A Trip to Oak Mountain

Posted on October 28, 2011 | 10 comments

Hi Everyone!

Sunday afternoon, Mark, Kayla and I hopped in the car and drove up to Oak Mountain, a state park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Oak Mountain is located just south of Birmingham, on what is probably closer in size to a foothill than a real mountain.  Just to the north of Birmingham, in Tannehill State Park, there is a sign that proclaims that the end of the Appalachian foothills (0r the beginning, depending on which side of the sign you’re on) is located there, but personally, looking at Oak Mountain, I think they missed one.

A tree at the top of the ridge

Oak Mountain has both overnight camping and day use facilities.  We were there to see what the day use facilities had to offer.  As I carefully explained to Kayla, this was a scouting expedition only, to see what the park held for future use.  With my bronchitis, I knew I couldn’t walk far, and I was right.  I managed to stroll at an incredibly slow pace about one and a half football fields worth of space with lots of stops, but at least I did it.  We also were hoping we might see some autumn leaves, even though we were a week or two before fall foliage’s peak in Alabama.

We stopped first at the entrance gate (they seemed to kind of expect us to pay the entrance fee – $7 for the three of us), then on the way up to the day use area passed riding stables and the golf course.  The riding stables offer trail rides, and also the park offers something called “equestrian camping” which I had never heard of before, but would guess is a two-word phrase for “camping with horses.”  I admit the prospect of a trail ride was enough to tempt me away from my “scouting expedition” intentions, but I stayed firm, so we continued up to the turn for what are called the “day use” facilities.

The Lake

The centerpiece of the day use area is the 74 acre lake located in a hollow surrounded by the ridge of the mountain.  This was the place where I was able to get out and walk around for a little bit.  Kayla was ecstatic.  She immediately ran down to the front of the water to look.

Kayla headed to the lake

Kayla, Lake Side

A Little Girl, A Big Lake

We then found a sandy beach, which was even better.  The beach has restroom facilities, and in the summer has an open snack bar.

The Line in the Sand!

Kayla likes beaches, of all kinds.

Running across the beach....

To Dad!

There are pavilions for rent around the beach and the lake, and on a quiet October place, they made a great place to stop and just look for a while.

Mark looks across the lake from one of the pavilions.

Another picture of Mark and the lake

A View of Some of the Pavilions

A family brought their canoe for a fun afternoon, and we made a mental note to remember to bring our own kayak next time.  There also is a place to rent paddle boats or canoes if you forgot to bring your own.  I suspect there are seasonal hours for it, also, but it was open Sunday.

A family canoes

One person was brave enough to swim in the lake.  I didn’t think it was that warm, but then again, I wasn’t the person out there.

In addition to the pavilions, there are picnic areas all around the lake, and throughout the park there are over 50 miles of trails for hiking and biking around the park.  (One note about the hiking:  when you pay your entrance fee, you need to ask for the separate hiking trail map, which is 50 cents.  We didn’t but since I couldn’t really hike anyhow, it didn’t matter.)  There is even a BMX course, although I never was entirely certain that we found it.

One very interesting feature of the park, which is high on our “must do” list when we go back is the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center’s “Treetop Nature Trail.”  The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center rescues raptors who have been injured and prepares them to go back to the wild.  Unfortunately some of the birds are injured so badly they cannot survive in the wild, so they have constructed enclosures for them in the forest surrounding Oak Mountain.  The nature trail takes you on a winding stairway/trail where you can see the enclosures.  I think it is a marvelous way to allow the birds to feel somewhat like they are still out in the wild.

Once you make your way past all of the day use area, there is a road that lets you drive through the forest up to the ridge, in that uniquely American concept of a motor nature trail.  (Of course, there are hiking trails that will let you walk up there, too.)

The bones of the moutains show through

We saw all kinds of beautiful trees and interesting scenes while we were driving up to the ridge.

I took a picture, too, as we got close to the hilltop.

We begin to see the top of the ridge

Then we got to the ridge itself, and looked over much of Birmingham.  It’s hard to tell that a major city is tucked down among these trees.

The view from the ridge

Mark Looking Over the Ridge

Then, finally, it was time to head back home.  

A Final View Overlooking Birmingham

We had to turn away from an inviting stretch of further roadway, but at least we know there is more to explore next time – and there will be a next time!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

10 Comments

Posted in Travel, working mom

Tagged , , , , , , ,

From the Archives: This and That

Posted on October 26, 2011 | 8 comments

I had some posts I wrote early in my blogging life that I would like to pull back out from time to time since most of you were not following me then.  I came across this one tonight; it was written on February 28, 2011, 6 days into blogging, before I had figured out how to get pictures on the page.  I hope you enjoy it!
1.      I forced a very sleepy little girl out of hibernation this morning and into the cold, cruel world of getting ready for school, and she did NOT like it!  Her latest fad is to get up, grab her clothes, turn on the fireplace in the den and huddle in front of it while she gets dressed.  (No, it is not that cold in my house – well, sometimes it is, but not right now.)  It looks quite pitiful and Dickensy – I keep waiting for her to bring me her empty cereal bowl, look at me with mournful eyes and say in a tiny voice, “Please, ma’am, can I have some more?”
2)     Wednesday is our busiest day, because Kayla has dance after school, which finishes up at 5:50, and then I have to feed her, get her home to change into her sneakers and then be at the church by 6:15.  We usually are home by about 7:45 p.m.  Unfortunately, homework does not regulate itself according to our schedule so on Wednesday nights when she has homework, I am trying to cram her head full of (usually) math in 15 minutes and still get her to bed on time.  It can be quite a drama filled experience.  Last night when we entered the car, I asked if she had homework, and Kayla said yes.  Once we were on the way to the church, she announced that she didn’t have homework after all; the teacher had decided to keep them from pulling the homework page out of their book after all.  The dilemma:  Should I double-check the homework file to investigate the mysterious disappearing homework, or just take the statement at face value and hope for the best?  I’ll let you decide what I did…..
3)     Isn’t it nice to see families doing things together?  Last night the three of us participated in a joint parking project.  I was driving and trying to swing into the garage without hitting the other car.  I got advice from both Mark and Kayla (Mark:  Cut it as hard as you can to the left;  Kayla:  You’re okay on my side!)  Of course they were sitting on the same side, so the instructions were a little conflicting, but I decided to go with the more experienced driver :).  Regardless of whose advice was better,  since everyone participated, it qualified as a group project.  Everyone was still speaking to everyone else when we finished, too!
4)     I have now seen about five tulip trees in full bloom.  They are so beautiful!  I really hope we don’t have a killing frost this year.  The Bradford pear trees buds are starting to get full, but they’re not ready to bloom yet.  It would be too early for them, anyhow.  I still haven’t seen any yellow bells, which is sort of odd for this time of year here.  If anyone has seen some, I sure would like to know about it!
Since I now do  know how to insert photographs, I will include one of a tulip tree, so you can indeed agree with me that they are beautiful.

Tulip Tree in Full Bloom

Close-up

Have a great day/evening everyone!
Nancy

8 Comments

Posted in Just stuff...

Sunday Night Dinner – The Dog Invasion!

Posted on October 25, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning everyone!

Kayla and Mark were kind enough to make dinner for me Sunday night.    In our family, we have two types of spaghetti – plain spaghetti, which translates as “spaghetti with the Ragu Traditional Sauce heated up straight from the bottle,” and spaghetti with the good sauce, which translates as “spaghetti with a sauce comprised of sauteed ground beef, mushrooms and onions with [you guessed it] Ragu Traditional Sauce poured over all ingredients and heated up in a pan.”  However, while they were waiting for the water to boil, I came in to help by dividing up some ham  and turkey we had purchased the day before for freezing, at which time two things happened – Mandy and Darwin invaded the kitchen (not for the first time that evening) and Kayla found a spare camera lying around to use for pictures.  So, courtesy of Kayla, we managed to get photographic evidence.

Me, not having my best foot forward!

In any photographic session done by almost anyone’s child, the first photo is the obligatory “candid” shot of at least one of their parents. Apparently, a child’s definition of “candid” can be loosely translated as “less than flattering”. This photo session is no exception, as I was in my pajamas facing away from the camera when Kayla started snapping.

Mandy's signature opening move

Mandy always begins a kitchen invasion in the same manner – she selects the spot nearest to the person working on food and slides in between that person and the bottom of the kitchen cabinets.  She is quite adept at it, really.  There are some days she gets in place without my even noticing until I almost trip over her.

Darwin Enters

Darwin, on the other hand, simply walks into the kitchen and wanders around.  Unfortunately, the kitchen does not leave much room for a dog almost the size of a small pony.  For those of you wondering, Tyra has no need to enter the kitchen; she is content to leave clean up crew to the other two dogs, secure in the knowledge that if anything is going to be handed out on a systematic basis, she will get first cut as well as an equal share.  FN.

Why my kitchen seems crowded

Once both dogs are in the kitchen, free space is at a premium.  Darwin, at least, will move to accomodate humans who need to travel to the refrigerator, stove or sink, but Mandy loves to park herself in one spot.  Her favorite spot is in the center of the kitchen, sprawled out to take up the maximum amount of available floor.  She simply refuses to budge, even as she sees your feet approaching.  Apparently, she believes it is my responsibility to watch out for her, not her responsibility to utilize the good sense I am sure she has somewhere to avoid being tripped over.

Come on Mom, just drop one piece of ham!

Here, Mandy feels that the ham is tantalizingly too close, and the humans too near for her to begin scavenging method number 2, which is just grazing the counters on her own, so she tried the cute approach.

All this scavenging makes me sleepy!

Still, scavenging/begging is hard work, and even the most dedicated dog has to stop and rest sometime!

And now, gentle reader, so must I.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

FN.  Does anyone else who keeps dogs in the house feel exceedingly weird when you go over to someone else’s house and you drop food – and you have to reach down and pick the food up yourself?

10 Comments

Posted in Cooking, dogs, working mom

Tagged , , , , , ,

Life in a Small Town: The Homecoming Parade

Posted on October 23, 2011 | 6 comments

Hi Everyone!

Last week was a very off week for me, since I managed to develop bronchitis (yes, again, for those of us who have been with me since April and before) but I am going to try to get back into the swing of things.  Today, I’d thought I’d share with you the homecoming parade that our town held a couple of Fridays ago. 

Homecoming in a small town, especially one as small as mine, is a very special occasion.  With only three schools – one elementary school, one middle school, and the high school – you can pretty much expect the whole town to either participate in it, or to watch it.  This year was no exception.  The schools let out early the Friday afternoon before the game, and the parade started promptly at 2. 

Here are some of the people starting to congregate about 30 minutes in advance.  This was one of the less densely populated spaces but by the time the parade begins, both sides of the road are solidly lined with people for the eight blocks of the parade route:  from the high school, through downtown, over the bridge by the dam and then by City Hall and the town library. 

Veteran's Park

Parades in my town usually begin with a police escort, so the excitement began to build once we could see the lights of the police K-9 unit leading the parade in the distance.

Once the first police unit came by, a few other police cars followed, then trucks filled with city councilmen throwing candy at the bystanders came next.  (This is a tradition apparently unique to our town, but every parade has people with boxes and boxes of candy to throw out to the crowd.)  I especially like it when you see someone particularly enjoying himself while he does it. 

Having fun with the job!

The next group to arrive were the high school varsity football players.

The High School Football Team

The football team was followed by the high school’s marching band, which is a very good band, especially considering the size of our town and our high school.  The band consists of the majorettes, the flag corps, and then, of course, the musicians.  Their uniforms, which sport the high school colors of purple and gold, are resplendent in the sun.  (I suspect that an LSU fan who wandered into our town during the parade would have an eerie deja vu sensation, since the colors are very like those of the LSU Tigers, and our team is named the Tigers also.)

The Band Approaches

The band is led by the majorettes and flag corp.

The musicians come next.

And the Drums Play On

Eventually, the Homecoming Court came by on their own float.  This float is always Kayla’s favorite, and since her baton class participates in the parade, she expects me to take good pictures of it.  I never really thought about it before, but it must take a great deal of poise to sit on a truck-driven platform on a folding chair wearing an evening gown and waving gracefully.   (Obviously, the tiger behind the Homecoming Court is NOT wearing an evening dress; he is one of our mascots.)

The Homecoming Court

I found out later, in the following week’s paper, that this lovely young lady ended up being Homecoming Queen.

A number of other groups and floats passed by, including the varsity cheerleaders riding in the back of a pickup truck, several baton groups from the various groups around town, and the class floats.  In front of each class float were class representatives, mostly riding on top of convertibles.  My favorite class float was the Freshmen float and representatives. 

I liked the representatives because they had the courage to be different:

The Freshmen Representatives

And the Freshmen float because it had a more original slogan then the other three – all of their themes involved either harming Eagles or making them mad.  (Our town doesn’t have anything in general against eagles; that was just the name of the team our team was playing.)

Beat Down in T-Town

The Freshmen Float

My other favorite float was the Future Farmers of America’s float.  I just thought it turned out nicely.

Future Farmers of America Float

From my perspective, though, the most important part of the parade had yet to pass.  Before that part reached me, though, the Youth Football League put its players on display:  the Midgets, the Crickets and the Termites.  Some of the squads have age-matching cheerleaders, too.

TYFL Midget Cheerleaders

TYFL Midget Football Players

The Cricket football players were throwing candy enthusiastically with an eye to strengthening their arm:

TYFL Cricket players

But the Termite players showed more restraint – or then again, maybe not!

TYFL Termite Players

TYFL Termite Cheerleaders

Then the moment I had been waiting for arrived – Kayla’s baton group showed up!  I almost missed it, too; somehow Kayla looked so much more grown up in the parade then I expected her to. 

Kayla's Baton Group

I managed to recover in time to get two pictures though.

An array of the middle school players and cheerleaders and other organizations followed as well, and then the parade that began with a police car ended up with a fire engine.  

The end of the parade

So all was well that ended well, and a grand time was had by all – and we won the game that night, which now puts us into the high school playoffs!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

6 Comments

Posted in Football, Just stuff..., working mom

Tagged , , , , ,

Life with a Geriatric Dog

Posted on October 18, 2011 | 18 comments

Good morning everyone!

Tyra on the couch

I watched Tyra last night as she was walking up the stairs from the back yard to the porch and realized, as I have realized other times over the last six months, that we are beginning life yet again with a geriatric dog.  It is an inevitable part of the life cycle of the special friendship that you acquire with a dog.  The last years with a geriatric dog have their own joys as well as their special sorrows but I still wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Part of owning a dog is that eventually the dog will die but the joy I get from being with the dog throughout its life far outweighs the sorrows. 

Shadow asleep on the bed when she was 15.

Tyra will be our third geriatric dog.  Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will probably remember that Shadow and J.P. Wooflesnort (Woof for short) were the other two. 

One of my favorite pictures of Woof as an older dog.

At our house, geriatric dogs get special services.  These include elevator service onto beds, couches and any other surface aged hips and paws can’t quite reach any more, (although when it is Mandy’s turn, there will be a lack of elevator service for counters on which she currently likes to graze!), first dibs on any table scraps or snacks that are handed out and help with maintaining the spot of primary dog in the house.  Tyra gets the special perk, because it is a special joy for her, of being taken for a ride periodically in the car while the other two dogs are left in their crates at the house.  The other two don’t mind so very much, but the look on Tyra’s face as she saunters out is priceless – it is very much an “I get to go and they don’t!” look. 

Tyra basking in the sun in the backyard.

Older dogs, at least the three we have had, mellow out a little bit.  Woof was seven years younger than Shadow.  Once Shadow was 12 and beginning to get quite deaf, Woof would often get quite excited about something that Shadow couldn’t hear, and go get Shadow to check it out; Shadow would investigate the situation and come back and tell Woof everything was okay and just to chill.

Shadow in her prime riding in a boat on the local lake

Older dogs do not lose their intelligence as they get older.  I can remember very close to the bitter end, once we knew that Shadow had kidney trouble, being told to feed her a special kind of dog food.  To break her into it, we were told to start by mixing her regular dog food with this (apparently much blander) wet dog food to encourage her to eat it.  Shadow would have nothing of that; we had about a week of her carefully picking out every dry piece of food she could find while shredding through and leaving all of the wet dog food she didn’t like. 

Woof, a few months before she died.

I would like to say that older dogs get sweeter as they age, but I haven’t really noticed that.  Shadow kept that hint of ginger in her temperament that endeared her to us.  She loved us, but had the gumption to get irritated with us if we broke her “rules” about things, like if we were playing with a dog toy and she felt that we weren’t letting her get it often enough, as well as the facial expressions to let us know it.  Woof stayed as sweet as ever.  In fact, I have to say that Woof was probably the most flexible geriatric dog I know of, since she adjusted well to Shadow’s death, Tyra’s adoption, Kayla’s adoption and Mandy’s adoption all in the space of about three years, although she did nearly have a nervous breakdown the time that Kayla, at age 5, pulled Woof into the bathtub with her in a moment when I wasn’t looking.  She never again let herself be alone in the bathroom with Kayla, that was certain!  Tyra’s temperament appears to be holding steady – sweet and sane. 

Tyra Waiting on the Sofa

For our household, Tyra has just arrived on the leading edge of geriatric status (Shadow died when she was 16 and Woof when she was 14) so hopefully, at age 10, Tyra has several years left to enjoy being queen of the household.  But she reminds me, as Tyra and Woof did each day as they aged, that each of our days together is a gift, and one I need to remember to appreciate. 

But then, isn’t that true of all of our relationships?

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

18 Comments

Posted in dogs, Reflection, working mom

Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Blank Page: Analogy and Reflection

Posted on October 14, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning Everyone!

Have you ever thought about the possibilities inherent in a blank page?  Every single book ever written began with one, even the Bible.  A page is anything that is written upon, physically or electronically, which includes all medium from leather hides, cuneiform clay tablets, papyrus, paper, computer screens and napkins and paper towels (for those of us like me who are organizationally challenged and can’t find paper all the time when they need it.)

A blank page can be intimidating, especially when a deadline is looming.  It stares back at you, unblinking, demanding that something be written on it.  At my work, it usually is demanding that something be written on it quickly, with accurate legal citations, and adequate evidence to prove my point.  When I am just writing, as I am now, sometimes it gives me a softer, gentler stare, reminding me that I can write about anything that I want, and sometimes the stare challenges me, telling me I can do better and it’s time to start writing.  

One typewriter Ernest Hemingway used to fill blank pages

A blank page can be comforting.  Each one is a new start, a new opportunity, a chance to write something that no one has every written before.  With each one, the possibility exists that the magic inherent in the written word will strike, and that elusive combination of words that goes straight to the hearts of others and makes them laugh or cry or think, that makes those particular words matter and live on past the immediate moment of their writing will be formed.

Kayla at what can only be called the "heirloom typewriter" for our family.

A blank page is both malleable, and inflexible.  A blank page, once I write on it, will let me erase the words I have previously written and start over again, if I need to, (with the exception of leather hides and cuneiform clay tablets; that’s more complicated) but I always reach a point where I am locked in to what I have written, and the story or brief acquires a life of its own.

Kayla, during her first Christmas ever with us.

I think that’s one reason that children are fascinating.  At the very beginning, they seem to be a blank page as well, but a blank page that, as it grows, like any good story, takes on a life of its own.  I have noticed that with Kayla.  While I see her growing into being her own wonderful person, I can see traits that mirror traits that Mark or I have, both good and bad.   She can be very flexible, at times, and absolutely intransigent (I can’t imagine where that stubbornness comes from!  Family members, no laughing please) at others.  She has been participating in writing her own story from the blank page that she started as, and as both a writer and a watcher of it, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Kayla driving the Southern Star, our dolphin cruise boat, this summer

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

10 Comments

Posted in Reflection, working mom, Writing

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Random Thoughts, Part Deux

Posted on October 13, 2011 | 12 comments

Good morning Everyone! 

Here are a few random thoughts/questions.

1) Where is Old Zealand? 

2) Why do we have New York, New Jersey, New Bern but not New Birmingham?

3) Did you know there is a road in California called Zzyzx Road?  I passed the exit for it once when I was a child.  I also thought of it as the end of the road!

4) Spell check is really unhappy with the term “Zzyzx.”

5) There are nine cities and towns named Atlanta in the United States.  They are located in Georgia, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas. 

6)  If there is anyone out there who works full-time, has a child/children, commutes over 30 minutes each way to work and is not perpetually tired, could you please let me know how you do it?

7)  People who search for the terms “basset hound/Siberian husky” are NOT very good at explaining why they are looking for the information.  It’s driving me nuts!

8 ) Never let the copier at work know when you have a project that has to be completed that day.  If it knows, the odds of it breaking before the project is finished go up astronomically.

9) It is even more important to keep your computer in the dark about projects that have to be completed that day.

10) I can’t speak French.  I hope that I have spelled “deux” correctly and that it does mean two and not something else.

11) Mandy is a great footwarmer.

12) Science has proven that it was, in fact, the egg that came first and not the chicken. 

13) There is nothing much funnier than watching a 90 pound dog with legs he’s not very good at controlling rounding a corner at full speed on a wooden floor and losing his balance because he can’t get traction.  (Picture Darwin in a Scooby Doo cartoon.)

14) The expression on his face once he recovers from the slide is even funnier. 

15) The expression on Mandy’s face when he loses traction and she doesn’t is funniest of all!  

16) If you decide to make Christmas gifts, and they’re not finished by December 1, give it up and go ahead and buy them instead and save the hand-made gifts for next year.  Your life will be much easier.

17) Why isn’t an in-house masseuse a regular perk at businesses? 

18) If it is a choice between your job and your child with a very high fever, the child always wins.  He/she makes a lot more noise!

19) Why do children get sick at 2:00 a.m. in the morning or on the weekends and not at 5:00 p.m. in the evening when you still have time to make it to the urgent care center?

20) Even the worst of days can get suddenly better with a smile, a kind word or a hug from someone you love.

That’s enough for now since I need to get ready for work.  As Kayla said the other day, “It’s time to rock the roll!” 

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

12 Comments

Posted in Just stuff..., working mom

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Of Craft Stores, Wal-Mart and Striking Back

Posted on October 12, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning Everyone!

I love craft stores.  All I have to do is enter one, and I fall into a trance even worse than the one that hits me every spring when I go by a garden center.  (See, Spring, Roosters and Butterfly Farm.)  One of the reasons it is worse is that I only enter the garden center trance once a year, at springtime, while the craft store trance is guaranteed to hit each and every time I walk through the door of a Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann’s Crafts or Hancock Fabrics.  (A.C. Moore’s used to be included in that list, but alas, the one in our area closed about two years ago.)

It is thanks to this quartet of stores, with an assist from a small store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee that sells wood craft patterns (I can’t remember its name, but if you are familiar with that area, it is in the shopping center behind the Old Mill Restaurant on the right as you travel away from the main highway) and the local fabric shop in one of the cities in our area, the Opelika Sewing Center, that I have one of the finest craft closets for its size anywhere.  In addition to a copious stash of supplies for counted cross-stitch, craft painting, sewing and scroll-sawing, (all of which I have done sometime in the last two years),  along with various supplies for art class I have garnered, I have beginning supplies for a number of things I intend to try some day, including beading supplies, modeling clay and knitting supplies.  I just can’t leave a craft store without buying something; there are days I manage to restrain myself to just a skein of cross-stitch thread or a bottle of craft paint, and other days when my buggy is full by the time I hit the check out counter.

Cross-Stitch Magnet I Made, 2011

Wal-Mart used to have a craft section where it sold cross-stitch supplies, craft painting supplies, yarn and knitting/crochet supplies and fabric.  In fact, the cross-stitch supplies were one of my reasons for going to Wal-mart – it is a well-known corollary to Murphy’s law that no matter how many different DMC thread colors you have, you will always be short at least one color when you start a project.  However, in the last two years all of those items have been phased out of all Wal-marts and I suspect I am not the only person who mourned their passing.

Craft Painting on Mini-pumpkins in 2005 - Mine is the one on the left; Kayla's are the three on the right

For those very select few who might live somewhere where a Wal-Mart does not, Wal-mart is a store that generally sells a little of everything.  Originally, Wal-Marts were relatively small, and made a living by moving into a plethora of small towns.  Over time, however, the Wal-Marts mutated into these giant stores called “Wal-Mart SuperCenters” which added full service grocery stores onto the other part of Wal-mart and in doing so created a store where you can pretty much buy anything from live fish (as pets) to asparagus to bed linens – but apparently not fabric or counted cross-stitch threads!

However, here where I live, we have one of the last original small Wal-marts in existence, and it took longer than most to ditch the craft supplies.  Finally, though, even it was forced to bow to the pressure put on it by corporate, and it put the fabric and other craft stock away.  In my small town, we are now left with one generic craft aisle that sells a few sewing notions, a few skeins of yarn (but no cross-stitch thread or supplies), a few craft painting items, and a huge array of Crayola products for children.  

The 2007 ornaments I painted for people at work, Part I

That being said, you would not think I could manage to enter my craft trance at a Wal-mart anymore, but yesterday I managed to do so.  You see, some enterprising buyer had the thought to put some “I learned to knit by myself” and “I learned to crochet by myself” kits immediately beside the yarn skeins.  I went in to buy needle threaders (Singer has a three pack for just under $1) and before I knew it, I had added two skeins of yarn and the crochet pack to my buggy.  It took an enormous effort of will, which wouldn’t have been possible in the old craft section because it was big enough to induce the trance for a much longer period of time, but I managed to argue myself into putting the crochet pack back.  (The yarn had to stay because Kayla is working on her first needlework project – do you hear the tone of motherly pride in my voice? – and somehow the dark blue and black yarn that came with the kit had been lost.) 

2007 painted ornaments, Part 2

So take that Wal-mart!  You lost at least $8 in revenue yesterday because you decided to emasculate your craft section.  Just imagine how much more you may have lost in the meantime!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

10 Comments

Posted in Just stuff..., working mom

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Mother’s Day, 2007

Posted on October 7, 2011 | 14 comments

Good morning Everyone!

Kayla came to live with us the year I turned 40.  She was three. I noticed immediately that I was usually the oldest mother in any gathering, but I didn’t know that Kayla had noticed it too.

The year she turned five her day care held a Mother’s Day lunch, and of course I went.   I arrived bright and early with my camera, to find the tables neatly decorated with tablecloths, flowers planted in styrofoam cups for decoration, and signs taped to each chair.  The signs were drawn by each child, and were meant to mark their mother’s place.  I found my place adorned with the following sign:

 

It said: 

My Mom is 100 years old.

She has Brown hair and brown eyes.

My mom’s favorite color is all colors.

She likes to eat salad the best.

I make my mom happy when I hug her.

My mom always says I love you.

My mom is so smart she can read.

I love it when my mom and I hug.

I laughed until I cried over the age; it was even funnier when I overheard one mother, who was roaming the tables looking at the signs tell another mother “Oh, look, that mom’s child put her age at 80” and the other mom say, “Well, some poor woman’s child listed her age at 100!” 

It won’t surprise anyone out there, I am sure, to learn that the sign is still in my closet, hidden away for posterity.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

14 Comments

Posted in Out of the mouths of babes...., working mom

Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Gourd Adventure Continues: A Craft Room and a View

Posted on October 5, 2011 | 12 comments

Good morning Everyone!

I might have overdone things just a tad on Tuesday, so I spent Wednesday happily engaged in mostly sedentary activities.  I thought I’d share a little bit of what I did.

Gourd fronts

 Some of you may remember a post in August I did called Out of Our Gourds for Gourds.  In that post, for the first time, you met the newly formed, but not yet finished, pumpkin gourd on the left with both a front (above) view and a back (below) view. 

Gourd Backs

Mom finished the Santa gourd in Jacksonville, but she had brought the other gourd back up here with her.  She was going to finish it while she was here, but since she is making the Rapunzel costume for Kayla, which, by the way, is going to be gorgeous, she won’t have time.  So yesterday, I took over the task of starting to finish the pumpkin gourd.  I have some more detail work to do, but when I put my brushes up at 5:00 p.m yesterday, the pumpkin gourd was starting to shape up.

Pumpkin Gourd Front, Stage 2

 

Pumpkin gourd back, stage 2

Hopefully I will get a chance to show you the final version; there’s not too much left to be done besides some finishing on the leaves and some outlining. 

The pumpkin gourd came up for discussion because I first had finished a Halloween sign to put in the front of the house, and all of my orange paints were out.  I am pretty pleased with it, even if I do say so myself.

Halloween Sign, Close Up

It is supposed to be staked into the ground. 

I’m probably going to put it somewhere near the corner of the house where the bird house gourd that my grandfather gave me recently is hanging proudly from the only one of three trees in our yard suitable for it. 

Corner of house

For those readers who are part of the close-knit gourd community which someday I hope to meet, here is a close-up of the gourd.  I don’t know where it was originally purchased. 

After a solid afternoon of painting, I needed to stretch my legs and get out of the craft room formerly known as the great room in my house (don’t worry, Mark, we’ll have it back to normal soon – would Christmas Eve be too late?) so I walked a half block down the street to take pictures of my lake to share with you. 

An afternoon moon was out.  When Kayla was little, we would try to guess what Miss Moon had to say to Mr. Sun that was so important for her to arrive early to see him.  They would have some interesting conversations.

Afternoon Moon

The lake is always pretty.

The Lake Right After A Speed Boat Went By

The trees with the lake are also beautiful.

We are starting to see as well the first harbingers of fall – and yes, fall arrives in Alabama, it is just a softer, slower process than the explosion up North.  The changing of the leaves is not controlled by temperature, but rather by the length of the days – as the days get shorter, the leaves start to turn.  Because the days get shorter faster up North, your trees turn much more quickly.  Because our days get shorter more gradually, our trees gently fade into colors bit by bit, but once they all get turned, it is just as pretty. 

First harbingers of fall

 Not a bad way, overall, to spend a day recovering from surgery, is it?

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

12 Comments

Posted in working mom

Tagged , , , , , , ,