The sun hangs just a little lower in the sky today. A cool wind whistles through the trees and around the corner of the little white house in the valley. The air is crisper, cleaner even, with just a hint of a bite to it as it swirls the leaves around me. But still the sun shines on adding just enough warmth to my body. Sweet inviting hickory smoke hangs in the air from the neighbor’s chimneys. I sit in the rocker on the porch watching colors drop from the trees until the wind grabs them dancing them across the sky—a whirling dervish of red, orange, gold and brown. Some engage in a slow waltz, others an almost frantic tribal dance. At the end of her long day, the sun dips behind the mountain top adding her own reds, oranges and golds to God’s canvas. The night’s chill starts to creep in as I wrap my sweater tightly around me, not yet willing give up on the day. Soon, familiar sounds of rattling dishes and irresistible smells of Mama’s beef stew beckon me. I thank God for this beautiful autumn day and join my blessed family. Tomorrow I’ll receive another beautiful gift from God.
~~This is a repost of an old entry. Autumn is my most favorite season and this fully embodies my feelings. I just felt led to share it today.
Showing posts with label Memory Lane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memory Lane. Show all posts
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
October Memories
The sun hangs just a little lower in the sky today. A cool wind whistles through the trees and around the corner of the little white house in the valley. The air is crisper, cleaner even, with just a hint of a bite to it as it swirls the leaves around me. But still the sun shines on adding just enough warmth to my body. Sweet inviting hickory smoke hangs in the air from the neighbor’s chimneys. I sit in the rocker on the porch watching colors drop from the trees until the wind grabs them dancing them across the sky—a whirling dervish of red, orange, gold and brown. Some engage in a slow waltz, others an almost frantic tribal dance. At the end of her long day, the sun dips behind the mountain top adding her own reds, oranges and golds to God’s canvas. The night’s chill starts to creep in as I wrap my sweater tightly around me, not yet willing give up on the day. Soon, familiar sounds of rattling dishes and irresistible smells of Mama’s beef stew beckon me. I thank God for this beautiful autumn day and join my blessed family. Tomorrow I’ll receive another beautiful gift from God.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Marriage Monday--Our Wedding Day
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Today I am participating in Marriage Mondays at Chrysalis. This month's topic is Our Wedding Day. Enjoy!!
It was January 15, 1994, in the foothills of the Tennessee Appalachians…..the coldest day on record, with temps not expected to make it into the teens. It had snowed the day before and half of our guests were coming from an hour away. Thankfully, all of the wedding party made it in.
The service was beautiful. The music included “Cross My Heart”, “Longer” and “The Wedding Song (There is Love)”. Hubby looked so nervous standing there but I was very calm. I repeated my vows with ease, but Hubby stumbled…..well, actually FELL through his! He was so nervous that in the end the Pastor had to feed him the vows…..word……by……word! LOL!!!
We lit the unity candle and knelt on the prayer bench for the wedding prayer. I noticed a strong smell of baby powder as did Hubby who thought I’d just over did the powder thing. But when he stood up!!!!!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! His BLACK pants were COVERED in WHITE baby powder!!! The Pastor said, “it’s ok, no one will notice”. Yeah right!! The church rippled in giggles. Then the Pastor presented us and told Hubby to kiss his bride. Well, he was in such nervous shock that he just stood there!! The Pastor then said, “He’s not going to kiss her” but my reply was “Oh yes he IS!!!” as I grabbed him and planted one right on the lips and the church erupted in laughter!
Hubby said he was never so glad to have anything over with! So we get to the reception in the church fellowship hall and see everyone huddled together in their coats. They had forgotten to turn the heat on!!! Did I tell you it was the coldest day on record? Single digits, even?? But everyone had a good time anyway. The bouquet was caught by my 18 month old niece and the garter was caught, well, actually, none of the men would catch it so it was given to my 10 year old cousin.
Ah yes, a day to remember! Oh, by the way, Brother In Law was caught in the act of “powdering” by the videographer so I made him sweat it out for a while thinking I was upset…..like a couple of years! LOL!! Actually, I had a blast and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way!!!
Check back for pics on Wordless Wednesday!!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Marriage Monday--The Crazy Way We Met
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Today I am participating in Marriage Mondays at Chrysalis. Thanks to Kim at The Bitter Ball for cluing me into this one.
The topic for this month is The Crazy Way We Met. To tell the story, I have to go back in time to even before Hubby and I met. I grew up in the mountains of Tennessee and then moved to the northern suburbs of Chicago with I got out of college. My brother knew Hubby from church. They were both interested in the same woman (another church member) and were at that time mortal enemies. It turned out, she wasn’t interested in either of them but that’s another story. So then they became friends. He started hanging out at my parents’ house and I think they “adopted” him.
The summer of 1992, I went home to visit for July 4th. Mom said that Hubby might come over because she had been talking about me and he wanted to meet me. MOM!!!!!! Ok, whatever. On Saturday, he came and helped my Dad mow the lawn and Mom invited him to have dinner with us. No biggie.
On Sunday, we sat together at church and then went hiking with a friend of mine. We had a lot of fun together. My friend said, “I think he likes you”. On the way home, he asked me to go to see a movie with him, Patriot Games. “Sure” I said. I think he almost fainted. So it went through out the week. I think we saw each other at least every other day.
Saturday came and was July 4th. Mom was having a cookout for the youth group so we all helped with that and then we went to see the fireworks. Something about those fireworks. I think they were magical. After the fireworks, we sat and talked for a long time. He leaned over and gently kissed me. I said, “you know, long distance relationships don’t work out”. And I kissed him back.
Spring 1993 came and we were engaged. Winter of 1994 came and we were married. So 16 years later, I must admit I was wrong. J
The topic for this month is The Crazy Way We Met. To tell the story, I have to go back in time to even before Hubby and I met. I grew up in the mountains of Tennessee and then moved to the northern suburbs of Chicago with I got out of college. My brother knew Hubby from church. They were both interested in the same woman (another church member) and were at that time mortal enemies. It turned out, she wasn’t interested in either of them but that’s another story. So then they became friends. He started hanging out at my parents’ house and I think they “adopted” him.
The summer of 1992, I went home to visit for July 4th. Mom said that Hubby might come over because she had been talking about me and he wanted to meet me. MOM!!!!!! Ok, whatever. On Saturday, he came and helped my Dad mow the lawn and Mom invited him to have dinner with us. No biggie.
On Sunday, we sat together at church and then went hiking with a friend of mine. We had a lot of fun together. My friend said, “I think he likes you”. On the way home, he asked me to go to see a movie with him, Patriot Games. “Sure” I said. I think he almost fainted. So it went through out the week. I think we saw each other at least every other day.
Saturday came and was July 4th. Mom was having a cookout for the youth group so we all helped with that and then we went to see the fireworks. Something about those fireworks. I think they were magical. After the fireworks, we sat and talked for a long time. He leaned over and gently kissed me. I said, “you know, long distance relationships don’t work out”. And I kissed him back.
Spring 1993 came and we were engaged. Winter of 1994 came and we were married. So 16 years later, I must admit I was wrong. J
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day
Ahhh….Valentine’s Day. A day of hearts, flowers and cards. Chocolates and candies. I remember my first Valentine’s Day with Hubby. We had been dating for about 8 months. But we lived 750 miles away from each other so we only saw each other about once every 6 wks. This time, that worked out to be at Valentine’s Day.
He sent me the most beautiful red roses at my Mom’s house where I was staying and we went to Olive Garden for lunch. He held my hand lovingly taking my opal ring from my finger to play with and wearing it on his pinky. We had a very nice meal then he took me to the high school parking lot to teach me to drive his Mustang which was a manual transmission. (15 yrs later, I STILL can’t drive one!) Later that afternoon, we took a long drive through the mountains. There was snow and it was beautiful!! It was so wonderful spending that time with the one I love!!
Six weeks later, he visited me in Chicago and that’s when he proposed. He had used the way my opal ring fit on his pinky that Valentine’s Day to size my engagement ring so it fit perfectly!!! We were married the first of that next year.
Now, I have to say, we do not really celebrate Valentine’s Day. We try to get something small for the children but we don’t do anything for each other. I used to get cards for him but he never did for me saying it was silly and a waste of money so over time I stopped all together. I got extra hugs and kisses from my kids this morning and a Love stamp from Scott. We’ll have a nice dinner together at home as a family. And a little later tonite, I’ll toss Hubby a box of peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Hun!!!!”
He sent me the most beautiful red roses at my Mom’s house where I was staying and we went to Olive Garden for lunch. He held my hand lovingly taking my opal ring from my finger to play with and wearing it on his pinky. We had a very nice meal then he took me to the high school parking lot to teach me to drive his Mustang which was a manual transmission. (15 yrs later, I STILL can’t drive one!) Later that afternoon, we took a long drive through the mountains. There was snow and it was beautiful!! It was so wonderful spending that time with the one I love!!
Six weeks later, he visited me in Chicago and that’s when he proposed. He had used the way my opal ring fit on his pinky that Valentine’s Day to size my engagement ring so it fit perfectly!!! We were married the first of that next year.
Now, I have to say, we do not really celebrate Valentine’s Day. We try to get something small for the children but we don’t do anything for each other. I used to get cards for him but he never did for me saying it was silly and a waste of money so over time I stopped all together. I got extra hugs and kisses from my kids this morning and a Love stamp from Scott. We’ll have a nice dinner together at home as a family. And a little later tonite, I’ll toss Hubby a box of peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Hun!!!!”
Monday, December 31, 2007
Farewell 2007!
It's time to say goodbye to another year. 2007 has had it's good days and it's bad days but in the end, it all works out and we're still here. Our goods, our bads, our successes, our failures, our pains........they all make us into the person we are. Here's to using 2007's lessons learned to make 2008 Super Great! Happy New Year to you all!!!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Bringing the Cows Home
I grew up on a small farm in the Appalachian foothills. As the leaves changed to brilliant shades of red and orange and the days changed to crisp and cool, the farm also changed. The hay in the field had been cut, baled and put in the barn for the long winter. The tobacco was curing in the rafters making the whole barn smell of its sweet pungent scent. Daddy and PaPaw would put the electric fence around the field. It was time to bring the cows home.
The cows spent the summer at my Great Grandparents in a pasture further up the mountains. There was plenty of grass for them to eat there and we needed the time to work the garden, the tobacco and the hay without worrying about the cows. But once the crops petered out and the hay was up, it was time to bring them home. Daddy would take the old red truck up the mountain and bring them home a couple at a time. We didn’t have many, just 5 cows and sometimes a bull. There was Ol’ Red, Fanny, Bessie, my brother’s cow, Ginger and my cow, Blackie. They would saunter off the truck and go right back to grazing as though they’d never left.
Our house was surrounded by the field so we saw the cows all the time. I would wake in the mornings and look out my window to find Blackie. Cows are very calm creatures, walking around slowly, eating constantly taking the occasional break to scratch their back on a tree. They are also creatures of habit. They knew when the sun started to set low and Daddy or PaPaw headed to the barn, it was feeding time.
I liked to go with them to feed the cows but I had to stay out of sight so they wouldn’t spook as they came into the barn. Daddy let me put the sweet feed in the trough for them then I would rub their noses while they ate. Daddy climbed into the hayloft and dropped hay down for them. We’d tell them all goodnight and head back to the house just before dark for a hot supper of our own.
The time eventually came when Daddy and PaPaw weren’t able to care for the cows and we had to sell them all. It was hard for everyone. I miss them. Still to this day, a cow pasture or barn will send my thoughts rushing back home.
The cows spent the summer at my Great Grandparents in a pasture further up the mountains. There was plenty of grass for them to eat there and we needed the time to work the garden, the tobacco and the hay without worrying about the cows. But once the crops petered out and the hay was up, it was time to bring them home. Daddy would take the old red truck up the mountain and bring them home a couple at a time. We didn’t have many, just 5 cows and sometimes a bull. There was Ol’ Red, Fanny, Bessie, my brother’s cow, Ginger and my cow, Blackie. They would saunter off the truck and go right back to grazing as though they’d never left.
Our house was surrounded by the field so we saw the cows all the time. I would wake in the mornings and look out my window to find Blackie. Cows are very calm creatures, walking around slowly, eating constantly taking the occasional break to scratch their back on a tree. They are also creatures of habit. They knew when the sun started to set low and Daddy or PaPaw headed to the barn, it was feeding time.
I liked to go with them to feed the cows but I had to stay out of sight so they wouldn’t spook as they came into the barn. Daddy let me put the sweet feed in the trough for them then I would rub their noses while they ate. Daddy climbed into the hayloft and dropped hay down for them. We’d tell them all goodnight and head back to the house just before dark for a hot supper of our own.
The time eventually came when Daddy and PaPaw weren’t able to care for the cows and we had to sell them all. It was hard for everyone. I miss them. Still to this day, a cow pasture or barn will send my thoughts rushing back home.
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