Day Eighty 2013

35 degrees at lunch time today. Welcome, first full day of Spring!

I’m trying some new recipes. Made Black Bean Soup in the Crockpot after lunch. I got to use things like lime and cilantro and cumin and ground cloves and balsamic vinegar, all in the same dish, a departure for me, especially the cumin. I made this unholy mess in my kitchen and for all my effort was rewarded with a most pleasing aroma wafting through my house.

This Black Bean Soup was great for a cold night, especially since it set our taste buds on fire. Didn’t expect it to be inferno hot, but Neil and I both agreed it was the most unusual tasting soup we’d ever experienced and it was quite good. Some sour cream on top helped take the bite off, and Fritos were good with it, too. And since there were leftovers, we’ll most likely be having it for lunch tomorrow.

Ah, Spring! It’s 36 degrees which called for a fire in the wood stove. There’s snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Like I said, ‘Mother Nature’ doesn’t care what the calendar says where the weather is concerned. Not one bit.

Day Seventy Nine 2013

Happy spring, y’all! [it snowed this afternoon]

Day Seventy Eight 2013

Come, gentle Spring! ethereal Mildness! come.
~ James Thomson








And all about, the softening air
Of new-born sweetness tells,
And the ungathered Mayflowers wear
The tint of ocean shells.
The old, assuring miracle:
is fresh as heretofore:
And earth takes up its parable of life from death once more.
~ Whittier

[We’re in the final hours of winter. Finally. Spring begins with the vernal equinox at 7:02 A.M. (EDT) on March 20, 2013 in the Northern Hemisphere. Today was a beautiful sunny blue sky spring like day, this last day of winter. But we all know ‘Mother Nature’ doesn’t pay much attention to dates on the calendar when it comes to the weather. So, for what it’s worth, goodbye winter!]

Day Seventy Seven 2013

"March bustles in on windy feet
And sweeps my doorstep and my street.
She washes and cleans with pounding rains,
Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.
She shakes the grime from carpet green
Till naught but fresh new blades are seen.
Then, house in order, all neat as a pin,
She ushers gentle springtime in."
~ Susan Reiner, Spring Cleaning

Day Seventy Six 2013

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day. Neil and I stopped by our local pub [Poet’s On The Square Coffeehouse] and ordered up a brew or two. Couldn’t help notice this Post-It note on the counter. I said ‘really?’ The barista said some people let them know they don’t like it when the order takes too long to be filled. Wow. Some people, huh?

Actually, Neil and I weren’t celebrating St. Paddy’s Day or anything  else for that matter. We just wanted some frozen hot chocolate, or, in his case, frozen cookies and cream. We don’t need an excuse to have tasty frozen treats.

I do have a bit of Irish in me [more like Scotch-Irish, as my dad would tell me] but I suppose everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Happy St. Paddy's Day, y'all!

Day Seventy Five 2013

I couldn’t have ordered a more perfect spring day than today. And it isn’t even spring yet.

Day Seventy Four 2013

Apparently, this is what Julius Caesar thought before he was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC.

In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The ides of March have come," meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone." This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March.”  The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March

I do hope everything about your TGIF is totally hunky dory. Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!

Day Seventy Three 2013

Grandpeeps Elijah and Shelby spent the day with Neil and me as their spring break winds down. Lunched at KFC. Elijah was playing with his Jell-o and flipped some on the wall. Shelby is making the universal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ gesture. Elijah did eventually wipe it off the wall.

Landed at the DQ for frozen treats with more peeps. Daughter Holly, sister Jane, granddaughter Shelby, niece Julia, and niece Sarah having a laugh which I missed cause I was taking this picture.

And here’s one with Elijah in the mix ~ the only man in a sea of cooties. Or is that cuties?

After stuffing ourselves with chicken and ice cream, we spent some time in the sunshine. Neil pitched ball to Elijah who is signed up to play T Ball this spring.

Batter, batter, swing, batter! He can really pop them out of the park (or into the street).

I love this picture of Shelby. She doesn’t even know I took it as she walked away, going after the big ball she’d been kicking around the yard. She’s eleven and such a great kid who is quickly growing into her teenage years. Nope. Not gonna think about that right now. Sure did enjoy spending the day with my peeps. Always do.

Day Seventy Two 2013

Housework is always open ended. I feel a bit like Cinderella when I sweep the hearth with this worn out fireplace broom. [I always think of her as Cinderelly, like the Disney movie mice called her.]

Neil had the day off and was back out in the yard, getting it ready to put down some mulch. I didn’t envy him that, as it was a cold windy cloudy winter day ~ not much sun here. When I snapped this picture, there was a brief moment of snow flurries. Thought I was seeing things because at that moment the sun was out. They were here and gone in a blink.

We treated ourselves to a frozen cookies and cream drink at Poet’s coffee house this afternoon. Crazy thing to do on this cold day. It was delicious, but, living up to its name, froze us half to death.

Neil built a fire when we got back home. Took the chill off for sure. So much for Cinderelly’s hard work sweeping that dirty hearth.

Day Seventy One 2013

Sunny day
Chasing the clouds away
On my way
To where the air is sweet …

Grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah are on the second week of their spring break. We spent the day together, attached to our iPad minis and computer, until we realized we were missing out on a perfectly gorgeous day outside.

Sunny blue sky day with a cool wind ~ who could resist the tree swing?



We enjoyed some low tech fun blowing bubbles.



And letting the wind do the work sometimes

Hard to catch, bubbles are

Couldn’t let the sunny day go by without making a gratuitous shadow picture

Then we trekked into the woods, looking for a swinging vine to no avail. Elijah contemplated this question mark shaped stick and thought it was interesting enough to take home with him.

Shelby had a great time hanging long limbs between tree trunks. It’s the little things, you see. We don’t need no stinkin iPads to have fun!

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood which I enjoyed spending with my grandpeeps, especially once we escaped the house and went outside. I took pictures of bare trees and blue sky which always makes me happy and even found a cool walking stick [Shelby called it a ‘Gandalf stick’] [and if you don’t know who Gandalf is, Google it]. Can you tell me how to get … how to get to… ? You know the rest, don’t you? [if you don’t, Google it]
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
My little sister, Ann Mabry Sissom, turns 54 years young today. Happy Birthday, Ann!! Love & Hugs from me and Neil.

Day Seventy 2013

Oodles of noodles for my veggie chicken noodle soup tonight. It was yummy.

Day Sixty Nine 2013

Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero

which translates as:

While we're talking, envious time is fleeing: pluck the day, put no trust in the future
The original source for the Latin phrase is the lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC – 8 BC),
more widely known as Horace. The term is first found in Odes Book I

[don’t say I never taught ya nothin]

I seized the shades of gray sunset in a photograph to share with you. My diem was pretty quiet.

Day Sixty Eight 2013

Ever Lovin Saturday

It’s back. DST. Sounds like a disease. Clocks don’t officially flip ahead until tomorrow, but I got a jump on the chore today. It’s ridiculous how many clocks are in this house.

In the mood to do something creative. Something I can eat when the creative process is done.

Such as cookies! Very creative. And delicious, too.

Time and temperature. {this is not real time ~ it is DST ~ however the temperature is really real. And this was on my shady front porch.} What a totally gorgeous day!

Spring is coming fast. I found this sweet and colorful Easter egg wreath at the Super Target in Smyrna a few weeks ago. Easter is only three weeks down the road, so I have some time to enjoy this on my front door.

Neil spent most of the day cleaning up the yard. After picking up tons of sticks and limbs, he found out his wood chipper is on the fritz. So he clipped bushes and weeded, getting ready for some much needed mulch.

10 more days! And don’t forget to spring forward with those clocks before you hit the hay tonight.

The weather people predicted sunshine for today. I guess it was sunny somewhere on earth. Our sun was mostly behind clouds. It did manage to make an appearance at the end of the day and made quite the sunburst shining through my front door and reflecting off the wood floor.
Hope your Saturday was shiny and bright.