Wishing all of you a blessed Advent season with at least a moment or two of quiet reflection.

[Image from Catholic greetings on line. December 2nd is the first Sunday in Advent, a liturgical season which goes through Christmas Eve.]

Another blogger Britt-Arnild is having a quiet Advent Party....drop by her blog for the details.

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I plan to read this book, for a relaxing, humorous Southern Christmas escape.

Right now, I am reading "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" by Fannie Flagg. It is a novel with more Southern, small town humor which I find very comforting.

Update from the front lines.....
Mom and baby have been sent to bed for 2 days to rest and bond. Seems that having constant visitors and a long weekend party may be lots of fun for the men and their friends, but wearing on a woman who has just given birth!!!!
(and on her mother too!)
This small photo is not a photo of my daughter (the first one is)....we do have many wonderful photos from the long Thanksgiving open house which my son-in-law and his dad were having....but they are on the other computer and no one has time or energy to send them this way at the moment....so I'll post some later!

I'm in favor of re-establishing the "women's tent" tradition from ancient times....when the new mother and infant were protected and nurtured for at least a month before beginning the party circuit!!!!

A Reggae breakfast.....

This morning, we had an island breakfast here in Gerogia.

The main course is based on this fruit, the national fruit of Jamaica, ackee.

Jamaican friends were over for the meal, and reggae music( which I love!) was playing. Ackee can be prepared several ways....it is not a sweet fruit.

Today we had "Ackee and Saltfish" made by Baby Bindley's Jamaican grandfather, Bindley.

It is traditionally served with fried plantains, johnny cake and maybe boiled green bananas. Very different!

Hmmmm.....Now back to those Thanksgiving leftovers.....maybe turkey soup?

A cozy autumn evening....(artwork by Susan Rios, borrowed from Lady Laurie's blog, Song of the Sea)

A lot to be thankful for!!!!!!!!

Finally, we have had time to load a few photos onto the computer! These are from the day Baby Bindley was born. Here he is being held by his very competent big sister, Lilia!
this is when he is just too sweet!!!!!!!

This old Singer cabinet sewing machine is almost exactly like the one on which I learned to sew in 1959!!!!!!!

It is here in the guest room, where I sleep. I guess it was inevitable that I would have to open it and see how it was doing. I have cleaned and oiled it and plan to sew some burp cloths soon.....really cool ones with orange , brown and turquoise, some paisley, some polka dot!
My granddaughter, Lilia, found the machine open and I taught her a bit about it...she loved stitching with it! I may have another quilter/seamtress in the family after all....she is already quite an artist.




With Thanksgiving two days away, I am looking at recipes. This Pumpkin Pecan Rum Cake sounds great...and uses a bundt pan, making it easy to bake, serve and share!

Our baby boy and his mom are coming home today!


Mylar and regular helium filled balloons are tied to the mailbox, out on the curb to welcome them home! I'll try to get some photos on here soon!!!!

This bassinet (but with a blue lining) will soon hold my grandson, Bindley! He was born at 2:35 this afternoon, in great health, and weighing 8 lbs and 11.6 ounces! He measured 21 inches long. We are quite delighted with him and will keep him, thank-you! [So far he has only slept in our arms as we pass him around....occasionally making tiny baby sounds, very sweet!]

Mother, father and baby are still at the hospital. I am at their home with my 8 year-old granddaughter (who is sleeping soundly now!)
In order to be sure that Laura is doing alright after delivering an infant of this size, she and the baby will not come home until Monday. [She is going to require a bit of time to heal from the complications...so I know I will be needed here.]

Now if I could just get myself to sleep and rest for the days ahead! Watching your daughter go through such an intense experience is far from relaxing, though in my case, it is all about feeling over-stimulated and wanting to "do" something...and here it is time to be asleep! [Sometimes blogging works like journaling, once it is written "out there" I can let it go and move on! I'm hoping that works now!]

An urban legend is tested.....(or a pregnant woman past the due date will do anything!!!!)

What does eggplant parmigian have to do with it?????? My daughter remembered that the restaurant famous for helping bring reluctant (?)babies into the world was nearby.....and she loves eggplant parmesan anyway (being almost a vegetarian!).

So, last night we headed out to the Italian restaurant nearby and had a lovely, relaxing meal (with 2 charming young ladies, 8 and 9 years old, respectively, entertaining us with folded napkin tricks). The eggplant was delicious!!!

[I think the relaxing and being with the family is maybe the key....leaving the work week and her internet clients behind!]

Before 6:00 this morning, Laura and Bindley were loading the car and calling the midwife to meet them at the hospital.....so now we are just hours away from having little Bindley (he's the III, not a junior) in our arms!!!!

More later!

We are still waiting for our "star", our little boy blue to come out and play!


this area has lots of distractions and attractions to keep us busy as we wait! Yesterday we went to the shops in "Old Roswell" (Georgia) for some browning, lunch and a few purchases. Daughter Laura is trying to walk a lot to get the" show on the road". I mentioned that the next full moon (which babies love to be born at) is the Saturday after Thanksgiving...this was not what she wanted to hear!!!!LOL

Later...(BTW the due date is Nov. 14th)

Reading blogs today, I found out that Carmen has a special fairy friend who now lives in a jar in her home. Of course, I think I need to make one to live with my granddaughter....this photo is from web images...not my photo! I bought a craft kit to help us get started....this one makes a fairy or mermaid, from a clothes pin....

One last impulse purchase (hey, waiting for a baby can make you crazy!LOL!) is this card game....with a crow on the cards...just because I like the graphic. Maybe I'll learn to play.

I am in Atlanta now!

Yesterday was a roadtrip of over 600 miles. This time the road was lined with fall colors!


I made a short side trip to walk around the town square of Holly Springs, Mississippi. This was just off the main road a mile or so and truly a delightful place.

The town was looking like a picture postcard of Thanksgiving...red and yellow maples, and beautiful old homes. The courthouse, with a cupola on the roof , eitts in the center of the square, with charming shops surrounding it!

I had just read Jan Karons' novel "Home to Holly Springs" and sure enough, when I checked the map for the route to my daughter's house, Holly Springs was on the way!!!!!

I'll have to stop again, on the way home, and get a burger at Phillips Grocery!




By the way, Blogger or some unknown glitch, is making it impossible for me to leave comments at the moment....I will be visiting many of your blogs, and hope this situation improves....

Not as the crow flies.....(I'm taking a slower route!)

I'm off to Little Rock and then Atlanta....on the road again!

Paper Quilts....an experiment!

Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter

These are approximately 24x30 inches....and are made from recylced magazine pages.... gessoed, collaged, quilted etc, etc, etc!

Report of this weeks activities....

Art Center of the Ozarks silent auction of 5X5 paintings was last night! Mr. Pear and I attended and had a lovely time. It is a fund raiser for the art center for which local artists donate a 5" x 5" painting or artwork.



This painting of a zinnia bouquet was my donation this year. It had several bids then Mr. Pear put in a bid on it, so of course it ended up coming home with us! [I'm really kind of glad to have it back.]

I bid on and won another which has similar colors....it is of a fleamarket in Mexico by Janis Gill Ward.

I couldn't resist, I picked up Jan Karon's latest novel while running errands yesterday.


I have started it and am enjoying it, mostly because having read this entire series(the Mitford series) the characters are like old friends. Hers are books about peaceful and ordinary lives but with loads of charm and grace.






This is another "project" I have going right now...trying a new experiment in "paper quilts". One for each season of the year.
This is the winter quilt. My Bernina sewing machine rebelled at quilting these and is now going in to be repaired. I am VERY CAREFULLY finishing the quilting and bindings on my old Singer Featherweight!
Not much time to visit blogs, as I have deadlines for the upcoming show!