Duplicate Explanation

Greetings Blog Gang,
In response to the comment earlier today by Anonymous I went back and looked at our archives.  I didn't remember writing the same blog last year but didn't doubt that I might have since Spring is such an exciting time in the South East.  But I was surprised that the commenter mentioned that  it was on the exact same day.

What I discovered was that somehow when I was working on the blog Monday I managed to schedule the blog with the correct date for the month and day but I had done the year for last year, 2011. 

I am such a Luddite and have so much trouble with the computer that when I couldn't find the post I had written when I went back to fine tune it and add a few thoughts I just assumed that I had deleted it or not saved it correctly and that blogger ate it, especially since Blogger really does hate me, so I re-wrote the blog.

I am sorry for any trouble or inconvenience or confusion my error has caused.

Stephanie/Plotter

Spring is Springing

  This time of year the weather in the South is unpredictable. Yesterday at church I saw a girl in a pretty summer dress that was all covered up with a polar fleece jacket. This ensemble sums up the clothing situation in Spring in the South. Every night finds me in the closet looking at my clothes trying to decide what the weather will be like the next day. I know that some of you in other parts of the country are thinking, "Why doesn't she just watch the local weather to see what the temperature will be?" Well, let me tell you that system doesn't work here in Alabama. The meteorologists can predict, they can guess, they hope to be accurate but they will never actually be right on 3 out of 4 days.

Weather in Alabama is notoriously unpredictable. In fact, a common saying is that if you don't like the weather here just stick around about 10 minutes because it is about to change! I often start off wearing a cardigan, wool socks and athletic shoes and end the day wearing capris and flip flops.  I am very excited about our day or so of Spring and the advent of Summer.  I love flip flops and pedicured toes.  I love riding with the windows down and feeling my wind blowing through my hair.  I know this surprises many of you who know my dislike of outside air but there is just something about the first warm air of Spring that excites me with the possibilities of summer.

I am going to in just a couple of weeks my school will have Spring Break.  I am going to get a pedicure and have my hair done some summer like color.  This is how I celebrate that summer is once again on the way.

What rituals do you have to celebrate the start of spring and the hope that summer is once again finally on the way?

Muscadine Wine - Another "Sweet" Drink

Wine. The nectar of the gods. Bacchus was totally right. And here in the South, we like our tea sweet along with our wine. Every week, driving down to Auburn during football season, I kept seeing the signs for a local winery in Harpersville, Alabama. I decided that it was time to pay the place a visit and learn about muscadine wine.

Morgan Creek Winery http://www.morgancreekwinery.com/ ,
is a beautiful little spot in the tiny town of Harpersville.


The building is right next to the vineyards and also a blueberry field. Set among oak trees, the winery houses a nice gift shop and, in the back, the actual working part of the wine making process. Established in 2000, the winery has quickly risen in popularity. It has several varieties of wine made from different species of muscadine. They also offer some blueberry wine and a peach wine made from Chilton County peaches.

Open Monday through Saturday from 10 am until 6 pm, the ladies in the gift shop conduct tours to explain the making of wine and then offer free wine tasting of their products.


It was very informative and I didn’t realize a lot of the work that goes into the making of wine, whether sweet or dry.


Most of the wines offered by the winery are sweet or semi-sweet, indulging the Southern sweet tooth. I particularly like the Carlos (named for a type of muscadine) and the Regal Red. They also offer a dry white wine, Cahaba White (also named for a muscadine) which I like because it reminded me of my youth, sneaking off into the woods and eating muscadines. The wine held that distinct taste. Another dry wine, Vulcan Red, was very smooth and rich. I enjoyed the wine tasting and the ladies showed us how to mix the peach and the blueberry to make a lovely Sangria which they say in the summer is a great drink when combined with fruits. I have to say it was wonderful, even in the spring without the fruit.

Every fall, the winery has a grape stomping held on the third Saturday of September. They hold a Lucy-look-a-like contest (remember the Lucy wine stomping episode?), with live music and lots of local products. I intend to go back for the contest. It should be fun. During the spring and summer, the winery also has live music and they encourage you to bring a picnic to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and the music. After the concert, there are fireworks. Sounds like a lovely evening, especially if you’re sharing the wine with someone special under the stars.

And what wine is complete without cheese? The ladies at Morgan Creek Winery directed us to a local shop, Millers Cheese House in Vincent, Alabama. Oh boy! The lady at the cheese house had samples of various cheeses, made by the Amish, set out to try. She also had various pickled products and bean dips to try. Everything tasted wonderful, especially the blueberry cheese. I am going to try it with the blueberry wine. I can’t wait.

There are many wineries in the State of Alabama and this one is exceptional. I hardily recommend it as a day trip from our area. It’s about 25 miles southeast of Birmingham just off of Highway 280.

After we finished our tours and explorations, we stopped at a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Inverness Plaza (Birmingham) which is on Highway 280. The Crazy Cajun Boiling Pot offered the best crawfish ettouffee I have had since I visited Brennan’s. It’s really a bar with the feeling of a dive on Bourbon Street but there were lots of families there and the atmosphere was upbeat and happy. I cleaned my plate and would have asked for more Hoppin’ John if I hadn’t already been so full. It’s a wonderful place to eat and I also recommend it after a hard day of wine tasting.

Do you like wine? Have you ever tried the local muscadine wines? Did you know that muscadine wine has more anti-oxidants that its grape cousins? Give Morgan Creek a try and I am afraid you’ll be hooked!

The Rescue Zone

The ocean as a rescue zone?  Herein lies a blowfish's tale...

Walking along the beach, my son and future son-in-law found a puffer fish washed up on shore.  In danger of drying out, and dying, they scurried around to save it, located a bucket and a plastic bag, and put the blowfish in the bag filled with water.  Together, an Army soldier and a Marine set about reviving "Puffer" so he could be reintroduced to the ocean. 

Relaxed, activated into motion and with smiles on their faces, my two Alpha heroes carried their trophy proudly toward us, bringing all of us off of our beach towels and toward the water's edge.  Valiantly acting as if they had just returned home from a coveted quest, both eagerly showed off their wounded warrior/fish. 

Never underestimate an Alpha.  (Gotta love 'em!)  But I digress... 

After many dowsings with sea water, Puffer's gills began working well again to the delight of all.  Side by side, my proud smiling boys set their captive free, making sure he swam into the waves and didn't get beached again.

I've felt like a beached whale, with no hope of ever getting back into the ocean.  But I've learned when problems take you through a war zone, remember that there are always heroes about, ready to dig in, hoist you up, carry you to safety, and fight for your life.

Remember, once beached, not always beached.  You can and will swim again.

Life is an ocean, expanse, sometimes dark and cold, drowning you with doubt and the threat of sharks, but there are all kinds of fish out there, especially the blowfish, whose talent at inflating like a balloon can buoy you back to the surface.

In North Carolina, beaches are strown with various rocks and shells, glistening on the expansive shoreline.  So many in fact, it's amazing to think that each one is visibly prized, like you and me.  But stones are more valuable when they've been polished by grinding sand and shells are more beautiful when they have been bleached clean by the sun.

There's nothing like an ocean breeze to calm the inner beastie.  The feeling of insignificance I sometimes feel when gazing out at the sea is often negated by the knowledge that I have purpose, that I too am a polished stone and a shell bleached clean by the sun.

Have you ever felt beached?  Where there soldiers to lead you back to water?

Just Keep Him Alive

My friend Sam and E's Mom has a five-year-old and fourteen-year-old and her child rearing philosophy changed drastically between children. When E was small, she had a schedule and a lot of rules about food, naps, television, etc. The first time Sam's grandfather babysat for him, he asked for directives—because there had been a lot when E was a baby.

"Just keep him alive until I get back," Sam and E's Mom replied.

Precious Angel turned eighteen last week. Keeping him alive was no easy chore. He was a runner and a finder of sharp objects. I am still haunted by something that happened when he was about two. The Guy and I had taken him to the grocery store with us. When we returned, The Guy carried him inside and quickly surveyed the area for baby killing paraphernalia. Finding none, he said, "Stay!" and we proceeded to unload the groceries.

Precious Angel met us at the back door with a hatchet. We still don't know where he got it. He also once bit a plug out of a glass jar. He wasn't in my care at the time, but I couldn't have stopped it either.

Still, we did the best we could and devised some basic rules to keep him alive.

• 1. We kept him strapped in the stroller long after he could walk. He didn't like it. The Public at Large looked at us like we were abusers, but PA did not escape to Montana.
  
• 2. When the stroller was no longer a viable option because a) he could undo the straps and b) he would no longer physically fit, we got a harness and lease that zipped up the back. And if you think the Public at Large didn't like the stroller. . . Still, we did not care. Kid alive.
  
• 3. I taught him to bang on the piano while I went to the bathroom. As long as I could hear him, I knew he wasn't on the stairs or forging a sword.
  
• 4. On the advice of his very, very wise Papa, once he got his learner permit, we put him behind the wheel every time he was in the car with us. By the time he was sixteen, he could handle himself very well.
  
• 5. Before he was allowed to have a rifle, he had a gun safety class.

So far, so good and it's a miracle.

Have you devised any little tricks to keep a kid alive? .

Whatever happened to the Mini-Mansion?

Do you remember the Garage Apartment? The garage to the house I grew up in was converted into an apartment before I was born and during my childhood became one of my favorite places in the whole entire world. It’s where my oldest sister lived while she was in college. Let’s call her Dr. M, because she really should’ve been a Veterinarian. Anyway, it was different from the house with its miniature stove, refrigerator and sink. It felt different, more modern and sleek and smelling of fresh paint (Ooh! I do love the smell of fresh paint!). And it was decorated with contemporary white leather furniture, way cool! Of course, it was also the place for Dr. M’s rescued animals. I remember them like it was yesterday…..the family of newborn opossums whose mother got ran over by a car, the Pomeranian puppy, Strut, who was the one Dr. M kept and loved, and…..well, you get the idea.

Adding on to a garage or converting it to a livable space was apparently the thing to do in older urban housing developments. It not only expanded the living area of a property, but became potential income for the owners as well. The living area, typically 400-500 sf, was perfect for college students who gravitated toward them, or at least they did when I was in college. I wonder, do they still do that?

I rather like the idea of that small living quarter, myself. I often imagine my own garage space transformed into an overlooking-the-river-getaway space with tall windows and a deck reaching toward the water’s edge giving me the feeling of being one with the river. Ahh. Lovely. (Ooh! And I could see the cows through the windows, too!) Funny thing is, I imagine it having an industrial contemporary feel to the interior with a metal staircase, stainless miniature appliances and a murphy bed, quite contrary to the cottage style of the rest of the property. Influences of my childhood where old meets new, I guess.

Looking online at garage apartments, I came across a list of other names they go by internationally. Some sound formal while others are just fun. Take a look. You’ve got the …Grannyhouse, Mother-in-law Suite, Carriage House, English Basement, Auxiliary Unit, Guest House, Carriage House, Coachhouse, Studio Flat, Bedsit (what a funny little word!), L-Shaped, Alcove, Studio Apartment, One Room Mansion, Studio Room, Officette, One Room, and the Garsoniera (try saying it out loud...it's a luxurious word!).

I have to ask, can a mansion really fit into one room? I’m sure it can! But I think my favorite is the Grannyhouse, which is what my childhood home’s garage apartment originated as….a little house for my Grannie. So what’s your favorite name, thoughts or memories of the once popular urban makeover?

I have a Dream

We are all familiar with the famous speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream." I think it is important to have a dream, or six, in life. One of the saddest things that I have ever heard is when someone doesn't have a dream.

As a writer, I have had different dreams at different points in my journey. Once my dream was to write a book. Then my dream was to have someone else, other than the people who love me, read the book. Now my dream is to actually sell a book. That's right; it is my dream to have someone pay their hard earned money to read the words Jean and I have written.



Dani Wade

 I am sure that it will happen, but some days I feel very frustrated and overwhelmed at the entire process. I am always happy to hear that writer friends have sold their books or found an agent to represent their work. I am always looking for ways to keep my dream of being a published author alive which is why I am looking forward this month's Heart of Dixie meeting. Danielle Worsham (who writes as Dani Wade) is presenting a program called“A Race Well Run” about how to keep dreams alive when they seem impossible.
I am sure that this time next week after hearing the program, that I will be full of great ideas to keep my dreams alive.

How do you keep your dreams alive?