A dozen years of Dagny

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Our dolly-belle Dagny is twelve years old. Can you believe?

Her birthday fell in mid-June, and naturally we celebrated with two parties.

The first event took place on the Friday evening before her Sunday birthday.

TG and I, Audrey, Dagny, Erica, Rhett, and Elliot gathered at the Mexican restaurant of the birthday girl's choosing, for a festive dinner.

Mike and Chad weren't able to come but they got in on phase two of the partying, the next day at our house.

It's not a birthday party without a balloon

Dagny chose a restaurant named El Jimador. It's a chain outfit but the food is good.

Last January we gathered at El Jimador for TG's birthday, right before the snowstorm. Since there are several of these places around town, I thought we were going to the same one as before.

It’s the one closest to my house.

But Audrey specified that Dagny wanted to go to another location, so we all showed up there. It was a stifling hot evening.

(A harbinger of the especially sweltering summer we have had and are having.)

The servers sang to her

Only, it was a busy night and it was going to be a while before we could get a table where we could be seated together.

But the night was young, so it was decided that we'd all get back into our cars and drive several miles to another El Jimador.

There was some dithering about which one, but eventually we got it sorted out.

Or so we thought.

Except, when TG and I and Audrey and Dagny had arrived at said El Jimador and were seated, there was no sign of Erica and the boys.

The next week, the Chericas were in Philadelphia

We have that thing on our phones where we can check on where one another are in the world, so whoever has the ability to track Erica (not me), looked her up.

She was at the El Jimador where we'd eaten for TG's birthday in January.

Which was not the one that the rest of us were at.

But she had realized her error as soon as she got there and saw that the rest of us weren't there.

She was even then en route to the third El Jimador she would grace that day, and pretty soon she'd arrived and we were ordering.

Mount Vernon is in the distance

We enjoyed a delicious meal.

This is the kind of place where, if they know you're observing a birthday, they show up with a complimentary dessert, and the requisite communal sombrero, and they sing to the birthday person.

This may have been why Dagny insisted on celebrating her birthday at El Jimador.

At any rate, no sooner had the child finished her Enchiladas Verdes than she was sporting the sombrero and being serenaded by servers, before tucking into a sumptuous dessert.

She shared with the boys.

The folks at El Jimador did her right

The next day, everyone came over to our house for a swim party.

I don’t remember what we ate for a meal — pizza, maybe — but there was a cheesecake which Erica had made.

And there was a balloon, and there were presents.

In recent months Dagny has become enamored of the old TV show Little House on the Prairie. 

She has already read the books. As I did when I was a child, and my children did when they were kids.

I'd call her Half Pint but she's more like a whole pint

And she’d mentioned more than once to her mother that she loved the aesthetic of the pioneer family — their house, their outfits, and so forth.

Audrey revealed this information to me, and I decided to find a pioneer girl costume for Dagny.

And I did, and it was not difficult to do, and I must tell you that I could not recommend this company any more highly than I am to you now.

It’s called Dress Up America and judging by the depth and breadth of their site, if you want, you can dress as everything from a donut to a doctor.

I found a pioneer girl costume in no time — dress, apron, bonnet — and made the purchase.

Laura Ingalls Wilder would be amazed

When it arrived, I was astounded at the quality of the outfit. And also the way it was packaged.

Just excellent. If you need to dress up as something other than yourself — or dress someone else as someone other than themselves — be smart and visit Dress Up America online.

The next day, which was Dagny’s actual birthday, we had church. 

Afterwards I gave her one last gift which I’d wrapped weeks earlier and forgot about. 

It was this Kobalt mini toolbox, in pink. I also got one of these for Allissa when she graduated from high school in May.

Erica made this confection from scratch

It’s a cute girl gift. Just in case you needed any ideas.

Dagny posed for her OBP — Official Birthday Portrait — and then she and I posed for a picture together.

Then she hopped into the car with TG and me and came to our house, and shortly after that, she and TG were headed to North Carolina.

Dagny would be going to church camp in Knoxville with her Uncle Joel and Aunt Stephanie and her cousins, for the week.

TG had agreed to deliver her to Stephanie’s house on that Sunday. 

She is becoming a young lady

Audrey would travel to Knoxville later in the week to help Brittany with Ember and Guy for a few days.

Then on the following Friday she would pick up Dagny at camp, and the next day come home, bringing Ember and Guy to spend a week with us.

So we had the Tennessee grands for a week, and we packed in lots of fun in the form of swimming and shopping and eating and all the things.

Brittany came to get them at week’s end and spent the night with us. I made a spaghetti supper and we ate it poolside where there had already been much splishin’ and a-splashin’ that day.

Meanwhile the Chericas — that would be Chad, Erica, Rhett and Elliot (Rhelliot) — had packed up early that week and headed for Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Dagny's Official Birthday Photo

They visited Mount Vernon and the Liberty Bell and Gettysburg National Military Park, among many other things, and had a wonderful time.

I was so glad to see everyone when they finally came home.

Speaking of coming home, we had been told a few weeks ago that our Andrew’s tour in the Middle East had been extended to September thirtieth at the very least.

Meaning, it could be extended again if the powers that be deemed it necessary and appropriate.

We were devastated by the news but we decided that we would meet this continued trial with grace and dignity and lots of prayer, plus deep breaths and a one-day-at-a-time attitude.

Dagny and me on her birthday

I actually quoted the Serenity Prayer to my children, in a text: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

We knew that, as wartime trials and tribulations go, many Americans have faced much worse and for far longer.

But a few days ago, our military leadership in that part of the world made the decision to send a group of pilots home.

Andrew will be home next week.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him

We are overjoyed and so grateful. It is an answer to prayer.

Many of you have prayed and I want to thank you yet again for taking the time, and for caring enough, to do that.

We’ll continue in that vein until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Friday :: Happy Weekend

Marsha got married

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My dear friend Marsha was married at the end of May.

The ceremony took place on a Saturday afternoon at Miss Caroline's Wedding Chapel in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

Marsha and I have been friends for several years.

We met when she was the excellent receptionist at my dentist's office.

A beautiful welcome

My dentist has since retired and sold the practice, but I still go there, and so do Audrey and Dagny.

Marsha moved on to a better job and we miss her when we have to go to the dentist.

But as we are good friends, Marsha and I stay in touch and get together as often as we can.

Always on our birthdays! We make a big deal out of one another's birthdays -- mine in March, hers in August.

Such a pretty cake

And so naturally, her wedding to her beloved, Todd, was a big deal to me too.

Her venue for the wedding was so small that she could invite only forty people. TG and I, plus Audrey and Dagny, were honored to be among them.

You will see in some of the photos a pretty chapel, but that’s not where the wedding was held.

That little chapel seats only sixteen! So it is for smaller weddings than Marsha’s.

The wedding started on time

There is a larger building in which Miss Caroline has a showroom for wedding supplies which I assume she rents locally.

And there is also a larger chapel-like room for weddings with up to forty guests.

Maggie Valley is less than a three-hour drive from our house, and the wedding was in the late afternoon.

TG and I left home early and drove without haste, and when we arrived in Maggie Valley, we went for a late lunch/early dinner at a local diner.

In case we got thirsty

When we arrived at the venue, it was less than an hour before the wedding was to begin.

But when I walked in, what did I see but my friend Marsha bustling around (not yet dressed for the wedding), doing some last-minute decorating.

Now, let me explain to you how small was the space that Marsha had available to her, for decorating.

As you walked in the door, to your left was Miss Caroline’s wedding showroom.

There were many precious moments

To your right was Miss Caroline’s larger wedding chapel.

And between the two doors was a space of perhaps fifty square feet, containing a few tables to put things on.

Tiny. And Marsha had decorated that little space within an inch of its life.

Altough there would be no formal reception, there was a wedding cake. There were baskets containing wedding programs and water bottles. 

These gauzy bags contained our bubbles

There was a small easel with a custom-made sign welcoming guests to the wedding of Todd and Marsha.

There was a small lighted “T” and a small lighted “M” beside a Precious Moments bride and groom figurine.

There was a vase of pink roses and a pink alarm clock displaying five o’clock, the time that the wedding was to begin.

There was a large clear acrylic heart, and beside it a bowl of small wooden hearts, with a pen.

Handheld fans with a thanks

Guests were encouraged to write a greeting onto a small heart and place it through an opening at the top of the large clear heart.

There was a bowl of pink and white pearls, and beautiful customized cardboard fans.

There were gift bags for each guest, to take as they left that day.

Miss Caroline, a charming lady, told me later that sometimes they host up to seventeen couples getting married there in one day.

T is for Todd

I was struggling to envision there being enough time in a day, for seventeen weddings to take place, given the amount of time that was made available to Marsha.

She had been permitted to come in at least an hour ahead of her ceremony, to decorate. 

Miss Caroline saw on my face that I did not understand.

The altar was romantic

She explained that ninety-nine percent of her brides do no decorating whatsoever. They show up, go into the dressing area to get ready (unless they are already ready), and, Bob’s your uncle, they’re walking down the aisle for a ten-minute ceremony.

Look away and you may miss it.

But Marsha had requested, and had been granted, extra time to make her wedding special.

The girl loves pink

And it was so sweet to see the way she had planned and had been determined to make that small space so special, and to make their guests feel welcome and appreciated.

The chapel was a small but elegant space, with a lovely altar area and space for forty guests to sit.

TG and I went in and found our seats and in a few minutes, Audrey and Dagny had arrived.

Bride, Groom, and Harley

I saw greeted Dr. F, who was my dentist and Marsha’s employer for years. He is a dear friend of TG’s and mine, and it was so good to see him.

In due time Marsha’s and Todd’s mothers were seated, and Marsha’s father walked her down the aisle.

The officiant — Miss Caroline’s husband — did an excellent job of the charge to the couple, and the vows, and pronouncing them man and wife.

Ready for their short jaunt

Marsha had commissioned (using AI, I think) a song to be played that contained lyrics specific to Todd and Marsha’s story.

They met in Maggie Valley some nine years ago, at some sort of event involving motorcycles.

They both ride, and are Harley Davidson enthusiasts.

The song mentioned their names, and that rainy day in November in Maggie Valley. I could tell that Marsha had kept it a secret, and that Todd was surprised.

They were overjoyed

And then it was over, and they were hitched, and everyone went outside. 

After a brief time of pictures at the altar, during which Marsha wanted poses of herself with each one of her guests (isn’t that precious?), the couple emerged from the building into the parking lot. Everyone was congratulating them.

And there was a specially rented white Harley Davidson, a big one with plenty of room for two riders.

Todd helped Marsha aboard, and they drove off to the rear of the property, and then slowly back, so that we could all take pictures.

I would have liked a piece of this

They didn’t take the machine out onto the road and it was a short ride, but so much fun while it lasted.

We all had bubbles to blow while that was taking place. And we took lots more pictures as it was a beautiful weather day, and there was so much happiness to document.

And then it was time for us to go home, and for the newlyweds to go on their honeymoon in the mountains of East Tennessee.

Can you believe, I have not seen Marsha since that day? Her parents are ailing, and she and Todd go to North Carolina to see them almost every weekend.

It was a happy day

But she owes me a visit, and at the very least I know we will get together to celebrate her birthday in August.

And what wonderful memories we have of Marsha and Todd’s sweet small wedding, and of how the bride’s personality shone through in every detail, revealing her great joy at becoming the wife of the man she loves.

Which she will be until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday

A moist but memorable Memorial Day

Nor shall their story be forgot

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It was the sweetest spring birthday cake

We gathered for our customary Memorial Day feast and birthday party this year, as every other year.

Our Erica has a birthday on May thirtieth but we celebrate it when everyone is here for Memorial Day.

This year was a big one: she turned forty.

The patriotic decorations are in full force

For her gift, I had plotted for many weeks to present her with large portraits of her two children.

Way back in February I invited Rhett, who will turn five in July, to stay with us for two nights. On the first night we took him shopping and bought him a new outfit -- black jeans and a blue shirt that brought out his blue eyes.

We had special napkins and trays

The next evening, we took him to a special property where we have enjoyed many photo shoots over the years.

He posed for an hour or more, and I swore him to secrecy, warning him to please, please not tell his mother than Mamaw and Papaw had taken him somewhere and he'd had to pose for fiftyleven pictures.

It's a surprise for your mom, I told him again and again.

Some of my knockout roses

It was much later when I was finally able to get Elliot a/k/a Skippy, age two and a half, out to the venue to take his pictures.

I'd had him spend a few nights with us too, in March, and TG and I bought him a new outfit ahead of that occasion.

Then, when the time came for his visit, I was under the weather and completely forgot that I'd intended to take him for a photo shoot.

Erica's birthday present

It was fortunate that we had plenty of time. In the end, Chad brought him out to meet us for the shoot on the day in April that Audrey and Erica left for their European trip.

In addition to Skippy's pictures, I took several of the brothers together.

Since this picture, TG has stained the new cedar fence

All of the pictures turned out great and I ordered 30x20 canvases of three of the poses -- one for each boy (the "money shot" in each case, as it were) and one of them both, on a swing.

As Memorial Day approached, I packaged up the pictures and wrapped them in pretty paper for Erica.

Petit fours from Tiffany's

I accompanied the gift by making a photo book of all the best pictures from both shoots, to commemorate them and give her a lasting keepsake that she could enjoy.

In all this activity it did not occur to me that I needed to tell Chad that the product of Skippy's photo shoot was meant to be a secret for Erica's birthday.

The message was clear: you're forty

And so it was that, at some point, he mentioned to her that we had taken Elliot for a photo shoot while she was out of the country.

So, she was really not surprised by the gift and I felt that it did not hit quite right, but maybe that was only my perception.

Some of my potted plants

At any rate they are beautiful portraits of her children and I think that as the boys grow, she will appreciate having them. The pictures, that is. She already cherishes her boys.

As it was for many of you who, like me, live on the Eastern Seaboard, Memorial Day was exceedingly rainy.

We had been working for many weeks on our back yard pool area, to which we have made some improvements.

Candles glowed on the rainy day

We have a new privacy fence and new pool liner, both of which were desperately needed.

TG has spruced up all of my outdoor furniture and it's looking spiffy. We had new pine straw put down behind the two low retaining walls, and we have flowers both in the ground and in planters.

Rhett's portrait

And I'd bought all new pillows for the furniture, and I was looking forward to getting everything set up just right so that the kids and grandkids could admire and enjoy it.

Stephanie and Joel had come from North Carolina on Sunday night, and though we were missing Andrew and Brittany and Ember and Guy, we were still a sizable party.

It's traditionally the first chance the kids have to swim, and despite the weather, they did get to splash around in between spates of steady rain.

Elliot's portrait

I'd planned for TG to grill chicken as well as hot dogs.

To accompany the meat course I'd made barbecue baked beans, tangy slaw, macaroni and cheese, and deviled eggs, and we had a wide variety of chips in single-serving bags, and lots of soda and sparkling water.

Stephanie and Audrey's assignment had been to come up with their sister's birthday cake, and they'd purchased it at Tiffany's, the exellent local bakery that made Audrey's wedding cake. 

This lantern gets used at Christmas too

In addition to the cake, they got an assortment of petit fours. Tiffany's is known for their scrumptious petit fours.

But when it came time to put the food on the grill, it was raining cats and dogs, and TG told me he was not going to be able to prepare the chicken and hot dogs.

Erica with her boys

Which left me in the lurch because I had not accounted for making the chicken in the oven, which takes lots longer. And the hot dogs would have had to be cooked on the stove.

Mike and Audrey saved my bacon by offering to brave the rain under huge golf umbrellas and get the chicken and dogs done on the grill.

Rhelliot 2026

The rain let up a tad bit, and TG got in on the grilling after all, and before long we were sitting down to our Memorial Day repast.

And yes, we took the time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedoms.

It's all about the red, white, and blue

Their sacrifices are not lost on us. We thank God for every last American hero past, present, and future. But those who have died for our country are in a class by themselves.

I hope you are still praying that our Andrew comes home safely, and soon.

As we will do, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Wednesday

She shimmers and she glows

This was the invitation to her graduation party

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Our Allissa graduated from high school on May fifteenth.

She was Valedictorian of her class of nineteen students who graduated from their private Christian school in Hickory, North Carolina.

Click to embiggen

Our Stephanie, Allissa's mother, and I had been planning for many months the design and execution of Allissa's graduation table.

In fact we started talking about it a few years ago.

We went all out on Lissy's table

What this entails is, in the gymnasium after the graduation ceremony, each graduate is provided with an eight-foot table to be decorated with mementoes of the graduate's life and academic career.

It sounds simple but in actuality it has many moving parts and some meticulous planning must take place in order for everything to come together.

The birdcage has held many cards in its day

Naturally we wanted a table that reflected Allissa's tastes and interests, as well as her accomplishments.

The colors she wanted were pastel pink, purple, and yellow. We decided on a few arrangements of balloons that Stephanie ordered from a local vendor. The balloons were tied with silk ribbon in the soft colors and they were so pretty.

So many pictures of our Lissy

Since I'm a devotee of the art form of collage, and also I love fairy lights, I decided that we would curate as many photos of Allissa that we could, representing all stages of her life up to now.

I spent hours working through all of my photos going back many years, and Stephanie provided photos from her personal trove. We had them printed up to use on the display.

Her homecoming crown atop her Crown College t-shirt

Stephanie had purchased a folding screen. I affixed fairiy lights in soft pastel colors to the panels, and we clipped over a hundred pictures of Lissy to the wires, using clear miniature clothespins.

The lights twinkled amongst the photos and the effect was quite charming.

There were custom-made cookies

In addition, we had a pair of 30x20 canvas enlargements from Allissa's two senior photo shoots. We took the pictures on two occasions and in two different ciites: the first in Charlotte, North Carolina, on a bitter cold day in early November, and the second in Lexington, South Carolina, on the day after Thanksgiving, with perfect weather.

I brought my tall easel from home to display one of the pictures, and Stephanie commissioned the creation of a large tabletop easel to hold the second one.

My favorite design was the one with the gold tassel

Beside the table was a music stand which held Allissa's Bible which has large margins, and there were pastel markers, and folks coming by her table were encouraged to turn to their favorite Bible verse and write something to Allissa in the margin beside it.

Her awards and distinctions were on arrayed on the table, for academics, sports, and fine arts, as well as her diploma and her Homecoming Queen crown.

They were missing Melanie, who could not be there

She will be attending The Crown College in Powell, Tennessee, in the fall, and the school's t-shirt was included.

I brought a birdcage that was used for cards at both Erica's and Audrey's weddings, and by the next day it was stuffed with greetings and gifts for Allissa.

Allissa flanked by her grandmothers

There were a few bouquets of flowers, and some custom-made cookies for people to take as a favor.

A friend had made a banner which we affixed to the front of the table, congratulating Allissa and featuring the floral motif that she loves.

With Cousin Dagny, Aunt Audrey, and Uncle Mike

Overall the aesthetic of the table was lovely and so suited to our graduate. 

After the ceremony and in between having our pictures taken with Allissa, we mingled with friends and admired her classmates' tables.

With Aunt Erica, Uncle Chad, and cousins Rhett and Elliot

Our grandson Andrew, Allissa's little bother brother, will graduate with the Class of 2030 four years from now, and Stephanie and I were eager to collect ideas for his table.

You are familiar, I am sure, with the sense of relief that comes with having pulled off the thing you'd worked so hard to make a reality, and also the way you can relax after the grand occasion is at its conclusion.

Some of her awards, and her diploma

We weren't quite finished yet, though. All of the components from Lissy's table had to be packed up and transported to the church fellowship hall (our son-in-law, Joel, is a pastor), where we would be hosting Allissa's graduation party for the church family the next day.

This event had been in the works for some time too, and Stephanie had worked so hard along with some church ladies, to make the party reflect Allissa's personality.

Graduation cupcake bouquet

So it was that the next day, TG and I arrived at the church in the mid-morning and enjoyed a few hours visiting with family members before the guests began dropping by.

Our Audrey, Mike, and Dagny were on hand for the weekend, as well as Chad, Erica, Rhett, and Elliot.

Sweet and pretty, just like our graduate

There were beautiful and plentiful refreshments, and the graduation table had been reassembled, and there was a gift table, and the fairy-lighted collage was there, along with the pretty beribboned balloons.

For the casual meal there were hamburger sliders and chips and salads, plus sushi and deli meats and cheese and crackers and fruit, and so forth. There was punch and sweet tea, and a dessert table laden with cupcakes and other treats.

A refreshing punch

I wish you could have been there.

Joel's mother, Allissa's other grandmother, who was widowed early last year, was there and it had been so long since I had seen her. I have known Debbie for nearly thirty years and I love her, and we enjoy talking to one another and getting caught up, and we were able to have a nice visit before she had to leave for the airport and fly back home.

Everything was elegant

We left for home in the afternoon and were back in our happy place by seven o'clock.

The next morning when my alarm sounded at six o'clock, which is when I normally get up on Sunday, I couldn't move.

One last pose before we go

I fixed it so that I could sleep for another half hour. I dozed and then got up and made coffee.

But when it came time to start getting ready for church, I found that I did not have the energy to follow through. The spirit was willing but the flesh had gone rogue.

It was fancy

I know when I have to rest, and this was one of those times. I rested and reset. I call it a recovery day and the older I get, the more necessary they are.

Our Andrew is still in the Middle East, flying missions in the KC-135 Stratotanker of which he is Aircraft Commander. Please pray for his safety and for the safety of all of our troops.

Allissa loves gold trimmings

Happy news: Melanie is back at home, and doing much better. It's a miracle and an answer to prayer. 

Another grandchild who shimmered and glowed was our Ember, who graduated a few weeks ago from kindergarten. We were not able to be there, but she and Baby Guy will be spending a week with us in a few days, and I plan to take Ember out to lunch and on a shopping trip.

None for me, thanks

I'll share some pictures from that visit when it happens, but until then, enjoy this image of Ember at her ballet recital which took place right around the same time as her graduation.

Summer is underway here in South Carolina, although it is still spring, and for the most part it has been a cool-ish spring. In fact just today, our temperatures topped out at seventy-five. It was so pleasant.

Ember dressed for her ballet recital

We've done lots of things to spruce up the pool area and I'm excited to show you pictures of it, and also to tell you about our soggy Memorial Day, which included a special birthday party for our Erica. All in due time.

Meanwhile, keep on keeping on, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday

It was the best of times

Close-up of the flowers Andrew sent to me

We had a splendid Mother's Day. I hope you did too.

The weather has been perfect of late, and Sunday was no exception.

Naturally we all went to church. Our church has a Mother's Day breakfast each year, during the Sunday School hour.

Antique books and an Eton College bookmark

It was beautifully prepared, and delicious, and we enjoyed every morsel.

Our family elected to not try and do anything special that afternoon, as we'd decided to gather at Erica's house after the evening service.

She'd made individual chocolate mousses, and there was a cheese and cracker tray, and a cake, and assorted hot and cold coffees and other beverages.

Mike took this picture in our church lobby

We girls exchanged gifts. I'd helped Dagny pick out something for her mother, and had wrapped it for her.

I got each of my girls a decorative lantern, and a pretty mirror to layer behind it. I wrapped their gifts in French-themed tote bags.

Erica gave me a farmhouse-inspired solar light to put out in back near the pool, where it will get plenty of sunshine.

Erica gave me this lovely solar light

It has a holder for a flag, and the light illuminates your flag all night.

Audrey brought me a gift bag full of treasures from her recent trip to the United Kingdom.

There were two antique books -- poems by Wordsworth, and a volume of Dickens works, including A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol -- as well as a special bookmark from a bookshop near Windsor Castle.

The peach roses were perfect

Also from Windsor Castle there was a jar of fine-cut marmalade, a crown-inspired key ring, and a soft ornament of a raven brandishing the keys to the Tower of London.

In case you didn't know, the Tower of London must have at least six ravens on site at all times, or the Kingdom will fall.

And you know I love me a raven.

Audrey also included in her gift to me, a set of postage stamps based on characters from Jane Eyre.

With the exception of the Bible, Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time.

A Jane Eyre inspired gift is always a hit with me

The stamps are packaged inside a wonderful folded card with many excerpts from Jane Eyre.

Audrey told me that she didn't go looking for that gift -- although she knows how I feel about Jane Eyre -- but just happened to see it at the till of the bookshop.

And she asked if it were for sale, and was told that certainly it was, and she bought it for me.

Also tucked into my gift bag was a pair of socks bearing the face of the Bard, and this greeting: Hi, I'm William Shakes-Feet.

The Bard's likeness on socks

Everything was so special and heartfelt, and so befitting of Mother's Day.

I was able to talk to Andrew for a little while, on the other side of the world. There is no indication of when he may be coming home.

Even if it were tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough for me.

Stephanie sent me a gift card for coffee, and that will be lots of fun to have and use.

Cards that I will cherish

OK so, you know I'm not a gardener but this year we did some renovations out by the pool, and I enlisted the help of an expert or two, and we put in some flowers.

I have two Knock Out rose bushes planted next to one another. I bought them at a nursery and they were blooming like crazy when we got them situated and well-watered and so forth.

Then every last bloom died, so I deadheaded all of those and now it looks like there may be some new growth coming along. At least I sincerely hope so.

I'm feeling the urge for tea and toast

We also planted some lantana, and agapanthus, and a portulaca, and a water hyssop, and a scabius (pincushion) plant, and some purple phlox.

I have some container plants up near the French doors too, and I'll show you those soon. Lots of coleus and a profusion of double yellow begonia.

But because my rose bushes are bare of roses, I ordered another Knock Out rose from Walmart, the orange glow variety, and it arrived on Saturday.

I planted the pretty light along the fence

It was only twenty dollars and they package those roses for shipping as if they were tiny babies.

TG put it in a big pot for me today and we sat it near the retaining wall and got it all fed and so forth, and I'm enjoying it so much.

And now we are gearing up for Allissa's high school graduation this coming Friday, in North Carolina. 

Then it will be Memorial Day, and the pool will be open, and everyone will come and we'll remember our heroes, and also celebrate Erica's birthday.

My orange glow Knock Out rose

She will turn forty this year.

I have a special gift for her that I hope she will like. I'll show it to you after she has seen it.

And we will keep hoping for all things good, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

Speaking of shadows, you may have noticed that my blog is broken. Comments are not getting through to me, to be approved.

The ravens hold the keys to the kingdom

I have reached out to Squarespace, because that's the platform I have used for my blog for nineteen years.

They have been less than helpful with the problem. It's a long story and I'm not sure what to do but until we get it figured out, don't feel as though you have to comment.

If you do, and I don't see it, there's nothing I can do about that -- but you can always email me from the link provided in the sidebar, if there's something you need for me to know.

But no worries! Worrying is forbidden.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday

Time to take sides

Give it a scrub and cut it in half

There has never been a time in my life when I did not love sweet potatoes.

(It was a done deal, however, when my Mamaw would serve them at her Louisiana Thanksgiving table with marshmallows covering the top of the dish all melty and having been browned for a minute under the broiler.)

Now, there are some things I will not eat. Just a few weeks ago I had a conversation with a friend who asked me to identify a few of those things.

Olives. Avocado. Brussels sprouts. Oysters. Asparagus. Yes I said asparagus and don't come at me. Eels and octopi. Pickled pigs' feet. Sardines (any more; I ate a fair many of them on crackers as a child). Also I don't do things like collard greens and turnip greens and mustard greens and so forth and so on.

And I know that you may love some or all of those things, but that for some people, sweet potatoes would be at the top of that list.

Drizzle and season

Both of our Andrews -- our son, and our grandson -- as small children, have thrown up at the table when asked to eat a bite of sweet potato.

And yes I'm talking about the sweet potato casserole that's served at Thanksgiving and Christmas, loaded with brown sugar and marshmallows.

(Even now, Audrey will only eat sweet potatoes the way I prepare them at Thanksgiving, which is the official Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole recipe.)

(And it is mighty fine, and festive, and all the things, and you should try it.)

But I don't need for my sweet potato to be gussied up with more sweetness; I just love the taste of a sweet potato.

For my money it's got to be kosher salt

So it was that recently I had my consciousness raised to what apparently has become a viral sensation on social media: the baked sweet potato that you cut in half. Before baking.

It was a while before I tried it; to be honest I was skeptical that it could be as good as the way the Instagram cheffluencers made it look and sound.

But a couple of weeks ago I gave in and made them exactly as instructed.

And they were right: a sweet potato done that way really is as good as they say, and better than you've probably ever tasted.

Now, on off chance that you are one of the people in the world (because there are only two kinds: those who love sweet potatoes and those who would rather chew radioactive shards of glass than eat a sweet potato) who love sweet potatoes, listen up.

Now they're ready to turn over

Get you a nice big sweet potato. Clean it with a brush under running water, and dry it with a paper towel. Using a big knife carefully, cut it in half lengthwise.

Prepare a pan with foil (I mean this way there is virtually no cleanup) and then parchment paper (absolutely these must be baked on parchment paper).

For this next part, I place my sweet potato halves directly onto the parchment paper, cut side up.

(There is another method involving placing your two sweet potato halves into a bowl and generously drizzling them with olive oil, then adding a bunch of salt and pepper, and using your hands to coat all the entire surface of each half with the oil and seasoning.)

(I tried this once and it made no difference in the outcome so I don't do that anymore.)

So turn them over already

I drizzle the cut side of the potato halves with the olive oil, then liberally sprinkle each half with kosher salt and a nice amount of milled pepper.

After that, just turn the cut sides down onto the parchment paper. Don't forget that part; you have to turn them upside down so they are lying flat on the parchment paper.

Place your tray into a cold oven. Set the oven to 375 degrees and wait about an hour.

They smell heavenly while they are cooking.

The potatoes are done when they're soft and you find that out by poking them with a fork.

After about an hour, they look like this

At that point, remove your pan and set it on the counter to cool.

Let the potatoes cool for about a half hour before you dig in.

I don't have words to describe the delicious crunch of the outer edges of the sweet potato halves.

And the soft natural sweetness of the inside.

I eat every bit of it, skin and all.

Yes I can eat the whole thing

Do you love sweet potatoes? Have you been drooling throughout this post, vowing to fix you one in just this way, at the first opportunity?

Or do you loathe the very idea of sweet potatoes, to such an extent that you are more likely to ingest fricasseed ferret fingers than to allow a scintilla of sweet potato past your lips, and you only finished reading this post to be polite, although you were gagging?

Tell me about it in the comments. I want to know who is with me on this.

At any rate, no matter where you land on the subject of sweet potatoes, keep your chin up and keep the faith, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday

Turning trash into a treasure

I decorated the front in ransom note style

Back in the winter, when our Melanie was struggling so hard and her family were nearly at the end of their strength, I became aware of something that I could do for her.

And that something was a junk journal.

Fashion magazines are a good source of pretty pictures

I just happened to see a reel on Instagram about this art form and was instantly intrigued.

It seemed so clever, using, as it does, mere scraps of paper and cloth and various other materials, to make something new and interesting.

A background page and smaller stuff on top

Now, what you have to know about Melanie is that she has long had a fascination with paper.

Long before I heard of junk journaling, we'd been saving fliers that came in the mail, and putting them all in one place so that when we saw her, we could take them to her.

Try to see the big picture

She would sit for hours just flipping through her papers and looking at the pictures.

Of particular interest to Melanie for a long time has been logos. As in, when she was in the car with her parents, she would point to signs with logos and vocalize with excitement over recognizing them.

I found an old newspaper clipping with TG's photo

And since lots of junk mail that comes to the house features logos of one kind or another -- from pizza joints to pool services and hamburgers to hardware and grocery stores to grease monkeys -- I figured, why not include those things in Melly's junk journal.

Business cards work well in this project

It was my hope that she would treasure it and keep it near her and never tire of leafing through its pages.

So I began to curate papers and ephemera from all around the house and of course from the mailbox, but I also began keeping a weather eye for papers available in the wider world as I went about my business.

In this layout I used a photo of Stephanie with her babies

I collected -- or kept -- paper menus and missionary cards and receipts and used shopping lists and food labels and magazines and deflated mylar balloons and bits of ribbon and paper doilies and aluminum foil and old letters and envelopes and crossword puzzles (finished ones) and postcards and brochures and ticket stubs and stickers and so much more.

(Apparently some people make a whole hobby out of looking for used shopping lists when they go to the store. I found my first one the other day, wadded up and discarded in the buggy. I nabbed it and it's now in line to be used in a junk journal.)

Ribbon and puffs of tulle give added dimension

You can use old photographs if you don't mind parting with them, or make copies of them and use those, making the journal so much more personal -- almost like a photo album together with mixed media, lending an opportunity to interpret and expand on familiar photos.

Adding text in the form of a Bible verse, or a song lyric, or a meaningful quote, snippet of poetry can greatly enhance any picture of anything in any layout.

Postcards can lend a special flair

I began watching reels about junk journaling, so much so that Instagram adjusted its algorithm to offer me more and more such reels. 

That's how I learned that although there are no rules to junk journaling, there are infinite ways to be creative and original in the execution of your journal.

I stuck some generic Splenda packets onto this page

For example, a junk journal can range from a simple collage-like concept -- just grouping random pictures and words together with no apparent established plan -- to carrying out actual themes.

You can do a junk journal (or a page of one) in all one color, such as yellow and have pictures of bananas and daffodils and bumblebees, or in all one idea, such as fruits or flowers or fun facts or fiddles or fluffy dogs.

Don't throw anything away

The possibilities are truly endless and all you need are a few supplies and some junk.

But then you have to decide the physical form that your journal will take. 

The little envelope contains memorabilia

For the first one I made for Melanie, I chose a thin Moleskine-type journal with a brown cover.

I'm not sure how many pages it had but I'm going to go with about fifty, and if I were doing it again I might glue two pages together and then do the same with the next two pages, and so on, to make the number of pages fewer.

Even bar codes are useful

The reason for that is mainly because when you glue stuff to every single page, the journal can get thick and unwieldy, and even begin to come apart at the binding.

Mine was sturdily constructed with string at the binding instead of staples, so I was in good shape but it did get really thick. Also depending on what type of glue you're using, some of the pages can take a while to dry.

Orient elements in unexpected ways

If they are not allowed to dry properly, they will stick together anyway, but not in a good way.

But once they do dry, they take on that wonderful stiffness that will remind you of the joys of gluing stuff onto pages in grade school. There is nothing like it.

Junk journaling will make you see scraps in a different way

As I went along, I learned about the various things I would need, and/or things I could use that I already had.

These included rubber stamps, a set of small ink pads in radiant colors, some paper punches, watercolors, stickers (including the 3D variety, like stick-on jewels and so forth), string, buttons, rolls of tulle and ribbon, washi tape, a label maker, and a scratch awl.

Stickers come in handy for fill-in

(I had to send TG out to buy me one of those. I'll tell you why in a minute.)

Magazines provide a treasure trove of options for your junk journal.

Paper punches help to change things up

I don't subscribe to a lot of magazines but I do have a few lying around with some great pictures in them.

Sometimes if you don't feel like actually working on the journal itself, you can sit with scissors and cut things out of magazines to use later, while you watch a movie or chat with someone.

Pet meds packaging ... why not?

You have to store your scraps of paper relatively flat, but a big envelope or folder is ideal for that.

Then you have to decide what kind of glue you want to use. 

Paper doilies and crosswords have their place

There are many options: glue stick, tape runner, rubber cement, liquid glue, fabric glue, spray adhesive ... and I am probably forgetting some or don't even know about a bunch or them.

The craftier ones among you will probably already have a favorite.

Go big or go home

I started with Elmer's glue sticks -- the kind you get your kids for their school pencil box. The kind that goes on purple but dries clear is ideal.

The only drawback to that is that if you really get lost in your project and are flying along just going nuts on finishing a page layout, depending on how much stuff you are gluing down, you can go through three glue sticks before you can say jack rabbit.

Deconstruct a few greeting cards

It's not like they are expensive, but it all adds up.

And the point of junk journaling -- or at least much of the point -- is that it mostly uses stuff that costs nothing.

Put some color on the edges of your layout

I do have a few tape runners that I bought from Temu because they were dirt cheap, but I haven't used them yet.

After my stash of glue sticks ran out, I replaced them with small bottles of clear glue.

You can buy packets of vintage-looking ephemera

The downside to that, I have found, is how wet it is. If you don't use just the right (small) amount, your pages will be sticky for days and you'll have to prop them open to dry lest they glom together, and it can hinder your progress if you want to do daily work on one journal.

Once I got started with Melly's journal, I enjoyed it so much that part of me did not want to see the end of that book, but part of me wanted to finish it and get it into her hands.

Hang onto those dry cleaning tickets

I felt a need to connect with her, and to let her know that I was thinking about her every day.

But as the book got thicker and thicker and heavier and heavier, I did become eager to complete it.

Turn it sideways and glue on a crocheted flower

And finally I did, and as this was back during the time when we were having such bad weather, I set it aside to wait for when the book could be delivered to Stephanie, who would take it to Melanie.

Eventually TG traveled to North Carolina to watch one of our grandson Andrew's basketball games, and he took the books to Stephanie.

Use stickers for the front of a tiny book of pages

As I believe I mentioned in this post last week, Melanie has not been able to live at home for the last three months.

Stephanie and Joel have been in constant contact with doctors and care workers and agencies dedicated to helping folks like our Melanie, to find her a place to live until she is stable enough to come back home.

Just pile up the papers and make a book

And although they see her several times a week, she is not able to move back home yet.

So when I made the junk journal for her, I was hoping that she would keep it on her bedside table (she has her own room in the care facility), and take comfort from leafing through it from time to time.

Ads and coupons work well

By the way, while I worked on that first book, Dagny was often with me. She got into the spirit of it and made a junk journal of her own for Melanie. 

So now we are both hooked on this hobby.

Once you've added the pages, trim to fit the cover

In the meanwhile, I found out about a different style of junk journal, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it.

This involves choosing some material to fabricate a proper cover for the journal.

Receipts and food labels are recyclable

I had stopped throwing away those stiff brown padded envelopes that Amazon uses now.

You can cut these open and fashion a piece of the material into a book cover of sorts. The thick paper is ideal for the purpose.

You can layer things any way you like

Once you have your cover and you've folded it in half to form a book shape, all you do is pick out piece after piece after piece of random paper, and stack it all inside the book.

The pieces can be all different sizes, because you're going to trim it all to the size of the cover that you made.

The cover of this flip-top book is a pink box

Once you have just enough pieces of paper stacked up (it's a judgment call and you'll learn as you go how many is too many or how many are too few), you fold everything over once according to how you folded the cover.

This next part has a degree of difficulty and you can hurt yourself or do other damage if you're not careful.

Just stack up the stuff and tie it together

That's because it involves the aforementioned scratch awl.

What you do is, choose a place about a third of the way down inside that crease your formed when you folded the pages inside the homemade cover.

Dagny made this colorful layout

Then you have to use the awl to pierce a hole there. It has to go all the way through, and you have to be careful to hold all of the papers together so they don't get disturbed too much.

Make a second hole. Be careful not to stick the scratch awl into your own finger when you have pushed it through the layers of paper. 

Old greeting card envelopes lend bright hues

It hurts. I happen to know this because I did it. But just once.

Now, when you are doing the final push of awl through paper, you're going to have to have something to push into that is not your hand.

It's like capturing tiny pieces of your life

You can use another stack of papers, or an old pillow that you don't need, or what have you, but you have to be able to push the point of the awl all the way through.

Now you're going to need some string. I used the awl to push the string first through one of the holes, and back up through the other, and then went down and up one more time before tying a knot on the outside.

Food labels are drool-worthy

Et voilá! You have made a book of random pages and papers, and if you don't want to, you don't have to do anything else.

If you want to, you can decorate those pages, but it's optional.

I used some of Henry's papers found in a drawer

You can also decorate the cover that you made, if it's plain. I made one that was plain and needed decorating, and another that was made from a box that had held disposable face towels, and it was fancy enough.

We eventually sent all of the books to Melanie and although Stephanie did report that Melly was glad to get them, I don't know whether she uses them or if she's forgotten them and will reach for them again someday.

Be as abstract as you like

I do know that I am going to make her another one, because for me it is a satisfying craft. It's not hard, and it's fun and rewarding.

Stephanie told me that here lately, Melanie is happiest when she is allowed to have her mother's phone so that she can look through her mom's photos.

She loves and never tires of swiping through pictures of her family.

Corny but cute

There is one picture in particular that was taken last fall just before Melly got so sick, that she goes back to again and again and dwells on with great delight.

It was taken on a Sunday in late October when Audrey and Dagny and Erica and Rhett and Elliot and I were there for the weekend.

After the service on Sunday night, we all posed for a group photo. I think I'll get a print of it framed for Melly, to put in her room so that she can see it all the time.

This is the picture that Melly loves

It was shortly after that visit when Melly got sick and went into a decline that has partially now been helped with the right combination of medicines, but which was terrifying for many weeks.

So many times, I and many others told Stephanie that we wished there was something we could do for them and for Melanie, to help.

Making her a junk journal gave me a sense that I was helping in some way.

I didn't expect to love junk journaling as much as I do

Can you think of someone who might enjoy receiving a junk journal made by you? Or are you pretty sure that this would not be something you would like to do?

Let me know. And let not your heart be troubled, but be strong and of good courage, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Friday :: Happy May

Yes, Virginia, there is a pirate

Before our trip, they took me out for a party

As I mentioned in my post of last week, TG and I went to Charlottesville, Virginia, for my birthday in early March.

Every year I pick a place for my birthday trip that is close enough for a comfortable half-day drive. Even so, Charlottesville was a mite farther away than we usually go.

I found a little stone bearing my initials

But I wanted to see the campus of the University of Virginia, founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson.

It was not at all what I expected. Several years ago we toured the campus of Duke University in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is a campus of breathtaking beauty, set apart from everything around it.

Thomas Jefferson's Rotunda

I pictured the University of Virginia a lot like that.

UVA is interesting, but it is one of those campuses that sprawls throughout a downtown area, its few historic buildings lumped together in a relatively small area.

Sometimes it is polite to point

Or at least that's how it seemed to me.

Thomas Jefferson's Rotunda is without a doubt the most notable structure on campus, and for good reason because it is a stunning example of Neoclassical architecture.

Corinthian columns overlook The Lawn

It was designed by Jefferson himself, modeled after the Pantheon in Rome.

The building stands at the center of what Jefferson named the Academical Village and its famous lawn, which at its time was the core area for scholars attracted to the university.

Lambs symbolize the graves of children

Anyway, TG and I spent ample time at the Rotunda to marvel at the abundant beauty both inside and out.

We walked on the surrounding streets and visited a souvenir shop because I'm always looking for a t-shirt, and a little something affordable to take home to the kids and grandkids.

Check out the eagle motif

It was a warm day and we were tired by the afternoon, so we returned to our hotel to freshen up before dinner.

I wanted to walk the part of Charlottesville called the Downtown Mall, for more shopping and supper. We love a fancy burger joint and I'd drawn a bead on one in that location, named the Citizen Burger Bar.

The rings once held chains

They claim to serve the best burger in Charlottesville, and I can attest that if there is a better burger to be had in that city, I would like to go there on my next visit.

But I don't believe that place exists because this burger was exquisite and heavenly and memorable, and for twenty bucks it had better have been.

This display twinkled with tiny lights as dusk fell

The fries were stellar too, and plentiful, and we sat outside and watched people stroll by as we ate, and the weather was glorious.

The UVA campus bookstore was closed on the first day we were there, but we returned the next day and I must say that of all the campus bookstores I have ever stepped inside, this one is far and away the largest.

Time is undefeated

It's like the Buc-ee's of college bookstores, but without the 150 fuel pumps.

Massive amounts of square footage are dedicated to the display and sale of clothing and souvenirs, and honestly I would not have been surprised to find appliances and furniture in there, and perhaps even a petting zoo.

They kept the Diet Coke flowing

We picked out a few things to purchase and were on our way, since it was my birthday and I had chosen a special place to have lunch.

That place was named Michie Tavern -- and we learned that you pronounce that first word Mickey. And when at Michie Tavern, one dines at a place called The Ordinary.

He was a substitute for his brother Tip

Harking back to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century days when weary travelers stumbled off a stagecoach needing an ordinary meal -- you know, the meat-and-three vibe.

There is also a general store on the property, which we wandered for quite a while and where we made a few new friends and found several nice gifts.

Me on my birthday

The midday meal (as they call it) offered up at The Ordinary is an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, as the building is a few hundred years old and therefore somewhat cramped, once you go through the line and fill your plate the first time, all you have to do is ask your server and you will be brought seconds (or even thirds or fourths) of any given dish.

I always look for these and I always find them

I can hardly ever manage to get past the first plateful of any buffet, and this was no exception because once I'd consumed a huge piece of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, green beans, and a biscuit, I could not eat anything else.

But I watched TG devour seconds on several things, and then we had dessert, which included some of the best vanilla ice cream I've ever tasted. So I guess I did manage to eat something else.

Enter here for good basic vittles

Michie Tavern: Marvelous and most definitely recommended if you are ever in Charlottesville.

In addition to all of this fine dining and sightseeing, there were cemeteries. After all, it's not a vacation for me if it doesn't include a spot of graving.

There's no arguing with this

A sizable burial ground exists on the university campus itself, named the UVA Cemetery and Columbarium. We visited there twice because on the first day we did not have time to do it justice.

Many university professors are buried there and the place itself has that historic feel that I really go for.

Not Today Heifer ... I did not buy it

We had a singular adventure on my birthday on which I will not elaborate except to say that it involved TG going to get me a cold drink while I was in a cemetery, and locking his fob in the car and my having to summon a Uber to get me to where he was, with my fob.

Which meant that I had to walk out of the cemetery to meet the driver, and ride in a nasty car with a swarthy young male who complained the whole way about the fare I paid not being enough, due to the gas prices.

Lean living

As though the gas prices were my fault. 

Good times.

I think people used to be smaller

On our way home the day after my birthday, we stopped at a historic cemetery in Greensboro, North Carolina: Green Hill Cemetery.

It began to rain before I was really finished taking all of the pictures I wanted to take, but I got a fair number and I hope you don't mind that I rendered many of these photos in black and white.

We can be there in six hours

(The pictures in this post are from all three cemeteries we visited on the trip.)

There's something about black and white photography that renders graving pictures with the amount of poignancy that I think they deserve.

Missing a toe or two ... but I'm lichen it

Before we ever left on our trip, however, the family took me out to supper at Mellow Mushroom. We had scrumptious pizzas and Erica had made a cake, and there were the obligatory balloons and presents.

I would a hundred times rather celebrate before the actual birthdate, than after, when for me a party feels a combination of obligatory and anticlimactic. So I always push for the before-the-date party.

This is in Greensboro, North Carolina

I realize that sometimes it's unavoidable for any number of reasons, to have a birthday party after the actual birthday, and certainly better late than never, but I'm just saying.

When I arrived back home from my birthday trip on Sunday evening and settled in, the next day, at the start of a new week, Andrew sent me flowers. I don't know how he managed that from the Middle East but I guess if you have the internet and an American Express card, you can do just about anything.

This marker is made of metal

(And it was so thoughtful of him not to have them delivered while I was gone. I appreciate details like that, even though we have kind neighbors who would have been glad to babysit my birthday bouquet.)

At any rate the flowers were truly beautiful and I enjoyed them for more than a week.

The shadows know

On my next birthday I will be seventy and I think that will have to involve a more elaborate trip than previous birthday trips.

I'll be thinking about that diligently in the coming months. There are a few places on my radar.

There were so many lambs

One place that Erica has suggested we all go together is St. Simons Island in Georgia, familiar to me because I read Eugenia Price's historical trilogy as a teenager. So maybe we will do that next spring.

I would also like to visit St. Augustine, a doable drive from here, and the month of March not being too hot.

It was a timely and joyous floral offering

We shall see. There is so much more to do.

So be strong and of good courage, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday