pretend. Poop.

Interesting title I suppose. One day I was quietly observing and listening while Mady was playing. I find it fascinating to watch AND listen to her play. Especially how “play” changes daily/weekly. How little ones go from hitting, banging and making cave-man noises with their toys to actually conversing with them. Then there’s the eventual interaction with other little folks. One day while we went to our local mall that has a play yard.  It’s a pretty dang cool play yard! The entire play yard is on a cushion mat and the slide and such are made of a rubber product. Again, very cool. So, while playing in her own world and observing others, a little boy came up behind Mady and wanted to go up and over a small bridge she was climbing. She turned around and had the following conversation with him:

Mady: “Ok….you go up. Go up that ways”

Boy: just looks at her and doesn’t speak

Mady: “Ooze er feets”
Boy: just looks at her, doesn’t speak, starts climbing
Mady: runs to the other side and says “Now jump” while using up and down hand signals to demonstrate

Boy: just looks at her, doesn’t speak, hops off

Mady: looks over at me, says “He hops” then looks at the boy, who is running away and says “Good job boy”

Then there is “pretend” mode. Example: ”Ok, Dora, you be train now…..choo-ooo choo.” “Good job, Dora.” “Want to jump on bed Dora?” “One, two, free, jump!” “Aaaabbbbeeeee” (she was yelling for the dog) “AAABBEEEEEE” (yelling louder). “Aabee, jump too?” This occurred all at once….Dora to Abby. Then there are the days she says she is Ringo from the Beatles. I know. A two year-old and the Beatles, not quite normal. She loves them and I explain more about that later.

 

Pretending is so important. You can just see that little mind working, processing, and wondering. It’s such a wonderful, and often humorus thing to observe.
 

 

Okay…so what does poop have to do with any of this? Well, I just needed a “P” word to go with play and pretend. More about poop in a later post….when the potty training kicks in!

A Birthday Wish

Today is my father’s birthday. He was born in 1933 and is 77 years YOUNG. Here are a few things that happened on his birthday in history:
1778 Captain Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands

1803 Jefferson requests funds for Lewis and Clark
1865 Battle of Ft. Moultrie, South Carolina

1882 A.A. Milne is born (he wrote Winnie the Pooh)

1930

-27 degrees in Watts, Oklahoma (state record)

1933 White Sands Monument, New Mexico established

1962 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1975 Jeffersons spinoff from "All in the Family" premieres on CBS

1974 Six Million Dollar Man starring Lee Majors premieres on ABC TV

1976 Superbowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17

1996 Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson in New York
(just a few interesting things)

My dad shares his birthday with:

Kevin Costner, actor
John Hughes, director
Danny Kaye, actor
Cary Grant, actor

A. A. Milne, author
Thomas A. Watson, inventor assistant to Graham Bell
Peter Roget, thesaurus fame/inventor, slide rule, pocket chessboard
and many more.

It’s fun to look back and see what occurred on your birthday in history. But the most important event that occurred on January 18th in 1933 was the birth of my father. 

He was born to William “Red” and Hilma Blanton. Such wonderful grandparents! To my knowledge (which fails me at times), he was born and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. He married my mother in November of 1954. He was in the navy and stationed in California for several years. They have lived in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. He has worked in a funeral home and in sales. He has driven many a teenager on a church bus, grilled THOUSANDS of ribs, built dog pens/houses, added on a room addition to our house, taught his children how to use tools, helped in the birthing process of 13 German Shepherd puppies, watched hours and hours of John Wayne movies, gone on many a cold morning deer hunt, shot a few deer, eaten thousands of cakes and pies baked by my mother, has probably hugged tens of thousands of folks over the years, been married and devoted to the same woman for 55 years (whom he still adores), is the father of three, grandfather of six girls and great-grandfather of five, is a deacon, Sunday School teacher and a Man of God.

The above paragraph is just a miniscule listing of facts about my father. He is a kind and generous man with a loving spirit. His love comes unconditionally and unselfishly. He has always been faithful to me, teaching me the difference between right and wrong, encouraging me to be strong. Through struggle and strife he has always been there. His smile and the twinkle in his eyes melt my heart. His love, affection and adorning for my mother is heart-warming, breath-taking and beautiful.
 






 

There is a song by Paul Simon called Father and Daughter. The words in the chorus say:

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
That loved his daughter more than I love you.

 

Daddy, as long as one and one are two, there could never be a daughter that loves her father more than I love you.

Some of the best fun in life is free

My post title is from a book called Positively Pooh: Timeless Wisdom from Pooh, written by A. A. Milne, that we bought Mady for Christmas. This is an amazing book and I intend to share more from it in further posts. In this particular bit of wisdom, Kanga and Roo are spending a quiet afternoon in the forest. Roo was practicing small jumps in the sand, and falling down mouse-holes then climbing out. Kanga said, “Just one more jump, dear, and then we must go home.” And at that moment who should come stumping up the hill but Pooh. “Good afternoon, Kanga.” “Good afternoon, Pooh.” “Look at me jumping,” squeaked Roo, as he fell into another mouse-hole.
Yes, some of the best fun in life IS free. We had a fun, free, sunny Wednesday. We are fortunate here in southeast Tennessee to be the halfway point on the Sandhill Cranes’ 1,200-mile migration from Wisconsin to Florida.
As many as 13,000 sandhill cranes will arrived for rest and food at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, from January through late February. The refuge is a
2,500-acreage at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers in Meigs County. Several times during the day the cranes fly over into neighboring Rhea County which borders Hamilton County.

So we took a little ride out to the Rhea/Hamilton County line to see if we could find the Sandhill Cranes. Boy, oh, boy did we ever! While we were parked on the side of the road viewing the birds on the ground…..














…..we heard a deep, rolling trumpet and rattling to the far right in the sky. A huge flock was circling around and before we knew it…..












 
….all the cranes on the ground took off. It was so amazing! I could not take pictures fast enough! After circling for several minutes, several cranes decided to land. It’s so funny to see them put their “landing gear” down.













Mady, our granddaughter, really enjoyed seeing the cranes and being outside in a warm 45 degrees!

 

 

 

 

What a beautiful day. Yes Pooh, some of the best fun in life is free.

I heart faces

I discovered i heart faces website recently and have decided to enter my first photo challenge. This website has been a valuable tool/resource for me. I discovered The Album Cafe through them and will be attending a FREE photo walk with Michael Howard in Nashville in February. I look forward to further challenges and learning opportunities.

So….here is my first entry into the photo challenge Best Face Photo in celebration of their 1st birthday!!

You LIke to do Dishes??

Yes. I like to do dishes. I think I always have. I know that I have been doing dishes since the age of 12, if not younger. My girls, as well as others, think it a bit strange. I enjoy the bubbles, the warmth of the water on my hands, wiping the dishes with the sudsy cloth and rinsing in the refreshing, sizzling water. Ahhhhhh…….bliss.

 

Now some folks might just try to get a bit analytical about this, but it really isn’t anything to analyze. I just really like to do dishes. One thing I don’t do is zone out or escape into dreamland. I look out the window (if it isn’t dark) and observe. Or listen to the sounds surrounding me. My favorite time to wash dishes is when there are lots of folks around. The bustling of everyone cleaning and gathering up the dishes, the chatter and the laughter. Again….bliss. So if you need anyone to do the dishes…..let me know!