Intoxication

This morning, for the first time this year, I got into my golf cart and ventured up to the mailbox. I had letters that needed to go out and it is so pleasant outdoors so I was also tempted to ride through the vineyard and check on things there. The Muscadine vines are not leafed out but the buds look promising. The Niagara grape vine is still alive but not ready to prove it. I did pull some weeds and dried grass from around the cage that encircles it just to encourage it.

Some bright yellow blooms are all along the forsythia bushes which Bruce and Reed helped to plant. They will continue to grow larger and one day there will be a wall of yellow behind the vines near the entrance. There is plenty of separation between them so neither should feel crowded.

The two pear trees are putting out green leaves. I hope to beat the squirrels to some of them this year. I wonder if they are stealing them for the pit inside. But maybe they just like pears, or better yet, they are just responding to instinct - save anything for winter.

I am tempted to count the daffodils in front. The King Alfred are the tallest and with a paler yellow bloom they stand out against the deep yellow, shorter daffodils surrounding them. Nothing else is coming up in that bed but it will in time. What I am looking forward to are the Calla Lilies.

Behind the Cedar House and to the side, periwinkle is making a blue carpet with it's dainty blue flowers. That is a pretty sight to see where nothing else is blooming.

All around are surprises. The Daphne I planted at the northeast corner of the house is loaded with white, very fragrant blooms. I had to bend over to get the full effect of the fragrance and it was heavenly. I have heard that folks plant it by their door so they can smell it coming and going. Perhaps when the sun has a chance to shine on it the fragrance will come wafting up and around the bush.

Just a whiff of that Daphne had an intoxicating effect on me. It made me want to go out to the red camellia and cut more blooms for my table. I have other choices for a table arrangement at this time. The Saucer Magnolia is opening up and I saw some down low enough for me to reach. The lavender outside of the blooms with the stark white on the inside make it pure joy to see.

If you, where you are living have not yet seen the transformation that spring will bring, be patient. It will come and you will be as pleased and intoxicated as I am down here in zone 7. You too, will have a renewal of spirit and enthusiasm for the out of doors. If you have never planted before, please do, you are in for a soul satisfying experience.

The Best Place to Live

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be spending the last years of my life in the state of Georgia. Over time, I have lived in Kentucky, Texas, Maryland and now North Georgia. The longer I am here the more I appreciate the climate, the towns, the medical facilities, the churches, the shopping available and the people who have lived here all of their lives. There are just enough new comers to make it interesting. A few towns have a Newcomers Club for any who need or want a group to help them assimilate.

My friend belongs to a group called "Meet and Eat". That is all they do. It gets them out and meeting new people and new places to eat. I guess it is unique in that it has no side issues, no need to keep minutes, or record of who is there and who is not. They look forward to seeing the friends they have made from previous meetings and having a different place to eat.

Another great aspect of this particular area is beautiful Lake Lanier. Many people have settled around the lake because they just like being around the water. We did have a drought two years ago and that effected the lake level for a while. Some had to remove their boats and folks with docks had to contend with moving their dock in and out. If you do not want to hassle with that, there are companies to do it for you. The many parks around the lake make for pleasant visiting to picnic. This is a free fun thing to do. Some parks are not on the water but offer interesting activities like paved paths for walkers while the children have playground equipment to enjoy.

Our winters are short and usually not severe. Our electric servers keep trees cut in anticipation of downed trees so power outage here is at a minimum. Some summers can be humid and make outdoors uncomfortable. When that happens folks have learned to stay in where it is air conditioned. Thankfully that too is short lived.

When the end of February comes we have delightful surprises all around. Ornamental trees start to bloom, daffodils pop up and bloom whereever they are planted. To see this happen so early in spring brings hope to the darkest heart.

Speaking of heart, we have the top heart center in the state in our town. If you are not blessed with good health and even if you are, any medical specialist you may need is found here. And if your heart - and soul - need nurturing we have all of the churches here that anyone could want. Some are huge, like 3,000 members and others are small with less than 100 members. A lot of them offer Day Care for young families and all have friendly, helpful members ready to welcome one and all.

If I have painted a rosy picture of our area it is just because it has so much to offer a law abiding, productive, population. Our sheriff and his deputies are present and ready to help, protect and counsel any resident who asks for it. I have never had occasion to be reprimanded by them, nor do I want to, but they are up to the task if needed.

One last thing,if you like growing your own fresh vegetables, the climate is perfect for that. If you are not a gardener there are summer markets and Pick Your Own farms waiting to see you. I have only touched on the tip of all the agreeable situations here in our area. If you are sick and tired of all the snow, and ice problems of the north, come south, we have the cure.

Eight Women

Have you ever wondered what goes on in a church meeting with 8 women gathered around a round table? Well I can tell you what happened today. Our group is called Grace Circle. A group which meets at night has a different name. We usually greet and have coffee or tea, and our hostess supplies a treat such a cake, or coffee cake. At this point someone asks God's blessing on our meeting.

Then we have a business meeting. Today the new business was directed to one of our missions called Randy's House. This is a home for young men who cannot live alone for various reasons. We send them money each month and now are being asked to send supplies in small packages, like pop tarts, cereals, paper towels, etc. We decided to put a box (for receiving these various items) in fellowship hall where we will see it and be reminded.

When our leader is ready to begin the lesson she first asks each lady to tell about something good that has happened this past week. Several were happy that all of the snow and ice was gone. Our leader is from Connecticut and liked the ice and snow, and was happy to be able to stay in and catch up on five hours of ironing ! Another was happy that her daughter's eye surgery had been so successful and now she could see tree brances, read certain things, etc. One lady was very happy that a leak in her roof turned out to be a minor thing and easily repaired.

Then we got into the lesson which was from Revelations chapter 12: 1-12. Our teacher likes to have everything under control so she calls on different ones to read from the scripture then she reads from a paper interpreting what was just read to throw light on what the scriptures meant. When we had finished all of this she said that was all she had and were there any comments. That was a mistake as I always have an opinion. I was puzzled by the fact that God allowed Satan to have power to do things on the earth. To my way of thinking he has given Satan full reign at the present time, not only through the weather but by the hatred that is so vividely expressed in some parts of the world, as well as crimes against children, abroad and in our own country.

Our poor leader looked down at her books in front of her and sighed. Yet we all got into a lively discussion, no doubt releasing our own frustrations regarding the things which are out of our control. Individually and as a group we work to bring to life positive things for others here and in other countries. Sometimes it just needs to be said I suppose, that all is not perfect and we need to keep on keeping on to make things better. Still we believe that God's absence in our lives is what allows Satan to do his best work.

Impromptu Visitors

As I sat working at my computer yesterday afternoon, I heard a loud knock on my front door. I raised the blinds to see who it might be in all this frozen blanket around my house. I did not recognize the lady, but thought it must be okay. I opened the door and saw a tall young man all bundled up. I opened the glass storm door and said, "Are you my neighbors". He said "yes", so I opened the door and said " come in out of the cold". Then it dawned on me who they were. It was the youngest couple on our road, a teacher and his wife an LPN. He has authored two books for children and teaches English in another county.

He had edited some of my writing so I thanked him for his help and we sat and talked almost an hour. It was an interesting interlude on such a cold day. They had taken pictures of deer tracks on my property as they walked up the hill and other pictures as well. He told me he would send them to me via email.

I think the reason I did not recognize them is that it was only the second time I had seen these neighbors. My house is on a hill and they live down the road on a side road. I had invited them to come along with their renter (who lives on a lower level) to shower one day when he had been without water for several days. That was the second time I had seen the young man. He came over once to help me with some incident with the dogs I was "baby sitting".

Even though we in this "neck of the woods" do not see each other often, we are still a neighborhood and feel connected by that fact. All of us have wells to supply our water, some of us heat with electric power, others with propane gas. Some have television by cable and I have only the local stations with high def. At least one of my neighbors has a generator in case of total electric outage. Only one family has children young enough to still be in school. Three of us are, or have been, teachers. At least three of the head of households are retired. At least two of us have businesses in town. I think I am the only one who is into gardening, though on a small scale. At least five of us have docks on the lake and only I have no boat. Also, I might add I am the only one to have bow hunters come in deer season to try their luck here on my five and a half acres.

So, we are enough alike to get along well and different enough to make life
interesting. We are a good demographic mix to have a congenial, safe, and forward looking community. Though our homes are separated and not all are visible we are patriotic, law abiding, voting, established citizens and committed to keeping our group alive and well. When folks move into our midst they tend to like it and to stay here. No homes for sale !

So, in the dead of winter when no one can get out on the icy roads and time gets heavy on your hands, a knock on your door is a nice surprise and a good way to renew acquaintances.

Saved by the Muffin

In times of stress we need to have an anchor to get us through the ordeal. I recall saying to my mother, when I was a very little girl; If I were stranded on an island and had only one thing to drink, I would want pineapple juice. My practical German mother replied " You had better choose water, you would get very tired of pineapple juice".

Today I am not stranded on an island, but I am stranded inside my house with frozen snow all around me. Getting through this confinement I have much to keep me occupied. Thankfully, I still have electric power, but that could change. Until and unless it does I have the computer, books to read, friends to talk to via the phone and email. Last, but not least, I have comfort food.

It is not pineapple juice this time, it is pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips in them. And along with it, hot Lemon Zinger tea!  I make it in a little white tea pot given to me when I was visiting in Ohio at my sister retirement home. I was intrigued with the little tea pots that the servers brought to our table. I had Lemon Lift tea at every meal while I was there. I wanted to buy a little tea pot but the managers there wanted to give me one. It has been a treasure to me since then.

In thinking about this imposed confinement, I can say that the anticipation before it arrived held me captive. The actual snow came in while I was sleeping. I peeked out around midnight and saw that indeed it had arrived. By morning it was all here in full force. It looked like 6 inches, judging from the snow piled up on the top of my golf cart. The first day, I was in a state of shock. I kept looking out and being thankful I did not have to actually GO out. All of the warnings from television and radio announcers was enough to keep me in. Also the thought of sliding all over the road made me thankful to stay inside.

On the second day the shock had worn off and then a state of adjustment began to take over. Since we (all other Georgians) were confined at the same time it was time to settle down and drink more tea, eat more muffins, and read more books.

As the dire reports began to come in ( it will be this way all week - if not worse), a sense of resignation took over. The expression "it is what it is" comes to mind.
So be it. It could be worse! Hopefully I will remain well and just keep on with the routine I have established. My ancestors endured much more and came through it all unscathed. Surely I can do the same in the comfort of a warm house !

The Big Snow

People in the south get excited about snow, primarily because it is a rarity, especially on Christmas Day. Everyone makes the bread and milk run and other favorites things before the big event. In the city of Atlanta they have the first Christmas snow in 128 years, so this is keeping the weather forecasters busy with pictures and comments.

In north Georgia we too get excited for some of us have visitors coming and we want them to arrive and depart safely. At my house only half of our family arrived before the snow hit. We had a great time with early lunch as my grandson had to leave around 12:30 to drive to the Hartsfield-Jackson Air Terminal to pick up a friend from England. All went well with that venture and my daughter and her husband stayed on until around 3:30 when the snow arrived and began to ice over on the bushes. The temperature outside was still in the mid thirties so there was no immediate threat.

The other half of my family was expected Sunday but with warnings of "don't drive unless you have to" they decided to play it safe and postpone the trip until Monday.
One needs to be flexible when the weather plays tricks on us.

I kept waiting for someone to notice something in the southeast corner of my front room where the big windows are. I have several lush plants grouped in the area and back of them is a big old white, five gallon bucket, with something growing in it. Gardeners are experimenters and this is my experiment. It is just as well that they did not notice as it is rather unsightly.

Last spring I ordered some seeds for heirloom tomatoes. I planted them in small pots. I then covered the whole thing with a plastic dome, and put it on a table in the front room. I am positive that every seed I planted came up. Good seeds, Baker Creek Nursery! I will be ordering from you again. After these plants reached the stage to move to larger pots, I placed them out in the sun room. When they seemed large enough to put in the raised bed garden outdoors, I again moved them there. I had more plants than I could use so I gave some to my dentist and to another friend. Some went into individual outdoor, makeshift pots. One did not thrive down in the raised bed garden so at the end of the season I brought it back up to the back porch. It did not grow well there, so when cold weather threatened I moved it indoors. I just hated to relegate it to the compost heap.

This one heirloom tomato plant is what I now have in my living room hiding behind the lush plants but where it can get some sun. It is actually growing quite well. I have not used any fertilizer on it as that should wait until fruit appears. I just had to give it one more chance since it had clung to life for eight months. I suppose you could call it a traveling tomato plant as it has been in many locations. Perhaps the threat of the big snow will cause it to summons enough strength to defy all odds and do what it was made to do. Then I will know at last if the fruit is orange, Arkansas Red, Purple Red or the Kellogs Breakfast yellow. Whichever, I know it will be "yummy".

Scary things

Technology is moving so fast that we can hardly get adjusted to one new thing before another comes up on the horizon. A few years ago we learned of a new devise which could be used in warfare. When a soldier is faced with higher ground this devise can tell him what is on the other side, thus making it safer for him to proceed.

I well remember the first time I saw television in Nashville Tennessee. I believe the year was 1950. Our landlord invited us to watch the Kefauver hearings from Washington D.C. Television was mind blowing to me at that time. Now we are hearing of autonomous cars. They are computer run and no driver is needed. The idea is that they will be safer and save time and money. I wonder if they will lower insurance rates? If so it will not happen for a long time!

Just recently, the Metrodome in Minnesoto collapsed from the weight of 17.1 inches of snow, on its roof. It is pretty amazing that such a building could be erected in the first place. It has been in use for 25 years with regular inspections and minor repairs. An architect told my husband that if our flat roof received 11 inches of snow it could collapse. Fortunately for us that is unheard of here in the south. But it is still scary to think about.

Scary is a subjective term. I am not afraid of insects, or snakes, but many people are. However, I am wary of some of them . I wear shoes inside my house because scorpions have been known to come indoors, through unseen cracks, etc. If I am stung by one, it is because I inadvertently stepped on it.

Young teen age kids seem to like to be scared by certain movies. Us older folks know that you need not go out of your way to be frightened, as life if full of scary things. The trick is to plan on avoiding them.

Perhaps one of the scariest things of all is something we do not think about; that is the absence of something. We do not think about the absence of good health, until it strikes out of the blue. We can drive along serenely, until we have an accident, then we realize how good it was to be safe. People do not plan on tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes. Sometimes the weather watchers may warn us, and we hope it does not happen; but if it does, it is very scary.

I can think of one thing that would make this world a really scary and ultimately unsafe place to be and that is the absence of love. We probably take the love of our family and friends for granted, until it is no longer there. Think of where we would be if emergency workers did not love (delight in )their work. Or scientists did not love spending their days investigating and discovering ways to make our lives better. This idea can be applied to most anything in life. I am just thankful that we are designed to love, as it is the oil that lubricates the way our lives mesh together.