Georgia on my mind

Joshilyn Jackson has written another gripping tale featuring memorable southern characters, including one more memorable aunt! While Bernese is different than Aunt Flo from Gods in Alabama, both women will remain in your thoughts long after you close the books!

Bernese and her sisters are all members of the Frett family who have raised Nonny, who is biologically a Crabtree. The Crabtrees and the Fretts have had an ongoing feud that began long before the story begins but intensifies after Nonny's birth and rages throughout the novel.

Set in the town of Between, the novel focuses on Nonny who is caught between the two warring families, the two towns of Between and Athens and between her husband and best friend.

Ms. Jackson's books are great for those of us who need that "southern fix" in our reading! (While I still get the argument that Florida is not really part of "The South," the part I grew up in is dern close to southern Georgia!) Having said that, I cannot wait for Ms. Jackson's next novel which is set in Florida!

Old Folks at Home

We returned from Florida on Tuesday. It was great to see everyone and spend some time at my mom and dad's "resort." (I'm not sure my parents see it quite the same way but for my kids--it's a bit better than many other vacations! True, there are no roller coasters but they get breakfast cooked to order, lunch and dinner with no wait--in fact, they're reluctant to get out of the pool to eat--and there is the pool! A pool in the backyard! No car ride, elevator ride, no keys necessary to get to the POOL!) As if all that weren't enough for a summer vacation, they have cousins to play with! So it's a nice break for them (on other vacations, they are each other's only peer). This summer they've met a few kids in our new town but don't have many friends yet so it was wonderful for them to have cousins around to play with all week!

While we did visit my folks at home, they are not yet old. The title of the post is of course, also the title of the Florida state song. The first line of that song, "Way down upon the Swanee river..." put me in mind of the other story while I was home. People boating and fishing on the Suwannee river in Florida are being hit by jumping sturgeon! Talk about some old residents! These ancient fish jump right out of the water--no one knows exactly why. The river is lower this year than it has been, more people are out on the river so the problem has become more noticeable.

We celebrated my mom's birthday a week early while I was there, which was nice. Her actual birthday is tomorrow so Mom: if you read this in time, Happy Birthday!

Never Enough

I am six months pregnant now and the kids are excited but it is not enough. They asked tonight if we could please adopt an eleven or twelve-year-old girl.

(N is tired of having to be the oldest; now she'll have TWO younger BROTHERS. So her life is unfair but the fact that we did not sit down and have a serious discussion--ending in her getting her way--helped her come to the conclusion that we are simply mean).

Whatever gets you through the night

It started with an alarm going off at about midnight. It seemed to coming from my son's room. After the second or third time that it went off, I went to investigate in the dark. It seemed to be coming from the stack of clean clothes in his room but I know I did not plant anything in there. It must be the watch he found today. I guess he had big plans for the middle of the night! I can't find the watch, of course, so I pray that whatever it's set for has passed and we're done. No such luck.

I listen to it go off a few more times before I decide to get back up and hide/destroy the thing. Except when I go back, the noise is not coming from his room--now it's coming from N's.

She has an "organizer" that she won from some contest that has an alarm that has been going off nightly. It has not seemed so loud on past evenings but I have heard it almost every night. Earlier today, I did ask her if she could find the thing and turn it off. She didn't think she'd unpacked that box yet. (So helpful). I asked her kindly to unpack the box, find the thing and turn it off before she went to bed.

Apparently, to a nine-year-old, that means move the box away from the closet at the far end of your room and move it near your door. Just to make sure Mom can hear it tonight.

I wrapped the box in towels and shoved it in a cupboard in the laundry room. But now I'm up.
I went back to bed for an hour, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out if that is the baby's elbow or foot jabbing my right side and coming up with the new perfect opening for the on-going book. Of course, it's so perfect, you know I'll forget by morning. But I don't want to get up so I try to think of ways to help me remember. Right.

So...here I am. I've typed out that brilliant passage that seemed like it'd take a page. It's a paragraph.

I'm going with the egg sandwich now. When I was a girl and couldn't (or wouldn't) sleep, I'd get up and tell my Dad I was hungry. He'd make us egg sandwiches--scrambled eggs on toast with lettuce and mayo--and we'd watch Charlie's Angels. I've got pita bread rather than Sunbeam white bread but it's worth a shot! (I wonder what re-runs are on...?) ;)

Life in the fast lane

I told my daughter that she really need to work on having more patience.
The words were barely out of my mouth before she answered, "I already did."

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July! Enjoy the cookouts and the fireworks and remember how lucky we are to be Americans.

As for me, it's also my birthday so I'm relaxing (though I've obviously been taking a break from blogging for a while now)! I'll have more to say soon!