reflections of a sunday eve

'Honey, just remember to abide in the Vine no matter what comes…We abide in Him and Him in us - that's all we need.'

I can't tell you the number of times I've called Grandmama or laid looking at the ceiling next to her on Granddaddy's side of the bed or stood in the kitchen against the counter or on the stool and have heard just what I needed to hear.  We haven't necessarily even been talking about "my problems", just Life, and experiences, and Uncle Dave, Mama and Aunt Judy when they were little, Dr. So and So who was the best Doctor in town, or about the Great Depression and how Mamaw Voisy kept the floors swept and the house clean, even if they only stayed a day or two or a week…

  Grandmama is one of those unforgettable people…Sturdy, feisty, gentle, small.  You would hardly guess the Warrior beneath her cheerful smile and kind hands.  But she is.  She is one of the Greatest Prayer Warriors I know or have ever known, and she never ceases to make me wonder.  So much wisdom is stored in that life and such a wonderful nurturing spirit, you can't help but feel more alive after having talked with her or spent any time listening and being with her.

  So she tells me this week, 'abide in the vine…we have sufficient grace as we need it…don't fear what's not here yet.  You're still afraid of it because God hasn't given you the grace you need to go through it, and you may never have that grace because you may never need to go through it…But if He does lead you through it, He'll take your fear and give you grace instead.'

This seems to be a theme of late…Abide in the Vine and in the Word…Do this so that my 'joy might be full'…I hope I may.  I guess the full meaning of that comes with searching and trying to do it to the best of my knowledge, but I hope to that extent I might do so.

   It has been a wonderfully blustery, clear, cold, vibrant day, full of so many people I love. I cannot imagine loving any group of people more than my church family…They are so dear.

::Happy Sunday Afternoon::

 
 

Tonight is so blessedly clear and shiny.  Chris and I saw a shooting star on the way home. It fell long and bright over a large field and disappeared behind a line of dark pines.

Dawn shuffles in, red-eyed and wet-haired. 

'Goodnight, lil' Broge', she says. 

'Goodnight, Dawn.'

Goodnight,

 folks.

elevensies

We had two of them, to be exact.  Friday morning was spent shaking rugs, vacuuming, washing clothes, dishes and bathtubs, sweeping, and dusting until near eleven, at which time we abandoned all and rushed to the kitchen for tea pots, biscuits, whipped cream, coffee, and jams. At eleven we played the shire theme, Dawn read a passage from Tolkein's Fellowship of The Ring and Mama stopped her work, and Natalie came so we talked about Georgia islands, wild beasts and babies. {the latter being an inevitable necessity being in the world of midwives.}
   But then the other crew came and we lamented to them that they'd missed elevensies, so it was suggested that we just have it again at the next hour of eleven, which we did.  We stood by the kitchen clock and counted down, and when it was eleven sharp, we rang a bell and shouted and commenced promptly. Again, we had coffee, whole cream, shire music and reading from J.R.R., but this time it was read by Matt (for which Mama especially made a point to come hear, as we all like to hear him read aloud, especially from Jeeves and Wooster, but really anything). Also, it was Baby Beauchamp's first Elevenies and Androph tried to feed her coffee and pie, but couldn't quite figure how to get it to her, so he patted her instead and we all wished her a most hearty happy first celebration of Elevensies. Mrs. Sherri had brought a peanut butter pie that day, so we saved it and had it that night (oh my…it was DIVINE).  And that day was divine and so was the whole weekend. So what more can be said?

first elevensies 

second elevensies.

goodnight.

T-give post.

Ok.  Here we are,  Thanksgiving post.  I haven't forgotten you.  

 Thanksgiving was twice.  Well, really three times, because Chris fixed a leftover Thanksgiving meal for me one day when I was at work.  We had dill pickles by a man named 'Dill Pickle' and we had greens that Peg Leg cooked herself - tasty, but Chris wasn't used to sugar being in his greens and there was dressing and cranberry etc. Anyhow, that was one Thanksgiving meal.  Chris made a super-yummy tea that day too.  So we listened to  'Sense and Sensibility' soundtrack and the sun kept getting in my eyes because it was a blue sky and gold and I was sitting by the window.  We had sprouts, too.  What an awful date food that would be.  We were laughing about how awkward it would be to make a girl sprouts and pressure her to eat them.  You feel absolutely like a grazing cow.  

   The two other Thanksgivings were both big and loud and fun and I wished wished wished it wouldn't go by so fast.   Mamaw and Papaw gave us Merry back after two weeks of quilting and sewing.  Papaw told us about Uncle Leonard, and Mamaw Mink and how he and Mamaw met. They told us too, about daddy when he was little.  They had pictures of him growing up and even though we've seen them before, we still get giddy when we see his old pictures.  Especially when he was in the Air Force.  Talk about handsome.  Oh boy.  No wonder he's good looking.  Every day in Arkansas we walked. Walked long roads beside cow fields and chicken houses and Brother Marvin's diesel truck. And every morning Mamaw would make a huge breakfast and everything from scratch except the hog.  We had homemade jellies and jams and biscuits.  I love their coffee too.  Papaw makes it just right.  We really didn't need a Thanksgiving meal after two mornings of that kind of cooking, but of course, we did. And we got to see family we hadn't seen in a year or longer and cousins that were new additions.  And then there was Memphis.  And it was awesome. The End

.

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.

 

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