Fall at Riverside

It's been an absolutely delightful day here at Riverside. After not sleeping last night, I woke after what felt like a couple of hours of shut eye and put on a sweater (yes, finally a sweater!!) and sat out on the front porch. Bella and I listened to the fish jumping and just enjoyed the nip in the air. We had to come south to find this?

The hub flew into Mobile last night and we were so happy to have him home with us.

I think we were all tired but still enjoyed the almost full moon over the river. Sigh.

Yesterday, before the kid woke, I ran into town and did some errands (shopping). I did a quick walk through one of my all-time favorite stores, the Church Mouse. It is a delightful little shop that is half antiques, 1/4 British goodies and 1/4 fly shop. What a mix. I found a little hotel silver tea pot to add to my collection. It was cheap, always a must in my book!

I then walked over to the information center to see what was happening this weekend in our little town. I love the little statue standing outside.

Then it was time to get some groceries for the house. This was at our little grocery store. I loved their "cafe." Notice how everything is in an iron skillet. Now you know everything tastes better in an iron skillet, now don't cha? (I was good and got my high-fiber bread.)

On my way back to the house, I had to stop by the cotton field down the road.

It doesn't look like tall cotton this year. I am mesmerized by this stuff.

What an amazing plant!

After picking up the kid, we went and had lunch, steamed shrimp. Yum.

Then a storm blew through. The kid and I had to go to the bay and sit and watch it. We love our storms, and I can't say when the last time Tennessee had one!

The kid snapped one. Chin up, pip pip!

A tree in the back yard. I love the moss on the bark.

Breakfast on the dock, Pelican Landing, this morning.

A volunteer out of the water.

I'm enjoying my time here. But, it's speeding by too fast.

Where's the Fire?

Yes, I have to admit, I was driving faster than a fire truck. And we were making some good time too. Until . . .

Dun dun dun. Say it ain't so, Ro! Yep. Busted. Flying (quite literally) through Birmingham. Ouch. Clocked at 86 mph. Teehehe. I haven't had a ticket since I was like 20! It was kind of embarrassing.

It then took for-EVER to get to Riverside. Giggle. But we finally made it. St. Bea was waiting, ready to par-tay, as you can see. Looks like she made the Shrimp Festival last weekend even though we did not.

Bella is checking out the wetlands just a meowing. The kid is probably already in bed asleep. (The hub comes in tomorrow, yay!)

It's good to be here, safe and sound. Even with an expensive ticket in my purse.

Riverside Bound

Hoping to find my mojo down by the river.
Seems that's where I saw it last.

For Aim

Made with Mo Jackson's doo dads.

It's All a Blurr

The teenager blew in and out of here like a white tornado. It was great having him home and I think he accomplished catching up on his sleep (if that was what he needed). It was a super fast four days but wonderful having him home just the same. We did a lot of shopping for him (food for the dorm--he has lost a lot of weight!) and even got dim sum in on Sunday. We all enjoyed that!

We were able to get his Halloween costume made in a flash. He's going to be Moses since he already has the hair and beard. We took one of his old tan sheets and I sewed it(quite primitively, I may add) into a robe. I then bought him a couple of yards of burlap to wrap around him but found it stunk so badly (and I am highly allergic!) that I opted for an old throw that had been sitting out on the porch for like years. A piece of rope and voila, instant costume. Awww, I remember the days in Georgetown at Halloween. Those were the days. They would literally close the main streets down. I remember one year, somehow, the Star Trek Enterprise got through! Yes, someone had taken a big old mobile home and turned it into the enterprise! It was as close to Mardi Gras as you could get. Crazy. So, I can only imagine how UT will be. Fun. We found some old pieces from way back that I passed on to him in case someone needed a costume lickety split. This old mask was my brother Johnny's way back in the 80s! It's time to pass the torch.

Speaking of Johnny, he is in Atlanta at the Shepherd Center having a consultation done on his sore that has been wreaking havoc in his life for years. He's hoping they can operate on him. We don't want another episode like earlier this year. I'm waiting to hear from him as to what's being done and when so I can go down and be with him. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

The house is as quiet as it can get. Abby crawls into the guest bed. (Dave is out hunting, I'm sure.)

Bella prefers the family room sofa.

As do I. I lay down for a short bit yesterday. And this was my view.

The funk has not lifted yet but I sure am trying to shoo that black cow flying overhead!

Sunday Snippets from the Financial Times

My heart goes pitter patter whenever I see, hear, smell anything Liberty of London. This is my all-time favorite store in all the world. I could spend hours here. Days. This is the kind of store you wish you could hide while they're closing down so you could actually sleep here over night and touch every piece in every nook. Sigh.

So I was quite excited to read a little blurb about a new perfume line in Liberty of London's beauty hall. In the article "Fragrance to Stir You," Lucie Muir tells how you can have your own Le Labo perfume mixed and bottled right there for you and your personal label slapped on the front including a "fresh until date." She likened it to going to a bar and having a cocktail made for you. I like that. There's something very decadent about it. And speaking of which . . .

I quickly went to Liberty of London's site to look for the perfume. Instead, I found all kinds of other goodies. I'll take this medium duffel embossed with the most delightful art nouveau pattern. Thank you.

And then this little darling to adorn my neck.

Perhaps this one too.

Both would fit nicely in here with the new perfume made just for me.

Let's pencil in a shopping date for Liberty of London, shall we?

Fall Decor

Although I feel like I'm not doing a whole heck of a lot, I have been puttering about putting up my fall decorations. (Yes, the air conditioning is still running!)

This is the front hall. I found these faux pumpkins and gourds on sale the other day. I just stacked them up on the table for instant gratification. That along with my little squirrel and acorns collected on Mobile Bay last fall with my friends makes me so happy each time I look at it.

I found my old, beat-up autumn wreath that had been (literally) thrown into the basement last winter. Since it needs a little tightening up, I just hung it on the front staircase and added my October faerie with some faerie lights.

The dining room is full of fallish flair. These two sprays are the ones that mom had cut off, thinking they were "dead," and threw it in the back yard a couple of years back. This was the first hint that she was beginning to age. Poor momma. She felt so bad about it. I just had to chuckle which made her laugh and then everything was fine. I took all the filler back to the florist and they rebuilt them back for me. They look as lovely as ever now with a funny little story attached to them.

My flowers-of-the-month came this morning; and I have to say, it is my favorite bouquet yet. Isn't it gorgeous!

The oranges just pop! (Miss you Jacq!)

Mom was so excited to see the teenager. She remembered him and was just beside herself. He has always had a very special place in her heart and always will. It brought tears to my eyes to see the happiness there.

I took him to Costco yesterday and stocked him up with food for his return to UT on Sunday. He was excited. Here he is uploading a new disc of pictures we had developed for him. I didn't even want to look. Lord only knows what was on them! Just look at that hair! Looks just like mine at that age--well, mine was a lot thicker. And, he's wearing my Ghostbusters t-shirt my brother Johnny had brought me back from the beach one summer way back in the early 80s. Who ya gonna call?

It's been so nice having him home, but last night, around 9 p.m., he came into my bedroom after I had already crawled into bed to watch some TV. (When the hub goes out of town, I'm in bed early!) He's like "I AM SOOOOO BORED!" teeheeheee. He can hardly wait to get back to the campus. I suppose once you get used to having thousands of kids around you 24/7 and you come home to mom, it must be awfully boring! I just snickered at him as he left to meet up with some friends. I'm sure not having the hub home to pal with doesn't help. What's a mom to do.

Not a Whole Lot

I can't believe that it's been almost a week since I've blogged. I suppose you could say I'm in a blog funk. Dunno. There's really not a lot going on around here.

Last weekend I did, however, refinish an old dresser of drawers that belonged to my parents and then was in my brothers' room for their growing up years. When the teenager got his "big-boy room," mom gave it to me. I had changed the top knobs to something a little more child like and the boys have had it in one of their rooms for almost 20 years! It has been loved for close to 50 years and had the look to prove it. It's not that it's a great piece of furniture, but it does have a lot of sentimental value to me. So, I decided to paint it. Mind you, I have never painted a piece of furniture in my life!

The top was in the worst shape after almost ruining it with a fish tank splattering water on it for years. Being veneered, it truly was a mess. So I took wood putty to that.

Then I found this antiquing "kit" and went to town. I put over three coats on this sucker! I also painted a little side table I've had for many moons, tired of the light wood.

Once finished, I sanded as instructed and then started adding the antique glaze. (Note: Never paint three layers to something that you are going to distress! Duh.) I didn't like the look. So I put yet another coat on the top to cover the dingy brown.

Yesterday, I went to Anthropologie's and picked up four glass knobs. And voila! New furniture! I'm not quite happy with it overall and I will continue to work on it somehow. I need a good piece of sandpaper to rub the edges with. I may blacken the top. I'm not quite sure yet. Will keep ya posted on that project. Any suggestions from you pros out there would be greatly appreciated!

Big news last night. The teenager surprised me and popped home for fall break! I didn't even know it was fall break. I had called him on Tuesday to tell him the presidential debate was being held at the Curb Center at Belmont University. This is where his commencement exercises were last year! How exciting--for me anyway. He was cool and collected and never said a word about fall break. Although we haven't had a lot of time to talk as he went out to see his buds about as soon as he arrived, I can't wait to sit down with him and catch up. Now I get it. It wasn't his leaving that did me in, but his coming home sure is about as exciting as you can get! I get it.

Well, at least I kept his bed in his room and the "new" dresser. He's still asleep. Snicker. Wonder what time he got in last night?

The hub left yesterday morning for Asia, again. A little excitement on his flight to Dallas, though. He sat next to Tom Brocaw. The hub says he was the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Apparently, our little Nashville Airport was all abuzz with all kinds of political VIPs yesterday morning heading back to points unknown. It caused some delays getting through check-point charlie though.

That Darn Cat(s)

The night before last, I couldn't sleep. So, I came downstairs for something and was startled by this--Abby sitting near the top stair guarding the front door. She would not look at me. Of course, I had to grab the camera. She still wouldn't give me a glance as I shot several flashes at her in the almost-pitch dark. Is this what cats do when we go to sleep? Guard the house?

Yesterday morning, when I came down the back staircase, this is what I found. Aha! There wasn't any guarding going on while these shenanigans were taking place. Perhaps one got bored guarding the back door and decided to have a little fun. I gasped, literally, when I saw what someone {thing} had done to the pom pom on my favorite sweater in all the world. I'm not one to get attached to clothes; but this one sweater has a special place in my heart. During our last trip to Europe, our first stop was Amsterdam. The airline had lost our luggage, so the kid and I had to purchase a couple of pieces to get us through the windy chill (our jackets were packed away--not smart). Anyhoo, being of plus-sized proportions, my shopping spree was extremely limited at De Bijenkorf, the local department store. I was flabbergasted to find this gorgeous sweater in the Marina Rinaldo section! Of course, I never would have purchased it if it weren't for Northwest Airlines' paying for it, mind you. Between the weak dollar and the designer tag, it was a lot more than I have ever paid for a sweater. So yes, for more than one reason, I hold it very dear to me!

I have to admit, the pom pom was my least favorite part though, but I surely wasn't going to tear it off. I'm sure it was the Divine Miss B that did the damage. Not that the others wouldn't have helped, I'm sure. But it is more with Bella's demeanor to not being able to walk away from a pom pom looking her in the face. My fault for hanging it over the banister in the first place, I know. Regardless, a sad state of affairs here.

But no worries. If I so wish, I have a replacement for it. Vallen makes these gorgeous pom poms. How convenient that I have a set that perfectly match the sweater. Doesn't it look sweet? Perfect fall colors.

And speaking of Val, she had a two-year blogiversary last week. My name was one of many she pulled out of a hat for special hand-made gifts.

Look at what I won! Her wristlets are just the best. This one is tea themed. I love the old brass buttons and the turquoise and coral pieces in there. Just so lovely. I'm sure I will get many compliments on this in my journeys.

She also threw in a lagniappe (a little something extra).

She knows how Riverside's motif is a dragonfly; and just take a look at what she found for me!! That girl is just the bestest. Thank you Val. Mwwwwwaaa!

It's chillier today, finally. Perhaps I will put on my sweater with new pom pom and my new wristlet and take a stroll. I am loving this weather!