end of an era

so this almost empty nest thing is not so bad...had lunch with MG and Sophie and we just talked about grown up things. Houses, husbands, pets, which vacuum cleaner is best, lawn mowers, etc. it's pretty great. They are both so happy. But with each new life change another part ends. We are thinking of putting a bench swing on the old swing set.   So say good-bye if you ever had fun on this.

 

 

So clever Ed found a new use for the old slide...

 

a bridge over a low spot on the trail out back...instant bridge...just add water

 



You never know what you will see

so... I've been off the blog for a bit due to ignorance. I set a new password for my email and didn't realize you had to change it on your iphone as well....all my spectacular pics come from my iphone ...so break down in the system..  Well Sophie kindly (cough, cough) showed me how to do this so ...I'm baaaack  Ok first observation of the blog...be observant! You never know what you may see...   See? Turkeys on I-55. At first I worried they were on their way to Butterball...but if you look closely you will notice they have a house on there! Shingle roof and all, so I'm going with the idea that they are family pets out for a little RVing. What do y'all think?

 

 

2nd observation of the blog...always observe trash at the street on trash day! On our walk the other day Jan and I lucked up. We found these cool industrial spool ends. I went home, called my neighbor and asked if I might pillage her trash. She was delighted and said her husband had been wanting to make something with them but had gotten physically unable to do so. She said he would be so happy to know someone used them. Then Jan and I barreled over their and loaded up 6 of them.

 

 

We hung two of them at Mary Grace's house on either side of a Walter Anderson print. It looked so good. When speculating on their age...they look rougher than the pic shows...Ryan helpfully pointed out they can't be ancient since their website is posted prominently on it!!! See I bet you didn't notice either. 

 

 

let the grilling begin

so...we have had some beautiful spring weather...and nothing says spring like a sizzling piece of meat on the grill. Knowing two daughters have recently acquired new grills....we laid down the gauntlet with this group text message....

 

 

Sophie countered with this healthy fare...

only to be trumped by Mary Grace and Ryan who came up with Chicken florentine stuffed with cream cheese crab and spinach topped with garlic butter cream sauce. What?

later found out Ryan made up the dish in the text and then they went to the store and bought the ingredients, except the crab which they already had! How is that for spontaneous competition?

 

 

Ed also got greative with light. Check out the back yard with our new 1000 points of light....well we aren't a Bush ...but these are IN the bushes and around our walkways. Solar powered

 

oh...one more grilling note ... looks like someone was a little excited about his grill. Who is that?

 





 

Natchez Trace

so... we left Sunday morning late and headed home on the Trace....it was gorgeous. No restaurants were open so we managed to find a Subway in Port Gibson to get a picnic. Before that though we stopped at a few sights along the way.

 

 

the first stop was this, if you can pardon the pun, hauntingly beautiful cemetery. It was a family cemetery with several siblings who died within a few months. Y'all know I love cemeteries but this was a new one for me. Two of the tombstones were two young sisters with doves on top

 

 

the interesting thing was one one stone the doves were alive and on the other the doves were dead

 

 

next we found Emerald Mound a ceremonial Indian mound

 

 

watch what Ivy found interesting...the stairail to the top of the mound

 

 

Last stop...Rocky Springs and the waterfall near it. There was actually water there. Well it was a great trip, here's to next year..

 

 

 



 



 



Girl Trip

so....every year for a while now my sister, Jan and I take our daughters on a trip. It started out as a springbreak thing, but since no one gets a springbreak anymore, I guess it is a spring trip. Jan, Cary, Sophie, Ivy and I headed out Friday evening to Natchez. Mary Grace got sick at the last minute :(  So we made it in time for dinner at Fat Mama's tamales

 

 

this was our view from our balcony when we got back

 

 

Next morning we made our selves at home and dragged the furniture to the balcony...why wouldn't you put comfy furniture out there???

 

every morning this little guy who owned this souvenier shop across the street carefully hung all his wind things. See him in the pink shirt. I think this made him happy. Actually everyone seemed happy in Natchez. It was their pilgrimage and people were there from all over the world.

 

This is Longwood ...the famous unfinished antebellum home...so amazing

 

 

I loved this tree just between our hotel and the river...Good night Natchez



 



 



 

The remains of the day

Easter dinner was a bit strange this year. Mom was  sick :(   and others were scattered so we had tons of food, all our favorites. David made his first turkey and it was great...some innovative brining method. I say he gets the job from now on. Since I made the ham the leftovers came home with me...hence the remains of the day title

Looks like it was attacked by wolves...oh wait only 2 of us are Wolfs...Sophie and Paul that is! Anyway I picked the bones, neatly packaged them for later meals....including the bone which will become soup some day.