It's Okay to Not Be Okay

This has been a very up and down weekend for me…more down than up, but I’ll be okay eventually. There are a lot of things swirling around my head these days, but the main thing is that I miss my sister Mary.

I’ve debated back and forth with myself and wondered if I should just try to keep stuff like this off my blog and just work it through using my journal, but I feel the need to speak up here. I want to be transparent and not hide it. If nothing else, I want to show that it’s okay to not be okay. I find that denial is not helpful for me. This is real life. 

I will get through this grief, but I know that it has changed me. I have gone through grief before and I know from experience that it’s never a straight line. It just takes its own path. I know that I will get through this eventually, but right now I just wish that my sister were still in this world. It's been two and a half months, and even though I know that she passed away, sometimes I still can't wrap my mind around it. Sometimes I think that I'm processing my grief okay, but sometimes I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. It's hard...incredibly hard. 

I will learn to live with it eventually, but I will miss her forever…

Peace

Today has been a back and forth day for me. In some moments, I have thought of my sister and smiled, as I remembered her or a time that we shared together. In some moments, I have struggled and it seems that this struggle has intensified as the afternoon has blended into evening and now into night. Usually it's worse for me in the morning. In those first few seconds after I wake up, I often for a couple of seconds, think that perhaps it has all been a bad dream that my sister has passed away. However, reality very quickly sets in and I feel the weight of her passing.

I've been through grief before in my life...my father, my mother and my brother, however, it's like falling back down a hill now. I have evidence from past experience that I have gone through grief and emerged out of the other side...changed just a little, but I have survived. However, I'm starting back at square one again and I can't remember how I got through it before. I guess it's not something that you remember how to do, you just do it with time. All that I remember from times before is that it was hard...very hard.

I am giving myself the chance to feel how I feel because I know that that is the process. I am trying to accept that my sister is at peace now and I am grateful for that.

Peace...

I guess I do remember something from previous times. It's a process of second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day.

Flowers For My Sister

Flowers for my sister Mary...

I will miss you forever, but I know that you will be with me...be with the family always. Thank you for your love, advice, kindness, protection, guidance, example, sacrifice and SO MUCH MORE.

Thank you for all that you taught me and for lighting the way for me as I grew up, all the way from when I was a baby into my adulthood. You were always there, a constant in my life, and I feel a void right now. However, I know that you're not physically here, but you're always with me.

You planted a seed in my life and it continues to grow and it will continue to flourish within me for the rest of my life. I am who I am because of you my sweet sister and I will be forever grateful that you are my sister and that we've had the blessing of experiencing this life together.

I love books and flowers and interesting new food and eclectic things and exploring new places and beautiful things because of you. You gave me a curiosity about life and opened my eyes to so much. I love the beach because I've spent so many times walking on beaches with you, feeling the wind in our face and the sand beneath our bare feet.

Thank you Mary for being such a great big sister, a second mother and my everything. I know that you will be with me with every step that I take, with every tear that I will shed, and you'll be with me in every great moment that I will experience for the rest of my life. I will carry you with me in my heart forever Sis. Until we meet again...

Thank you for everything.

I love you ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Rest in peace 🙏🏽

My Sister Mary

I took this photo back in January while I was on a messenger video call with my sister Mary. She stepped outside into the front yard and these tree branches were above her head. I took a screenshot as she lined up the shot. We talked a lot in this way across the 4,200 miles that separated us, but when we talked like this it felt like I was right there with her. I'm glad that we had those talks. I will never forget them.

Our big sister Mary…as my brother Walter said on Facebook…got her wings on Friday. Our hearts are broken because we miss her, but as he mentioned, we have many wonderful memories of her to last throughout our lifetime.

Mary was a daughter, a big sister and an auntie to many and she was a nurse. One of my nieces affectionately called her “Nurse” and it brought Mary great delight because that was who she was…a nurturer always and that is one of the many things that I will remember about her. She was a big sister to William (she is reunited with him and our parents now), Annie, Grace, Geraldine, Walter, and me. As an auntie to our many nieces and nephews, she was their ride to school, nurse, friend and SO much more.

For me, Mary was like a second mother. I can trace so much of who I am today to all that she shared with me as I grew up. When my daddy passed away, I was only twelve. Mary was quite a few years older than me and without missing a beat, she stepped up to stand beside my mom to help raise me. She and Mama together made sure that I had what I needed. Even though my heart is broken, I take some comfort in knowing that I had the chance to thank her for what she did for me while she was still here. Mary, like all of my older brothers and sisters, had a great effect upon me as I watched them all in order to learn how to live.

Mary’s example made me love books…I would see her reading when I was little, and I know that that made me want to be like her and I thank her for that. Mary gave me my first taste of pizza, eclairs, fancy pastry and so many other foods. She was an adventurous eater and that was something that we shared. Mary was my cultural events buddy. One of the highlights was seeing the Alvin Ailey Dance Company with her and my mom one summer evening about sixteen year ago. She also made it possible for the teenage me to see Luther Vandross perform from the 3^rd row!!!

Due to the coronavirus, I am not able to go home to be with my family right now and it breaks my heart just that bit more. These times are sad for many who have lost loved ones and cannot mourn them as usual. My sister did not have coronavirus, but I can relate to what many are going through at this time in the history of the world. It’s hard…so very hard.

When I think back on the time that we shared, I realize that a great many of the things that I love now are because she planted the seed in me since the day I was born. I can never thank her enough for her guidance and love throughout my life. I will miss her as all of my family and our friends will. She is not physically here anymore, but the love and memories of her will go on forever.

Thank you Mary, we love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 🍽

This is the holiday that I love most because it reminds me of home and it holds great memories for me.  I remember the delicious smells coming from the kitchen as my mother cooked a wonderful feast. She would be humming or listening to music as she cooked. Further back when I was little and my father was alive, I remember him saying grace before we ate. I remember my sisters and brothers being joyful that it was finally time to eat 😁 Through the years as everyone grew up, the traditions shifted from one house to another, but we were together and the love was there.

So as I have Thanksgiving dinner with my husband here in England, 4,200 miles away from home, I'll carry on the traditions that I learned from my parents and keep their memories alive as I do everyday. And through the wonders of technology I'll check in with my siblings today and have some laughs and it'll be like old times in a way 🙂

Gratitude, family, friends and sharing food...the joys of life 🙂💖

Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🙂

Happy Thanksgiving

❤

A Friday Photo and An Iron Rooster

Today's Friday photo is from November 2012 and as you can see it's a rooster. I was playing with the evening shadow on the wall when I snapped the photo :-) This is my iron rooster that I've had for a few years now. I saw it at an outlet store and it was very inexpensive so I had to have it.

I think that I liked it so much because it reminded me of the vintage irons that we had around the house when I was growing up. They were made of solid iron and had been my grandmother and great grandmother's. By the time that I came along they weren't used for ironing clothes anymore, but they were held onto because they were a part of the family history. They had been used way way back in the day of course to iron and were heated instead of being plugged in like irons nowadays.

Whenever I would see the old irons they would remind me of my relatives who came before me. The vintage irons were grounding to me and connected me to my history. So I guess that when I picked up my iron rooster in the store and felt the weight of it, it instantly brought the vintage irons to mind. It's something found in the now that through memory connects me to the past :-)

Have a great weekend wherever you are!

Blue Plates and Memories

Hello again :-)

In my previous post, I blogged about my love of blue. If you'd like to take a look, it can be found here. In my post I talked about how I'm seemingly drawn to things that are blue and often it's not a conscious thing.

Last night I couldn't sleep, so I occupied myself with the thoughts running through my mind. All of a sudden I thought of something that I left out of my blue post. That's the beauty of blogging though...a new day is an opportunity to write a new post ;-)

Here's my other favorite blue thing that I forgot...my pretty blue plates. When I bought them a while back, the label on the back called them Chateau Blue. They're sort of Wedgwood-esque....very sort of, but I like them. Maybe one day I'll have the real thing, but if not these will definitely do :-)
 

I love that the plates have a vintage look to them and they cost very little. I got them at an outlet store. You know I love a bargain!

These plates remind me of back home. Even though these plates don't look exactly like the dishes that I remember from my growing up years, they take me back to that time anyway. They remind me of my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins all sitting around having Sunday dinner. They remind me of this post that I wrote a few years ago now, about going back home and finding some vintage glasses. You can read that post here.

With Easter coming up this weekend I'm very reminded of those Sunday dinners, especially the ones on Easter Sunday. Everyone got together and we were all dressed nicely for lunch/dinner after church. After we'd finished eating, we'd go outside and sit on the big front porch and enjoy the warm breeze as the conversation went back and forth. I was little, so I didn't say much. I would just sit and listen to the grown-ups talk. It was comforting and lovely. The dogwoods and spirea would be in full bloom in the yard and often I'd go out and make a tiny bouquet to bring back to my mom or my aunts. Or sometimes I'd just sit on the steps and make little flower wreaths totally lost in my own thoughts with the grown-ups talking in the background. It was comforting to have that tradition in my life as a child. Those memories are what ground a great part of my identity to this day :-)

So these plates give me two special feelings. They give me my lovely dose of blue...my favorite color and they also open up the memory place in my mind. Not bad for some simple little blue plates.

However you're spending this Easter weekend, I hope that it's wonderful :-)

*My usual Friday Photo post will be back next Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year Brit Boy is taking the actual day off so we won't have to celebrate it before or after the day. That makes me very happy! I am grateful everyday, but it's just really nice to celebrate collectively along with others back home :-)

I'm looking forward to Skyping with my family and having some good laughs together! That's always fun!

I wish a wonderful holiday to all who are celebrating!!!

Books and Cookies and Drinks...Oh My!

It has been a fun time around the Yellow House these past few days...fun because I've had a couple of packages delivered to my door. The first one came a few days ago and it held my reading material for my new school year that begins at the end of September. I have about thirty books to read along with any other textbooks that may arrive. It's a lot of reading, but I love reading and I'm up for the challenge!

As you might be able to see from the pic, there are some children's books included in the pile. That's because one of my courses is a course called Children's Literature. The subject can sound a bit deceiving and maybe conjure up thoughts of this being an easy course...but no way! I've heard that this course is just as challenging as any literature course and I think it takes a lot of skill to write for children and teens. So I'm really looking forward to this course. I've read some of the books years and years ago, but it will be interesting to read them from my adult perspective now. And some of the books are new to me, so it promises to be intriguing! I'll share my thoughts on the various books as the year progresses. Also, incorporated into the pile are my other books for my other course. It's a wide-ranging reading list and I'm trying to get a bit of a headstart on the reading so that when they come up during the year, I won't be so rushed. One more note, I know this box looks big even for this amount of books, but there was another bigger item in the box that took up lots of space. So no waste there :-)

My other package arrived today and I don't have a photo because I forgot. Lol. Anyway, it was a standard puffy envelope chocked full of home goodies from my niece. This was my favorite package of the two because it's a bit of home. My niece lives in California and even though she's my niece, she has always felt like more of a cousin. We are not that far removed in age and we have a lot of shared memories. Whenever I remember something from pop culture from back in the day, I just send her a quick message and we'll laugh because she knows 95% of mostly everything I remember. It's nice to hold memories with someone else that knew you when you were so young. She is a good friend :-) She sent me some cookies and drink mixes and I'm so grateful. She could have sent a pouch full of California dirt and I would still be happy...in the end it's the connection that matters!

So it's been a package-filled time around the Yellow House and the weather has greatly improved over the last few days. Instead of continuous rain for weeks on end, we finally have some sun! I can't believe that the opening ceremony of the Olympics is tomorrow. Time is going so fast! I'm gonna have to start thinking about what to pack for our trip to London next week. I'm getting really excited to take it all in and as I've mentioned before, I'll be sharing some photos.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me!

Salad Talk

I got up this morning with the thought that I wanted to start the new month off right with a new post on my blog. The trouble was that I couldn’t think of anything to talk about. LOL. I have some thoughts about future posts, but those thoughts haven’t gelled fully in order for me to write about those things. So I just decided to let it go, because I knew that something would pop into my head even if it is just one of my random posts. Fortunately, my inspiration came in the form of lunch!

This is the salad that I had for lunch and it was SO tasty!

Every since I’ve been having to study so much each day for school, I have sometimes ended up skipping lunch or eating whatever is around. But that way I ended up either starving or sick from eating something weird. Lol. So over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to make a better effort at making lunch for myself. I always eat breakfast, usually cereal or oatmeal, and then I make a decent dinner for me and Brit Boy, but I was neglecting lunch. I knew that I had to do better when I found myself eating dinner like a cavewoman because I was famished. Lol. It was not pretty. So I decided to rescue my poor stomach and make a more regular lunch for myself. You’ll be happy to know that I’ve learned my lesson! It’s all good now. I’m remembering how I was raised ;-)

You know I love blogging about food, so I’ll share what it consisted of.

My ingredients: mixed lettuce, scallions/spring onions, a few chunks of cheddar cheese, and some beets on the side. I splashed it with a little bit of vinaigrette dressing after I took the photo.

This whole salad talk has got me to thinking about a conversation that I had with my sister on Skype the other day. We were talking about our love of salads and she said that she could eat salad everyday if she had to. She knows how to lay out a salad! We’re gonna have to have a nice salad together on my next visit home :-)

I will say this...I could definitely eat a salad just like the one I had today several times a week. I do like this lunch thing...I wonder what I can have tomorrow????

Until next time...

Christmas Card Traditions

I've been up for a while today...way too early for a Sunday morning, but I guess that I'm awake early for a reason. Perhaps just so I could get this post in ;-) Anyway, it's been a pretty good weekend so far. Yesterday we went into town for a few things and to mail off some Christmas cards.

In the photo above: These are the airmail decals that I have to place on the letters along with the regular stamp. I didn't send this many cards...lol. I just have a bulk of these that I got for free at the post office a long time ago. Enough to last a lifetime probably ;-)

I love sending Christmas cards to people, especially in this age of e-cards and other techie ways to keep in touch. Don't get me wrong. I send e-cards and do all of the social networking things to keep in touch too, but I think that it's cool to at least try it the traditional way once a year. International postage isn't cheap, but I try to plan ahead to have the money available. And it isn't an amount that will break the bank anyway :-) I look at the postage as another Christmas gift on my list and it is chopped up and spread to several people instead of just one. This is the only time of the year when I get to send cards to my friends and family back home, so I truly relish it. It's a win win in my book!

My mom used to love to send Christmas cards and she did right up until her last Christmas. I would usually be drafted in to write quite a few of them out for her and I got hand cramps, but I knew it was important to her. It was a tradition. She didn't send a tremendous amount of them out, but she had a nice little list of core people that she had known for decades and she made sure to send a card every year. Interestingly, when I was helping her to write out her Christmas cards leading up to her last Christmas, I thought to myself that the list was dwindling so much in the last few years. I thought about how I had known some of those people for most of my life and how quickly life goes, so indeed we must relish every day. And I remember thinking how it wasn’t all sad because we were so lucky to have known those good people. Life is a joy despite everything, because of the people that we have the pleasure to know on this journey :-)

I know that I probably remember that Christmas very vividly because it was indeed my last Christmas with my mom. Otherwise those thoughts that I had while writing those cards probably would have evaporated from my memory. It is six years ago now and I’ll never forget that December and I’ll never forget the lesson about connection that my mom taught me by example.

I know that sending Christmas cards isn't everyone's thing and I'm not trying to convert anybody ;-) I just thought that I'd share a little piece of my memories and if nothing else, you get to see my airmail decal stash. Lol.

So even though I’m 4,000 miles away, I value the connections that I have and I know that making the effort is all worth it because I wouldn’t miss knowing these good people for anything in the world! :-)

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Happy Thanksgiving

All the best and...

On the Eve of Thanksgiving

Today is a good day at the Yellow House. As many of you know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the USA and even though I’ve been living here for five and a half years, the tradition is still very much celebrated in this little house. Brit Boy loves the holiday too, and has always been a very willing participant in the celebration. So it is nice to share this holiday with him and embrace the gratitude and connection of the day together.

We’re actually going to celebrate on Friday because Brit Boy won’t have the day off on the actual Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, since the day isn’t celebrated here of course. He is having the day off on Friday so we can have a long weekend together though. So that will be nice. It’s going to be great no matter what day!

My thoughts are all over the place today, but in a good way. I’m having a hybrid of memory and new traditions going through my mind. Today I’m remembering the last Thanksgiving that my siblings and I had with my mom six years ago. And in the spirit of gratitude, I’m so grateful that we were able to be together like that, with her sitting at the head of the table at my sister’s house and giving us that beautiful smile of hers. I remember a lot of Thanksgivings fondly, but that one stands out to me more than any of them and it will stay with me forever. She was happy and that is the way I remember her. She loved the holiday season, so Thanksgiving and Christmas were her times. Right after Thanksgiving she would pull out her Christmas music and sing her way around the kitchen all the way up until Christmas. It’s interesting when you look back at a person in all of their glory and you really ‘see’ them. I realize now that besides all that she taught me in being my mother, she also taught me a lot about being a human being. My mother didn’t have the easiest life by any stretch of the imagination, but she had the greatest joy for life and she lived in the moment. I loved that about her...

Later this evening, Brit Boy and I are heading to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. I’m making some of the standard traditional dishes that I grew up with, but I’m going to attempt to make a new dessert. I know that lots of people make pumpkin pies, but in our house it was always sweet potato pies. That's what I love though...there are traditional foods that we all share in common on that day and then there are regional variations. Variety and tradition living side by side is a beautiful thing. I’m still going to make regular sweet potato pie, but I’m going to try this recipe that I found for these mini pies with a cream cheese type topping. They looked good when I saw them on the Food Network last year, so I’m gonna give it a whirl. Wish me luck! ;-) If I go ahead with trying it, I’ll share how they turned out...for better or worse. Also, it’s usually a customary challenge to find substitutions for some ingredients here. But after these past few years, it’s become a standard part of my life, so it’s kind of like a game now. Lol. It should be fun! I embrace the challenge!

Tomorrow I will get my dessert making done so that I won’t have that to on Friday. And hopefully if I get it all planned out right, I’ll be able to check in by Skype with my niece and have some laughs. We did this last year and it was fun to have virtual back home Thanksgiving. I got the chance to check out their food and it was a good time. My niece is twenty-one, but you would think that we grew up together because we laugh at the same stuff and have a good time on Skype. So I’m looking forward to that with my sisters in the background :-)

It’s getting very thankful around here and I’m looking forward to it all! I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everybody out there who celebrates the holiday and a great Thursday tomorrow to one and all!

A Glorious Day

(Photo courtesy of NASA)

I wanted to wish a HAPPY EARTH DAY to everyone! My heart sings with love for this beautiful planet that we call home :-)

And I can certainly not forget Good Friday and all that it conjures up for me. This Easter season immediately reminds me of my days growing up back in Georgia. Easter was always one of my very favorite times of the year and it always brings feelings of renewal to my mind. When I was a child, we would prepare an Easter program at church and it was a glorious tradition. All of us kids would participate by singing and/or reciting what we called Easter speeches. The Easter speeches were poetic pieces that we learned by heart and recited to the congregation and our proud parents. I look back now and realize how lucky we all were to be able to have that sense of community. Those times live now only in my memories, but I'm glad that they're mine forever :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Memories Through Cornbread

It’s been a while since I did a cooking post, so it just seemed like a good idea for today’s post, since I need to get back into the blogging hot tub. I don’t love to cook, but I like it pretty well and hey, we've all gotta eat don’t we? For those times when I don’t want to cook, a frozen dinner is my best friend ;-)

There are times when I like cooking and times when I loathe it. It’s all about balance ;-) In those times of enjoyment, the thing that pulls me in is the chance to be creative, so that aspect is right up my alley.

I truly enjoy watching cooking shows, especially Barefoot Contessa. Her food inspires me to want to cook EVERYTHING and do it well. Her variety of dishes that she cooks always inspires me to try something new and I’ve learned lots of cooking techniques from her, so I love me some Contessa :-) And as a fellow Georgia girl, I love to watch Paula Deen when I’m back home visiting. I can see the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network over here, but they don’t show Paula Deen here. So that’s where the website comes in handy. Anyway, that’s enough of my TV favorites for today. Pardon my detour ;-)

So this past weekend I cooked cornbread muffins…well actually cheese cornbread muffins. I had a taste for some. I’m not a really big fan of cornbread or any bread really, but sometimes I get the taste for it. It usually coincides with me thinking about home or back to the times when my parents were still alive. When I was growing up, my mom made cornbread everyday and I used to love to watch her make it. The memories that I have of watching her make cornbread stick firmly in my mind. I don’t know why. I guess it’s the everyday normal things that you may take for granted at the time, but when you look back, those are the things that are burned into your memory forever. As time goes by I realize that memories are TRULY the beautiful things in life :-) The simplest, beautiful things…

Over the Christmas holidays, I received a package from my sisters and I had mentioned to them when we were Skyping once that I couldn’t get cornmeal very readily where I live. So I’d asked them to send me a small bag if they could. Well, in the Christmas package there was the cornmeal…just like my mom used to use :-) The sight of the bag instantly filled me with nostalgia. Here it is:



Yeah, I took a picture of the bag of cornmeal…it’s an expat thing. LOL. Anyway, I made some cheese cornbread muffins and they turned out pretty good. My mom was strictly old school though…she just made straight cornbread and hers was great, but I love to play around with a recipe from time to time.



I’ve been nibbling on these muffins all week and yesterday I crumbled some up in a bowl of soup…mmmmmm. Now that was good! Next time I may try putting some other flavor in there to see how it turns out. See, it’s that creativity thing again ;-)

I realized the other day how much I used to love posting about my culinary creations in the earlier days of this blog and I realized that I don’t do that much anymore. Well that will definitely be a returning feature here. I’m no chef or even a really great cook, but I just love mixing stuff up and seeing what happens. And also I love photographing things…and that includes food, so I hope you’ll come back and see what I cook next :-)

Until next time…

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I wanted to wish everyone who celebrates, a Merry Christmas! :-) It's Christmas Eve as I write this and I have to say that I really adore this day. There's a glow that bounces off of everything. You can enjoy the comfort and festive atmosphere of the holiday and still have Christmas Day to look forward to.

I have a few photos to share that I've taken over the last few days. They're of the view out of one of our windows. Here's a little Christmas greeting from us at the Yellow House.




And I just wanted to share this one below because the lights came out looking squiggly and funny and I like weird things...lol ;-)




And finally, here's a view from the other day when we had some snow. I thought that it looked like somebody had put whipped cream on everything with the way that the snow was hanging everywhere.



We got a few treats from home in the mail yesterday, courtesy of my family. Some things I haven't opened, but this was out in the open and we've been enjoying them very much indeed. I LOVE these candies! They're peppermint nougat and having this taste from home is so wonderful! Brit Boy tasted them for the first time and he likes them too. So we're quite pepperminty around here...lol.




I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and that you're able to enjoy some time with the ones you love. Until next time...all the best! :-)

More Photos Of Home

Today I wanted to share the last of my reflections and photos from my trip back home. There's a bit of this and that in this post :-) I had a wonderful time. It was good to touch base with where I come from. I saw things with fresh eyes in some ways and yet the familiarity was still there :-)

Early in my trip, we visited our old home place where we grew up and did some looking around. I hadn’t been inside for quite a few years. When Brit Boy and I visited in the fall of last year, we didn’t go inside. We just walked around the land. So this time I got the chance to go inside and boy did the memories come flooding back. The house has been cleared out and things are being stored for now. The bulk of the furniture hadn’t left the house in 100 years and I’m not even exaggerating :-) There has been a LOT of family history in that house, from well before me and my siblings were born. So for me, the energy of the past was palpable. I felt it very strongly. It was strange to see the outlines of furniture from long times past and not see the actual pieces in their usual place. The familiar pieces were there no more. It was a strange feeling, but not in a bad way. I just felt very peaceful, because I know that this part of the story has wound down, but I know that a new chapter is waiting :-) I’ve always been a family historian of sorts, so the way I see it, it ain’t over ;-) The story continues…

When we were walking around and picking up a few final things, I noticed some smoky looking glasses on top of a cupboard…way in the back corner, that had been left behind. I asked my nephew to use his long arms to retrieve them for me. They are so lovely and haven’t been used in forever and a day. I felt like I found buried treasure when I spotted them and at that moment actual buried treasure would’ve paled in comparison :-) There were quite a few, but these are representative of the set. Here they are:

At first glance I thought that they were naturally this color, but then I quickly realized that they were just grimy from sitting there for so many years unnoticed. I cleaned them up before I stored them, but here’s the thing…I got so excited in the process of cleaning them…(you should’ve seen me)…that I forgot to take a photo of them all sparkly clean and beautiful. So please use your imagination here…they turned out lovely and as people often say, they don’t make things like this anymore :-)

On one of our roadtrips, I caught sight of this pretty little church in a small town called Eatonton, which is the hometown of author Alice Walker, who wrote “The Color Purple” .



On another day, my sisters, niece, and I went for a picnic at the reservoir and I saw these two sitting on the shore.



The white duck reminds me of my pet duck that I had many years ago. My duck was like a guard dog and quacked loudly whenever anyone came into the yard, yet he was very quiet otherwise. LOL. Here are a few photos of the reservoir. It was a wonderfully peaceful day out.



The time spent back home was renewing. I’m so glad that I went and I was able to take you all along with me.

You can go home again and I did that indeed! :-)

My Trip So Far - In Pictures

I'm really enjoying my time back home in Georgia. It's been hot, but I'm really enjoying the weather anyway. Reminds me of my summers growing up here :-) Here's the view out of my window at my sister's house. I love looking out at all of that green! This is a clump of spanish moss that my other sister brought home from Savannah. We were wondering if it would take root and grow since we live further north. Well, as you can see it's still thriving and it has been at least a decade or more since it was brought here. I love experiments that work ;-) This is a plant that is native to the region and it is called butterfly root . It grows wild around here. According to one of my sisters, our grandmother used to make a tea out of this back in the day for medicinal purposes. I just love the pretty orange flower. This is my sister's birdhouse. The photo came out a little washed out, but you get the idea. My sister LOVES birdhouses. I think that's cool. If I were a bird, I'd love to drop in here from time to time :-) This is a photo that I took yesterday. I just love looking up through the canopy of leaves. The sun was making its presence known. Now, I'm heading out to take more photos and enjoy the day. I hope you have a great day wherever you are! Until next time...

Our Evening With A Cat

Today I’m in a much better state of mind since my last post. Calling out my frustration in my previous post was therapeutic. I had a good weekend and put all of that holiday drama behind me ;-) Thanks everyone for your comments and support. It meant so much to me :-)

Anyway…on with the show as they say….and it’s apt here because this post is about our trip to the theatre on December 23rd. It was truly wonderful! :-)

I love going to see plays and musicals and Brit Boy likes going along with me too. We both love an outing somewhere :-) I found out quite a few months ago about the Debbie Allen directed production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof coming to the West End after a highly successful run on Broadway. I did a happy dance when I found out. You should’ve seen me…lol. I told Brit Boy about it and we got tickets and then held onto them for a few months. Finally December 23rd arrived and off to London we went!

We took the train into Paddington Station and then took the tube to Covent Garden. We had left ourselves a bit of a cushion with the time, so there was an opportunity to get a bite to eat. We were starved. We dropped into a small shop and got drinks and sandwiches. Then we stood along The Strand right outside the tiny store and ate as we people watched. Everyone was bustling around on the eve of Christmas Eve with an air of expectation.

After we ate, we walked to the Novello Theatre. The theatre is beautiful and the perfect size…not too big, not too small. We got really lucky and had seats at the center of the seventh row. Just close enough, but not too close :-) We saw a matinee performance and it was truly thrilling.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a production directed by Debbie Allen. Many of you will probably remember her as the dance teacher Lydia Grant in the television show Fame. I used to really want to go to that high school when I was a teenager :-)

Anyway, Debbie Allen is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning director and her expertise definitely shows onstage. Her skill is ever so evident in this sumptuous production. She has taken this true American classic by Tennessee Williams that was made legend in the movie version starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, and shown how universal the themes of family are as she presents this new cast. It was a beautifully true revelation.


Photo Credit: Jeff Fasano ; left to right, Rashad, Lester, Lathan, Jones

This production stars the truly legendary James Earl Jones as Big Daddy and the elegant Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama. It was indeed such a treat to see two Tony Award winners on stage together in Mr. Jones and Ms. Rashad.

James Earl Jones’ voice is amazing to hear in person and his rich baritone is just thrilling to the ear as he beautifully enunciates every word. I wanted to pinch myself. I couldn’t believe that I was seeing this truly great actor right before my eyes. Mr. Jones totally inhabits the role of Big Daddy. He is exquisite. We seem to throw around that word legend a lot these days, but on December 23rd, I saw one before my eyes :-)

Phylicia Rashad is wonderful as Big Mama too. She is Debbie Allen’s sister and is affectionately remembered for her role as Clair Huxtable in the classic sitcom The Cosby Show. I was so excited to see her too. She was the epitome of elegance and class as Clair Huxtable and the way she carried herself made such an impression upon me when I was in my formative years. I loved watching her on my TV screen each week back then. The Cosby Show was a truly landmark show.

Her depiction of Big Mama in the play reminded me so much of the elder women in my family. Her portrayal reminded me a lot of my mother and aunts. They were women who dressed up as we got together for traditional Sunday dinners back in Georgia and then they would sit on the front porch and fan themselves and talk :-) They’ve all passed on now, but their imprint is still in my mind and will never leave. Those are some of my best memories of growing up. So I thank Ms. Rashad for giving me a great gift. She is a wonderful actress.

One of the other leads is portrayed by Adrian Lester, who plays Brick, the son. Lester does a fine job in this role. I applaud his agility because he spends the whole play hobbling around with a cast on his leg. He is a fine actor.

The final lead is played by Sanaa Lathan. She plays Maggie, ‘The Cat’, Brick's wife, and gives a beautifully sultry performance in this role made famous by Elizabeth Taylor in the movie version. She earned my respect early on because most of the entire first act is her talking to Brick and he says very little. And I’m thinking to myself, how in the world does she remember all of that dialogue and it is said at such a quick pace???? She’s fabulous in this role and truly luminous.

So I guess that I don’t need to tell you all that I was on cloud nine the whole time. LOL. It was a fabulous way to spend an afternoon into evening with my Brit Boy. We both walked out of there with a smile on our faces as we walked out into the night.

After the show, we walked over a couple of blocks in search of food. The angels were on our side because we found a wonderful restaurant called Sophie’s. The food was delicious and the service was quick. The ambience was perfect. It was lit by candle light and the electric lights were soft and not overly harsh and yet you could still see where you were walking.

Brit Boy had soup for his appetizer and I had a house salad. Then for dinner we both had steak and fries. Very yummy!!! :-) It hit the spot. We don’t eat red meat a whole lot, so it was a great treat. I told Brit Boy that that was Christmas to me…just chilling and enjoying each other’s company. Brit Boy’s a fun date ;-)

So after our dinner, we wrapped back up and headed for the tube. We got to Paddington Station and waited for our train. Then we were carried off across the snowy landscape…back to Wiltshire… :-) I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride!