4 generations

The daughter is in the hospital; she's been there a full 24 hours so far- she has PIH= Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (they are testing to see if it is preeclampsia).
Eli is not supposed to come until the C-section on Jan. 29, but that may change...we will see what the doctors say tomorrow. They are monitoring her and running several tests. Several nurses have said that she might not be able to leave until after he is born. Oh goodness! (and she has a baby shower on Sunday.)

I took the day off to be with her today.
As I sat there today at one point, I thought how lucky Eli will be to know his grammy (me) and his great-nana (my mom)- there will be 4 generations soon!

I have a few vivid memories of my great-grandmother. We called her Granny Bell (her name was Annabelle), and she was SO tall; she wore a size 13 shoe, and was terribly afraid of her mailman. She had a red-headed baby boy doll with red felt overalls that she let me play with...I loved playing with the brass mail slot in her front door, and she would tell me to come away from there because the mailman would come soon. I am not sure what she had against the mailman, but I have such clear memories of her and her house even though I had to be younger than 5 years old. She died sometime after that, I think.

I hope Eli will know and love his great-grandparents...I know he will.
I guess I just realized today how special it is that he will be coming into an extended family that completely loves him already, and is anxiously awaiting his arrival!

Hope your week is a good one!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

In honor of the fact that the first day of December is minutes away, and the fact that I have posted only once in November, I thought I would share a few minutes of fun. This absolutely lovely place is called "The Hide-Away" by all who know it...it is nestled at the top of a mountain in North Carolina. This view is from the amazing deck down the drive way. If you look to your right, this is what you see. It feels as though you must be the only one in the universe, and as you breathe in the crisp mountain air, the stress disappears little by little. This precious place is owned by my dear cousins, E and J, and we had the honor of visiting here in October for their daughter's bridal shower party. What fun! More fun even was what happened as we were there:

I was completely surprised...that just does not happen in Georgia in October! But the first North Carolina snowfall has left me wanting more...

We will be with these fabulous family members this weekend to attend the wedding in Savannah, one of my favorite cities in my state. I am sure I will have plenty to share.

Have a wonderful week...may you be blessed and feel the surprises of this holiday season each and every day!

Peanut

This is peanut...a sonogram of my GRANDchild. Yes. You read it correctly. It is official. I will be a grandmother in February. I am not sure there is space here for me to really reveal all of the thoughts running around in my head, or if I actually want to do that until they are ready for public consumption...right now, I just just wanted to record this here. Peanut is real. I am sure many, many future posts will contain an almost ridiculous amount of gushing about this child. I hear grandparents do that, you know. But right now, I just needed to say it.

By the way, if you are like me, and you can never see anything on a sonogram image...the baby's head is on the right. His/her hands (obviously not fully formed) are just below that to the left, and the rest is his/her body...(if you look at is sideways thinking of the right as the top of the head, it is pretty clear) All in all he/she is just a little peanut forming...growing...waiting until the day when he/she will make an appearance and fall into our arms!

Sunny Summer Days

What images come to mind when you think of summer?

If you are like me, probably the pool, the beach, flip flops, the grill, a cute little fruity drink...maybe with a tiny umbrella!?

But I also imagine family get togethers...the kind my father's people in Dublin, Georgia always have in the summer...

What could be better than a family reunion with ALL kinds of Southern goodness???


This past Saturday afternoon, we did indeed have a wonderful time at our family reuinon...seeing family members, laughing, talking, catching up, and eating outragous amounts of food that was just too good to describe here....

Ok, well, I'll give it a try...fresh creamed corn, down home butter beans, newly picked field peas...those were just the vegetables piled on my plate! I never get those kinds of fresh vegetables at home, so I just could not resist! I did not eat any fried chicken- I know you are positively shocked, but I was saving room for dessert! Oh my Lord...do not get me started on the pound cake! With one bite alone, I was completely taken back to the days when my sweet precious grandmother made THE most delicious pound cake; she never even needed to look at that recipe she made it so often...the crumbly top, the sour creamy moist cake...oh my. I have not had a decent pound cake since my beloved grandmother passed away almost 18 years ago! Needless to say, I got the recipe from my relative who generously emailed it to me. (I will post later about my first attempt one day when I am feeling capable enough to give pound cake a try!) All in all, the day was quite special and I left wishing I was wearing stretchy pants!

Well, much to our surprise, as we were driving home...what did we see in the distance?

A FIELD of sunflowers as far at the eye could see...it was off the road a good bit, but my adorable father drove over this dirt road to get us closer to it...I kept imagining that I was going to hear gunshots any minute...thankfully, we didn't. (I fully comprehend that we were technically trasspassing...but we were only taking pictures, and a great photo is worth it, right? My father said he was afraid I was going to come back to the car with an armful of the flowers; don't think I didn't at least consider it, but I was not going to push my luck with possible shotgun sounds looming! Besides the stalks were as thick as a human forearm!)

I literally could not believe my eyes...I have never before been standing among so many beautiful HUGE sunflowers. Years ago, when I studied abroad in France, that was one of my favorite things- on the train from Paris to Strasbourg, I saw nothing but fields and fields and fields of sunflowers...I wanted so desperately to beg someone to stop the train so I could get out and look more closely...like that was going to happen! The train was going by so fast, I never even got any photos out the window. That is one of those times that the picture in your mind is so perfect...much more so than I could have done with any camera.

Well, this was our chance to mingle among the sunflowers and gaze upon their glorious faces! It was just as I imagined it would be...like standing inside one of Van Gogh's lovley paintings...

Hope your summer days are just as sunny and filled with the goodness of food, family, and fun surprises along the way! Have a great week.

(P.S. to my very best friend in the whole wide world, Sally: I wished so whole heartedly that you had been with me...you would have completely understood the Vincent moment...and I could not help but think of you every step of the way! I love you and miss you, my friend.)

They're Home!

Yesterday was such a great day! The daughter, my parents, and other relatives made it back from the beach safe and sound and much earlier than usual! I had a father's day dinner all planned out and prepared to cook when I met them over at my parent's house.

I made carne asada with flank steak (and chicken for the daughter who does not eat red meat) except I turned it into shish ka bobs with vegetables like green and red bell peppers, baby portobella mushrooms, and onions. We also had corn on the cob and a lovley green salad. The marinade on the meat made it so tender and delicious! This is the epitome of a summer meal to me...also something my father had never grilled.

I adore this man. He is the best father in the world...I could not have chosen better parents if I'd been given the ability to do so. It felt like it was 9,000 degrees outside, and he was totally willing to be the designated grill master! I decided to accompany him, despite my hatred for the high humidity. (Literally the heat index was 110 while the temperature gauge read 99). It was funny because seconds later, everyone joined us outside despite the heat. We were enjoying the precious deck that my brother built for them, my mother's potted plants, and each others' company! This is our first summer since my parents moved away from the house we all grew up in...no more pool, no more lush beautiful gardens around the pool, no more acres of grass for him to cut! No matter where they live, my parents will always have a lovely yard with beautiful flowers...and a grill and a deck!

Everyone enjoyed dinner, and then we had such a fun dessert! The daughter and I (though we were apart for the week) planned (through text messages and phone calls) to make a specatacular surprise that we found on Bakerella's site...Happy meals for all of the fathers we know and love! These were delicious and certainly impressive. You should check out her blog if you ever need something to wow someone. The daughter and I love to try new treats from her site. We had some difficulty with the sugar cookie fries and we are always a tab bit messy compared to her perfection, but we had such a good time putting these together...and everyone seemed to enjoy eating them!

Hope everyone had a wonderful father's day and a superb weekend. Now, I am going to go look at my girl again and tell her how very glad I am that she's home!

The Passing of Time

Attended my nephew's high school graduation this evening.
Wondered where all of these years have gone...how did they go by so very fast?
Is it really possiible that he could be eighteen, a high school graduate, and ready for the world?
It was almost more than I could bear.

I held him as a tiny baby...changed his diapers...rocked him to sleep on more than several occasions. My brother and the nephew's mother divorced when the nephew was a boy. His mother moved to another city (not terribly far away, but not here) and we do not see him as much as I would like. I suppose some of that is my own fault. I could have asked to get him for a weekend or such.

I remembered so much this evening as I sat waiting to hear his name...waiting for him to walk across the stage and get his diploma...I remembered his little boy grin, his curly locks, his arm around my daughter's shoulders..."Cousins," they would say. When most people yelled and shouted for joy this evening, I felt my eyes well up with tears...

The passage of time is such a bittersweet thing.

Jack Martin, I am so very proud of you, and I love you more than I can say. You made it!
"Let your soul shine,
It's better than sunshine,
It's better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain...
Gotta let your soul shine,
shine 'til the break of day..."

Picnic in the Park

Weather seems to be very unpredictable around here these days...we had snow last Sunday and 70 degree temps yesterday! The sky was gloriously bright, and the buds on every tree seem ready to burst forth. A pleasant breeze was blowing, and it seemed like everyone should be outside!

I was busy grading papers ALL DAY on Saturday, and I was longing for the sun to touch my skin on Sunday. Have you ever felt like that? I was just aching to get outside, and we decided to have a picnic in a local park. Well, it seems that everyone in my city decided to do that as well. Washington Park, the park that we had chosen, was ridiculously packed, so we found another less popular choice to spend the afternoon- Coleman Hill. This is one of the highest areas in my city, a place from where you can see most of downtown from the top.

We found a shady place beneath a tree, and proceeded to soak it all in! What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Hope your weekend allowed you to rest and rejuvinate...have a wonderful week!

And my best shot:

It's really not the best shot at all, but the camera's battery chose to die after only two photos. So, this is all I have. To check out other people's really best shots, visit Tracey!

In the span of two weeks

I am fortunate to live in a state that allows me to travel to varied locations rather easily...

In the span of virtually two weeks, I have been to two locations on short trips- two very different places with weather extremes that are hard to believe happened in the same month!

First, I had the privilege of attending the lovely wedding of my second cousin. He and his now wife live in Orlando, Florida. Even though the wedding was the first weekend in November, it was so very warm and sunny there. It was an outside wedding that took place at 3:00 pm...just in time for the sunshine to burst forth from behind a huge palm tree and heat me until I thought I might spontaneously combust! Needless to say, the wedding was brief, but the festivities surrounding it were so amazing- THE most delicious Italian food for the rehearsal dinner the evening before the wedding, cocktail hour by the pool while waiting on the wedding party to take photos just after the wedding, a sit down dinner of several courses after the wedding, and a champagne brunch on the morning after the wedding. We did not stop celebrating (or eating) the entire weekend! It was one of the best times I have ever had at a wedding!

A shot of the aisle where the bride walked...lovely flowers and such a view!

The fountain in the plaza leading to the wedding site...an exquisite location! The Mission Inn

Below, the daughter and I are really enjoying ourselves...and below that, our view just outside the reception...as the sun began to fully set.

Lastly, this is the morning of the brunch after the wedding. I am pictured here with my parents, the daughter, my favorite aunt (my mom's sister), my favorite cousin H. and his partner, B. It was really such a remarkable time!

Picture two weeks later....I just today arrived home from this: SNOW!

My parents, my brother, sister-in-law, and their daughter, (my niece) MEBS and I took a trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for the first part of our Thanksgiving break. As we crossed the mountains to get to our destination, we traveled through a recent snowfall, and the temperatures were still so frigid that the snow had not yet melted. What fun! We took the opportunity to throw a few snowballs and take some photos. It was not too long, and we were hopping back in the warm car to thaw out! It's not every day that Southerners like us get to play in the snow, so we just had to take a few moments. We had a great time, and while we were gone, we celebrated my mother's 70th birthday with a delicious breakfast at a down home restaurant, a visit to a winery (tasting and purchasing!), dinner and a fabulous show. I am so blessed to have a close family with whom I treasure these travels.

This is MEBS with my brother. Below, is my father, a 70 year old child...gathering snow for a snowball...one that he was going to throw at MEBS, just before she got him!

Now matter the weather in your part of the world, I pray that your holidays are blessed this year...in the spirit of our holiday of Thanksgiving, I am thankful this year for family, friends, good times, happiness and heath. I hope that you, too, may experience a feeling of thankfulness, peace and love!

BSM: A Day Early

Note: I am off with my best friend in the whole wide world on our annual spring break excursion (We are heading to Destin, Florida first thing Monday morning), so I am technically posting late Sunday evening...(almost my best shot Monday!)

Easter is such a colorful and vibrant celebration of New Life...and I can not resist little girls in their Sunday best. This is my precious neice, my heart, MEB (pronounced like mee-bee; this is what my mother calls her). She is five, and she steals my heart each and every time I am near her. She does live in the same town as I do, but we are all so busy that I do not spend as much time with her as I would like. I was thrilled that I was able to see her today at my parent's house, as we all gathered there for the traditional family egg hunt and dinner. She makes me laugh; she makes my heart sing, and I am convinced that she will grow up to do something COMPLETELY amazing when she gets big! Just look at those sweet, chubby toes...that is the only thing on her that still says 'baby' to me. Everything else speaks 'big girl' all the way!

Today, the family egg hunt was HILARIOUS, at best! My nephews, MEB's much older brothers, gave her a great competition. (Keep in mind that the oldest is 16, the middle brother is 12, and as I said, she is 5!) They hunted eggs SO FAST that I could barely snap photos, and she managed to keep up with them so well. (By the way, the daughter, at 18, has finally graduated up to helping hide the eggs!LOL) The final score was 31 eggs (16 year old) to 27 eggs (5 year old) to 17 eggs (12 year old). Yes, with this lot EVERYTHING is a competition!

And they are off..."Don't let her knock you down!"




















B wants a recount..."How could I have only gotten 17 eggs???"

And the winner is...."No one can compete with the master-egg-finder!!!"

Here's hoping that you had just as much fun with your family this Easter...hoping your weather was perfect and that you were able to laugh, love and celebrate this wonderful life that we are So blessed to live! For more BSM, check out what Tracey has in store for you on Monday!

(OK...have a wonderful week! I will return refreshed and ready to once again face the world after some much needed best friend therapy and some girls-week-out adventure!)

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

Have a wonderful time

with your families today...