Custom...

An ugly duckling which really isn't an ugly duckling at all,

but a beautiful swan of a vehicle. My bet is that my Big Sis will be jealous that I saw it first...

BBQ and a Pickup Truck...

I love baby feet. Their toes are just so...so chubby and cute and...well, I could go on for days. This is Liam - Adam's sweet, perfect, beautiful, adorable nephew.

You can kind of see what he's gonna look like when he grows up in this picture. Maybe I'm delusional, but I really do think so...

Since the beginning of Liam and Adam's relationship, the little guy has always smiled at Adam...well since smiling was something he could do anyway. Adam will make a face - any face - and Little Dude will bust a gut. Then Adam laughs, then Little Dude laughs...you get the point, I hope. I have many pictures of this, but I felt like this captured the moment well. You'll notice Adam is making a strange face and Little Guy is really laughing good. They like each other...I think it's neat that they already have such a special bond.

Here we are at the Mason lodge for some of the best bbq EVER. I do have a picture of the lodge, but I like this better...

There was an old, beat up truck there and I, being me, stood around like an idiot taking pictures of it. Really, though, I can only stand around and talk for so long. We'll be seeing more of the neato truck in the very near future

Love Me a Thrift Store

I have been seeing owly things all over lately and had so far (until about a week ago) suppressed the urge to compulsively buy everything "owl" just because "everybody else was doing it". But look at the little guy...he is positively cute. Also, his side job is as a trivet and I compulsively buy those, too. So I simply could not NOT purchase the owl trivet. Two birds - one stone - nough said.

I got the canister for obvious reasons. Who wouldn't have? It currently sits above my stove and looks pretty...I haven't decided what to put in it yet. I was thinking maybe special recipes or my fortunes from the chinese restaurant excursions I go on with my family from time to time. I guess I could hide my spare change and extra guitar picks there... the Lovin' Husband would never thing to look there for those two very things there. Hmmmmm...

I needed a thermos, but I didn't want one that looked like a time capsule. Who would, right?
So I'm wandering the aisles of the thrifty store and come across this baby. Definitely original. It very politely asked me to bring it home and I did. It will hold my....

Coffee...Yes. We have decided that modern coffee pots are the devil and that we will henceforth be preparing our coffee on the stove in a coffee pot that I don't have to plug in and doesn't get clogged and take and hour to brew what I really usually need within ten minutes of opening my eyes to way too many sets of doggy eyes begging to go outside and then come back in to eat and then go back outside and then come back in and...well, you get the point.

the Night Before Last...

Adam played - notice the toes, please! I snapped pics for a looooong time, and Penny slept - as only Penny can...

Let's Be Honest Here...

I've quit fighting the urge...totally. Now, when I want to take a picture of myself, I just do it. There's nothing wrong with it - actually, you learn a lot about yourself... So, I want to see you, people!! Take pictures of yourself and show them to the world!! Smile - make weird faces - I don't care. Just take some pictures of yourself in a fun place and then post them.

It is really a very wonderful experience. Freeing. (Is that a word?)

I didn't edit mine, but you can edit yours if you want... I'm not judgin', I just didn't have time to edit mine...or I would have.

This was my fun place. It is a part of a quilt that one of my great female realiteves made. It is hangin on the kitchen wall in my home...

Happy picture taking!!

Beauty...

I am always intruiged by the fall leaves. Their last burst of life is so intense and vivid. Happy Fall, friends...

A Violin for Mary

Adam and I went to Gruhn's Guitars in Nashville a couple of weeks ago to purchase a violin for my student Mary. We were both excited - me to see the violins and Adam to see the banjos and guitars.
We went up to the second floor to find the fiddle I found on the internet and it took the very nice sales dude to find it, so of course I get out my camera and started taking more pictures of a huge violin cabinet than I'll ever really need. But it is a VIOLIN CABINET. A CABINET of VIOLINS. Ok, just had to get that out of my system.

The friendly sales dude finally found Mary's violin in the corner. It is the one in the case on the very right. What does it look like you ask?

Here's a peek...
A happy Mary playin' Faded Love and happy that it sounds like a song on her new axe.
Here is the lovely lady herself. I didn't take a picture of the back and should have. The stain and woodgrain were both lovely. The violin is an early 20th century german model. I LOVE those...and now...so does Mary!!
Doesn't she look soooo happy? She is a good student, Mary. She really desires to be able to play and she works hard at it. I get the priveledge of being her teacher for three years until she retires and moves back to New York.

Happy Anniversary to Us...

I'm still madly in love with him and I know he's still madly in love with me because I got a card this morning. He bought it while he was out yesterday and put it in the bathroom for me to find when I woke up. He always tells me he loves me and happy anniversary and all that, but I don't usually get beautiful cards with sweet messages written in them... it isn't usually his way.

So six years is not a long time, I know, but at the same time we have learned one another. Learned how to give and take and argue without really arguing (most of the time!). We've learned how to fix each other's coffee and fix each other's feelings. It is a beginning, I think, a promise.

I know that God gave me Adam because he's all I ever prayed for in a husband and then some. He truly is my helpmeet, my other half, my true love... and my backup guitar player!!! Ha!! ...only on the fiddle songs, baby... :)

Mountain Therapy

Here's the view from my chair. Since it is the view from my chair, you can imagine how many pictures I have of it. Sideways, upside down, downside up... I settled for this one and just let it go... *smile*
Our Little Hermit Home...
Mmmmm....

This view strikes my speechless - or in this case - wordless...

That is me saying hi...
This is Adam after I have taken a picture of every rock, dead leaf, hunk of moss, pine needle, caterpiller, etc. on our almost 3 mile hike up, down, over, and under the moutain. Poor thing... *right*.

I'm telling you, if you have problems, go to the top of any mountain. When you come down, they won't seem so bad. I promise...

One Day I Will Live in the Mountains and Never Come Out of My Hermit Home

We went on a hike while camping in Beersheba Springs. I've been here before, but it still seems new every time...
Last time I was too chicken to do this... so I conquered some fear and did it.
I just love him... when he grins like that, my knees kinda go weak.

The Down was easier than the Up...

Going Camping!!

We're headed up to the Stone Door to go camping today...Needless to say... I am just a little, tad bit excited!! We got camping stuff for our anniversary this year and have already been out once. We're planning on doing some hiking and some loafing and some more hiking.

I have lost my battery charger for my camera, so I'll take pics until the camera dies and then the Lovin' Husband will have no choice then but to get me another one. :)

Have a good coupla days!!

P.S. Abby, wanna have lunch on the 24th?

They Didn't Know I Was There...

When my last child gets married, I wanna smooch with my Lovin' Husband while we wait for our other children to make the youngest one's day perfect.
When I've been married 33 years ( I think it's 33), I will whisper sweet nothings. Unless she's blowing in his ear... Mom. Ma? Mother?? Are you BLOWING in Dad's EAR?? Hmmm...

Abby? Bets? Monna? Did you know that while we were getting ready for Monna's wedding - working hard, sweating, helping babies go to the bathroom, frantically putting the finishing touches on the decorations, food, and the blushing bride (and you DID blush, Monna!) - that Mom and Dad were doing this??

**sigh**

When I've been married for 33 years, I hope my daughter catches me neckin' with my sweetie...

So...it's been a while

I've been thinking a lot lately about the things in life that are the most important. One of those things for me is to always be me - my genuine self - and if folks don't like it (me), they don't have to. Hey, it is a free world, right? This seems like an easy enough idea, but it has taken me almost thirty years to get my brain wrapped around it!

Another important thing for me is my relationships with people. From my husband to my family to someone I see in the park while I walk.

My sisters...I could write pages about how my sisters all three are my three very best friends. How I never get to see them or their kids, or in Monna's case Phoebe (my new great dane niece), enough. I could write pages on how fun it is to have my Friday lunches and thrift shopping with Abby. More pages on Soccer games and late night visits and woderful nieces and nephew. Words simply do not give credit to how much fun I have with Bets and her kiddos (how much I've missed them lately!) when I spend the night with them. Look out Florida!! And more pages on Monna. Words cannot express how I love my Monna. The picture above is one of my favorites from her wedding. She and JC stood in that exact spot and pledged their lives to one another. If you don't know Miss Monna, take a good look at that picture and you will know her much better...

Now, you tell me...

What are three things in your life that you thank God for every day? If you do not have a Google ID (Ma :), get one so that you can comment on your daughters pages!!

Peace out

Malinda