The Longest Post. Ever. Pictures of Summer Fun!

Our weekend (July 2nd - 6th) in the mountains was perfect - cool and beautiful. Here's the best seat on the mountain.Debbie came up on Friday and totally surprised Dad - and little Gordon got to introduce his Auntie to Thomas the Train. On the fourth of July...while we were getting ready for the party, Gordon got to watch a special show on the RFD channel - all about trains, he was glued to the tube!

Then we went for a walk to run the sillies out

and pick some wildflowersThis bee was busy working on the holidayThis gorgeous flower is all over the mountains...I don't know the name but it is so delicate and vivid - a perfect flower for Independence Day - it even looks like a star or fireworks

Aunt Debbie & Gordon Admiring Papa's ferns. What a beautiful landscape Dad has madeMore wildflowersThe cabin looks great.Mom's taking care of her flowers & her birds

Gorgeous hydrangeas along the driveway

The other side of the cabin

My little guy likes here in the mountainsIt is finally time for the party...looks like the people are coming from all over the mountain

Gordon was not shy, he wanted to be in the middle of everything and talk with everyoneAnd he huffed...And he puffed...And he still couldn't blow that pinwheel around!But I got a good pirate eye smile when he gave up!Singing happy birthday to PaPa just as loud and clear as he could...he also helped the pastor lead us in the common table prayer before dinner - he's NOT shy! The moon over Maggie...a gorgeous night as we waited for the fireworks to begin.Neat to watch the fireworks below us in the valley, and no parking hassles when it was over...just stepped in from the porch...
It's been a long time since we spent a weekend like this together, I'm grateful we all could be together to celebrate Dad's birthday, I wish Shannon could have joined us, but he had to be on his way to his new job in VA. Now backtracking to earlier in the week - June 30th - we went to the 39th Annual Southeastern Thresher's Reunion in Denton, NC. So much fun for our train loving kid! The sun was intense - so Gordon wore my Safari Hat to keep from getting sunburned...unfortunately he couldn't see very well :)He liked the tractors, and there were hundreds of them to look at.He asked me "what is this mommy??" I had to take a 2nd look myself!The the big moment - we got to ride, Gordon's first real train ride - on the Handy Dandy RailroadHe couldn't wait to get going - we sat in the first car right behind the engine He was so excited, you can't even imagine.Then the whistle blew - he was thrilled!Choooo Chooooooooo!All too soon we pulled back in the station. He was sad to see it end. He held the souvenir book the rest of the day (the train was pictured on the cover)Waving at the people we passed on the way into the stationNext it was a little lunch while we watched "pickin' & grinnin' music" (that's what Gordon calls it!)It was a long trek back to our car...and our little boy was worn out as you can see! Summer fun from a couple of weekends ago - Gordon's little buddies came over to play in the water & sand Love the butt's hanging out! My boy's Thomas the Tank engine trunks were falling off

The poor little one still in diapers - his mom forgot his swim diaper so his regular one poofed up and out all over!

He even sleeps in Thomas...

And finally...going back even further by a couple more weeks - Amy came to visit! Look at the goregous flowers she brought me! (not to mention the Dunkin Donuts coffee she brought Shannon and the whole slew of goodies she brought for Gordon to play with this summer!)

And of course she brought this big adorable guy! Buster was very tolerant with Gordon's excitement over him - he caught his beauty sleep wherever he could:Gordon was happy just to be near him.

And of course he was happy to be near Amy too - she's the best kind of Auntie - one who'll get right down on the floor and play with you!

Gordon stole Clifford from Buster...Clifford is Buster's chewy toy!

We had a blast catching fireflies - they were just thick in the yard - so thick you could just swipe your net around and catch two or three at a time it seemed! We watched them twinkle but set them free the next day.

Just had to throw this beautiful guy in here too:And this was before Amy came...

His new little friend!Thankfully he is NOT real...but he sure looks real to me. We keep him out in the sandbox now :)

THE END!

Three Years Ago Today

How time flies.

The Big Green Armoire

So I made this armoire when I moved into an apartment in Greensboro in January 2001. It is in two pieces and is so heavy, the movers who moved it to this house from my 2nd floor apartment were very happy to hear that the top half came off.

(yes...this picture is an old one...the first one I found which shows the whole thing)

This armoire was originally intended to hold my TV and VCR on the top half, and my stereo system complete with a record player in the bottom half. It served its intended purpose for about 2 months before I moved into this house and it didn't work well in the living room. It has found its home in the dining room ever since. I have used it to stash tons of stuff, whenever I was picking up stuff, if it didn't have a "home" it got shoved into the armoire.

I finally spent THREE days organizing this thing. Now the upper half is home to all of my art supplies and crafty stuff - ribbons, my tool box (tools I keep tucked away from myself as if Shannon ever got them I might never find them again...he's notorious for never putting tools away in the place he got them from). Also in the upper half - Gordon's art and crafts things. His are separated into four plastic bins that I can easily grab and pull out. The front two: the "Play Doh" bin holds all the dough and all of the tools and such and the "Coloring" bin hold all crayons, markers, pencils, pens, and paints. Coloring & activity books are in a nice stack. The back two bins: "Misc Art & School Supplies" - glue, safety scissors, stamps, plaster of paris, pipe cleaners, etc - anything for making things and "Educational Activities" - all those things like free sticker or learning books from Chick Fil A, flash cards, learning games and activity books. I love having it all in one place and knowing exactly where it is - it makes our time playing a lot more fun when Mommy isn't wandering off around the house wondering "now where did I put that?"

The bottom half is all for me - the 3 drawer bin and top shelf stuff are all scrapbooks, pictures, and scrapbooking materials & tools. Next to that is my stack of binders. I am a binder addict and a supreme nerd. I have a binder for everything. A binder for gardening info, one for art & craft ideas, one for places to go and things to do, one for decorating & architecture (my favorite hobby that I wish I had more money & time to explore - basically that one is my "dream" book) Then there are some finished photo albums & scrapbooks stacked in there. So now that I have all my arts and crafts materials in one place, maybe I'll find time to actually get some scrapbooks done and spend more time doing learning activities and crafts with Gordon!

I'm excited to get our yard sale over with this weekend and have my house put back in order, minus a lot of stuff that even if it is NOT sold, will never return back through the front door - once it goes out - it doesn't come back in! Purging feels so good! I keep telling myself, if we have to move this year, do I want to move THIS? I can part with a lot when I think of it that way!

The Pleasure Was Mine

I've not read a book that moved me as much as this one has in ages. It is written beautifully, and I regret that I'm finished with it, I just picked it up from the library on Thursday, and I'm writing this Friday night.

The author is Tommy Hays, a writer in Asheville, NC. He has written 2 other books, I hope they are as good, I'll be looking for them soon.

The characters and the issues were so real to me - the painter, the artist, the gardener, the reader, dementia, long term care & nursing home frustrations and guilt - I truly felt I was there, that I recognized Prate, Newell, and Jackson as well as Irene and even Billie. I'm not sure if it was just the descriptive words of the writer or if I just felt connected to the characters so easily by their familiar roles.

Trying to write now about it seems really pathetic but I felt the need to record how touching this book was. I'm glad I hadn't read any reviews and just grabbed the book off the shelf at the last minute - my library time was running out and I hadn't found anything. Everything in the fiction area seemed to involve vampires, murder, or some other predictable topic...and so what did I grab? I unknowningly grabbed a book about a family dealing with alzheimers...yeah that sounds pretty depressing I know, but it wasn't.

I thought I might regret it when I first realized what it was about. It surprised me how much it didn't depress me - it inspired me and moved me very deeply. I cried at several parts in the book, but it wasn't a depressing sort of cry, it was because it was so beautiful and I felt I was right there with these people. It showed just how ugly and hard and unfair life can be, but in the midst of it, we have been given love and hope (it doesn't touch on Christianity really, but from my perspective I feel that God is the source of love and hope) and the combination of those two things is so powerful that even in facing such a sad part of life, there is still goodness and beauty and even humor.

If you get a chance to read this book, I so highly recommend it, well that's obvious if you've read this far! I almost want to go buy a copy to have it on hand, it was that good.

Some specific excerpts from the book:

"For weeks, Irene thought she was in a fancy hotel, that is when she didn't think she was on a cruise ship." -- this just struck me as funny, the individual rooms, activities, and dining "rules" just made me think of how perfect the analogy.

"...I had begun to see that the older we became, the smaller the victories, and if we didn't glory in the little ones, then likely as not, we gloried in nothing." -- it is true, some people can just glory only in their tragedies (no matter how big or small) and some people have learned to choose to continue to glory in life, in finding goodness and love and choosing to be happy no matter the circumstance.

"And the next thought, a terrible one, was that in a way, by being the best mother a mother could be to her son and the best wife a wife could be to her husband, Irene had inadvertantly kept Newell and me at a distance from one another. She had done all our work for us." -- this one really struck me - I read it and stopped and literally said "oh wow" - it just jumped off the page at me. All through the book I was almost jealous of how Irene seemed like the best wife and mother, how beautiful she was to so many and how she lived like she knew what was important and her life reflected it - I was thinking how much I wished I was more like her. I'm definitely not the best mother or best wife one can be, but I feel like that is always my goal, and I am continually disappointed in myself for not reaching it. I'm often trying to be better to be the most needed, to have my husband and child feel I'm the best and can take care of everything and be everything they need. How selfish is that? Perhaps being the best shouldn't be the goal, perhaps imperfection and acceptance and letting go allows for more happiness and enjoyment in life, and makes more room for others to step up and be their best. It is a difficult realization for me in some ways, and one I have to really think about more.

There are more quotes I want to add from the book, but I have to go to bed, it is 1:25 am now...sigh...and my little boog will be up by 7 am I'm sure!