Welcome Spring

We live in the south where the winters are mostly mild.  This year we have had 2 snow storms, the most recent shut everything down.  It is so hard to imagine spring and warm weather being so close when you have a fire in the fireplace and snow is on the ground. 

A few days after the sun had come out and the snow was melting, I looked at the plants that we have growing in our yard.  Brushing away the pine needles and dead leaves, I saw the beginning of new life.  Knowing that in a few short weeks, flowers will start to bloom, leaves will grow on the trees and everything will be green again. 



God has a plan for everything.
Ecclesiastes says

1	To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2	a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

	May you always be patient and know that God will restore beauty to your life.

Please email me

If you are enjoying my blog, please send me an email at agsummer@bellsouth.net.  I will not print anything you write and I will not respond unless you request it.  Thanks.
Bridget Summerville

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope your day is full of love and happiness.  Please let everyone know how much you appreciate all that they do.  Remember, Valentine's Day is only 1 day a year, so don't let those "I love you's", "You make me happy", "I appreciate you", only be spoken today.  Hallmark and American Greetings sell cards the other 364 days of the year.  Russell Stover and Whitman's samplers can be bought all year long.  Florists have roses, tulips and carnations in July also.  Think about it.


Happy Valentine's Day.

Happy Birthday Paul

When our kids were younger, we would always try to be positive in anything that they did.  We would praise their accomplishments like making the honor roll, entering the Reflections Contest, winning the spelling or geography bee, etc... Anything that they had worked for, we would try to acknowledge it in a big way.  We would put a sign in the yard, buy a cake/giant cookie, go to their favorite restaurant or something that would let them know that we were proud of them.


When Paul was 11, I took a computer class at the local community college.  It was a 2 morning a week, 3-4 week class.  At the end of the course, we received a certificate with our name that stated that we had successfully completed the class.  I brought it home and left it in on the table. 


I had a small wooden chest in our bedroom that I kept cross stitch material, thread, and assorted frames and mats.  Nothing fancy, just some odds and ends.  When I came back that afternoon, my certificate was laying on the kitchen counter.  Paul had gotten a frame out of the chest and 'framed' my certificate.  He wanted me to know that he was proud of me.


Paul, you have always been a very thoughtful young man.  You are a good husband, father and son.  We love you very much.


Happy birthday Paul.

Lazy Sundays

When I was growing up, we used to visit my Granny on Sunday afternoons.  She lived about 5 miles away and my mom and I would go to her house.  When we would leave, we would drive another 5 miles to the two stores that my mother liked to go.  One of these stores closed many years ago.  It was the kind of store that carried everything.  Clothes, electronics, tools, etc...  The other store has now announced that they are closing in the next few weeks. 


I decided that I wanted to go walk around this store last Sunday.  It has been remodeled so nothing is like it was back in the 60s.  But I could go to the exact spot where years ago, the ICEE machine was and where they sold nuts that had been under a sun lamp, staying warm.  Sometimes, the store would have a sale on giant candy bars that were divided into squares.  Each square had a letter on it and it would spell out the name of the candy company.  My mother was a chocoholic so she would always buy them.  This was the same store that I would buy the necklace or earrings that I usually got for my mom for Christmas.


As Eric and I wandered around, we were both saying "this is where the garden supplies were, this is where the toys were", etc...


The last aisle I went down was where I would spend my time during Christmas.  It was the sporting goods aisle.  My dad loved to fish and I always bought him a pack of purple or black rubber worms, a roll of fishing line and a package of red/white corks.


As we walked out, I thought back to the days that I spent in that store in the 'big city'.  Lazy Sunday afternoons with nothing to do but walk around and smell the popcorn and wait for the Blue Light Specials.

Snow cream

Since I live in the south, we do not get snow every winter.  On the rare occasions over the years that we got enough to accumulate, my mother would always make snow cream.  Nothing like ice cream, this is a lot better.  She always used evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla.  No set recipe, just add the ingredients until it tasted like you wanted.  Fluffy or soupy.  We had a big metal bowl and spoon that she always used.  Add it all in, stir it up and dish it out. 


After both of my parents passed away and we started cleaning out their house, there was the big metal bowl.  Under the cabinet, waiting to be used again for that once a year treat.  I brought it home where it made its way under my cabinet in anticipation of a good snowfall. 


It snowed this week.  The second time since I have owned the bowl and spoon.  I made snow cream.  For a few brief minutes I was back in one of my childhood homes where my mom was adding just enough milk and vanilla to turn it from white to off-white.  It was a rare treat and one that reminded me of a time long ago. 


Thanks mom for sending the snow.  I had a bowl for you.

Scouting for Food-Feb 1, 2014

My sons were active in Scouts and always participated in Scouting for Food.  Years ago, this event was held in November so people would have food for a good Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. The dens/troop would go out one Saturday, leave a bag on mailboxes in the community and the next Saturday go back to pick up any food that the homeowners had left.  The food picked up would be taken to the local food bank to be distributed to anyone who needed it.  The bags contained anything from 1-2 cans to being full. 

I have never been hungry, nor has my family ever gone without a meal.  My mother went to the grocery store every week and we always had food. 

My sister was in Girl Scouts several years ago.  Her troop was making fruit baskets to distribute at Christmastime.  I'm not sure who they would be given to, church shut-ins, names gotten from the local community organization or whoever.  Each girl was told what to bring so that they would have a variety of items.  My sister was supposed to bring 2 oranges.  Just 2.  Nothing else.  When she told my dad what she was supposed to bring, I am sure many thoughts went through my dad's mind.  My dad had grown up during the depression when people didn't have much.  A trip was made to the local grocery store where he proceeded to buy 2 BAGS of oranges-because as he later told my sister, "I know what it's like to be hungry'.

At Christmas if you visit my parent's grave, you will see an orange sitting on the headstone.  From me with love.