call em what you want...

but they are columns....big ole Madison columns. Y'all know I am always making fun of the elegant architecture in my little town. Well imagine my delight when I headed to the new DMV in town! I swear I heard angels singing as I pulled into the parking lot...

 

even the sky seems to be opening up

 

I'll have to come by at night to see those lights

 

 

Inside , gorgeous marble floors and counters. However typical DMV service. The guy ahead of me moved up to the window only to find the clerk had sneaked a closed sign after the guy ahead of him. I couldn't help but laugh out loud and everybody else laughed too. What else can you do?

Be stillery my heart

     The Jack Daniels distillery was really fun. You could not take pictures or use cell phones inside because of all the alcohol! Of course it was all beautiful and down in a hollow instead of up a mountain. All the whiskey (Tennessee sipping whiskey , as our guide mentioned - oh- a million times) is made from water that comes through all the limestone in the mountain. Here is Jack himself. He was only 5 foot 2.

Here is the cave where all the water is collected.

 

Here are the last few of the Space museum

 

Here is one of the smaller rockets!

 

Ryan explains it all

 

 

     Ok...back to food for a moment...I've been trying to correct all the wonderful but mostly fried or otherwise unhealthy food we ate all weekend. This is something Mom used to make and I have put my own spin on it. She called it Swiss steak. We call it delicious. The tomato gravy is great.

 

 

As a daily cook though, sometimes you run out of ideas or ingredients. A trip to the grocery store seems like an awful idea at 5:00. I don't care that it is 3 blocks from my house. So you must get creative. Whitney you understand this, I know. Ok, check the fridge. One leftover fried chicken breast left from Ed's bachelor weekend. Borrow tortillas from Candy. Start making filling for chicken black bean enchiladas. No green chilis...sub chopped jalapenos. No black beans...sub refried beans? No green enchilada sauce...sub a little sour cream and milk. Any way it turned out great. I spread the refried beans on first , then chicken filling. Turned out great.

 

 

I remember Erma Bombeck doing some funny bits about her substitutions that didn't turn out so great. I never completely got her humor until I had kids.

 

 

 

 





 



more Sewannee

 

     so...we get there and the University of the South is so beautiful. The sky was beautiful, it was not too hot and the buildings were amazing. Here is the fabulous cathedral on campus.

 

 

Warning...if you make a face in a picture if may show up on the internet!

 

 

Chris looked great and showed us all over campus. The school owns the entire mountain and maintains strict control over what is built. He took us to this amazing natural bridge. It was a bit scary to me.

 

 

Lucy loved it. Then he took us to the most famous view off the mountain.

 

 

Mary Grace and Ryan

 

Our tour guide. We had a lot of good food and fun. He took us to the Jack Daniels distillery the next day and it was fun. I'll post those pics tomorrow. On Sunday we headed home and Ryan wanted to go to the Space museum in Huntsville. It was interesting. Ryan loooooved it.

 

 

You can't tell but this space shuttle is huge.

 

 

Aspiring astronauts. Mary Grace may not make the height cut :(

 

MG and Lu liked this yellow submarine. We finally made it home. The next night I was craving home cooking. What says welcome like meat loaf, mashed potatoes and lima beans?

 

 

I decided to make baby ones in a muffin pan. They are so cute I wanted to tuck them in bed with a lullaby.



 

 



 



 



 

 

Sewannee

    so...with a parent weekend looming with Chris at Sewannee, Mary Grace , Ryan and I decided to be stand in family members. Chris's dad and grandad both graduated from Sewannee. It was going to be a very sad trip without Bill. These are some of my favorite traveling buddies so I hoped we could lighten the mood and be a support group. Mary Grace is the driver...

Ryan is our comic relief. Here we were fortifying our selves with a sackful of Krystals

 

Here is Candy welcoming us to Cracker Barrel with her fall bounty

 

                        More on the trip later. It is night and my chair is calling me....more later.

 



it's all fairly funnie

   I love the fair! When I was a kid, I would come home without a nickel in my pocket. If I had a nickel left, I would use it in the grab machine. They had little miniature steam shovels that you used to scoop up treasures if you could. It was so fun to go with your friends when you were old enough. We would ride over and over. Our favorites were the fast spinning ones that blasted popular music. They always had alpine scenes painted all over. Then when you were old enough for dating, the fair was the best date. You could kiss at the very top of the ferris wheel and see the whole midway lit up at night. Well my grownup version (post kids), consists of lunch at the fair. Amy, Mary Grace and I busted up in there at 11:00 am. (it's free admission before 1:00). I have a pretty strict schedule and Penn's chicken on a stick is first. MG and I split one.

 

 

           Look how blue the sky was. It was fairly cool too. Next we visited the petting zoo.

There were baby goats! Very young, no bigger than Toby. That is a fake turtle. The goats just climb on it. Then here was Grandad billy goat.

 

 

Look at this precious Scottish cow. Maybe he is a McNeil.

 

              Then Amy had to have her favorite - ribbon fries. I must admit she has good taste.

 

We demolished those and moved on to this.

 

 

Blooming onion with comeback sauce.

 

A little dessert then picked up a roasted corn ear and took it home to Mom. She sent word that she enjoyed it. So....that leads us into healthy eating time.

 

 

My austere breakfast. Maybe if I blog about healthier food I'll be more accountable. Aren't you proud Mom? I'm headed to Sewannee this weekend with Candy, Lucy, MG and Ryan so I can't promise anything but I'll try.



 

 

 

 

 

Fall

    Fall color is showing up in unexpected spots. Check out this cute little bright yellow mushroom on a stump. I think it is so amazing how unusual fungi will show up once in the yard and never be seen again. Do the spores lie dormant for years waiting for the perfect weather circumstances?

 

another sure sign of fall...spider lillies. Mom used to always send us with a bouquet for our teacher wrapped in a wet paper towel to keep it fresh on the walk to school. My walk was only one block and all the kids walked together. It was fun. I wish I could see the Riverwood house. Dad had planted a ton of these all over the backyard. PS Ivy arranged those. She has a flair.

 

 

so...we have houseguests. Mary Grace and Ryan are at the beach with his family. Looks like grandma put down a pallet.

 

                                               

Ed acts like they are such a pain but I'm not sure I believe him.

 

 

He calls her Choclodite, D dog, Brown dog. Remember what I said about the more you love them the more nicknames they have. Just saying

 

Is the magic gone?

     well my fall allergies have created an environment ideal for ultimate snoring. Yay , I'm an expert at something! Unfortunately Ed is not a fan of being awakened by the sound of a diesel engine roaring through our bedroom. So also not a fan of me sleeping upstairs, he took matters into his own hands.

I guess I should be flattered but somehow I'm just a little embarrassed.

 

Another sign fall is here. Ed hates this one almost as much as snoring.

 

I have had this little gnome holding a pumpkin vase for a long time...thought it safer to fill with flowers than candy for now. So I just realized how eerily similar my mom and I are. Look at this arrangement my mom took to Mary Grace after she had her wisdom teeth out.

 

 

Tiny little man vase holding fall flowers! Yikes . And even wierder...that vase belonged to HER mom, my Mamaw. I know he is holding an accordion and all but still.

 

 

 

    And on a sad note, another dear friend has lost her husband. Bev's husband Dave died after a long, tough battle with cancer. I've had way more of this type of thing than I ever expected at our age. Here is her cute dog trying to cheer us all up with her Bama cheerleader dress. I think it has gotten a little short. Dave loved Alabama...Roll Tide Dave...