NANA NOTES

PLANTED IN FRONT OF TYSON'S!

Early in the spring I stopped by Tyson's Hardware to check out their first load of plants.  There was this funny looking plant sprouting out of their flower bed between the sidewalk and the street.  I asked someone what it was and they said it was something that didn't sell last year and they had stuck it in the bed.  I mentioned that it looked like a thistle and he gave me some long botanical name.  I just said "hmmm" and smiled. The leaves were pretty and I made note to watch it as it grew.  Today I rode by there and noticed it was blooming.  Of course I didn't have my camera with me but I had my phone.

Here it is.  The common name is Milk Thistle. Ed said we had them everywhere on the farm and you see them everywhere on the highway. I have to admit--it does look pretty growing in front of Tyson's Hardware.

FRUITS OF THE "SPIRIT" [GARDEN]

Walking around in the garden with my camera often gives me ideas.  [Wish I'd had it today when we went to Natchez to eat with friends!! Long story there--will save it for later!]  I started snapping pictures of all the "edibles" in our garden-mostly fruit-that honestly just grow. I'm not a good fruit grower. I should be; I've had classes on it. I just don't do what I've been taught.  Here are a few of the things we'll be enjoying later this summer. 

Meyer Lemons that will make great lemonade!

Satsumas that are Ed's favorite!

 

 

 

Figs on a tree that Ed said would never make it!  Maybe this year we'll have more than enough to snack on.

Apples-I guess it's time to make more apple jelly. It's been a few years since I did that.

 

Blueberries-if the birds don't get to them first.  Every year we have more and more.

 

 

I love peaches more than I love strawberries and I can't grow strawberries. I wish my peaches would grow better-I should do more for them.

 

We have an abundance of pears and always share them with the deer.  The tree got trimmed this year and it looks much better.

 

There are two types of persimmons--I wish I had some good recipes to use them. They are so beautiful in the fall. I love the orange color.

The veggies are doing ok.  Ed has helped push me to keep the grass out of the beds.  Tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant (his favorite :) and cucumbers.

 

 

Our tomatoes compared to Jennifer's aren't too good. Maybe soon!

Squash are in abundance. We have three kinds-yellow, zuchinni and butternut.  We've even put some in the freezer. 

After the rain we had on Friday it will be "pull more grass" but it will be worth it.

I can remember my grandmothers gardening. I guess that's where I get my love for it.  They saved seeds and planted and preserved.  My mother canned and put things in the freezer. I am grateful for those lessons learned.

 

FINDING 'HEART ROCKS'

Until I got sick I walked every day all around the farm.  I read a blog called Farmgirl Fare and she collects "heart rocks".  Obviously her rocks are a lot bigger than mine [I've shown you some of mine from time to time and you can see hers on her blog. In the upper right hand corner of her blog there is a search block; type in "heart rocks"].  The other day I was out taking pictures and saw this rock.  It's been in my backyard for several years and I've never noticed it.  Right under my nose!!  If I had known it was there I would have put it in the center or in a more noticeable place. But, for now--it's special--a very special "heart rock"! 

"LET FREEDOM RING" FLOWER SHOW

Third Friday in April means Pine Burr Garden Club Flower Show! And this year was no different.  The Franklin County Courthouse was the background for our Patriotic show "Let Freedom Ring".  There was the usual mumbling and grumbling before the show but as the day went on things got better. It wouldn't be "the girls" if we didn't gripe about doing it.  The front of the Courthouse was the entry to the show. The special exhibits were placed on each side of the door.  One was on bluebirds and their houses.

Melody's was on Container Gardening and I loved it. She does the best special exhibits. I coveted her blue table.  Her containers were awesome. She has her mother's touch with flowers.  I entered three designs due to the fact that we have only 13 members. [Several of us did three!]

"Freedom of Speech"

This was my only blue winner.  The others didn't fare so well.  But---you can't be a winner all the time.  And---my horticulture kicked butt!!

My green leaf Japanese maple won a blue, Horticulture Excellence and the Arboreal Award. I also won the Sweepstakes Award (most blue ribbons) and the Pauline Herring Award (most blue ribbons in horticulture).

For such a rocky start I'd say I ended up pretty well.

Beverly won the TriColor Award with this beautiful design.  She is a wonderful designer and usually does very creative things. This is no exception.

Lugenia does lovely mass designs. We're going to get her to do a program next year on teaching us how to do them.  This was "Freedom of the Press".

 

 
"Freedom of Religion" by Judy was beautiful. Both Lugenia and I wondered why the purple fabric and flowers photographed blue. This was another blue ribbon winner.

Paulette's arrangement was outstanding. Her flowers were tremendous and she deserved the Designer's Choice and the Barbara Herring Award for design as well as the blue. She was very happy.

Becky's fountain for "Freedom of Justice" was interesting and she was proud of her blue.  Lugenia won the Dorothy McGehee Award for her design in this class.  That Award is for the design that best depicts the theme of the show.

With the help of Becky's husband a beautiful magnolia tree got planted on the courthouse lawn. The tree was donated by Growin' Green Landscape and it was our gift to the courthouse.   Melody and I ended up with the Horticulture Awards. 

I sort of did a "sneaky pete" and entered one of Quent Peterson's roses under "Guest Exhibitor" without his knowing it.  He won a blue ribbon and to top it off he won an Award of Merit.  I phoned them to make sure they were coming to the show. You can see that he was pleased.  That was a feel good moment knowing I had made him happy.  If you get the chance, drive by their home and see his roses.  They're beautiful.  He says he doesn't do a thing to them. 

At the end of the day there were lots of happy winners.  These ladies won blue ribbons for their designs.  Those that didn't get blues were still winners just for showing up and working as hard as they did for making the show a success.  Pine Burr Garden Club is a National Award winning club.  Why don't you join us?  We have fun--but we work at it!!

I'll get an album on the website as soon as I can and you can see all the arrangements.  Just click on "Let Freedom Ring" 2009 Flower Show. It may take me a day or two. Keep checking my blog.

SCRAPFEST WEEKEND

A huge room filled with 200 scrapbookers-each one with tons of "stuff"-you have NEVER seen the amount of scrapbooking accessories and equipment some of these women had!  I hate to think of the amount of money in that room just in supplies!  It was way over the top!!  Talk about collectors and addiction--this was a convention of addicts! And I thought I had a lot!!  There were 11 at our table and we had arranged to sit together-all friends or friends of friends---now all friends! :)

Two were missing from this picture but this is the majority of our group. The girls in blue are from Petal [Hattiesburg area] that met Pat and Melanie in Natchez. They have all scrapped in Jackson together. 

We finally rounded up Treasure for a picture. Don't ya just love our "Scrapping Sisters" shirts??  We had lots of comments about them-especially the fact that we had scripture on the back. Everyone liked them.  AND, we were easy to see! 

The first day I entered a challenge--not something I usually do. They gave the first 25 women who came up a package of "stuff" [awful stuff] and they had to make something with it.  It had to be turned in by a certain time and all of a sudden I realized I had about 30 minutes to get it done because we were taking two classes back to back and wouldn't be finished until 6:00.  I hurriedly took pictures of a lot of "stuff" and did this page. "It's all about the stuff"--I came in second.  My friend Treasure beat me. I told her a naked baby will do it every time.  Her layout was beautiful and she altered everything.  That always does it too. I'm learning everytime I go.

I probably should tell you that it rained all day Thursday and over ten [10] inches on Friday.  Saturday was an absolute bluebird day but cooler. I also should tell you that that building was the coldest building I have ever been in and I carried in a blanket and wore three shirts.  I also probably should tell you that going off with these two women (Pat and Sharon--we missed you Libby!) is one of the most fun things I can do. There is never a dull moment.  We truly are sisters-scrapping or not!

I'M ALWAYS ON CALL--24/7--:)

On Wednesday I was having physical therapy on "the knee" when my cell phone rang.  It was Jennifer and she had seen my car parked in the North Forty at the hospital. It just so happened that it was closer to Graham's doctor than my therapy session.  He was about to have his staples removed and I was just about finished with therapy.  She said I might want to come over and lend some moral support.  I was glad to do it.  I got there just as he was going in.  The nurse came in and asked if the bandage had been removed.  His incisions looked great and she began the process of taking them out.    After she took the staples out we got to look at the xrays.  See his steel rod and screws?  He's still on crutches but is walking pretty good. School may be a possibility on Monday--we'll see how it goes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2009 BEACH SCRAPBOOK RETREAT WEEKEND MARATHON

This was our second year to attend the Scrappin' at the Beach Retreat. Pat, Libby and I left on Thursday loaded down with (most) of the materials we needed for a fun weekend of scrapping.

 

You can't see all the stuff because we deliberately sat in front of it.  :)  The first afternoon we got unloaded and settled down to "getting ready". That night was "PJ Night" and everyone came back from dinner dressed in their pajamas ready to scrap for the long haul.  We stayed until midnight.  I overslept the next morning and Libby got up to see the sun come up. 

  What part of God's creation isn't beautiful?  Just look at this gorgeous blue water and white sand!

We scrapped all day and went to dinner about 5:30. We were told by Gina to be sure to be back by at least 7:30 or 7:45 because it was a theme night [40's, 50's, 60's, etc.] and there was a special surprise.  I told her to please just don't resurrect Elvis!!  They told me there would be a cardboard cutout but not to worry!  Well, guess who just told me a fat fib??!! After the "Hippie Chicks" (employees of GiGi's) performed--yes, Elvis showed up!!  This guy is the Assistant Principal of the Foley High School who does this as a hobby--he was ok, but he definitely needs to keep his day job. We kept on scrapping as he performed and all of a sudden I looked up and this is what I saw--

He snuck up on Libby and I grabbed my camera.  BTW, he has a surger and makes his own scarves! We thought that was funny! The "Hippie Chick" in the white glasses is Gina who owns Gigi's Scrapbook Store in Foley and the girl in the pink hat is Jamie. They are both sweet, precious ladies. They were dressed up for the 60's night.  We only stayed till 11:00 PM that night!!

 

This is a painted canvas class we did today.  It's 16 x 16 with a red heart, ribbons, silk flowers and tags. The only thing left to do is use black marker and go around the green.  We did this on a lark and it was fun.  We also did an altered HUGE clothes pin with beach paper and shells.

Each of us did page layouts--some more than others--but we enjoyed it tremendously.  We're thankful to have family that will allow us to get away together for fellowship and girl time.  Our tablemates took this picture.

This afternoon (Saturday) we left Pat to take the last class and Libby and I went to the grocery store. We bought steaks, asparagus, salad stuff and ice cream for supper. After a wonderful dinner we watched "Mama Mia" and sang and laughed along with it.  What a great way to end a weekend.

GOD'S PLAN FOR THE DAY

One of my friends at church spoke one Sunday morning. She started her talk with "If you really want to know what God wants for you, make plans that you want to do." That may not be the direct words but you get the idea.  I had my plans for today--they had been made for about a month and included a very pretty day with nine grandchildren dressed and in a good mood.  The photographer was coming to take pictures for a portrait that was LONG overdue [a post in itself!].  We woke up early and Ed told me it was raining! Not a good day. I was not in a good mood and had just a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach all day.  I talked with the photographer's office several times trying to cancel. Each time they said, "Oh, no, everything's going to be fine. We'll adjust. It will work."  Oh, ME of little faith!! :)  I told Jennifer and Tiffany that God was testing me.  He had His plan for my day and I should just go with it.  It was raining and cold but the children were great and I know that the pictures the photographer took are much better than mine.  Here's a sample of what I took. 

 

 Everything turned out fine. God took care of the day-His way. I can't wait to see what the pictures look like. We have a special place just waiting for the portrait! I feel sure that Jennifer and Tiffany will post something they took too.  Check it out and get their version of the story!  

PHOTO BY BEN

 

Ben has spent most of the weekend with us.  The Cowarts were rodeoing and Jennifer rested between times.  Ben didn't want to rodeo.  This morning we were on the way to church and he was playing with my "Huckleberry".  He was playing with the camera and asking me questions about "twitter".  I just found this picture on my blog. Obviously he figured out how to work it.  It's probably more interesting than anything I could have blogged today.  This is the "down day" after treatment so I've been asleep since lunch was over.  In case you can't tell what it is--Ben's leg, foot and my cell phone charger!  Very interesting stuff!!

REUNION 2008

The 2008 Southward Reunion is a sweet memory.  For three fast and furious days we had plenty of sunshine, swimming, food and fellowship.  We started Saturday morning with the Great Bude Run.  The picture speaks for itself. Veda and Tom placed in their

age groups.  Leigh and I did not.  We all got door prizes--we even traded with some people to make sure everyone got something neat!!

We stopped by Sam's T-ball game and watched him hit an "in the park" homerun. He had a huge cheering section.   Then it was off to lunch for the hamburger cookout.  Everyone loves it. We had about 50 for lunch and it was awesome.

The midafternoon snack was boiled shrimp and Shara's homemade quacamole [made by Carolyn and Shirlee].  We all have her recipe now!!  If you want 150 jumbo shrimp to disappear fast put them in front of the Southward clan.  That goes for the quac too!!  We love it.

More swimming; some napping; lots of talking--then it's time for dinner.  Shara had made spaghetti sauce and others contributed the other parts for the dinner.  I don't have to say that we ALL enjoyed it and dinner was delicious.

Everyone left pretty quickly after dinner because we were all tired.  Promises of "we'll be here for church in the morning" and good nights were being heard.

Sunday morning Ed and I fixed breakfast for those at the house.  The Southward Clan filled three pews at church and then it was home to a delicious lunch prepared by Janice and Linda.

Good byes were said and pictures were taken.  By 3:00 PM everyone was on the road to home and we're already dreaming of next year.  We're all talking about how we have to loose weight before then--the weight we gained this weekend---oh, what fun we had!!!!!

Click on the "Southward Reunion 2008" picture album to see all the pictures.

 

 

WOW!!!

I guess I found out that my "readers" don't care much about the horses! They'd rather hear about what's going on with the family. :)  We're such an active bunch!!  Saturday was a beautiful day around here for many reasons.  The weather was lovely and Ryan and Haleigh came by in their "finery" to show us how they looked.  They had been to the winter formal but this was "first prom" and it was exciting for all of us.  Jennifer had boys scattered all over SW MS doing ball games and rodeos.  She managed to spend time with Ryan while he was getting ready.  It was a special time for them.  The years have flown by and it's hard to believe he's getting to prom age. I may be prejudiced but---- this guy is so handsome and his Mom is beautiful. She was beaming when she looked at her son. The feet look nice. How about the rest of them?   It was hard to go through as Jeanne said, "a gazillion" pictures to find only one to show you. They were all beautiful.  Haleigh wears bright colors well and the orange was "right on"!!  We had to have a shot with the three of us.  Look how tall Ryan is!

I missed the Navigator limo--would I have enjoyed that!! Can't wait to see the pictures and hear the story.  Gotta love this guy; he's so sweet and cooperative.  Whatever Haleigh wants is what he does.  I'm sure they had a great time. 

PICTURES OF SCRAP RETREAT. . .

Scrapbooker's Dream--three days--nonstop scrapbooking!!  Was it a dream or a nightmare?  I've never seen so much "stuff" in my life---and I thought I had a room full. You can see that the "stuff" is packed to the top of the car when we got Terri loaded. And you know that someone was going to buy something at the retreat!!  It's pack up and go at the end and I let them do it.  Five chiefs don't do a good job so Libby and I were the photographers.  It was all packed up and in and no one got hurt.  We all had a great time and look forward to getting another chance to "scrap till we drop"!

"HELL DONE FROZE OVER"

I was reading a book not long ago and it had two old country boys as characters.  I don't remember what they were discussing but one of them looked at the other and said, "Well, I'll be, hell done froze over."  Obviously something they thought would never have happened had and that was their way of saying it did. Well, today it happened here too.  My alarm clock went off at 6:30 AM by mistake and just as I got snuggled back into bed the Ed's cell phone started ringing.  From that moment on it has been wild all day.  The pictures will have to be the thousand words.  It has been wonderful.   

As Ed and I were riding around taking the pictures we noticed the sign on the church on the highway.  "God's got a blessing with your name on it."  We certainly got our blessing today.

Don't forget that you can click on the photos to make them bigger.  They will be much prettier when you do.  Happy Snow Day!

AM I JEALOUS OR WHAT???

I get a little jealous when people blog about getting snow and showing their pictures of things like sledding and skiing.  Plain and simple--no brag, just fact.  I should live a little further north where I could at least have a little of the "white stuff" to make angels in when I went outside.  Not to mention that it would make the gas business a whole lot better. (That could be a whole blog! BUT--blessings are blessings and we'll take what we get.)  For the last several days it's been pretty cold here.  Cold enough for the fountain (from you know where!!!) to freeze.  That will have to do for now--but I can still wish for a flake or two to fall.

THE WHEELS ON THE CAR. . .

Saturday--get up early and check out.  Stop at the Bear Claw for coffee and muffins. We have a 6 1/2 hour drive to Calgary plus any stops we make along the way. The Columbian Icefields are the first stop--it's cold and windy so we decide NOT to hike. It's also very foggy with the rain coming in.  These glaciers still amaze me.  We ate lunch at Chief Chiniki's restaurant.  His granddaughter was our waitress. I backed into a trash can (NONE of us saw it) and broke the tail light on the car.

We checked into the Palliser Hotel which was gorgeous. (Remember you can click on the pictures to make them larger.) We walked several blocks to the Devonian Gardens--beautiful gardens on the top floor of an office building. The pictures don't do it justice.  You can't imagine how beautiful it really is. The brochure said that people who work around there go there during their lunch hour. There were real turtles and real koi in the ponds.  The fox under the arbor was bronze.  We would have stayed longer but they closed it early on Saturday.  As we were walking downtown there was a wedding party being photographed in the middle of the street.  We thought it was part of a movie set.  And speaking of a movie-there really was a movie being filmed.

We stopped at the StarCuisine.com trailer to ask directions. Of course, I had to know everything!  Disney was in town filming "The Snow Globe". They had built a set outside of Calgary and the man in the trailer was cooking dinner for the actors and extras.  While we were walking down the street we saw a cow! There was an art exhibit of cows and my goal was to "shoot" them all. Here are the ones I found:

Don't you just love them?  I think my favorite was "Cowabunga" (the Bart Simpson one!) Our hotel was right by the Calgary Tower. It was beautiful. Dinner was at Joey Tomatoe's (recommended by someone we met at Jasper). After a day like today we actually ordered drinks!  We walked down to Eau Claire Market and looked around.  It began to rain so we went back to the hotel.  REST, oh sweet rest.

STARTING AT THE BEAR CLAW!

Up and out early to the Bear Claw Bakery where we had scones, muffins and bought huge delicious cookies for the day's snack.  We headed out to Maligne Canyon and Medicine Lake.  We were surprised by huge ram sheep grazing the roadside. This was the only bear we saw on the whole trip.  I kept wanting to canoe but couldn't get any takers.  The sun was in just the right place at Medicine Lake for the reflection to be awesome (overly used word! but true).   Athabasca Falls has to be the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It was a spiritual place. I told the boys when they were looking at the pictures that God was there.  Little Sam said, "Could you dig in the dirt and see Him?"  I told him that you could feel God's presence in the sound and beauty of this place.  In places it was roaring and in other places it was very quiet. 

We saw quite a lot of these buildings-inside and out. They were very clean and not as smelly as Southern "outdoor" facilities.  After a short rest it was on to Mount Edith Cavell.  You KNOW we HIKED it! Angel Wing Glacier is located on Mt. Edith Cavell. While we were hiking down to the Lake the glacier calved.  That's most unusual and even more unusual to be seen.  We each touched the glacier ice and I even ate some. Eating ice that was thousands of years old was amazing.  

I picked up a heart shaped rock while we were hiking back to the car.  I'll always remember the grand lady Edith Cavell.

We rode back to town and found a Greek restaurant called Something Else. After all the hiking and looking we were starving.  We each ordered a steak which was delicious and had wonderful veggies with it. After a walk around the quaint little town we headed back to the Lodge where we all just faded into a deep sleep.

Tomorrow's a driving day--three days left.  You won't believe what's coming up!

THURSDAY ALREADY!

  Isn't this a beautiful place for breakfast on a cool, breezy morning?  After a late sleep in, we got up and drove the short drive to the Fairmont Lake Louise Chateau for a leisurely breakfast at Poppy's. After eating delicious fruit and a wonderful banana fritter (for Ed) we walked around the hotel. There was a beautiful lady playing the harp. I talked with her and bought one of her CD's.  She was very sweet and signed it for me.  We left there after doing a little shopping and drove to Jasper.  We stopped and HIKED to Peyto Lake. The wildflowers on the way were beautiful and the lake was absolutely gorgeous. Being a garden person I took pics of all the flowers.  I was really fascinated by the things we didn't have here in Mississippi (like the Western Anemone--white one).  We saw a herd of elk on the drive there.     

Jasper Lake Lodge was a complete turn around from the other places we had stayed.  It was a beautiful log cabin type lodge with beautiful landscape and elk roaming the property. We spent more time here traveling and hiking and very little time on the grounds.  We ate at the Emerald Restaurant and I had the most expensive meal (and worst!) of the whole trip. The dessert was good though. This was the embellishment on my dessert. Oh, and don't you love the bed cover! :) 

Tomorrow is another long day and there are lots of surprises!  Stay tuned.

WE'RE GONNA' DO WHAT?!!

Early wake up today and off to the coffee shop for a danish.  Short drive to Lake Louise for a HIKE of nearly five (5) miles up a mountain to 7000 feet.  It took us two hours to get up the mountain and there we had soup and sandwiches at the Lake Agnes Tea Room. After several photo ops we hiked back down. The man below was playing the Alphorn. He played Amazing Grace and it was beautiful.  People were canoeing on Lake Louise.  No one would canoe with me.  The fact that it was 37 degrees might have been a factor. Aren't the mountain and lake beautiful behind us?  The water was such a different color.  Laura was jealous of Beverly's hiking stick so I found her a stick on the trail.  She left it--I thought she should have smuggled it back to the states!  One of our favorite things at the tea room was the chipmunks! The scenery was so beautiful from the mountain top.  There were wild flowers and waterfalls and streams so clear you could drink the water. The beauty was unbelievable.  The trip down was not as hard as the trip up (or as long).  We're starving--back to the Station for burger and fries and an early turn in.

ON TO BANFF. . .

The drive to Banff was beautiful.  We passed by the Olympic Park and saw some of the venues where the last olympics in Canada were held. We all decided that there was no way we could have gone down those downhill ski runs!  Our arrival at Banff Springs Hotel was like a dream.  Guys came from everywhere with little earpieces to gather our luggage, usher us to the desk, etc.  One even had on kilts. Do you think the hotel looks like a castle?  Oh, yeah!  I was down looking up!  The flower beds all around the hotel were gorgeous.  The colors were so vibrant.  We barely got settled before Beverly was ready to hike!  Bow Falls was a short hike down and back so we started with that.  I have to admit that it was beautiful and I enjoyed it.  A great start to a great trip. We were getting ready for some rest since we had eaten a late lunch after the flight. Tomorrow would be exciting!

I AM READY--LET THE TALE BEGIN. . .

Tomorrow I will begin the tale of the trip to Canada.  I have the pictures in the computer at least and have "in my head" the way I think I want to tell the story.  I had no idea how disorganized I could be with all of this.  Let the journey begin. . .