New Family Member

For a year or so now Eric and I have talked about getting a small dog to add some excitement to our lives and to keep Murphy entertained.    Right after Christmas, opportunity struck - so - now we've added a new member to our new family.

Meet Maggie.  She's only about 3 months old, a Boston Terrier.  My nephew and his wife raise these sweet little dogs in Ripley, Tennessee.    So far, Maggie has been a real bundle of joy.

It doesn't take much to keep her occupied.

As for Murphy ....

He's still here and just as ornery as ever. 

What a photo can say.

Sometimes you don't need fancy cameras or software to get just the right photo.  Sometimes its just luck and sometimes it's the subject. My sister Anne snapped this photo of my great niece, Elle a few weeks ago.  And I mean, she just pointed the camera and snapped the photo.  But ... it's a fabulous photo and it says it all.

Merry Christmas!

Playing Catch Up

Since my last post … first of all it takes me a few days to get over an art show. I have to put everything back where it was, or at least place it with a vendor. It has to be for sale somewhere. Just having artwork and jewelry sitting around my house doesn’t do me a bit of good. But before I can put it back on display I have to clean everything. You’d be surprised how much dust you collect in an outdoor show and how many finger prints you get when food is for sale and you have lots of kids who want to touch everything. I’m not complaining - it’s just a fact of life.

So - got the prints and print rack all cleaned up and took in back to Homestead Gardens & Gifts. Took some photos while I was there … and haven’t posted them yet, but I will.  Maybe in November.






Talked with Treva Tayloe over at Paris On The Square. She agreed to carry my jewelry and letter art.

Click here for more information.

And then of course, in the middle of all this I was trying to get the maps published for the Paris Landing Area - which I accomplished, but then I had to hand them all out to my wonderful advertisers which you can see here on my blog about Paris Landing.  And of course, I have also been taking photos for the Paris Landing blog … which … I need to post.  Maybe in November.

I also dog sat for 3 weeks for  my sister, Anne, who took a wonderful trip to Ireland. Murphy tried hard to ignore a sweet little dog name Lady. (Earlier this summer I dog sat for my little brother Art. Maybe I’ve found a new career in dog sitting.) Anne has photos, lots of photos of Ireland which I want to see and play with. Maybe in November.

Then on one of several trips over to the Fishtale Lodge, my looney friend Sharon tried to convince me to create jewelry for your boots.

Sharon multi-tasking - modeling, answering the phone, making reservations.

I think the boot jewelry is wonderful idea.  Maybe in November.

While I was there I woke up Jewels just to catch a quick snap shot.

Murphy wasn't as cooperative.  He said he's just not quick anymore.

Did I mention I also hooked up with this California Girl?

Her name is Alysia Sofias and she is here because Google sent her here to write a book about Paris.  Yeh - that's right, Paris Tennessee.  You can read about her on the Simon & Schuster website.   The above photo was taken at the Paris Winery.  I also gave her a tour of downtown Paris and lots of other places.

Don't you just love the new signs they have in downtown Paris?  And of course, on this grand tour I took more photos that I might get posted by November.

More to come .....

Where's Murphy????

I've been trying to simplify my life lately and moved all the stuff from Murphy's blog, Cat Tales by Murphy, to this blog.  That seemed to help but then I forgot to post my latest on him.  This is from a few weeks ago when our grand daughters visited. 

This is Aubrey, the oldest of our granddaughters, sneaking up on Murphy first thing in the morning. Murphy usually flees the scene when our grandchildren arrive. One of their favorite past times is trying to find Murphy so they can hug on him and love him. He just doesn’t appreciate it.

This is Aubrey scratching Murphy’s ears. This is about 2 seconds before Murphy’s paw shoots out

and pops her on the arm … and he flees the scene.

This is Murphy hiding out on the porch where he thinks no one can see him.

Yes, Murphy is alive and doing well.

Storms and Bunnies!

We had a terrible storm come through here.  Straight line winds came across the lake at about 70 miles an hour uprooting trees all up and down the shore line.  See the pretty lake picture at the top of right column on this page ... the one with the pretty blue water and white dogwood.  Just imagine standing in the same spot I was in when I took that photo with a 70 mph wind blowing in your face. 

The storm passed.  Thank goodness no one was hurt and there was very little structural damage.  But I can't imagine how many trees have been lost. 

On the bright side  ... SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG! 

Flopsy and Mopsy are playing in the phlox and ajuga.  That's Flopsy on the left, Mopsy on the right.  My sister, Anne, gave me these cute little brown ceramic bunnies years ago.  They are starting to show their age.  I think a bird may have been using Flopsy's head to open sunflower seeds.  Our youngest granddaughter loves these rabbits.  Everytime she comes to visit she has to pick them up.

This was last year - or was it the year before?

This is when we were trying to go in for the evening.  She wouldn't give up Mopsy.

I can hear everyone say "Awwwwww!" This is so sweet!  I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to catch this photo.

Other bunnies in our neighborhood ...
I think I found the Easter bunny.  He's hiding at Homestead Garden & Gifts on East Antioch Road just down the road from me. 

He loves petunias.  Have you ever smelled petunias???  The fragrance is a little like cinnamon.  A wonderful fragrance.  I didn't buy this planter.  I think I may have to.

Happy Easter everyone!

Rocky Beach

Two of my nephews were here a few weeks ago - Caleb & Justin. I'm terrible about remembering ages but I think they’re around 3 and 5 - little fellas - and close to the ground. The reason I mention their height is because of Rocky Beach.

This is a close up of what we always called "Rocky Beach."  Can't imagine how we came up with that name.  Do you see anything fascinating there?   Well - neither do I… now.   I think you have to be really short, close to the ground so you can see it better and of course be young and open minded enough to let your imagination run wild.

Here are few other views.
 

 
There’s a beach down that way that has no rocks, just sand. And yes, we always called it “Sandy Beach.”
 
 

 
Another view. I love TVA but hate these big towers they plopped down right in the middle of this beautiful scene. So …. I usually do my magic trick and ….
 
 

 
Poof!!!! The towers are gone!
 
Back to the rocks.
 

 
 
When we were kids, Rocky Beach was where we hung out. Shoes were required, even when we swam. My sister Anne reminded me the other day that we thought if we picked up all the rocks, we would have a sandy beach.  That would have been a lot of work for two little girls.
 
 

 
My grandma lived just up the hill from Rocky Beach. Over the years we hauled several tons of rocks up to her house one bucket at a time because we were always finding fascinating rocks that looked like turtles, or bowls, or birds, or ashtrays, or that had shell patterns imprinted in them, or had holes all the way through them.  These rocks were just too unique and wonderful to leave laying around on the beach to get lost among the other rocks.
 
 

 
Justin and Caleb hauled several buckets of these fascinating rocks over to Gammie Anne’s house the other week.   I wonder where she stashes them?  I wonder what Grandma did with all those rocks we hauled to her house?

Talented Family

My niece, Deanna Cullen and her daughter, Sara are entering the Mid South Fair this week.  I come from a very talented family.

One of Sara's creations.

One of Deanna's creations.

To see more of their creations please visit Deanna's blog.

Labor Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had.  Celebrated two birthdays - my 85 year young sweet Mother and our 3 year old granddaughter.

The weather was beautiful.  The lake had lots of boaters.

The birds were well fed and happy!

Anne's petunias were delerious!

And we ate too much!  This is only the Saturday night feast.

Aubie & Addie had a contest to see who could blow the hardest without blowing out the candle.

The contest did not last long.

We revisited Halloween.

Aubrey got to terrify her little sister with the Halloween mask.  That's Addie running for her life.

Addie discovered cherry tomatoes are just her size.

Did I mention, we ate too much.  This is Eric getting ready to grill Sunday's feast.

Monday, Labor Day, I truly felt like I was about to go into labor. 

Is it just a southern thing or does everyone eat too much on holiday weekends?

A perfect end to a perfect weekend.