It's a Spicy Hodgepodge

 

1. June 10th is National Herbs and Spices Day. Besides salt and pepper what herb or spice container do you reach for most often? Is there a spice you truly dislike? What's a recent dish you made that called for more than salt and pepper?  

We use Cavender's quite often and I use garlic salt. Mark mixes up his own rub when he smokes a pork butt. I am not fond of rosemary. I am not fond of fennel seed. That is the one that tastes like licorice, right? Firecracker Casserole has cumin and chili powder in it and I've made it recently.

2.  It's been said 'variety is the spice of life'...in what way is this true for you? Elaborate. 

I love a variety of fruit - especially at this time of year. There is watermelon, canteloupe, honey dew melon, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and peaches - to name a few!

3. What's something in your life that adds 'spice' (excitement, intensity) even if also comes with challenge or unpredictability? 

Travel - especially international travel - love it! It definitely adds excitement to our lives and it can be unpredictable.

4. If you could instantly master one skill or hobby, what would it be and why? 

I would speak Spanish fluently or maybe I would sing beautifully or play an instrument.

5. We're halfway through the year...what's one book, movie, or activity you've loved this year that you'd recommend to others? 

I really enjoyed our recent trip to Pennsylvania and Delaware. I would recommend a visit to Longwood Gardens.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm in week two of the first minimester of the summer. It is intense. I hope our professor grades some of our stuff soon. I would like to know if I'm on the right track!!

More than a weekend review -- Tuesday through Sunday

Happy Monday, blog friends! Y'all know that I write in order to remember, so I'm covering more than just the weekend.

For Christmas, we bought our oldest granddaughter a real sewing machine. For her birthday, which was in March, we gifted her with sewing camp which was this past week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'm so excited because she loved it!

Her mommy was sweet enough to send us a picture of her on her way the first morning.

On Tuesday, Mark picked her up from camp because it is just from 9-12. They went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then they went to her house to play Barbie. Pops is the best Barbie player ever.

Tuesday night rolled around quickly. Cole is the guy with his arms up and he sold his car a year or so ago and rides and electric bike everywhere. He lives a considerable distance from our house and he even rides it to our house. He ubers some times and some times friends give him a ride, but he uses the bike the majority of time. Some of the rest of the group parked around the corner and they all rode up on bikes and razor scooters so that it looked like they were joining Cole. It was very funny so I snapped a quick photo.

It was also Millie's last night with us. She is a NICU nurse and has been working here in town where she grew up. She is moving to Nashville in a few days and will be working in the NICU at Vanderbilt. She is the one on the right with red hair. Jessie and Elizabeth, pictured with her, are both in PA school.

This is a horrible picture of me but I wanted to remember the night!

Millie is the one leaving, yet she brought flowers to me and Cookie Fix to share with everyone else. She wrote a very sweet note to Mark and me. We save all of those notes from the Young Adults.

I worked on Wednesday morning and then it was my turn to pick up our granddaughter from sewing camp. We picked up lunch and at quickly and then she and I took the golf cart and headed to the pool.

Mark didn't eat his lunch, but saved hisChick-Fil-A salad for dinner (in the fridge). He evidentally had an allergic reaction to a spice in the seasoning on the spicy chicken. He became violently ill within 30 minutes of eating the salad. It wasn't food poisoning - too fast. He has had a few issues with a spice that is in Mexican food seasoning, but this was frightening. He was very sick for about 3 hours and then he was fine.

On Wednesday, I saw a bunny hopping down our sidewalk! I grabbed my phone but this was the best photo I could snap. He was a quick little bunny!

When our granddaughter was with me, I shared a blanket with her that Mark's mom had started. I had brought it home sometime in the last year and was going to finish it. She was completing the projects quickly each day at camp, so I told her to take the blanket to her last day of camp. I showed her what she needed to sew but told her that I would need to help turn it in order for her to sew the last side. Her teacher helped her so she finished it! This means that her great grandmother started the blanket and she finished it. I love that.

I spent the majority of the weekend reading and writing. Our class started last Monday and beginning Tuesday, we had something due every night before 11:59. The smallest thing was had to do was write 300 words on our discussion board and then comment on two other posts. By Saturday, I had to write 700 words. We move on to the next four chapters this week - whew!

We had invited friends over for dinner on Saturday night, but Lu had received her first Shingles Shot on Friday night and it made her sick - stay in bed sick. 

I actually "somewhat" cleaned our house around studying and laundry and working on our Sunday School lesson. I ran the Roombas and dusted and wiped down the bathrooms and cleaned the kitchen counters. It wasn't "inspection" clean, but it was passable clean. haha!

I was at work by 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and I taught Sunday School and then we met our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter for lunch at The Ridge. This was a "new to us" restaurant. This restaurant along with a few others is owned by the same person (group?). We've eaten at three of their others. The decor in this one was really unique.

Our food was good and we would definitely go back.

Mark and I came home and took a Sunday afternoon nap and after our nap, I read a little and then hopped on the stationary bike for a few minutes. Mark has been working on a "craft" (his word) using antique Ball glass jars and other things so he worked on that for a while.

We ended the weekend with a little TV watching. We did watch a movie at some point during the weekend - either Friday or Saturday night. We watched Fountain of Youth. Some of the movie takes place at the pyramids and it was so cool to remember our trip to those pyramids back in October.

That was our weekend PLUS. I hope you had a good weekend. Did you do anything fun?

 

It's Time for Sunday Stealing!

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Back in 2010, blogger Nigel Vanstone from Away from a Bit asked his readers this series of questions. He said he was tagged by another, unnamed blogger. But I'm not tracing it back any further. Nigel Vanstone is a cool name, and that's enough for me.

10 Questions with Nigel

1. What's your life's motto? My boss is always reminding me to "err on the side of grace." I think that would make a good life motto.

2. Where were you living 13 years ago? We were living in a house a few miles from where we live now. We bought it new when our kids were about 5 years old - right before they started kindergarten. We bought this house in 2014. It, too, was new.

3. Is anyone jealous of you? I seriously doubt it!

4. Where were you when you heard about the 9/11 terror attacks? I was on the treadmill at the gym. I remember stepping off the treadmill and walking over to the TV. Everyone in the gym did the same thing. We saw the second tower fall and we were all in shock. I remember walking out to my car and driving home . . .and not wanting to leave! I was so glad when the kids and Mark were at home that night and we were all together.

5. Do you consider yourself kind? I hope I'm kind. I definitely want to be kind.

6. Can you change your car's oil? I have never changed the oil in my car. I guess if I watched a Youtube video . . .I could change it. I hope I never have to change it.

7. What's the last thing you heard about your first love? Y'all . . .that was so long ago! I had some crushes but I guess my first love was my first husband. We were married for about 18 months when I was 18 years old. I feel like I'm telling a story about someone else - wow! He died of AIDS after we were divorced.

8. Have you ever been burned by love? The divorce I mentioned in #7 was very tough. In hindsight, I'm so thankful we didn't have kids or very many assets. I met and married Mark when I was almost 26.

9. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? I bought a diet pepsi at a gas station a few weeks ago and paid cash.

10. Do you hug your friends? I hug my close friends. 

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

It's a Hodgepodge

 

1. What do birthdays look like in your house? How are they celebrated? Any special traditions? What about birthdays growing up? If I'm in charge, birthdays are fun - cake along with some balloons and maybe a Happy Birthday banner. Mark's mother did such a good job of celebrating everyone's birthdays. She made us all feel special. I only had one birthday party when I was growing up and it was my 16th birthday and it was a surprise. My mom had died several months beforehand and a family at church hosted a surprise party for me. That is such a sweet memory. When my mom was alive, we always had a birthday cake and a present or two but we celebrated with family - not parties. When I was celebrating my 40th birthday, a friend hosted a surprise get together. When I turned 50, I had a huge birthday party (not surprise) at a friend's house. I hosted a surprise party for Mark for his 40th and he told me to NEVER have a surprise party for him again. I'm still laughing about that night! When he turned 50, I hosted a party for him . . .but it wasn't a surprise.

2. Someone is sending you a dozen roses...what color are you hoping for? Are you someone who gets accused of seeing the world through rose colored glasses? Is your accuser correct? Elaborate. I love pink or red roses. My number one strength is positivity so I try to see most situations through rose colored glasses . . .but I've noticed lately that my vision has been a tad off . . .I find myself criticizing more. I need to get myself in order!

3. June 4th is National Cheese Day...will you celebrate? What's something (besides a burger) you make in the summer months that calls for cheese? I love cheese - cheese and crackers, queso and chips, a grilled cheese sandwich. This week I made Crack Chicken Casserole for the Tuesday night Young Professionals group and the recipe (when quadrupled) has a significant amount of cheese in it!

4. 'tis the season...any weddings on your June calendar? What's the first word that comes to mind when I say marriage? I started answering the questions from the bottom up - oops! Yes - we have two more weddings to attend in June.

5. What are you most looking forward to this June? Let's see . . .we have two more weddings to attend. My sister-in-law and I, along with two others, are hosting a "morning of the wedding" brunch for our niece and other ladies. My birthday is in June, too!

6. Insert your own random thought here. I know you won't be able to tell this when you are reading my answers . . .but I'm actually answering this prompt first. Class began on Monday - I'm taking Family Life Education in the first "short-term" - June 2 is the start date and July 2 is the final date. Then the next class begins on July 9 (I think) and it is Human Sexuality and the final will be right before fall semester begins. I've been having some anxiety and questioning my sanity. I hope that once I get going . . .my thoughts will ease up. There is a tremendous amount of work to do in that time frame!!

The Rest of the Weekend

On Saturday, I returned home from Annual Conference in time to grab a bite of late lunch and we tried to take a quick nap - I know I dozed off in my 20 minute power nap, but Mark said he was just lying there worrying about our water leak -- YES! Mark was cleaning out his brother's house and I was at the conference and we got home at the same time to find water on our porch . . .remember that high water bill?? LEAK! In the summers while Mark was in college . . . he was a plumber's assistant! He can fix lots of plumbing things. He dug up the yard and found the leak and turned off the water to that area, but he didn't have time to repair it because . . .we had to get ready to go to see "Dear Jack, Dear Louise."

Our friend, Marietta, was the director of the play.

We have season tickets to this community theater. It is a small black box theater and if you have season tickets . . .you have an assigned seat :-).

You can get an idea of the layout in the photo below - this was pre-show. The "stage" is literally right in front of those on the first row. I think there are five rows on each side of the "aisle" and maybe 8 chairs on each row - so the theater probably holds about 80 people. It has been so popular over the years that they now run the shows for two weekends - Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday matinee and they are sold out many nights.

I didn't go up and read the backdrop because I actually cried toward the end of the play plus it was late and I needed to get to bed.

The play was really well done.

Why did I need to get to bed? Because I had to get up at 5:00 on Sunday morning in order to be at work by 7:00. I worked the Welcome Desk and taught our Sunday School class and got home around 11:45. I made Kodiak protein waffles and two pieces of bacon each for lunch. Actually . . .Mark cooked the bacon in the microwave while I made the waffles. We tried to take a power nap again. I think I slept but Mark was worried about the pipe. He headed outside and then headed to Home Depot and then headed back outside and made the repair. He then ordered a tool so that it would be easier next time! We got dressed again (in shorts) and headed to our friend's house for dinner.

We spent several hours together with four friends and it was much needed for all of us. Our friends grilled chicken and we had slaw and corn on the cob and we dined al fresco . . .and talked and talked until we all had to head home.

It was a good weekend!

North Alabama Annual Conference 2025 (Most of my weekend!)

The 2025 Annual Conference of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church took place Thursday through Saturday, May 29–31. I am truly honored to have served as one of the Lay Delegates from our church.

The conference opened Thursday at 10:00 a.m. with worship. Afterward, we headed to our first Learn and Lead Workshop. I attended “Been There, Done That, May or May Not Have Gotten the T-Shirt [Small Group Ministry]” led by Chris Wilterdink from Discipleship Ministries. It was a fascinating class. He discussed “nones” and “dones” — people with no church affiliation, or those who are “done” with church due to reasons such as church hurt.

We also learned that, for the first time in history (I believe that’s what he said), there are eight generations of people alive at the same time: the Greatest Generation, the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and Gen Beta. Interestingly, Baby Boomers make up 21% of the population, Gen X 20%, Millennials 22%, and Gen Z 21% — nearly equal representation across four generations. We explored ways to engage people in ministry — and were reminded that relationships are always key.

I had to duck out for a few hours for an allergy doctor appointment but made it back in time for the Laity Session at 4:00 p.m. We learned many interesting things in this session, led by Dr. Lisa Keys-Matthews, our conference Lay Leader.

After the session, two other participants from our church and I went to grab dinner. We ended up at Chick-fil-A — even by 5:15 p.m., most restaurants were full unless you had a reservation!

That evening, we returned to Asbury UMC, our host church, for the Service of Licensing, Commissioning, and Ordination. A combined choir from several churches led us in worship, and the music was absolutely beautiful.

The young man on the left in one of the photos is Trey, a youth minister at another church, but a “product” of our own church — Trinity UMC in Homewood, AL. Though his family didn’t attend church, Trey found ways to get there before he could even drive. He was quite spirited as a youth, and it took some time for him to settle down, but our youth staff never stopped loving him. Now, look what God has done! Trey was presented with a license to serve as a local pastor. Local pastors can perform all the duties of a pastor — preaching, leading worship, baptisms, confirmations, funerals, weddings, communion, and welcoming new members — but only within their appointed church setting. By contrast, elders (like our senior pastor) are authorized to perform these duties anywhere.

Next up from our church was Mary Frances, who was commissioned as a provisional member preparing for ordained ministry as a deacon. She serves on our youth ministry team and completed seminary sometime last year.

My dear friend Laura was ordained as a deacon. Like me, she grew up in an era when women couldn’t be pastors, so she initially pushed aside God’s call. She went to college, became a speech pathologist, got married, and raised children. But while we were in Israel in February 2020, she felt God calling again. Soon after, as the world locked down due to COVID, she applied to Duke Divinity School. Five years later — she’s now a Deacon! I’m so proud of her and so happy for her.

Here she is with her husband, Scott. We love them so much!!

Wondering about the difference between a Deacon and an Elder in the UMC?
Elders are ordained for ministries of Word, Sacrament, Order, and Service and typically lead in the local church. Deacons are ordained for ministries of Word, Service, Compassion, and Justice, focusing more on connecting the church with the world through practical service. Elders are itinerant — they serve wherever appointed by the bishop. Deacons are not itinerant and may serve in churches, non-profits, agencies, or other ministries. Both roles are open to men and women.
(Note: Definitions were pulled from various websites. This is a basic overview, not an in-depth explanation.)

Our Bishop preached at the ordination service and he preached God's word right into our hearts.

Friday began with an 8:30 a.m. teaching session by Herbert R. Marbury, Associate Professor of the Hebrew Bible and Black Religious Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Afterward, we had Plenary Session 1, which included reports and presentations from various conference ministries.

Our group of 15 from Trinity had lunch at Jim ’N Nick’s BBQ, where I enjoyed a brisket salad. There had been a mix-up with our reservation, but the staff graciously brought complimentary appetizers and provided excellent service.

Following lunch, we returned to Asbury for Plenary Session 2, which included additional reports and voting on four constitutional amendments. Those with voting rights were seated in designated “bars” (sections), and ballots were carefully counted and recounted — voting is taken very seriously.

Our conference treasurer, Laura (a different one), gave a financial report alongside the CFO.

After the final report, I headed home to have dinner with Mark. Some attendees stayed for the Awards Dinner, while others from our group went to Black Market at the Colonnade.

Saturday morning found us arriving early for another teaching session from Herbert Marbury, this time focused on Moses. We then moved into Plenary Session 3 for more reports and presentations.

Our final worship service took place just before lunch. It was incredibly moving, with our Bishop preaching. He’s a gifted storyteller who seamlessly weaves personal experiences with scripture. There wasn’t a dry eye in the sanctuary. Our contemporary worship band (from Trinity UMC) led the music for this last session and did a wonderful job. The conference ended with communion. Though it was just two and a half days, it felt like a beautiful mix of business and revival.

 

Sunday Stealing

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we're stealing from Christina at Call Me Patsy. Back in 2008, she admitted she stole these questions from a blogging buddy named Liz. Here we don't judge. We celebrate such theft.

Questions Christina Stole from Liz

1. What bill do you hate paying the most? The Birmingham Water Works bill is so ridiculous every month. Our sewer fees are a percentage of water used. We had some landscaping done this month and our water bill was almost $400 this past month. There are two of us living here - not a big family. There has been a lot of corruption in the past at the BWWB.

2. Which restaurant would you recommend for a romantic dinner? We love Blueprint on 3rd. There is another great restaurant - Cafe Dupont . .. or another Hot and Hot. Birmingham is a foodie city.

3. Who was your first grade teacher? Mrs. Wilemon was my first grade teacher. I didn't go to kindergarten.

4. What should you be doing right now? I should be sleeping. I'm writing on Friday night.

5. What did you want to be when you were growing up? I just answered this question on another day. I wanted to be an archeologist.

6. How did you choose the shirt you're wearing right now? I came in from a meeting and changed into shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was clean and the easiest one to grab!

7. Gas prices! What's your first thought? Evidently they are lower this week than a few weeks ago. Gas prices are a necessary purchase.

8. Do you have a teddy bear? I don't think I do . . .I do have a brown sugar bear in my bag of brown sugar!

9. Do you own the last book you read, or did you get it from the library? The last book I read was on my kindle. I know the one I'm reading right now is one I own. Sometimes I get the freebies from Kindle Unlimited.

10. Did you more recently send a text or write a Post It? I sent quite a few texts today. I love Post Its but I don't think I've used any today.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Granddaughters

Our granddaughters have finished another school year. Our middle granddaughter finished kindergarten and will head to first grade in August. She grew up so much this year! She will celebrate her sixth birthday this summer!!

Our oldest granddaughter (she was 8 in the first picture) at the beginning of the school year.

Here she is on the last day of third grade and she is 9 years old!

She is looking like an almost teenager - be still my heart!!

And we couldn't leave out the smiley baby -- she had her first birthday in March and stays with her other Grandma so we don't have any "school" pictures - she is such a smiley baby!!

 

Day Four - Longwood Gardens

 Day Four - Delaware

We all slept in a little. I didn't even go down for breakfast - I asked Mark to bring up a bagel. He brought an English Muffin which was just fine! I stayed in the room and showered and packed. We had a full day planned but we had to check out at 11:00 and move our things to Susie and Bob's suite.

We headed to Longwood Gardens and if you are ever in Delaware, I highly recommend you visit -- just FYI, the garden is actually in Pennsylvania, not Delaware! These gardens are known as the best gardens in the US and one of the best gardens in the world. The gardens encompass 1100 acres and were originally bought by a Dupont to save some trees!

We were fascinated by the treehouses -- yes, six grown adults were fascinated by the tree houses.

Everything was beautiful.

The twin brothers and their wives (Alice and me!)

The flowers were spectacular. Someone told me that if a leaf falls off, someone swoops in to clean it up and replant if necessary!

Below is the Italian Water Garden - it was soooo lovely!

Treehouse #2 -- I think it looks like a bird - beak in the front, wings on each side, tail in the back. Can you see it?

Treehouse #3 - there were a lot of school children taking a tour and this was as close was we dared go!

The next two photos are known as the "potty wall." The walls on either side of this hallway are living walls filled with thousands of plants . . .and each of those doors is a potty!

The beauty of the conservatory took my breath away. I couldn't look at everything fast enough.

You might not be able to tell in this tiny photo, but each of those tall leaves is bigger than a normal size human.

We were able to catch the fountain show.

I forgot to tell you that we awakened to a very cool and windy day. I didn't pack a jacket. Just saying.

One of our favorite parts was the Ornamental Kitchen Garden. They've been growing veggies here since the 1920's. The crops are divided between the restaurants on the property, the employees, and a food bank. The trellises were cleverly designed to not only be functional, but to be beautiful, too.

Look at that tiny purple cauliflower. As we were walking around, we realized that the Delaware/Pennsylvania area was at least 4 weeks behind Alabama in the season - maybe closer to 8 weeks. Things were blooming in the gardens that bloomed here weeks ago.

I actually snapped a quick photo of the falls below when we were a tad lost - not really, but I did finally ask someone for directions to the parking lot. Mark and I were going back to the hotel to freshen up and head to the airport for our 7:00 flight to Bham. We wanted to leave in plenty of time to drive on I95, turn in the rental car, and make sure our flight was good to go . . . just in case we had to make alternative arrangements (remember the flight cancellations at the beginning of our trip?).

These are out of order -- here we all are up in the tree house!

Here we are on one of the paths.

Here is Susie with a dragon in the treehouse!

Here we are at the bird tree house.

Here is George touching the goat sculpture that he wasn't supposed to touch!

We made it to the airport and turned in the rental car and our flight was on-time. We landed in Birmingham a little before 9:00 p.m. and headed to the parking deck for our car. We were home and almost in bed by 10:00 . . .because I had to be at work the next morning.

What a fun and full four day weekend!