Flowers of the Month

My mom embroiders quilts, wall~hangings, etc.  In fact, this one pulls double duty!  Mom made it for me about five years ago, as a wall~hanging that covered my windows above my bed when I lived on the farm.  Now it is used as a quilt on the guest bedroom that contains my bed from before I was married.

Her work is very good, entirely by hand.  The back of her work looks beautiful.  When held to the light, no loose threads, knots, etc are visible.  She's my mom, I know, and I may be biased...but objectively?  She's awesome!

Dare to Dream

My mother had made this for me around ten years ago.  She embroidered and quilted it entirely by hand.  Some folks asked to see some of her work, cuz ya know, I was bragging on her.  So click for enlarged view to see detail.

Fire in the Bowl

The above bowl was painted/glazed and fired last week when my friend and her family were here.  It's the second piece I've done, with the leaf pictured here being the first piece.  I did the leaf a few weeks ago, when my friend from Chattanooga was here.

I'm still getting used to the techniques, what the brushes can do, what the layers of the colors do, and how things will look on the finished product.  It's a learning experience!  It's fun, tho I think sometime I will go when I am by myself so that I can really take my time.

Bidding farewell

Well, after a leisurely morning, a few movies, and a lunch at Mugshots; my friends and I picked up our freshly glazed and fired ceramics.  I'll include a pic in a future blog of my yarn bowl {"fire in the bowl!"}.  We returned to the house, where the rest of them watch a movie, while I napped for a bit til Jerry came home from work.  Then we saw our company off.

Now Jerry and I have watch a couple movies this evening.  It's going to be a SOMSA* weekend.  I am really looking forward to that!!


*Sit On My Sorry Ass

Today {or ya know, yesterday...cuz it's after midnight}

So here we are, late Wed night, early Thursday morning.  This morning when I woke up, I felt kinda weird, so I sat up for awhile even tho it was five.  After my husband left for work, I went back to bed and slept a lil longer.

Then when I woke up for the day, my friend and her son had both been ill to their stomachs, apparently the pizza they'd eaten the night before didn't agree with them.  Whatever it was passed tho, and my friend and I watched "Kiss the Girls".  Then I, my friend, and her husband braved the downpour and went to Woodlawn, a small community a county or so away which has a furniture facility in the old school campus.

After we returned from that, my husband was already home as he'd taken the afternoon off, so that he could grill chicken quarters for my friends and mom.  We had a nice afternoon and the food was so good it made my tummy very happy!  Later, Jerry made us all shakes, and oh my, does he spoil me rotten!!!

The other three adults went to bed early, while me and the kids watched a couple movies.  One was "the quiet" and the other was "orphan".  The first was eh, so I deleted it after we watched it.  But "orphan", dude!  That was a good movie and I saved it so that my husband and I could watch it this weekend.

Tomorrow, my friends will leave later in the afternoon, or early evening.  That way they can drive the night thru and the kids can sleep, with the family arriving back home in Pennsylvania on Friday.  Hopefully, our ceramic pieces will be ready for pick up tomorrow afternoon before they go, so that they can take them with them; but if not, it's no problem to mail them when they are ready.

It's been fun to have them here, we'll have to get together more often than once every ten years and then boom, twice in nine months.  Perhaps we can take turns, and see each other at least every other year, sorta like the Olympics...either the summer {us in the south} or the winter {them in the north} occurs every two years...just an idear...

Late Night Posting

Well, I missed posting yesterday, having posted late Sunday night but being too tired last night.  So let me think, we girls did go have mani/pedis done {their first} and then we went to see my mom for a bit.  Mom said that my friend's daughter does look lots like her when my friend was her age.  Since mom knew my friend since she was ten, I'd say she was qualified to know!  We caught up for awhile and then came home to join her husband and son for a few minutes before my husband came home from work.

Then mom brought some of her wine over for a tasting.  There was strawberry white zinfandel, Arkansas Indian Peach, Cherry Chocolate, and Ozark WildBerry.  We have a partial bottle left from our annual autumnal trip to Natchez last year of Miss Scarlett, a sweet red muscadine wine that the winery there makes.

In the meantime, we girls have become looming fools.  My friend has bought her own set of round knitting looms, so there are more than enough for the three of us to be working on an assortment of hat sizes at one time.  We've made hats for babies, for children, for adults, for ourselves, single brimmed, double brimmed, no brimmed, acrylic, super soft and plush, blue, green, white, pink, and just about any other combination of hats there of!  It's been fun and I get to figure out how to correct mistakes without ripping the whole hat out and redoing it.

Today, we went to the local public library, then for lunch at Lil Dooey's, a local favorite.  I ordered a sampler to share, with fried green tomatoes, fried okra, and fried pickles.  Then my husband and I had bbq, while the kids had chicken tenders, and their parents had the daily special {great burgers}.  My husband took the afternoon off and took their son fishing, while we girls went to Dandy Doodlez and painted plates, trivets, and bowls.  Then I took my friend and her daughter to Tuesday Morning, where we each found some finds.

Time's flying by and before you know it, our visit will be thru!  I think they are having a good time, so that's good.  I know I am.

Today, after we were all up and about, and I ate my third breakfast and drank my second pot of coffee; my husband went to work at the library and the rest of us set off in my lil cute car.  We drove over toward Columbus and chatted about cat~fish farming and other Mississippi sights and smells.  Once in Columbus, we drove thru the old cemetery, Friendship, and visited the weeping angel {for the Teasdale family}.  I told them the bit about what we know as Memorial Day being started at the Columbus Friendship Cemetery, as the women in town would decorate the soldiers' graves for both the Union and Confederacy dead.  It was a sign of honor and respect, and is a true tradition that continues thru much of the USA, having its roots ri'icher, in our Golden Triangle.

Then we drove around, looking at various homes and building styles and such.  I pointed out the Palmer Home for Children and told them the back story there.  We then decided to head on over to the Waverly Mansion, as I wasn't sure how much time we had left before they stopped accepting guests for the tours for the day.

Melanie, Rob't Snow's daughter, was gracious and my friend and her family had a blast and enjoyed themselves very much.  We walked the grounds afterward, and altho we all were so heated and damp, we enjoyed the staying of the heat, instead of the climbing soaring humidity.  The sun was beginning to set and the hottest part of the day was past.  We also took a walk into the old family plot, viewing some of the stones and such.

Then we drove back to Starkville, taking the back roads thru West Point and out past what til recently had been Oktibbeha County Lake.  We stopped to eat at Abner's, a chicken spot that is truly a local favorite.  Then we drove home, thru the odd storminess.  It was a long day, but we all showered and settled in for FernGully {1982} with the adults struggling to stay awake and the kids wanting to stay up past our bedtime {we adults were zzzzonked!}.

We'd talked about plans for the next few days, and I'm about ready to head to bed myself.  The house in quiet except for the chirping crickets that my husband had bought yesterday for bait when he and our friends' son went fishing, out back at our two small ponds.  The dogs are slumbering, with Shaddow doing her Zzzzzzzzzen breathing.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhmmmmm

Have a good start to your new week!

{HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my husband's youngest son, he's 29 for the first time; whereas my mother is celebrating her 29th for the uhmmm 37th time this year; at this rate, she's still younger than me!   ~*snicker*~}

LOOK~~more childhood friends!!

Yesterday, my bestest friend from childhood who resides in the town we grew up in came to see me from Catawissa, PA {on the north branch of the Susquehanna River}.  She and her husband are celebrating their twentieth anniversary next month.  Dude, she's old!  Well, only five days older than me, but still...And her hubby is uhhhhhm, 8?  no, 9? years older than her.  Their two children came down too, Daughter is thirteen {how the hell is that possible?!?} and Son is eleven.

They'll be here til Thursday, when they must return to PA, as it is slightly more than a thousand miles {about eighteen hours, with minimal stoppage for gas and restroom breaks} and my friend must rest a bit before returning to work on Sunday night.  So, yesterday we visited, unpacked the food they brought for me {sweet lebanon bologna, extra sharp cheese, and ring~bologna} as well as the cases of assorted sodas {Big Ben's Bottling Works makes some of the strongest soda, including Moxie, which will put the curly hairs on your chest, it's that potent}, then She and I went over to see my mom quick before we ended up getting texted by two folks and called cuz "we're hungry".  So my husband and I took them to China Garden, for the buffet, and then split up, guys in one car to go to Noxubee Refuge and the girls in the other to drive around and do some story telling.  Then we met back at the house where the guys went fishing and we girls started to loom/rake~knit some hats.  We watched a movie, the first four episodes ever of Futurama, and we all dropped off like flies as the night wore on.

Today, I'm not sure what's in the works yet.  My husband and I, along with our chiweenie {my lil "schnausage dauk"} Sophie went for coffee {humans} and TOTS! at the TOT~SPOT! {Sophie}.  We read our papers when we returned {humans}, while Sophie took her early~morning nap. The rest of the house is still snoozing along with her.

A few years ago, when my husband and I wed; I had told my out~of~state friends not to worry about coming to the wedding as I wouldn't have much time to visit with them and so if they made the trip here, it'd be better to wait til some other time when we could actually focus on each other and catch up without tons of distractions.  I'm glad that we are able to spend the time now!  I think tho after this, we're going to be thru with company for awhile, but then again, it's hard to believe it is this late in the year already, right?

So, I may not be around much this week, or you might see an entry EVERY DAY {gasp}.  Cuz I was using my blog as a way to journal events and thoughts and such, so that I can look back and be all like, oh yeah!  That's what was going on in my life then.  But in the past year, I've kinda gotten away from that.  So guess what?  I may be BACK.  {does that scare ya?  no?  well, good.  cuz if'n it did, you shouldn't be here; skirtee kat}

Good Sunday to all!