Pawland



getting ready for our picnic on the river




Paw





Cahaba Lilies



We were invited to go to Birmingham on Sunday and then go with  Lady Melanie and Paw to " Pawland"....on the Cahaba River.   The Cahaba Lilies bloom every spring and this is the only place they grow so it was a real treat to get to see them.   Chuck and I, each were honored with a " Pawland Tee Shirt" before we left for the river ( among other presents).  We took the truck and kayaks so we could get up close and personal with the lilies.  First we had a picnic on the shore and Lady Melanie gave us a " bounce" to put on our hats to keep the bugs away.  As the afternoon went on, the bugs got worse so Lady Melanie and I were using the bounce for " veils"....lol.   There wasn't enough water in the river to kayak so we kept getting stuck on the rocks.  Anyone who wanted to see the lilies up close, could have just waded out to them.  We did go down the river a piece but paid for it because we had to wade back, pulling the kayaks over the rocks and little rapids.  It sure was a work out but worth it to see the beauty of the Cahaba River.  Before we headed back to Birmingham, Paw drove us all around the land to show us the three camp sites and his "bees" and such.  It sure was a wonderful, fun day.  Thank you Paw, for sharing Pawland with us! 

Up, Up and Away

Lady getting her husband's hat



Dragon Balloon

The Hot Air Balloon Festival was this weekend.  I've been looking forward to it since we went last year.  I had never been up close to a hot air balloon until then and it's really fun to see how they blow them up and see the baskets that people actually fly in.  This year, there were 27 balloons...they were everywhere!  As you walk around them, you have to constantly be on the look out for one of them coming down.  ....then you run..lol.  Not that it would hurt ya, but it might be kinda hard to crawl out from under one.  There was this lady, that had to walk inside of one while they were blowing it up because the big fan had knocked her husbands hat off his head and it blew about half way inside the balloon.   They were suppose to have the " balloon glow" where they light all of the balloons at the same time, but they didn't do it this year.  Not only were the balloons fun to see, but there was a craft show and one of our neighbors ( about a mile down the road) who does iron work ( he made our fireplace screen) had a booth.  We stopped and talked to Melanie and bought a whole bunch of stuff for the yard, from her.  Dave went home to work in the shop because they were running out of things to sell and they still had all day Sunday to keep the booth open.  When we figured out that they weren't going to do the " balloon glow" we headed for home.  This is one festival that I will want to go back to again next year.  ....hoping to get to go for a " tethered ride".                                             

Cullman's tornadoes

It's been a month since all of the tornadoes went through Northern Alabama.  Cullman got hit twice that day.  A big part of the south side of town has intensive damage.  We drove down there a couple of days ago to shop and saw the awful destruction.  Cullman was just one area where the tornadoes touched down around us.  Two hundred thirty eight people died in Alabama that day.  It seems like what ever direction you drive in Northern Alabama, you are going to see some kind of tornado damage.  We were soooooo lucky that day and as you see all the damage, it makes you realize it over and over. 

Mulicultural Indian Event



they were singing...Oh Susanna!




Chuck throwing the atlatl





Leland, our mailman on the right





My doll all finished





learning how to make my corn husk doll

Saturday was the annual Multicultural Indian Event not far from our house.  Chuck wanted to go last year but we never made it so this year we made sure we made time to go.  It was at the Indian mounds and museum where there is a path that winds through some woods.  Along the path were lots of booths and demonstrations.  The event was free with a $2 donation to park.  The prices on the things that weren't free, were very reasonable.  I got a handmade flute for $1 and a lady taught me how to make a doll out of corn husks.  (my doll was free too)  There was another booth were a lady was giving out all kinds of samples of snacks, such as cheddar pop corn, chips, pretzels and all kinds of cookies.  They were the snack size that you would put in your lunch box.  After watching the Indian dances and enjoying the music, walking the whole path twice, we walked over to the Indian Museum to use the rest rooms and I ended up buying a really neat book called " 52 Weekends in the Tennessee Valley". It explains all of the different " southern things" like where did Kudzu come from, why the south is known for "grits", catfish, BBQ, cornbread, moonshine, the valley music, the love of football, outhouses....lol, why it's the Bible Belt and Tornado alley.  There is a lot of information in the book, on where the Civil War Battle fields are and all different kinds of places to visit, along with a lot of the " festivals" that are each year.  I couldn't wait to come home and start reading all about it.   There is so much to do and see up here, you could take  two or three days a week, just being on " the go".  It's like being in Europe where you can jump in the car and be in another country in a couple of hours or less....here it's being in different states.  Living in Florida my whole life...that could never happen.  I guess that is why it's so much fun for me now.

Another dream

Ever since we moved the TT onto the land, I dreamed of looking out the kitchen window of it and seeing a deer walk down the path of the back woods.  Well, it never happened.  We have seen lots of deer prints in the snow and mud around here but haven't see an actual deer in a long time.  Last weekend, while we were having lunch on the porch with Joyce and Dick, Chuck thought he saw the hind quarter of a deer, passing into the woods by the end of the TT.  Well, a couple of mornings ago, Chuck was sitting at the computer, looking out the living room window and there he was....a yearling, standing in the grass of the front yard by the pink dogwood tree!  He hollered for me to look out the windows out front....and I grabbed the camera.  My movement must have scared him but I did get a shot in before he walked into the woods.  He didn't run off....just walked into the woods and down on the other side of the mountain of mulch...( yes it's still here).  I watched him for several minutes from the sun room windows before he decided to walk down by the garden.  He better stay out of the garden...that's for sure!!!  It was really fun looking at hummingbirds at the feeder by one window and seeing a deer out the other.  Living in the woods is the BEST!

Wilson Dam and Lock

About once a month, we drive 30 miles over to Florence to go to Sam's and Joann's.  This last week when we went, we took a side trip to see Wilson Lake, dam and lock.  The bridge going over the dam was really old with old buildings next to it that held the generators for the dam.  It was neat seeing the water really high on one side of the bridge and really low on the other.  There were lots of people fishing in boats right up against the building.  Right there where you park at the " look out" there was woods with a hiking path, so of course we had to go check it out....we heard falling water.  Right there at the edge of the rocks going down to the lake was this really pretty waterfall.  It seems like we can always find something " new" to see no matter where we go up here. 

Zillions of Cicadas!

ci-ca-da .....n, pl, a large homopterous insect, maturing in cycles of 5 to 17 years, the adult male producing a prolonged shrill sound by vibrating a set of membranes on it's underside.
     About two weeks ago, this awful noise started and we just knew it was some kind of machine making this sound.  We walked around the whole place, trying to figure out where it was coming from.  ....you couldn't tell.  It took us a few days to figure out this sound was from the 13 year cicadas.  It didn't sound like a normal sound that you hear every summer from the 1 year cicadas.  The one good thing is, the noise stops late evening BUT it starts up again early morning.  We have been told, that the cicadas come out of the ground, sheds their skins, the females lay the eggs in the trees that turns into worms, which falls from the trees and crawls back into the ground and stays for 13 years.  ( at least in another 13 years we'll be so old, we might not be able to hear them.....and we'll be saying " what the heck are those big bugs?")  First we were told, this all took two weeks to take place, BUT Chuck read in the paper that it will last four to six weeks!  My first reaction was " OH NO!"  but I'm looking at it as....we only have 2 to 4 weeks left..lol.  It is the " talk of conversation" around here and the chickens LOVE them as a treat.  Chuck picks them off the side of the girls mansion and throws them into their yard.  The girls fight over them and in one gulp....the cicada is gone!  Here's to wishing they were ALL gone!

Florida Company

Last weekend we were looking forward to having Florida company come....Joyce and Dick, from Tampa.  They were on their way to spending a fun week in the mountains of North Georgia as they do every May.  We had fun spending most of the day, touring Brambly Pines, talking, having lunch on the back porch, talking and more talking...lol.  It still seems funny to me to have my friends from Florida actually be here at Brambly Pines.  After all those years of Chuck and I coming up here two or three times a year and going back and talking about it all....to have them actually here with us, just makes me laugh.  

Home Grown Strawberries

First picking



Second picking

 When I was a little girl ,we would go to Illinois every summer to see my Grandparents and I would get to eat "puddies" ( that's what I called strawberries...don't ask my why.  Mom thought I called them that because I thought they were pretty..lol)  three times a day.  Grandpa Beck grew them in his garden and Grandma would " put them up" in the freezer in the garage.....quarts and quarts of them!  Of course she put tons and tons of sugar in them and that's why I think I liked them so well.  It was like eating strawberry syrup.  ...they were soooooo good.  Mom would fuss at Grandma for letting me have so many of them but she would tell Mom that I was her only grand daughter and I could do what ever I wanted...lol.  Spoiled much?  Well, my Grandmother had five boys with my Dad being the youngest and all the boys only had "boys"....until I came along. Since last year was our first garden up here and of course I planted six strawberry plants.  Well, all summer long, they kept spreading with their little "runners" until I had a big patch of them.  ...but no strawberries.  This Spring, they made up for it.  The plants have been loaded!!!!  I have picked three bowls full so far and there is probably enough down there right now to go pick again.  I guess I should " put some up" in the freezer for when my grand daughters come up this summer.  Who doesn't want to "spoil" their grand daughters with home grown "puddies"?

Mystery Trip

When we first moved here, I was really lucky to have been invited to join the " Quilt Guild"which meets every month in Decatur.  I actually joined the " book club" at our local library and that is where I met Betty, who belonged to the quilt guild.  Over the past year and a half, I have had so much fun, learning, and laughing with the nicest women in the "south".   They have elected me as the "guild historian" and that was right up my alley, as ya'll know.  Yes! that means another scrap book is being created in my studio.  ...I know...like I need another one, but it's too much fun to say "no".  Soooooo, every May, the guild goes on a " mystery trip".  That means only two ladies know where we are going, because they are the ones that plan it.  We rent a bus ( with the money in the kitty, from our yearly dues) and set out for the day.  It's just so much fun when you have no idea where you are going and whats going to be there, when you get there.  This year we ended up in Mississippi.  I know!!!  how fun is it to be able to be in the next state in just a couple of hours!!!!  We went to this funny man's house...which was two houses hooked together and consisted of 18 rooms, full of quilts, quilts and more quilts, tons of fabric and collections of " depression glass".  Each room had a unique bed in it also.  The fabric was wonderful fabric, the kind you pay over $8 a yd for in a normal quilting store and it ranged from $2 to $4 a yard.   When you put 17 quilters in a place like this....look out!...lol.  There was constant cutting of fabric up until lunch time, which we all brought ourselves and had a picnic outside under the trees and took up again, after lunch.  Yards and yards were taken back to Alabama with us.  I can't wait for next year's "mystery trip" with the most fun women in Alabama!