How Does She Do That?

Precious Book to My Son

2011-09-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

You know how sweet it is to see a well-loved, oft-used Bible? To thumb through and see the notes in the margins; imagining how or why that particular verse was precious to them...
Seeing what was important enough for the to dwell on, or mark with dog-eared pages... Maybe it's in a Bible case, because they have carried it for so many years that it's just falling apart...

Well, my husband pointed this book out to me today.

It's owned by my clever, scary-smart son. At meals where he's alone he's always hunched over a book reading as he slurps his cereal, or parmesan cheese spaghetti, and this is one of his favorites. I'm sure he is finding inspiration and knowledge to enhance his already, admittedly, nerdy tendencies. His amazingly extensive breadth of knowledge. He's a living encyclopedia sometimes...

Example: I just went in to wake him, and his blanket was all tucked in from neck to toe, and I thought he looked like a mummy. When I said, "Wake up my little mummy!" He said,
"If I'm a mummy, was I buried in wet or dry soil?"

? ? ?
It's Saturday. I'm not ready for this yet.
I'm going to get more coffee.
I guess this book is one of his favorites... and I'm not too proud of it. What are we encouraging here?

Well, it's the Encyclopedia of Immaturity, and, frankly, I'm a little scared of how well-read it is!!

These are some of the milder subjects. There's all matter of commentary on miscellaneous body noises, pranks, and skills that I suppose represent the depth of immaturity he's aspiring to...

Happy Saturday.

A Great Quilting Find

2011-02-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

We have been cleaning out an old store building and found some beautiful quilt tops, and quilts that I know some of you would love to see.

As a quilter, I was so thrilled to find these fantastic examples of early 20th century patchwork. They are all hand pieced and the finished pieces are all hand quilted.

The makers of the quilts are unknown, but we found them in the belongings of three sisters who lived in the Highland Community until about 1965. Two never married, and one did; but only for about two weeks! Then she came back home, to live with her sisters, run a general store and live for the rest of her days.

They were, "the Gardner girls." Their names were Artie Gardner, Oceania Gardner(pronounced O-CEE-NEE), and Maudie Gardner Epps (she was the one who was married, briefly).
The quality of the fabrics is remarkable, I believe. I've found other quilts made by the women in this community, and they are mostly utilitarian, and by the time I've found them, super soft with use. They used mostly feed sacks, or men's clothing scraps. They usually have handmade batting, with some seeds still evident in the cotton.
But these quilts, especially the tops, are made of finer fabrics. There are very few heavy fabrics in the ones that were in condition suitable to save - but the well-used ones did have more of those.
The fabrics in these unfinished tops is a nicer quality than I have seen in the quilts in this community. While they are still patchwork, with lots of different scraps, they definitely were made with more color matching, and a bit of artistry.

I have a quilt from my New England great grandmother, from around 1900, and it features fabrics similar to the ones in these tops. The colors are bright, and vivid, and remind me of fabrics modern quilters call "from the Mills," meaning from the textile mills of the Northeast in the post-Civil War era.
I'm no expert, but I find few fabrics newer than 1945, or so.
I think that the Gardner girls, as owners of a store where mail order service was in evidence, were able to acquire finer fabrics for their handwork than the local families could.
The makers also took care with details like matching sashings, and cornerstones - quite common for modern quilters who sew for the art, and not usually because they NEED quilts. But the quilts of the farm families I have seen around here seldom have evidence of much more than the very basic design details - they needed quilts, and lots of them in their homes, and they needed them to be finished, and warm! Homes were heated with wood heat until the 1970s, for the most part.
The quiltmakers would have also been farmers, as was everyone around here, but I think they did a bit better than most folks.
The tops are in remarkable shape, except for some pest soiling. They were stored in a wooden quilt box (not that I think it was made for that, but it was full of quilts and tops). Tops are usually in better shape than quilts, I have found. I'm sure this is because they were never in actual use.
One of the quilts is a bit wonky - the others are quite square for hand piecework. Perhaps a child helped? Or perhaps it was taken in trade.

I imagine that some of these may have been taken in trade, too. Maudie's records show that lots of people were allowed credit purchases. Maybe these were given to them? But the work is overall, except for the wonky log cabin, very uniform.

I plan to display the quilts in the store building, which were are attempting to restore to some manner of historical accuracy.
I even washed three of the tops, and aside from a few hours of worry when the water in the tub turned DARK GREEN, from the dyes of the obviously unwashed fabrics used in the sashing. It actually didn't bleed over to the pretty white background fabric, though!

And, by the way, see this dog?

Do not harbor kind thoughts about her. She is only waiting until my back is turned so that she can drag one, off the line if necessary, down to the barn to sleep on it! She is the enemy!

Lunch in Yellowstone, v.2

2010-07-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

This high plateau was the site of our picnic on Friday. It was very windy, and was obviously where the buffalo had previously roamed, but we saw not even a chipmunk. I was beginning to think we never would see any big animals.
We chose this spot because of the tree, and all the shade it provided. Right.

Us girls scouted out this huge rock to sit on for the picnic, mostly because of the buffalo roaming evidence.

Here are the boys looking off to where they would just roam on foot if we weren't there to rein them in. See them on that rock in the middle? My boy was SO glad to get out of the car by this time. He ran, and ran.

Flowers, of course. So there would be something to clean up in the back of our rental.

Here's the family out on the high plains. A guy from Florida (with an Auburn sticker on his car!!!) hopped out and offered to take our picture, as I was setting up the timer. He did not drive off with my camera, luckily.

You would not believe the amount and variety of people in Yellowstone! Up this dusty, gravel 6-mile turnoff from the main Yellowstone road, we followed a huge tow truck!! Can you imagine having to call for a tow off the main path in Yellowstone?

McRaes in Montana

2010-07-23T07:44:00.001-07:00

After a very long day of traveling to Nashville, through Minneapolis, we finally arrived in Bozeman, Montana on Wednesday. The airport was exactly what you would think a Montana airport should be; all log cabin, animal heads on the walls, etc.

As I'm a pretty quick study, I found that there is a reason that log cabins evoke thoughts of northern, frontierish places. It's pretty much the standard design up here, and the airport was no different!

We got into our cabin around 11:30 local time, so obviously, I took no photos, but take my word for it, it is very cute and comfortable. Rustic, log cabin style, if you can believe we would pick something like that. It's on the banks of the Gallatin River.

Thursday morning, we ate at the Cateye Cafe in downtown Bozeman. There is a reason that many of the web pages we looked at regarding Bozeman mentioned it. It was GREAT!

After a trip to a very nice grocery store to load up on picnic supplies and food, it was on to Yellowstone, which was about 90 miles away... time enough for a nap.

So, of course, the kids were ready to eat as soon as we could find a picnic spot.

The main requirement was to be near water...

So we found a place on the banks of the Madison River - we didn't make it far into the park.

Difficult as this may be to believe, Emma hit the water as soon as possible.

And Anns gathered flowers. We had to do this at every stop, no matter they all died soon after we hit the road again...

Not many pics of my boy, as he took the peanut butter sandwich I forced on him, and ran up and down the banks of the river exploring. But here he is, go figure, in the water with the girls.

And, you can take the girl away from the cheerleaders, but apparently you can't take the cheerleading out of the girl...

Stopping at every possibly interesting place along the way, we made our way to the Old Faithful geyser area, with about 10,000 other people, which was interesting, but very crowded. This pictured geyser is actually Beehive, and it shoots higher than Old Faithful, which we saw as we made our way to the souvenir shop, which is always my baby's ultimate goal on vacation. Or actually, every time the car stops. If she could eat, buy cheap stuff, and play in the water at the same time, it would be her ultimate vacation.

I didn't know, and you might not either, that Yellowstone National Park actually is one of the oldest active volcanoes! These geysers are what you hear about, but hot stuff is actually coming out through the earth's surface all over the Park.

It's because much of the land there is just a thin crust over water pockets that lie atop hot magma. The water, and all the minerals and stuff in it, get so hot that they bubble up to the surface, and even shoot out in the form of geysers. All over the park, there will be a nice grassy place, with a meandering stream, and then, all of sudden, it's all steamy, and it looks like a moonscape, and stuff is burbling out of the earth.

It's like Hell is trying to break up through to the surface all over the place! And it smells like sulfur - which is called brimstone in the Bible.

It's pretty amazing.

And if you get on the thin stuff, you can actually fall into some, well, hellish conditions, and your skin will peel off in sheets before they can drag you out.

My dear husband had all kinds of scary stories to tell the kids, like of dogs falling in, and their owners trying to rescue them ... everyone being boiled to death.

The children did not even think about getting off the boardwalks provided at each thermal area.

This little blue pool is near Old Faithful. The minerals in the water make it blue, but some places its yellow or white. I don't know if you can tell, but this water is steaming hot. Right near it is a place where the water is literally boiling out of the ground.

This last one is from Mammoth Hot Springs, where so much stuff has burbled up and left mineral deposits that it has taken over the whole area, and made a mountain that is building up over time.

It was clear that nature is in control here. These trees did not grow up through the boiling water... water falls. It moved to where the trees were, and had killed several in the last few years, obviously. It was moving toward the boardwalk, as it built itself up, and was looking for the lowest place to flow!

Back from the geology/religion lesson:

There are a ton of gorgeous waterfalls. All of which I obediently jumped out of the car and photographed. I'm pretty sure my Yellowstone photos will look completely different from all the several dozen or so other people with cameras like mine were taking at the same time... not. But how are you not going to take pictures of waterfalls?

After a long day of jumping out of the car to see all the steamy stuff, and waterfalls, we headed back to our cozy cabin, which has a hot tub. See the Gallatin River flowing through the back yard...

Next installment, "Dear Husband" helps us all attain "our" goals of climbing up Mt. Washburn - the "if you make one short hike in the Park, you should do Mt. Washburn" hike.

Only three miles one way! Best chance to see bighorn sheep!

What will we do with the iPhone 4?

2010-07-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

This morning I heard that Apple will be having a press conference to acknowledge problems with the new iPhone 4.

I think this is hilarious.

I love Apple. I love my iPhone. I don’t know if it’s a 3G, or what, but I know it’s not one of the new ones.

What is funny, is that people are complaining that the phone drops calls occasionally if you hold it a certain way. Sometimes, get this, the phone actually tells you (by those little signal indicator bars) that you have a stronger signal available than you actually do!

Oh, the horror!

Can we please get Congress to look into this? (They seem to look into all kinds of stuff these days, and I KNOW they fix 'em!)

I suppose these are people in California, or Chicago, or some such place, and they would probably have a meltdown if you took their phones from them for an hour. Or maybe they are teenagers, and the phones are practically part of their bodies, and they are unable to communicate in the old fashioned face-to-face manner. Oh, what would happen if they couldn’t text someone to say,

“Hey! Lol”

It’s kinda hard to feel their pain here in rural north Mississippi, where, boy-howdy, we are pleased as punch to get more than one teeny short bar sometimes! You can actually make a call if you have that little bar, or even two or three!

It’s a risk you take, I tell you, and for not having to see a cell phone tower every mile or so in the rural landscape, I think I can take it.

Between my home and the largest town in my county where I work, there is a dead place on the twelve mile trip that I have to warn people about, if I happen to be on a call before I travel through it. That means, that nearly daily, or at least weekly, I LOSE A CALL!

If it’s my kids calling me to referee a fight, I’m kinda glad I lost that call.

Sometimes I just pretend I heard the person through the little dead area.

We have lots of dead areas in our county.

I’ve noticed I can’t access the internet at all on the football field of the largest school in the county while I’m photographing a game.

And I can’t even think about using my phone out at the boys’ baseball complex. But out there, I’m with about 300-400 other people who can’t use their phones either, so, that’s a certain comfort. We’re all hopelessly out of touch for sometimes…eeek,… hours at a time!

And, I tell you what! There is nothing better than a trip to Tupelo, or Memphis, where they have 3G coverage or networks or what have you!

It’s enough to make a person want to update their Facebook status at every stoplight.

“Headed to Tupelo to shop! LOL Wooo hooo!”

“Oh, look! O’Charlie’s is too crowded for lunch! What to do, what to do?”

“Wow, had the best lunch at the Mall! Who’d a thought?”

Yeah, I’m so hurtin’ for those folks who are raisin’ a fuss about not actually having all the power their little bars are telling them they have.

Do people realize what they are saying sometimes?

Father's Day Fishing- What a Catch!

2010-06-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

My dear husband took the two little ones fishing late father's day, since we had a break from church.
It was fruitful! or I guess, "fishful".
Anyway, our bounty of fish far exceeded any of our previous expeditions, which have been my son's passion lately.
Far exceeded meaning, they actually caught some!!

This meant a lesson on how to clean fish! And quick, because that was not happening indoors, and it was getting dark! The truck tailgate was the temporary kitchen counter.

Yes, my kids got the opportunity to do all of it, from scaling them, to cutting the insides out of them. Note my oldest girl's face in the above picture!

And it only got worse! Especially when we got to the part where the baby girl started experimenting with how you could poke the eyes of the dead fish...

Does anyone of the near-40 bunch remember that song that was on MTV, back when MTV was new,(i.e., they played actual music videos) called "Fish Heads?"

It was a stop motion photography work and it went something like this,

ahem.

Fish heads, fish heads,

Roly poly fish heads,

Fish heads, fish heads,

Eat them up- YUM!

I know that was possibly out of tune, but since you are only reading it, count your blessings! My children were awfully impressed with me, I must say.

It was almost too much for my oldest, though!

They even caught a little bass! It was a beaut!

To say nothing of this adorable little boy. I love this kid!

He is totally Opie when it comes to stuff like this.

"Come on, Pa, let's go fishin'!"

"Look at this one, Pa!"

Can't you just hear that coming out of his mouth?

Look at those freckles! He's gonna be so surprised when I go home and just hug him til it hurts!

It didn't take long for my oldest to get over her hesitation and learn how to do the cleaning. She's always up for something that has to do with cooking!

Eeeeww!

And then, while she was playing with it,

IT MOVED!

"IT'S ALIVE!!!!!"

Garden Bounty, 2010 Version

2010-06-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

The first fruits (or I guess, vegetables) from our garden have come in. They are so good, and pretty, that I thought I'd share some pictures. You'll have to come visit if you want to really share though.

First, the farmer husband brought in these gorgeous potatoes.

Actually, the red-headed helper brought them in all nasty and dirty in a big dirty bucket. When I pointed out the error of his ways, and that he should wash them first, he dutifully took them back out and used the hose to wash them off.

Note to self - I wish I had that outdoor sink we talked about a long time ago...

So when they came back in all clean and scrubbed, they were picture perfect!
You'll note that they are not your typical new potatoes. There are blue and yellow ones, and of course the mostly normal red ones. I think it's the first time for the blue ones, and I admit, I was doubtful...

But they proved to be some of the tastiest ones! Seriously. We taste tested them.
I can hear the person who knows what variety they are snoring away, but if you really want to know, I can ask about them.

We also are getting our first green beans.

These are an unknown variety, except that we know that Kirby's Aunt Earl grew these, as someone gave us the seed they had saved for years. She was a woman who knew her beans - they are so tasty, and if you pick them every other day, never large enough to get stringy.

When Kirby requested that I cook them together, I about balked.

I don't like for my food to touch. Well, hardly ever. Call me crazy, but if the beans are good, and the potatoes are good, why would you want to mess with that by mixing them together?

Well, this obedient, compliant wife did what he asked, and

and

they were very, very tasty.

I'm converted. We even took them to Sunday dinner at Nelda's, and they were well accepted, but you can't trust them - they are forever combining all the things on their plate and eating them...together.

But if you are brave, try them. Just cover with water and about a teaspoon of salt, and cook for about 15-20 minutes over medium heat, or until you can break the potatoes apart with a fork.
I added about a half a stick of butter, cut into pieces, to the hot beans and potatoesIf you are real old timey, you can cook them until absolutely all the vitamins are gone, but 15 minutes or so leaves the beans tender, but with some body.

Never let your dog watch movies

2010-05-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

We got new pigs today. This is a festive occasion at our house each time it happens. And we have learned to record their cute piglet-ness right away, because pigs don't stay little and cute long.
Plus, well, we had one run away all the way to Tishomingo State Park, and we only recovered it because my daughter had taken pictures of them, and showed friends (including the park manager's daughter) at school.

These are particularly nice pigs, we are all in agreement. Dear husband said they are of the breed "Duroc," which is an old American breed and pretty popular according to the online information. But we have never seen red pigs, so we are thrilled.
You know us, anything old... we love it.

They are quite friendly, though clearly a little camera shy, which they will soon get over, around here!

We don't have names yet, but one of them might become "Tickle" because she (they are both girls - but not sows, yet... its another word...) makes the cutest little squeal when you scratch behind her ears.

My suggestions are "Yummy" and "Porkie," but Emma did not agree.

Sadie, the Wonder Dog, is thrilled with the pigs, too.

She's already trying her powers of persuasion on them.

Or maybe she's just staring them down, warning them of their fate should they escape.
In thier defense, they really are not scared of her.

I'm thinking she may be trying to teach them everything she knows about herding.

I knew we shouldn't have let her watch "Babe" over and over like she did. She thinks she so smart just because she plays chess....

Therapy Shooting

2010-04-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

I've had two weeks of shooting little league and softball, high school ball, portraits, designing graduation announcements, etc. etc. When I haven't been shooting, I've been selling. Or booking weddings, or sessions...

Business is booming! I'm swimming as fast as I can...

But sometimes its good to just take photographs. Take time to capture something no one will pay for...

I've had one heck of a day - the kind of day that has situations that I just can't fix. As an oldest child, that REALLY rankles me. Why won't they just let me fix it? Or at least listen to me and fix it themselves....

Tonight my husband told me to take pictures of his cover crop when I went down to feed the horses. He knows me pretty well.

So, some therapy photography:

The top one is actually my husband's cover crop. We are letting the garden spot lie fallow this year. The clover, winter peas and rye will be plowed under to provide nutrients while the field rests.

Sadie, assisting, as usual, with the project at hand. This is the first time she's been still enough, long enough, for me to mess with the exposure in order to actually get her eye! Border Collies are kinda like killer whales - how you can't see their eyes! When I was small, I always thought that big white spot was the eye on a killer whale!

Snowballs are my FAVORITE! In the morning I'm making it a point to pick several bouquets for the house, and the cemetery.

Look, border collie bokeh!

April showing me I can't catch her! Well, I didn't really tell her I was not about to try.

When I planted this little snowball (viburnum) it was such a teeny twig. Now it's flowing over the old fence... just what I wanted.

The bridal wreath is just about done blooming. It's been so pretty. One night when we were coming in from feeding the horses, it looked like it actually glowed in the dark!

And the best part of my little outdoor time... I checked on the asparagus. And they are coming on like gangbusters. I'll pick this many more tomorrow!

Picking asparagus made me remember a book I recommend: Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It's about a year long experiment her family did in which they ate only things they grew themselves, or that could be produced or obtained from local (within 50 miles) sources. No strawberries in November. No tomatoes in February. Locally produced meat, cheese, bread, etc. They decided to kick off their year-long experiment with the first harvest of asparagus.

I feel a little better, even if I still can't fix everything.

Back to little league pictures!

Pamela

Reclaiming Aunt Sallie's

2010-03-21T20:36:00.001-07:00

We are reclaiming an old homeplace we have, with plans to use it for a studio, and getaway.
It's been a dusty, nasty mess, but we've found some treasures along the way.
Here are some before photos...

The wallpaper was so cool. The things living behind it were not.
Old wallpaper was not glued, instead it was tacked down about every 6 inches. I have removed 17 million wallpaper tacks in the last two weeks. They are very sharp if you step on them.
No matter how many you pull out, there will be a few more when you run your hand over the wall. They are sharp...
These are of the old kitchen, which we estimate was the first part of the house built back in the late 1880s. The previous home (of my husband's great-grandfather) had burned, so this one was quickly built, and probably added onto.
The chimneys are a mess. We still have to clean out all the stuff that has fallen down into them. Ick.

The dogs are very interested in the work. They are very sure there are still vermin occupying the 130-year-old structure. It wears them out running about searching all the crevices. Sticking their noses in everything and sniffing. And then sneezing on everyone..
In this photo, Scup is verifying the condition of these old feather mattress toppers.

Aunt Sallie (who died in the late 50s) even received a census notice. I intercepted the census investigator who stopped by months ago, and explained that no one lived there for DECADES, but she must have been required to leave one.

We've removed all the paper in these. And this child wouldn't look so happy if she'd have known that the next step was to scrub down and rinse the walls (no easy task, since there's no water up there yet...)

And congratulations to Cari for being the first senior to be photographed in the mostly finished front room! It was good because she had toured the place before with the TC local history class, when they came for a tour! She knows how full of junk it was!
We look forward to many more portrait sessions in Aunt Sallie's!

Little Lady Cardinal

2010-03-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

A little while back my baby girl had two friends stay the night. They were so cute, running around the house. Just having a ball! They mostly stayed in her bedroom, just ran through occasionally.
In the morning, I heard them tell my husband, at 5:30 a.m., that "they only slept FOUR minutes the whole night!!"
I couldn't believe I had not heard them, but that's fine, and I knew she'd be in the bed all afternoon!
First thing after breakfast, they donned coats and headed outside.
Two minutes later, they all three came back in with this.

I couldn't beleive they had caught this live, female cardinal!
They said they had seen it fly up on the porch, where she apparently hit her head, and fell straight back onto the porch in front of them! She was at the mercy of the dogs, so they picked her up!
She was amazingly calm!

Turns out she was a little goofy from the hit on the head she got!

We put her in a shoe box, where she calmly laid down.
Until about 5 minutes later, when the girls had long since left for the next adventure, and she was knocking the shoe box lid up!

We got the girls to come get her, and set her free.

One minute later, my baby girl comes in crying her eyes out.

I'm thinking, "We only had the thing about 10 minutes!" Hardly enough time to grow attached enough to cry about!

Turns out this is what happened when they went to set her free:
My daughter reached in to get her, and my husband said, "Let her go, now!"
But she couldn't.
Because the cardinal had latched onto her finger with her sharp, and apparently powerful little beak, and wouldn't let go!!
That's why my baby was crying! That thing bit the heck out of her finger!
She didn't miss it - in fact, I bet she thinks twice about helping out next time!

Why my kitchen smells better now

2010-03-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

I love my husband. Because he takes care of the really icky stuff for me.

About two weeks ago, my kitchen started smelling. Really bad.

I've mopped. I've cleaned out narrow spaces between cabinets.

I've washed the wastecans.

I moved my stove/oven out and cleaned underneath it.

I vacuumed out the backside of my stove.

I cleaned out cabinets.

I've sprayed/sprinkled all of the following:

bleach
vinegar
baking soda
pet smell carpet powder (no idea why I have that...we never have animals inside, and we have very little carpet!)
Lysol cleaner
Lysol disinfectant spray

All to no avail.

There is an old small water heater in the corner of my kitchen, which has not been in use for many years. The smell was coming from that area.

I just knew a mouse had gotten in the house and died, and was consequently stinking.

These things happen - we live in the country. It usually doesn't take long for it to go away.

But this time, it had been two weeks!

Friday night, when I came home from a trip, I told my sweetie, "It's been two weeks, and it's not going away... we are gonna have to move the water heater."

So he started checking to see if it the water was disconnected. Check.

Is the power disconnected to it? He had to take off the front panel to check the wires, and

there was the source!

A squirrel had gotten into the water heater housing, and, since I guess I neglected to put any food in there... it died.
It decided to haunt us with it's nasty decomposing smell.

Good news: my dear husband took the nasty thing away, and my kitchen smells back to normal. Thank GOD! It was getting really bad.
And it didn't even look like it had started decomposing! It would have been months!

Bad News: a tiny little part of my mind had already started thinking about how nice it would be to get a real corner cabinet installed where that old water heater is... oh, well.

Industriousness

2010-02-28T21:29:00.000-08:00

One day last week, my son was feeling bad in the morning, and he stayed home from school. It was my half day - just had to send the front page of the paper I write/edit on to the publisher, and I'd be home. He's 11. It was ok.

I came home at noon. He met me at my car in his medieval/death hooded cloak, carrying a big stick.

When I got back up off the ground, he explained that he'd gotten bored. So he was walking around outside in the black cloak, etc.

Thank goodness no one kidnapped him...

He explained that he, in his boredom, had also used some EMPTY boxes to build with. An suspicious amount of emphasis on the "empty," but ok. No big deal, but why the guilty look?

He'd built a castle with about a dozen boxes he'd found around the house (thank you gifted teacher for showing him how to do that...) He only emptied out the sandwich bags from the box. At least there were no piles of rice, or oats lying around, because he needed a turret...

You know, the girls, if they stay home sick, just generally sleep all day...

Then he says, "I've been thinking, I'm gonna start doing more stuff like dad. Like he did when he was my age."

"And I don't mean eating more different food," obviously a reference to the fact that we hound him ALL the time to try something new, just eat anything. He is super picky, and looks like he is from Ethiopia.

What he was apparently referring to is the way my husband ran pretty much wild in the woods, building tree houses, and sheds, and "lean-to's" all over this place, and his parent's place.

So later that afternoon, he built this.

He built this when I thought he was ASLEEP IN HIS ROOM!

Could I actually be getting to the point where my children are more useful than they are trouble? My mind is spinning with the things he could build me; things my dear husband never has time for....

What a boy.

Adventures in Music

2010-02-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

I saw that the junior high kids from around here went to ensemble competition this weekend, and it reminded me of a funny story. I figured I better write it down, because I hadn't remembered it in a while - but now - it'll be on the blog for all eternity... and my daughters will be so proud.

About two years ago, when my tall-thin daughter and oldest one were both in junior high band, we headed down to ICC (Itawamba Community College) for the annual band solo and ensemble competion. It's one of those lovely adventures when you don't actually get to see your child play the songs - they do it for a judge in a room, without you. But you get the fun of hanging out at the community college with not only your kids, but also about 400 more from other, surrounding schools. They all get a medal. And then we take them to the nearby mall and turn them loose (we are from a small town, it's a thrill, believe me.) for about an hour before heading home.

I guess I had a chance to listen to the ensemble piece just shortly before the competion. My daughters were playing in an ensemble (group) with one other girl. I can't remember the other girl's instrument, but my oldest played the clarinet. We had brought it with us.

My tall-thin girl played, among other things, a xylephone, when she was at school. But we hadn't actually packed it. Maybe they had them in the rooms?

So asked tall-thin, "What are you playing?"

"Wood Block."

What a funny name for a song. And it had really sounded like a semi-familiar classical tune - I mean, my kids do all take classical piano; I'm no ignoramus when it comes to music.

"Wood Block?" I inquired.

Yes, and she pulls out... a wood block. With a small drumming-mallet-thing.

She is playing... the wood block, for her part in the ensemble. Tap, tap, tap, rest. Tap, tap, rest, rest... and so on.

No wonder she never talked much about it. Practiced her part at home...
No wonder we were not toting a xylephone to Fulton, Mississippi.

Xylephone players apparently get to do whatever percussion instrument they can when it comes to traveling, for our school band, at least.

Surprisingly, she is not in band anymore.

New Laundry Equipment

2010-02-27T12:22:00.000-08:00

We are so excited about our new washer. I'm sure we will be excited about the dryer, too, but we haven't started it yet...

We have a new washer and dryer!

We have been without a working washer for about two weeks. We have four children, and two adults. On a farm. And it's been raining or snowing all the time lately.

We have lots of dirty clothes right now. We have mountains of dirty clothes. In every room.

We were planning a hiking vacation for this summer on the mountains that are our dirty clothes!

But today, the new washer and dryer came!! Woo hoo! The people from Lowes installed it, and I didn't even have to watch - actually I was with a client the whole time.

My son supervised the installation. He even told me a few things about the dryer. This is useful because he's ever done any laundry in his whole life. Well, he has folded some things, but you can't imagine how mad he was for having to. (His job is the garbage, and he was fed up, so I told him to do some laundry, and the girls would do the garbage.)

(I don't think I've ever heard any complaining abou the garbage again...)

Though I said to some people yesterday, I really hate to have to spend money on something I don't even really want to use, I'm pretty excited.

And clearly, I'm not the only one!

And, since they are front loading, you can watch the clothes wash. This will surely rival the woodstove for entertaining sights in our house (since we don't have TV).

Thing is, you kinda have to watch it, because it is really quiet! It's amazing.

I better go, I don't hear anything.

Hot Chocolate to Give

2010-01-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

This is a fun idea for Christmas goodies for a large group. It's not necessarily easy, but it is something you can economically do for a group that is not plastic and made in China. Gifts are all about showing you care, and I try to give things that are actually useful.

This has been a good plan for us for Christmas gifts for teachers, and this year, my children's choir members. When you have almost 30 teachers to buy for (four kids, and they each have several between school, piano, church...) you look for something you can do in quantity, and that they won't break on the bus ride to school!
Also, this is not original, but everyone might not get Family Fun magazine - which is chock full of cool ideas for kids parties, crafts, and activities.

You need plan ahead a bit, and get some pastry cones from the cake decorating section of any box store. You will need two for each cone.
Get some cute ribbon, and something to make or print tags on.

You need a heap of hot cocoa mix. We made ours from this recipe:
8 oz box of dry milk (powdered)
1 lb. box of Quik
1 lb. box of powdered sugar
2 cups non-dairy creamer
Mix all this up in a humungus bowl.
You will also need mini marshmallows.

Fill up one cone about 3/4 full of the powdered cocoa mix, then twist the top tightly, and hold it closed against itself. Place this cone inside another cone, making sure to keep that inside one twisted (you could use a twist tie, but then you'd have to make sure it is hidden.)

Place about a cup of mini marshmallows inside the second cone, using them to hold down the twisted shut top of the inside one. Twist the top closed, and secure with a twist-tie.

(Guess I should have taken photos of this, but I had no more hands! It's really not that difficult.)

Decorate the bags with ribbon (if you use red, it looks more like an ice cream cone, with a cherry on top.)

Attach a label with directions for use: Add 1/3 cup mix to hot water, stir well. Add marshmallows.

Now all of you can be so proud of yourselves for already planning next year's teacher gifts in JANUARY!

Another Question

2010-01-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

Question 2.
Do any of you have a lovely slipper tub? A pretty white one? One that everyone looks in on and says, "Oh, I love your tub?"

Does it ever look like this?

I figured not. I was afraid of that.

I was busy fixing a lovely potato soup and cheese biscuits for my hard working man early this evening. And I heard the kitchen door open.

And saw this thing trying to wrestle my husband in, or back out, the door.

It was hard to tell.

Apparently he won, because he managed to tame the mile-and-a-half of frozen water hose, in order to bring it INTO THE HOUSE and lay it in the foyer.

Where apparently it lost control, because we heard it spilling ... out onto the foyer floor (just mopped today, thank you very much!)

So we hustled it into... my pretty white tub. Where it could thaw out, because, alas the horses have only ice to drink.

He had to drag about a mile of hoses into the house, let them thaw, carry them back out... etc. etc. It went on a long time.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to take a bath in there anytime soon...

Sanity Check

2010-01-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a question for all you wives out there.
Sometimes I think I have fallen down the rabbit hole, and, well, this is a sanity check.

Does the cabinet beneath your bathroom sink include these?

Anyone? Anyone?
I didn't think so.

They are apparently hand-carved wooden wedges. If I wanted to really impress you, I would call them "gluts."

But sometimes my kids read this.

Actually, "gluts" is what the old folks would have called them, according to my DH. They are made of dogwood wood(is that redundant?)

I think my dear husband will use them to split some long logs. (Maybe for a fence I want in front of the studio-to-be?)

Yes, my dear husband put them there. Under my bathroom sink. I at first suspected the children, but then the workmanship pretty much screamed his name.

You see in recent years he had taken up making wooden things with old tools. No chainsaws (except the one the tree-cutters used to cut it down). Just uses little axes, draw knives, maybe a froe or two in there.

See I know the lingo. Because my husband works a little with wood. He's made me some great rustic benches, and tables.

We even have a shaving horse. Just like the one I saw at the historical homesite in the Smoky Mountains.

(pay no attention to the dog who is obviously so desperate for attention that she is trying to make you feel sorry for her by standing in front of the camera looking pathetic, or faithful, or whatever. She is very manipulative.)

The shaving horse which he made himself from just a single white oak tree.
Which I have managed to convice him I could identify by sight.

When I was driving around in a convertible roadster in suburbia as a 20 year old, "I'd a never thought it."

But I love a man who loves old stuff. When he was close to 40, we went through his mid-life "crisis."

We bought draft horses. So we could plow the ground with 'em, of course. So they could pull us around in wagons, on a slide, whatever.

I said, to that midlife issue, "bring it on!" (He could be lookin' for fast cars and loose women, you know!)

Big gentle, slow horses - it wasn't too tough a choice for me! Most of the time, I'm all for living in a time warp.

You should come by when I'm walking behind the walking plow and about two tons of black horse. My husband's telling me to plow straight, and I'm thinking, the horses, which he is driving, are pulling this plow - it's pretty much gotta go where they do...

It gives our garden really unique, curved rows...

It is never boring around here. I learn stuff all the time. Here in this oddly comfortable life on the farm...

Those things under my bathroom sink - well, they were carved green, and have to dry real slowly, or they will crack. Once they are dry, they will be as hard as wood can get. Dogwood is a very hard wood.

Look, Opie's took to the wood carving stuff, too...Daddy's little helper is getting closer and closer to being useful around here!

Poached Eggs on Spinach Nests

2010-01-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

Here is what we had for breakfast today. We really loved it, so we thought we'd share it. My girls helped with the photography.
We made it in individual portions, since no one had to get up today, as it was a snow day here in Mississippi. We just dragged out of bed one at a time...

Here is what you will need:
Eggs (two per serving)
Fresh spinach (about 1-2 cups per serving)
Little bit of bacon grease
or bacon
Hollandaise sauce(we use the easy Knorr mix that you mix up yourself on the stove.)
Vinegar
Water

First, start with a medium pot and fill it with 3-4 cups of water. Put it over high heat to boil.
Mix up the Hollandaise sauce, according to package instructions, set aside.
If you don't have some bacon grease, fry up a couple small pieces until chewy/crisp. Place on a towel to drain, but keep about 1 1/2 tablespoons of grease in the skillet.

Meanwhile, pick through some fresh spinach. You will need at least a cup and a half for each serving. It cooks down to nothing.

Put the bacon grease in a small skillet, warm it up. Then add the spinach and saute it ...

Just until it is all wilted. You can sprinkle a little salt on it.

Remove the spinach to your serving plate. Set aside.

Your water should be about boiling. Add about 1/2 cup vinegar to the water. I am not sure why. My mom used to say it helped the eggs stay together in the water as they poach, but since, I have heard it is not necessary. Who knows? So I put it in.
The smell of it is very effective in drawing children to the kitchen who recognize it means poached eggs...
When the water is gently, but fully boiling, slip two eggs into the water and immediately set the timer for 3 minutes. This gives you cooked, but still runny yolks. If you like them a little more done, add a minute. Much more than that, and you may as well make hard boiled eggs, though.

Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon, and place over the spinach.
Drizzle as much Hollandaise sauce over them as you wish.
My girl actually went back and drowned hers after this photo!

For the finishing touch, sprinkle a little Tony Chachere cajun seasoning over the top. It's pretty, and it tastes good. We put in on about everything around here.

Enjoy!

Weimaraners Enjoy Blizzards

2010-01-07T08:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a nice morning for the Weimaraners, Gypsy and Scup.
I was listening to the Mississippi Public Radio show, "Creature Comforts" and the vet on there was encouraging everyone to give their dogs a little extra shelter in the below freezing temperatures we are having today.I caved. I'd been watching them run between the back porch and their cozy place in the barn all morning, hoping someone would notice them and feed them.
So I fed them, and then I invited them in.
After the half hour it took for them to calm down...
They started to enjoy themselves.

They especially enjoyed it when my baby girl decided to read aloud to them.

Notice that Sadie the Wonderdog is already getting up from the Reading Circle, clearly tempting Scup to also misbehave.
Isn't there always a kid like that in the reading circle? Won't be still, thinks there's something better to do than listen to a book? How aggravating. How A.D.D.
But maybe it's just because Sadie already read that book.

Family Attacked By Birds

2010-01-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

This was hard to document.
But I am a photojournalist, and I had to do it.

Even though it was my own family being attacked by birds.

Well, I guess my family was kinda asking for it.
If you bring out a new loaf of bread...

And then taunt them with it (I think I heard her say, "Bring it on!")
Then you just get what you deserve.

New Year's in Fairhope

2010-01-01T17:29:00.001-08:00

We trooped our bunch down to Fairhope, Alabama, and beyond for a celebration of my Grandmother's 90th birthday.

Ninety years old. 90.

"Ninety? How about that?" said my dear grandmother. She's pleasantly not cognizant of many of the pesky details of this life these days.

Like that she's ninety, which is convenient. I told her she could say she was fifty if she wanted to.

She's so sweet that no one would argue with her.

It's a little sad that she also is having trouble remembering just exactly who any of us who came to celebrate with her. . . actually are, like in relation to her. Which means we had to keep reminding us who we were - but really, in her defense, my four kids look a lot different than the last time she saw them. And there were SO many of us there, it was a little more than she was used to.

Regardless, she was game for our little celebration. She loved her chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting, and chocolate ice cream.

Remembering you love chocolate is a GREAT thing to remember!

We are all staying in a beach house my dad arranged to have us stay in. It's been great.

The kids are trying to trap some crabs down on the pier. Not sure if it is, like, crab season, if there is such a thing. But I'm pretty sure I will not be the one figuring out what to do with the poor crab, in the event one actually shows up!

Something I love is seeing the separations caused by the roles of "big sister" and "teenager" melt away as they all play together as a family. As siblings.

And this is something I really love!

A four-generation picture. I'm always seeing this in the paper that I write for, but I've certainly never gotten a four-generation photo! This is me, and my dad, my grandmother, and my four kids, who will treasure this someday. It'll be another generation born before this happens again.

Conditioner is not lotion

2009-12-27T14:56:00.000-08:00

Today my teenager asked me if using conditioner (as in, for HAIR) would make your skin softer.
Especially if you rubbed it all over your legs and upper arms every day...

Which apparently she has.

Possible important life lesson here: Read the container.

Sisters

2009-12-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

Sisters, sisters
There were never such devoted sisters,
Never had to have a chaperone, no sir,
I'm there to keep my eye on her

Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we are wearing
When a certain gentleman arrived from rome
She wore the dress, and I stayed home
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain and sun
Two different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one

Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man

(lyrics by Irving Berlin, White Christmas -which we sing pretty much all the time around here during the holidays!)

Firey Hair

2009-10-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

You know what is good about having three girls and one boy?

The girls are all pretty fashion conscious. They like to fix their hair. They like to fix each other's hair. They wish they could go to the salon once a week to . . . get something done. Perhaps a haircut, color, tan, eyebrows waxed, buy expensive hairspray...something, so that we have at least 400 bottles or containers of beautification product in the house.(it's actually a rare thing for us to go to the salon - can't afford it, and they never have, like, a whole day to cut all my kids hair.)

And then the Lord gave me a boy. I guess to make me appreciate the fact that my girls at least give a hoot what they look like.

He won't let me cut his hair, or take him to get it cut. He's waiting for something . . . like his 18th birthday, I think he says. I can't remember his current excuse, because I get distracted by this:

Especially at Sunday breakfast, which is when I pulled out the camera to record this lovely 'do.

He would never bathe, unless we made him. The thought of shampoo, lotion, deoderant. . . well, we will just say, he doesn't really think of those things unless you are threatening him with taking away some of his encyclopedias, Bionicles, or dragons, or making him skip soccer.

"NOBODY CARES WHAT MY HAIR LOOKS LIKE BUT YOU!" I hear this a lot. Then he stomps down the hall to the bathroom, and . . . I'm not sure what he does, because I usually have to do the whole thing over again, because he still has not brushed his hair.

Believe me, the whole thing about red-heads having a temper - it's true!

You'd think I'd lose weight having this to look at all through breakfast.

If his ancestors were this contrary, its really no wonder that a bunch of them never married.

Sigh.

Mini Portrait Sessions

2009-10-24T20:18:00.001-07:00

We went to Melissa's Main Street Salon today for mini-portrait sessions with the girls who were getting ready for the local beauty review. We had a great time, I took so many pictures I can barely type this - my hands are sore!

Just thought you would like to see a few of my favorites from the day. Ironically, my favorites tended to be the ones where the girls were "letting their hair down" on the day they were having it put up special!

Thanks to Melissa and staff, (and family!) for allowing us to share some space with them for the day. Thanks to my two girls, who were a tremendous help in getting the previews available for review immediately for the clients!

Not sure if I'll start doing studio work, yet, but today was fun!

And I must say that we did have among our group the Most Beautiful from last year, and this year! Congratulations to all of you!

Pamela

Portraits in the Hay

2009-10-20T21:24:00.001-07:00

Maggie w texture, originally uploaded by PMcRae.

I love this shot of Maggie from this weekend! I love textures, too, and don't spend enough time messing with them, but thought this fit.

I'm glad I finally had a subject cute enough, and willing to lay on my dear husband's artfully stored hay bales!

What's that hon? You didn't put them there just for me?

Well.

Typing Lessons

2009-10-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

Some days I wish I could tell the whole world a couple things:

Computers automatically put space after a period. You don't have to double space after periods!

When you are writing on a computer, you don't push the "return" at the end of each line. You let the (SEE IT JUST DID IT!) computer AUTOMATICALLY wrap the lines. It is so smart. That's why you got it. Let it do it's job!

Learn to set tabs. If you insist on spacing over five spaces, 1) you are SO telling your age, 'cause that means you learned on an actual TYPEWRITER, or from someone else who learned on a typewriter.
2) Pressing the space bar on a computer does not equal spacing like on a typewriter. Your indents or columns will not line up. ESPECIALLY if you have to prepare a report in a word processing program, like a church budget - Jesus wants you to learn about setting a decimal tab - it allows all your right hand items, like dollar amounts, to line up on the decimal!

Why should this matter? Because some of us, who have actually learned these little skills are distracted by your inability to type in a modern way, and they never look at what you are actually saying. And don't you want us to?

Thank you for allowing my little rant.

Have a great day.
P

Kaycee

2009-09-04T06:40:00.001-07:00

KB, originally uploaded by PMcRae.

Yesterday was such a busy day for me. All day I worked on getting some senior previews out, and in the afternoon had this awesome session with a very sweet senior. Tried out some new locations, had some adventures with Alabama Freedom Hills residents, and their goats...
All the proofs soon on www.mcraephotoart.com.

Little June's marker

2009-08-30T19:34:00.001-07:00

Little June's marker, originally uploaded by PMcRae.

This is one of my current favorite photos. It is at the Highland Cemetery next door.
Enjoy.
Pamela

Memphis cousins

2009-08-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

Decoration Day at Highland

2009-08-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Up and out of bed early on a beautiful Sunday to place flowers at the graves in Highland Cemetery.
The girls are not quite awake...

At the cemetery, Pop's new grave is the first one to get flowers.

And Aunt Elsie. She used to hold this little girl and rock her, humming the tune of "Come Thy Fount." It's always been the song her dad sang for her to get her to sleep.

Later she learned it, and played it for a Hymn Festival for piano students in the area.

And it started with Aunt Elsie.

We made some extra bouquets... but Pop seemed to get more than one...

Aunt Lisa's... I still can't even write about her. Annsley is our little "Lisa."

Cousin Kenneth. Mary may be the only one who remembers him...

Some for his great grandfather...and namesake. John Thomas McRae.

He was gone before even my husband was born.

He built our house, and barn, and lots more.

This boy sleeps in the bed where his 11 children were born (in our actual room, though.)

My husband's grandmother. She lived her whole life on this road.

Her first child was born in 1901. Her last in 1922.

This one is for a baby of theirs who died.

All 15 or 16 bouquets distributed. Time to review some other family members. They are nearly all in this cemetery. The land for this church and cemetery was given by their great-great grandfather.

They will bury their own parents here someday, and probably end up here, themselves.

They need to know about it.

A Blunt; surely kin to them. This one pretty close. I think their great-great grandfather. Father of my husband's grandmother.

Learning what footstones are, and how all the graves are facing east.

So they see Jesus in the eastern sky, when he comes for all those "asleep in Him" and take them to Heaven.

A baby's grave marker. Little June.
_____________________________________________

After dinner at Highland, there is congregational singing. We were so happy Johnny & Pam, and Danny, Marcia and Amy, and Mrs. Jeri could come spend the day again.

Time for a few songs from my favorite singers. See if last night's porch rehearsal helped.

My sister-in-law Marcia is one of my favorite people in the world!

She fills in for the piano player at Highland on days like this. She can play ANYTHING.

It's so great to have such a varied extended family. In the foreground is a cousin, and her mama is in the background. They and their families are a big reason that Highland is known for its outstanding singing.

Each year they ask the bass voices to come forward for some songs in which they are featured. This is the first time Alan, my nephew, went up.

Beside him is the living legend, former pastor (of about everywhere around here) J.A. Blunt. Alan probably can't fathom what this man knows... what he has seen in his life.

You could tell Johnny had been practicing.

These days are all about family.

This is my wonderful mother-in-law, from whom my oldest daughter (left) got her "snappy black eyes," and from whom my husband (center) got his cheekbones, hairline, and gregarious nature. She can do anything, and has tried many - painting, gardening, teaching, archeaology, basketball, Biblical studies... you name it. What an incredible model she has been for me, and she has always been so good with my children.

My husband with two of his favorite cousins, and his. . .great uncle.

Danny is not singing.

I think he was overcome.

My husband's cousin Johnny. He spent many summers at our place with his grandparents. He was a pretty famous runner. Everyone remembers him that way. He is also very nice and friendly, and his lovely wife, Pam is always great to have visit.

More family. These are the son, great-grandson, and grandson of J. A. Blunt. They have been leaders at Highland for many years, and are great people. Jordan is in school with Mary.

Danny with J.A.

What a great day!

Decoration Day 2009 - Preparations

2009-08-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful family supper Saturday night, we relaxed a little, and prepared for Decoration Day at the church on our road.

We cut flowers from our own garden to make bouquets to decorate the many graves of my husband and children's ancestors.

These sunflowers were for Pop. This is the first Homecoming/Decoration Day without him.

These hydrangeas are from a huge bush that was given to me by my Sunday School class when my own grandmother died.

It's fitting we are using it to remember others this weekend.

Homecoming and Decoration day also mean afternoon singing in the church. My husband and daughter have sang a song or two the past couple years, so they had to get their plan together and rehearse Saturday night. No better place than the front porch for this.

Cooking and serving supper to 20 people just wore us out. Especially Sadie. But she likes the singing.

Mark this: 1. They are letting me sing. 2. My baby girl got a photo of me.

Speaking of her, she practiced singing one, too. Maybe she'll get over her shyness (ha) sometime and actually sing it.

The fella is Mary's. He's a good one to hang out on our porch on a Saturday night.

Cool Beans: Louisiana Purple Pod Beans

2009-08-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

We are up to our ears in produce around here this time of year. Last night our supper included steaks, boiled okra, field corn on-the-cob, green beans, pesto pasta, baked potatoes, sliced fresh tomatoes and bread.

All of it but the bread and steaks were from our own garden. Well, I made the pesto from my own basil, but I did use store-bought pasta... No additives, nothing artificial in the whole meal, except for what might have been in those cows before they became steaks. It's great.

But, I digress.

One of the cool things my farmer husband grew this year are:

Purple green beans. This is how they looked before they were cooked. I didn't take a shot afterwards, because I couldn't tell them from the green ones. They lose the purple when you cook them!

They were the second planting, as we've snapped and frozen many bags of the "green" green beans that started coming in in June.

The top photo shows them growing on the field corn for supports. Isn't my farmer clever! And the purple vines were so nice I had to take pictures of them.

So, why purple beans, you ask. Well, if you had to ask, you just exposed the fact that you have not spent much time picking green beans. From green plants. On green stems.

They are hard to see! And if you don't see them, they get big and stringy and nasty by the next time you go to pick.

You can see the purple ones! And they turn green after cooking, and taste just as good. I'm going to request we only have these next year.

Better get back down to the garden and keep picking!

Pamela

I Love Blueberries

2009-08-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

I love blueberries. Everything about them.

They make me happy. I need that today! They are so thoughtful!

Digging to China

2009-07-31T21:14:00.001-07:00

My children have been busy this last week before they return to school.

They have been digging to China.

Why do I have the feeling no one else is saying that?

Yes, my son and baby daughter have dug this hole over the past few days. He started with a post-hole digger. I think he is standing up in the above photo.
And she is standing up in the photo below.

You can see all the tools they have found and used. They cut through a 3" root and were so proud. That nearby red oak has a diameter of several feet. I sure hope they didn't kill it!

You gotta love country kids. Without video games. Who know how to use tools.

You should see my beautiful white slipper tub...Actually, only the girl bathed. He thought it would be ok to just change into clean clothes. (you know, I have not seen those dirty clothes...)

I should be able to use this for good, somehow.

I've always wanted a basement....

Where They Sat

2009-07-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago, my husband's father died suddenly. He was a constant, an anchor, in our collective lives, in my life.

Knowing him for 17 years - well, I've only known about three other people, excluding relatives, as long in my life. And one of them, my husband -- I've only known him a few months more than that.

He was one of my favorite people, and I treasured what he meant to me, what he meant to my husband and best friend, and how he helped shape him into the man I know today. He was a wonderful husband to one of my dearest friends. He was an amusing, and instructive grandfather to my children.
He really cared about my kids.

He was concerned that my son won't eat much and won't try anything. And that the others don't eat everything on their plates.

He wanted them to learn garden related skills. He showed them, many times, how to pick corn, shuck it, and cut it off the cob on our annual "corn days." He recently had Connor help him put cages around the tomatoes in his immaculately kept garden.

He tried to show them how to mow his lawn to his satisfaction, but he was very particular. But he paid them well.

He showed them how much fun it is to talk to complete strangers while on vacation. And that you should make a fun show of putting on any silly hat you got for Christmas.

He followed all their musical endeavors, attending nearly all their piano recitals, listening to them sing (songs he was not crazy about) in the children's and youth choirs. He even attended a high school talent show where the audience spent more time talking and messing with cell phones than listening to my daughter debut a song she wrote.

And last Sunday, he did not sit in his regular pew at our church. Beside my mother-in-law.

And that is what really got me.

See, his funeral was on a Sunday, so we didn't have morning church, and we didn't attend that evening, due to the funeral, grief, visitors, grief, etc.

The next week, his brother's wife passed away after a long period of illness, also on Friday morning, so the funeral was also on Sunday - so no church again.

We had been on vacation the week before, for one of our rare planned absences. So, Sunday was the first morning service in a month for us as a family.

I sat with my mother-in-law, because I imagined it would not be easy to look down from my normal choir seat and see her out there on the second row - with only her sister on her right... and no one on her left side. I knew it wouldn't be easy for her (but that she would make it look easy.)

It wasn't much easier sitting beside her, I determined. Thank goodness I was less obvious digging through my purse for a tissue, than if I'd have been in the choir. And, of course, she had a tissue for me.

He didn't sit in his place at the table Sunday when we went to dinner after church.

And he won't be dozing in the recliner next time I go to pick up the kids, either, I reckon.

As I get out of the car to pick up the children from their house next time, and approach their porch lost in thought or distraction, he definitely won't be sitting in the chair there, with one of his clever hats perched rakishly on his head, so quiet and still until I'm right close, waiting to say . . . "Hey!" Making me jump, and chuckling to himself.

This week, yet another dear friend and fellow church member also died tragically. As a newspaper writer, I managed to follow my editor's request to contact the family and write of the accident that took him away prematurely from his family. I visited the family some without really embarrassing myself.

But what got me was. . . he didn't sit behind me in the tenor section when we sang his favorite songs today. He didn't offer his weathered hand to shake during the greeting time.

And he didn't offer a helping hand to dear Mrs. Dawson, who has just enough trouble with her knee to slow her down as she descends the choir steps every Sunday. He hands her down to me at the next little set of steps...

She was such a rock. I froze in sudden realization of what was missing - that simple assistance that we have provided her every Sunday morning for years, but she looked up to Steve, and said, "Well, I guess you've got yourself a job, now, don't you?"

And I completely lost it.

I know it won't get easier for a while. And I was not even the person closest to any of these people.
Help us, Lord.

Are there no tissues in this house???

Canning Tomatoes

2009-07-18T05:48:00.001-07:00

This post is written to help out a few friends who have asked for canning advice.

Does your counter top ever look like this when you come in the kitchen? It has been a great year in our garden, and about every other day for the next month, I can expect my dear husband to bring me tomatoes like these. Way too many to use for supper, and lunch, and even if I fed my children nothing but tomatoes!

But it is fortunately not too hard to make your counter look like this:

And have tomatoes you can use all year long, until next July, when it begins again.

Just let me say here, that, yes, it is some work. It is easier to buy tomatoes off the shelf. But I am guaranteed top quality, insecticide-free, hormone-free food that is not genetically engineered this way.

I'm pretty sure Heinz doesn't think the way I do. And you gotta wonder who is picking the tomatoes. Who's washing them? I have little faith in the food industry. If I can control a part of what goes into my family, I'm gonna do it.

Plus, even the people who think "why go through all that trouble" sure are pleased to receive a jar of home canned tomatoes as a little gift.

To do it my way, start by cleaning your sink. Really scrubbing it, because the food will be touching it later. Clean it like you were going to drink the water in it.

But keep going, and don't just be proud you cleaned your sink and stare at it!

Other things you will need are:

lemon juice
pickling/canning salt,
clean jars with lids and rings (these are taking up an aisle at the Walmart this time of year),
a canner - which is a large pot with a lid - (they are also at the Walmart - but be careful if you have a smooth surface stovetop - you can't use the speckly ones.)
Sharp knives
A jar lifter
Also, several kitchen towels, measuring spoons, and a canning funnel is good.

Start by coring the tomatoes. You want to get the whitish part out of the top center, and, of course the stem part.

Also cut out any major blemishes the same way. Be sure to get any nasty parts out.

They should look like this. You gotta have a sharp knife to make this easy, but don't put it all the way through the tomato and into your palm. Take it from me!

You should end up with a sinkful of cored fruit ready to have the peels removed.

Removing the peels is easy with boiling water. Use some kind of strainer set up, maybe a metal colandar with a handle. This is my setup, because we use this all the time in the summer. We also use it to blanch any green beans, peas, etc. before we can them. The strainer part sets in the boiling water.

Bring your water to a rolling boil. Put a few tomatoes in the strainer.

Set them in the boiling water.

In about 2-3 minutes, you should see their skins start to start peeling away. When all of them have some peely looking places, you can take them out, carefully allowing your boiling water to drain off them,

And dump them into your clean skin, running cold water to stop the cooking, and cool them down enough to handle.

In a minute or two, when they are cool enough to handle, pick them up, and peel all the skin off. Discard it into a bowl for your chickens, or your compost pile.

When you get all the skin off, cut it rougly into quarters. You are just trying to get it small enough to fit in a jar. If its a little tomato, don't even bother.

And place it in a large pot that you will later put on the stove to bring the tomatoes to a boil.

(Alternately, at this point, you can put the tomatoes into freezer bags and freeze them)

You'll develop a rhythm with this. As soon as you dump some into the sink to cool, put some more in the strainer to start them peeling. By the time they are done, you will have the ones in the water peeled and in the pot.

Continue until all the tomatoes are in the pot, and put it on the stove. You should be able to see some of the tomato liquid. You can cover with water, but really, the fruit will produce more liquid as it cooks, so I don't .

Bring to a boil, but stir often. You can take it off the heat, then.

While it's coming to a boil, get the canning area prepared.

An assembly line process works best for me. I set everything up like this:

You also need to set up a small pot of water with all your lids and rings in it, covered with water. Bring it to a boil, and let it simmer until you need them.

We should start heating up the water in the canner at this point. You need to only fill it about halfway full. When you put the full jars in, it will come up. Be prepared to adjust. Start it boiling now, with the lid on. This is the thing that takes the longest.

I inherited this pot, which is actually a huge pressure cooker, too. Some canned items need to be in a pressure cooker, but not tomatoes, thank goodness. I don't ever do any of those things. Just keep to the basics!
My husband's aunt, born in 1901, never married and lived in this house her entire life, and used this pot. There is no telling how many jars of food she put up with it over the years - as they were always farmers and raised much of their own food.
I bought one of my own, once, from Walmart - the pretty speckled-y kind. But then my old stove burned up, and we got a ceramic/smooth surface one, and you are not supposed to use that kind of cookware on it. So back to Aunt Earl's...
This rack fits down in it, and you can load it up with jars and take them all out at once, but it's pretty heavy.

To prepare for the tomatoes: Put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in each jar.

And one teaspoon of canning salt.

Start putting the hot tomatoes into the jars, filling up to 1/2 inch from top.

Tap the jars lightly on the counter, to get all the air bubbles out. There shouldn't be too many. Wipe the tops of the jars off well. Tomatoes, or juice, salt, or lemon juice will mess up your seals.

Place a lid on each jar.

And screw the rings on tightly. You don't have to be Superman, here. The rings are just there to keep the lid part on until it seals.

Either put them in a basket like this, or place them into the boiling water in the canner.

The water needs to be at least this high, and real instructions tell you they need to be COVERED, but my canner just is not that deep. It overflows, anyway, when it gets to boiling. My jars seal anyway, and that is the goal. You can put the lid on to bring them back up to a boil, but since mine is a pressure cooker, that just makes a mess, so I don't.

They need to boil/simmer for 45 minutes.

After that, use a jar lifter to take them out, and put them on the counter overnight. You will hear them popping after they start cooling. This is GREAT! It means that the lid has sealed.

This is when me and my sweetie look at each other over our books and smile at each other. (Did I mention we don't have TV?)
The next morning you have this:

Be sure all the lids have popped in. When you touch the tops, it shouldn't be flexible. That means it didn't seal. But, on the good side, that means you can use those sooner. Just keep them in the fridge instead of the pantry. They are ready to use, but you can keep them up to a couple years in a cool dark place.

Store in a dark, cool place. I would show you my pantry, but I would die of embarrassment.

Surprises at the State Capitol

2009-06-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

After we let an early afternoon rainshower go through, I headed back to the hotel to change shoes - mine had given me blisters.
When we met back up, we headed for the Colorado state capitol, which is in a pretty area downtown.
We saw the Denver Post building.

On the front of the capitol, there are markers indicating exactly where it is a mile above sea level. There are three, which confused me, but I didn't say so, because my engineer/surveyor husband would surely have a lecture for me.

Turns out, he was confused, too, and looked it up later at the hotel. It was at three different places at three different times. The level of "sea level" changes occasionally. Huh. Go figure. What can you count on in this life, I ask?

This is the view from the front steps of the Colorado state capitol. My darling family in front (the ones not climbing up the porch columns...), and the Denver City Hall behind them across a pretty park, and mountains in the background. How cool is that?

I'm pretty sure this is not the view from the Mississippi state capitol.

When we went inside, I got a lovely surprise: local quilters had hundreds of quilts on display for an annual show at the state capitol! It was so gorgeous, and a lovely way to display quilts! I would not want to be on the set up/take down committee!!!

We looked all around the building, which was very impressive. There was marble and brass everywhere.

This is a gallery with portraits of all the presidents. The kids all identified their favorites, mostly based upon who was in office when they were born. We are VERY political people, you know.

Upon closer inspection, it was clear that they were all painted by the same artist.

And here is our Mary Moment for this post: My straight-A, honor student 15-year old asked, "How could he live that long?"

Which is why we won't actually be turning her loose to drive on our highways and byways any time soon.

There was no one actually working late Friday afternoon. Mary had to stand in.

And, speaking of standing in, these alcoves were just screaming for some statues...

I don't know where they get this kind of behavior. It's shameful. Thank goodness we were the only people in the building.

Ah, now I see where they get it.

Looks like they have to worry about their roof just like we do at the leaky-roof Vidette - see the plastic coverings on all the chairs? I can relate guys!

In Mississippi, we believe we ought to keep things ready for the legislature to come back any time during it's recess for many special sessions, so probably no plastic back home in Jackson. Have not heard out here in Colorado whether we have a budget yet back home...

Exploring Denver

2009-06-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

After a 6 a.m. flight from Nashville, and the required 3 a.m. wake up time, we opted to crash a few hours as soon as we got to Denver.

In the afternoon, we explored the 16th Street Mall - a pedestrian mall that we really enjoyed.

The best place we saw was this bookstore:

And you have to love kids that were dying to go to this store - the only store we actually went in.

This was the store directory.

Here is Connor making a beeline for the kids section where he bought the lastest of a series he is reading.
This was a neat place, but on Friday, I didn't see anyone writing there.

But, it was Friday afternoon, so maybe they called it an early weekend.

The Flight

2009-06-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

This was the kids' first time to fly, and they loved it. It is always so funny to take country kids to the city.

Kirby had Conn and Emma in row one, with both cameras (arrgh! very frustrating) and Emma took some pictures outside the plane, but also many of the controls on the armrest, the little TV screen - showing the live flight indicator that showed where the plane was at that moment!

Mary, Annsley and I sat further back, so we watched movies, and looked out the window.

Once Mary said, "Look a barn!"

"How would you know?" I asked, since she certainly doesn't really know where our own barn is, since she never goes outside!

"She's just guessing," said Annsley. That Annsley, she's quick!

Traveling Notes

2009-06-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it took us long enough, but we made it to Nashville, where we catch a 6 a.m. flight(note: help with the reservations next time instead of leaving it all to Kirby).

Before we even got to Cherokee, the van was overheating. Had to drive back to Iuka and get it checked - hardly any coolant in the radiator! Glad it didn't do that when I drove to Tupelo Monday night, or when Kirby took it to Jackson Tuesday - what is up.

Anyway, we were glad to have a friend offer their van, so we got on the road about an hour and a half later... and just past Cherokee, I noticed... I left my purse at Kirby's office, where I took the kids while he got the van checked out.

We turned around. Finally we got on the road a few hours late. This has to get better.

Next stop, Denver.

Seeing off the Troops

2009-05-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

I admit, I never think much about our soldiers. The men (and women) who are fighting for us, regardless of if we think the fight is worthy.

Ya know - they have a job to do, I have a job to do, whatever.

'Cept they are willing to give their life in their job. Me. . . not so much (sorry Mr. Biggs).

But in the past several weeks, as our local National Guard troop has been preparing to deploy on another tour of Iraq, I have been interacting with SSG Jim Henry who kindly runs "press relations" at the Iuka unit.

"Press" in this case is mostly, well . . . me, as the only writer at the local county paper, (motto: "The One Paper in the World Most Interested in This Area"). But maybe he gets to talk to real newspaper people, too, sometimes.

I know I have driven him crazy with all the times I have called to ask him AGAIN what the actual troop name is (today my guess is... Troop C 1-98 Calvary Regiment...), and what his rank is, and when they are leaving, and how many again....and what is the name of that group they are raising funds for (I'll never forget again... it's the Families' Readiness Group).

(I'm still too intimidated to ask what SSG means - super stealth guy? staff sergeant? hmmm They have acronyms for everything in the Army! Please do not tell him!)

And, now, I know that he has four kids. And a wife, Jamie. And two of the kids are itty bitty, and SO cute.

And he LEFT THEM ALL Friday to go to Camp Shelby, on his way to being deployed for A YEAR in Iraq.

On my behalf. On your behalf. No matter what we think of the war.

And there are about 25 more guys like him who are going over with him. And they are joining more. They are fathers, brothers, uncles, friends... and husbands. And they are leaving behind lots of family members.

This is pretty heavy for me. I don't wanna think about soldiers. And them risking their lives in a strange land, with/for people who, for the most part, either don't like us, certainly don't seem grateful enough, and often seem to appear to be downright fightin' against us.

They certainly don't seem worth what I saw last Friday.

I'll be thinking several times every day of the forty or fifty little children I saw hugging their daddies for the last time for at least a year. Of the mommies of all those kids who are releasing their helpmates... to go serve their country (read: serve YOU).

Of the one mommy that looked many years younger than me, who had a very young baby, and one that couldn't have been much more than a year... and I think she collected four bags that the 4-H agent was passing out for the children of the soldiers.

Who is helping her??

I may never complain again that my dear husband is sitting in the living room reading the newspaper (again) while I (fill in the blank...wash dishes, fix supper, help with homework, do laundry, sweep under his feet.)

At least I have him with me, and can be mostly sure he'll be there tomorrow, and the next day, and each night in our bed.

I feel like... my husband would say, I grew up a whole lot last Friday. (He keeps waiting for this, I know. He might should'a married someone real old.)

(Like I did - ha! Got him!)

As if the scene of farewell at the Armory was not enough, I had volunteered to get on the bus and go with the soldiers as they made a farewell tour of the county, going through each town and school campus, on their way to Fulton, and Camp Shelby. I figured I might get a few good pictures...

Everywhere the bus drove, people lined the streets outside their place of business, wearing red shirts, and waving flags. Some people appeared in several places along the route - getting ahead of us as while we stopped at the schools. I took pictures of every person/group I saw waving and saluting.

Ladies at the Pit Stop, and Inez's, prepared breakfast sack lunches for them. Others offered additional food, too.

And women by the dozen hugged their necks everywhere they went! I did not hear a single complaint.

Sometimes there would be just one car pulled over, in honor of the police escort, with one man standing and saluting the bus as it passed.

Many times, on a porch, or outside the door of a business far off the road, there would be just one or two people waving and jumping - having waited for who knows how long for them to come by.

One lady in Dennis flung open her door, and ran out on the porch, frantically waving. She had almost missed them!

The support of the schools, and the welcome/farewell they put on for these guys was absolutely overwhelming.

From the moment they rounded the corner at Iuka Elementary and saw dozens of boy scouts all saluting... well. Well.

The students had made signs:

We Love You

Thank you for all U do

Go Kick Butt

We'll miss you Matt Cook (in Burnsville)

Be safe

Support

Signs, many of which they eventually managed to hand over to the soldiers to take with them. I can't imagine what it looked like on the rear seats of the bus! Maybe they have a little bulletin board at Camp Shelby?

At every school it almost got better! The administration and teachers, and students, just outdid themselves. By the time we left Tishomingo, they surely felt appreciated and loved.

Once, one of the soldiers said, "I don't have any more crying left in me."

When we drove up to TCHS and saw what appeared to be hundreds of American flags being waved by a long line of students, one said, "If you ever wondered what we are fighting for, look at that."

By the time they got to Belmont, it was like. . . they were rock stars! Patriotic music filled the air as they got off the bus, and the entire gathering (K-12, mind ya, plus teachers) sang "I'm Proud to be an American" prompted by Joel, from Belmont TV (the store, and of the Belmont Times website) whom I suspect helped make it a really big deal in Belmont.

The junior high cheerleaders had donned camouflage outfits, and did a dance to "Soulja Boy," ending up spelling out U S A with their poms!

And the always-dressed-to-the-nines assistant principal, Katie Crane (dressed for the occasion in a perfectly cheerful and lovely patriotic sundress that made you think of Donna Reed), steered the men to a table with veggies and dip, fresh fruit, and ice-cold, Coca-colas. In the old-fashioned glass bottles!

(I took more than 600 photos, by the way.)

I think it was a day the soldiers won't soon forget (plus they have all those posters!)

I've only stopped crying, again, after going through the photos for the website. I'll not forget anymore. And I'm going to make sure people who read the Tishomingo County News don't forget, either.

I also think that the students will remember the day the soldiers came to say goodbye. Maybe they will remember one who high-fived them, or received their patriotic-colored bear coloring sheet. And maybe, they will remember someone in particular - a certain face, when they hear news reports of a war they hardly understand.

And maybe we will all keep them, and their families, in our prayers.

The nearly complete set of photos from the day is posted as a slide show at my photography web site:
www.mcraephotoart.com
Feel free to print from this slideshow, comment on it, share it with friends, whatever. (Be sweet.) The soldiers were all given a link to it, too. It will stay up until they come home.

History Tour

2009-04-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

We live in a really old house, in a really old place. My husband's great-great grandfather bought it just after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (extra detail - but isn't that a great name?) gave all the white folks the land of the Chickasaws and Choctaws, in exchange for a lovely part of Oklahoma - where they probably missed the trees they left behind here, and thought a lot about reading the fine print on contracts with white people!

Ever since 1832, his family has lived here - on one side of the road or the other. And in our place since about 1910. His daddy, and all his aunts and uncles (11, 9 surviving) were born at home on the farm. We love it, and are blessed to know the history of it, be able to touch the things they touched, and worked with, and to walk the same ground. Our kids run over the same yard and fields as they did as children; sometimes they bring back little traces of another life, like broken dishes, or pieces of an implement (you can hear them saying, "Where did that thing fly off to?). It gives me a feeling of lots of people watching you, and watching over you. I hope we make them happy.

Last Friday, the inaugural Local History class from Tishomingo County High School came to tour our place, and my dear husband came home to take them around and show them the old buildings and explain their history. It was very interesting, except for when I was thinking, "Why am I not taping this?" since our kids may not even know all the information he was sharing.

Here he is showing them the location of a stand, or coach inn, that was across the road. His great-great grandfather is thought to have died at his desk when he saw Union soldiers come across the yard. This was around the same time there were skirmishes in the Paden area, around the Battle of Corinth, and Shiloh. The man's son was off fighting in the war, too. But not for the Confederacy, he explained to the students.

Here he is showing them the barn that still has his grandfather's wagon in it, and which also houses our collection of horse-drawn farm equipment. The one fella was taking photos - he is the class photographer, said Mrs. Thorne.

This is Aunt Sallie's house, and you can see where the chimney is separated from the house. Kirby thinks this happened in the storm of 1913, when a tornado destroyed much of nearby Tishomingo. One of his uncles used to tell him he remembered seeing it go through.

He explained about dogtrot houses, and about how the construction had a purpose. People didn't stay inside all the time like these kids probably do. There were many of them in each of these three-room houses - you didn't loll around on your bed listening for your phone to vibrate! You got outside! If you were not working, you could sit on the porch and help do the many things that needed doing there.

This house is identical to ours, except, of course, ours has been added on to - the porches were closed in in 1968, and an indoor bathroom was added, too. Yes, in 1968. We are not too far removed from Appalachia, believe me. This house (Aunt Sallie's) never had a bathroom. I think it has lightbulb sockets (power is not connected now) but no other power. They last lived there in the late 1950s or early 1960s, I think.

It was built in about 1885, when the previously mentioned inn burned. They had to have a place to live pretty quick, and the other side was probably built first.

My husband (a civil engineer who has structural training, so he knows a lot about this kind of thing) theorizes that the rear chimney(below right) was built first, since it is the kitched chimney, and they had to have somewhere to cook, quickly. The rocks are sat up on end, which uses fewer rocks and would have gone up quicker, he thinks. The other chimney is a more elaborate construction. They are both made of Tishomingo Stone - Hartselle limestone, which still comes from a quarry just down the road from us.

Here he is in the dogtrot of Aunt Sallie's telling them about her. She lived here a lot longer than her (also never married) brother Charlie, my husband's great uncle. She used to "get happy" (worship) on the porch and many people remember hearing her do that. These are people who lived way up the road.

She would also loudly shoo her chickens into the hen house if she saw a hawk ("ever'thing is the enemy of a chicken" - one of the first things I learned here).

So when she "got happy," her chickens would run into the henhouse. Well-trained, or just not the worship-in-public type?

He also told how when Arch Blunt's wife died, he came down this end of the road and thought about courting Aunt Sallie. She told him that there were too many McRaes and Blunts already married! Three of her siblings married three of the Blunt siblings down the road. Yes, we really are double-first cousins to nearly everyone (at least my father-in-law is).

We also took them up to Highland Baptist Church, and told them a little about that. Some of the oldest graves are my husband's great grandfather and his wife. The church is a bit more than 125 years old. William Alexander McRae donated the land for it.

Our dogs followed us up to Highland - (foreshadowing alert!)

They follow the kids up there all the time -And have for years enjoyed Vacation Bible School with Highland Baptist folks each summer! They raised cain with the neighbors dogs, and scared one student (apparently allergic) into staying on the bus the whole time!

We tried to go further down the road to Maudie's without the dogs, but they heard the whole thing and followed us anyway. While my husband tried to tell them about this other old homeplace, the neighbor's pit bull showed up. I was fearful of a nice little dog fight, possible death of a family pet (probably mine) in front of the high school tour group - but they made a little peace, thankfully.

He told them about the eccentric three sisters - Maudie, Oceania (pronounced here O see nee), and Alma Gardner (never hear much about the third, I can't remember...) who live here together, and ran the old store. This store has been here as long as anything on the Highland Road, which used to be the route from Fulton to Eastport, before Tishomingo and Iuka! Many people still around remember stopping at Maudie's for candy (she must have sold a lot of candy!) The fixtures in the store, we have been told, pre-date the War (if you don't know which one that is...) and they closed it in 1963. There is still a calendar up!

Maudie did get married for about a week, once. But came back home. Married life was not for her! She never cut her hair as a young woman, and we have photos of it down to her calves! Oceania once stopped talking to anyone for several years, until or because of "the change," I was told.

This store must have been a good business. They had nice things. We have many of the antique peices of furniture from them. Maudie gave their place to my husband's uncle because he cared about keeping up old places, and if she wanted to come back to see it, she knew it would look just the same. Someone told me once of seeing them walking to town - in a line, with about 50 yards in between each one. In town, they tried to spend gold coins as late as the 1960s.

This old door on the store is a favorite item to take photos of (these are my first ones in a long time.) My husband had to let me take photos of him the whole "tour," which gives me a sneaky sense of victory! They may be the last ones I ever get. If I could just photoshop his glasses case out of his shirt (he is such an engineer...sigh.)

The door is covered up with nails driven in straight lines into the diagonal planks of the door. The reason is unknown, but J.A. Blunt told my husband that maybe she didn't want anyone breaking in. Breaking in something like this would have possibly involved chopping in with an axe (the door is barred from the inside), and the nails would have made this difficult, my husband surmises.

The students were so polite and nice, and Mrs. Thorne is to be commended for taking on a course for which there is no book!

We had a lovely day, and the dogs only suffered minor injuries.

This was funny, to me, to see a school bus in the yard.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone. Resurrection Sunday is absolutely my favorite holiday! Without it, there really is no need for any other holidays, right?

Easter is my holiday to host Sunday dinner at my house, which I love to do!

We even got to host the church Easter Egg Hunt at our place, which was really fun! Some of the little kids even were crying, "I don't wanna leave!" when it was time to go!

It is always a time of general cleaning up for us - the gardens, the lawn, pickin' up junk in the yard from a winter's worth of coming in as soon as the early darkness hits. I seeded the yard a few weeks ago, so it actually looks like a lawn for a few weeks before we go back to the dirt.

Thursday night we had some severe thunderstorms come through the area. The weather radio was going off all night - I had a headache when I got up. I fumbled for my glasses to look out the window, see if any branches had fallen...

And this is what I see. Right close to the house, too! It was an old elm, about 75 feet tall. It was leafing out and everything. We never suspected it was weak.

So guess what we did all day Good Friday! The upcoming festivities did inspire us to get nearly all of it cleaned up that day. Only the logs that are too large for us to move are still there, waiting for a nice day to have the Haflinger team move them. They can't wait, I'm sure!

Silver lining, though! It mashed our rickety old ugly wood shed, and now we will have to build something else to cover our wood for next year. Something nice and attractive this time, I hope!

And, last but not least, Scup wanted everyone to know he was so excited about Easter, too! He even brought a cute little bunny to us on Friday morning to help celebrate!

Unfortunately for the bunny, I don't think he came willingly. Poor Scup, he is always so proud when he brings us a critter, which is often. He can't figure out why we don't wanna play with it, too!

Happy Easter - and I hope your bunnies are having a better day.

Been there, done that - teen girl deja vu

2009-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had my oldest take her dad's truck to go fetch some junk up at Aunt Sally's, my future studio right across the road from our place. We've been cleaning it out so I will have somewhere indoors to do portraits. Everything I do right now is outside.

She has recently gotten her drivers permit.

Since the task included driving, even just across the road, she JUMPED at the chance to GO GET THE GARBAGE off the back porch so I could take it to the dump (I think I have not done that yet, have I? note to self...). And remember, Mary neither GOES OUTSIDE or touches GARBAGE unless she is threatened with something pretty bad.

About 20 minutes later, I saw her... walking back down the driveway. No truck.

I knew exactly what had happened.

"I was going to drive around the field and practice my backing up...."
And of course, she got stuck!

"Doyouthinkhewilleverletmedriveagain? He'llneverletmedriveagain,will he?" she sobbed. I told her she had to go in, wake him up from his nap (ouch!!) and tell him. He'd have to help her, since I wasn't going to go over there and get it more stuck, so both of us could come tell him what we did!

That one's all yours sista!
_________________________________________

I flashed back to the many times in my teen years, when I was driving one or another of the convertible MGB roadsters that my dad kept around. He always had more than one, which, if you know anything about MGs, you gotta have, since one is always being fixed. He got to be quite an expert on them - even raced them successfully a little after I left home (it was a long mid-life thing for him...).

They were the BEST cars to drive! Very sporty, stick shift, everone wanted to drive them, or ride with you. I never could make them go very fast, in their near constant state of maintenance. But they were CONVERTIBLES, and with the top down, everyone saw you - which is what you're after as a teen girl in the big city, ya know!

Didn't matter if you had pink sponge rollers in your hair driving to school at 6 a.m. for cheerleading practice, someone was gonna notice you, and honk at you and wave. It's like a rule - wave at the people driving convertibles.

The one rule I had was, don't drive them too far. Only the 5 or 6 miles to school and back, please, was his rule. Like I followed that!

But I paid the price. I can remember many a time when I had to call - "Dad, it won't start." He'd have to come fetch me and the car home, and that was not a good thing. Especially if I called from somewhere I was not supposed to be - which was pretty liberal with my parents, but I was not supposed to be too FAR away. Since he might have to come get me.

I had a pretty good fear of my dad as a kid. No real reason, as I look back. But he was just not too good with children - impatient, and expectant of good things without him having to do much about it, I guess.

EEK that sounds like me!

Anyway. If he looked at me sternly, I would pretty much fall to pieces. At least inside. Of course, I was the kind of kid that lives on praise and recognition, still am, to my shame. Couldn't take criticism well (see: fall to pieces, above). Still don't do it well.

Must be an oldest child thing?

The worst time was the time me and my buddy went down to Oz at like, 11th Street - way outside the permitted area - on major highways, near downtown, the whole not-allowed thing.

We were shopping for tie-dye t-shirts! It was after my freshman year at Alabama, and we were all about looking like hippies.

Thing is, Oz was also a... purveyor of paraphenalia... BUT, WE were only there to get tie-dye t-shirts! I was pretty prude when it came to that kind of thing, then. And even more now, of course.

It was pretty hard to call him and have him come tow the car from Oz.

"Oz!!??" he yelled into the phone. There were no holes to crawl into there!
___________________________________________

Anyway, as my oldest went into the house to tell her dad she had got his truck stuck, I felt for her.

Her dad, my sweetie, and the ultimate example of parental patience, came out and walked with her to the truck (bet that was a long one) and showed her how to get it unstuck by putting it in 4-wheel drive (note - better explain to her that all cars don't have that...). They came back safe and sound.

And a lot smarter.

Lessons: Don't wear your favorite ballet flats to get the garbage at Aunt Sally's (they were trashed)
Don't let your iphone out of your hand. She actually did not take it with her. But, since then, I saw her carry it to the barn yesterday to feed the horses! Ugh.

But she did have old shoes on, at least.

March at Work

2009-03-25T21:00:00.001-07:00

I'd like you to meet one of my favorite people. Actually she's a horse: my little (fat) pony, March.
She is a Haflinger, which is a small draft horse. Lots of people work them on farms (ok, they are Amish farms) in Ohio and Indiana, but around here they mostly pull wagons. We have three and they are really personable, meaning they like being around people, and will come investigate you anytime you are in thier territory, or vice versa. We have shooed ours away from the porch before, and I always have to keep them away from the laundry basket when I hang out clothes and they are doing the mowing (very efficient, and their favorite job)! They might be curious, but probably they are just seeing if they can eat whatever you are doing.

Halfingers are small, but they are not ponies - they don't have that pony stubborness and attitude, unless you let them sit around all the time eating and not working.
Which is exactly what ours have been doing, so it's time to get those girls a-working.

The Task
I needed some large pieces of the tree we cut last fall picked up, since I about broke the wheelbarrow trying to roll them into it. They only had to be moved a few yards to the closest burn pile. I thought this would be a great task for March to help with! She is much stronger than me, and needs the exercise!

My middle daughter was feeling helpful last Saturday (go figure!) and she helped me get March harnessed and hitched to a ground slide. A ground slide is what we use to move wood from where ever it was cut to the woodshed, and we usually use our big horses for this task - along with whatever children are around for loading. A slide won't go too fast, and you can jump on and off it to adjust the amount of work the horse is doing, so it is a good training tool, too.

About the worst thing a hitched horse can do is stop and try to back up on you. Especially with an implement, which can really hurt them. This is March's favorite tactic, and she will do it twenty times trying to get you to STOP making her work, and take her back to the BARN in frustration. She is a clever thing, and her priorities are always the same. GET FOOD is the mainest one. And she knows I get aggravated pretty easily.

That is why you will see my husband holding a lead rope. It is to stop the danger of her backing up, since our girl is doing the actual driving. (I was holding it, since I didn't want to pull my sweetie away from whatever he was doing, but he saw us, and he thinks I get too aggravated, and that can get contagious, causing the whole operation to go poorly. So he jumped in to help. Fine with me, I'd rather take pictures, anyway!)

The entire time we were working, March was silly and fussy, trying to stop the process. But my man had a lot of patience and it was a great learning experience for my girl. In these two you can see she is trying the move again: planting her front feet and raising her head. She actually was trying to rear! It was important to do it after coming around that pear tree, for some reason.

He wouldn't let either of them quit until all the wood was moved. Annsley did a great job and learned a lot about being on the correct side of the slide in the turns - so her feet wouldn't get run over!
This was not hard work for March, but she gets ridden more than driven, so it was not her favorite thing. You hardly ever see a horse work at a trot, but she was that day! Getting it over sooner?

My oldest girl and her friend were supposed to come help load the wood, but managed to "not realize we were doing it" until the last couple peices. But they were really big pieces, so they got theirs! Plus they saw the camera, probably, and they can manage to turn anything into a photo op.
I was driving by now. My middle girl took these shots.

And is there always a photo like this in every session for you? Do they even know what that means? Do I even want to know?

What a Cool Girl

2009-03-24T04:02:00.000-07:00

This hat is one of Emma's favorites lately. Caught her in the natural light of our dining room. That day it seemed like it had been raining forever.

I Thought She Had Blue Eyes

2009-03-24T03:47:00.000-07:00

When it snowed in early March, we got up early to go hike the trails in the Park. On the way there, I commented on my baby's eyes, and how pretty and blue they were.

She corrected me - one is blue, and one is green.

What do I know?
I only had to have four kids to get an eye color repeated.

Bye Bye Luci

2009-03-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Our kin up at Midway had a donkey give birth last week or so. "Why would anyone want to allow more donkeys in the world?" is what I usually say about their donkeys, but they love them, and hey, we plow with horses, so what can I really say.
But the baby was really pretty. I thought you would like to see it. I wish you could feel how soft she is.

She was a little thing! And not even a miniature donkey (there is something you wonder why we have...). She looked like a big rabbit! And was SO soft!
Jennifer babied Luci a lot, because its mama (Clarabelle)for some reason rejected it. When I went over there to see Luci, Jennifer showed me how she would help it lay down in the stall, and then rub her a while.

They had a few days of fun with it following them around, and bedding down in a little pen in the shed, but she died.

Why did the mama not keep it? Sometimes I think God just gives us little tests. To see if we will care for something that needs us. Can an angel be in a baby donkey?
I think Jennifer and her husband passed the test. Well done.

Pamela

My WinterJam Pics

2009-03-11T03:43:00.001-07:00

I tagged along with my two oldest and their youth group to WinterJam, a cheap, but really good concert last Sunday night.
We had to get there early, at about 2:45 p.m., because the lines were already around the BancorpSouth Center. No reserved seating - hey, its only $10!
So here are some photos I took, I thought you might like. I was SO excited about experimenting with some concert shots. That one at the top is Annsley waiting in line.

That's some of our goofy youth, the one on the right not too smart, since she posted photos of me actually inside the concert... "enjoying" TobyMac's songs... when I have her senior portraits on this computer right now, waiting to retouch...

Oh, yeah, the one on the left is not a youth - she's one of the leaders.

Here is one of Caleigh sittin' on the curb outside (about hour 2 of waiting to get in, and I'm getting bored). I took these to experiment with adding a little sparkle to eyes in Photoshop, and Caleigh is such a willing subject. Aren't her eyes sparkly. Also added "fresh & colorful" and edge burn actions (from thePioneerWoman.com).

Here is one of some people walking by, but with a vintage action over it. Actually my camera was jamming, and this is an accidental shot. But with the photoshop work, now it could be an album cover! Hee hee
and look - a young person with a watch, looking at it! Not looking at a cell phone!

And here is another of Caleigh (camera working again). Added "heartland" action from PW. Kind of a cool look. For a curb picture.

So what do you think of my concert photos?

I waited all that time in line. And then when we finally got to the door, they made me take my camera back to the car. "It doesn't have one of those big professional lenses on it, does it?"

If I'd only switched lenses to a short stubby one.
I was in total camera withdrawal during the concerts. ugh.

We have jumped off the wagon

2009-03-09T05:06:00.000-07:00

We are officially off the "my kid doesn't have a cell phone" wagon.

Or maybe I should title this, "I Bought My Child a New Appendage, for $245 and Sixty Bucks a Month."

Actually I think we jumped into the deep end.

Here is how it happened.

My husband finally caved to Mary's request to get a cell phone last week for her 15th birthday. She is going to pay the monthly fee, and we bought the phone up front. I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease, in this case.

So Thursday, while my other two little darlings were doing their piano lessons, I took Mary to the AT&T store in Corinth. I said, "We would like to look at an Iphone."

(Now, yesterday, Mary said, "I would have taken anything, but YOU asked the guy for an iphone." And she was just kickin' and screaming, "No mom, you could get the Vue for less!" Right.)

So we get in line, and you know he didn't question our decision at all, either. Just started the process of acquiring this little marvel of the technological world, sweetly asking Mary, "Are you a pink person?"

"Yes!" she glowed back. She is looking at him with the cocker spaniel eyes the whole time, but she doesn't even know it. He holds in his hand her TICKET TO COOLNESS!

So he comes out with the phone, with a cute pink cover deal to keep it safe and adorable. We are totally stuck. But we are now SO COOL, because of this phone, on which she communicated with approximately 160 people via texting on the WAY HOME! These are people who also apparently will not use the speaking function of the PHONE (doesn't that mean "talking" in Latin or something?) and whom have never even thought about calling Mary before. But now, she is in the "in" bunch I guess. I'm reserving judgement on if this is a good thing.

So back at the store....Iphone man was having a bit of trouble getting us the number we wanted, (sweating and really hitting the computer keys hard, like that helps) so I wandered over to see the other phones, because they don't even have one on display that looks like mine - it is so old.

Hmmm, maybe I could upgrade, too, since Mary is paying for the family TEXTING plan, too. (She would gladly have sold her soul to the iphone gods, if that would have been the next question.
"Do you need texting?"
"Yes," she pants. She has already agreed to a $30 a month data fee, and $10 a month for the phone - and she doesn't even have a job. Texting is like, another $20, for unlimited Family Plan. (The average teen uses something like 5,000 texts a month, he told us.)

"Will you be offering your soul?"
"Sure, anything," she agrees...

Here is how I know me and Mary are still so country it hurts:

I pick up one of the phones attached to wires along the display. It has what I now know is called a "touch screen" and start fiddling with it. They are ALL SO PRETTY! Some designer out there is definitely talking to women on the designs...

So I tap a few buttons, 'cause I didn't know how you would actually dial the thing. Oh, there is a number screen! And I dial my number... seems to work... because NOW the PHONE in my purse IS PLAYING THE "SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE" MUSIC REALLY LOUD IN THE STORE.

(I confess at this point to being a Twilight Mom.)

I can't figure out how to make the one attached to the wall HANG UP!! I'm looking around alternately plaintive and embarrased, cause I have no idea how to HANG IT UP.

So Mary rushes over. Oh, good, she will surely know how to HANG IT UP (There are about 300 people in the store. THEY all probably know how to HANG IT UP!

And Mary comes to my... she reaches into my way too big purse... and ANSWERS MY PHONE.
"Hello?"
"Hello!"
"Mary," I say, "I've called it myself with this one one the string!"
"Oh."
But it did stop the ringing.

We walked back to the little table and patiently waited for the iphone.

Did I mention it is really pretty? I can barely figure out how to put a picture on this blog. How do they make this phone do all the things it does?

If it could only pay for itself!

Once I Found Butter Under my Pillow

2009-03-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is true. I am hopefully the only person to have ever made this particular statement.
We don't have network television. Or cable. Or satellite, as you probably have heard. So we have a television set up in our bedroom, where we occasionally watch DVD movies as a family.
And, way too often, where my kids waste time watching movies they have seen 1,000 times, instead of helping out around the house and farm.

My youngest has issues about food; meaning, she thinks that there is pretty much always a reason to be eating.
Getting ready to go somewhere? Get a snack to take.
Getting in the van to go to town? We better stop and get a slushee (in Tish.), or, heaven forbid we pass by a Subway or Sonic without getting something, because she's "hungry!" or STARVING!
Taking a bathroom break on a road trip - must eat!
Dropping by Mimi's house? Must have a piece of cake, some Nilla wafers (is there every a reason to eat these outside banana puddin'?) or an apple (which Mimi then slices nicely for her and puts in a ziploc bag that will NEVER leave my van again.)

And of, course, watching TV is the biggest reason to be eating!
But no food outside the kitchen or dining room in my house.
So she has developed a really sneaky personality.

I don't know where she gets that...
Usually I catch her - you can't sneak past a sneaker!

But once, I went to bed, put my hands under my pillow, and found...
a stick of butter. With teeth marks in it.
Must have stuck it under there when she saw me coming in sometime.

The Music in Me (well, really in them...)

2009-03-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

I love to walk up to my house and hear someone playing the piano, or singing, and lately, that happens a lot. Maybe because it has been too cold and dreary outside to do much, or maybe because we have had music events about every day and that takes lots of practice. Here are some photos I have taken recently.

My sweetie and Wondergirl practicing "Heaven's Bright Shore" (note my baby lurking in the kitchen, trying to sneak some food out, 'cause you know we don't feed her.)

My middle girl practicing. I had to show my quick photography skills to get this one, because her practice time is... limited(meaning, we have to threaten her existence to make her practice.) The plus side of this is, she plays really well when she is angry. She also has a great ear, and learns music really quickly. It would be scary to hear what she could do if she would work at it.

She wins again - she's practicing Bella's Lullaby, which is not on her official piano repertoire...

I love this one of her hands.

And I love it in black and white:

Here is my boy playing his trumpet. He got a medal for a solo last weekend, and now he's bringing it home and playing all his piano songs on his trumpet now. This shows the very specific area I have established for music practice.

Here is another of my sweetie and Wondergirl getting it just right on the piano. No winging it here!

And one more, of wondergirl just showing off,now. Playing two instruments at once. Actually she was trying to tune the guitar.

Jr. High Dance

2009-02-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

Annsley had her first dance on the evening of Valentine's Day. Mary's high school Valentine's dance was the night before. Note to school people: this makes for a very romantic Valentine's weekend for moms who feel the need to... help chaperone... at such dances. (Husband was sick anyway...) And they get their revenge by playing REALLY AWFUL music.

She was thinking about dresses for weeks, but neither her nor her sister could wear the nice dresses they already have. It is important apparently to dress like everyone else - which means strapless (IN FEBRUARY), or "GOSH MOTHER!" at the very least, spaghetti straps. It was a nice ongoing argument... that usually ended in: "I'll just get Mimi to take me shopping!"

And it wasn't me saying that. Good thing I like my mother-in-law!

She ended up borrowing a dress from one of Mary's friends. It was satisfactory- I didn't have to spend money on a floozy dress and she felt like she won. Funny thing - the REALLY cute sixties print dress on the girl with the ponytail in the pictures - well, that one is ours, and she wanted to borrow one of OUR DRESSES. (All of which I bought!)

I personally liked Annsley's shoe choice. For all those of you who remember the "Annsley stories," I think you will agree. She is second from the right, in case you can't get past the "dance makeup."

And a little slide show of the dance:

Guilt

2009-02-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

I was in the midst of the evening rush getting supper ready for my little family last week. For you multitasking moms, that means, of course, not only cooking a delicious spinach lasagne from scratch, but also bossing the kids to, in my case at least: feed the chickens and dogs, get some wood on the porch (for the wood stove), do piano practice, and homework, and generally try not to kill each other while you are doing all that, PLEASE!
I walked back to see if the dryer was done (I said multitasking, right?) and as I went past the front door, I hear cries of pain from the front yard. Serious pain cries - not ones I would ignore! And then Annsley and Emma both came in yelling, "Mary's been hit!!"
She was crumpled on the ground screaming that her eye had been hit, and she couldn't see. We were all near panic mode, and Connor was standing to the side, white-faced.

Apparently he had thrown a frisbee.

Not a little cheap one, but rather a frisbee golf kind - designed to hit chains on a frisbee golf...hole? (note: find out what those are called) and then be heavy enough to fall into the little frisbee trap. Essentially - it is a really heavy frisbee, and he has a pretty good arm.

I turned toward him - conscious that he is feeling pretty rotten at this point- and he runs away to the pasture, creek, somewhere. Cause ya know I beat him pretty regular...

Anyway, turns out Mary is ok. Eye just a little swollen the next day, not even black!

But Connor running away had Emma all upset. He came back soon, and climbed into this tree to dwell on his guilt, I guess.

I was still cooking and saw him out my kitchen window, so Annsley went to get these shots, which she didn't like, but that I think are pretty good. I didn't know this was a tree he could climb!

Guess I know who I could put on a second camera at a wedding if I need to...
Always nice to have some photos of a little minor tragedy...

The Tambourine

2009-02-19T08:01:00.001-08:00

I got a tambourine for Christmas. I asked for a tambourine for Christmas, and from my music snob family, I got incredulous laughter.

I live with three children who take classical piano from a . . . very exacting (i.e. we are all a little scared of her) and well-known teacher. My husband can play a little, leads the adult choir at church, and could probably pick up his very nice Taylor guitar and play pretty much any song after just listening to it.

My ridiculously talented oldest (nearly, BUT NOT YET!! 15-year-old) daughter can sing, and can sing harmony (which do you want, higher or lower? ad libs? swell!) She has pretty much taught herself to play the guitar, and has taken to writing her own songs (finally had a heartbreak - which has broke the dam, I guess). I just call her Taylor.

The willowy girl can play anything she has heard a couple times on the piano. And she sings.
And my boy sings, and plays piano - probably someday better than the girls, though he is only third year. He has picked up the trumpet this year - we love to hear him practice..
My baby can sing with them, and when she sings in the bath about the heartbreak she hears in her sister's music, my husband and I just look at each other.

They have plans for a band - Lord knows there are enough of them. Annsley on keyboards, Connor on drums (picks these up later, I guess), and Mary on guitar, keyboards, singing, or whatever else needs doing - including bossing and being the practice-Nazi. I can't remember Emma's role, but probably anything she wants, or she'll have a hissy fit....

So I say, "I would like a tambourine for Christmas."

They all look at me. They look at each other. They laugh hysterically.

They think I have zero musical talent despite the fact that I had ALL but dear husband in my children's choir, which I have lead for the past about 10 years. AND people like it. And the fact that I sing in dear husband's choir nearly every Sunday.

"Mom," the Wonder-Girl explains, "a tambourine really won't go in our band."

I told her I wouldn't play in her stupid band if they wanted me to. They seem to forgot who really GAVE BIRTH TO THE WHOLE POSSIBILITY OF A BAND in the family. Literally!

I was able to punch Mary in the arm at the Third Day concert New Year's Eve when our hero Mac Powell played an instrument during one song.
And guess what it was! Ha!

I've been having a good time playing with my new tambourine. All by myself, mind you.

A Hike to Little Greenbrier & the Walker Sisters' Place

2009-01-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

On a holiday trip to the mountains (that would be the Smoky Mountains for anyone not from the South, where it is universally understood that if you say "the mountains," you are going to Great Smoky Mountain National Park or its surroundings)we headed straight to Sisters' Cove, near Metcalf Bottoms picnic area (which is near Townsend)and hiked to the former homeplace of the Walker Sisters. It was pretty cold, but we warmed up on the short hike! Connor (10) and Emma (8) were with Kirby and me.
On the way we visited the Little Greenbrier School, which is in some of the first photos. I enjoyed using my new wide-angle Tamron 17-50 lens I got for Christmas!

The Walker Place was the homeplace of the Walker family since its clearing and settlement back in the 1830s to 1850s, and when the Park was forming, the five sisters who lived on the Walker farm did not want to sell off their ancestral home and give up their old fashioned lifestyle. The Park granted them a life estate, and they lived there for many years, enjoying their agrarian lifestyle that some people thought was so primitive. They had no electricity, and used water from a spring in their yard. They were aware of, but unconcerned with things of the world, and I think it must have been wonderful.
Their days were filled with life-sustaining activities - from farming and preserving all their food, to raising the cotton and flax to weave their own fabric, and make their own clothes.
I won't write the book about the Walker sisters here, but you should look it up. Here are some of the photos that I took while I was up there.
Included in here are some of Kirby's shots, because, sit down, ya'll, I actually got in some of the pictures. To prove I hiked and survived, thank you very much.
Enjoy!
Pamela

A Night at the old Paden Store

2008-10-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time at a gathering of friends recently. The Luttrells, David and Robyn, and his mom, Jean, and sister, Susan, hosted some talented friends and fellow band members for an evening of singing and picking bluegrass music.

The rest of us just enjoyed the music, fellowship and food.

It was a lovely evening! The place has such character - it's the old store at Paden, which has apparently been a store, and bakery in its lifetime - and was where David and Robyn set up housekeeping after they married (a term I had to explain to my kids!) It's right in the middle of downtown Paden, Mississippi, but it felt like we were a world away. Paden is near Tishomingo on the Waterway. They used to have a post office, but not any more. They do still have a mayor - she was at the party, of course.

The music was just wonderful. Kirby and my daughter Mary played along with the band - and they even talked her into singing one song for them. It was a great experience for her.

Later, she played in the dirt with 3-year-old Molly.

I was a little unsure about photographing the evening - people can get uncomfortable with a camera out, but I am glad I caught the singers and players - especially David, Jean and Susan when they sang together. We never think to record such sweet moments.

And I'm glad I caught my husband with the fella from Oregon. I probably should have cornered him and done some portraits!

I got some of Jean's wonderful home and yard. And some of the friends gathered.
What I didn't get was any of the funny little dog, and Molly tryin' to boss it.
And I couldn't possibly have captured the fun all the kids were having running everywhere, all over the place. Including my son, who dove off Jean's porch headfirst...

I took a lot of artistic liberties with the photos, but I hope you enjoy them.

Enjoy!
Pamela

The Collierville Session

2008-10-15T10:32:00.001-07:00

Portraits from a session in Collierville, Tennessee - on the square.

Most Beautiful, Inside & Out

2008-10-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Mary took part in the Tishomingo County High School beauty review September 27th, but we didn't need that to tell us how beautiful she is - inside and out.
She didn't make the top 15, but what guts to get up there with all those older girls! She had a good time, and we got Kirby to take us to Cafe Memories in Iuka for a late supper - what a treat!

Enjoy!

Tishomingo Homecoming

2008-10-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

We were pleased to be a part of the Tishomingo Middle School Homecoming last week. The girls were all beautiful, and we won the game! A perfect night.
My Annsley was a 7th grade attendant, and we were so proud. She enjoyed her special day with all her friends.
Here are some photos I did - more are online at my website, www.mcraephotoart.com

Enjoy!

Quilt Show 2008 a Success

2008-09-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

The Needle Chasers Quilt Guild enjoyed a successful 10th anniversary quilt show this past weekend!
We had wonderful quilts, and I felt sorry for Bonnie Spencer, who had to judge them! Her trunk shows were just wonderful. She is delightfully entertaining and inspiring. Martha Stewart has nothing on her when it comes to celebrations, I tell ya'll.
Here is a slide show of all the quilts in the show, and in the trunk show. Photo CDs are coming, but you may enjoy instant gratification as much as I do...

Thanks to everyone who made this show such a success. Thanks to all the former guest quilters who sent quilts, and to those who brought quilts of their own, or of others. The show committee, a loosely bound, but terribly efficient group, did a great job!
Pamela

Old Dog Learning New Tricks

2008-09-24T20:26:00.001-07:00

In the joy and hubbub of having and raising children, I feel I have seriously missed the boat on

keeping up with the latest tools of my trade - graphic design. I started having kids about the time PhotoShop became mainstream - and quite expensive. Not exactly in the family budget...Recently, I have been trying to play catch up. It's taken a while, but here is one of my latest attempts.

I used a photo I probably wouldn't have even printed of Emma. She was outside washing "clothes" (the things kids do for fun when they don't have TV!) I thought she looked kind of ethereal and wanted to play it up. Learned a lot. Need to get faster!

I Can't Miss Math...

2008-09-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

My daughter was sick this week.
So sick that she actually stayed home one day from the beloved high school. The next day I was at her school doing a photo for the paper and she begged me to get her an appointment with the doctor that day - she was feeling terrible, still.

But that was not enough - I must make it right after lunch.
"I don't want to miss cheerleading... or math," she said.
I immediately checked her for fever, since I couldn't do a DNA check right then and there in the middle of campus.
Even her buddy, Paisleigh, said, "I think I could maybe try for missing math."

They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but I guess this one got some good cross pollination or something. Must be her dad's influence - as a journalism major, you can believe me - math, algebra, geometry, trig or any of those frighteningly high mathematics were NOT a priority of mine! My favorite thing to say was, "I'll never use that."

Never say never. I use it all the time, and have to call Husband dear, to-whom-math-is-a-second-language, to verify how to figure percentage increases, voting results, and even county budget issues. I even called him to recall how to use the pythagoreum theorem to lay out my kitchen garden paths perfectly perpendicular to each other. (That would probably be the most math terms I have ever included in one sentence!)

At least I can usually figure out my quilting dilemmas - that would really be too embarrassing to have to ask about. Husband dear nearly knocks over chairs to beat me to the kids when they ask about a math homework problem - like it rubs off...

Makes me ... regret... not having taken it more seriously when I should have. But I think I heard a snippet of a country song recently that said, "I wish I was still as young as when I knew everything..."
Enjoy.

Not Homeschooling - Celebrating the First Day of School!!!

2008-08-16T03:37:00.000-07:00

We don't have television. We haven't had it in about 10 years - I think Connor was a baby when we paid for satellite service last. Where we live, you don't get any channels without satellite or cable.

We really don't miss it - we have these four lovely children that manage to keep us pretty busy. We realized long ago that we were telling our toddlers, "ssshh, let me watch this" way too much.

And none of them have any problems with paying attention. They are all exemplary readers. We get a newspaper a day, and listen to the news on the radio. I daresay we are more well-informed than most people we know. Our kids don't have cell phones, or play video games (maybe on a rare spend-the-night).They have table manners, because eating as a family is a top priority, and there is not a TV to eat in front of. They know all kinds of stuff their friends are virtually clueless about: cooking, playing piano, reading novels, building barns, quilting, sewing, playing guitar, creative writing, riding horses, caring for livestock. One of them has friends whose only past time is using the cell phone. I wonder what in the world she talks about. Can't be very deep.

The funniest thing is, that everyone thinks that we must homeschool our kids. I think it is because somehow, the fact that we don't have TV always comes up. Not having TV and homeschooling - these two radical ideas must go hand in hand. This is not because I bring it up, but because people talk about TV much more than they realize.

Everyone says they don't even watch TV, but conversations are constantly peppered with references to shows, news, and especially stupid commercials. Madison Avenue has us, as a society, pegged - everyone watches and is influenced by the advertising they see on TV. Even my quilting friends are constantly saying, "you can do it while you watch TV" about some little hand work. People have TVs in every room! I would just never do a thing if I had one.

So, no, we don't homeschool our children -this photo is of the kids waiting for the bus on my own personal favorite holiday - THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! My favorite time of day is 7:30 a.m. - when the last hour and a half of bustling, rushing, serving, eating, signing forms, searching for homework, preparing, primping (they are teenage girls now!), and begging for teethbrushing and hairbrushing (two of them can't be bothered) is DONE and they ARE ALL GONE for at least a few hours.

Last week I did some serious couch potato work to honor the first (only Wed-Fri) week of school, but this week I am back on track. I cleaned all morning, worked on quilting, fed animals, and did office work. All without answering a single question, having to calm a single argument, beg for a single chore to be done.

Of course, it seems like about one hour until they return home and it all starts again, but I do miss them a little while they are gone. At about 3 p.m.

Disclaimers: I would homeschool if I needed to. I think homeschooling has many advantages (not the least of which would be not having to find four pairs of shoes and clean clothes for everyone five days a week). But the kids do so well at school, and we have a very small school where we know (or are kin to) all the teachers; it has just never come up.

Also, we have a television. But it can only play DVDs/videos, and that is limited to weekends, for the most part. We love to watch movies as a family, everyone piled up on the beds in the girls' room - no TV in the living room for us.

Finally Finished

2008-08-16T02:41:00.000-07:00

After so many years I can't remember, I have completed my album quilt, titled "Maybe Never", as in answering the question - when are you finally going to finish that quilt?

No one actually asks that question, since I have been using it on my sofa for nearly a year now. It has been a teaching quilt on more than one occasion, and here are some of the lessons it has taught me:

1. Learn Hand Applique

I started this quilt in a newly formed small group of our Needle Chasers Quilt Guild. How many years ago was that? My friends asked me to come to the group, even though I DON'T DO HAND WORK was my motto at the time. I had carpal tunnel issues, back then, and small children - no time for hand work! But I was president of the guild, and I didn't want them to think I thought their group without merit, so I pieced together some 10 1/2 inch blocks as they instructed ( I didn't have enough appropriate background fabric to make the four they asked for) that morning at 6 am and went to learn something I didn't wanna do!
Now I love it! I love taking it with me! I love the creativity! Whenever I take it to the doctor's or dentist, someone asks about it and I get to do a little quilting evangelism.

Men are even enamoured of it - I can't tell you how many men have noticed and commented on my work. They tell me, with a dreamy look in their eyes I just don't see much anymore when looked at by men, "My mom/grandmother used to do that." or "I used to help my grandmother with that," (Lesson here: men really would like us to be more like their grandmothers.)

2. Bind your quilt before you are done quilting.

This sounds crazy, but if you have it partially quilted, you can bind it, and then while it is lying about unfinished, all but the truly discerning will think YOU ARE ALREADY DONE! Which is all such people really care about anyway - they are not impressed with yet another UFO (unfinished object).

It is also less messy to carry around, and if you really needed a quilt for an emergency, like a car wrecked in front of your house, and you had to cover someone up cause they were in shock, you could use it and not worry too much. You could wash it if you had to. (Don't use this quilt for an emergency, because I would cry)

3. How to do scalloped border/binding.

I had to teach how to do scalloped binding for a program, and started looking at this quilt... Just perfect for it! I looked up how to do it, studied a bit, and did it by hand while on a MQA trip to Starkville.

I also learned how to draw and quilt feathers in the border, and how to do a sawtooth border.

4. Use contrasting thread when quilting.

I used perfectly matching thread to do my somewhat extensive machine quilting on this. Finest quality, and the quilting is pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I have used it several times in Heirloom Machine Quilting Classes I have taught - it is big enough to show students they can do a big quilt on a domestic machine, but not too big to lug around. But YOU CAN'T SEE THE QUILTING! Always use a shade or two darker, or lighter, maybe on a dark quilt. My goodness, you have put all that work into it, and you can't even see it.

This is why I wouldn't finish this thing. It just makes me sick to look at it, and see that YOU CAN'T SEE THE QUILTING! I'll count it as a lesson learned, since at least the thing won't keep asking me, "When are you going to finish me??" That is why it is named "Maybe Never."

Also, think about how you are going to quilt before you buy your backing. My back has red feathers that show on the cream background - not so desirable to me.

5. Use setting squares.

I only had do do about half the blocks in my album quilt as the others in the small group, because I set empty squares betweent mine, and set them on point. The blank squares were to show off the lovely quilting pattern... but, see number 4 above...

6. Wash the red fabric again. And AGAIN!!

After five years of working on this, I tossed it in the washer (stop gasping, I wash all mine - I want them to look drawn up and cozy.) and went to check on it and THE WATER WAS PINK! I know I washed the border fabrics, in fact, all the fabrics, but the borders more than once before I used them. But it still had dye coming out. It rinsed out well enough - I don't see any pink spots on the background - which I did while it was washing. Scary, but turned out ok.

7. You don't have to make huge quilts.

Well, I really didn't learn this on this quilt. But when I was laying this out on my bed - I realized again, why should I make something 90 inches wide when I have all antique full sized beds in my house? This covers my bed perfectly. Even though I have repainted the room, now, and it doesn't match it like it did when I had dark green walls...

8. Sew/quilt/be with friends.

This should probably be number one, since it has been the best lesson!
Our guild never sewed together! We did our quilts, brought them to the meetings, showed them, and worked by ourselves all the time! If you only work on your own, you are missing one of the best things about quilting! I learn something EVERY TIME I meet with other quilters for any reason, but it is the most fun to sit and chat, eat and quilt all day with friends at their homes. Our grandmothers knew this - we are just a little dense, I guess. You learn so much.

Some months, it is the only time I take for myself to sit and do my current hand applique project. It is one of my favorites, but I just hardly get it out on my own. My buddy Jean says the same. We give of ourselves so much, we seldom do anything just for ourselves.

Nothing is wrong with a hen party!

Go through the trouble to meet with , and have friends. Be a friend. Have people to your home and don't worry about the cleaning, cooking, etc., so much that you can't enjoy it! I love my small group friends, and all the ones who have visited with us over the years!

We start meeting again in October, and I am so excited! It's even at my house! I can't wait!

Live fully and blessed

Feedsack Find

2008-08-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

As a quilter, I love fabric. In fact, I loved fabric before I knew about quilting.

One of the greatest thing about living on an old farm is finding all kinds of old things that I love to use or re-purpose in a variety of ways. The place I live was the home for many years of a quilter, and on top of that, it was a gamecock farm.

Now, put this information together, and you should think: I bet you have tons of old feedsacks!

Well, there are some feedsack quilts Aunt Earl made. Nothing showy - she was pure utilitarian. But they are soft and cozy-heavy - the kind that hug you up. I have to keep them put up, mostly, as I don't want them dragged around by the kids, but ona cold winter night, there is nothing better than piling one on top of the bed.

And I have a couple feedsack tablecloths, but I have to be pretty careful with those, too.

Well, until this weekend, I could only find icky feedsacks that never looked like the perfectly cute ones that my quilting contemporaries use in quilts. The ones I have found were border prints, or orange, or that early 1960s green. I have just never liked the ones I have found in various places around here, and I kinda get resentful when I hear about someone "finding a whole paper sack-full" in the garbage dump, or "a whole box full in Aunt Imogene's things." And they are all SO CUTE, and the teller/finder always pays about $5 for a hundred!

I live on a CHICKEN FARM- and there was a quilter in residence! It's just not fair.

Saturday, I was going along and my youngest daughter, Emma, called me over. She and her big brother had been exploring my husband's saw shop - in an old log cabin on our place.

"Momma, come here, I found something you are gonna love!" Ain't she the sweetest thing! She's a draggin' a carry-on sized bag that looks like a doctor bag.

So I answered, "Let me guess, it's a bag full of fabric."

Her face drops in shock. "How did you know that?"

Well, we've been here before, and the folks that lived here couldn't throw stuff away, so I figured maybe another set of old curtains they couldn't bear to toss, maybe some more elastic cut off old underwear that they kept for... well, I can't even imagine.

She opened up that bag, and behold, the ones Aunt Earl must have been keeping. There are about three of each, and they are pretty ones, not with goofy cowboys or some such. Nice colors, and in super shape!! Still have the stitch holes showing and everything!

Emma really made my day! I couldn't wait a whole month to tell my quilting buddies!