Negatives are that I don't get to see the family up close any more and sometimes don't feel like I'm a part of their lives. We need a little distancing sometimes, but this is hard. I'm thankful to Emily for sending me pictures and videos during the day and Ryan for checking to see if I need anything.
The new Hub is working out nicely. I have it in the living room where I can sit and talk or walk around or even leave the room while we talk.
I have my planner open like I'm going to plan something!
Here's Emily sharing her crochet project with me. She amazes me when she decides to do something. I got stuck on the first video of the instructions, but she's done most of it.
It's too hard to explain what it is.
And the girls ignoring our crafty talk and concentrating on eating - and growing!
Since there is no sense of urgency on getting things done, I tend to procrastinate more than usual and not have a clear purpose and no to-do lists.
Because of being out of some of my usual foods, I'm failing on meal-planning and find myself just skipping a meal if nothing looks good or if I'm not keen on cooking. Or worse, eating things that don't belong on my plan.
After a series of discussions among daughter, cousin, and friend, I tried to replicate my grandfather's cornbread. It was pretty much a disaster in looks, but it was good enough to eat (with a spoon). Grains are one thing I had done without successfully for over a year until I ate one of Emily's biscuits last weekend. I think I'm pretty close to what he made, but luckily I used my last half cup of cornmeal and won't get to try again. Maybe by the time I buy some, I'll be over the urge!
I lost a friend from Montgomery yesterday, Ann Lemley, and I didn't even know she was sick. She and her husband moved to Montgomery and joined the church Mama and I attended and then Mike. Then they moved back to her hometown after we left, and we only kept in touch only with comments and likes on Facebook. I saw that she had died when I looked at a notice from Lakeview Church. So sad. She was in the generation between my mother and me but closer to my age, I think early 80s, and I loved being around her. She took over the turbans sewing group at church and made it such fun for us.
She's the one in the striped shirt.
I loved hearing about her raising her 4 children in Mobile. She seemed like the perfect Leave it to Beaver Mom. She had many talents and a wonderful sense of humor, able to laugh at herself when things went crazy with sewing projects and the aches and pains of getting older. She was always perfectly put together and could talk to anyone. She and Mike immediately hit it off when he moved back and were soon engaging in those quick-witted jokes that go over most people's heads, mine included.
I got so much encouragement and mentoring from her and will miss her. I regret not making myself keep up with people. My own fault. Her last comment on one of my FB posts was, "I miss you." I should have written to her then and would have known she was sick.
I'm trying to do better, and actually people have reached out to me, and I've had a few of those back-and-forth conversations that make me happy. Some are just simple chance meetings in the parking lot. My neighbor BJ and I did our puzzle exchange yesterday, and we're texting back and forth about table sizes and difficulty of the puzzles. When it's warmer, we can just yell from our balconies!
I brought two puzzles home and started one. I really can't concentrate long enough to work on them long, and this one is harder than it looks. Doors! Look at all that wood and masonry around each door. The stones all look alike, so this will be a long project, I think.
Luckily I don't have to serve meals. And this is what happens the first night I leave my few matched pieces out. The cats never touch anything on that table ordinarily, but as soon as a puzzle piece is out, they attack it.
I got back in touch with old friends from Thomaston, and in that discussion remembered that Anna Mary's student teaching roommate had married a classmate of ours from Andalusia. The classmate died, but his wife now has a fun Facebook page. I just love watching her videos and wish I had gotten to meet her. Here is a cute article about her and her Facebook page. It's worth going to just for her video on making biscuits the way my mother did. Her Facebook page is Cooking with Brenda Gantt. I'm looking for her video on hot water cornbread. I basically know how to make it, but I'm thinking I don't have that little flat cast iron pan, or mine is not seasoned right, or I'm not using enough fat. Or something. I probably need some lard, which I'm sure is what Granddaddy used! Paula Deen has the closest recipe I've seen with something she calls Lace Hoecake Bread. Recipe here.
Good news at home. The window-washers came this morning and attacked the outside of the building.
Looks nice and clean, although they didn't pressure wash the floor of the balcony. I'm not sure that's in their job description though, so I didn't ask. It's clean anyway.
I can't move all the things back out because the painters will come tomorrow if it doesn't rain. If it does, I guess I'll be dragging the pots in and out over the weekend.
These windows have been dirty for so long, and I have no way of cleaning them on the outside, so I'm excited about that. It doesn't take much to please me. I had already cleaned the insides, so we're all set!
Just a few pictures I've received this week.
Mom getting a working-at-home manicure from her essential worker Katherine.
Emily and I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out the names of these glasses. The first one is our wedding crystal, and I can't remember the name of it. All the other names just pop right into my mind but not this pattern.
Emily has inherited all the family glassware, and this is her favorite. These were Christmas gifts from Kathy for a couple of years.
I wonder if this sudden interest could have anything to do with being at home with the kids all week and putting them to use more often.
Prissy Morris, beloved Monroe Street friend from the 80s - cat treer, kitten handler, friend of Wendy our lop-eared mutt.
This picture opened up a lot of conversation about pets during our time as neighbors and figuring out names and events and whose kitten Prissy might have had in her mouth at a given time. It's amazing how many names and fun things we remembered just from talking about Prissy. We're pretty sure the cat she has in the tree is Chappy. Picture taken by Mike and framed and hung by the Morrises.
Emily has rediscovered some old photos that make us smile and also make us sad. I've never seen this one. There's just so much in it. Bunny slippers. Jack kisses. That couch I don't remember ever seeing. This must have been a trip to SD that I didn't take. I think I would have remembered the bunny slippers even after 16 years.
I asked Em if the girls wanted to ride their bikes over and play in my empty alley today, and she declined, saying she was making a tent and crocheting. Can't argue with that. She said she got almost an hour's relaxation with the girls in their tent.
Looks like they found the Bruthah Pee Touch, as Em calls it.
Another precious photo from that great trip to Navarre in 2013, our first time to really meet Graysen. Memories we will always treasure. Mike shading his babies from the sun.
This says it all - or what we want life to be like now.
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