Update on Marion and Nelle,,,,,,,,,,

I received an email from Marion's husband, John, this morning. He said Marion went through her surgery fine and is back on the ward. He said he will send an update soon.......

We visited Nelle yesterday. She had had a bad night Wednesday night. I told her that she is on my blog and many people from many countries are praying for her. Neeless to say, she was thrilled. She is having difficulty breathing and will have her first chemotherapy treatment either today or tomorrow. She was hoping to leave the hospital Saturday but may be unable to with the breathing problem.

Thank you for your sweet comments, concern and prayers for both Marion and Nelle..........

Two dear friends.............

Marion

Betty and Nelle


Once again I ask for your prayers for two dear, sweet friends....Nelle has just learned that she has Lymphoma Cancer. She is a member of the church where my husband is the pastor. She is also the 'Queen Mum' of our Red Hatter's group. She is the beautiful lady on my right.

Another sweet friend is Marion of Reflection of the Seasons who lives in Wales. She had surgery today.

Both of these ladies are dear to me, and I know they would appreciate your prayers............

Painting of Jesus..........

I'm new to doing much of the blog extras and I have no idea if this is the way to do this. I received an email this morning that touched my heart and I want to share it with you.

Please go to this url:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M4_IlbaZHA

I believe it will be a blessing to you as well..........

Beautiful Easter Card........

I received the most beautiful Easter card in the mail yesterday from my friend, Candy ,at Candy and Roses. It came all the way from Alberta, Canada........

"It made my day," as Clint Eastwood, would say!

Going to the mailbox is my favorite task of the day. I'm tickled to find catalogs, and especially a card or letter. With blogging and emails, I can received mail all through the day and even at night......How much better can it get?

Thank you Candy.......

My Daddy, the Miller.........

My daddy bought a grist mill when I was about six years old. For those of you who don't have any idea what a grist mill is, as my girls would say when they were growing up, let me light your candle. A grist mill grinds corn into meal, grits, etc. The mill was a large contraption that had two humongous round rocks with a small hole in the center and they rubbed against each other with the corn between them. It was very, very noisy! The meal could be ground very fine, almost like flour, medium, and coarse. I don't remember Daddy grinding grits but possibly he did. As the meal came out, it was extremely hot. You couldn't handle it at that time. It went into big wooden barrels with a white cloth cover. My Uncle Tom usually was in charge of the meal grinding.

My job, when I was there sometimes after school was to stamp the brown paper bags with a black stamp stating how many pounds, texture (fine, medium, coarse) the name of the milling company and the price. The meal was place in the bags, weighed, top folded over a couple of times and string tied around it. Really high tech.....

Daddy thought he made the best corn meal around. Well, naturally he would! He then delivered to the local grocery stores.

With machinery, sometimes it tears up. Daddy would have to take the grist mill apart to have it worked on. Daddy was an early to bedder and early to riser. He was in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 every night and up by 5:00 a.m. The nights that the mill was being repaired we were up until the wee hours.....It was exciting to me........

A few years after Daddy bought the grist mill he built a large warehouse type building and added a feed mill to grind and mix feed for farmers to feed livestock. I remember the smell of the corn and molasses that was mixed into the feed. It smelled good enough to eat! Since he was in the feed business, he bought cows, goats, etc., to feed out and sell.

I remember while playing around in the building where the corn was stored in bulk, I lost my pretty birthstone ring. A couple of years later, while at school one day, I was playing with a girl whose Daddy worked at the feed mill and she had on a blue ring. I told her it was pretty and that I had had one like it but lost it at the mill. She told me her Daddy had found it there and she took it off and gave it to me. I will never forget her honesty...........

Most children couldn't have a horse because of lack of a place to keep them and feed to feed them. We had both but Daddy didn't think we needed a horse. Guess what? We didn't have a horse.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I came along when my parents were in their forties with five older brothers and sisters. One of my sisters and her family was visiting from another state . My nieces wanted to feed the goats and asked Daddy to take the paper off the corn! He got a laugh out of that.

We always had lacy cornbread, very thin and crunchy, for lunch and supper. The recipe is written below. When my husband and I became engaged, his brother said, "I bet I know one thing you can't cook, lacy cornbread." Well, there was more that I couldn't cook than I could cook but lacy cornbread was the first thing I learned to cook.

Lacy Cornbread

1 cup of plain meal (Yellow if you can find it)
Water enough to make it the consistency of thin pancake batter
salt to taste

A cast iron griddle greased (or teflon skillet sprayed works for me) needs to be hot. Pour mixture in--not very thick. Turn heat down to medium and cook for about 10 minutes. I run a spatula under mine and flip it. You can use a plate. Cook another 10 minutes or so.

On a summer day, nothing beats Lacy cornbread, peas or butterbeans, fried okra, sliced tomatoes, herbed new potatoes, fried chicken or porkchops..........

A Love Story..............

Another Love Story…………….
A couple of years ago I witnessed first hand love personified…..We hear so much, especially on TV, two people who fall in love, have a mega-dollar wedding and then divorce six months later, if it last that long.

Two people in their late seventies at least, who we’ve known for many years, lived a long distance away and who we didn’t see very often. We always enjoyed being in their company. We had been visitors in their home and treated royally.

He is a very quiet, unassuming, kindly man who has been a Minister of the Gospel for many years. She, a southern lady, always dressed attractively, hair coiffed and soft spoken. She had a very extensive doll collection which she enjoyed showing to guests in her home. She was a very giving person. While visiting with her, she detected that I like dishes, so she shared two beautiful plates with me.

A little over two years ago, we heard that she had breast cancer but seemed to be doing well. Their children were helping to help take care of them so they were able to manage their home.

We were attending a meeting in Tennessee and we were delighted to see them come in. She was in a wheelchair, gently pushed by her husband. It was her birthday and they had been to brunch at a restaurant to celebrate. She was dressed in a pretty dress and as she had lost her hair due to chemotherapy, she was sporting a beautiful straw hat.

He rolled her up a couple of rows in front of me and lovingly helped her out of the wheelchair into a seat. Quietly, he carried her chair to the back and came back to sit beside her. He kept his arm around her shoulder protectively the entire service. Sometimes, I’m sure because of her medication, she would momentarily doze off and he would lovingly nudge her. He kept his eyes on her continually as though he was drinking in her very being. I was so thankful I had my camera and discreetly made their picture.

A few months later she passed away. Although I know she is so much better off and is no longer suffering, I can’t help thinking how very much he must miss her. We have heard him sing numerous time ‘What A Day That Will Be”. While I know he ultimately is referring to the day he sees his Savior, I can’t help but think he also is thinking of the day he will see his wife again.

This dear devoted couple: Elder Gene Turner and Sister Virginia Turner.

The Purple Hat by Irma Bombeck.................

Purple Hat
In memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer.

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck
(Written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner." There would have been more "I love you's"; more "I'm sorry's."
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it... live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!
Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what
Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.
Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with, and what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally. I hope you have a blessed day.

A Step Back In Time....Hotel Tilasi.......

The posting is written at the bottom after you view the pictures.................

Lobby............

The son-in-law of the family that owns the hotel was very congenial and allowed all the pictures I wanted to take.

These flowers were on either sides of the front door. I would have omitted the blue flowers and used another kind......

I guess you could say that this is indeed a 'public shower'............

Tee-shirt, anyone?

and how long you will be staying?

and how will you be paying?

The carpet is so hotel-ish......I expected James Brolin to

appear any moment. Remember he was the manager

of the TV series 'Hotel' ?

The piano was in the common area near our room and

it played really well........

Common area

Another view.....................

The bath was behind double doors. Small

but efficient........

Our sitting area......

The smaller dining room is used at night. Breakfast is not served

but coffee is offered...........

The largest dining room is open for the mid-day meal that is buffet. On Friday and Saturday nights they serve a seafood buffet. Many of the local residents eat here.

As we arrived at the Hotel Talisi, the weather continued to be stormy. We quickly carried as much luggage in with us as we could. The double front doors were flanked on either side indoors with large blue and white containers with beautiful flower arrangements. Beautiful wine, pink and green cabbage rose carpet covered the floors.

The hotel was originally opened in 1928. Much of the furniture remains until today. The pigeon-hole key keeper on the wall along with the old fashion cash register immediately takes one back to earlier days. The wine sofa and wing chairs looked very comfortable.

Following the flowered carpet upstairs, it opened into two big common areas. a baby grand piano along with several chairs and sofas, large china cabinets held lovely dishes and figurines. Yes, I did play the piano!
Various pictures, oil and other mediums drew attention to the walls, along with beautiful fireplaces.

Our room was spacious enough to also have a sitting area. We had a king size bed and a beautiful victorian settee and wing chairs. Behind double door,the white tiled bath was small but adequate.

We had friends who checked in that night also. After settling in we met them and went down stairs for our evening meal in the dining room. The food was very good.

The family who now own the hotel are descendants of the orginal owners. They were living in Atlanta and when the hotel came up for sale recently, they decided to come home and buy it. They live on the third floor along with their daughter, son-in-law and two beautiful white dogs.

As I was downstairs making pictures the young son-in-law was on early duty and was very friendly and congenial. He gave me permission to go anywhere in the building to make pictures.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the hotel and hopefully will return sometime in the future for another visit.

Bellingrath Gardens.............

Entrance to Bellingrath Gardens

While we were at Orange Beach, AL, we decided to go to Mobile to the Bellingrath Gardens, well, actually it is located at Theodore, AL. It is 65 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds.

Walter Duncan Bellingrath arrived in Mobile in 1903 to bottle Coca-Cola for a sales region stretching out a hundred miles. He married his secretary, Bessie Morse, in 1906 and five years later bought her a spacious home in one of Mobile's most elegant neighborhoods. She loved flowers and antiques and her home has a showplace.

Her husband later bought the property that was to become Bellingrath. They planted truckloads of camellia, azaleas and after a European trip seeing the beautiful gardens, they returned home, to continue creating a showplace. Bessie was known to buy flowers, antiques and other things from people who were going through hard times at a price high above their value.

They had wells drilled but because it had high sulphur content, they installed garden fountains and even made a lake named Mirror Lake. The estate was opened to the public in 1935.

The North side of the home (I think)

Mary Jo and Betty

One of the Staghorn Ferns in the Conservatory

South view of the home

The home was constructed of salvaged brick from an 1852 home in Mobile. Three guest's suites, three dining room, large kitchen and butler's pantry, six full baths, three half baths, drawing room, pantries for crystal, silver, china are just some of the rooms.

One of the many fountain and reflecting pools

A beautiful bed of flowering Kale

Flowering Cabbage

Primulas

One variety of Camellia

One of the lawn areas and drive ways

One of the most beautiful views of the mediterranean influenced style home.

Another beautiful picture of the fountain and pool.

These were just a few of the pictures taken.....There is a chapel, a Boehm Porcelain Gallery, a Chinese Garden, a humongous rose garden, etc. This was a winter visit and I'm sure in the spring and summer it is a beauty to behold. It was pretty even in the winter with the bulbs, and winter flower beds doing their part...........

Another posting, we'll go on the riverboat ride on the Fowl River which is an estuary...........

Happy St. Patrick's Day......

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE...I HOPE YOU'VE FOUND THE POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF YOUR RAINBOW..........I HAVE......MY FAITH, MY HUSBAND, MY FAMILY, MY FRIENDS BOTH NEAR AND FAR AND MY FLOWERS..........

Congratulations Elisabeth.....

Congratulations Elisabeth for winning second place in the state of Georgia's agricultural art contest. You can click Elisabeth to see more of the story and pictures.

Elisabeth is my 15 year old twin granddaughter. She, her twin sister Erin ,the photographer, father-Chad, went to Atlanta to the capitol building for an award ceremony where she met Governor Sonny Purdue, the Commisioner of Agriculture, Tommy Irwin, and Miss Agriculture. She was awarded a medal and monetary gift.

Chickens, Chickens and More Chickens.........

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

In a town in south, it is not uncommon to see chickens running all over town. Actually, they are not chickens, but Burmese Game Fowl brought to a settlement north of town for a project which was unsuccessful and evidently they were just turned loose in the woods. They made their way down to the nearest town. They can fly across parking lots and up into high trees. They have been around for a long, long time and believe you me they have not been slack in multiplying!
Click to enlarge
People stop their vehicles to let the chickens cross the busy streets, sometime a whole family, the mama and several little chicks. They don't necessarily obey the traffic lights.

One Sunday as we were walking to a restaurant for lunch, we saw a mama and five or six little ones coming across the street. She got to the curb with a 3 or 4 of them. As usual with children, some of them lollygaged behind. She began to cheep----cheep, calling to them and they hurried on over and hopped up on the curb and she carried her little flock on down the street.

Half the town loves them........and half the town hates them. The ones that love them say they are a tourist attraction and help promote the town. They even have a festival to honor them which is this coming weekend. It's advertised far and wide and the ' Festival' draws quite a crowd. You can enter the 'crowing' contest, shop at the craft booths, eat all kinds of ethnic foods and look to your heart's content.

The ones that hate them do so because they are free range, going wherever they please, scratching in the flower beds and leaving droppings that are not pleasant!

By the way, there is a city ordinance against firing a firearm in the city limits in case you are thinking of having chicken and dumplings.............

Visit Beth's Bountiful Blessings for her 100th Post Give-Away

You need to head over to Beth's Bountiful Blessings for her 100th Post Give-Away. She has some really nice prizes, plus you'll enjoy her blog! So do check it out.

Beach trip to Gulf of Mexico.................................

Recently we were pleasantly surprised when a cousin Wendell, who I have been corresponding with, offered his condominium on the Gulf of Mexico to us for a week. I have two cousins and their husbands, my husband and myself, who get together about once a month for a meal, either in our homes, or at a restaurant. We make an annual trip somewhere each spring.

One of the couples, Shirley and Ed were unable to go but the other couple, Mary Jo and Bobby were ready to go. Edward, my husband, had an early dentist appointment on Monday morning. We went in separate vehicles because we were attending a meeting further up in Alabama the latter part of the week. We traveled along together communicating by cell phone.

We arrived at Orange Beach, Alabama about sundown and quickly found the highrise, and highrise it was! So much of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Much has been rebuilt but the rubble of earlier establishments is evident.

Our's is the one on the left.......

It is the ideal location. Corner, ground floor, door opening out to the pool, and just beyond, the most beautiful white sugary-sandy beach imaginable!



Beautiful white beach.........
Pool

Mary Jo and Bobby

For our first fresh seafood meal we found 'Bubba's Seafood Restaurant' nearby. The food was delicious and the atmosphere 'beachy'.

Betty and Edward

This particular building had major damage form the hurricane and was under renovation for many months. Newly redecorated, it is beautiful and so chic. The livingroom is painted terracotta red with cream leather sofas, red and cream ticking club chair, pickled-white TV armoirie and wicker tables.

Mary Jo and Bobby

Betty and Edward

The dining room is a lovely mustard-gold color with a large glass top table with two white stone monkeys back to back for a base. Six burgundy, blue, cream striped chairs are very comfortable. A dark metal chandelier lights the area and a full wall of mirrors gives the impression of a much larger area.

We stayed in the master bedroom suite painted khaki color with doors opening out to the patio and pool. A king size bed was very comfortable.

There were two other bedrooms and bath, and kitchen with every convenience. These bedrooms were painted in shades of green and accented with tangerine hue acessories. In one of the bedrooms a humongous sailfish hung on the wall. Someone commented that Wendell probably caught it. Later, curiosity killed the cat, I thumped it and discovered it was metal!

It really does look real............

Since the weather was absolutely perfect, we went to Mobile to Bellingrath Gardens on Tuesday. Actually, it is at Theodore, AL. It is sixty-five acres of beautifully landscaped grounds.

On another posting, I'll show pictures and tell you more.

We came back to Fairhope and spent sometime shopping. How patient our husbands were!

We had so many people to recommend 'Lambert's Cafe' that we chose to eat there. It is famous for 'throwed rolls.' After ordering, servers will come around with many pots and pans of vegetables, apple butter, sorghum syrup, etc. One server pushes a cart with homemade rolls and hollers out, "Homemade rolls, anyone?" If you raise your hand, he will throw you one, sometimes across the room, and I saw only one dropped. If you like down home cooking and a laid back atmosphere then you'll enjoy eating here. If you want a more formal setting, then this woudn't be your cup of tea. One thing, you certainly will not leave hungry!

On Wednesday morning, Mary Jo and I went for an early morning walk on the beach. It was beautiful but breezy. One lady was out feeding cereral to a congregation of seabirds. Some were out fishing, others collecting shells, etc.

Hungry birds...........Wonder which cereal they prefer?


Click to enlarge

This was one of my favorite pictures .........

This didn't leave any doubt about smoking....

We rode along the beach looking at the brightly colored houses, amused at some of the names: Old Folks Home, Ours and Theirs, Sis's, and many others that escapes my mind.. We went to Foly, AL to shop. There are several antique and collectible shops there. At one really interesting shop, the lady clerk, asked where we lived and she has two friends that live in one of the towns near me.

Arriving back at Orange Beach late that afternoon, for our evening meal we ate at 'The Original Oyster Restaurant'. After a wait we were seated at a table next to the water. The food and service was exellent.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here..........

Thursday morning, we cleaned the condo and packed anad left about 10:00am. We stopped at a few other shops and I found a beautiful quilt to take to the cabin and two Lochs of Scoltand, Lake Oich plates that I have twelve place settings of, but now that we have fourteen in the family, I needed two more plates.

The vintage white cake stand and blue and white cup-teapot I found a few days later...


We were unaware of the tornadoes in Alabama and later in Georgia. We ate lunch together in Pennsacola, Glorida and while we were there, Mary Jo's daughter, Joy, in TN called and encouraged us to get back on the road. We parted company and headed north into Alabama.

Listening to the radio, we learned of the terrible collapse of the school in Enterprise, AL where eight students were killed. We began to experience very hard rain and wind. We were in the area not too far from the counties affected. We finally had to pull into a rest area and wait until the weather calmed down.

We have friends who live eighteen miles from Enterprise. Our daughter Amy and family, lived near there several years ago.

We finally got to Tallasee, AL about 6:00 that evening and checked into the most marvelous victorian hotel, the Talisi Hotel. It is like stepping back in time, to a much gentler time......

That's a story for another posting............To be continued.