sunshiny things on this rainy day

i'm not going to write about thanksgiving right yet.  by the time i write it will be christmas season, probably.  but thanksgiving is a holiday that never gets old to me, so i won't mind writing it late.  there's too much to write.  so i'm going to give you the reader's digest edition and in the meantime post a few things that i found that are happy.

.

 {confess.  i sometimes buy the book

for the cover alone

and don't even know what it's about.

and yet, i'm fine 

because it has an amazing cover.}

i love turkey

  if i had three favorite ordinary sounds they would be 

water on rocks

fire on wood

daddy's voice
especially at night and on sundays becausehe speaks even deeper
and more rumbly then.

if i had three favorite ordinary smells they would be 

woodfires

sea air

leather

or three ordinary favorite things to do

laughing

dancing

watching

 but then there comes Thanksgiving.  and that is not ordinary. 

and there are so many things i love about it. but one of my favorite things about

 thanksgiving

is the noise...it's so mixed up...

cheers for football

bustling in the kitchen

laughter

little kids scooting under tables and tickling each other
preachers talking in their corner, sipping coffee 

shhing for the babies who need to sleep

...nathan's laugh. and joshua's and uncle zack's. they tickle me every time.

grandmama overseeing 

the door bell.  it's not a ding donger, but a buzz .  if you've ever been there

you know the sound.  it's specifically 

grandmama.

the door opening and closing - closing 

more slowly than it opens because of the air pressure pump thingy

at the bottom that makes a kind of sighing noise as it closes.

the squeaky silverware drawer

the bathroom door shutting and instead of twisting the lock

using the hook

daddy reading dr. seuss to the little girls in his lap

box fan in the yellow bedroom

penny barking

isaac teasing. :)

wahoo yelling, and groaning and chanting

thomas saying 'my darling' to hannah

seth trying to say my name 

and messing it up

again.

and then at night, with everyone packed into the living room

and spilling over into the kitchen and hall and den

singing. 

singing. 

singing.

full and beautifully and powerfully.

and that is why

three things just wouldn't do

for thanksgiving.

it was raining when i woke up yesterday morning and raining when i fell asleep last night. but during the day there would be bursts of bright sunshine, as if the day had forgotten it had rained at all and then it would cloud over all dark again and drizzle.  i had the little baby i am temporarily nannying for and needed to run some errands.  i have to say, i had no idea just how much work mothering is --even temporarily--.  (of course, mama went up in my estimation...nine of us.   NINE!!!) from the moment i got up, i was thinking about just how i was going to manage with this baby in town.  take the car seat in the store?  leave it out.  go to the bank?  drivethru. what about in the other bank?  i have to deposit the check...   sign it before leaving.  alright.  so i go to town and my knuckles are white on the wheel.  it was the first time i'd driven a baby and  i was sure some meteor or goblin or drunk would slam into the car or run out in front of us or that there would be a car chase, firing guns and sirens.  none of it.  i was shocked. when i took the baby into the bank, i then saw another formidable obstacle: the deposit slip.  ahhhhhhrg!  i forgot that.  so i hoist her from one hip to the other trying to balance pen, baby, deposit slip, keys and wallet.  the guy that works there came up and said ' you want me to hold her while you do that?'  i almost burst out laughing.  yes.  thank you goatee'd man with a purple shirt.  you certainly can.  now the question is, how many people in stores will i need to hire to do that from now on?
  i'm determined one of these days to have a moon watching party.  i wanted to do it so badly last full moon but i imagined it all up in my head and so now, it just needs to happen.  we'll go to an open field, take blankets, thermoses of tea (a super yummy indian tea that chris makes a splendid brew of) and ourselves.  nothing but us and goodness and the galaxies.  then we'll talk.  talk for a long long time about so many things it will be impossible to trace how one thing led to another and how we could get from one topic all the way over to this other one.  but it won't matter.  everybody dotted on their blankets will be cozy and have red noses and who knows what the sky will look like.  that will be for us to find out!
   chris and i stayed after the folks left from church last night.  the church parking lot is grassy and the ground was wet and soft.  the trees around our church are wild at night, especially,  and even more so in the winter, because of their bare arms.  they seem to reach out and weave their gnarled fingers into inky blackness. there was just enough light to make out the lines of the branches and some of the ground.  we stood talking.  he reminds me of mr. knightly.  so honest, and yet, gentle. reproving, but very kind.  and while we stood there, verbally patching up holes in our garments of good and better thinking, we saw an owl.  he flew up in a branch of the cedar tree and looked at us and the ground and the dark woods.  it drizzled, and chris said some words that have made me think and that i wrote down in my book.  the owl flew off, dipping low to the ground and swooping until he faded into black.  the air smelled spicy and warm and sweet.  i love the smell of rain.   but today was brilliant. all sunshine and so chilly. 

p.s. one of my all time favorite actor/actress combinations.  they feel like home when they act.

and she is lovely.

 

rainy wednesday

  Mama has been an excellent cook for as long as I can remember and all her food tastes good, even if i don't like it.  She knows how to stir up food for anybody. and we're not talking boxed lasagna or frozen dinners.  No ma'am.  My mama makes it from scratch and positively blushed and gave herself a stern talking to when she bought a cookie cake from kroger's bakery for daddy's birthday, (this was a small  after party. let it be known, she prepared steaks and baked apples --which was his special request -- for his actual birthday).  Mama knows how to cook ANYTHING and one time on a Saturday she found out THE WHOLE CHURCH  was coming to lunch the next day.  Didn't phase her.  She just got to work peeling potatoes and carrots, scampering around the pantry, digging in freezers and we fed our church next day.  Ok ok.  You get  the point. My Mama is impressively resourceful, awesome  and is an amazing cook.
So.... you'd think I'd have no problem picking up her trail -- right???  haaa!! wrong.   I totally thought that cooking super tasty meals for a ton of people would be a breeze....not really.  See, I always suspected this particular fear.  Could see it looming from time to time and I'd give it a sideways glance -- edgy.  I would rather pretend it wasn't there and that when I had to cook for whoever - BOOM!  The ease and instinctive knowledge of how to bring it all together would attach itself to me.  But alas! I wasn't born with that super - power and i realized it after an apparition I had while conversing with my friend Lizer.  She was telling me about her in-laws coming and how she cooked a meal for them and it was very good - I'm sure.  But then I had an unshakable mental image of my completely freezing at that point.  I could imagine my husband coming in and saying ' Oh btw, darling, the ole Parental Units are coming tomorrow for dinner, so why don't you be a good hag and fix something especially delish?'  He'd walk out (just as most husbands who've given a happy command would) and I'd stare wide-eyed at this. Blank.  'What should I fix?'   I can see me greeting my in-laws and presenting them with broiled hot dogs and fried bologna with heaps of white potatoes drizzled with catchup, and having the faintest inkling that I should, perhaps, have served something different?  but, not being sure of that.  Well, I'm determined to shave off the percentage of that happening.  Hence, the beginning of a true blue cookbook.  I have three recipes in it already, one of which I'll give you.  It's positively scrumptious and caramel is much easier to make than I had suspected.  So here, brew some coffee or tea, try some yummy applespice cake! and have yourself a good day, especially if it's a rainy one.

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 

O Lord, open thou my lips; 

and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it:

thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: 

a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

easy, like sunday night

        the maple leaves are almost gone now. goodbye beauties.

 


you ever read a book and get the feeling you know the author?  that if you could talk to him it would be one of those unforgettable conversations that feels like only a little time has passed and yet you've been there hours? of all the gospel writers, john seems like that to me. the more i know about him, the more i admire him. daddy has mentioned several things about him in his preaching and i have found in my own reading things that indicate a sort of unabashed love and unashamed allegiance for Christ that is almost childlike in its simplicity.  in many ways he is an example for me.  of all the disciples, he and peter were the only ones that didn't forsake him in the garden when the others fled, but actually followed him into pilot's place.  and even then, peter denied him, but john was there through the whole thing.   also, he is referred to as the 'disciple whom Jesus loved' and 'who lay upon His bosom'.  john was not afraid to get close to Jesus, to show his love or to follow wherever He led.  that's how i want to be. unashamed, unafraid, ready to follow.  smitten with Christ.   i would like to talk to john.  guess i'll do just that one day.  and i think it will be one of those conversations.

  "dawn came in and said 'oh, by the way.  just in case i should die in the night by a heart attack or something, if the csi people come they have these little instruments and they will know --- oh. nevermind.  i was going to say 'they will know how i died because i have dna under my fingernails,' but that doesn't really work, 'cause i was scratching my head myself.''

  handy information, there, mother abigail.

oy!

g'job, dogs.

and homeys, it's ok. 

i like auburn. i'm not an auburnite.  

the dogs are my home team and i'm not going to vote auburn against uga when they're playing each other.  but when auburn is playing against any other team,

i will root for them because i like them and have for several years.

and even if you think they're 

not worth a hoot, 

their colors are sweet.

ya gotta give'm that at least.

daddy cut wood and planted our fall garden. our first one! (that i remember).  he smells deliciously earthy when he works in the garden and woods.  i don't know how smells can have such effects on us, but that one reminds me of summer and eating tomato sandwiches. i'm proud of my sister because she ran 20 miles today!!!  way to go, anne. the other night mama said she almost made roadkill coming home. 'deer?  no. no deer.  just an owl sitting there in the middle of the road looking back at me, and a big old rat. probably the biggest rat i've ever seen.'   points for creative roadkill possibilities.  i think all i've ever gotten has been armadillos, opossums and a dog. but the dog was sad. he had on a red scarf.  ahg! poor dog.   the karo syrup was bought today, folks. it's official.  let the thanksgiving baking of pecan pies begin. let it be known: meg and tom, a great actor/actress combo and one of my favorites. i went to a wedding yesterday.  every time i go to another one i get more ideas and forget other ones and then decide weddings are simply TOO much trouble all round.  we'd be much better off eloping. ephf... it is much too late to be writing. good night, moon and crooners and today.  if you need chapstick, try coconut oil.  i'll leave you with a poem from my brother who just composed it for me:

'how ruby your lips tonight,

 how wet your hair, dear

and your pajamas, how striped.'

{thanks, chris}

good night.

concerning my powdered hair

                                           isn't it beeeauuutiful???  isn't my brother cef sweet? isn't fall amazing?

'But the comfort was that all the company at the grand hotel of Monseigneur were perfectly dressed.  If the day of judgement had only been ascertained to be a dress day, everybody there would have been eternally correct.  Such frizzling and powdering and sticking up of hair; such delicate complexions  artificially preserved and mended; such gallant swords to look at and such delicate honor to the sense of smell would surely keep anything going for ever and ever.'
 
    I admire Dicken's ability to make people think.....even when he's been dead for over one hundred years.  Really, I just admire  Dickens. This passage reminded me so much of our focus on the ceremony, the outward show of greatness when, on the other side of our artificiality, we see a different face.  It's pride.  I know it personally.  It's that desire to not look like the fool and clumsy idiot we can be and we shy away from showing our faults and acknowledging our weaknesses.  But how can any of us expect to live humble lives and truthful ones if we can't even acknowledge to one another what we struggle with?  Part of being a Christian is bearing each other's burdens but the silly thing is, is that people are hurting, struggling and dealing with sin every day.  Each person we see is fighting their own battle, and yet we all want to act like we're the ones who have our lives together, and as if we don't see anyone else weighted down.  Why do we do this?  I would I could be a more honest Christian, more willing to admit my faults and to bear the burdens of my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

anne of the grey submarine

anne is one of those unforgettable people who nat king cole would have sung about.  she charms, challenges, listens, creates and laughs-- so much.  it's like she exudes sunshine.  she draws people to her and does something that is so hard for many people to do: she listens.
anne has so many things about her that are refreshing and i believe her open frankness to be one of them. she is blunt, but in a tactful way... hard to picture, but true. she amazes me in her ability to make a little anything stretch a long ways and be cuter or tastier, or prettier than the thing you had full supply of.  until last year we shared a room and it's surprising to me how much difference that makes in the amount of time we have spent together.  we still spend a lot of time together, but not as much and i don't take it for granted like i did. between her school, my work and time at home, we follow each other around catching up and telling our secrets and funny, clumsy stories, and about uncanny coincidences, odd teachers, bumster/mondoamaze  days and everything else sisters talk about.

i thought she looked cute today and really just meant to post these pics but it's kinda hard not to talk about anne. ;)

things i love about fall

fall. i. love. you.

thank you God for fall.

for everything about it and for 

always letting it 

come back

again.

 

                                                                       

when i think of fall....

wood fires

fuzzy socks

hot chocolate

  g-mama's thanksgiving

 frost

 our back yard

 leaves

 sassafras tea

hats + scarves + gloves

pumpkin spice lattes 

 cloves

the smells
 colors
turkey,dressing,gravy,green peas, cranberry sauce.
the only time i like cranberry sauce
is when it is in conjuction 
a'fore mentioned 
combination.

drinks

daddy

one of my favorite people

ever since i was born

has been daddy.

 one of my favorite things about daddy

is his laugh.

once he starts it, there's almost no way 

not to do it too.

he's the best daddy in the world 

and the strongest man 

in my life.

happy birthday daddy.