I led the Walking School Bus for our school district for grades K-5...this week Chloe rode with me because her usual
ride to school, her dad, was in South Carolina for the Vandy football game.  These are cousins and neighbors, Linton,
August, Whit, Katie and Stella with Chloe

Chloe and I took Stella, Katie and August to put around after school about a month ago...

I loved getting this photo of August watching Chloe putting....When she shanked a hit, August said, "you're hitting it
too hard Choe, " which cracked me up coming from a kindergartner.  He's smart, he really is!

One of the youth group missions in our church is partnering with our local Methodist church and serving at the First
Presbyterian Church in downtown Memphis.  Their soup kitchen is open every Sunday, year round, serving the homeless.
It's something I look forward to every year....it's moving.  Chloe and I help set up like this photo shows and then during
lunch we go upstairs and help in the clothes closet.  Each person, mainly there are men, can have one pair of jeans, a coat,
socks, 1 pair of underwear, and a shirt.  They give them one outfit because they don't have any where to keep a second one.
Last year they were very short on socks and underwear so I bought about a $100 worth from Walmart and the other youth
members brought a package of socks or adult underwear.  We ran out of coats and jeans 30  and 32 waist size so I went to our local Cross County Workshop and loaded up on jeans.  Chloe and I will take them by next week when we're in Memphis

For Christmas, Chloe got a camera.  She's been using it for her dogs and for the
Wynne High School Yearbook and Newsletter.  She got this shot of cousins
Whit, August and Stella last Friday.  She hates when I brag but she's a great
photographer!

Leo, a stray from Coldwater, finally was adopted at the kids marathon two weeks ago.

And three weeks ago Fred, our next door neighbor, brought this gal to us.  She's heartworm negative, vaccinated, crate
trained and absolutely awesome.  She's ready to go.....spay/neuter people!

Because of my best friend Wendy in Chicago, Chloe loves sushi.  We had this when Jackie was out of town.  Chloe's
photography is good, I'm just saying

A good shot of Leo, he was a destructive boy!

Made me sad that this was our last Walking School Bus of the year....But a big thanks to Joy Shepherd at
Cross Ridge Community Hospital for getting us matching shirts again!  There's nothing more fun on Friday's when
school starts and meeting then walking to school in a group.  We do it until the Midsouth Kids Marathon every fall.

I boycotted making Chloe's lunch back in 6th grade...so she has to make her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich
when she boycotts the cafeteria.  And she boycotts unless they have pizza which is once a month

This was the Gravel Grinder 20 mile bike ride back in October...it started in West Memphis and went down the
levee to downtown Memphis and back.  The I-55 bridge is above and the rail side is currently under construction as
a pedestrian and bike path to connect the two cities.  I enjoyed the tour and hearing about it in detail from its
executive director (the guy in yellow) Greg Maxted

Chloe took this of fellow golfer Libby Claire Casbeer

Monday, Nov. 16, 2015

I sure have neglected my blog this year and especially this last month!  I thought I'd show it in pictures, most are from Chloe.  She's become quite a good little photographer!  I'll let the pictures take it from here!

JJ

Biscuit AKA pudge, little Bobby, little B and I've been calling him stinker too...

If Buddy could go to work with me every single day, he would....

Kentucky Weekend

Dang blurry camera....this is at the wonderful Storybook Inn in Versailles, Kentucky...behind is the house we rented
that had 3 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, kitchen, fireplace, porch with a grill and the list goes on and on...it was a great
bed and breakfast.  We had gourmet breakfasts every morning....so good!!
This is Kyle, Jackie, Stan, Beth,  Kara, Martin (look...they were twinkles) Chuck, Cecelia and Lisa 

Obviously we were all looking at Kara's camera...but here we are at Woodford Reserve Distillery....we rode our bikes
in light rain from Versailles to Woodford and then on to Buffalo Trace in Kentucky's capital of Frankfort....

Stan, Beth, Kara and Martin

This is James, he gave us a wonderful and fun tour of the distillery....lots of laughs too

This abandoned distillery was just featured in Southern Living Magazine...it's been purchased and being brought back
to life..  It was about 10 miles or so from Frankfort.  They were actually making small batches of bourbon that day.

Another dang blurry photo....Beth, Lisa, Kara, Cecelia and me...it was a cold, wet and rainy ride

At Keeneland...why in the world would I cup that scarf on my neck like I was in a soft serve vanilla cone?  lol

Early that morning, the ride was fairly dry

Tons and tons of beautiful horse farms

This is Woodford Reserve's distribution center

The week before we went to Kentucky to celebrate Stan and Jackie's birthdays, we all went on a bike ride and had
an epic soccer match after dinner...Here's Reece and her dad going for it!

Chloe really is a good soccer player...she also rode the 20 miles with the adults on the Vanndale Loop

Chloe's first ride with the Birdeye Bicycle Club.....from left Chloe, me, Kyle, Kara, Beth, Jackie, Martino and Stan

Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015

We had another great trip to Kentucky to celebrate Stan's 40th and Jackie's 45th birthdays last weekend.  We did this trip 5 years ago when Jackie celebrated his milestone 40th.  This trip we stayed in Versalles at the wonderful Storybook Inn.  The place was outstanding and we had gourmet breakfasts every morning.  We rented the house in the back that had three bedrooms and three bathrooms.  It was a neat place.

Plans were to ride from Versailles to Frankfort, stopping at the infamous Woodford Reserve about half way.  It was a cloudy, windy 50 degrees that morning.  After the neat distillery tour, it sprinkled all the way to Frankfort.  Then at Buffalo Trace distillery, it poured so the girls got a cab and brought cars back to get the bikes.  The boys, on the other hand, wanted to tough it out and ride back.  We passed them in our cab and it looked miserable and was as they reported when they got back soaked and shivering.

On Saturday, we had a box at Keeneland to watch the races.  It was again, overcast and sprinkling but we had some good food and good conversation.  We had another great dinner that night.

So here's where to eat if you're ever near Lexington...In Versailles we had dinner at Napa Prime, it is a darling restaurant inside an old Pizza Hut.  When we arrived via a Lexington cab, who thought we were going to Lexington and not across town, we were a little worried about our dinner that Trip Adviser said to go to.  We were not disappointed, I had an appetizer (I know, that's not like me) of fried pickles and banana peppers.  It was outstanding.  For dinner, I had the shrimp tacos and they were outstanding.  It did come with a side of tator tots, in fact, everything did.  They were good but seemed out of place with my tacos.  Reservations are recommended.

Friday night we ate at the outstanding Holly Hill Inn outside of Midway.  It's an historical home converted into a restaurant in 1979.  It sits overlooking horse farms and rolling hills.  We had a party of 10 so we were upstairs in a room, which we needed, since we played a few games and got kinda loud (according to Kyle).  We played a game of your first job and worst job and how we met each other.  It was fun but the food was even better than the conversation.   We had choices off a four course menu for $45.  I know right, we all couldn't believe the price.  It was wonderful as was the wine menu.  Reservations are recommended.

For out last night in Versailles, we went to Addie's at the Woodford Inn, just three blocks from our bed and breakfast.   Addie's is an American restaurant with steaks, gnocchi, salads and shrimp and grits which is what I had.  It was served with three crispy grit cakes on shrimp.  I'd call it a deconstructed shrimp and grits.  It was okay but I probably should have ordered what Beth had which was the Sausage and Pumpkin gnocchi with a side salad.  She said it was outstanding.  I would make reservations here as well.

It was a ton of fun being with the Birdeye Bicycle Club to celebrate birthdays.  We were back at home by 2:30 on Sunday which is nice to have that time to gear up for the week.  I added some garden photos and kids walking on the bus too.  Happy Fall Ya'll!

Some of the quotes from the weekend (there were many more):

 "That's the reason why you need fenders," Kyle pointing and referring to the mud skid mark up my back during lunch in Frankfort from all the mud puddles.  Hahahahaha, I'm sure it looked pretty bad.
"This dinner will be a good experiment if a paying customer can get kicked out," Kyle at dinner at Addie's at the Woodford Inn.
"What's that?" Kara pointing to a castle overlooking the Blue Grass Parkway.  The cabbie replied, "A castle".
"Which way?" Our Kenneland cabbie asked us as we were pulling out of the Storybook Inn.  We all thought, this can't be good.
"Ocean's Eleven," Jackie referring to the brand of bourbon at Addie's.

Last Wednesday was National Walk to School Day and I led the group for our 4th straight year...had a small crowd but
it is always fun...we also walk every Friday leading up to the Midsouth Kids Marathon in November.

The kids have the most interesting conversations walking to school....lunch, tests, books they're reading etc.

Look at the volunteer cucumbers!  I doubt we'll get any but you never know.   This is a bed of spinach

The topper is to keep the ladies outta there eating my newly planted greens

 Two weeks ago I got the arugula in....Thankfully the zinnias and wildflowers are still blooming during our drought

Hog and Hominy, Memphis

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Happy Birthday Kara!!

My fabulous sister-in-law wanted to go to this fantastic spot in Memphis to celebrate both her, cousin Jimmy Huff's and Jerry Harvey's birthday.  It was splendid even though Jimmy and Beth went on to a Hog game in Fayetteville instead.  We had a great time carpooling over there and the food was fantastic!  Because we had such a large party, we had a pre-fix menu which was excellent.

We had a choice of 2-4 main courses on the menu, Kara went with two and they were two fabulous pizzas.  The 'Shrooms was mushrooms, smoked mozzarella, arugula and garlic (which was fantastic) and the Thunderbird which featured pepperoni, fontina and spicy sauce.  The crust was thin and crispy, they were cooked in a wood burning oven, delicious I tell you!  But to start the pre-fix, we had a romaine salad with pecorino vinegarette, chicken skins and panna gratta.  We all agreed it was light and refreshing.  (Funny to call a salad refreshing but I think it was the light dressing for sure).  For the contorni course, we had two to choose from, my favorite was the Crispy Pork, which was the suckling pig (I know...we felt sorry for the fella) beautifully smoked and tender with okra, corn, field peas and purslane.  This was the first time I had ever had purslane, it's basically a weed very common in the US.  From the web, for a better description than I can write except that it was delicious, from www.motherearthnews.com : Until recently, most research on purslane has focused on its eradication. A frequently overlooked approach to controlling this weed is to eat it! Purslane is so surprisingly tasty, North Carolina market gardener Patryk Battle says, “I have rarely had anybody not buy purslane after they’ve tried it.”

Purslane is somewhat crunchy and has a slight lemony taste. Some people liken it to watercress or spinach, and it can substitute for spinach in many recipes. Young, raw leaves and stems are tender and are good in salads and sandwiches. They can also be lightly steamed or stir-fried. Purslane’s high level of pectin (known to lower cholesterol) thickens soups and stews.

Battle also uses purslane in pesto. He throws basil and purslane (upper stems and all) into a blender or food processor, adds a small amount of olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and enough hot water to get a good consistency. Because it’s so juicy, purslane helps create a low-fat pesto without too much oil. 

Our other choice for contorni was Hoe Cakes with shrimp, chow chow and creme fraiche, delicious too.

Now to dessert...they did bring out two slices of these desserts with candles on them and we sang to Kara and Jer.  It was fun to celebrate two people's birthdays.  Dessert choices were peanut butter pie and Carol's Delightful Smile, which looked like coconut cream pie.  I, of course, didn't try either one diabetic and all but everyone said they were awesome.  Ahh Hog and Hominy, I'm so glad we got to eat there.  Our waiter was extremely fabulous, my receipt said Theron.  He was great and efficient.

Be sure to make reservations even for just 2.  You'll love this place.  I really like their motto, "Italian Cooking, Southern Roots".  It fits!  And by the way, we missed regulars like Becca and Ashley, we'll have to get them from going to Disney every September...yeah right!

Hog & Hominy, 707 W. Brookhaven Circle, Memphis 901-207-7396
 http://www.hogandhominy.com/

Chloe made the cutest video of all the cousins....This is Whit, CoCo, Stella, Clarah Creighton, August and Tom B.

Our delicious menu

DANG Blogger, it won't turn Alexis' Iphone photo upright....they need to fix this!

And our group photo won't change either...this is me, Alexis, Kara, Cecelia, Kyle, Lisa, Chuck, Martin,
Jackie, Stan, Jerry, Mel and Beth.   Great crowd for two great birthdays!

Jerry and Kara sharing their birthday desserts!  That's Martin, Jackie, Stan and Jerry looking on....

Throw back Friday, Birdeye

Friday, September 18, 2015

Chloe's making Whit a very special birthday video and asked that I send some pictures of him via email from when we was born and lemme tell you I found some sweet photos of that kid.  Some of these are so stinking sweet and some are hilarious.  I had to share a few!

Chloe was 4, Whit maybe 6 months

So cute

Chloe and baby Biscuit

Whit loved his pacifier....those were the days...

Chloe and cousins Tom B and Clairah Creighton

Chloe and Stella

Chloe's first triathlon with cousin Tom B