I’m happily worn out from cooking and cleaning and setting places for 43 for my family’s Christmas dinner on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ll be making a caramel cake and a pecan pie and cooking the collards. I’ll make a quick trip to LaGrange to pick up the shrimp. Got a big ham in the fridge, too.…

Beautiful day…cornflower blue sky, white clouds riding low on the horizon, wisp clouds stretching out in the high sky, a few jet contrails mixed in with the clouds. I have ten thousand chores to do but I’m going to just sit in swing a little while and soak up this glorious day the Lord hath…

The sky was so beautifully blue today, cloudless and clear. I sat on the porch and watched a few birds on the feeders, enjoying the warmth from the soul soothing sunshine. The water in the bird baths was frozen solid, so pretty, looked like ice flowers as the water had frozen following the curved pattern…

I’m drinking my coffee in the lady den this morning watching the bamboo sway in time with wind chime symphonies and morning songbird prayers. I love mornings like today no plans, no agenda then I realize I’m having 43 folks over for our family Christmas dinner on Saturday night. I’ve set places for 32 and…

Old Man Wind is huffing and puffing today, beating a boisterous symphony on the wind chime pipes, giving the bamboo a cold aerobic workout as the sun filters down through their thin trunks and warms their slender pale green leaves. It really sounds like the wind chimes are having a jamboree. I love being able…

My sweet friend drove back to Alex City mid-afternoon under a beautiful vanilla sky gathered with pastel clouds of cigar smoke gray and pale purple. As she left she rolled down the window to say good bye and I noticed she had her shirt on inside out. She yelled, “Bye, love you.” I yell back,…

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out,” Walter Winchell. Such a perfect description of a true loving friendship. My dearest friend is sleeping in the guest room tonight tucked under the quilts with her little black dog Charlie Brown. We’re wearing our matching dog pattern pajamas.…

The sun rose this morning and burst to life in a beautifully watercolored sunrise waking the earth to a glorious day. Mother Nature informed Father Sky we had had enough of his clouds and overcast sky canvases and told him today was a day for the sun to celebrate her glory, to warm the Earth…

I’m enjoying the Christmas tree in the lady den tonight, drinking hot coffee that will probably keep me awake at bedtime, reminiscing about family Christmases celebrated in my home, thanking the Lord for all my blessings. Our hearts are in our homes beating with the love of our families. Maya Angelou said, “The ache for…

Visiting my grandchildren so my words this morning are from my archives… My friend down the street just walked up to borrow a cup of brown sugar. We borrowed her pliers last year on Christmas Eve. Isn’t that a small town act of kindness. I love it! And I love my friends! Real friends are…