Things I Love

This used to be a THING. 

I shared "Things I Love," blatantly copied from my buddy Barbara O'Connor's blog. 

I think she calls hers Things I Love Thursdays.

It was a thing I did with some regularity. 

But when you move, many things go by the wayside, including some things I love(d).

(and writing in my blog kind of took a nose-dive, too!)

But I kept this.

 

Because it has a story.

My husband brought three of these from a Navy deployment in Rota, Spain. They are olive jars. I filled two with flour and sugar, back in the day. I filled the third with shells we'd collected from beaches everywhere! And he turned it into a lamp.

Then we moved to Florida. All three became shell jars. One held a large conch shell, a gift from my first-born granddaughter's Great Godmother on her baptism!

When we moved again, I gave her the jar and the shell.

I brought one with me to our new home, the one filled with shells from beaches everywhere.

The stories our THINGS tell, right?

 

Linda Sue Park has a new book I haven't read but keep reading about. 

I bet it would make a great writing activity, for young and old.

Things I Love: Old and New

Can you think of anything better than a Writers Reunion?
My original critique group, sans one important member, happened to be at the same place at the same time yesterday.

So I dusted off (figuratively speaking) two favorite old things, my tomato server and a silver compote. Not to mention a story or two.

They are favorites because they were wedding gifts I've used a lot.
And love a lot.
The tomato server was a gift of my grandmother's lifelong best friend, who shared her "S" initial with me and gave me her engraved server.

The compote came from one of the funniest ladies I've ever known. Annie B. Gipson.
When I was a middle-grader, I worked with her and we laughed all the time.

 Here's the reason we gathered. Our friend Leslie Guccione was in town.
Look at those yummy New Jersey tomatoes!

 Here we all are!
Lee Stokes Hilton, Leslie, and Kay Kaiser.
(Lee's excellent food blog can be found
HERE.)









The GLORY BE M&Ms fall into the realm of new favorite things. Leftover from one of my last school visits.
And the idea came from an amazing Mother Daughter Book Group dinner, a connection made through a teaching colleague many years ago when I worked in Baltimore.
A job I loved.
With people I truly loved (and still do!).

Such good memories.
Now I'll stop strolling down memory lane and get back to the fabulous writing ideas this group generated. 


(You may be interested in this post, about one of my trips back "home" to Baltimore.)

A Thing I Totally Love

School has ended in Florida and some of those last letters are just reaching me, possibly written in the final, fun, hectic days.
A batch arrived just now- written by an after-school Book Club's very enthusiastic, Book-Battling readers. 
Near the end of the year, we'd had a fun afternoon together.

Loved all the messages, especially the musical notes and Elvis Rocks! Elvis Lives! etc. illustrations.

But this card might take the cake.
Something I'll smile about for a long time.

Look closely. See how cleverly he sneaked that "L" into Glory?

The teacher told me they had a great laugh over the original.

They agreed it would make an excellent follow-up title for my next book about Glory:

Gory Be! Gloriana Gets Mad

A Thing I (still) Love...

Today I noticed a spatter of coral peeking out in my garden.
My amaryllis, the one an un-named superhero karate-chopped a while ago, is blooming again.

The emergency work I did, dividing it and babying it and making sure it survived, worked!
It also bloomed last year, but quite honestly, a friendly dog visitor decided it was tempting and chopped away at the foliage, so I didn't have much hope for it returning this spring.

*I love dogs and superheros as much as flowers, so I didn't over-worry about it.

TWO blooms, and counting!

You may read my tale of Superhero and Flower in combat, if you missed it previously, RIGHT HERE.

A Thing I Love, Not for Thursday

For a while I copied <someone> who is wildly successful with her Things I Love Thursday blogposts.

Then I kind of forgot about it. 
Until today. And it's not Thursday. 
But I had to take a picture quick, before the Thing I Love was gone forever.

Two words:

BRIDGE MIX.

Here's why I love it. When I was a little girl, maybe 8 or 9, my grandmother taught me to play Canasta. I must have been pretty good because if she and her usual players were desperate for a fourth, they'd let me sit in. 

There was always a bowl of Bridge Mix on the card table.
I'd pick all the chocolate-covered nuts.

So when I saw this Bridge Mix recently, and it was ALL chocolate-covered nuts, I grabbed it. I'm almost through the bag.

I also love the little bowl. I bought it in Paris for my first granddaughter.
Great memories.
Now back to munching...

 

If you're still reading, here's another thought on Bridge Mix.

I once (2009, which seems like eons ago) wrote about those card games in an essay in Mississippi Magazine on Front Porch Gliders.
Here's a little of what I said:

As their frequent substitute during my pre-teen summers, I sat in on their weekly games. My seat was the low-slung porch glider.

Most often I played on the front porch of our neighbor, Miss Rubye. Her card table was cooled by a slow-turning ceiling fan and lit by a standing lamp that hovered over the table like a judge. Grandmother Keith sat next to me. No relation, but she was my friend’s grandmother and I was invited to share her, which I did, lovingly. On my left was Miss Rubye or another of the regular players if we convened on a different front porch. And across the table sat my partner, my grandmother.

The ladies held three-deck Samba hands in round holders which made it easier to grasp fifteen cards while smoking their nonstop cigarettes. They shuffled with a fascinating gizmo whose handle turned to spit out perfect decks. And they loved to talk.

They didn’t talk much about cards. They didn’t need to. These women could play with their eyes closed. They talked about our little town, the people in it, trips to the Big Star grocery, and what went on at church. They talked peripherally about cooking, although my grandmother’s idea of cooking was limited to spreading cream cheese onto Boston Brown Bread rounds or to the delicious watermelon pickle she created for her Canasta group.

I didn’t talk much at those card games. I was there to listen. That was the thing about front porches and gliders. Something was always happening, even “just” sitting and listening.

Amaryllis, revisted

Checking in on my amazingly beautiful flower this year.

We replanted it a month ago, from a pot right into the earth.

Here it is! 

Tons of blooms- And more to come.

If you missed my blog about Superhero karate-chopping the blooms for me,  
CLICK HERE to revisit last year's flower story.

Another Thing I Love

It's a grey day in Florida.
No, I don't especially love that. But I love hunkering down with a pot of tea and a great book.

 Such a good book- PINNED by Sharon Flake. I'm rereading it today and loving it all over again.
Fast-paced story, female wrestler, two strong character voices. 

And my tea?
I discovered a box of  Mariage Frères Earl Grey, hiding in the back of my cupboard. I am in heaven.
Thanks, Julie, for sending me to the Mariage Frères teashop in Paris for their yummy Marco Polo tea.
Thank you, Kate, for finding the tea in your Dean and Deluca!

Thank you, Sharon Flake, for writing such a fabulous book.

All's right with the world.
Happy weekend, everybody.

Two Things I Love

Once upon a time. Okay it was Christmas before last to be specific. My sister-in-law sent us an amaryllis bulb from White Flower Farm. I tucked it into the pot and it grew to be quite beautiful. Inside my house in Florida. I even love the name: Dancing Queen.

Did I say I now live in Florida? I know nothing about growing tropical plants. But the bulb seemed healthy so I hid it behind a shady palm, near a fence, and promptly forgot about it. Till about a month ago. It was well on its way to having six blooms. I admired it often.

Then a Superhero spied it.

He karate-chopped the flower off. And gave it to me. Amazingly, it survived in a vase.

And continued to open its blooms for me to enjoy.
 Inside.
(Next to another Thing I love.)

I left the bulb, flowerless and sad, in its pot outside. Guess what happened?

Another blossom! And the flowers are still opening!
I hope it will survive another season.

I intend to put it in the ground, away from the fearless arm of Superhero.

So the two things I love today? Dancing Queen and Superhero.

 

A Thing I Love: Happy birthday, Elvis

In my past life, I adored Elvis Presley. I've mostly grown out of that, but there are moments when it comes back to me.

Like when this Christmas a gift arrived from Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.
(FYI: I'll actually be there signing books on March 1! Click here for the link!)

I suspected something exciting when I saw the wrapping.

When I was MUCH younger, I had a Plaster-of-Paris Elvis statue. Maybe it's my imagination, but I remember the bust as being almost as large as a basketball. Other than that, it looked exactly like this one. My mother loved to discard unnecessary things. I'm sure she ditched my Elvis statue as soon as I left for college. Yes, it was a dust-catcher. But thank goodness she didn't get her hands on my Elvis scrapbook. Because now I've finally found the perfect spot for my new statue and my old Elvis wallpaper: Glory's Junk Poker box.

So, on Elvis's birthday, I want to share my newest Thing I Love. Thanks to my niece Amy who sent it from Square Books for Christmas.

Elvis on my Christmas Table-

Or maybe you prefer Elvis the King? He has outfits!

Not as large as a basketball, but small enough to fit into a shoebox. Perfect!

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Absolutely must know more? Click away!

Possibly Related Blog Post:

My Junk Poker Box

One of my Elvis Essays

A Thing I Love

This is what I'm looking at on my counter this morning. A gift from a friend's tree. It's still dark outside so the picture doesn't do the grapefruit justice. But I can't resist sharing my morning's writing inspiration. Cute leaves, no?

Things I Love, for a special reason

 I'm not the kind of cook who needs expensive kitchen tools.

This one wouldn't be a Thing I Love, except for the story. I love it for a special reason. It came from Paris.

My friend Kay and I bought garlic presses on the trip we made after our first stay together in Paris during the weeks around September 11, 2001.

There's a long story attached to that experience, too long for a blog. Involving family and friends in airplanes, in Washington DC, in New York. All petrified when they couldn't get in touch with me or my husband. Finally finding me, finally sending emails, cheering us up with reminders to have Berthillon ice cream and long, beautiful walks.



That story had a happy ending. But Kay and I had sad memories. So as soon as we could, we went back to Paris. We revisited our apartment and our internet cafe, the museums, the patisseries. We found garlic presses. They are pretty amazing, for a kitchen tool.

Now, every time I use this, I think of Paris. The memories are very happy now.
This may seem like a frivolous post about a garlic press. Really, it's about more than gadgets, or even Paris.

Related Post: September 11

Another Thing I Love

Looking forward to a reunion of our original New Jersey critique group next week. We moved in different directions when one moved to MA, one to TX and I mostly to FL.

But I learned so much and have so many terrific memories from our weekly meetings. GLORY BE was born on those Wednesday mornings.

Our primary mover and shaker, Leslie Davis Guccione, will visit via travels from her tenure at Seton Hill's MFA residency. Can't wait to hear all she learned, all she taught,  AND hear more about the upcoming publication of her book.

This quote, made perfect by Leslie's gift, on a razor clam shell (Did I say she's very creative?!) is the thing I'm loving today:

"Whatever our theme in writing, it is old and tired. Whatever our place, it has been visited by the stranger, it will never be new again. It is only the vision that can be new, but that is enough.”  

~ Eudora Welty

And that's seaglass, collected from a visit to her Massachusetts beach. What a treasure- all three!

2 More Favorite Things

This huge scented geranium and the normal sized pot of lavender grow in a sunny spot in my not-so-big garden. The scented geranium was a gift from my mother-in-law's garden, over 20 years ago. She claimed it kept mosquitoes away. If it gets any larger, it will keep everything away. Last spring I cut it back so much that I thought it would never return. Ha. I live in a tropical rain forest. It came back.

It loses something in the photo. I wish you could stick your nose into the computer and breathe deeply. Then you would appreciate why I love this.

Oh, and I also love this because lavender and scented geranium are two of the main ingredients in Fairy Soup...

Related Posts: Things I love.

Fairy Soup

A Thing I Love

Uber-writer Barbara O'Connor recently started posting something she loves on her blog each Thursday, along with a little story. She calls it-- ta-da!-- Things I Love Thursday. You can click that link and search for other similar posts of hers.

I'm not promising things I love enough to make a whole year of Thursdays. But there is something in my kitchen that every time I pass close to it (often), I think to myself: That's the best thing in my house and I love it!

Since I'm copying from the best, I'll do what she does and tell the story.

My daughter and I were trapped in front of her TV for long periods of the past hot summer. We watched Giada cook. Enjoying ourselves, mostly. I casually remarked that I thought the fruit/ veggie basket holder/ thingie in Giada's kitchen was very cool.  My daughter researched it, and she gave it to me for my August birthday.

It's made by Chilewich, in Chatsworth GA, and they call it a "3-tier tray." It came in many parts with a design flaw that needed tweaking. Fortunately, I have the world's cleverest tweaker in the family. Eventually it was assembled. The tray fits perfectly in my kitchen, and it's something I definitely, truly love.

I had to move it to a sunny spot to take that picture. Here's a view of the basket where it lives in the corner, from a couple of weeks ago, posing with my Mississippi State cheese. Which I also love. Hey, maybe there's something to this Things I Love Weekly.

(I just don't like this photo so much. Maybe it's the ugly garlic. But those little tomatoes are growing in my garden, and the basil is now twice that big, in a sunny window. Maybe I should call these blog posts Things I Love in the Kitchen. Or maybe I should get back to blogging about books and writing... What do you think?)