A Trip to Italy Without Leaving Home

                        Oh My! We got a taste of Italy last night.

The owner, Ed White, from the Italian Cellar, came bringing bottles of wine and stories to tell. While he poured a small amount in our glasses he told of the regions of Italy, what grapes grows where the best and how Italy became known as the top seller of wines in the world. 

He also explained the taste, the aroma that we would experience in each of the selections that he had for us. It was a fascination adventure. I'd only done 1 wine tasting before which my granddaughter, who worked at the time, at a winery, had presented for me and her mom. 

I'm not much of a drinker of anything.... take that back.... I drink a lot of sweet tea and Dr. Pepper. Does that count? Nah, probably not. 

I enjoyed our little wine-tasting and history. And, I slept the best last night that I have in many a moon.                                           

                            Wonder why? 😃

Getting Strange Mail

Do you get a lot of catalogs in the mail? 

I must have had my address sold to a hundred different companies. I only order from one or two so I dislike all those different ones that I don't want. 

They must be getting desperate for new customers! 

Just look how the latest catalog arrived. I thought I had something very important, something I needed to take care of right away. I ripped open the URGENT envelope and inside was a darn catalog. Nothing else. Just a catalog. 

Have you ever gotten such a package? I didn't think so. 😃

The Bane of My Life - Cell Phones

I hate that cellphone usage has changed us as human beings and how we communicate with each other. 

We no longer talk face to face (well, hardly ever). 

When we have guests over, they aren't talking to us much. They're pulling that phone out and checking for new text messages or answering the ring-a-ding sound. Like it's going to be an earth-shattering call! 

Probably someone just saying hi. And, I am just sitting there waiting for a conversation.

You know, a real, honest to gosh talk where two people laugh and share and it feels so good to be with someone who knows how to converse. 

When I go to events here at our apartment complex, I leave my cellphone in my apartment. The world is not going to end, if I don't take it. And, if it does... then it won't  matter one iota. Will it?

It's like we gave birth to our cellphone and the dr. forgot to cut the umbilical cord! So, we drag it around with us, scared that it will die if we don't hold it and give it attention.

Well, that's off my chest now! Oh, wait a minute... another pet peeve... 

It's those people who answer their phone in crowds of people (a store, a concert, a restaurant) and they are rude enough to talk loudly so the entire place hears every word. Take my advice, folks.... I have no interest in Sarah Janes latest affair, little junior swiping his poop all over the bathroom walls, your husband losing his job. I got enough to worry about without you dumping your gossip onto my shoulders. 

Now, I will say that's off my chest!! Am I being a grouchy old woman or do I have a legit complaint! 

What are your ideas about this 'tied to the phone' thing going on? 

Speeding Will Get You A Ticket

 I was visiting An English Girl Rambles 2016 blog this morning and she was remembering a time long ago when she was on a boat that got stopped for speeding. 

It reminded me of a speeding ticket I got way back when....

I was visiting my sister, who lived 130 miles from me. I decided to go to the nearby base and buy some groceries at the commissary before heading home. 

I wasn't familiar with that base so I made a wrong turn, got lost and realized I was in an area that was no where close to the commissary. All of a sudden a jeep sounds his siren, a uniformed guy gets out and proceeds ticketing me for speeding. 

I was going 20 miles an hour in a 15 mile an hour zone!

Well, it being a base it was Federal property so I had to go to Federal Court. I was petrified.  It was the very first ticket I had ever gotten and I had to do the BIG ONE. 

Once again I had to drive the 130 miles for my court date. I insisted my husband take off work to go with me. It didn't turn out to be such a big deal. We then had to drive 130 miles back home. 

It was decades before I got another speeding ticket! 

                       

Hard-headed or Just Determined?

 I was looking at some pictures taken during our times at the beach and came across this one.

I had been having a hard time keeping my balance walking across the sand to get to where the younger ones were having the time of their lives playing in the water. So, my daughter, son-in-law and grandson brought boogie boards for me to walk on. Once I cleared one board, they lay down two more. Clever, huh? 

That was the same year I rode the spinning bumper cars with the kiddos and messed up my balance big time!! 

But, I am hard-headed as all get out. The next day there they all were down by the water's edge so I walked down there without any assistance and surprised them.

Either my balance was better or I was so doggone determined to do it without help. Another mark in my 'victory' book! 

Easter

 Here's wishing for each of you a very blessed Easter! 

Kitchen Antics

 In my last post I said that my son was coming up to help Shirley with her Easter Bake Sale. I think he's getting a good intro in the baking business. This Sale is by order only and is weeks in the preparation. Right now Shirley and her husband have been handling it with very little help. So, Michael to the rescue. 

I went up yesterday to just hang out while they decorated fudge cut into egg shapes.

There were 70 eggs to decorate and have individual names piped on each.

I just couldn't stand it one more minute and picked up the decorating bag filled with green icing and started adding leaves so the pansy could be added. 

It has been years since I even had an icing bag in my hand. But, it was me that taught Shirley how to decorate over 50 years ago. So, a little of that is still in my brain somewhere. This is her last Easter Sale so it was my last hurrah as well. 

I loved watching those two siblings cut up. They are just 14 months apart and have always been close. 

Those two kept me entertained. They make sure it's not all work and no play. 

Kids... what joy they are at any age!

Easter Bake Sale

 My son, Michael, drove up from Alabama for a visit. Well, actually, he came up to help his sister with her Easter Bake Sale. 

This is her last Easter Bake sale. After her Christmas Cookie sale she will be retiring after 40 years of having a bakery in her home. She's always done it by order only and it's kept her busy. For several years she baked and decorated wedding cakes and birthday cakes but the last few years she has specialized in her hand decorated sugar cookies. 

It all started when she was a newly-wed, taking inspiration from her aunt who did a holiday sale of hand-made crafts. This was her first neighborhood invitation: 

Now she is on Instagram and Facebook and sends out flyers announcing her holiday sales via email to her hundreds of customers from a 75 mile radius. 

Shirley, Michael and John busy at work.

Shirley with her chick cookies.

At Christmas it was hundreds of bags of cookies and dozens of gingerbread houses 

ready for her customers to pick up. 

Christopher and Brittany, Shirley's children, were a big part of the baking process for years. 

Forty years of baking...

Congratulations, Shirley, for a job well done.

Your customers are sure gonna miss you but your Mama will love having you around more! 

Refueling My Tank

 I used to stay busy from daylight til way past bedtime. There was always something I needed to do. 

And, I used to ask myself "When am I going to have time to sit in my rocking chair, twiddle my thumbs, nothing much to do?"

                             Honey, let me tell you. I think I have reached that point.

I don't mean that I don't have some things I have to tend to, you know, like fixing my food, doing my laundry, that sort of thing. Those things tire me out more than they used to.

I'm not complaining, mind you. In fact, I think that when I get weary I will just take a nap. When I wake up... then I can sit in my rocking chair.

5 lbs. of Onion and an Idea

 Ever since Covid started I have not been in a store. How, you ask? 

Well, to begin with my son-in-law bought my groceries and left them at the door. Then, I discovered Instacart and we have been big buddies ever since. Only recently have I gone grocery shopping and I still have Walmart, Belk etc. to go in. 

So, here's the deal. I ended up with 5 lbs. of onions the other day. I could say that it was the shoppers fault but to tell the truth, I couldn't figure out how much an onion weighed and to order it I had to tell them how many lbs. So, I just got a bag.

I eat a lot of onions. Nobody here but me to blow my stinky breath on. And, I love them. But, I was afraid some would spoil.

One of my favorite places to eat is a barbeque place and they serve a small cup of pickled onion with the plate of barbeque. I brought some leftover home with me one day, put it on a spam sandwich and it was soooo good. 

I looked up the recipe and ta da..... I have pickled onion in the fridge. You can freeze them, too, to use in cooking and I may try that next. How do you use up a lot of onion? Tell me your secret! 

And the Wolf Said "I'll Blow Your House Down."

 April 3, 1974

It was getting late in the day. We'd just finished our supper when we heard that the entire county where we lived was under a tornado warning. We'd been moved back to Alabama just 5 years but we knew what that warning was. Our part of the state is in tornado alley.

The weather was getting bad. And, for once we got a wee bit scared. Enough so that my husband, our 3 children, me and the guy next door all crawled under our house. The furnace was down there so we had some space, thank goodness. I was more scared of snakes than being blown away by a tornado, I think. It was not the perfect place to be.

We huddled together, listening to a small transistor radio. Our town, 7 miles away, had been destroyed. 

Okay, the storm has passed, I am out of this scary place. We all left our 'safe' place under the house.... all but the guy next door. I don't know when he finally crawled out and went home. He may be there yet. 😃

That will be one night I will never forget. Hurricane's scare me but not as much as tornados. Those things are more than wicked.