For the second week in a row, I’m going marveling instead of moaning this Monday morning!
Why? Because our little potted Japanese Maple just outside our door has finally stopped being so stubborn and admitted that it is autumn.
Thank You!
(It’s about time.)
For this blog category, “Countdown to Christmas: Our Travel Tree & Georgia State Parks,” each day between December 1 and 25, I take a pic of a state park ornament on our Travel Tree and briefly highlight that park.
High Falls State Park is a naturally beautiful oasis along the Towaliga River just off I-75 between Macon and Atlanta, near Jackson, Georgia.
The water was a bit muddy the day we visited. (But then again, I’m a bit muddy some days as well.)
Here’s a one-minute “meditation” (we’ll call it). Close your eyes and listen to the cleansing sounds of nature …
Moving Peace.
At one point I paused by the water and chatted with … an animal. It looked like a camel. I think it was a camel.
See? Don’t you agree?
It never answered back. And Robert would have no part of it.
High Falls was just a short stopover on our way home from Atlanta, so we want to go back for a longer trek one of these days.
(I hope the camel will still be there. Robert assured me, with a bit of an attitude, that it “wood” still be there.)
A post from the past about … magic and family. Heads-up: our family text groups have gotten MUCH more complicated since this old post. We now have what I named “Just Family” (ex-wife Donna, daughters Amy and Emily, and me. Then there’s “New Family Plus” consisting of all the above plus the spouses.
To throw a bunch of wrenches into the textual road, there’s also now just “Neal and Donna,” “Neal and Emily,” “Neal and Amy,” and every other two- or three- or four-person family configuration you can come up with. I have gotten into trouble too many times to count by getting the text groups confused and texting something I shouldn’t have.
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Magic Dream Spray
Do other folks out there do what my family does? All get iPhones and set up a little Family Group Messaging System? Well, my two daughters Amy and Emily, along with Donna (even though divorced now, we remain the best-est of friends) have done just that. And it’s such an incredibly efficient strategy for staying in touch, bothering each other constantly and having SO MUCH FUN!
The other night, daughter Amy (and mother of grandsons Daniel, 7 and Gabriel, 4) sent us this text:
I LOVE faith-stretching strategies such as that! My response:
A bit more of Amy’s explanation:
Me:
End of discussion until a couple of days later when we received this text from Amy as she, Orte and the boys were driving down to Florida for the weekend:
Family … magical.
Maybe that’s what family is … Magic Dream Spray.
I’m sure you have NO CLUE, but it’s CYBER MONDAY!
Here’s a quick look at some of my obviously urgent emails from this morning …
Seriously? They’re hawking Mushrooms and Walking Sticks at incredible Cyber Monday “savings” today?!
I don’t know about you, but I’m just about ready to do some hybernating from all this cybernating.
Thanksgiving afternoon, after The Big Meal, the lucky thirteen of us in my big ole modern family …
… sort of scattered throughout hostess daughter Amy’s sprawling house, the adults congregating in the den before the obligatory football games, while the children (ages 3-17) did who knows what.
At one point, nine-year-old Madison resurfaced: “I’m bored. Matthew (her twin) and Gabriel (her cousin) won’t stop playing video games.”
“Go outside for a while,” wise Nana suggested.
Checking on her a bit later, I saw a now-spirited Madison and a growing pile of sticks. She loves artsy endeavors—note her self-made turkey hat? … bandana?
And then a bit later (who knows how long, the tryptophan was working on me), Madison asked the adults to “Come see what I made!”
Those adults who were still conscious rambled outside to find … an outdoor pop-up art installation!
“A free-form, aesthetically pleasing amalgamation of found object natural elements representing both land and sea,” I immediately thought upon seeing the piece.
“Huh?!” Madison seemed to think in response, judging from her body posture.
Oops, a few last-minute touches …
As self-proclaimed artistic judge, I found the work dazzlingly daring yet delicate, detailed and deeply thoughtful, while being both dreamlike and dynamic!
“Huh?!” I even asked myself.
The artist was then joined by little sister/helper Isabelle (3) …
The Joy of Grandchildren and … Art!
1. Robert and I enjoyed a big ole modern family Thanksgiving celebration with daughters Amy and Emily (and their fams) and ex-wife/great friend Donna.
And a pic that defines Awkward Family Photo …
I had just made some silly, jokey remark, and grandson Daniel was the only one who thought it was funny. He thought it was REALLY funny.
2. Cranberry sauce. More specifically, MY cranberry sauce. With allspice, brown sugar, fresh squeezed oj and zest.
3. My aging, sometimes achy and imperfect but wonderful body.
{No pic until said imperfect body is perfect. Do not expect body pics in the foreseeable future.}
4. Robert’s sometimes odd but always delicious soups (which he often makes up on the fly). This time, Baby Bok Choy and Shrimp.
5. The countdown to Christmas. We put up our Travel Tree last night, Thanksgiving night—a tradition. What’s a Travel Tree, you ask? It’s a Christmas tree, with each ornament from one of our travels. (More about the Travel Tree on my blog each day during December.)
Happy Last Weekend in November!
What are you thankful for this day?
Here’s exactly what, after today’s out-of-any-semblance-of-control gorging, I need to be doing till at least next February …
A blog category of pics I’ve taken of Hubby Robert and … well, just about anything.
Robert and the Longleaf
Ever since we read Janisse Ray’s Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and watched the beautiful documentary Secrets of the Longleaf, Robert and I have been obsessed with the majestic Longleaf Pine Tree.
The Longleaf Pine once reigned supreme, covering over 90 million acres across the coastal plain of the U.S. Now, because of logging and mismanagement, only several million acres are left.
Robert and I have been fortunate to see the stately pine and reintroduction efforts in our Georgia State Part travels.
Here’s Robert … talking to a Longleaf, while others in the background lean in to listen …
And here he is … massaging the tree …
(I try not to judge. Just document.)
Biking
NealEnJoy 