Southern Living Yankee

One day Tom and I explored a bike trail about three miles from our house. It was really nice, but I'm not sure I'll ever go back! As I was rolling along I noticed a stick laying on the pavement. Something about it was a little different---"Man, that's a soft looking stick," I remember thinking. Then I ran over it and noticed it's pattern. When I glanced back it was writhing and coiling and really really mad at me! Tom took this picture with his phone. We were pretty sure it was rattling its tail, but the pattern matches pictures I found of a copperhead. This was a young one, only about 10 inches long but it sure did want a piece of me! I ran over it's neck---if snakes have a neck? I don't know? Do they have a neck, or maybe they ARE a neck? They creep me out, that's for sure! Zombie Squirrels. The rest of the world calls them gray squirrels. Cute, fluffy little things, right? That's what I always thought but Not Any More! Now I call them Zomb...

  Angry Bird had built his wife a nest in the bend of the downspout right next to our garage door. I could see her cute little head peeking out as she laid on her eggs. And when we opened the garage door I could tell it took everything she had to stay with the nest and not bolt away in fear with all the noise and vibration from the garage door going up and down.   But finally, she'd had it. She abandoned the nest. And Angry Bird quit thwacking my windows and disappeared! I wondered if the eggs had hatched so I hoisted a ladder up there. Four perfect little pale grey eggs lay in the twig and thistle chaff nest. I carefully took it down. It's been sitting on a shelf in the garage ever since so the eggs will dry out and not stink. After Christmas I'll find a place on the mantle for this gift of nature. It will be one of my prize possessions! 

It's June. (Oh, I know it's already December, but c'mon, humor me, I'm setting a scene here). We've just moved in. I'm home alone in this new land, surrounded by mounds of boxes that need to be unpacked. It's so quiet, so different . . . then THWACK!. . .THWACK! What in the world? I looked around. I wasn't sure where the noise had come from. Maybe a tree branch. THWACK!. . .THWACK! There it was again! Only this time it was more on the front of the house. THWACK!. . .THWACK! Now the back of the house. I went outside to look around but didn't see anything. After a few days of this. THWACK!. . .THWACK! This constant THWACK!. . .THWACK! I finally THWACK!. . .THWACK! figured it out. THWACK!. . .THWACK! But there was nothing I could do because it was a man-bird defending his bride from his reflection in our windows. He was faster than the speed of light. Everywhere. Front of the house, back of the house, front, back, front, back THWACK!. . .THW...

Oh my . . . I'm still laughing over this. Yankee or Southern, there's no line to cross when it comes to cats and dogs. These guys nailed it.

Tom and I often go out to dinner, but tonight he put a new spin on OUT to dinner. I was just minding my own business, in fact I was ordering business cards online when he hollered to me that I had to hurry up and follow him before it got too dark outside. I was so confused! Follow him where? Why? Should I put on a jacket? How long will we be gone? What shoes did I need? Why do I need a water bottle? Two seconds later, we were off through the woods to the back of our property. The campfire was going. He'd even brought plates. What a guy! The campfire crackled, the air cooled, the sky turned velvety and the pinpoints of stars grew brighter and brighter. A shooting star blazed, streaming across the sky until it sparked out. An owl hooted. Happy sigh . . .  

I'd heard that only tourists carry an umbrella in Seattle, but since I have no pride, I took one along. Good thing. It POURED the whole time we were there and EVERYONE (except Tom) had an umbrella. This rainbow appeared while we were on the ferry to Bainbridge Island for a fudge fix (they have this chocolate fudge with a layer of caramel in the middle and a few crystals of salt on top---YUM!) The rainbow was complete, full, and so large that my camera could only catch this one end. This is my daughter Lisa and her finance Bryn Lumsden. I enjoyed getting to know him a little bit, and our time was too short. He's the oldest of three, and went to his parents for Thanksgiving Day since his one brother was away in Alaska. His folks live about 45 minutes north of Seattle. We'll get to meet them in September. :) This is where Lisa lives, and she roasted the turkey and hosted us all. See Tom in the back? He can't put the Michael Crichton book down that I brought alo...

What do Dorothy in Oz, Alice in Wonderland and a southern living Yankee all have in common? It just doesn't feel like home. Nothing is predictable or familiar. There's always a sense of losing my balance, falling down a rabbit hole or twirling in a tornado. I have to keeping telling myself, "It's all real. You're only living in another state, you idiot. Plenty of people move here and love it. The rest of the world would love to trade places. What's the matter with you?" I think it's the little things. After all, it's November, the month after Brad was born on a long-ago Halloween---when it was cold, cloudy and drizzly for two weeks straight after his birth. And then it snowed. Camelia in my front yard But now, here in the South, the weather's been glorious! The nights are brisk and cool 50's, the days are in the 70's, perfect for raking leaves. Except many leaves are still on the trees. Silly leaves. It's November! Trees a...

Behind the trim lawn and pretty trees is the paper mill Tom  began working at in April. Did I mention its in South Carolina? Kind of a looong drive to work from Ohio. ! April and May were a whirlwind of major decisions we weren't ready for, and a lot of saying good-bye. I wrote about these pictures in June, but just found them today! So here's the start of my southern living in pictures. Many things have happened this year and I hope to begin catching up on them! One major event was the publication of my book---which was the "handle with prayer" reason for this blog when I started it in 2006. I'm so happy to have it delivered---yes, delivered -- it's almost like having a baby. Click here to order the book or just see what it looks like: Postcards from the Widows' Path People are saying the nicest things about it and I'm so thrilled that they love it! Now that the book is done, I intend to change the title and look of this blog. Life is stil...

Fried Ice Cream + Sombrero = Somebody's Birthday! Chris has his eye on it! Birthday Girl! The end of a sweet day Maple Syrup Test Tom and I enjoyed celebrating Brooke's birthday with her and Chris, and Chris's family at our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Earlier in the day we toured Bissell's Maple Farm, riding the horse cart up to the sugar shack, seeing the process in action, and snacking on the goodies! I came home with a dozen leaf-shaped bottles, like the one in the picture above. "Made In Ohio," they'll make nice little gifts for new friends I'll meet wherever the road may lead us during these next weeks. All that maple syrup made me hungry for some pancakes when we got back home today, and I had three types of syrup to sample and see if we could tell the difference. So I made pancakes and sausage for supper and we had a maple syrup "tasting." Pictured above are two Ohio syrups-- Grade B (the dark one in the ba...

Moment then: On Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 Tom and I met each other after work at a printshop to look into the costs and process of printing the book I've been writing/bleeding the last six years. Cheers! Applause! This really seemed like the way to go, and we were pretty pumped! Tom was waiting for me in the parking lot, and as I approached his car he shocked me with, "Do you want the bad news now or later?" What a fine time to hear he'd be out of a job in six weeks! And then I got sick with a colossal cold virus and stayed home from work on Friday. Lucky me. Sick at home on Friday, and on Saturday morning I discovered that Fud, who'd been confined to the downstairs bathroom all night because he was puking---was puking blood. It shows up remarkably well on white bathroom fixtures. Slimy pink paw prints. So Tom and I took him to the vet for inconclusive diagnoses and a few scratches. For although the cat can't keep anything down, he can still scratch and s...