Baby Rhett on the apple-green bench on a recent perfect fall afternoon
What has the pirate been doing?
What has she NOT been doing?
That is the question.
Answer: very little.
Allow me to elaborate.
A week ago last Friday, some of us traipsed up and the rest of us traipsed down to the line where North Carolina and South Carolina meet, and had supper at the Cracker Barrel there.
It's where Essie works, but we were sad to discover that she was not on the premises that night.
They light the lanterns at this Cracker Barrel
(We asked after her and one of her colleagues called Essie to tell her we were there, and Essie instructed them to give me her phone number, which they did, and I texted to tell her that we love and miss her.)
No; it was not for a birthday that we met. This time, it was just to get together because the time was going to be so long between Labor Day, when we last got together, and Thanksgiving.
At Thanksgiving -- a month from today so you'd best be getting your recipes ready -- we will ALL be together. Every last one of us.
I can't wait. There will be pictures so don't spend any time worrying about missing out.
But a week ago Friday night we just wanted to hang out and talk and visit, so we did.
(It had been planned for two weeks earlier, but Hurricane Ian got in the way of that.)
TG inspecting the damage to Dagny's nose
I took only a few pictures, one of which is of TG inspecting Dagny's face because the day before, at recess, she had been hit on the bridge of her nose by a flying football.
No real harm done, but it left a mark.
Baby Rhett, who as of yesterday is fifteen months old, is marching all over the place. Has been for about three weeks. He knows several words too.
Cue the comments about how your children and/or grandchildren walked at four months and were speaking in full sentences at eight months.
I know that some children walk and talk earlier than others. All four of mine walked at exactly fourteen months. All of them cut teeth at exactly four months, so there's that.
I mean you can either be walking at six months without a tooth in your head, or wait until fourteen months and have a mouthful of choppers.
Allissa walked early and now has braces on her teeth
It's what's known as a tradeoff.
I do know that my kids started talking early and have not stopped since. They must take after me (I'm pretty sure I emerged from the womb uttering full sentences) because TG is the silent type.
Speaking of TG, he is suffering from what is for him a severe head and chest cold. He'll be better in a few days but he sounds awful. Thoughts and prayers appreciated.
The day after our meetup in Charlotte, we had another party planned.
First though, TG and me plus Cherica and Rhett plus Audag all showed up at our church for Community Outreach, which we have every other Saturday.
When that was over, us girls plus our friend Andrea, also from our church, headed over to Five Points and the Starbucks there.
We had each brought a gift and a card for our friend Andrea
The weather was sheer perfection. Warm but not hot, sunny, breezy, with low humidity.
I always say in the fall of the year, this is why people live in South Carolina.
(We don't say that so much in the summer but nevertheless, that season has its own set of charms. Like when else is your pool water going to approach ninety degrees?)
Once at the venue, we enjoyed fancy coffee drinks and celebrated Andrea, who had turned forty-six the day before.
Andrea is special. She was born with a relatively rare genetic syndrome and still lives at home with her parents.
She is faithful to church and always sits with our family and in fact, she's sort of one of our family. We love her and she loves us and she's often invited to our parties.
Andrea and I posed beside the Five Points fountain
When the birthday festivities were concluded, we headed over to The Gourment Shop, across the street.
We were all looking around when someone put something into my hand. I looked down. It was this.
I was instantly smitten with the pan and started asking where in the store it had been found.
Someone pointed me in the right direction and I looked over the display and became smitten again, but this time with a different pan. TG ended up buying it for me, right then and there. It cost only about a dollar more than that discounted Amazon price.
Later that day he went to Kroger and bought me a can of Baker's Joy and a pound cake mix, and that night I made him a pound cake.
I was nervous about it coming out of the intricate pan but if you spray it well with Baker's Joy and then use a small silicone brush to push it around into all the nooks and crannies, the baked cake nearly jumps out onto the cooling rack.
Dagny marched into Starbucks with her mother's debit card and ordered her own drink
Although I had a scratchy throat which by the next day had turned into a cold, I had fun with my new pan.
Now I want an entire collection of fancy Nordic Ware pans because trust me: they are the best.
The next day, I was feeling so unwell that I had to stay home from church.
Monday (a week ago) I felt dreadful in the morning but better as the day wore on.
On Tuesday, TG and I set out at one o'clock in the afternoon for Hickory, North Carolina, to watch Allissa play in her last volleyball game of the season.
Her team lost that day but she looked good at the setter position. She's on the tall side for a fourteen-year-old.
My pound cake nearly jumped out of the Nordic Ware Jubilee loaf pan
Her mother tops out at five foot nine so I wouldn't be surprised if Allissa does the same.
We got home on the late-ish side that night, but we were glad we made the effort to see our granddaughter play a team sport.
Two days later -- last Thursday -- Erica and I set out at ten o'clock in the morning for Greenville, to have lunch with Henry.
I had not seen him since his ninetieth birthday party on August sixth.
I took along chicken salad that I put together that morning (using canned chicken), tomato soup made from scratch plus Jiffy corn muffins that I'd baked the day before, and a Meyer lemon pound cake that I'd whipped up the night before.
We arrived a little after noon and it wasn't long before I had lunch on the table. It was thoroughly enjoyed, and then it was time to dish up dessert.
I decorated with powdered sugar to show off the cake's intricate detail
Henry had vanilla bean ice cream in the freezer, so he made a pot of coffee and I portioned out the pound cake and Erica scooped up the ice cream.
If your mouth isn't watering, you have not been paying attention. Don't worry about what kind of loaf pan you own; just go get a Meyer lemon pound cake mix and some vanilla bean ice cream, and do likewise.
Don't forget to put the glaze on top. The confectioner's sugar is included in the box and all you have to do is add a tablespoon or so of milk.
You'll never say, I'm so sorry that I took the pirate's advice and did that.
Next on our agenda was a trip to Walmart in Travelers Rest so that I could buy flowers to put on my mother's grave.
(The next day, October twenty-first, would mark the two-year anniversary of her death.)
Mom would have been crazy about this baby boy
From there we drove seven or eight minutes to Coleman Cemetery, also in Travelers Rest, where she is buried. We placed the flowers and enjoyed the bright sunshine.
Baby Rhett had fallen asleep in the car and for a while he snoozed in his carseat with the doors open, but eventually he woke up and we let him toddle (carefully) around the gravesites.
Before leaving, we paid our respects at the graves of a few other folks we know, who are resting not far from Mom.
Back at Henry's crib, we hung out for about another half hour before Erica, Rhett, and I headed back to Columbia. We stopped for a spot of shopping in Greenville on the way, and arrived home at about six thirty.
I'd made a Shepherd's Pie for dinner the night before, and there was plenty left over for TG, so I didn't have to cook. Plus after leaving a sizeable hunk for Henry, I'd brought him back a thick slice of that pound cake.
The next day, in addition to being the anniversary of my mother's homegoing, was Brittany's birthday. She turned twenty-eight.
Andrew in the cockpit of the KC-135 Stratotanker
Several weeks ago, TG had gone to East Tennessee to do some painting in Andrew and Brittany's new house. She is living there now, waiting for Andrew to finish up his last few weeks of pilot training.
I'd sent her birthday present plus a housewarming gift with TG at that time, so she had it there to open on the day.
It was a pretty sweater dress and a necklace, and she texted me to say thank you and that she loved it.
On that same day, Andrew flew the KC-135 Stratotanker for the first time.
The last leg of his training, at Altus Air Force Base in Altus, Oklahoma, has been specifically to learn to fly the tanker. These are the planes that refuel other planes in flight, all over the world.
They are up in the sky even now, serving as flying filling stations so that military aviators can get from here to far-away there, and fulfill lengthy missions, without having to land for refueling.
It was a beautiful day to go fly a plane ... click to embiggen
Until last Friday, his tanker-flying training had consisted of work in the simulators. The sims are extremely realistic and obviously much cheaper than flying a Stratotanker.
But the very last phase consists of many hours spent in the cockpit, practicing taking off, flying, and landing the plane.
He was exhilarated with the experience and sent all of us several pictures and videos that night.
It's exciting. Every day as you go about your life, young men and women are serving our country in this way. I am more than a little in awe of them -- all of them, in all branches of the military, no matter what their job.
They are genuine American heroes.
Dagny posing with an eraser on her nose, in her studio art room at home
Dagny has started a YouTube channel called Dagny Clare's Art Club. Just so you know. I think that more artistic kids should do this. Instead of staring at a screen, be ON the screen -- being creative.
As I mentioned earlier, this past weekend TG came down with the cold from which I had just recovered.
He felt fine on Friday and Saturday (he had to feel fine on Friday because he played in a golf tournament), even getting about sixteen million acorns raked up from our yard.
But yesterday morning it was obvious (though he would not admit it because he is stubborn) that he was under the weather. He would not shake hands with anyone at church.
I told him when we got home at twelve thirty that he was going to rest for the remainder of the day, and that I would brook no argument and would hide his key fob if I had to.
Henry is doing well
He did not argue and he did rest. think he'll soon be feeling much better.
Which is good because believe it or not, there is another adventure in the offing. I will bring you up to speed at the appropriate time.
And that is all for now except to say, I hope you have a happy week.
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Happy Monday
