SnowDay!

Sledding down Bankhead.......

She Likes Shiny Things

As a mother of four kids, who are often all with me, and who like to go places, I am constantly given unfortunately unthoughtful commentary by complete strangers as we are out and about. Perhaps some of you get this sort of thing when you are out with a joyful child or not so joyful child, or maybe you remember this from when you had a young child long ago... You know, the grocery store chatter along the lines of, "Wow, you have your hands full!" or "Are all these kids yours?" or the favorite "I could never do what you are doing!" (shopping with kids, spending your day with your kids, have an energetic kid....not sure what they couldn't do?) I always think of the good one liners hours later, too late to make a difference and hard to remember for next time, because the insensitive quip is always different. I still haven't quite figured out what the intent is of these comments, anyone? I am always internally enraged at the audacity of someone to say such things to another person and to say something so deragotory about the tiny people with me within earshot! I am frozen in the moment but really quite incensed that they spoke so unkindly to these precious people with me! Owen, our little ambassador, never afraid to speak his thoughts and generous with information to all folks, especially strangers, gave me my one liner this evening. It fits all commentary and will give me such joy and peace to use it from now on. As we left Tae Kwon Do all coated up with bags and library books and movies, a lady in front of me said, "Oh, are all these kids yours, what a handful?!" Owen ran right up to her and exclaimed, "She likes shiny things!" So whether he understood her or not, he gave more insight than I have ever been able to verbalize in one sentence. Owen, I do like shiny things, and I love and cherish each shiny little person in my life wherever we are and whatever you all are doing. Thank you Alex, Emma, Owen and Inde for bringing shine to your mom and dad's life!

Happy New Year

it's sparkling cider despite the lovely cutting of the eyes....Happy New Year to All!

Squashing

At our Tate Farms visit this year, we came home with three pumpkins, beautifully carved and 10 squash! We planned to cook us up some squash this fall by golly! Only one survived until December, the chiogga awaits its fate still sitting lonely on the kitchen counter. The favored dishes were the cushaw, descriptor seen here, that filled us on Thanksgiving. We made it into a yummy recipe that I found courtesy of the in flight magazine on my trip to Wichita Falls, TX to see my grandmother the first week of November, recipe is here! And the stuffed Festival squash were delicious also. Tate Farms and Halloween have so much more to offer than pumpkin pie and roasted pumpkin seeds, so glad we are still enjoying our purchases....

To the Coast

We set off for our journey to the coast, it was ten fabulous days of surf and sand and all sorts of stuff. Thanks to my friend that gave us the impetus to go travelling while daddy worked, now I know I can do it alone for so long! Not that we want to be alone, as we missed daddy a lot, but had some fun adventures. Now we can head out somewhere farther from home and he can join us! We found out, yes you can sleep in a WalMart parking lot and some folks--Dale Pusey-- are on a longer journey than I felt I was on alone in the motorhome with four joyful children! At a Florida reststop we met Dale Pusey, the self proclaimed "Crazy Guy on a Bike". He was on the last leg of his journey to Florida all the way from Washington State, he left in August! It was a windy and drizzly day as we left him in the rest stop and wished him well on the last of his journey and helped him a little on raising funds--the purpose of his journey--for Iron Horse State Park, an apparent biker's park in Washington State. We discovered the beach is different and wonderful in November. If you must go to the beach last minute, go after a big storm...again on this beach trip there were thousands of shells littering the beaches on those first two days. The campsites were spectacular at St. Andrews, in Destin and in Dauphin Island. I treasured every moment of the time I got to spend with my Aunt Terry and other family on the beach in Destin. I have never experienced the beach in the fall. Having always been in school in the Fall as a child, the beach was still relegated to a summer event for me. We will have to make it a part of our Fall to enjoy this part of the outdoors. I thank my friend that prodded me to go south with her and Terry and Aaron, that were staying nearby to inspire me to stay a little longer and head more west. It was enjoyable at Dauphin Island to see the changes since I spent a summer there as a 14 year old! I was in awe of the Living Marsh dedicated to my friend Beth Ladner that died in a car accident when she was 17.....and wonderful tribute and Estuarium on the tip of Dauphin Island.