A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

 For many years, we have been fortunate to go to my Aunt Dianne's house for Thanksgiving.  She does all the heavy lifting, cooking a feast and having enough chairs for 25-30 people to partake.  We show up; we drink; we talk and laugh; we eat; we tell stories; we eat some more; we let the kids clean up the mess; we go home.  It is awesome.  For us, it's a short day trip and we get to see nearly everyone in the family plus friends.

Thanks to COVID, this year had to be different and my Dad was determined we were spending Thanksgiving at the beach house.

So, I talked my mom into letting me pick up a smoked turkey from Lowe's and all the fixing from Salem Kitchen so we didn't have to spend all weekend cooking.  It worked out well...so well, that I think she's game to do the same for Christmas.  Thank goodness...

It ended up being a great couple of days, just Mom, Dad, me, David, Shelby and the nephews.  My brother opted for other plans.  It is, after all, a long trip drive for a day trip.

We did our best to social distance and the weather cooperated nicely so there was a lot of deck time.

Deck time usually means story telling and laughter.

Last Thanksgiving while we were gathered around at Dianne's, we would have never imagined what this Thanksgiving would be like.  It's different, but still...a lot to be thankful for.

Folk Keeper

 We did something yesterday that we haven't taken the time to do in a long time.  We went on a family day trip...just me, David and Shelby.  One of my favorite places is Folk Keeper Gallery in Lenoir, NC.  I get lost in this little gallery.  Charlie and Susan Frye are both folk artists and they own and run the gallery.  It is filled with their art as well as art by other local folk artists.  It is a magical place.  

Last week, Charlie posted a few little mountain scenes on their facebook page for sale and I claimed one. The purpose of this trip was to go pick up that little piece.

Well, while wandering the shop, I saw this standing up in the corner (the ironing board, not the truck).  

I love Charlie's owls.  Actually, I love pretty much anything Charlie paints and if you look close in my studio, you may think I have a Charlie Frye art addiction.  You're probably right.  But this...this is an old ironing board and I had to take it home with me.

While we were walking around the shop, this 20-something kid walks in.  He asks Charlie about the piano (that I had not even noticed) and Charlie says "yeah!  It's a 1925 something something" and the kid asks if he can touch it. Charlie says sure thing and the kid sits down and starts playing a beautiful tune.  When he stops we all say it was wonderful and he laughs and says "don't ask me what chords I was playing...got no idea."

See.  A magic place.

While we listened to him play, Charlie flipped the ironing board around and started drawing.  He drew Shelby and me...complete with my mask on, my glasses on top of my head and the moon phase shirt I was wearing.

When we checked out, Charlie pulled this little painting off the wall.  "Special folks get special receipts."  

He writes "receipt" on the back and puts it in the bag.  

Charlie is an amazing artist and is quite successful I think.  I've watched him draw and I've watched him write.  He doesn't do either in the order most people would do.  He writes the letters in different order.  Receipt for example... he wrote the r...the i...the t then filled in the rest.  Yeah, he left out the c but I didn't notice until I took this photo.  He sees the world differently.  It's a thing of beauty and wonder and whimsy.  I'm so glad we don't all fit in the same box.

So, we left Charlie and Susan (and Harper, their pup) and headed home...via Hickory because lunch and a beer at Old Hickory Brewery were calling us.  Old train depot.  Outdoor seating.  Awesome food.  Extensive beer selection.  What more could you want?

A nap.  We could have all used a nap.

The Big 5-0 - The Best Birthday Ever

When I turned 30, it was no big deal.  I was still footloose and fancy free...single and loving life in downtown Raleigh.  I still thought I was all that.

When I turned 40, I didn't want to acknowledge it.  I was happily married but like wasn't so footloose.  I was miserable in my job and miserable in my own skin.  I was in bad shape physically (though the worst was still a couple of years away).  I woke up on my 40th birthday with my left eye swollen shut from conjunctivitis.  I should have stayed in bed.

I really didn't think I'd make it to 50.

But I did.

And in a much better place in so many ways that I was at 40.

I'm still happily married and thankful he puts up with me.
I am no longer miserable in my job...I'm poor but money isn't everything, right?
I'm a good 150 pounds lighter than I was on my 40th and I'm not as worried about being the first to die in the zombie apocalypse.
Best of all, I'm surrounded by the best family and friends a soul could want.

So, for my 50th, I wanted a party.

My husband and my mom were shooting for a surprise party but my dad was having none of that...so he called me and tattled on them.  He wanted to make sure I got just what I wanted.  Did I mention I'm still a Daddy's girl?  I'm lucky like that.

Well, I did get exactly what I wanted...a low key, laid back gathering in the coolest location possible, Sutler's Spirits, a distillery in an old West End warehouse next to out current favorite restaurant, The Porch, who ended up catering the shindig.

It could not have been more perfect.

David did surprise me with the best birthday cake in the shape of my Bear Hug logo.  It was yummy too!

Here he is. He did good!

My friend, Hattie, helped a lot and as if that wasn't enough, she gave me this wonderful painting by one of our favorite folk artists.  (Well, she said the puppies but we know the truth.)

My bee from Raleigh came up!  We've been a bee for 25 years!

My old friend, Sam came.  We were peas and carrots before I move to Winston and he moved to Latvia.

My Trade Street sisters came.  (These are about the only thing I miss about that job.)

My best roomie, Muriel!

Sister Laura and Brother Gary!

Here's our host, Scot, giving out samples of his gin and rum.  I hate gin.  I haven't had it in about 30 years.  This gin though...good stuff.  I may be converted.

A blurry photo of my brother and my mother doing gin shots.  I didn't see that coming.

The Badens and the Brendles...instigators and encouragers...they are the best.

My little brother in his bulldog sweater.  When he did a toast, I was very afraid.  Very. Afraid.

My Aunt Dianne whose always been my cheerleader.

And a gaggle of quilters and husbands.

There are many more photos because that's what my mom does...take photos...of everything but I'll stop there.  You get the idea.  There were a lot of folks there from family to high school to those crazy 20-something years to work friends.  But the majority were quilt friends because outside of blood family and a select few, quilting has been the tie that binds.

I was blessed the day I first picked up a needle and thread.

A Little Look at Christmas

Christmas has always been all about family with my folks...whether we liked each other or not.  It seems though that as the years go on, we like each other more and more and the laughter is more abundant than the sniping.

We're adults after all, right?

For the most part anyway.

There are things that always happen though...

• Mom and I cook too much.
• Everyone eats too much.
• My brother's family is just a little late...which sends Dad over the edge.  (Patience is not a virtue he's embraced.)
• My parent's over buy in the gift department.
• There is a huge mess left over after the boys leave.
• Someone gets their panties in a twist over something that may or may not have been said or done...but it's short-lived as soon as Asher does some nutty thing he does.
• There is laughter.
• There is love.
• There is a nap.

The photos this year looked like something out of a sitcom to me for some reason.

Hum "Happy Together"...

Asher, the pink bunny boy...

Hampton, a teenage boy making faces,,,

Shelby, hiding on the pool table...

J.D. hamming it up...

J.D. buried...

My brother in his new snuggie... his wife saying "what is wrong with you"...

Dad in a goofy hat...

Asher and the big box of mystery...

What was in the box...

The turkey feast...

The wild bunch...

Yep... happy together!

Where's My Mojo?

I've lost my blog mojo.  I don't know why.  I just have.  I think about writing but I don't.

I lost focus on why I started blogging in the first place...which was because I can't remember stuff.  Facebook and Instagram make that a little easier but here I can come back and find not only the photos but the feelings and thoughts behind those photos.

So to get me started again, here are the best things since the last time I posted...

David got a new job.  An excellent, wonderful job where he doesn't travel out of state as much and he has Fridays off...and a new work truck...and a crew so he's not wandering in the woods by himself with the bears and coyotes and I can sleep a little better at night.

I had a wonderful retreat to Quiltvilla with Bonnie and Mickey...relaxing, fun, inspiring and productive.

I went to Farm Aid with these two crazy ladies and we had the best time ever.



I got to spend time with my high school best friend's older daughter who just move to NC after being stationed in California with the Air Force.  I helped her with a special project for her beau who is stationed in Germany with the Air Force but hopefully coming home in a couple of weeks.



I had a booth at Rustic Muse, an art show in Clemmons and had the best time sitting in the tent listening to music, visiting with folks, eating and even selling some stuff.  It was the coolest ever.



I spent a week and a half hanging at the beach.  I almost didn't come back.



Hattie and I started getting our butts kicked regularly by Whitney.  Here we are doing the Turkey Strut 5K on Thanksgiving morning.  Happy campers!



Christmas with the family was crazy as usual.  Looking at the photos, it looks like something out of a sitcom.

On New Year's Eve we walked the lights at Tanglewood at midnight with good friends and a bunch of other crazy people.



Now that I've started, maybe I'll find that mojo and keep running with it.

It's a new year after all!

A Mom Story

Growing up, we spent summers in a camper in South Myrtle Beach.  We were there more than we were home which was great for a couple of kids.  As soon as the sun was up, we were on the beach...mom sunning it in a beach chair, my brother playing in the sand with the rest of the little boys and me in the water and walking the beach, thinking I was all that...and I was being 13 looking 18.  I was collecting boys like shells.  My mom was clueless, of course, because she was ancient at 32 years old...ancient.

This was about the same time that Jaws hit the theaters so a shark siting was BIG neighborhood news.  One day a man was fishing very near where my friends and I were swimming...and oh my gosh...he caught a shark!  It did look like a scene from the movie (though the shark was a bitty sand shark but still...)  Yes, everyone scrambled out of the water.  The crowd gathered around the great fisherman and his deadly catch...including my mother.

She was enthralled.

She gathered in closer to get a better look.

She took photos to document the event.

I was so confused...Mom doesn't care about sharks...

Fast forward...oh 35 years...I'm scanning Mom's photo albums just in case something happens...we can't lose these very valuable family history documents...

I find the shark photos...

...and I laugh.

Mom doesn't care for sharks.

Not. One. Bit.


Happy Mother's Day.

Family

This weekend was the first family reunion that any of us can remember.  I still can''t believe we got it done.  We didn't start planning until a little over a month ago.  Don't most folks start planning their reunion a year in advance?

Oh no...not Routh women.  We're best under pressure...or worst...depending on how close you're standing to us when the meltdown hits.  And it will.  Always.

But Sunday, just about everything went like clockwork.  We had around 85 show up.

  

We shared stories and met cousins we didn't even know we had.

We honored our elders...Aunt Ruby is 95 and has always been the sweetest person you ever met...and Aunt Georgia who will turn 102 very soon and is a firecracker and a most fascinating lady.

We remembered how close we once were...

We left with a little piece of our past...

Most of all we remembered we are all richer from known from whence we came and that no matter what happens we have each other...