Coming & Going Home

Many songs have been written about returning home... Country Roads by John Denver has always been a favorite of mine to sing, especially while driving on long road trips.

We celebrate homecoming at churches, schools and yes at funerals. Today many younger adults are facing going or coming home to roost. Graduating college with little job prospects, loss of jobs, divorce or many other hardships are changing the empty nest into occupied territory. I was blessed enough in my life to return several times to my parents home... after my divorce my parents welcomed me and my young daughter home and we stayed there until I met and married Frank. I also returned home following the death of my father so I could be with my mom to help her and then when she became ill later in life our entire family of five came home and never left.

Frank and I have paid it forward several times by opening our door to our adult children in times of crisis; currently our youngest daughter and her toddler live with us. It is a blessing to have them here and I try not to think about the day when they will leave as I will miss them terribly.

I recently helped a niece move back into her parents neighborhood. She and her daughters will be living in a cute little house just up the block from her parents. I watched as her oldest daughter walked up the street to go retrieve something from Nini's and thought how blessed they all were to be so close.

FMTSO - Hip Shots

I embraced this challenge and managed to take around 30 or so photos; only problem was that the majority of them were either a big blur or otherwise unviewable. I narrowed it down to these 5 shots which basically show you where I spent my last week around town...

Subway with the girls for lunch.

Another shot at Subway; now I know why Dorie always asks for chips -

it's because they're at her eye level.

Saturday night treat for the girls and their Papa - McDonalds for Chicken Nuggets & Fries.

Sunday morning service at Pleasant Hill Church.

Then home for Sunday dinner and rest.

Summer Berries in Winter

I love berries; although I am allergic to Strawberries I have embraced the humble Blackberry as a replacement and use them often to make shortcakes, cobblers, etc. I also love Blueberries and would almost drive to Maine for a case of the small local berries I enjoyed eating there so many years ago.

I first fell in love with Blueberries picking them in Aunt Hazel's orchard when I was a child and we cousins would sneak warm berries right off the vine. That and taking a bite of the first apples from her trees are treasured memories.

My mother actually introduced me to picking berries and we spent many a day traveling to Allendale County to a small orchard to pick blueberries for a number of years. We took my daughters and while they sometimes picked they most often sat in the car and watched... last year that changed when we girls went on our first berry picking trip in years...

Beth, Dorie, Becki, Althea and I drove back country roads to a small farm in Aiken County, SC and picked blueberries for the first time in years... this morning as I began the preparation of Sunday Dinner, I thought about those berries in the freezer just waiting to be cooked and as I grabbed a container from the freezer I saw a container of blackberries as well hidden in the back (as they are the last).

Pulling a cookbook down I turned to my favorite muffin recipe and began the blending of basic ingredients, adding my own touches here and there (fresh lemon peel and a dash of Nutmeg) then added both thawed Blueberries and Blackberries to the mix. Lastly I added a squeeze of fresh Lemon juice, stirred the dough, filled the pans and waited for them to bake... the wait was worth it, as was the hot summer day last year picking the berries.

For recipe please visit Foundations, my cooking blog at

http://foundations-a-cookbook.blogspot.com/2011/02/summer-berry-muffins.html

FMTSO - Twisted

Still sick, Asthma giving me a fit and its not yet Spring.... although it was over 75 today! I did take a few shots in the front yard and one inside for this week. Looking forward to getting back to the camera and the blog.

The above shot is of some old Lobster Boat Bouy's that I have collected and hung on the fence... you don't see too many of these in SC but I fell in love with them while in Maine.

This is the spike to our beach umbrella that is currently being used to cook under by my husband... that is until we get the cook shed built - someday.

Calla Lilies are a new flower to me; I first saw them when I made all the bouquets for my SIL this past fall. This is the same color she used in her wedding. To be honest I saw another blogger had taken some photos of some recently and they were so pretty that when I saw this plant for sale at the florist I bought it.

The way the petal spirals down reminds me of a spiral sliding board we used to play on when my brother and I were very young. I can just imagine the bugs sliding down and going weeeeee!

FMTSO - FRAMED

Thought I'd share two examples where I framed a subject, while they are both a couple of years old I felt they were good examples. I am back home know in South Carolina but am fighting off another round of Bronchitis so I'm not taking many photos right now.

The first photo was taken after a rare snow fall for our area in 2010. I had walked around our fence and glanced back and saw my daughters orange coat flash through a knot hole. I stopped and peeped through it and then told her to back up and start walking again.

When she and Althea came into view, I told her to stop and I snapped the photo. Although blurred you can just makeout the darker part of the hole with a smidgen of snow caught in it.

The second shot was taken at Cape San Blas FL a few years back when I traveled "home" after 30 years. The underside of the boardwalk or pier was always a treasured place during my childhood and looking at it took me back. I just picked up the camera and focused on the water and took the photo. It still brings me a sense of peace whenever I look at it and it's one of my favorite photos.

Red Is The Name of My Latest Flame....

Okay I just couldn't resist, I am SO in love with the color red or maybe just the idea of it... see it is that time again in our lives that we must do what we must and that is Paint The House! This is a hard thing around here, well the choosing of colors is.

My parents painted this old house a color close to Colonial Blue and it stayed that way from the early 1980's until 2001. My mother and I (who passed in 1998) had talked of painting it green and well it took me a few years after her death to jump on out there. I drove around the town searching for other green houses and found to my surprise that aside from the occasional green shutters or door, there were just not any Green houses to be found.

So I went to the builders supply and poured over samples, bought magazines and after several months settled on a light Sage Green with Pine Green shutters and a Rusty Red door and a paler version of the house color for trim. We loved the color so much my brother went and bought the same shades and painted his rental home in a neighboring town the same color!

Did I say I loved green? Oh yes, I went even further and painted my long Off-White walls in the Great room Palmetto Green which I love, love, love. My husband however says no more green... so anyway, the outside paint has faded (we do live in the South) and after 10 years it definitely needs an update and I looked at greens (husband said no, so did daughters), blues (been there, done that) and yellow (which is just not me or our house) but I kept coming back to the idea of red... being a lover of several things red... Ruby Flash glassware, Alabama Crimson Tide and those quaint Maine cottages which are often painted red; well it's decided, Red it is!

Now to decide the shade; Cinnabar, Cherry, Regal Red... the list goes on and on.  While I have poured over websites and photos on search engines I have found some wonder Red Cottages and a lovely blog called The Red House; please visit it you won't be sorry. http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Now I'm off to the store so we can start painting the town (well at least our small house) Red!

FMTSO - Things I Collect

Shells, flower seeds, cookbooks, recipes, strays, bar coasters, lighthouses (prints, my photos, and a few figurines). I have a small collection of brooms, some antique, others not. I am only up to 8 or so as I'm picky and the piece has to call to me.

I have only included two images (as I'm late) this week that I worked into collages...

 it is a collection of photos from some of our best trips taken to the water

(something that I always feel calling me)...

And another of flowers which are something that I could not live without as they bring me such joy.