Furbabies

My precious 'furbaby' has really enjoyed having a new groomer, I believe! She now goes about once a month to see Mrs. Jennifer Black Morrison, and gets her 'hair done'! She still isn't thrilled to have her pedicure, but at least, she's getting a tad better! This time, Ms Jen managed to get a bow in her topknot, and though it'd pulled out part way, Mimi managed to keep it til early the next morning--Mimi said it was like trying to sleep with rollers in her hair--she wasn't having any of that! Ha! I think she's a cutie, myself! My kids say that she's so ugly she's cute! She's mine!

Fall Preparations

Getting ready to welcome fall at my home. Just like the squirrels gathering their winter fare, and securing their nests high up in the pecan trees around the home, I'm 'nesting' as well. Exchanging summertime décor for the fall décor; pulling out my pumpkin themed décor, burlap, twigs, candles, and what have you. Purchased a new front door hanger, and realized as I hung it, the front door paint looks a bit tired. Think I might have to find a new color to greet front door folks--it's directly in the hot sun on the street, so has to be a color which will stand up to the hot sun all year long.

Genealogy and History

I do a lot of both genealogy and history--as a profession and as a hobby! Thank goodness I enjoy it! Because I certainly was busy with it all weekend! I'm not complaining! Just haven't had time to post because I've been so busy! Hope your weekend was great and you are enjoying a productive work week! And now, I must get back to mine!

Weekend! Is HERE!!

The weekend has arrived; and I'm at work! Ha! No problem! I'm doing some catch-up reading and filing, and now, writing a quick post! No major plans to explore this weekend. Instead, I'm going to do some much needed housecleaning, and maybe get time to complete my first Pocket Letter for my first swap! I'm excited to do something crafty! I have so little time to 'play' and I thought doing a swap like this would combine some of my favorite pastimes: crafting, writing, scrapbooking, sharing of information and meeting new folks! Before I send it off, I'll take a picture of it and post it here! Y'all have a great weekend! Do something fun, just for you! And Smile!

Where Alabama Began~~

This past Saturday, I had the best time exploring with family/friends! We have been exploring together for some years now, and always have a great time together! This weekend was no exception! Our cousin/friend comes in from Atlanta, GA driving down on a Friday afternoon, stopping in Montgomery AL to visit with a 103 year old cousin in the nursing home; continues on to Bates House of Turkey in Greenville where he must pick up some turkey sandwiches to satisfy his hunger; and then, continues on to Conecuh County, AL to stay with his cousin Janine and husband, Wayne. We gather at their home on Friday night for a wonderful supper, two more cousins: Pat; Janiece; and myself--and there is so much laughter, and kidding, and trading of new recipes--oh, the fun we have! We discuss everything from family genealogy, cemetery jaunts, politics, health issues for family and friends we have in common, church news, what is going on with each of us--it's kind of funny that three of us that live right in the same county, don't see each other much except when John comes home from Atlanta--but we make up for it on those weekends!~ On Saturdays, we usually plan an outing somewhere--maybe it's a trip to a family cemetery, or looking for an old homestead, or a canoe trip downriver, or shopping for antiques, or just browsing or riding the many dirt roads in and around the area. We usually go off together for about 4-6 hours, return to Evergreen on late Saturday afternoon, pick up the others who declined on going off with us, gather at my home for supper and visit some more til time to go home to get rested for Sunday Worship Service at our churches. Usually, John goes to church with another 90+ year old cousin and has lunch with her, spending the afternoon, and we gather again if possible before he leaves for Atlanta either that evening or early the next day. We squeeze as much time together as possible. Sunday, as the elder cousin was out of state, he chose to attend church with me, and we enjoyed some one-on-one time together before gathering again at lunchtime with the others. Let's get back to Saturday though! Let me tell you all about our trip! We left my home about 9:30 AM and headed towards Repton, AL which is about 15-20 minutes away--a small town on the railroad that is practically non-existent except for the school and the few churches; and the homes, city hall, the post office and a service station--it's on the way to Monroeville from Evergreen. Downtown, the citizens have taken on a renovation project to beautify their historic downtown. You can now find little flea markets and antique shops downtown, that stay quite busy! We toured the two that were open and just enjoyed finding some treasures that we recognized. We left Repton and headed West on Highway 84 also known as the El Camino Corridor. We were planning to visit Clarke County that day, and Washington County, if we had time. Thankfully, we had GPS or we'd still be down around the old Tombigbee looking for some cemetery! As a cemetery column writer, I'd always wanted to visit a certain historic cemetery and Pat's son, James, had thought we'd enjoy seeing it too!~ Just in case our signal got weak, as it is prone to do in sparsely settled areas, I took along an Atlas that I'd received as a gift from the Monroe County Kiwanis Club last year for speaking to their organization about our genealogy department. It's a good thing I tucked that atlas in the car! Because, wouldn't you know it; where we were headed didn't have a cell signal most of the time! Ha! We traveled thru Ollie, Monroeville; and crossed the Alabama River and traveling along Highway 84, I did a rolling commentary as I knew most of the area's historical significance. We passed through Gosport, a tiny community known for being the home of the 4th Governor of Alabama: Gov. John Murphy; passed the Forwood Cemetery, and the tiny town of Whatley, and viewed the historical markers dotting the highway. As we neared Grove Hill, we took a turn which took us on a back road connecting us to Highway 43 South towards Mobile. As we drove thru these little spots, we saw interesting homes, wonderful flower and vegetable gardens, and places we pegged for another trip later when it turns cooler. As we neared Jackson, AL we knew we were getting closer to our destination--and the GPS had us turning off a highway that seemed to be headed straight to a lumberyard--and indeed it did! We went straight thru the Boise Timberyards! The little road seemed to get narrower and narrower, and pretty soon, we went under one of those railroad overpasses that a sign had indicated would flood when raining--we can see why! We were very close to the Tombigbee River! We saw a Railroad Bridge, and had to stop and take some pictures, of course! John is very patient with us, as we would yell--oh, STOP!! It's a wonder we weren't hit from behind! Except, most of the time, we were on our own! Ha! We meandered up and around curves, where I swear we should have met ourselves coming and going! As we wound up a particular hill, I noticed a sign and we pulled off the road and finally stopped to stretch. We had stopped in Rockville, AL, established in the early 1800s and beside the Welcome to Rockville sign, there was a historical marker indicating we were very near the old home site of Col. Jeremiah Austill, the famed canoe fighter with Sam Dale, and others at Burnt Corn, AL

Mt. Nebo Cemetery in the southern-most part of Clarke County, almost in Washington County. Indeed, a treat! So very many interesting gravestones! The most unique ones I've seen are the Death Masks, created by a Mr. Nettles of his mother, his wife and two children, and others in his community of Carlton.

We continued on with our journey after we left Mt. Nebo and headed to where it all began in Alabama, my home! St. Stephens was the first capital of Alabama--and so much history is here--you need a whole week just to explore--and preferably when it is so much cooler than it was on Saturday! 100 degree temps made one want to be in the water for certain! Take a look at some of what we saw!

Thursday and I can see the Weekend!

Good Morning from a Thursday Morning here in Southern Alabama! Oh wow!! Did y'all feel that cool breeze that we had early this morning? A whopping 75 degrees!! Whoo EE!!! It felt so good! After triple digit temperatures for so many weeks now, that 75 felt like Christmas! Ha! Aren't you guys looking forward to cooler, fall like temps? I know I am--I love FALL the Best of ALL!!! Love decorating for fall around my gardens, and outside and inside of my home. I also like decorating around my office and inside the genealogy department in the fall. Going to be browsing the dirt roads for some corn stalks, and dried seed pods, old okra stalks, pretty branches, etc I am looking forward to getting a couple of Pocket Letters completed this weekend and start swapping with some folks! I think it will be lots of fun, and be something of a crafty nature that will be doable for me, since I am limited on time! Trying to get some stuff done on these computers here at work, backing up some crucial files, and locating some photographs I want to include on my blog! Gotta go back to work, so y'all have fun today!

Wednesday, Mid-week

Good Morning--it's Wednesday--Hump Day or Mid-week, as I refer to it. It's like a day to measure the remainder of your week by..if your week started out on Sunday morning in church, like mine did--and on Monday morning was your work day, you get to that day, and think to yourself, how can I make this day special for others? I can be cheerful, bright-eyed, compassionate, thankful, considerate of others, forgiving, loving, trying to model my life as Christ would have me to; or I can be down in the mouth about every little thing that happens and just be miserable. I chose the first part--I chose to be cheerful, and happy..life is all about choices! So, by the second day of my work week, I am still trying to be cheerful and happy--which worked--as I kept busy doing things here at work, helping people solve their ancestral mysteries, connecting with folks through my blog, and checking on what was going on around me. Well, as if I need another project--or a 'to do' list! Ha Ha! I sincerely love scrapbooking and genealogy--they seem to go hand in hand to me--I used to enjoy crafting lots of different things-- and still do from time to time--but as time goes on, I find that I do better concentrating on one particular craft or idea--so I chose scrapbooking/stamping/genealogy and work on making my scrapbooks more visually pleasing to me. A friend of mine: Dorothy Crutchfield has this awesome blog--actually, she got me started blogging--and her blog is called HensRule. All the time, she's participating in these crafty swaps, getting fun, cute stuff handmade by her crafty fellow bloggers, and making me envious! This gal is so talented! We share a lot of loves, anything vintage, sweet dolls, books, plants, animals, you name it--must be why we worked so well together here in the library for so long! Ha! Anyway, on one of my blogs I follow, I saw where they were posting a Swap--and it was for Pocket Letters--never heard of such! After Googling it though, and checking it out on Pinterest? I am hooked! I can't wait to get started! I searched through my crafty stash last night for things I could use--never did find my 9 pocket vinyl holders! Guess that means I'll have to go buy some more--and keep them where I can locate them! I just love the idea of having pen pals--used to do that years ago--had one in India for a time being--that was fun to communicate with! Had one in England--and all over the USA. So, this is kind of like that, except you use your creative juices and make things to put in the little pockets, and fold it to fit in a legal sized envelope--mail it off and get one in return! I do like the sound of that--being a Postmaster's daughter, it's been sad to me to see that letter writing has become almost a thing of the past! I do enjoy the new media age--where you can chat and mail back and forth--but there is just 'something' about holding a letter that someone took time to write in your hand! You know? Plus, I can take my pocket letters I receive and place them in a three ring binder, where I can look at them often, use some of the items to make other crafts; and just enjoy getting to know other folks! I've already thought I might make one of two of these Pocket Letters for my Grandsons--thought they might enjoy them! I have thought of things that they might enjoy getting--some cute school stickers, supplies, a stick of gum, special stuff chosen just for them--and I don't expect a return from them in the form of a pocket letter, but if they did? I'd treasure it for certain! If you'd like to exchange a pocket letter with me, let me know! I'm game for it! Hope your Wednesday is extra-special!

Library Notes

Good Morning, this Thursday morning in August--or Hot August as I refer to it these days! I've been doing absolutely nothing while it's been so blame hot outdoors! I come in and literally melt on the sofa and read! I've currently been reading every Lisa Wingate book we have in the library! If you've not read any of her books, I urge you to do so! They are such good stories! I feel like I've been living at Moses Lake, Texas with her series about that community--a fictitious place, yes, but feels so real as you 'meet' all the characters! You can visit her on Facebook, read the blog called www.SouthernBelleView.com and enjoy seeing the additional authors that write books that will inspire you. I'm looking forward to a busy weekend, with some friends and family; we'll go exploring on Saturday, and have good fellowship at mealtimes together for the whole weekend! What fun! We all get to try out new recipes on each other, and see what we like! I'm thinking of trying out a crockpot meal of Lasagna! Since we often go exploring during the day on Saturday and eat at my house that night, I have to prepare something that either can cook all day and be ready promptly; or be easily prepared as soon as I return home after being gone all day. I enjoy finding meals that are easy to prepare ahead of time, and the crock pot is perfect for that--it can simmer all day long and then, be ready when we are! Sunday, I plan on being in church with my church family. We have a new pastor and I need to be in the congregation to meet and greet him, listen to him and just plain worship! I have been missing my church family--and have absolutely no excuse except laziness on my part for not being there with them! Wednesday, in honor of it being Hump Day, or the middle of the week, we had some fun! Two of our retired co-workers came back to visit! It was so funny watching them 'jump' when the phone rang--thought they were going to answer it for a second! They managed to stay in their seats, though! Ha Ha! We had cups of hot coffee, warm blueberry muffins with freshly made lemon curd! Hmm good! Exchanged news all the way around! What fun! Planning a trip in October to visit again! Looking forward to that!

Good First Monday Morning in August!! How fast the summer has flown by--in muggy temperatures, sudden outbursts of thunderstorms as usual, and humid conditions, mosquitos, flies, and family reunions, summer vacations, etc I've stayed pretty close to home during the summer, and hopefully, plan to do a few fall 'pilgrimages' this October--when the weather is cooler! I've piddled around both properties at home; readying the place for the family reunion which was held July 18th, and now that it's over, I need to get back to the business of emptying out the big house, downsizing some more, and learning to 'let go'! Thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of my 'favorite things': pets and people and flowers, etc