So Much To Do - So Little Time

Total frustration!!  I have too many things that I love to do and want to do.  There are just not enough hours in the day.  

I love working at the library...
     20 hours a week 

I love to quilt...
I want to finish my "lifetime" quilt this year.

I love to craft...
I want to start an Etsy shop.

I love photography, especially flowers...
I want learn Photoshop Elements

I love to read, especially when I have company...
2 hours a day.

The Cloud, Chicago

I love to travel...
I want to see more of the World.

I love to play golf...
I want to play once or twice a week.

I love to Blog...
last but not least.


Plaid Pages, A Journal
Eating In and Out and About
Quick Tips & Notes




I also have a "not gonna do" list...learn to knit, work with polymer clay, learn to water color, learn to play the dulcimer, Master Gardener Program.  


It's all about priorities and staying focused.  That sounds good, but I am easily distracted.  That's when I remind myself that life's a journey and sometimes I have to stop and "smell the roses" or perhaps, just sit and do nothing!

Happy 101st Birthday

To commemorate the anniversary of my Mom's birth in 1910 I am posting again a Blog I did for her last Mother's Day!


Sybil Clare McLean Grant

My Mom would have been 101 years old today.  She made it to 96 and was ready to go.  She was a wonderful Mom and I miss her.  She was my friend.


This is a tribute to her life in pictures and a few words.


She was born on August 27, 1910, in Keifer, Oklahoma.  Her parents were O. F. and Elva McLean.


The President of the United States was William Howard Taft and Vice President was James S. Sherman.

1914

The year's top stories: John D. Rockefeller establishes Rockefeller Foundation for benefit of humanity, Glacier National Park was dedicated, the first Father's Day, Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls founded, Comisky Park opened, 3M was founded, NY Penn Station opened, Halley's comet appeared in our sky..

1914-Tom Thumb Wedding Picture

Inventions: Geiger counter, crystal set radio and neon tube was produced


Women wore hobble skirts which were tight around the ankles and the Gibson Girl was the American Ideal (my grandmother's hairdo in the picture above was the Gibson Girl style), 1st dance marathon and ballroom dancing became popular.

1934 Wedding Announcement

at 24..The Vamp style?

Happy Birthday-2011, Mom!  I know you are with me in spirit if not in body!


*This post first appeared in August, 2010, on the anniversary of her birthday.  My plan is to repeat this post on her birthday each year and maybe even on Mother's Day...

The Help

(This is not a spoiler!!!!  For those of you that have read the book you know what happens anyway.)  

Today I went to the movie..."The Help".  It was the release day for the movie based on the book by Kathryn Stockett.  My friend, Kathy, emailed that she would meet us on the back row of the theater around 12:30pm.  She is good to keep us up to date on all current movies.  We meet her on the back row.




Enough conversation...back to the movie...


I have been pondering how to review "The Help".  I have not read the book.  I know that it is a phenomenal success.  It has had a waiting list at our library since it was published.  I have one friend who was lukewarm after reading it and another who did not like it at all.  Kathy liked the movie better than the book...now that is a twist!


All this being said I had a hard time relating to this microcosm of society.  I had to keep in mind this is a movie so all stereotypical personalities were concentrated in a 1 1/2 hour movie.  It took me a few minutes to get into its rhythm.  

The acting was superb and it was fun seeing some old favorites appear in supporting roles: Cissy Spacek, Cecily Tyson, Mary Steenburgen.  

I feared that it would be a three-hankie movie, but I didn't even use the "just-in-case" Kleenex Kathy gave me. I was more involved in trying to figure out how I fit into the story since I lived in this time period.  


This movie gave me pause to think.  I was born in 1939 so I grew up in this era. Should I have known these people portrayed in the movie?  I do not remember knowing any white people like those in the movie. We never had any "help".  


My Mom and Dad had a cafe and we had "help" in the kitchen. Mattie was our meat and potatoes cook and Irene was the best pie baker in the world.  My Dad filled in where he was needed. I am sure Mattie and Irene had stories.  However, I was just a kid and was oblivious to everything except kid stuff.  

Mattie, my friend
Circa 1950

All I know is they were my friends at the cafe.  I filled in for my Mom at the register so they were my fellow workers.  Also, I ate every meal there and they cooked for me.  My mouth waters just thinking about Mattie's Chicken Fried Steak and Irene's cherry pie..my favorites!


Everyone should see this movie.  It will give you pause to think about where we were, where we are now and how we got there and where we will be in the future.  BTW you get a few laughs along the way, too!

Over-nighter! in Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez in on the Mississippi River
Downstream from Vicksburg
Across from Vidalia, Louisiana

We have taken our "big" trips for 2011.  The rest of the year we will do one-day trips and over-nighters.  We decided to check out Natchez before we committed to their Balloon Race or Christmas Week Events...even though "they" say the time to go to Natchez is in the Spring when the azaleas are blooming.  

Only remaining Inn out of about 50 that existed
 on 500 mile Natchez Trace
running from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez

We stopped at Mount Locust, a National Park, on the Natchez Trace.  We visited with the Ranger who is one of the family who originally owned and ran the Inn.... his great-great grandmother. I bought a National Park medallion for my hiking stick and a postcard to mail to myself.*  


Natchez doesn't show much for itself on Sunday afternoon.  One gift shop was open, as was the Riverboat Casino and a restaurant, Magnolia Grill.  We located the hotel/motel area thanks to the gift shop guy. We selected Best Western. (We'll try the Hampton Inn on our next trip.)

Known as Nutt's Folly
Unfinished above the Basement

I was ready to come home the next morning, but decided I needed to give it another chance.  Good thing! or we would have missed Longwood.  It was worth the trip.  We stopped at the Rosalie (another antebellum home) gift shop before heading out of town.


We won't be going back for the Balloon Race, but might think about the Spring. We decided to put the Albuquerque Balloon Race on our big list. After all, it is the granddaddy of all balloon races.


We took the "roads" up the east side of Louisiana, Hamburg and Star City, Arkansas, to come home.  Cut new territory for both of us.


(See Slide Show on Side Bar for more pictures.)


*Many years ago I decided to send postcards to us while on the trip instead of bringing home any more dust catchers.  My postcard album has become a journal. If I want to know where we were in a certain year, I head for that album/journal.