Goodness, what a February!

We have surely had a FULL February!!  Our friend, Stephanie, came to visit the first part of the month.  We so loved having her here again!  We enjoyed her company, her cooking, her talent, and Banjo and Tabbie Hoffman enjoyed having her here during the day and snuggling with her at night.  In fact, Banjo started sleeping in the guest bed after she left because he missed her.  Awww!  

We celebrated Ami's birthday at Olive Garden here in town on the 4th and it was so great to have everybody together.  We had a blast!  

My baby sister is 40.  So incredibly hard to believe.  Life is so short, getting shorter every day, so we need to make the most of every day.  Love on the ones you love today because tomorrow is not promised.

I took a couple of days off work to show Steph around a bit.  We went to the Museum of Aviation, Wilson's Bakery and thrifting one day.  I was checking out at the thrift store and all of a sudden, I heard this beautiful music playing!  I looked around and saw Steph sitting at a piano, just playing away.  Stephanie is a musician, after all, and has her own band, so naturally if there's a piano nearby, she's gonna play it!  It was such a treat.  She had the whole store in awe.  We went to a couple of really good estate sales on another day and there was a piano in one of the houses.  Sure enough, Stephanie played!  One of the estate sale employees did a video of her playing and she said she was going to show it to the lady of the house, who is now in a nursing home.  She told us she'd be happy to know that somebody was playing her piano.

I love this picture I took of Stephanie at an estate sale down in Perry that Friday.  I bought this plastic flamingo and when Stephanie left here, she flew to Cancun, Mexico to bird watch the flamingos!  We joked that this was her first flamingo sighting on her trip.  Ha! 

We took her back to Atlanta on the 12th, to a hotel, since her flight to Mexico was really, really early on the 13th.  We stopped in Juliette and had lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe (fried green tomatoes, of course!).  Steph and I had the Bennett's BBQ sandwich and I declare, that doggone Frank Bennett is still delicious after all these years!

We walked McCrackin Street, browsing in the little gift shops and I swear, once, we caught a glimpse of the bee charmer.  I'm sure of it.  It may sound silly, but every time I'm there, I can feel the spirits of Idgie and Ruth.  I just love that story so much!

After we'd found some vintage goodies and sampled some fudge, we left Juliette and headed north to High Falls State Park.  It was a beautiful day to climb some rocks and put our feet in the freezing cold water.  Well, maybe it was just me doing the feet thing.  Larry and Stephanie climbed the rocks.  :)

Stephanie and I took this selfie in the car on the way to Atlanta.  It pretty much summed up how we were feeling.  It's never goodbye though, just see ya later! We're already looking forward to having her come see us again.

Larry's and my 18th wedding anniversary was the 13th and we'd already opened our presents to each other AND our Valentines.  We're awful.  We do that at birthdays and Christmas, too.  We just can't wait.

Larry got me (us) a Google Home and we have had the best time with that thing!

We play music and make shopping lists and play trivia and get her to tell us jokes and sing songs to us and we get the weather forecast every day before we go out.  It's awesome.  I'm trying to get "her" to say "I love you" and her responses to me telling her I love her (and I do it every day!) are getting more and more friendly.  She was saying things like "you're not so bad yourself" and now she says things like "I love helping you, even more than I love searching."  

She's playing hard to get.



Larry has always gotten me traditional anniversary gifts and for the 18th, you're supposed to give porcelain.  He found this beautiful girl for me at an estate sale.  Isn't she so elegant??
 

 

He also gave me this BLUE Fire-King relish dish!  The blue is kinda rare and I'd never seen one in the wild (only online, eBay and various Pyrex/Fire-King groups) and I was tickled to get it!!  I have a couple of the white ones and a couple of deviled eggs trays to match but I didn't have a bluuuuuue!

We've just celebrated all month.  Our anniversary, Valentine's Day and Larry's birthday, which was Friday.  I got a new piece of Pink Daisy Pyrex and a pretty blue Fenton hobnail vase, too, and I gave him a remote control drone with an HD camera so that he can take aerial photos!  I also got him the last two ghost division Army patches that he needed to complete that set and some new clothes to run in.  He gets up every morning now and runs for an hour and a half.  Bless it.  

We went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant on our anniversary and Larry had set it up for the waiter to bring me a rose and card during our dinner.  Soooooo dang sweet!!

Yesterday, we went to Massee Lane Gardens down in Fort Valley to continue our birthday celebration.  It was such a gorgeous day with even more gorgeous blooms!  We spent almost two hours walking and taking pictures and smelling the flowers.  Well, maybe that was just me smelling the flowers.

And when we got home, we found that one of the little tulip bulbs that I bought at Christmas and planted on MLK Day last month had bloomed while we were gone!  I've never grown tulips before and I am so happy to have this little one.

It is well with my soul

Winter came back this weekend but we didn't let it stop us!  It was 37 degrees and very windy yesterday morning when we loaded up a dresser that my sweet friend, Stacy, gave us for Baby Charlotte, and headed up to Atlanta to deliver it so Rhiana could paint it and get it ready for tiny pink clothes.  Larry sanded it down last week so all she'd have to do is paint it.  It's beautiful, solid wood and very old. The date on the mirror is 1958. Rhiana loved it.  And she's already painted it white.  It's going to be so beautiful in the baby's room.  We stopped on the way in Juliette to have lunch at The Whistle Stop Cafe, one of my very favorite places to be!  I posted on Facebook that I was going to see Idgie and Ruth and I sure did!  I even have photographic proof.  :)   I love these sweet girls!!

After we had a plate of those famous tomatoes, we had a pulled pork (or is it??) dinner plate with sides, cornbread and sweet tea.
  

We got there about an hour and a half after they opened and they were sooooo busy!  They always are, though.  We ate at the counter rather than wait for a booth and I'm so glad we did.  I'd never eaten at the counter before, in all the times I've been to The Whistle Stop, and I found that I actually preferred it.  The atmosphere is so much better.  

This plaque was right where we sat.  I'd never even seen it before and I've been up there at least a dozen times.  The tea was sweeter and the tomatoes were the best they have EVER been.  I took a few to Rhiana and Baby Charlotte.  They enjoyed them, too.  :)

I took a few pictures of Larry while we walked around.  This was his first trip to The Whistle Stop and I tried to show him everything.  Here he is at Big George's smoker grill.  I love how they're trying to keep everything the same.  It's been 24 years since the movie crew left and so much of McCrackin Street is exactly the same.

Here's Big George doin' his thang back then.

 This is how he does it now.  :)

We stopped by to see old Smokey Lonesome, too.

Larry tried to see whose mouth was bigger. The donkey barely won.

We took back roads into Atlanta since we had the dresser on the back of the truck and that was soooo nice.  The sun was shining, we had a beautiful view of blue sky and green everything around us and we just enjoyed the drive.  It took a little longer and the girls were getting antsy by the time we finally got there.  We had a great visit full of hugs and giggles, got home late so we've had a very lazy day today.  Unmade bed, pancakes for breakfast, pajamas until the afternoon, a pretty relaxed, awesome day.  :)

We hit a few yard sales on our way out of town here yesterday and I stayed in the truck while Larry checked them out.  We struck gold at one of them!  Literal Pyrex Gold for a DOLLAR.  75+ old rock and country albums for $12 and a 1964 Milton Bradley Password game for two dollars.  This casserole is a pattern I'd never seen before!  Golden Honeysuckle.  Just in time for summer!  Pyrex made this beauty sometime between 1962-63.  It's older than me!  (Oh yeah, Larry put me up a clothesline, too!!  Yay!!)

We put this up over our back door today.  I just love it.

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know

It is well, it is well with my soul

(Horatio Spafford)

The Nichols (and me!) take the Whistle Stop Cafe

I met Mike and Brandy at one of my very favorite places today for lunch.  The Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette.

In all the times I've been to the Whistle Stop, I have NEVER seen it as crowded as it was today.  I got there a little after 11:00 just as a bus pulled up with a bunch of little old ladies and then it just filled up from there.  

And it was hot.  And in trying to snag us a booth before there weren't any more, I picked one on the side where the ceiling fans didn't work.  Yay, me.  I understand them wanting to keep the cafe the way it was when the movie was filmed there but knowing Idgie and Ruth the way I do, I feel pretty sure they wouldn't mind a little central cooling up in there.  Just sayin'.

We had a great time anyway!!  I usually get the Bennett's barbecue sammich (secret's in the sauce!) but today, I got fried chicken with mashed potatoes, fried okra and cornbread.  Oh, and a side of fried green tomatoes, of course.  OF COURSE I DID.

 Hush yo' mouf.

Beautiful little Willow dancing on the porch of the cafe

How darling is this baby boy??  

Roan had the right idea 'cause man, it was HOT.

 

After we ate, we walked around the village and popped into several of the little antique and junk stores there.  I found this adorable sign in one of the junk stores that I HAD to have for my kitchen!! I love it!!  Our favorite store was The Honeycomb, a unique little shop filled with local honey (they're beekeepers, by the way!) and lots of little trinkets.  Oh, and COLD RC Colas!!  I got a bar of lavender, milk and honey soap that smells absolutely divine.  I don't even want to use it.  I'm just gonna let it smell up the place.  :)

Our fun day was over too soon since they had to get back to Atlanta so after we parted, I did something else that I've never done before, in all the times I've been to the Whistle Stop.  I went and explored the church grounds and cemetery of the church from the movie.  In the movie, it's a Baptist church but actually, it's a United Methodist church.  Same difference, right?  The only difference is how wet you get when you get baptized.  :) 

I paid my respects to Buddy and Ruth.  I thought it was so cool that they put the little headstones side by side.

Fried Green Tomatoes is a 21-year-old movie and this little town survives entirely from tourists and fans of that beautiful love story.  Judging by that crowd today, I'd say they're still doing just fine.

Why I'm in love with the Whistle Stop Cafe

I got my fried green tomatoes!

And my barbecue sammich.

"That frying pan did more than fry chicken that night."

 I saw the train that killed Buddy.  :*(

I soaked up some Whistle Stop sunshine with my mama!

I saw the very spot where Big George barbecued that buzzard, Frank Bennett, or so I've been told.  "Dead men tell no tales."

I saw the final resting place of Buddy, Jr.'s arm.

"The Good Lord was watchin' over Stump that day."

 I saw my first real-life movie prop!

This brick looks real, don't it?  It's NOT!  It is FAKE.  As many times as I've been to Juliette and walked up and down the little road that ends at the Whistle Stop, I never noticed this!  And I don't think we would have today if Brian hadn't noticed that it looked like it was peeling.  Wait.  Brick doesn't PEEL.  What??  The entire building, the bank and "druggist", from the movie is covered in this stuff.  A real genuine fake movie prop!  It feels like rubber.  Awesome.

I made friends with a cute li'l Air Force guy.  :)

This little bear told me about a bee charmer 
that he still sees from time to time.

I saw the falls from the movie.  Another first!

And I walked down to the river. It was absolutely gorgeous!

 I saw an old bus that called out to me.  :)

And I had just the most wonderful day with my family!  I saw more of the Whistle Stop area than I've ever seen and Mama and I have been going up there for 15 years!

We also saw some cabins for rent and found out that the old grist mill holds a motorcycle museum now and that it'll be open again in the spring.  We'll be going back for that!

It was never more'n just a little knockabout place, but now that I look back on it, when that cafe closed, the heart of the town just stopped beatin'.  It's funny how a little place like this brought so many people together. - Ninny Threadgoode, Fried Green Tomatoes.

Happy Birthday, Ami!

 

Today is my sweet sister's birthday.  We celebrated her day by taking a trip up to Juliette to the famous Whistle Stop Cafe, home to Idgie and Ruth, Sipsey and Big George and Smokey Lonesome.  What a wonderful movie that is!

I found this little video on YouTube that I wanted to put here for Ami.  It's a bunch of scenes of Idgie and Ruth from the movie set to the song, "For Good" from the play, "Wicked", that we both love.

Here's a picture I took today of Ami and Mama on the porch of the Whistle Stop.  I love how it turned out!

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!  I'm so happy I got to spend it with you today.  I wish you every happiness and joy your little heart can hold.  I love you so much!!  "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

"And now they say that lake is somewhere over in Georgia..."

After I left Mike and Brandy today, I was starving so instead of grabbing a sandwich somewhere, I came up with this most wonderful idea to stop at the Whistle Stop in Juliette and get some fried green tomatoes and maybe a barbecue sammich (the secret's in the sauce!).  It's only about 20 miles from High Falls and was on my way home.  I even called Mama and told her I wish she was with me.  The last time I went to the Whistle Stop, she was.

Wonderful idea, right??

Well, I get there and they're closed.  They're only open for breakfast and lunch.  Duh.  I KNEW that!!  Just wasn't thinking.

I walked around a bit and took some pictures and felt the presence of Idgie and Ruth like I always do ('cause, y'all, I swear they are there!) and then I went and grabbed a sandwich somewhere.  Dang it.