While I'm Traveling to McDonough, Read This

Please go to this link  to read the dearest story about children who are sponsored through Compassion (I love this ministry - I hope I'm never disappointed - but on this day I don't think I will be in this lifetime - I trust their integrity)

This is a picture of children who pray on a regular basis for their sponsors.

Isn't that the most glorious image?

I did actually post last night about community groups and images of grandchildren, but then I read this this morning and want other people to see these children and read about them.  Will you please?

So This Is Later

We began Community Groups tonight....
My house is one of the houses where a group is "getting together"

only I wasn't the host at my house.  I was assigned to another house and Ann and Steve hosted the group at my house.  Yet, I did prepare for folks being in my home

and since I haven't been able to think of anything to post - well - I decided to take pictures of my very straight house and the food I'd prepared - because I don't usually keep it this straight nor do I prepare these kinds of goodies.

Do you want to see?

Okay - here are the turtle cookies

and the chewy chocolate pecan bars....

Cream and Sugar

Silver Spoons

Flower Arrangement which I bought at the banquet last night,,

a fundraiser for the Turning Point Pregancy Center

My straightened LR (rare)

and then, as I was taking the pictures above, I heard folks coming in the back door 

and here is what I found.

Ellie in leggings and a cute denim skirt

Ellie with Ann

Luke

and Andrew

And Ellie talking

That's all.

I'm going to McDonough tomorrow to visit Laura Beth and her crew.

I WAS GOING TO POST

BUT A LOT OF FOLKS SHOWED UP AT THE BACK DOOR - 


SO I STARTED TAKING PICTURES.

WILL POST MUCH LATER IN THE EVENING.

What I Did on Friday and Saturday Morning

Met friends and family in Birmingham and we then ate in Bessemer at the Bright Star Restaurant.

That's it, below.  See the green awning?  The door is in that shadow.

Are you familiar with this restaurant?

I am now.  

Very old and really good.

Sandra Bullock, last year, held a surprise birthday party for her daddy, at this restaurant.

Charlie told me that.

Making selections and conversation.

What I ordered.  Their Greek version of Snapper.

And .... fried eggplant - so good.

Our group outside the restaurant, after we ate.

Saturday morning on Martha's Terrace, coffee and a little more conversation - 

before we all returned to our homes and responsibilities.

And inside Martha's gorgeous home, so many opportunities for interior photos.  This is what I chose.

I don't know how to explain all these relationships and who's family, who's not -

Evergreen, Alabama is the common denominator.... I think, but there are other connectors.

It was wonderful fellowship.

September in North Alabama

Compared to South Alabama, well, North Alabama might as well be a New England state.  The colors and trees are much more varied and with richer colors - but still - we will have to wait until the end of October for our peak colors.  I know that because my anniversary is October 27th - and it never fails - the best colors are a about 3 days after that because we were traveling home that year from our honeymoon and the colors were at their prime.  So we've watched for that all these 31 years of marriage and it remains the same.

Here are images of North Alabama in September.

that's it.  no words.  just these images.

Coffee in the Afternoon

or

I Miss My Mother
especially this time of the year.  


I read a tiny article in Ladies' Home Journal yesterday.


So brief that I can copy it.


"If your daughter is stressed out, the soothing sound of your voice can relieve her anxiety as much as an actual hug, says a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.  After a series of challenging tests, girls who were comforted by their mom in person or over the phone experienced a surge in oxytocin, the bonding hormone that also calms your stress response.  In contrast, girls who had no contact with their mother showed no rise in oxytocin.  So if you can't be there, speed-dial your daughter after her difficult exam, important performance or other big event (or tell her to call you)."  


I have four daughters and I don't have to tell them to call me - and I would need a speed-dial to make the call before they call me.  I did the same with my mom - only when I was in college we didn't have cell phones - there was a payphone out in the hall - for everyone to use.  When I transferred to Auburn we did have phones in our rooms  -  ahhhh, but the cost of a phone call.  Mother wrote me a lot of letters.  I checked mail all the time and was seldom disappointed.  I wrote her also.  No email in those days.  Handwriting - and with stamps and drop it in the mailbox.


So - about missing Mother - this time of year.  She loved "afternoon coffee".  Black - and so did I.  I don't drink it so much anymore, in the afternoon - just in the mornings - but when I want to feel like I'm visiting with her - I make a pot - and remember how it used to be with her.  


so this afternoon - I made coffee - and selected the mug I wanted to use.  Mother's plaid dishes.  Organdie by Vernonware.  Mother never actually had mugs.  She and her friends and her sisters drank out of a cup and saucer.  I just ordered this mug off of ebay one year.  I think most of us prefer mugs now.

But if we all convened over at my grandmother's house (Ella's house) 

this is what our coffee would be served in.

And it would be very strong, very black, coffee.

And the conversation would begin.

and the laughing and the questions and the answers.

and how we used to prepare coffee,

in a stovetop percolator.

I still do that all along.  I love the flavor.

So - Fall - nostalgia - moms - nurturing - 

make chili at the first cool snap - or just turn the air down really low to justify something warm, 

like soup or chili.  

Football - parades - homecoming - all of that.

Everyone always wants their mom - no matter the age.

Here's Mother reading to Ann and Laura Beth

Holding Sarah on vacation with us in Orange Beach, AL

and here she is holding Kate, on Kate's first night home from the hospital.

That's all.  I just wanted to talk about my mom.