Something New:

I'm trying to crochet this hat:

Here's the website for Drops Design -- the page the hat is on. As you know, I don't really like to follow patterns when I'm being "creative," but my creativity does have limits, and there are times when it's a good idea to follow other people's brilliant conceptions! I doubt I could have come up with this hat pattern on my own, and I'm learning a lot by making it.

My one problem? I don't have the right size hook. I have a "G" and the pattern calls for a much smaller hook, a "C." So, I think my hat will turn out too big. My gauge is all wrong. Ah well. It's good practice. I'm taking pictures of my hat, but I'm not posting them until I know it will turn out decently!

A Cup of Blog-Tea

That's what I wish I could give you today -- it's rainy and cold, couch-sitting weather. I have a blanket over my legs. A few minutes ago, Anna said she could see her breath. That may be an exaggeration, but yes we are trying to keep the heat turned off, now that it's almost April!  Goodness, what's with the weather?!

So, to warm the spirits, here are a few sips of blog-fun:

#1, click here. It'll take you to a page with a guy's face on it. His name is Owen. He is a friend of mine from high school. He's a musician; he's been playing the guitar forever. The song on the page is called "October."  Just click on the little "arrow" button next to the song's name, and it'll play the song for you.  It's so beautiful.  I find delicate guitar to be mesmerizing, haunting, soothing.  I could listen to it all day long. Owen wrote the song, but it's being performed by a friend of his.

#2, here's a silly story for you. What happens when one engages in those online dating services, and thinks one finds a person that one has SO much in common with? You just never know!

#3 this study found that religious, church-going people are fatter, but simultaneously healthier. It's fun to consider why.

#4, this USA Today article talks about how Washington, D.C. standardized test scores seemed suspiciously high in recent years.

#5, but this other USA Today article rebuts the other one, saying the unusual qualities of the tests are explainable.

#6, a little bitter in your tea. This World article by Cal Thomas is rather harsh in its assessment of the uprisings in the Middle East, and of the U.S. response. Is he overly cautious? Perceptive? Time will tell.

I'm chilly again! Time to warm up my cup of tea!

The Beauty of the Countryside

On Sunday morning, Adam preached first at this gorgeous little church, out in the country. For those of you who live your lives day in and day out on concrete, among tall buildings and stopped at stoplights with the fumes rising about you ... well, all I can say is that you're missing out! Many country churches worry that they are dwindling away. Why are we all desperate to live in the city? I suppose that's "where the jobs are," but I think it's a shame. The countryside in Southern Alabama was relaxing, calming, soothing.  All the things that city people need, I think.

Isn't it a beautiful church? And we had TWO organs and a piano, for our accompaniment to the psalms we sang. One was a pump organ. We had a good crowd, and a good worship service.

Do you see that their azaleas are in bloom?

Anna peruses the church's old cemetery. Or, as a pastor friend at another church once described it to Adam, "The larger part of our congregation."

The rest of the day got so busy, I forgot to take any pictures of the other beautiful church, or the delicious pot-luck supper, or all the friends we made. Ah well. I did pull out the camera when we got back to Montgomery. This photo is for all my literary friends, particularly Mary Jo, who is an F. Scott Fitzgerald fan.

They're Up!

My heirloom Brandywine tomato seeds have germinated! Yippee! Maybe I'll have tomatoes this year after all!

Gaines Ridge Dinner Club

On Saturday evening, we had the lovely privilege of visiting Gaines Ridge Dinner Club for a meal. What a delightful place! I could rave and rave about the delectable food, the understated charm of the house, the gracious helpfulness of all the staff. Wait, did I just rave anyway?  It was such a nice evening.  This is not a place just for eating; it's a place to enjoy every moment. Here's the front door, which is reached after a long, dark driveway lined by trees dripping with Spanish moss. Gaines Ridge maintains a casual, homey atmosphere.

But I wouldn't call the inside "casual, "exactly.  The house itself, the furnishings, and china everywhere -- all of it says "elegance." I would say, unpretentious elegance. Everything is perfect.

Here are our two angels of the evening.  Miss Betty is on the left; she owns the home and runs the restaurant. The lady on the right tended to our every need at the table. They have lovely smiles even after a long evening. Betty is amazing. She's been running Gaines Ridge for 26 years, but does many other things.  I suppose she's never still. Her work is a blessing to her community.

This is just one little corner, showing what I mean by "china everywhere."  I have a weakness (a serious weakness) for china pitchers. I felt my heart fainting away when I saw these shelves!

Our group sat in the back room. This room is not original to the house, but Betty added it on because she needed the space.  She carefully chose everything so that it would still have an "old" feel, and she did succeed! Don't you love the long fireplace? The weathered wood? The blue bottles and farm implements?
I have to tell a story on Peter.  After our appetizers (fried pickles, fried tomatoes and delicate, thin, crunchy onion rings which were decadent!), and our salads, our main dishes were brought. Peter had ordered a steak sandwich.  I tell you, that sandwich arrived, and he inhaled it silently before I knew he'd done it. I looked over at his plate with a few crumbs and a dribble of steak juice on it, and asked, "Where's your sandwich?"  He smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.  "It was really, really good!"  he said. A kind lady in our group said, "Do you want another one? Order another one!" And he did.  He ate that too. I suppose he was hungry, but I also think it was just a very delicious steak sandwich (or two).

And all of the food was that good - steak, shrimp, crab cakes, tilapia.  Just wonderful!

The outdoors at Gaines Ridge are as beautiful as the dining rooms. Betty has ornamented the porch and patio area with twinkle lights, beautiful plants, and all kinds of lovely things hanging from the boughs of the trees. There's a quaint archway with a Lady Banks rosebush clambering over it. It was dark, so this photo does not do it justice.

Betty is also a quilter, and this thrilled Anna! She had several of her quilts brought up to the house for Anna to see. Betty has only been quilting for six years, and she does it all on machine -- she says she doesn't have time to do it all by hand, considering all the wonderful quilting ideas she wants to complete. Here are a couple of examples of her work:

For dessert, we had Black Bottom Pie. We were told that Gaines Ridge's Black Bottom Pie is among the 100 things a visitor to Alabama must experience, before leaving the state, and I believe it! Anna and I split a piece. It had a ginger snap crumb crust, and there was a wisp of liquor in there with the chocolate -- rum perhaps? It was wonderful.

We left Gaines Ridge satisfied and content.  Or, as they say in the South, "fat and happy." If you are traveling anywhere near Camden, AL, you must eat here.  Here's a website with a little more information. And if you go to Google or Youtube, you can find an interview with Betty, in which she relates the ghostly experiences she's had in the old house.  Exciting!

Goin' South

Well, here I sit, far from home, in the Deep South. We're traveling this weekend for Adam to preach in Alabama. I've taken a few random photos along the way.
First of all, I've wanted for years to get a shot of this "peachy" water tower. It's just across the state line, as you go from N. Carolina to S. Carolina.  I was about to call it a "Georgia Peach," but I think my South Carolinian friends would be offended at that!

On our way through Georgia, we stopped at Toccoa Falls College, for Anna to visit the school and see what she thinks. One building she truly wanted to see was the library -- her favorite place to be :)  Here, I took her picture next to the library's old card catalog! Remember those? I spent many hours flipping through index cards in these at various libraries.  I was a library fan when I was young, just like Anna.

By the way,  Anna really liked the college.  I think she'd like to attend there;  now we just have to see about the big issue for all families looking at college these days:  the money. College is rather expensive! We're hoping it will work out at Toccoa.  They have a great cross-cultural major that Anna's interested in. The college has historically been very strong in missions/cross-cultural studies.

We stayed overnight on Friday with some great friends in Montgomery, Beth and Win, their 3 kids, 4 cats, and 3 dogs. We took Sandy along, so it was a lively house, and a really wonderful visit -- what a joy to see old friends and enjoy conversation with them! I have to brag on Beth -- she decided a while back (maybe a year or so?) to lose 100 lbs.  And you know what?  She's succeeded!  She has only 3 lbs. to go. I'm so proud of her, and she looks great.  So, if you're someone who longs to lose lots of weight, and thinks it's impossible, it's not! She's used a combination of Weight Watchers, exercise, and a friend who held her accountable.  Beth is a great friend.

As we drove further south, I noticed the Spanish moss begin to appear.  The trees are downright shaggy! It's such romantic-looking stuff. I also saw about a mile of roadside forest, and all the underbrush was these short palm tree/bushes.  I'd never seen them growing wild before! Amazing. I pulled out my camera too late, though.

Our trees in N. Carolina aren't quite leafing out yet, but down here, it's just beginning.  See that early, bright goldy green! I love this look that Nature only has for a few days.

And I had to take this picture -- I haven't seen a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in so many years! I grew up with Piggly Wiggly and Jitney Jungle. Such creative names, don't you think?

We're having a great visit so far.  This is a very beautiful area along the Alabama River, and we've enjoyed driving around. The riverside areas remind me of coastal Carolina, or perhaps Florida. Just beautiful.

Have a great weekend! I'll be sure to post any more fun pictures I come across.

What's in your Food?

I wrote awhile back about my attempt to find milk without bovine growth hormone -- rbgh, as it's called.  I succeeded.  For a bit, I had to switch to WalMart milk, but later we noticed that our Aldi milk is also rbgh-free, and it's cheaper. I'm voting for healthier milk, with my debit card :)

I watched this excellent video on GMOs -- genetically modified organisms in our food supply. Did you know that the large agri-business corporations modify grains like corn, soy and alfalfa with proteins at the DNA level? Food allergies are always a result of a reaction to proteins.

This has been going on since about 1994.

In the past 10-15 years, food allergies (many to corn and milk) have increased by 265% in the US, according to the Center for Disease Control, assessing hospital admissions for food allergy reactions.

No human or animal trials have been done to prove the safety of GMOs.

Only 29 countries out of the world's 195 grow GMO crops. Many nations have laws against them; most of Europe does not allow them.

80% of our processed food in the U.S. has GMOs in it, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

(My blog is cropping this video, and cutting out the fellow. For a full-screen, double click and it will take you to Youtube to view it.)


The amazing thing to me is that the GMO producers are fighting so hard to ensure that these products are NOT labeled. They don't want the American public to know what's in their food.  They claim that it's not harmful, even though no studies have been done to prove this.  They say that their products are not substantially different from what's been fed to Americans before, yet they insist on patents for them, licensing, and tough penalties if you transgress this patent on a grain that's really the same as the ones your grandfather used. Can you smell a rat?

What I like about this video is that these folks are not extreme.  They are the first to say that science, and even genetic engineering in food, is a good thing, if it's done properly.  But done in secret, without accountability or disclosure, to the harm of the consumer?  No, that's not okay. These corporations won't release their seeds for use in any test that might be harmful to their profitability.

I also appreciate her concern for American farmers who are trapped in the middle. This woman has done her research and her leg-work.

Hopefully, public awareness on this issue will drive the industry to correct itself.  But the public can't vote with its pocketbook, and correct the industry through good ole capitalistic means, unless the public knows.  How can you vote with your purchase, when the purchases aren't labeled?

Here's Robyn O'Brien's book website.

Here's Mark Bittman's NY Times article, to which they were referring.

Here's the poll itself, with comments. Over 96% want the foods labeled.

Here's a post on the MSNBC poll.