Southern Living Yankee

Since Tom turned 50 I'd thought he'd be content to turn up the volume on the TV and sit there watching PBS, Fox News or Gaither Concerts all day long and we could yell at each other (I mean SPEAK LOUDLY) and say "What you'd say?" all day long. But noooo. He still has to play. So yesterday we went for a bikeride--a BREEZY bikeride on the bike path from West Carrolton to Miamisburg, more or less along the Miami River. Did I mention it was breezy? We went against the wind the entire way, and in Miamisburg when we finally got a good view of the breadth of the river, there were whitecaps on it. I mean, WHITECAPS because the wind was pushing against the current! A gull was trying to fly down river, the same direction we were going--he was flapping his wings and going NOWHERE! But it was worth it. When we finally got there we came upon this charming surprise: a little historical society event at some historic log cabins in the village. Each housed a variety of craft de...

Cough, cough, cough, hack, hack, hack. Twiddling, twiddling, twiddling. Between the hacking cough, fondness for Nyquil, and twiddling my fingers while impatiently waiting for photos to load and then giving up and clicking the cancel button--I can only watch that little spinning thingie for so long!--well that's why there's no post but this pathetic excuse this week. Although, I AM going to write today, but first I've got to put a load of laundry in the wash machine, and write a blog post. Plus a zillion other things to push out of my mind. Thanks for checking in on me. And, Mom! Guess what? I found Heidi on Facebook and caught up with her on some emails! YAY! Thanks for checking in on me.

Glorious weather graced Ohio this weekend. Yesterday Tom and I took our last cruise of the year and enjoyed the colors and the calm. The water was so still, as if gathering energy for days to come, bracing for the icy transformation. Meanwhile, the sun-touched trees gladly spent their color, casting leaves like confetti. Today Tom and I took a bike ride after church. Not far, just in the neighborhood. I'm still getting over this cold which sent me home from work on Friday and reminded me how fond I am of breathing. So we just pedaled around the various ponds, golf course and club community. The sun was hot on my arms and I am going to try to remember that feeling around December 17 or so when it's cloudy and snizzling outside--snizzle is a combination of snow and drizzle, you know. I spent the rest of the afternoon checking the clock, counting the minutes, and filling them with little odds and ends, tidbits of party preparations, and trying not to burst with holding the secret ...

October started out with two special occassions--Tom turned 50, and one of my widow friends from my other blog got married! We combined the events by taking off on Friday to drive over to Indiana where Carol's wedding would be. Friday afternoon we went to Indiana's Oldest Herb Farm --and I definitely want to return! Even better than that was the privilege of being invited to celebrate the wedding of Carol and Chris that evening! It brought back memories of meeting Tom and the incredible blessing that God brought us together. I hope and pray the same for Carol and Chris. Chris is a prince of a guy, and Carol is a bundle of love and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to meet! The next day we concentrated more on Tom's birthday. We drove down to Louisville and test drove a car he's interested in (a VERY nice convertible!), and then we turned toward Cincinnatti. Heading up there we checked out the location of the Kentucky Speedway, in case Tom decides to get season tickets for ...

It was rainy last weekend so we painted a wall to try out a color. (OK, so Tom-- did the painting--I taped it off and got him whatever he wanted. Like a surgical assistant). Notice any difference? The color is rich and bold! It changes throughout the day from a deep mustard gold to squash, to butterscotch, to caramel. I was going to paint the entire dining room, but I'm wondering if it's a little too much for the whole room. The living room wall is on the right side in the photo above. We'll do that with a greyish green if you notice the large letter "H" on the buffet--it doesn't belong there--it's the color I want for the living room.    And then this weekend Tom had a really bad sore throat and body ache--I've never seen anything knock him out like this! (But he's feeling better tonight). I took advantage of his disability, in honor of sparing our marriage the trauma of wallpapering together, I started wallpapering the kitchen. I bought the wall...

The top picture is the backdoor entrance, and this is the kitchen entrance. To the right is the wrap-around front porch. A house can never have too many porches! Also, right in the middle of this bottom picture, where it looks like dark walls with two yellow pillars, is a screened in breezeway between the kitchen and the rest of the way too charming house!