A boy to behold

Good and tired

I waited all day yesterday with Audrey, at her house, less than a mile from the hospital.

Erica had been admitted the night before, and induced that morning.

TG was busy with many things but stayed in touch via text.

Visiting hours ended at eight, so at seven fifteen I headed home.

Signed with gratitude

Twenty minutes after I arrived at home, Rhett arrived in this world. The actual time was 7:48 p.m.

Chad promptly sent a picture of himself and Erica with newborn baby Rhett.

TG and I rejoiced and began spreading the happy news.

Today, as soon as humanly feasible, I came back and got my hands on my grandson.

Together at last

He's a fine young man, as you can see.

Thank you for all of the happy and hopeful thoughts and prayers sent our way.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Saturday

Playing Favorites :: Round and Round

Here's your sign

Of all the geometric shapes, I find circles to be the most pleasing.

Squares and rectangles and triangles and ovals are okay too, but I am drawn to circles.

The other day I was shopping at TJ Maxx for a few gifts and various other things.

I was not looking for a lazy Susan, or even an industrious Susan, or for that matter a circular, spinning anything. And yet I found one.

She's been around a time or ten

It was actually on display -- rather, just sitting, stacked with a few identical pieces -- on a shelf that you had to pass by as you waited in line to pay for your purchases.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. 

Impulse buy? I guess. But a really really good one. Some impulses are your friends. Stay alert.

First of all, it was pure white with a whimsical black design -- blanc noir, my favorite color scheme.

Then, it was big -- a full twenty inches across. I love big. Go big or go home. Or in this case, grab the big thing and take it home.

Also, it was made of melamine. I love and adore melamine.

Turn, turn, turn

It was a circle -- my favorite. And the big circle had a small circular decal stuck to it, right in the middle. 

Which said, along with a helpful circular arrow: Spin Me!

I picked it up. I saw that it was heavy, sturdy, and -- here's where it gets interesting -- priced extraordinarily reasonably.

I have located the same item (actually, the same thing only slightly smaller, and in a different pattern) online for more than twice the amount that I paid.

Tommy Bahama brand.

Sold American! My mama didn't raise no fools.

All the things

Last summer, when my mom was sick, to distract myself one day I went shopping -- TJ Maxx; where else? -- and picked up my first-ever two-tiered tray for the middle of the table.

I've enjoyed it and have decorated it over and over for seasons and occasions, but the black-and-white melamine tray struck me as so summery, and I knew it would be great fun to decorate but also use to put dishes on, for when everyone comes over to eat.

The other day we all got together for swimming and hamburgers on the grill. It was fun to load up the spinner with condiments and sliced tomatoes and onions, and salsa, and other assorted items for our feast.

Then when the meal was over, I put my decorations back.

Right now it's holding my beaded red-white-and-blue star in the middle, with the red metal and glass battery-operated candle holder from Home Goods.

Give it a whirl and circle back

Then there are a few more patriotic items (about to go back into storage), plus a small bowl of black-and-white ceramic balls with TG's and my initials, and my toy black vintage Cadillac, plus a tiny kitschy cow.

I picked up the black metal filigree ball at Hobby Lobby. My pirate ship salt-and-pepper shakers (empty) came from Cracker Barrel. I think I may have already told you about my little letter board that I found at Home Goods for a song.

Soon I'll be incorporating sunflowers for the month of August, but for now this looks summery and airy and just clever enough that I am definitely into it.

The two-tiered tray will no doubt come back out for autumn decorations, in September, which is -- in case you haven't noticed -- coming up the walk and fixing to knock on the door.

More than just a pretty face

Not long ago I was browsing on Amazon and found a set of three silicone trivets -- they came in lots of colors but I got black -- that I could not resist.

I like to be around you

Circular -- appealing enough without doing or being anything else -- but the designs remind me of Spirograph shapes. So fetching and fascinating.

What I like about them is that they look like decorations on my tiny island, and yet they are workhorses because you can put something straight out of the oven down without reaching into the drawer for my square silicone trivets.

Basic black and ready to rumble

They're so low profile that they never get in the way and I just enjoy seeing them there.

Easy-peasy to wash, simply adorable, just what I needed but didn't even know it.

I'll see you around

Okay this next thing astonishes me still, although it's been a minute since I learned it.

I don't imagine I will ever truly get over it.

I saw this on Instagram and was initially incredulous but have since confirmed that it is absolutely correct.

First let me say, it has been decades since I owned an electric can opener. I don't like them. I'm low-tech and use a Swing-A-Way opener, which is a gadget that's been around since Skippy was a pup.

But I found out just recently that I have been using it all wrong.

Whoa! Wrong way

Which -- I will admit -- has resulted in a great deal of frustration. I have opted for pop-top cans of late, with the ring pull, whenever they are available, no matter what is inside.

You wanted corn but only carrots have the ring pull? We're having carrots.

Anything to avoid engaging in the struggle to get the can open.

You know how it is: You need to open a can but the can opener sticks partway around, and then you have to back up and go at it again, and invariably you end up having to pry up the lid, which is all jagged edges and so sharp that you're afraid you're going to need a tetanus shot.

But it doesn't have to be that way. 

Being right-handed, I have always -- I mean, for my entire life, because when I was a kid, this is what we used to open cans -- grasped the can opener in my right hand and sank the cutter wheel down vertically into the top of the can.

Right way

Then I'd switch to holding the handles with my left hand, squeezing, and turning the crank with my right, praying all the while that we'd get all the way around the edge without hitting snags and missing entire sections.

I was going about it the wrong way.

Here is the right way: Hold the can opener in your left hand and place it horizontally on top of the can you need to open. Like, flat on the top.

Engage the cutter wheels just like you would do if it were oriented the other (wrong) way.

Begin turning the crank. It won't be effortless but it will not stick or balk, or skip whole sections of can lid.

Voilà!

When you're done, simply lift up with your left hand, and what will come away is the entire can lid -- including the lip to which it was attached.

What's left is the can as you have never seen it before: clean, with no ragged edges waiting to chew your fingers up. Like the sign says: Bless your heart!

It's magic. Tell all of your friends.

But first, try it and let me know what you think. And you're welcome.

I've got some egg-splainin' to do

Recently I happened across a recipe that I'll never again be able to live without.

It's one of those oh-so-simple but totally essential ones.

Mainly because it's extra low-carb and tasty, for both meals and snacks.

I refer to Baked French Eggs. Round and rich and ridiculously good.

Here's what you do.

Preheat your oven to 425. It takes twice as long for my oven to heat to this temperature, than it takes the French eggs to bake.

It's the heavy cream on top that makes them crazy good

Get a muffin tin (I use my six-up because it makes the ideal number of Baked French Eggs at a time, unless you're cooking for a hungry crowd).

Coat the cups with the non-stick cooking spray of your choice.

Break an egg into each opening.

Pour a small amount (a teaspoonful or so) of heavy cream on top of each egg.

Add salt and pepper to your taste.

Top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese (I have been using the standard Kraft green shaker container of grated parmesan, and there's nothing wrong with that, but last night I bought some fresh shredded parmesan and I'm looking forward to kicking it up a notch next time I make these).

Bake for ten to thirteen minutes, depending on your oven and how firm you like your yolks.

In my oven at 425, in just ten minutes I get the yolk the way I like it, which is very soft, almost runny.

Give them two or three more minutes for a firm yolk.

Take them out and use a spoon to immediately scoop them out onto a plate.

They're tantalizing and tender

What you don't immediately eat, allow to cool, then cover and store in the fridge. They reheat in the microwave like a dream.

These are heavenly -- I think it's the cream on top that makes them so deliriously delicious -- and great to have on hand even if you're not eating low carb.

It's my new favorite way to fix eggs.

Again -- you are abundantly welcome.

I'm so glad I got around to telling you these things.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Thursday

They went two by two

Two guys, two girls, one selfie

I've been meaning to tell you about this for a while.

In early June, TG took Dagny, Little Andrew, and Allissa on a road trip.

You read that correctly: Papaw and three of his grandkids had an out-of-town experience.

Time for lunch and a treat

Not a mom or a wife were along for the ride. We all stayed home.

The group's destination was the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky.

It was on a Sunday afternoon that TG and Dagny set out for North Carolina, where they would rendezvous with two of the Tar Heel Three.

Road trip!

(Melly did not go. She would need her mother by her side and that wasn't an option.)

The two girls and two guys sortied at six o'clock on Monday morning, shortly after the birds had begun singing and chirping in the trees.

If you'd been underground for seventeen years, your eyes would be red too

TG had been wanting to do this trip since the Ark Encounter opened in 2016. He'd basically been waiting for Dagny to get old enough to truly appreciate it.

Allissa, thirteen, and Andrew, nine, are in the appreciative age group too.

It's a faith life

Spirits were high.

They didn't stop for several hours. Not because TG wouldn't, but because everyone was having a great time and stops weren't necessary.

Dagny and Papaw at the museum

I called them around noon and learned that they had begun their lunch break about a half hour earlier, at a DQ Grill & Chill in Lexington, Kentucky.

They were still there, finishing up their ice cream. Everyone remained super psyched for the unfolding day's activities.

They'll talk about this trip when they're old and gray

When entering the restaurant, they'd spotted a red-eyed member of the Brood X cicada group, the seventeen-year type (Great Eastern Brood) that emerged late this spring in certain parts of the country.

Their collective sound is deafening.

(Have you ever heard the seventeen-year cicadas? We have, once before: in Chicago in 1990.)

It was a crazy contest

A few hours later, TG and the kids arrived at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky (greater Cincinnati).

Everyone enjoyed that and learned a lot, and by early evening they were ready to check in to their hotel and go in search of supper.

Papaw said we were supposed to pose, so pose we did

I had researched the best place for them to stay, and ended up booking them at a Holiday Inn Express on Frogtown Connector Road in Walton, Kentucky. 

The property was about halfway between the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter.

We learned about the dinosaurs

(The twin attractions, both operated by Answers in Genesis, are forty-three miles apart.)

All reports that came back to me were that the hotel was fantastic. So if you ever look up and realize that you're in or near Walton, Kentucky, and you need a place to stay? You know what to do.

For supper there was a debate as to venue, and they ended up at Waffle House. Solid choice.

The ark dominates the landscape

Later (much later), TG had to use a stern voice to get the kids to settle all the way down and go to sleep. They were exhausted to the point of hyperactivity.

Even so, everyone got a pretty good night's rest. They were up fairly early to get ready, pack, load the car, and enjoy the hotel's free breakfast.

(Does anyone think it's really free? Haahaha.)

It's even bigger up close

Once at the Ark Encounter, they began marveling at the scale and scope of that endeavor. 

The ark, built to biblical specifications (calculated from the closest estimation of cubit measurements to be 510 feet long, 86 feet wide, and 94 feet high) as God commanded Noah, is recognized as being the largest freestanding timber frame structure in the world.

Through the rainbow arch

I can't say what it's like since I've never been there, but you can see from the pictures that it's a sight to behold and there's a lot to do.

The kids loved it all, but they particularly enjoyed petting a large snake, and watching a canine exhibition.

The snake was friendly

I think the biblical characters with a hole cut out to stick your face through, are so cute. They had a great time with that.

Also it was raining for much of the day, which Allissa joked was appropriate for a visit to the ark.

They also visited the gift shop, where TG bought a book and a hat. He remembered me too, selecting a magic coffee mug.

Andrew and Allissa ... I'd know them anywhere

When he showed me my mug, at first I was underwhelmed. It did not look like something I'd pick.

But then I filled it with boiling water and the colors emerged.

The canine exhibition was a big hit with the kids

Noah's ark, atop green flood waters, with a blue sky and a rainbow, God's promise to never again judge the earth in that way.

(The rainbow, which as a symbol has been appropriated by a certain faction for purposes wholly unrelated to God or the Bible, has definite scriptural significance.)

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 9:12-16

I enjoy watching the small and clever made-in-China miracle unfold every morning when I pour my coffee.

Name those biblical characters

Eventually it was time for Papaw and the grands to head for home, which was a seven-hour drive.

It ended up taking eight hours, due to a traffic jam. They pulled in at Stephanie's house in Lenoir at midnight.

TG admits that ideally he should have stayed a second night. But unless you have purchased annual passes, you have to buy tickets for the Ark Encounter twice if you want to enter on two consecutive days.

At first glance, my mug failed to impress

And even though the two younger children got into each place for free, everything was adding up.

Plus, the children wanted to get back home to their mothers.

TG got another good night's rest, then spent the morning visiting with Stephanie before coming home to me.

Add hot liquid and things begin to develop

Dagny stayed behind at Aunt Stephanie's for a few days. They brought her home in time for her birthday party that Saturday.

It was a jam-packed trip, but one that yielded many happy experiences and wonderful memories.

I never had the opportunity to do anything remotely like that with the only one of my grandfathers that I knew.

The thank-you letters arrived one by one

The children were grateful. After a few days had passed, their thank-you notes began arriving.

I guess I'd have to say that if you could choose only a few things to teach your children -- I mean really hammer home -- one of them would have to be the importance of writing timely thank-you notes.

I drilled it into our kids and they have drilled it into theirs.

Gratitude should be put into writing

It's a good thing and a right thing to do. It means so much to the recipient. TG glowed when reading the notes of gratitude from his grandchildren.

The notes inspired me to find an inspirational gratitude quote for my letterboard.

Now we are looking forward to the birth of baby Rhett in a matter of days. 

Sounds good to me

The anticipation level is fairly high, as you might imagine. Please pray for our Erica.

Although summer is technically only a few weeks old, it feels to me as though we're halfway through.

I'm glad we're not. Autumn may be right around the corner but, as much as I love the fall of the year, it is welcome to take its time.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Monday

God bless the children

I'm just a flag-waving American >< Photo courtesy Brittany Weber

Just in case you are prone to fret that all is lost for our beloved country, I am here to remind you that it is not.

There are still families -- lots of them -- rearing their children to revere God and love America and the biblical principles on which she was founded.

While none of us are in danger of coming near to perfection, there are many of us who adhere to traditional values, and will do so until the end.

One such family are Andrew and Brittany and Ember, who are thriving at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma, during a hot and contentious summer.

My daughter-in-law sends me pictures and videos of baby Ember several times a week, and I pore over them as though they were treasure maps. 

The shirt says it all >< Photo courtesy Brittany Weber

Which, in a way, they are.

Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.

Ember loves life and lives it large. She's a happy girl and it makes me happy to see that.

She and her mother are part of a moms group on base and have activities every day.

This is my country >< Photo courtesy Brittany Weber

Andrew is busy in pilot training, and although I rarely talk to him, I know he is in his element as much as is humanly possible.

He was able to enjoy the Fourth of July weekend with his girls, and he relished every moment of that as well.

We had a busy and memorable holiday too, as I'm sure all of you did.

I have another post for you but I failed to get it all the way ready this week.

I'll do better and that's a promise.

Daddy's little girl >< Photo courtesy Brittany Weber

Meanwhile, I hope you are enjoying a peaceful and relaxing weekend that's just as full of busyness as you want it to be.

God Bless America and confound her enemies both foreign and domestic. Especially domestic.

God bless the little children. God bless us every one.

And that is all for now.

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Happy Saturday