A Get-A-Way to Callaway

Last Wednesday through Friday I attended a conference at Callaway Gardens and my mother was able to come along.  I really didn't get to spend a lot of time with her since I had to be in sessions all day, but it was more that awesome to have her up there with me!  We were able to sneak away for a little bit on Thursday afternoon and get out and about for a few hours before I had to get back!

Last year this conference fell on her birthday, but this year it was a week later.  However, I did make sure that my mom had a slice of cake to eat as her "belated birthday cake" as well as having her a card and present to open!  I hope this made due mom!  So glad you came and I am so lucky to have you as my momma!  I love you!

Birthday Wishes

Tomorrow, July 17, 2011 is significant to me in two different ways.  The first way is that my cell phone payment is due.  The second one, which is WAY more important, is it is my Grandmother's birthday!

My grandmother, of whom I, and many others in my family, affectionately call "Link" will be celebrating another year younger.  I have so many memories with her that it is hard to pinpoint my favorite!  However, I am going to go with this one....When I was little, about 4 or 5, I loved going over to their house to play in the game room that Link had converted to a sewing/arts and crafts room.  The game room had a pool table in the middle of it and she had a platform made to fit over it so she could use the table as her work space.  I, being the way that I am/was when I was younger, saw this table as my own personal stage and I had my very own captive audience...my grandmother!  For hours I would stand on this table and sing and dance for my Link.  Occationally, I would have to stop and be quiet so that she could talk on the phone or to try on yet another itchy and scratchy dress that she had made for me!  Usually, it was her sister, Aunt Sharee, on the phone asking if I was there.  My aunt would not come visit if I was there because, as she so lovingly said "If shes not talking, she's singing!  Something is coming out of that mouth all the time! Call me when she goes home."  The irony of all this is that now Aunt Sharee has nothing but talkative grandchildren...I don't have anything on those girls!  I've gotten a little quieter as I have gotten older! Right, aunt???

From sewing and cooking to shopping and fishing in Dutch Bend, I love every minute I spend with her.  She has become one of my best friends.  She knows many things and many of our conversations have started with me saying "Well, don't tell anyone, but..."

Many years ago, I received an email about Grandmothers....

Grandma's Hands

Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. She
didn't move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands.

When I sat down beside her she didn't acknowledge my presence

and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK.

Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her
at the same time, I asked her if she was OK.

She raised her head and looked at me and smiled.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking,"

she said in a clear strong voice.
"I didn't mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here
staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK,"

I explained to her.
"Have you ever looked at your hands," she asked.

 "I mean really looked at your hands?"

I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them.

I turned them over, palms up and then palms down.

No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried

to figure out the point she was making.

Grandma smiled and related this story:
"Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have,

how they have served you well throughout your years.

These hands, though wrinkled, shriveled and weak

have been the tools I have used all my life to reach
out and grab and embrace life.

"They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the
floor. They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back.

As a child my mother taught me to fold them in prayer.

They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots.

They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to
war.

"They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent.

They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special.

They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I
buried my parents and spouse.

"They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand.

"They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed

and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw. And to this day when not much

of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up,

lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer.

"These hands are the mark of where I've been and

the ruggedness of life.

But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ."

 

Happy Birthday, Link!!  I Love You!

Father's Day

Sorry for the delay in blogging!  I was having some internet problems and the technician just came today.

I have been home a lot over the past few weeks.  It has been SO great!  I went home the second weekend in July for my 10 year class reunion and for Fathers Day.

I will be frank and honest with you, I have the best dad!  I love him so much and he is my world!  There is a special bond that is between a  father and a daughter.  No one will ever understand it until they live it.

                                                                    What Makes A Dad 

God took the strength of a mountain, The majesty of a tree, 

The warmth of a summer sun, The calm of a quiet sea, 

The generous soul of nature, The comforting arm of night,

 The wisdom of the ages, The power of the eagle's flight, 

The joy of a morning in spring, The faith of a mustard seed, 

The patience of eternity, The depth of a family need, 

Then God combined these qualities, When there was nothing more to add, 

He knew His masterpiece was complete, And so, He called it ... Dad 

~ Author Unknown 

My dad seems to have all the patience in the world when it comes to me and my mother.  My friend Libbie will be quick to tell you that his whole demeanor changes when one of us is around or when we call him on the phone.  He does not use his normal scruffy bark of "HELLO" with us cause when I call I get a sweet "Hello Suzanne!" usually followed by "when are you coming home?"

I am still a little ticked about the gift I got him.  As far as I know, it still hasn't arrived.  After searching high and low, I finally found "Dawn at Socorro" on DVD.  The book is where my grandfather found the name "Brett Rutledge" so I thought it would be nice for daddy to have that since this was his first Father's Day without PawPaw.  I couldn't find the book, so the movie will have to do! Hopefully it will be delivered soon!!

Me and my Daddy!

Daddy with his kids

Daddy, I hope you had a great Fathers Day!  I love you!

-Suzanne

Shall We Gather at the River?

The beautiful, the beautiful river?  All good baptists should know that hymn!  I know that I have abandoned blogging for a few weeks now, but I am back!  Don't worry, nothing exciting has happened!

This past weekend I went to Blountstown and spent some family time and celebrate my aunt's birthday!  My mom came down as well!  The family life of a farming is not for the overly sensitive person.  I really miss my dad and brother, but completely understood why they couldn't be gone for a few days right now.

On Saturday, my mom, aunt, and I went to St George Island for a few hours.  We weren't there an hour and my aunt was getting hit on by an older gentleman that needed oil rubbed on his back.  No offense to my male Georgia friends, but I cannot stand it when they start off  "I'm just an ole Georgia Boy...." and that's exactly how he started his conversation.  I will not repeat the words my aunt used, my mother simply smiled and didn't respond and since the old fart was standing next to me and Ashley had just made comment a few hours back of how hateful I am at times, I decided to be nice and "rubbed the lotion on the skin" to quote the famous movie line.  Generally, I am not a touchy person to people I don't know.  He could have had a dormant flesh eating skin virus that he didn't know about and was not showing any evidence of and now I could have it!  I know that is far fetched but, you never know! After receiving much grief about it from my family, I think I will continue to the status-quo Stacey.  I know longer care if you get burnt! After he left my mom and aunt informed me that I did it to be nice, they did not do it because their husbands would not have liked it and my mother (who is quite the feisty one) continued to say "once you're over 50, you really just don't care any more if you piss someone off and I'd rather a stranger be pissed for me not doing it than your daddy being upset that I did."  While this may sound harsh, the woman has a point.

St George Island

On Sunday afternoon, I had a chance to spend some uncle/niece time.  I went fishing with my uncle on the Chipola River.  That was my first time on that river and it was prettier that I thought!  We were there a good while before I started catching anything.  I was determined to catch something...anything...with my bitsy minnow hook and was very determined to have better luck with it than Ashley!  For her story with the same type of lurer click here and by clicking here you can have a more detailed idea of what went down this weekend...I'm not feeling very detailed today...more of a cliff notes kinda day! Anyway, I never caught anything with that rod so my uncle too pity on my and took if off my hands and gave me another one.  As soon as he casted it, he caught something!  Thankfully my line started pulling shortly after that!  And no, I didn't catch myself like Ash!

On Monday, Memorial Day, I spent it on Chipola River again!  This time with my cousins.  We sent up camp on a sand bar and relaxed and played in the water for hours!  I had an absolute great time!  Well..until the snake joined us!  People move quickly when a snake joins you!  Barrett and I were outta there!  Poor kid, at the beginning of the day when he was spraying me water and I had repeatedly told him no and to stop. I finally got to the point where I got in his face and proceeded to lecture him that we do not spray people without asking and that cousin Stacey spanks.  Then, for some reason he was still around me when the snake came.  I figured by now he didn't care for me anymore, especially after that last lecture. To escape the path of the snake,  I dragged him and his floaty to the boat...I am surprised I didn't drown him in the process!  Thank goodness he still loves me (I hope!)  

The snake!

Always time for a little fishing!

Brad baiting up!

That's Barrett in the middle...just having a great ole time!

Our Captain for the day!

Chipola

The cutest little boater!

The only other thing that is going on is trying to plan a vacation.  Jeff and I have deemed each other as vacation buddies, so we are going to try and make it to Canada this fall and I'll get to see my friend Alisha.  I have been up there twice and love it more every time I go!! Depending on if plane tickets increase too much more before then we are contemplating October...but we will see...maybe somewhere inside the states!

Fishy Weekend

"What the hell just happened?" is exactly what I asked Bentley on Friday night, about 10:00pm while we were out in the very back corner of my parents yard.  We were out in the yard walking around after being couped up in the car for four hours on our little journey from GA when ALL the outside lights went out.  Country dark is very different from city dark.  You still have some light in the city, in the country you have to wait for your eyes to adjust to the pitch black dark before you can see by moonlight and knowing what creatures lurk in the dark around home I wasn't going to be waiting around for that moment in time!  I am not scared of the dark, I'm just scared of what is in the dark!! I always like to see "things" before they see me!  As Bentley and I finally walked back to the house and stumbled across the deck we found that not only had the lights been turned off on us, my parents had also locked the door!  I had to ring the doorbell to let them know that they had forgot about me.  I had been home 10 minutes and they had already forgot I was there!!  They both answered the door laughing (which I was too) saying that they are just use to two people being in the house and so out of habit they closed up for the night!  Nothing says "Welcome Home" like "Oops, we forgot you were here!" does.  It will be a long time before they live that one down!

Saturday, my friend Jacob and I went to Mobile for a wedding.  It was so beautiful and so great to see some old classmates!  So many memories!  Jacob and I took a walk down memory lane on the drive over there and when we met up with more people from home, we all rehashed some old stories from high school.  Absolute great time!

Sunday, after church, my parents, cousin Jim, and I went fishing.  I caught the most...a whopping TWO fish!  It took some talent to fish in this creek.  It took me a few casts to get the hang of dodging the overgrowth!

This is where we were fishing

Jim and his catfish

Dad and his bream

My first cast that went in the tree....

...still trying to get it out of the tree...that's my seriously fishing face!  Na, actually it's my "please don't pop me in the face" face!

Me and my cute little stumpknocker!

I had an appointment in Pensacola today (Monday) so I stayed an extra day and I had breakfast with my grandmother this morning.  Of all the times I didn't have my camera with me, I missed out on capturing quite the breakfast setting!  I walked in and she had a table cloth over her breakfast table, gold chargers, fine china,  complete silverware setting, crystal goblets and crystal mugs and our napkins were sprayed neatly in our goblet.  She is a riot because our breakfast consisted of....two honeybuns still in the wrapper sitting on the dinner plate!  I started laughing as soon as I saw it!  She is where I get my silly-ness from!  But, I got to hand it to her...she knows me well because she saw that I honed in on the clear mugs.  She told me not to worry and handed me a regular ceramic mug...I can not stand to see coffee in a clear mug! 

Great weekend at home and after my appointment, I could have easily went down to the beach because it was beautiful in Pensacola today!  Unfortunately, work called me back here...on a good note, Canada may be in my future around Oct this year.  We still have a few details to work out, but its a possibility and a great opportunity to see my oldest bestie, Alisha!

Hope you all have a great week and I will leave you with a few more pictures from home...

Don't know what they have done to the water, but that's the prettiest color I've ever seen it!

Corn, anyone?

The Bentley Chronicles

Hey Guys!  It's me, Bentley, again.  I know it has been awhile since I last posted on here, but I have found myself having a lot of extra time "sitting and thinking about what I have done" lately.  Or at least, that's what Privet says.  I like to call my owner Privet, because like the species Privet she too is invasive and is always in my space!  I mean, I sit in her favorite spot and all of the sudden, she's there.  I try to walk up and down the hallway, but I find her tripping all over me as if I was in the way!  The audacity that Privet has is unbelievable!!  So anyway, I am sitting here, behind bars, writing about my last few adventures.

Nothing fun has happened since the last time I wrote, however a few notable items have occurred.  The first thing is that summer is here and I actually love the water!  I know this ruff exterior gives off the impression that I like to keep my appearance just right, but underneath it all (and I DO mean ALL THIS HAIR) is a simple dog who likes to play in the water.  On Sunday, after church, Privet and I went swimming in the Treadon's pool and boy I had a blast!  I was even too tired from all my jumping and swimming that I didn't even have the energy to harass Privet and her cousin that night!  I have tons of energy to unleash everyday.  It's totally awesome!!  It also totally lands me in the slammer for a bit...what?  I cannot help that she left her $150 sunglasses that she has had for almost 5 years on a table that was way out of my reach!  She forgets that I have excellent climbing skills.  Obviously it is not on my paperwork that I, while Scottish, am also part Mountain Goat.  What does that all really boil down to?  One enraged invasive species...that's what!  Let's just say I heard her say that her hand hurt while "gently placing me in my cage"....with her famous reminder line of "Momma spanks, diapers off."

Those weren't the only two notable items.  Oh no, I also managed to release my processed water on her couch while Privet's mother was here.  Now, I like Wildflower. I call her Wildflower because she is like wildflowers which are beautiful no matter what setting they are placed in...and also that they cannot be tamed, hence the term "wild" ...that precious darlin' has some feistyness still left in her!  Wildflower was here visiting Privet before she left to go to the condo in Myrtle Beach.  She even stayed and went to church with Privet.  All I'm gonna say about that is Privet needed to go...it's been a ruff week on me cause of her!  I know she says God needs a few aggressive people in the world and that she doesn't mind being one of them, but geeze!  Enough is enough! Anyway, back to the issue at hand.  While I do love me some Wildflower and would love to have a whole bouquet of her, she kinda made me mad because she ...wait for it....wait for it...would NOT let me bite her toes!!  Can you believe this!?  Total abomination and complete defiance toward my overall goal of breaking her skin.  So of course I retaliated and continued to release my processed water on Privet's sofa...well....lets just say that didn't end well either...before I knew it, I was back here in the slammer.  She use to put me in solitary confinement...the first attempt was the guest bath, until I chewed a hole in the water line to the toilet and flooded the bath.  The next try was a blanket over my cage, until I stayed up all night pulling the blanket in through one of the cage's slots.  I am not a dumb dog and Privet knows this.  She likes a challenge...with me and with people. 

I guess we will be heading to FL/AL this weekend.  Her friend is getting married in Mobile and she wouldn't miss it for the world!  Plus the groom told her she better!  He's an interesting character...he calls her Snake.  Always has...since around middle school...apparently little Privet was "aggressive" then too! LOL! She has lots of nicknames or so I am finding out.  Well, it's almost grub time and I get to spend a little time out in the yard.  I hope some of the other inmates at this compound are going to be out.  I love to bark and growl like I am some fierce beast!  

Crotch sniffs and wet kisses, (that's too pansy to use in the slammer)

Barks & Bites, 

Big-Benzo 

(that's my name on the inside)

Fun in the Sun

Sorry for the delay of blogging!

This past Friday, my grandmother and I went to see my uncle who lives just north of Tampa.  We had a great trip down there and back!

Saturday, my uncle took me and my cousin fishing in the Wikki Wachee river/spring which opens up to the Gulf of Mexico.  It was super windy and I knew it would not be prime fishing, but I wanted to go anyway and anytime on a boat is a good time!  Morgan had never been fishing so this was going to be a great experience for her...and as it ends up, a great experience for me!  Let me guide you through our day...

We wake up, coffee, breakfast, chitchat, etc.  Not in any hurry to leave, we were just taking our time.  Once we decide to get going, Morgan and her unknowing ways of humor, start to kick in.  We get in the truck and she realizes that she does not have her license.  She starts going through her paperwork from her car to see if she can find something with her license number on it so she can still get her fishing license.  Keep in mind that we are still sitting in the driveway.  Then she just says that she won't fish.  With that decided, we start heading out and as we are doing this, she casually looks behind us and says "oh, there's a boat behind us!"  Well, duh, we are going fishing!  She's a nut!  So back to her drivers license issue, I say to her dad, "has she always been like this?"  He said yes and the she was like him...as we are turning around to go back to the house for something he forgot!  Ok...maybe one day we will get to the water!

Once again, we start heading out.  On our way to Wally World to get our license, she finds her driver's license number on paper work so she is able to get a fishing license.  Get all that squared away and picked up a case of water and a few of my favorite Walmart brand white grape waters.

Moving on along, we are finally on the water.  Morgan asks if she could drive the boat...at this point, I am a little nervous...but not near as nervous as when I hear the words "Dad, why is the boat going this way?" and as we both look up she is headed toward the ONLY pole out in the water and we miss it by about two feet!  No more driving for her!! :)

Fishing away, we are catching absolutely nothing!  I don't care though, it's way better than being stuck inside all day.  We reel it in for a bit to ride up the river and site see the river houses.  One day, I will have one!  While we were on our site seeing tour, we decided to stop and fish in a little area...this is where my experience of the day comes in!  I am minding my own business in the back corner of the boat.  Now, granted it had been windy and I had on a recently purchased hat that Morgan deemed appropriate.  All of the sudden, my hat goes flying off my head and into the water.  I mean WAY out in the water.  I didn't even see any air time that my hat had, this all happened so quickly!  I told them that was a weird gust of wind because for it to have taken my hat off, I sure didn't feel anything on my skin and how odd it was for the gust just to be head level!  It landed about 30 feet in front of  Morgan and she exclaimed that she would get it for me.  Ok, fine by me.  I wasn't worried about it.  She began doing an excellent job of reeling in my hat!  I was so surprised and thankful of her new found fishing skills.  Without missing a beat she brought my hat up close to the boat.  However, that is when we realized what happened.  The reason she was doing it so well is because her hook was deeply intertwined within my hat and it got that way because she hooked me when she went to cast!  There was no gust of wind! Thank goodness I was wearing a hat or I would have lost my eye!  I think Jeff was a little grateful I was too because when I was talking to him later that night, he told me that while I could pull off many things, he didn't think I could pull off an eye patch.  Gotta agree with him on that...

As we started back toward the landing, my uncle told me to let him know when I got ready to go.  I told him that he better not leave it up to me or we would be there till dark.  He kinda giggled, but I was serious.  Finally, I did catch something.  A blue crab...that got loose in the boat before I could get it off the line...that began pinching and coming toward me.  Now, I do not mind getting dirty, or taking fish off the hooks, or baiting my own hook, but pinching crabs??? No, I don't think so!  I don't like to be pinched by a person, much less an animal who's defense method IS pinching!!  After my uncle got it off the boat he informed me that we were leaving.  Begrudgingly I said ok.

Sunday morning, my grandmother and I left around lunch time and made it back to T-ville around 5-ish.  She ended up staying with me until today.  I enjoyed her so much over the last four days!  Really makes me want to look at moving back home...or in that area.  Guess I will just have to wait until that perfect opportunity arises and see where a few other life details are at that point.  Hopefully not 3,000 miles away!

Here are a few photos from this weekend:

My pretty little pinchin' crab!

Wikki Watchee

Morgan and her catch of the day!

Morgan and I

Two last things: 1) My water never made it on the boat because Morgan forgot to put her bag she was carrying in the cooler.  2) Morgan, you kept me laughing and smiling all weekend.  Love and miss you already!  Ready for our next adventure, whatever that may be!

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go administer a corrective behavior lesson to my dog who decided to eat my Costa sunglasses while I was typing my blog.  He's whining in his cage, but he will be whining more in a bit...