Finding Crackhead Santa

Yesterday, Larry and I went to Forsyth to the Circle of Care thrift shop.  Ami, Brian and I had gone in September and had the best time.  I couldn't wait to take Larry!  We went looking for albums and we bought 14!  We lucked up and found some really cool ones!  Peter, Paul and Mary, The Moody Blues and John Denver's Back Home Again are just a few that we got.  And Larry found this awesome handmade watermelon potholder that I just had to have.  For 75 cents!  I absolutely love it.  It looks so cute in my kitchen!  We went looking for lamps for our bedside tables but didn't find any that we liked.  I want old, vintage, mismatchy and Larry wants a touch lamp.  The thrill of the hunt is what I keep telling him!

 We added a few Santas to our collection
 

I just had to have this one. Crackhead Santa is what we call him.  :)  He just looked like he needed a home.  And some rehab.
 

Y'all know I had to clean them folks out in their sheets and pillowcases!  We got two fitted sheets, two flat sheets and six pillowcases for $8!

We had lunch at Forsyth Country Cookin' and had the catfish and shrimp lunch with french fries and it was delicious!

We stopped by the furniture liquidation place to look at lamps there but it was so cold in there, we didn't stay long.  It was colder in there than it was outside so we left pretty quick.  We saw some really good deals, though, and said we'd go back.  When it's warmer!

Speaking of cold, there's a rumor going around that it's gonna snow Tuesday!  Oh, I so hope we get snowed in!!  I've been saying if it's gonna be this cold, it needs to snow and make it worth it.  Looks like maybe, just maybe...

We went over to some friends' house last night and grilled pork chops and played cards.  We had the best time!  We went to church this morning and had Sonic burgers for lunch.

Pinch me.  I'm that happy.  :)

Exploring Rose Hill

Yesterday, we enjoyed a day walking among the graves at historic Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon.  Rose Hill is old, established in 1840 and it's huge, 65 acres, nestled on the north side of Macon, right next to the Ocmulgee River.  Our photography group saw but a bit of it.  We will be back!

I took over a hundred pictures.  If you'd like to see them all, they're in my Facebook album.

Here's a group shot we took just before we went in.

Ami brought me my old Shaun Cassidy doll and I was so happy to have him!  She found him tucked away somewhere with her childhood things.  I thought for sure he was long lost to that faraway place that toys go.  I was so happy to have him that I asked him to go with us on the photo walk.  He was delighted! 

This grave tugged at my heart.  A baby girl born on my birthday and named Virginia.  There are way too many babies out there.  :(

 Those November colors made a beautiful background for all of our photos!

"Just a brown dog"

Sad story.  Lieutenant Bobby was a little brown terrier who belonged to Captain D. C. Harris and was his constant companion.  He was the official mascot of the 121st Blue Bonnet Infantry of the Georgia National Guard.  President Calvin Coolidge gave Bobby an official commission as lieutenant for his faithful attendance in training classes at Fort Benning.  He wore a tiny sword on his leather harness and he led many parades with Captain Harris.  The captain was visiting friends in a downtown hotel and Lt. Bobby fell down the elevator shaft and was killed.  He was buried there at Rose Hill with full military honors and when Captain Harris died, he was buried right next to him.

Here's a picture of Bobby in life.  Sweet boy.

An old weathered Bible left on a grave

Such beautiful detail out there.  They sure don't make graves like they used to.

For some reason, I was extremely emotional yesterday.  Not sure if it was the location and the stark realization that every grave represents a life that was lived, a real live person who walked on this earth and loved and laughed and cried and danced and felt the rain on his or her face or if it was the ever awareness that in just forty short days, my husband will be home with me, finally.  And we'll have a life to live and love and laugh and cry.  Or maybe it was a little bit of both.  This graffiti, however inappropriate in a cemetery, spoke to me and it made me cry.   Life IS temporary.  It is fleeting.  It is here today and gone tomorrow.  But love.  Love is forever.  It was in the leaves flying around in the breeze yesterday, it was in the sun shining down on us as we visited those long gone.

It was in this precious girl who died one month short of her 13th birthday of peritonitis, now an easily cured inflammation in the inner wall of the abdomen.  A two-week round of antibiotics probably would have done the trick for Little Martha Ellis but in 1896, such treatment was in its early, early stages.  Her monument and grave show the love that her parents, brothers and sisters had for her.  They adored her.  Her grave reads, "She was love personified and her memory is a sweet solace by day and pleasant dreams by night to Mamma, Papa, brothers and sisters.  We will meet again in the sweet bye and bye."  Ami and Brian had met Little Martha before and had fallen in love with her immediately.  They have gone to visit her in every season of the year.  Some people say she was the inspiration for The Allman Brothers' song, "Little Martha" from their Eat A Peach album, as they used to hang out a lot at Rose Hill.  They were drawn to her, too.  Today, she's a part of Southern rock folklore and is visited and loved by Allman Brothers' fans far and wide.  She has not been forgotten.  Her love goes on.  I know Mamma and Papa are so proud of their girl.

 Love was even in the trees yesterday.  This one especially.  :)

We had lunch at The Rookery downtown.  It was busy, loud and delicious.  I got the Allman Burger, local grown beef, swiss cheese and 'shrooms, of course!  It was very, very good. 

After lunch, we went back to Rose Hill for Round Two.  We had to go say hey to Duane and Berry.

And catch some of that gorgeous late afternoon sun!

  

After we walked this bridge on the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail, we were ready to head for home.

  

Another wonderful day!  Today, I'm pretty much paying for all that walking in bad shoes.  I have GOT to get some good walking shoes!  My heels are even swollen today.  What??  So Tabbie Hoffman and I are taking it easy today, doing some very light housework and washing up some flannel shirts I've gathered for Larry.  It looks really good to have man stuff hanging in the closet!

Country Living Fair

Friday, Brian, Ami and I went to Stone Mountain to the Country Living Fair and we had a blast!  There was so much to see and look at and touch and smell and taste.  We tried to capture the whole day in pictures and ended up with hundreds of shots.  These are some of my favorites.

This is me and Ami posin' and freezin' at the entrance.  It was the coldest October 25th that Atlanta has had since 1968.  I think it only got up to 55 all day which wasn't bad at all in the sun.  The warm sun was wonderful!  In the shade and in the wind?  It felt like Alaska.  I don't do well with cold.  At all.

Here's the famous Country Living Fair pumpkin pile! 

 Some really cool old motel room keys!

I bought that pretty little purple peace purse on top from GypsyTemple and met this sweet girl here.

Pretty parasols!

Ami said I had to get this really old tin of McCormick Ground Ginger and that she was sorry that her name wasn't Cream of Tartar.  Ha!  I've done a little research today and I've narrowed it down to it being made in the 50's or 60's.  McCormick came out with a red band at the bottom in the 70's.  It's still got ginger inside, too.  Lumpy, clumpy ginger but ginger all the same.  :)

You know that saying, "you never regret the things you buy, only the things you don't?"  Well, I'm kicking myself in the butt for not getting some of these floating star candles.  I picked 'em up, smelled 'em, loved on 'em and then put them back.  And now cannot find them online.  Waaaaaah! 

I did get a jar of this honey, though, and it is delicious!  I had some on my toast this morning.

I really loved this old pie safe, too.  Oh, the pies it has cooled in its life. 

 Here are Ami and Brian checking out some vintage cameras.

This little corner was just so warm and cozy to me!

I spent almost half my day's money right here in this soap booth!  I got bars of patchouli orange, honey almond and rosemary mint.  And I picked up a grab bag of both full size and sample size soaps.  I love that soap!  It's the best handmade natural soap I've ever tried and I have tried a lot of soap and I've made my own.  I've had a bar of lavender from the grab bag in the tub since Friday night and my whole house smells like it.  It lathers better with a poof than any shower gel or body wash I've ever seen and your skin rinses clean and soft.  I put a small bar of chocolate mint beside my kitchen sink.  I may never buy any other kind of soap again!  I'm in loooooove.

  

Ami added to her globe collection with this awesome vintage one from the 70's.

Modern June was there, too!

Here I am standing beside this HUGE speed limit sign!

And posing in front of one of the Country Living covers.

After we left the fair, we went exploring around Stone Mountain a bit and ended up at the covered bridge and old grist mill.

 Soooo beautiful and peaceful!

We topped off our amazing day with supper at Marietta Diner!  I had never been but Brian and Ami had when he worked up there.  All I have to say is if you ain't been, what you waitin' on?  I had the country fried steak and mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts and seafood bisque.  Probably the best food I've ever put in my mouth and I've put some food in there, y'all.  And the spinach pie they bring you before the meal is to absolutely lay down and die for. I'm going to try to do it justice Thanksgiving.  I loved everything about the place, the music, the atmosphere, the service, the food, everything.  I cannot wait to go back with Larry!

  

What a wonderful, exciting, awesome, yummy day!!