Wedding Days

This summer is flying by! Whatever happened to the Lazy, hazy days of summer?

Soon we will have a wedding upon us, 

but until I can share about our wedding I will share a few pictures of

this beautiful wedding that we attended in Maryland. 

Fall in Maine

     We returned Sunday evening from our trip to Maine. The fall weather was beautiful! We left cool, crisp fall days and returned to our muggy South GA weather. Being in Maine during the fall was truly a treat!

     For those of you who are wondering, I did make it through the flight without freaking out. Thanks for your prayers! I wouldn't say flying was my favorite thing to do, but certainly was not the worst either.

     We stayed in Freeport, which had plenty of places to shop in addition to all the LL Bean stores. LL Bean Home was one of my favorites, and the bike store certainly had some great bikes!

     Friday we traveled to Pemaquid Lighthouse pictured below.

    We then traveled back to the little town of Damariscotta, where they were preparing for their annual Pumpkinfest.

Check out these PUMPKINS!

Many of the stores had these LARGE pumpkins out front. Each waiting to be carved or painted with something unique.

This gentleman had started carving while we were there. Just seeing all of these Giant pumpkins was a lot of fun!

I love this house that sat on the edge of the river. Nothing fancy, just very peaceful.

So  how did you spend your fall weekend? More on Maine to come when my camera battery is recharged. Have a wonderful week.

Jackie

Art Anyone?

Where have I been?

Enjoying a little art!

Meet the Artists.


The Artist on the right is special to me!

Some of his work......

...and a little bit of the food I prepared for the reception.


I left the house last Thursday AM around 8:00 and made it to Augusta around 10:15. Dropped Stella off and headed to the grocery store. I worked on preparing food until around 3:00 that afternoon, jumped in the shower, then headed to the art gallery to set up. This was a small show of ASU art students that the gallery invites. There were 4 students, and as you can see my son was the minority. There was a great turnout, and Blaine was telling me how much food there would be left over. I was excited because there was hardly any food left over. Some of you asked what I was serving so here it is:

Fruit tray, vegetable tray with dip, cheese and crackers, meatballs in sauce and magic bars. Recipe below. This is just one way I can let my son know that I support in in what he has chosen to do. The students were responsible for putting the fliers together, advertising, set up, and food for the reception which I had a lot of fun doing. We had a great evening, and I spent the weekend with him. I encourage you to never be too busy to spend special time with your kids, they grow up before you know it!

Magic Bars

1/3 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut
2 cups semi sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

*Place butter in a 9 inch square pan, and bake at 325 degrees until melted
*Layer graham cracker crumbs, coconut, chocolate morsels and pecans in pan w/ melted butter
* Do not stir! I pat my crumbs out flat in the bottom of pan
*Pour condensed milk evenly over top
*Bake 325 degrees for 33 minutes or until coconut appears golden. Do not over bake.
*Cool completely in pan and cut into small squares.

The original recipe called for butterscotch morsels, but that seems to make these almost too rich to eat, so I doubled the chocolate chips instead. (I have already made this adjustment in the recipe). I also doubled this recipe for the reception and prepared it in a jelly roll pan. It makes a little thinner square, but these are so rich I think they were just right.

By the way there were none left.

I am joining Jen for Tasty Tuesday, so check out all of the other wonderful recipes here.

Have a great week!

Jackie

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Sandy at 4Reluctant Entertainers asked what recent savored memory we might be willing to share. One that we have made with our children. She shared about making pancakes with her daughter, and what fun they shared with just the two of them while everyone was away. If you have not read her blog, go here to see what one fantastic lady she is.

Friday evening my son and I went to see my nephew's college baseball game. He is a pitcher, so I never really know whether or not he will be playing, but I have recently felt the desire to show my support whether he plays or not. My son and I really enjoy these times together, and even though he is now 21, he doesn't mind a night out with his mom, and I am so glad!

It had been raining but we took a chance and went anyway. It is about an hour drive, but the closer we got the rain had passed earlier and we got to enjoy the game. After the game was over around 10:00 it was on to IHOP for a late night dinner/breakfast. I enjoy great conversation with him, and he is constantly encouraging me in my walk with the Lord. What more could a mom ask for?

Life gets busy, and we can let the busyness steal the opportunities for time spent together, time that can never be replaced. I encourage you to take the time. It won't be something you will ever regret. Have a blessed week! Jackie

Remember when............

Yesterday when I took the dogs for one last walk before I leaving my daughter's , this triggered a memory of days gone by. Isn't it funny how a tree, a smell, the look of a certain house brings back those childhood memories. For me, yesterday, it was this Mimosa tree. The Mimosa has beautiful pink feathery blooms and fern like branches. When I was a little girl we had about three of these growing on one side of our house. I cannot tell you how many hours were spent under those trees. We were able to climb through the branches easily because the branches started very low at the trunk of the tree. You didn't have to climb far, and then you were sitting among the feather blooms and calming shade of the tree.

In the late summer the tree puts on bean like pods and they dry in the fall. We used to pick the pods and remove the seeds to make necklaces. I can remember stringing seeds until I had a beautiful dark brown necklace of Mimosa seeds. We played house under the branches and shared many adventures under the shade of those trees. It was long before the days of video games, reality TV, home computers, and so much more that has shifted the attention of our children today.

And no, I am not that old, but it was definitely a simpler time. For those of you who are wondering I was born in 1961. As I looked back remembering, things seemed so much more peaceful, and it didn't take much to entertain us girls. As I type this morning, I had to ask myself where is my peace? Am I looking at the past to bring me peace, or am I looking to the ONE who brings all the peace and rest I need?

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy -laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Have a blessed day, and hope my rambling triggered some fond memories of days gone by, for you too. Jackie

What Do You Buy?

Today will be another day for some of my random rambling. I seem to do a lot of that these days. The weather outside today is wonderful, and definitely FALL! I have been in sweats and a long sleeved Tee all day. The wind is blowing lots of leaves around, and you can't even tell that I did that yard work last week.

My son was home this weekend to keep me company and we attended a wedding on Sunday. It was a 2 hour drive away which I had been dreading, but ended up being a great time to talk and visit. The wedding was a beautiful outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect. They chose mostly contemporary christian music and a young man sang solo unaccompanied and did a great job. Very worshipful.

Today has however been a lonesome day with just me and the two dogs, so I have been slow about getting it together. I have Bible study tonight, which I am so looking forward to! I feel the need to be continually hearing from God these days.

On a more fun note I thought I would show you some of my thrifty finds the past several weeks. Got this little guy from a yard sale,

and even though it is not yet November he is sitting on top of the pie safe in my kitchen.

10 of these never used napkins from the thrift store for 1.59
Great fall colors!

Now this is in keeping with my question title "What Do You Buy?"
I told the lady at the thrift store, "I buy nostalgia". Which is mostly true. I buy a lot of things that remind me of my grandparents, and simpler days. This little bowl is one of them . It is old, chipped and cracked, but reminded me of my something my grandmother would have had.

This little old scale reminds me of the scale my granddaddy would weigh his vegetables with. See he was what I called a truck farmer. He grew vegetables and had a route that he traveled to sell them. This is how he made a living. He had an old pick-up truck with a homemade cover. One day he would pick the vegetables, and the next he would travel his route to sell them. That was a time when he sold to all of the local grocery stores too. This is not exactly like his scale, but it still reminds me of him. So my question to you what do you buy? Mine is mostly a hodge podge of memories. Have a blessed week! Jackie