This week I've barely thought in words at all .  It's been in shapes, colors, patterns and textures. Analyzation does that for me.  Is it like that for everyone? If I analyze throughout the day, I feel exhausted and it's hard to make thoughts fit into words…Words seem confining and claustrophobic at the end of a day of analyzation.  I think it's because our minds actually do wander more when thinking in shapes and lines and colors and uses a part of the brain that doesn't get to go roaming when thinking in words.
Well, anyhow, one of my goals is to blog more, simply because it exercises the will and thought of writing. Mama also sat me down and told me I should. So here's to two days of organization and cleaning.  Now I am at peace with my room and my drawers. Now I feel like I can actually work.

Daddy has been talking about living an Abundant life in Christ.  He says one way to do it is to be thankful…Thankfulness opens our eyes to the many blessings God gives us every day. I want to be more thankful…I've found that the prayers I pray consisting only of thanking God leave me refreshed and thinking about God's goodness. Need to do that more.

Here's what I started and didn't finish because that day was full of family and fast walking and food and celebrating and poetry as we celebrated Milly's birthday party…

From Saturday::
On this morning's walk I met Jeb and Wilma. {Jeb, being a very small dog with an intensely squished face and Wilma being a very large cat with a white bib and crimped tail. } I don't know why, but something about those names being said together has made me smile all day.  There was a human too, that I met, whose name I do not know. He was such a memorable human, however, that he joined the vast cast of Dicken's Characters in my mind and served in this morning's role as the keeper of a trinket shop who yelled at his pets in the most endearing way.
I say endearing, for it was the kind of yell that insures the human that the other human is completely on your side and completely put out with his pets.  On the other hand, it equally insures the pets that the familiar yell is one their master uses to display how adorably mischievous and rebellious they are, and that they're not expected to heed the commands at all.
Hence, it is a happy situation for both humans and pets: the human feels protected and acknowledged, while the pets feel doted on and proud of their success in misbehaving again.

Happy Wednesday!

{and writing "Wednesday" makes me smile because it reminds me of last wednesday night when we were at church.  Bro Petroff, with his huge shoulders and grizzly beard came over to me. Quiet Bro Petroff with huge arms and hands of iron an expression to match it, walked over to me and said,
"Yo! G!  You know what day it is?!"
"uh, the 15th?"
Bro Petroff used one of his iron hands to swat my shoulder as he said emphatically,
"It's HUMPDAAAAY!!!!"  And he walked off laughing the Bro Petroff Laugh that a person would know any day, any time if a person's ever heard it before.

Tuesday Musings

He says to pick up where I am. So I do, because he says.

                                                                                                     Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Daddy sounds positively like a pirate when he sings in the shower.  

Getting ready for school this morning, Anna Gette scurried into my room and said,

"Rey-Moose, your room always smells like what I imagine an Israelite room to smell like."

"Oh really?" 

"Yeah," as she spread on lotion.  "With all the oils and such.  Tootles, Rey."  And away she scampered to carry all her portable property to the car.  Anna Gette carries more portable property to school with her than anyone I know.  Today we made 4 trips to the car loading it down, nook and cranny.  As always, she had two coffee cups and two straws and celery by her side. 

Chris' text to me yesterday: 'Just wanna say i think you're a swell sister and friend.  Let's get a boat and raincoats and wait for the water to rise enough that we can float away into the Hundred Acre Wood."

  Sweet Brother. 

It's dark and wet and dreary again this morning, but the coffee is perking and the early grey light even has some promise of goodness.  I can hear Mama and Daddy laughing in the living room.  Daddy's laugh in the morning is more like a great rolling thunder, low and rumbling.  He is fitly called Papa Bear.

 Last night Dawn stood at the foot of my bed in her usual place, rubbing my feet, the dear soul.  It had been a while since I'd been here to take part in this evening ritual of foot rubs and deep thoughts by Dawn. 

"Of all my fears when I was a little kid," she said, her long, golden brown hair tumbling over her shoulders and shadowing her bright, sober eyes, "Because, you know,  every kid has fears - of all my fears - my greatest fear was growing up.  I used to pitch tantrums in Mama's room and scream and kick my legs, I feared it so much.  I think I was more afraid of growing up than I was of the dark."

Oh, Childhood, you were a wonder and a terrible thing to leave. 

What is it that we fear so much in leaving it?  And what is it that we so long for when it's gone?

  For days like this Abe says to take it by the horns and make it what you want it to be.  'Roll with the punches or get rolled on', he reminds me of the old  adage, 'But in any case, shake off dull sloth, and gird up your loins, kid.'

Dawn is my 

daily inspiration. 

Don't ask why if 

you don't know.

For answers, please make your reservation for 

Thoughts With Dawn.

Call 770.787.4039 

and someone should answer the Land Line.

Tuesday is for Cowboys, Indians and Cornbread

 The Teachers of SCC, and the Lowly Minions.

"TIME FOR DEVO!!!" Dawn yelled on our end of the house.  I love our family devotions.  It's the best way I could think of to end a day.  Everybody has been going to school or work, soccer practice or have {like me}  been sitting in The Cave all day working on digital files to send (as Daddy would say) to the "World Wide Web".  Devotion ties all the loose ends together and we get to shove all the other things from the day out of our minds.  We get to laugh and tell each other bits about our day and whoever is the early bird gets to lay their head on Mama's lap, where she strokes and massages it.  Mama gives some of the best head massages. Dawn sits on the couch in soccer clothes, her face still painted from Cowboy and Indian Day at SCC and tells us about the girl on her team who makes strange noises with her mouth and about Bryson, who has curly blond hair and helps her on offense.  Anne stretches on the floor, her wet hair piled on her head, stuck through with a pen.  Merry's head is in Mama's lap, my head in Milly's.  Daddy's undertones make me sleepy at night. So low and rumbly.  I love it when he prays for us all by name.  Gives me almost a thrill in thinking that God is looking at my life in that moment of prayer, considering, loving and praying for me too.

  We were talking about Merry's Fellow tonight.  She had crawled onto Daddy's chair with him as is our fashion to do when he's sitting in it.  Milly worried,
"He still hasn't made Mayla mad enough to really see her bad side…"
"Yeah," confirmed Dawn, "He hasn't seen anything yet."
"I mean," Milly said, "He's made her a little mad, but not enough."
Daddy said, "He's seen the good side but make her mad and - " and with this he made his cat noise, clawing the air and grabbing Merry's leg."
"Boy, I can't wait 'til my guy sees my bad side," I said. "That's going to be fun, fun, fun."
"Aw," said Dawn, " You don't have to worry about it with Gabe so much.  You just leave her alone for a while and wait until she gets in a happy mood, then tell her she's been in a bad mood.  Or just scare her when she's in a bad mood and that'll fix it."
 {Dawn says this out of times of merciless experience when I have been victim to her scare schemes and have been "scared" as she says, "Into a Good Mood", but the reality is that I laugh so badly I can't help it, even if I'm not happy about it.}
"What about me?" Asked Merry to Dawn.  "What'you do about me when I'm in a bad mood?"
"I just stay out of your way." said Dawn.
Daddy chuckled, Dawn dribbled her ball in the living room and Milly told me that elbows have the oddest smell.  They all have the same smell, and it's an oddly Elbowish smell.  She examined mine.  "Well, Mildrow Wilson?  What do you say?"  She said mine was no exception.

Today was SCC and as it was First Tuesday it meant Pot Luck and Dress Up. Let me tell you, coming home from work to Mama's mashed potatoes, pork loin, green beans, home grown cream corn peas and cornbread was a treat to the soul.




                      ^ Sunfire the Mighty Warrior of her indian tribe, and Sunfire's Sister's Baby,  ^

whom Sunfire was caring for since her sister died.

Cowboys and Indians.

  .Sunfire.

p.s. let not your heart be troubled: daddy's got bacon in the freezer.

.Local Scalpings. 

for more info please dial

770.787.4039.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy October First Everybody!!!
  I have to say, besides it not being nippy and chilly and blue, it was a perfect day to kick October off with.  Grey and downy and drippy all day long, I want to hug days like this. Kiss them and pinch their cheeks, they are so endearing.   The school kids had play practice today, then came to our house to hang out.

  Ah!!! But daft me!!! We had supper at church last evening, and after services I did what I always do: I walked out of the building over to the lunch room and ate supper. without picking up my purse/Bible/notebook. Unless I'm very good, I generally forget I've done that, and have to go back and retrieve my stuff after the doors have been locked. Well, it was raining, of course, but right as we were leaving, I realized I hadn't gotten my stuff. I wasn't worried so much about my purse as I was a certain book that was beside it: my journal.  I need my journal, folks.  It is an essential part of my sanity and thought process. To be without it, is to be wretched. Took the keys, ran in, {didn't turn on the lights} felt on our pew for my stuff - didn't feel it, ran back out, jumped in the car and asked if anyone else had gotten it. No. Daddy jumped out, ran in, {turned on the lights} and brought out my purse. But my journal/Bible/notebook were still in there. I felt a sinking and slapping sensation across the face of my better judgement. AH! This is what I dread. And always try to make NOT happen. As it is, I've been scrounging for scraps of paper to write on and wondering why I didn't just turn on the lights.  P.s. my new moleskine from Chris is red. That's adventurous, isn't it? It's a cherry red. It's a flamboyant red.

excerpt from an old one::

Sunday, July 15, 2012

'I have so many pressure points nowadays, it's strange.  I just laid down and my eyebrows pressed that book and it was an odd pressure point." Merry was - is - lying across my stomach and Milly was lying across my legs, one head burrowed in the blankets.  She raised her head and said,

"I've had some pressure points too…Not a lot; the main one is when I floss, that tooth hits a nerve in my collar bone."

 This trio never fails to make me smile.

as it was raining, a.g. and i had to be a little innovative with our workout set up tonight.

did we feel hick?

yes.

did we feel redneck?

yes.

did we still do it?

you bet. 

~~~~~~  

a.g. fixed my hair into an Anne Shirley do-up. But she says teasing is the key.  she teased it so much, it went crazy. { love that a.g. is laughing so hard here she's almost crying. love that she can make me laugh more than any other person alive.}

'i don't want starbursts or marble halls…i just want a camel and needle, and 

gilbert blythe'

{do we pass, do you think, as fitting A. of G.G. characters?}

full moon, mama's home, world is right, life is good.

just the way an early morning should be enjoyed.





::note::

milly = my term for melody

margaret = melody's term for Dawn
broge= dawn's term for me.

maher is our cat 

whose full name is

 Mahershalalhashbaz Spurgeon 

and

 who also

may have worms and

 who, furthermore, we have 
suspected of dying on us for some time now.

~~~~

This day {thank God} ends nearly a week of the Grey Submarine being emptied of some of its key ingredients: Merry, Mama and Melody.  Amazing what a hole one person can make in a family, let alone three!!!  Don't get me wrong, the remainder has survived considerably well: we had coffee brewing all week, Clyde and Sherri work to do, baked pumpkin cupcakes, went shopping {kroger, not clothes} and settled into our routine of threesomeness. But this is sure, there is just not the same atmosphere when Mama's not home. It's as true as all get out that she's the heart and life and vibrance of this home.

We don't get cell phones around here when we're infants.  We usually don't get them in our teens. We get them when the circumstances fall out that way.  The circumstances fell out that way for Anne and me to get ours last year, so we got them. Along with them, the fabled texting. That first night Mama, Daddy, Anne and I all sat in the living room sending texts to each other and laughing.   As it is, the other three girls use A.G and my phone interchangeably. Milly was coming home on the trip today and from Mama's phone she said:
"Is Marge around?  Is she able to be communicated with?"  Took the phone to Dawn who was shinnied up a tree.
 'Ah, Broge," she tilted her head and squinted her eyes, "Do I have to take that?  I'd have to get down and I've only been up a minute."
"Milly says she wants to talk to you.  So she swung down, took the phone, and when I got it back there was this conversation:

Milly:: Did anything come from Anthro for Mama?
Dawn:: Yes but I don,t know why were doing this infurnal texting bussieness
Milly:: Cause i didnt want to ask in front of the girls cause we're in the car. Can you put the box beside my chest and put the old cup in my top drawer?
Dawn:: ohta, anything else?
Milly:: you're a pal margaret thanks see you on a few hours. Are y'all going to 6 flag today?
Dawn:: Nope
Milly:: Ok has Maher died?
Dawn:: No
Milly:: Are the people coming tonight?
Milly:: Im glad Maher's not dead
Dawn:: I don,t know
Milly:: Ok see you in a while
Dawn:: Sure can I get back in me tree now?
Milly: Certainly Margaret go right ahead!

Anne and I read over Dawn's shoulder and Anne said matter of factly,
"Maher has been happy this week!"
"No he hasn't! He's been so dismal. Have you heard his meow lately? It's so raspy and he can barely croak one out."
Yes, Maher was dismal, and so were we, to some extent; but the fam's home, and this means that the world is set right again.

noah!!!

.take a lesson from this little man on the right way to eat a pumpkin spice cupcake.

^check out daddy's cauldron of chili…Ah!!! so good. nobody makes it like he does. 

and classic bro j telling fireman stories :)

happy night, happy bellies, happy people,

goodnight folks.

uh …..m. help..plerse.

Today is one of those days, you know?  The kind where I just shake my head.  It's the kind where everything meshes into one HUGANTIC MESS… and I realize that::

* the outfit i'm wearing is dreadfully nineties, and dawn is horrified and i am too, but she can't know that, so i pretend i love it, and we go to the store.
*my hair is dying and i need to get a hair cut, but there's something about those straggly ends that won't let me let go of them without weeping and gnashing of teeth.
* i have no idea how computers work
* i have no idea how to work my editing software
* i have no idea how to use my external hard drive and i have thousands…thousands of unorganized, mixed up photos on there…NOT IN FOLDERS!!!! 
* my camera batteries are dying
* all my cf cards are full
* and I HAVE A SHOOT TONIGHT!!!!!

I feel like I should go on a walk or work out, but then I think of all this unorganized digital life-work of mine, floating between the balances of LIFE AND DEATH  and then I can't get away!!!!!  I don't know why external hard drives being unorganized gives me such a go' round in the head, but it's as if my whole life is cluttered and crazy when that thing is not right.

All of the thoughts running through my head are in bold italics and in a word, I want to be a cave woman.  No more digital files. Just me and my lion skin and rock paint.  I would paint my whole cave with rock paint canvases.

But then, I think about the pros. And the pros about this day are that
*Dawn finally got her chiropractic adjustment after three days of waiting, plus she and I got Häagan Dazs ice cream for half price {which, I'll have you know she paid for because she's just an awesome student and sister and wanted to get me a "Teacher Treat" yes. yes, she is wonderful.}.
* I got a haircut {for less than $15!!!! and noone even noticed.  {It's the best I could hope for…you know how I feel about hair cuts…and if you don't, then you would if you spent any time around me at all.}
* Got to come home to Anna Grace who never fails to make me laugh
* Daddy's burning in the garden. Always a plus, but especially in the fall.
* Patti LuPone sings 'I Dreamed a Dream' like nothing else, so I've played it over and over, because it fits the morbid mood.
*There is a finish line to this day. And to this mess and I'm closer to it now than I was two hours ago.
* I have an amazing Daddy who shops like a pro and who makes killa-shrimp and who is making it tonight.
*It's almost the full moon.  {yesh!!!!}
* When I got home I found some very happy photos from Sunday::
*REally I don't have ANYTHING to complain about because I have a superb life, am very blessed and LOVE what I do!!! I love that Mama has made our home so full of life and joy and love and creativity and free thought and that our church loves being together so much we wait around forever before we go home, and that my brothers talk to me on the phone for hours, and take me on walks make me laugh because they're so sweet, and love me so much and …….really…I have it grand after all.  Amen.

The End.

p.s.

some photos from last weekend::

abe and drew sang "precious memories" to back up the hour long discussion they'd had the night before lauding its excellence. we had a handshake afterwards, everyone hugging each other's necks, saying, 'good to see you brother so-and-so…glad you could be here sister such-and-such'.

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.

before laying me down to hay

    The mighty deed is done!!!! we've been shanghai'd into the future by unstoppable forces of modernity!!!  The old kitchen sink faucet is no more.  So if you had a chance to master it, and didn't, I am sorry.  This new one is smooth, uncracked, unstubborn and to be handled gently.  A thing it's been hard to get used to after yanking the other one.  In a way, I'm a little sad…Because, you know the old one.  It was almost a test to see if you would be admitted to the heart of the Sub.
   Also, Dawn appeared in the hall with wide eyes and exclaimed to all of us at the table,
'Woooaaah!!! What  is going on??? Where is the old bathtub stopper??!!!'
'I know…' I admitted, 'The new one's fancy.'
'Mogly,' said Merry to Dawn, 'it's alright.'
'No it's NOT!  We've had that bathroom stopper for years! And that new one is weird looking!'
'Mogly!  The old stopper's under the sink. The one in the bathtub is actually s'posed to be in the kitchen.'  Dawn disappeared and I tried to figure out why they'd been switched, but Merry just looked over her glasses at me and told me to stop axting questions.
    Such a rainy day!  And even though it was rainy, there was still a hint of fall smell.  And I found a beautiful little red leaf today, as I was walking down to the mailbox in Daddy's big rain coat.  The rain falling on it sounded like rain on a tent, so it was tempting to not go inside at all.  It's a good thing I did go inside, however, because just as I walked in Dawn was on the brink of pouring the bad milk into the chocolate milk to drink.  I startled her out of it. Then she made me write 'BAD' on the side with a big X.  Mama's home. And that means the world is right again. She flew to Virginia this morning and flew back tonight.  Goodnight people.

Anne says 'I'm not getting up on the first alarm. I'm not getting up on the second alarm. I'll get up on the third or fourth alarm, but definitely not the fifth.  That one's the worst. '  She's swaddled on my floor, saying 'Raymona, are NorthFace backpacks classy? Northface vs. canvas…it's like black and white…and high sierra..functional…cute colors….sometimes…urban…scrubs..think of…jeans….'

 goodnight.

a friend says fall is the time of year when the 

'air and the land becomes closer to what 

eternity must be like….'

i believe it

must be 

so.

saturday hooplas

Along about Friday Mama decided to start sewing skirts for us girls.  Five skirts that we all had to wear by the next night.  So we stayed up until midnight or so, stitching the 'invisible stitch' and listening to as many Doris Day, Cascades, Sam Cooke and Disney songs  as we could until we got slower and tireder…and slower. and sillier and sleepier. The question, of course, was 'would they be finished'???…I felt a little like I was living in one of those atrocious reality shows where there's all this drama and bug eyed tears and a SCRIPT and a happy ending. But there wasn't a script, even though we knew of course that Mama would finish them in time, just because Mama is Mama. And that's that.  We took our skirts to Dawn's soccer game and sewed them there. Dawn almost scored twice, almost tackled a very hideous ref (you know the type) and we all yelled like a good southern family should.  We got things done.  Picked okra in our okra forest after the game, cleaned my room, worked out…. seems like we got more stuff done. I can't remember exactly.  But I know that everyone was 'laid out like flies' as GrandPatty would say. Zonked.  It was a dreadfully good day for an afternoon nap, I'll admit. But then it was time to go, and Dawn needed her hair done, and Milly couldn't find a belt and Chris came - he's so handsome.   Daddy had shined all our boots, so five clomping gals, plus Daddy and Chris and Mama, all shipped off to FSH Benefit for Muscular Dystrophy and the concert we sang in. Cowboy's attire. Amen. A good Saturday.

{to listen to a clip from the concert, click here}

this is saturday all summed up. look at our maple, poor thing. she's all wrinkly and cracked. but she's 

a dear old friend.

cowboy up

villain = merry's nickname for melody

merry to melody tonight:
'villain, i'm going to bed. wake me up in the morning, won't you?
just shake me then talk to me for a while.  but don't do that horrible 'maaayyylaaah…
time to get uuhhhhhhp…uhhhp..up up up!!!!
it's in the moorrrrning….'
because that will make me
 resolve to go back
to sleep.'

night, kids.

curious dawn

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

"What is a time share?" asked Dawn.  
"Dawn, a timeshare is a capsule people get into for a certain amount of time so that they're oblivious to time for their amount of sharing time; it's really relaxing." I said.
"Sounds neat," she said skeptically, "but something tells me it's not true."
From the driver's seat Daddy said "Y'all talkin' bout that time capsule?  the one where you get in there and twist the knob and it'll take you back to wherever you want to go?"
"Yessir.  Dawn doesn't think it's real, Daddy," I told him.
"Ah no?  Little Megreyer - Dinny???" (megreyer - dinny is a common name daddy uses for dawn)
"Nope, I don't. And see," she said, "That prove my point, 'cause  Gabe said you're 'oblivious to time' and you said they 'twist a knob to go to whatever time they want', but if they were oblivious to time, why would they do that? So it proves that's not real."
 "Time shares," came the soft voice of Milly who was squished between Dawn and me, "Timeshares are cards people buy for a certain price and they assure you of an amount of time to do what you want with it and then you hand the cards out to other people and then they pay you for them…" she trailed off in a laugh.  Daddy's eyes were squinched, I could see his smile wrinkles in the rearview mirror by the light of the street lamps.
"Timeshares," I attempted again, "are giant pie pans that people lie down in and for whatever amount you pay, you get to take up a certain amount of time-space in the pie pan.  You then share your slice of time with everyone else."  Dawn was exasperated and exclaimed earnestly,
 "I am persuaded y'all want me to be an oblivious child who knows NOTHING!  But then when I meet with a public-schooler who knows what a time share IS and they start talking about it one way, I'll say in my ignorance, "What??? NO! A time share is a giant capsule! or some other false thing and they'll say 'Oh look, a stupid homeschooler,' and then that will give homeschoolers a bad name.  See, this is where we get all that nonsense about our sitting around in pajamas all day long with nothing to do except stare out a window or at a tv!  
  We were quiet for a while until Daddy finally explained, "think of a giant hotel room that you get suckered into renting along wit other folks for weeks on end - " 
  But Dawn was done. True or not, she wouldn't trust anymore second - hand knowledge for the night. 

oh, my dawn.

what a good woman won't' do…not much.

"You're gonna do what Mama?" I asked, face squinched.
"Well, honey, it's not often I get to do something for Chris that he really needs or wants.  I'll make a party out of it."
So there we were this morning at 3.00, Mama clanging pans, cooking meat and whipping biscuits.  By 4.00 the kitchen was fairly bustling. We had coffee brewing, all the lamps on and Daddy frying thick bacon slabs.  We were slicing and buttering biscuits and Mama was slapping flour on Daddy's face. When Chris got there at 4.30 or 5.00 he took the sacrificial biscuit and tried it for us, then had two or three more because Mama scrambled eggs and made gravy and there was this season's jam of course, and a strong brew of coffee.
At Delta, there's a policy that if you're late, you bring breakfast one day for the guys on your crew.  Chris has taken lots of breakfasts, but this one was going to put all the rest to shame.  He's day shift, which means getting up at 3.30 am… and for Chris that's not easy, but he was here sharp and bright eyed, poking us and squeezing, kissing Mama, peering at the pots and exclaiming,
"Boy! Smells Good! Think I could smell it from the driveway. Law, law!!!"
"You called Sam, Chris? I want him to get one. You tell him I'm thinking especially of him while I'm making all this." Mama has made food for the guys before, delivered some of their babies, helped out with some life problems they've taken to her, prayed for them, etc. etc.
"Yes'm. I was telling the guys the other day about this and Roger - well, you gotta know Roger. You just can't argue with him, but - "
"He the Japanese guy that gave Dawn the necklace?" Anne shuffled past, fresh from bed, straight to the coffee pot, arm outstretched limply.
"Yeah. He's the one. Well, I told him about Mama making the biscuits and - "
"Honey, stir that right there - Melody, you have those eggs beaten?…Oh! don't open the oven, biscuits rising, Chris, grab that handle."

"Whad'ya say he said, Chris?" Daddy, with black coffee, feet crossed under the table.

"Well, he's all about healthy foods and he sees me eatin' healthy all the time so he starts sayin' 'Ahh…I bet she'll make those whole wheat biscuits….turn out flat!' So I didn't argue with him. Ya just can't."

"That why the number went from 21 to 20?" asked Mama. 

"Reckon so."

"Poor Roger," I say.  "Will Lance be there?"

"Yep, he'll be there."

"I wonder if he'll be wearing Auburn colors." And I laughed to myself because the first time I saw Lance was outside Chris' window, and all I remember was thinking "My…now that's one dedicated Auburn fan." He wore Auburn everything, down to flip flops and tricked Dawn into blindly saying that innocent little line to her soccer coach {an equally dedicated Alabama fan}  'WAR EAGLE'.  He told her just which way to say it, of course.  The intonation, and stress of words. So next time she saw her coach - whom she revered something heavy - she obediently blurted out, "WAR EAGLE, Coach!!!"  Dawn has never forgotten Lance. Nor forgiven him and she is now an unbendable Alabama fan.

 By six we were rolling the ice chest full of biscuits down the walkway to Chris' car, loading it with meats and jellies and notes for him to remember certain things throughout the day, plates, spoons and bags, and then it was Chris rolling out the driveway, in the dark, us waving and dew falling so thick it was almost rain. But it wasn't. We could see the stars bright and clear.

 mischievous mama.

handsome feller.

My eyes were blurry and squinted and I hadn't coordinated my walk yet. It was still the morning shuffle, but I went in the living room at 8.40 after sleeping again and saw Mama chatting with Daddy, Daddy with his boots on and coffee in his hand, hair combed.
  "Mom…you didn't go back to bed?"
"Well, hun," she said airily, "I tried, but every time I did the phone rang or I got a text or something. You'll have to see the text though," and she pulled out her phone.  It was from Chris and said,
"A smashing success," with a photo of empty containers, pots and jars.  Mama wrote back,
"Does it mean all gone?"
"Yep. And all the guys say to thank you."
Mama turned to us and said, "I just thought you'd like to see the fruit of your labors."
"Nothing," Mel and I replied.  She laughed.
"Yes, Nothing!  You've got empty containers and that's it.  Hate to say all that work was in vain, but there you go!"
"Isn't that the perpetual reward of women's labors?  Empty pots?" as I observed that continuous cycle.  "But reckon that's a good thing."

Full bellies make happy men and both are essential to life, as we know full well.

congrats, dawn.

Dawn was my grammar student last year and being the generous, thoughtful, briber I am, I thought I'd take her on an "End of School Outing" in May to celebrate finishing school and forever seal my unquestionable position as 'Blameless Tutor'. Well, that day came finally, though a little later than I had planned.  Not sure how May melted into August like this, but it still works, eh?  So congratulations to Dawn! She officially finished grammar today.

She came to my room last night and we talked til nearly 12 about mind paths, where $20 bills have been, the challenge and reward of school, men like Thomas Jeff, John A. and John Q and the capabilities of humans. 

She started explaining an idea she has about  the collective force of multiple minds working together…but she didn't finish it.

"…all these different channels of thought and possibility and - oh! I get jittery just thinkin' about it, but what if all those channels of thought were connected, why, then someone in Japan could be thinking something and someone here could know what they're thinking and it's just - ah! so amazing.  …….and that's when I stop talking," she said, gathering her dollar bills and jumping off the bed resolutely, 

"because I get so excited it starts getting weird, so I take my money and walk out and put it in an envelope labeled 'tennis shoes'. 

goodnight."

Introducing 'Mango Tango'... little joint in town with super good frozen yogurt and sorbets.

incredibly thankful for this kid.

can't imagine my life without her…she's more than one in a million,

she's dawn.

Dickens at Sea

 {    Life is so full sometimes I can't seem to pick out one thing from my brain and just write about it because all the other topics are equally bursting at the seams to be written about; so I have to compromise.  Turn away altogether from those thoughts that occupy so much of my time and write or copy something completely unattached to those eager topics. 

 Hence, a sea post, as we just visited it last week and more conveniently a journal excerpt.   }

                                                                                                                      Thursday, Aug. 

16, 2012 

I like the sound of laughter coming from inside our sea cottage and the continual scraping of furniture being shoved around, for there is always a new reason to move it again.  Move it all together for a movie, shove it apart for daily traffic; move it to corners for cozy, low conversations and all facing each other for devotions.
  Our house is a tall thing on stilts and with ivy in a canopy over the archways. 
  We have been happily situated in a quiet nook at the southern tip of the island.  Daddy was preparing to begin Dicken's "Our Mutual Friend" and he said 'Y'all boys come in here and learn how to get a girl!"
It's a stormy day and we've been snugly tucked away with pillows, blankets and arms, hands and hair cuddled and intwined together as we're heaped on couches, much like puppies. 
The dialogue in-between the script is almost as entertaining as the script itself. 
"What is happening? Why are they digging in the heap?"
"It is the bone man and the one - legged guy…" 
"He is a REALLY bad guy now, isn't he?"
"If you get attached to him, believe me, he'll die," said Mercy morbidly.
Uncle Zack nervously rubbed his fingers together, "Oh…gohllly…good grief…get out. shoot, man…this is gettin' kinda…scary…"
"Oh no! Oh no!" Mama shouted. We were all on edge.  "Not the river! not the RIVERRRR!!!" 
"…Goodness…she's going to refuse him…." And Grandmama looked dubious and perplexed.  "She's going to refuse him and he's going to drown…"
"Yep." said Uncle Zack, rubbing furiously and shaking his head with an intensely blank look on his face. "They're gonna drown together…Gohhhly…"
 At the sight of two men struggling at the river drop off, and both drowning, Grandmama exclaimed, 
"Dickens went a little far with that one!………..a little too far, I think."
At the end, Uncle Zack vowed off Dickens forever, Chris sighed heavily and said, pacing, "Boy! I'm just gonna have to think about all' at…." and Grandmama looked at her book "Christy" and said after a moment of silence…"My….Christy just may not be that exciting after Dickens…"
  Grandmama reads and I lie here, my head on her lap. She strokes my face and plays with my hair. Her hands are cool and strong.