arch rivals

It seems like ages ago that we "battened down the hatches," removed potential

flying objects from our yard, and headed down to the hurricane. It didn't make

 sense, but we had a board meeting to attend and other things

 to do, and of course no one knew exactly how Hurricane Matthew would turn out.

We made decisions moment by moment, and rerouted through Atlanta to avoid

 the exodus from coastal areas. All along the way we saw utility

trucks, headed to help--even before the storm arrived.

(And we saw them on their way home as we drove home yesterday).

The board meeting ended up being by phone and partly took place as we drove.

We arrived early at my sister's house where her four granddaughters 

were visiting, and enjoyed a wonderful five days with them.

One thing we did was to take them to the Ringling Museum of Art

(parts of which are free on Mondays). I call it the "Museum of Arches."

They are everywhere, as is beautiful art to enjoy.

We left home wearing shorts and complaining about the heat,

reached Florida just as cooler weather breezed in,

and arrived home wearing long pants, noting a slight touch of color, and

no evidence at our house of the storm that ended up being worse in our state than FL.

(Thanks to our son who came over and cleaned up the storm debris.)

It is so good to be home.

Joining in Mosaic Monday.

SaveSave

winding roads

We recently "road tripped" to a city we'd never been to before. 

While we spent most of our time in meetings inside a hotel that was like a small city, 

I saw enough to know I'd love to come back and explore the real city. 

We traveled over and around mountains to get there, and are thankful for safety

 all along the way. After our long, hot summer, the cooler air and cloudy/rainy days

as we headed north were welcomed though it took me awhile to "cool down." 

There were hints of changing leaves especially in the mountains, 

and when we returned home the air was cooler than when we left. 

Fall is on it's way!

Joining Mosaic Monday.

A Tale of Two Dresses

The big white box sat in our attic for years.

When the grandchildren begged to play in there recently, my eye

fell on the box. It'd been almost 45 years since my mother took 

my wedding dress to a dry cleaner's to be "preserved." 

It was time to get the box out and see what was there.

How disappointing! 

Obviously the preservation wasn't guaranteed for 45 years!

But tucked on top was my sister's wedding dress that she

had sewed 47 years ago with beautiful polished cotton and lace. 

It was pristinely white and in perfect condition. 

Since it was her birthday I thought it would be

fun to mail her the dress as she probably didn't know I had it.

So I packed it up, along with the left over fabric and lace.

The dress arrived just a few days before my sister attended a very sad event.

A newborn baby had been found on a walking path and

the community was coming together to celebrate 

the short little life with a tender burial. 

There was a display in the church of infant burial gowns,

which had been made out of wedding gowns.

You can guess what my tender-hearted sister did.

Her beautiful dress and extra fabric is now being turned into sweet burial gowns.

All because two kids wanted to play in "Grandma's Attic."

pinch

I'm not in love with crickets. When we moved into this house there were a few that liked to 

come out in the evening to visit. They remind me too much of tiny frogs 

with their jumping here and there and the "startle factor."

I digress for a moment. We may live a pretty bland life because 

I have a lot of "pinch myself"--"I can't believe I'm here" moments. 

Like … standing in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul or sitting along the Mediterranean … 

Walking in a Kenyan tea farm ...Wishing for sunglasses while standing 

on top of the Eiffel Tower at 10 pm on a July evening … 

Walking through Anne Boleyn's house where Henry VIII used to come 

courting …  They all sound a bit exotic when lumped together.

But none more "pinchable" than this:

A favorite memory shines out from our years of homeschooling, 

now 25 years ago. I really loved reading chapter books to our boys, 

and a favorite is "A Cricket in Times Square." It seemed the entire time 

we read it, we had a tiny houseguest in the living room. 

He'd play his violin energetically, especially in the evening. 

He may have been named Chester, and we thought it was pretty cool how 

he timed his stay with our reading of the book.

Back to the present day. I've started volunteering at Little One's

 2nd grade class and am thoroughly enjoying it. 

The teacher is reading them "A Cricket in Times Square."

When the light goes off in the classroom, the teacher needs 

the students' attention immediately.

The first day I was there the lights flashed off.

"Come class quickly, it seems a cricket has come to visit our class."

The kids gathered around. Maybe it was Chester's grandchild.

A little history repeating itself.

For me, the sweetest "pinch myself" moment. 

Five Views of Breakfast

If you put a little cereal in the bowl, I'll be all set for breakfast. 

Low sodium vegetable juice, coffee (1/2 caffeine, 1/2 caffeine free). 

Other days I have two eggs rolled into an omelet with a tad of cheese.

I admit to bringing out the creamer and sugar bowl just

for the photo. I dearly love this sugar bowl found somewhere at a 

resale shop. It broke but was carefully glued together.

The napkin is rediscovered from the 1980s. Are you noticing checks reappearing?

If you are as fussy about your view as I am, I wonder if you can guess

what would "bug" me about this place setting.

I do love the view of this I-EA plant and container

along with my grandmother's depression glass S&Ps, and a 

little gift I bought the Gardener. He likes to have a toothpick handy.

In my work with a mostly young communication team,

I'm learning centered photos aren't the best, especially

if they are of people. So these last two are not centered.

Also a pop of red seems to enhance a photo, doesn't it?

And that's about all I have to say about my 5 breakfast views.

Joining Amy's Five on Friday.

the little cabinet that could

This old girl has been around our house for a long time.

So long I don't remember where she came from but

she's been used for all kinds of things. 

 In all kinds of places.

Most recently to hold the TV.

I had left over paint from a project I did last year.

And decided it was time to get rid of the green, and since we

were moving all the wires, etc. it was time to get the box out from

under the cabinet. I didn't like the clutter.

And the finished project. Now the clutter

has been moved to the top! But at least I have worked

since this photo and hidden the wires.

I think this may be the last time I paint this little cabinet…

but … one never knows for sure ….

a new look

I am the painter in the family. 

But after painting more than 70 rooms, plus sheds, 

garages, porches, shutters, doors, etc., 

I thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of sitting back while someone else

painted our kitchen and laundry room.

                   Photo: trying out the paint choice.

I didn't exactly sit back. It took a lot of work to empty

out a kitchen and put it back together.

I've always loved a yellow kitchen but since

everything needed painting, we decided to chose a different color.

It wasn't easy. Our kids said "neutral," and we agreed.

 I went to the "Paint Whisperer" in town who is amazing. 

This is the third time he has helped us choose the right paint.  

In some light it's gray, other light it looks green, and sometimes blue.

I call it a mystery color and I (we) love it! 

Joining with Share Your Cup

and Metamorphosis Monday 

looking up

We thought celebrating 45 years of marriage was a good reason

to slip away for a couple of days to sit by the sea,
reading and resting, and contemplating our life together.

Both while there and on the way to and fro, we 

found ourselves looking up a lot. The clouds have been amazing

and my feeble attempts to photograph them don't do justice to their majesty.

We need rain. The storm clouds hover and try.

beautiful things

It'd been awhile since our last book club and earlier this week we

gathered around my table to discuss the life of Lilias Trotter (link to her

blog on my sidebar) after reading her biography.

Fitting 12 was a stretch and a squeeze, but we managed and enjoyed a "proper" British tea.

I was so grateful for the pretty blue and white smaller plates the Gardener

found for me at GW years ago--I must have 18 of them.

Menu: Assorted teas (and coffee), scones with lemon curd and clotted cream,

cucumber sandwiches, cheese, fruit, and dark chocolate (for our health.)

Everyone helped by bringing some of the food.

I always enjoy using my mixture of teacups. 

The tiniest of bouquets was all I could scrape from our garden,

but they were a perfect example of the small flowers Lilias loved to paint.

I also illustrated her life with a water color palette and a

facsimile of her painting journals. They were small and she would

write her inspirational thoughts or daily life notes 

alongside what she sketched and painted.

We even had loan of a print of one of her paintings.

Whimsical beauty.

Have you heard of Lilias Trotter? 

She was born in the 1850s, and grew up in privilege in London's 

West End during the Golden Age of Victoria. 

She developed an amazing talent in art. Through a chain of

interesting events, she was tutored by the famed John Ruskin, 

who said she could become one of England's greatest artists.

But she was drawn to the down and out, the women prostitutes lining 

London's streets, working women, the YWCA. She helped to start 

London's first affordable public restaurant for working women. 

She eventually felt a pull to work abroad, sharing God's love 

with others. For the next 40 years she lived in Algeria.

She made a hard choice to leave her art.

Lilias loved the desert and "found beauty in the most mundane and otherwise

unlikely places," says the director of Many Beautiful Things, a movie about Lilias' life, 

released earlier this year. "She perceived spiritual insights by closely studying 

ordinary people and plants, and was endlessly inspired to create 

and draw attention to the beauty that she found."

Summer Sound Bites

Our summer here has been so, so hot and dry. 

Our produce is waning and not so pretty as this any more.

A new neighbor behind us is having most of his trees cut down.

I know the reason, but I hate to see the trees go.

The landscape has totally changed and will take some time to adjust to.

He is planting new trees.

A recent trip to the library revealed something new on

the previously mundane cement wall!

It's fun to read the titles.

In the heat of the summer our yarn group crocheted

around 130 market bags to send to Haiti.

I made up my own pattern and hope it holds the produce well enough!

It's cherry season. The new way is to buy them in open

bags which can be picked over.

This bag held half the amount of the others and were

well chosen, nice and dark.

Sticker shock: $4.50. I counted them.

Forty-five cherries, meaning 10 cents apiece.

They are delicious but may be our only cherries this summer.

We'll eat them slowly.

Our crepe myrtles seem to be the only

vegetation that loves the heat.

The hotter and drier it gets, it seems the better they bloom!

They always amaze me.

with two hands

My sister finally retired after spending most of her adult life riding the early morning 

train, Monday through Friday, down into the city for her work day in a tall well-known "skyscraper." 

 I wondered what she would do when she no longer spent her days like that. 

One thing she told me she is doing is going to her neighbor's house every Tuesday for tea. 

Yes, her neighbor opens up her home every Tuesday morning for her neighbors 

to come and get to know each other over a cup of tea. 

That sounds really nice to me!

I read awhile ago an article about "double handed" coffee. 

The idea is to invite a small group of friends for coffee and a scone or muffin. 

The double-handed coffee concept is to turn off 

and put cell phones away, hold your coffee cup, look at each other and talk.

So I tried it.

 I invited three other women over for coffee and I had a few questions 

in mind to ask as we didn't all know each other well. 

I made coffee and put out scones I had bought (to keep it simple), 

a little fruit, and some pieces of chocolate. 

We never got past the first question which was to tell a bit about our life stories. 

It was fascinating and at times led to tangents, but that's OK. 

We learned so much about each other and the time flew. 

Technology did not distract us and I think we all came away 

from the time feeling refreshed in both old and new friendships.