Last trip of the Summer

A sign of the times. How sad.

Saying good by to Mawmaw and Grandaddy.

Annie's in Luverne AL

Sun sinking slowly in the west.

Striking a pose.

Goofy man!

ballerina girl.

Mark's baptism

We have made of final trip of the Summer. We got in last night from FL.. We had a really good visit with Sarah and the kids. It was one of the hottest weeks I think we have had so far. It rained a little each day and that made the weather not only hot but extremely humid.

Luke was in school, but Charlotte and Little Man (Mark) kept us busy during the day. Mark learned to crawl while we were there and we had the thrill of seeing him do the army crawl all over the place. The first place he headed was to the toy room where he tumbled off the little stoop between the two rooms. He cried like he had fallen off a building. Then he tried to do it all over again.

Charlotte started ballet lessons and loved it. She looked so cute in her ballet outfit. Everyday she would ask if she had a ballet lesson. I think she is going to do well at this.

We tried to find some treasures at the local thrift stores, but didn't find a thing while we were there. We had a hard time finding a seafood place to eat cat, but finally found a place called Dewey Destins. It was a real whole in the wall place or maybe I should call it a cork in the bay place. It was built on a pier over the water with just picnic tables outside on the dock. The shrimp and scallops were delicious, but it was one of those places if I driven up to it by myself, I would have turned around and left. Good thing John, Sarah and the kids and I were all there together.

I took a picture of the sign above at one of the thrift stores we stopped at. "Obama does not consider us a Christian nation." This makes me sad. One of these days I hope our leaders wake up and rethink some of their ideas.

It is always hard to leave after spending time with any of the grand kids. The picture of Luke standing in the driveway when we left almost made me cry. I'm sure the kids ran in the house and didn't think of us again.

We took the long way home up Hwy 331 to Montogomery. We stopped at a little cafe in Luverne AL and had some of the best seafood I have ever had. The place was called Annie's and we finally found some great seafood. The shrimp and oysters were yummy, so I posted a picture of the sign. If you are ever down in Luverne stop and eat at Annie's

The sunset picture was on the way from Cullman to Moulton AL. It was so pretty and came out nicely on the camera. Later as we got closer to home we saw one of the most brilliant lightening shows that I've seen in a while. About 30 minutes after we got home the bottom fell out and we had a huge electrical storm. The power went out for a couple of hours and there was complete silence and I went off to sleep and never realized when the power came back on.

Summer is winding down for me and it was back to work this morning. It was nice to get back a see all my co-workers. Wednesday all the students will be in class and the work will begin in earnest. So I guess it is time to take a deep breath, get the nose to the grind stone and move into another school year.

HOPE YOU LOVE REDHEADS

RED HAIR


SIGNATURE SMILE

FRECKLES

This was my day to accomplish tons of stuff. We tried to get all our running around done yesterday and today was supposed to be the big work day. Now I'm just talking about myself, because John is out side in this heat changing the oil in the car and doing lord only know what else. No it is just me. I can't seem to get myself motivated. I can't really decide where to start. I keep telling myself to start where your at, but I keep getting side tracked.

This morning we actually slept to 9:00 o'clock. I'm telling you, not having grand kids coming in first thing in the morning can make you lose track of time. When we got up John said " It is still Wednesday, isn't it"? I can see where people that don't have stuff to keep them occupied could completely loose their sense of time. I guess we could start putting notches on the door frame to keep track of our days.

I decided when I first got up this morning that I would color my hair. I had colored it a few weeks ago and it turned out a nice kind of strawberry blond color and since I am mostly gray on top I kind of liked the change. But today it turned out a RED!! I can't decide if I look more like Howdy Doody or the character on the cover of Mad Magazine. I would lean more toward the Mad character because I do tend to have a few freckles and the signature gap between my front teeth.. John looked a little shocked but tried to keep a straight face. That is one thing about getting older, you don't tend to freak out over things that you know time will take care of.

We had planned on going swimming over at Johnny and Tracy's this afternoon, but I kind of got to thinking about all that chlorine and the possibility of turning my hair green and I decided I had better give it a few days.

SWEATING WITH THE OLDIES IN ALABAMA

HOT, HOT, HOTTER. This summer has topped the charts as far as heat is concerned. Maybe it is just in the South, but this has got to be the hottest summer we have had in ages. Our temps have been consistently in the very high nineties for weeks now and that makes it feel like 112 degrees. I guess I could stand the heat OK, but the blasted humidity is the killer. When I go out on the back porch in the morning, the air is so heavy that you can actually feel the weight of the air pressing down on you. Have you ever laid back in a hot tub of water and put a hot washcloth over you face and tried to breath? Well this is what it feels like outside. Needless to say we have been staying in more than usual.

After we got back from our trips to Niceville, Orange Beach and then Ohio we have stayed pretty close to home. Week before last our area celebrated the W.C. Handy festival. There is so much talent in area, everything ranging from country, bluegrass, jazz, rock and roll you name it. On Saturday the beginning of the festival, we went up to Joe Wheeler Lodge and watched a Tina Turner impersonator. She was great and as full of energy as the real Tina. Then on Monday night we went out to the Killen Methodist Church and listened to Dillion Hodges and his group that plays some great bluegrass-jazz. There was also a Gospel group that performed before Dillion that was a joy to listen to. On Thursday night there was a street party on North Court Street that featured the Midnighters. This is a local group that we try to listen to whenever possible. One other evening we went to St. Micheals gym to listen the Pine Hill Haints, a really unique group that has a cross between bluegrass and Cajun sound. They played everything from a wash tub base, hand saw and a rub board. Lots of fun. After that evening we were either rained out or just plain couldn't stand the heat. Great Handy Festival.

I have been putting up jelly this past week. Our fig tree has just about taken over the back yard and has produced tons of figs. We have been able to share them with the neighbors. When we went over to Johnny and Tracy's the other day, we found that their grapes had come in, so I have been making a few jars of grape jelly. You know it is expensive to make homemade jelly. I no longer had any jars, so I have to buy jars, and it take a boat load of sugar, so I bought sugar twice and then the sure jell. I could have gone to the store and got the jelly cheaper. Oh well John and John Pearson loved it so I guess that is all that mattered.

One other thing I have accomplished this summer is that I rooted a pineapple top and a avacoda seed. I have tried a dozen time and could never get anything to happen. Must be this hot weather but both have taken hold and are growing nicely.

While we were on our trip to Ohio, I found some frames to make rag rugs with, so in my spare time I have been trying to weave a rag rug. It's kind of fun, I just have a hard time making myself sit there long enough to accomplish much. I have started with a small rug about the size of a place mate. If I get good at it I will move on up to a bath mate or something about that size. Who knows if I get really good at it I may make an area rug. Right..

As summer starts to draw to a close, I have lots of happy memories of our trips, visiting family and friends and look forward to the coming school year. We will be having a wedding in June of next year. Mark and Paige has set the date of June 4Th for their wedding. Now we will just have to work on trying to keep body, mind and soul together for the next few months.