The Perfect Puddle Fail.

I’ve been a bit obsessed with puddles lately. Which is convenient, since we just had a Tropical Storm come all the way up the middle of our state. (Granted it wasn’t a Tropical Storm when it reached me, but it was still pretty dang wet.) I don’t usually get hung up on getting a specific […]

Why Alabama Lost.

So Alabama lost. Did you hear? My husband handled it awfully well – I think he nearly tuned out the last fifteen minutes of the game, clearly as a psychological coping mechanism. But it was effective, as the children didn’t get woken up by screams of agony and defeat, which is a much better fate […]

Hosepipe.

If I understand the differences in regional dialects correctly, some of y’all don’t call this a hosepipe. You call it a “garden hose” or just a “hose” or some other type of gibberish. In Alabama, we call it summer entertainment. That is, unless you’re not the one holding the hosepipe. Then it’s called a source […]

The Perils of Sunset Chasing.

So the sunset betrayed me last week. Birmingham isn’t an easy city to photograph – we have hills and trees and trees and hills. BUT. The downtown area is in a basin. So if you can get above it in any way, it’s MAGNIFICENT. Besides the mountain ranges on the south and east sides, there […]

A Rainy Day With Thomas.

On Monday morning, nine out of ten Facebook Statuses in my feed were bemoaning a flooded basement, a flooded back yard, a flooded street, or a flooded everything. Sunday was slightly moist around here. And of course, that would be the day we had picked out to visit Thomas the Train. It was the last […]

An Hour With the Horizon.

We made it home, carefully, yesterday afternoon. One of the most glorious moments in Eufaula was the sunset Wednesday night. In fact, our cottage had a perfect sunset and sunrise view – so I’m already planning a return visit. But Wednesday night. The snow on the beach had faded, but was still dazzlingly covering the […]

It’s Fashion, Y’all. Gameday Fashion.

I wasn’t going to post one this year. I know, I know – it’s tradition. But I live-tweeted it instead on a particularly fun gameday, and I thought that was good enough. Apparently it was not. I had people who missed it. Or wanted it all again. And some that even said “it’s all they […]

Top Ten Moments of Christmas.

It was a good Christmas. Many of our past Christmases have contained moments (or longer) of frustration and unmet expectations, which became exponentially blown out of proportion because of the fact that it’s CHRISTMAS DAY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD and ALL IS SUPPOSED TO BE COMPLETELY IDYLLIC. You know, like a kid busting her head […]
Fall Foliage Birmingham Alabama

On The Appreciation of Autumn.

I had a doctor’s appointment first thing Monday morning, so the kids spent the prior night with my parents. On the way to pick them up, I stopped by the outlet mall to buy some shoes. And the trees in the parking lot were marvelous. They inspired me. I decided that a Fall Foliage Field […]

The Recipe For Educational Calamity.

The Pumpkin Patch Field Trip of your Nightmares. Yield: 15 Exasperated Mothers and 58 Screaming Children. Prep Time: Longer than you can possibly conceive. Calories: Certainly enough will be burned to justify mass chocolate consumption for the following seven days. Directions: 1. Wake your children from their restful slumber in order to arrive on time. […]