House on Hillsboro

It. Snowed.

We are all most fortunate that in the days since I have found myself too busy to blog about it because my enthusiasm would have bordered on ridiculous and most likely have been unbearable for a few of my friends above the Mason-Dixon line.

Thursday night's weather report suggested a chance of light snow on Friday with possible accumulation of an inch which Ava HEARD causing her to lay awake in bed for hours, then dream of playing in snow the likes of which she had never seen or touched.  But the Friday morning report squashed our Snow Day dreams with an announcement that no schools were closed and while light flurries were probable, accumulation was not, being that the temperature (that was in the 70's the day before) would remain in the mid thirties.  Poo.

So I took Ava to school.  And I drove home.  And the snow began to fall.  Then the snow began to pile.  I grabbed Jack and ran outside and for the first time in his sweet little life the idea of snow began to make sense.  But I felt awful - positively sick at the thought of Ava watching her first snowfall through the windows of a classroom and me missing the look on her face.  WHAT IF THE SNOW STOPPED?  THEN MELTED!  ALL WHILE SHE SAT DUTIFULLY IN HER SEAT AT SCHOOL, MISERABLE.  WHILE JACK AND I WERE AT HOME MAKING SNOWBALLS - THE VERY THING SHE HAS WISHED FOR WITH EVERY PENNY SHE HAS EVER PLUNKED INTO THE FOUNTAIN AT THE RIVERWALK MALL!!?

So off we went to check her out and I couldn't get there fast enough.  But my fear that it all would melt before I could get Ava's little hands in it lessened with the fall of every snowflake.  It was snowing more heavily now and the radio announced school closings. 

Ava had never been more happy to see me.  We were all SO EXCITED and could barely wait to get home and by the time we did the "flurries" had turned into...A LOT OF SNOW FALLING and an "inch" was every bit of 3 or 4 and counting.

But there was one little problem.  JD was due to fly in that very evening and I began to realize there would be no way.  Sure enough, as I was digging through drawers trying to find gloves and thermals, the phone rang - JD in Dallas, flight canceled, he would not be home at 6:35pm to marvel with us at the snow.  Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute.

But we did it.  We bundled up, went outside, and did everything we have ever seen anyone do in the snow.

One by one, Ava checked off the list (compiled since birth) of things she longed to do in snow - snowball fight, snow forte, snow man with carrot nose, infamous snow angel, all the while (and dead seriously) insisting that she was dreaming it all but that in this dream the snow felt more hard and wet and cold.  In her first dream (the night before), she explained, it felt soft like marshmallows and warmer.  I'll never forget those moments.  Long as I live.

I took pictures (bless my little camera, hung in there right through the blizzard, but it was scary!) and Jack wandered aimless, determined to leave his tracks on every smooth and perfect bit of rolling snow he could find, till we could go no more. 

We woke the next morning so happy to see snow still on the ground and eager to do it all again - but this time with DAD! (he had taken a rental car home from Dallas and sneaked in around midnight). 

Everything is more fun (and painful) with Dad! 

Yes, yes.  The snow was deep, the sun was shining, JD was home.  Oh the joy.

Ava & Jack are Very Successful.

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and get to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

- Bob Dylan

Steve (the owner of the net and teacher of the technique) is now 100% superstar to Jack and Ava.

Most fun we've had all year.

Dear JD,

How are you?  All is well here at home.

We are all fever free (finally!) and only a slight cough remains of whatever dreadful virus plagued us these past few weeks.  All my company have come and gone (Hi Daddy!  Miss you.) and I used the last few quiet, unscheduled days to sew my little heart out - right to the point of causing the bobbin to cry Uncle and stop working completely.  Poo.

Gosh, you have been so patient with my unintended blog absence and it didn't go unnoticed.  As a token of thanks, I brought the camera and your babies with me to feed this afternoon to document the day, just as it occurred.

We stepped out to an overcast day but no rain and a comfortable 60 degrees.  Straight out of the door FRANK ran to you know where

(this thicket is Jane and Henny Penny's favorite hang out) to chase you know who. 

But Jane, being the world's smartest chicken and all, knew just what to do -tattle to Mama - and she did.  So I tended to business and the ladies went back about their's.

And Frank slinked out, ashamed as he well should be.  He KNOWS better.  Stinker.

And exactly 17 seconds later he had recovered from my severe lashing (you know how I am) enough to go about his business as usual. 

Then we were all off, down to the camp for the pre-feed parade the horses put on for us everyday.  So nice of them, that is.

And as usual, immediately following the parade was the stampede to the first feed bucket, like clockwork.

Little sweetie helped Mama and Jack,

well, you know.  The usual.

Have I mentioned I tidied up the camp.  Yup.  See pic below, but I'll warn you - this one pulls you in and makes you stay awhile.

See, told you.

The hay is holding out nicely.  I know how you worry about that.

But the feed buckets are driving me crazy.  We need a new system, for sure - project one when you get home, maybe?  Um, make that project two.  (Sewing machine, One.) 

The new horse is rounding out nicely, don't you think.  I've been calling her GG.

We spent the rest of the evening doing the usual.  Like this.

And that.

And the inevitable.

When we are picking up the new feed troughs remind me to get the kids taller boots.

She misses you.  So much.

And yes, Maggie was there with her usual look that I'll call

PET.  ME.

and yes, I was wearing my red "outside shoes" but THIS time I didn't bother to take off my stripy socks because we live miles and miles from another soul and statistically speaking I could frolic outside in that long, sweatshirt kitty cat nightgown most any day and not get caught.  But Steve dropped by.  And I was a bit embarrassed.

Steve's arrival ignited a new death match between Slick & Slim (two Whippet looking dogs that made themselves at home here while we were away on our exotic diamond expedition).  Embarrassing, AGAIN.  Especially when his dog, Lacy, was so well behaved AND well dressed - every single one of our dogs was nekked as jay birds.  Heathens. 

Anyhoo, about his time, Jack fell down in the pond and screamed that he was coooooooooold while sister risked life and limb to save him.  (Make those tall boots hip waders.)

And that was it.  Typical day.  But no you.

So we laughed a lot less and the kids didn't reach death defying heights on the swings and no one kissed me on the fishing deck.  But you can imagine, these pictures will help. 

Forever Yours,

The Lady of Hillsboro

Good Day, Good Dinner.

What do you do when you come home from traveling abroad on your husband's last full day home for over a month to an empty kitchen but desperately want to have a good day that ends with a satisfying home cooked meal and do not want to spend one precious moment of this day in the grocery store, the nearest of which is over twenty miles away?

You turn over your garden in preparation for spring and find three plump earthworms.

And it's all downhill after that.

Ava caught nearly every one,

and was right by her Daddy's side (as usual) when he started to clean them.

And the next thing I know I am on the couch for thirty minutes rocking and patting and wiping and telling her how God made fish for us to eat and Jesus himself ate them many, many times and I am pretty sure that they were one of his very favorite foods.  And, no they don't feel the pain of their death, it is instant. 

But secretly I have my doubts.

Then I told her just to let it all out because Mama knows exactly how she feels.

I do believe our little pond grows the most delicious fish this side of the Mississippi.  One bite and I was transported right back to 1983 - Gramoo's screened back porch, bare feet dangling off a wood bench, paper plate balanced on my lap of tiny pieces of fresh caught bream and perch carefully picked off the bone by my Mama, an orange cat meowing by the screen door and Gramoo saying, "Don't feed that cat Karen, or it'll start hanging around."  Seriously, it was like time travel.  You can not get fish like this in a restaurant.  You can not buy fish like this at the store.   

So very satisfying.  The whole bit of it.

Weekend Getaway, Part 2.

Part 1 here.

2.  Stay in darling B&B with nice (clean) rooms and eat only in locally owned restaurants.

Clockwise from top left:  JD's Dad, JD,  JD's Brother B, Aunty M, JD's Mama, Me (thinking that the timer had gone off on the camera, but No), and Ava.  Can you find Jack?

Here we all are in back of The Queen of Diamonds.  In the beginning stages of the planning of the trip JD and I hoped to find a hotel with an indoor pool for the kids.  HA HA HA The town of Murfreesboro, AR has no chain hotels OR restaurants.  None.  No Holiday Inn.  NO MCDONALD'S.   Amazing.  And lovely.

3.  Visit several antique/gift stores where husband repeatedly photographs you with odd pieces of merchandise he has outfitted you with while you act annoyed but secretly find it very amusing.

I would like to take a moment to address the fact once and for all that yes, JD wears very conspicuous outerwear.  I have to live with it and sadly, so do you.  The coat you see here was provided by his his employer.  I say "A coat meant to facilitate finding you should you fall from the rig into the frigid waters of the South China Sea is not necessarily the coat to wear antiquing."  He says,  "a coat is a coat."  Then I usually say, "Well, could you AT LEAST wear the ascot I brought you."  P.S.  Jack is cute in his diamond hunting clothes.

And the toy miner's hat looked much better on him.

4.  Spend lots of time in the sunshine,

with the people you love.

Watching the instructional 'How To Find Diamonds' video.

Uncle B & Aunty M

5.  Make sure the scenery on the drive home includes tepees.

That's a must.

Oh, and did we find a diamond?  Well friends, we did not.  But be not disappointed!  It only means we must go back.

Perfect Weekend Getaway, Part 1.

I have never really embraced the idea of a weekend getaway, mainly because I believe a weekend requires a certain degree of restfulness.  No amount of fun is worth starting a new week haggard (or worse! KIDS haggard) from travel and doing so could cause a downward spiral that could only be halted by doing nothing the next weekend during which I would find myself wearing that one weird pair of panties on the very bottom of the stack with the misshapen waistband and eating a can of Vienna Sausages from the back of the pantry.  And I don't like Vienna Sausages.

But, good grief, I was wrong.  Our weekend trip was the most fun ever and all this (very busy) week I have felt positively energized and rejuvenated.  My laundry and grocery shopping are tended to with energy to spare. 

It was so lovely, in fact, that I would like to pass along a few guidelines for the perfect weekend getaway:

1.  Choose a super fantastic location, go on and on about it at the Christmas party to a few of your favorite family members.  Agree enthusiastically when they call days later and ask to join you.

Crater of Diamonds State Park, Murfreesboro, AR.  Follow the link and you will learn all about this plethora of earthly delights but really they had me at 'is blessed with an abundance of geological wonders'.  Remind me to show you my rock collection sometime.

The park consists of a 37-acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic pipe that 95 million years ago, brought to the surface the diamonds and other semi-precious stones such as amethyst, peridot, and garnets.  Right here!  In Arkansas!  Two hours from my front door!

 

In 1906, John Huddleston, the local farmer who owned the property then, found the first diamonds.  Huddleston recounted the first diamond finds to Tom Shiras of the Arkansas Gazette: "I was crawling on my hands and knees …when my eyes fell on another glittering pebble…I knew it was different from any I had ever seen before. It had a fiery eye that blazed up at me every way I turned it. I hurried to the house with the pebble, saddled my mule and started for Murfreesboro…riding through the lane, my eye caught another glitter, and I dismounted and picked it up out of the dust."

Hee, hee.  Love it!  Here you will find more on the history and be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for a table detailing the diamond finds in the park since 1972.  And here, read about the most famous finds including the flawless 3.03 carat Strawn-Wagner diamond - the most perfect diamond the American Gem Society has ever certified, the 40.23!!! carat Uncle Sam diamond unearthed in 1924, and more.

By some weather fluke, it was positively freezing that day, temperatures barely reaching 30 degrees.  But we donned our long handles and ascots (okay, only I donned an ascot which some less affluent persons may call a scarf, and lord, if those weren't so handy in keeping your neck warm they'd be worth having around just for the weekend long source of hilarity.  We don't get the opportunity to wear ascots (scarves) too often here in the South, but I did that weekend and was treated repeatedly with all the respect due a person of such refinement as to have/wear one) and braved the wind and cold till near closing time in that barren diamond mine.   And three separate times we heard the sirens ring out - SOMEONE HAD FOUND ANOTHER DIAMOND!  But did we?

To be continued...

Old Levee, New Fence.

JD is putting up new fence and it is very, very exciting.

I would love to tell you all about it but we are leaving for a weekend-get-away very early in the morning and I have to round up some shovels and pick axes.  And my gemology books. 

Be back next week!

A Favorite Place.

Hunting season is finally over here in Hillsboro and not one minute too soon.  The woods were only open to camo clad gun toters and while there is no actual rule posted anywhere stating this, let one little Mama show up with a camera, two kids, three dogs, and one cat and the mighty hunters will melt into one big, fat hissy fit.  Trust me.

But it was so very hard to stay away.  The woods of Hillsboro still hold so many secrets.  Not to mention that a walk in the woods, especially new woods full of the unexpected, can cure just about any case of the blues or the blahs and end it up with a foot soak in a crystal clear, ice cold spring fed stream and good grief, done everyday, you might live forever.

And we know of just such a place. 

Here is an island where the stream forks, but the best part is behind me...

...dirt bluffs on either side of the water, probably 20+ feet high that not only make you feel like your in a secret cubby hole of earth but Ava can climb the wall, pulling herself upwards with exposed tree roots and delighting in the feel of cool, mushy handholds of soft, green moss. 

Who needs rock walls in noisy malls?

JD and I mainly stand around deeply breathing the fresh air because it doesn't smell a thing like laundry detergent or dish soap or crude oil or airports.

JD - Handsome?  (Can you see him in the picture there?  Look close, he's tough to spot.)

Yes.

Flexible? 

No.

And Frank?  He learned the valuable lesson we must all learn the hard way at some point:

He who steppeth repeatedly in mud,

taketh not the four wheeler home.

The kids can repeat that one by heart.  In four different languages.

*Daddy, JD told you wrong about where this was.  I'll explain it next time we talk.

**I have never intruded on anyone's hunting as implied.  I was nervous just checking my mail during season!

***We did not make little Frankie run all the way home.  We scooped him up as soon as the mud was dry ;)

****That is the first punctuation mark face I have ever made.  It felt wierd. I think I'll erase it.  No.  Yes. No.  Yes.  No.  But only this once.

Through the Window.

Yesterday, I carried the camera out at feeding time to snap some pictures of a wound on Frosty's leg for JD to evaluate via email.  Then I spent some time doctoring but as I worked I felt the distinct feeling of being........watched.  At first I chalked it up to the pasture ghosts or garden gnomes or the area Sasquatch or WHATEVER  has been returning the feed buckets during the night to the exact spot they need to be at for feeding the next morning, causing me, several mornings in a row, to stop dead in my tracks and look with sideways glances for candid camera or pause for a moment expecting John to ask that if he could keep that up, could I maybe FEED A BIT EARLIER.

But turns out, it was something else entirely.

Christmas Morning.

The chaos, 7:49 am. 

The festivities started at 5:21am (the time stamped on the first picture of the morning) and those pictures are the real great ones with looks of amazement and sleepy, sleepy eyes and first of the morning hair (my favorite).  But the sun hadn't risen, so I had to use the flash and the pictures have that artificial cold whitey brightness that didn't feel at all like the morning really was, lamp lit and warm and cozy. 

The favorites of the loot, and you just never really know what that will end up being, was a tiny Playmobil Pirate Set.

That FLOATS, and anything that might extend bath time is a toy we want.  This was our first bit of Playmobil and now I, I mean THEY, want more.  Like maybe the Grande Mansion (Becca - check out the kitchen!) or the Country Life Super Set.  Is that a girl feeding a calf with a bottle, a draw well, and carrots you can pluck from the ground?!  Or a Horse Drawn Cart loaded down with pumpkins?!  And the Bird Feeder I can not live without.  Or the Chicken Coop or the Forest Animals with Cave OR the Forest Lodge COMPLETE WITH FURNITURE AND A CARE CENTER FOR DEER. 

Ooookaaay.  A little Playmobil freak show there.  Sorry about that.  I had never visited their website before, perhaps I should have went alone.

Anyhoo, You will NEVER guess what made #1 on the list of most played with Christmas toy to date.

WOODEN BLOCKS!?!  It had occurred to Santa that Jack had never had a set of building blocks (Ava's had long since disappeared) and I believe these came just in the nick of time before poor Jack was scarred for life.

And for Ava, they brought a bit of nostalgia for the good ole days when she was little. 

Mama's favorites?  See the wooden table?  Their bottoms have barely left it's seats since.  Eating, playing, building, coloring, play dough, tv.  It replaced the little purple Dora table you see in the first photo and is absolutely fabulous.  100% hardwood, a spill catching lip (we've already tested it), and both the table and chairs fold up for easy storage.  It's tabletop is spacious without being to large and the chairs are super comfy and rated for up to 150 pounds.  My grandchildren will play at this table, no doubt.

And on the TV there - Discovery's channel Planet Earth DVD set.  AMAZING.  We laughed, we cried, we could have watched the entire 5 episodes straight through, but we had somewhere to be.

Someplace where the gifts are perfect and the eats are out of this world!