A Happy Sunday

Today is Sunday and we have no church due to the road conditions. I have to start off admitting I took a little flack for my over-concernedness yesterday. It looks as though I am blaming Randy for the misconception. The truth is, the little adding, "when she gets home," threw me, as to "I'll call you in a few hours." The former made me think she was out; the latter made me think she was sleeping and would arouse herself from her sleep to call us. (You have to realize, our eldest child is as predictable as anyone can be. She really didn't surprise us when she applied for the trip to Singapore, because that is part of her predictable behavior. She grew up traveling; she loves to travel; she has no fear of traveling alone.) Friends before sleep...that's what threw us. She has pre-warned us that the next few weeks will throw everything off as the park is about to open. I think being forewarned where I could see her face will help get me through the quiet days. She prefaced telling us with, "...so you won't call the authorities," so my next question was, "Do you have their number?" She's right...I have watched way too many Lifetime/Made for TV movies. I know the worst, and I know who can help me when and if I need help: Steven Segal, Jean Claude Van Dame, and Liam Neeson.

I love this new game of gin rummy Randy has taught me. We've been playing "practice games" since yesterday. So far, I am really good at going out first and I've learned to count points at the end. Now, I realize it's not the going out first that counts unless you have lots of points and your opponent might be left holding lots of cards, so my new strategery is to pick up those cards and go for it. So far, so good. I may be ready to go on to Poker, but Randy will have to practice working on his Poker face first. (We start keeping score after lunch.) Hope you're having a great day!

Let it snow...

Had a little scare this AM. We got up to a winter wonderland, and we were all snuggily buggily and ready to talk to Leah, since Randy saw she had called at 7:37 in the AM, which is 8:37 PM her time. We called her and she didn't answer. An hour later she still wasn't answering. Randy didn't seemed to be worried. He told me that she said she'd call us when she got home. Well, Detective Mom saw that she had already written her blog, and mentioned getting off the MRT, so I knew she'd been home. I finally looked at her email after I'd played the video in my head as to what could have happened and it said, "I'll call you in a few hours." So, I did what any good mother would do. I went and took my shower and started mentally packing to prepare for my trip to Singapore. I figured my sister Linda would meet us half way to take Mollie, and I would just clean until Randy had made the arrangements to go. I had plenty of time to think in there, and knew the next step was if she did call and was being held captive, I had to learn how to take a picture of her, not of us, which I know how to do on Skype. I informed a couple of friends via email, because misery really does love company, and I waited, and waited and waited; prayed a lot too.

She finally called around midnight her time...which is just too late for her. (She is an early bird to bed like her dad.) The American contingency finally decided they were never going to be able to get together as a group unless they just all decided to meet for dinner after work in spite of their odd hours, so that's what they did. She said, "I told you I'd call you later so you wouldn't worry!" Whew! I tell you the older she gets, the more she is able to just smile off my protectiveness. (Notice I didn't say "over-protectiveness." No sir, if I were over-protective she wouldn't be there.)

On the other note, namely Matthew, it was 6 weeks ago that he was here and he and Randy were walking up Meadowlark at 4:30 PM because their car had gone off the road and slid into the field there en route from Florida. (Due to the last snow.) It was just another McCann adventure, and we celebrated with hot wings and french fries, one of his favorite meals. And so to commemorate his 6 week anniversary and our second BIG snow, we had the same meal tonight.

And finally, to end our day of fun, we recovered the seat cushions of the four mahogany chairs I purchased at the Gray Estate Yard Sale back in October, and put them up at the game table upstairs in the library. Next step was to try them out, so we played three games of checkers. Ran won first, and I won the next two, with the last game leaving me 7 red queens and 2 un-queened, not to rub it in. I guess he felt he had to win the next games, so we played gin rummy, which I didn't know how to play. So he must be a great teacher, because 3 plays later I had gin rummy. He said it doesn't usually happen that fast, and he was right, it took me about 6 more plays to beat him the next hand. It's my new favorite game, but he said we're not playing it anymore, so I guess marbles will be our next new game to try.

It's Snowing!

Well, after a lot of anticipation and expectation, it's finally snowing. We thought it would have arrived sooner, but it just started right after 5 PM. I had just said to Randy, "I wonder what the hold up is." Then I looked up and it's hard to see in the distance the snow is so dense. It's been coming down for maybe 10 minutes, and the roof next door is already white, along with the backyard. We were supposed to have rain first, and I am so thankful that it never rained, as I can't stand that ice layer underneath. It takes too long to thaw and it's dangerous. EVERYTHING has a layer of snow on it, and we just heard our snow totals are going up. We are ready to hunker down, as they say in Florida. The heaviest showers will be tomorrow and we are at an expected 6 to 10 inches. Wind chills tomorrow night will make it feel like 2 degrees...for some people, but not us...we are two little Eskimos tucked into our igloo with our little sled dog. Will keep you posted unless it is just too boring, OR I find an unoccupied sled!

The Big Hairy Beast

"The Big Hairy Beast." That's what I call my recorder that I have been using to help me write THE BOOK. As I've told you before...it's not a tape recorder...just a spy recorder, I've decided. It would be fine in a court of law if the operator could remember how to get to the point without having to wind forward, or backwards 3000 times. The only way you can utilize it well, is to transcribe, which takes forever. I finally figured out how to slow it down, so now it sounds like the speakers are all in slow motion, including myself. I hate the way I sound on a recorder anyway; slow it down, and put my new southerner drawl in the mix, and it's a recipe for ear-tormentation. I tell you all this to let you know, it has been tormenting my eyes every time I go up to write and realize I have a little more to write down. I already have everything on a CD, so I just pushed the erase button, which said it was for compartment 1, and the next thing you know, I have erased everything. I feel free all of a sudden...knowing I have it on a CD and in written form for the most part. I picked up the phone right after I did it, to make my next appointment with my next interviewee. Good thing he wasn't home. I wanted to set up a time this weekend, but unless he can sled or snowshoe over, it doesn't look like any of us will be going anywhere.

The day started out sunny and beautiful, but those fluffy snow clouds have crept in, along with the cold, and the winter storm should be commencing within the hour. The grocery stores are full as we may be in for a few days. It reminds me so much of preparing for the hurricanes in Florida... it's just cold, instead of hot; therefore the food selection goes from thinking about what we would have to eat if the electricity goes off, (which includes the freezer/fridge) to not worrying about the freezer/fridge because there's plenty of ice outside. We can cook on the propane grill if we need to and we have a gas stove and fireplaces throughout the house.

I have pulled out my "Bag O' Fun," from my bunion removal days, and Randy and I are going to make our Valentine's for each other this year. I bought about $40. worth of stuff and have told him we're making them for "FREE" this year. I think he fell for it, because I haven't gotten any flack thus far. This is a true act of love for him, as he does not think creatively; therefore I have bought him peel and sticks. Maybe I'll figure out how to take a picture and put it up for you. (My mother said, my father whom I never knew, used to make her valentines all those years ago. She cherished them, even after their divorce, and I think Linda and Scarlette may have a sample or two of his artistic ability.) I have his little paint box and sometimes wonder if he is where I get my creative bent from.

Gotta run and make sure the cupboard is stocked so we're not gnawing on wood by Sunday. If you find yourselves getting bored this weekend, pull out your own "Bag O' Fun," or make one and "Bag O' Fun" away. It's very therapeutic!

A Rainy Writey Day

It's a rainy overcast, chilly day, and I love it. It makes me want to stay inside, even though I just walked in from our Bible study across the street; so I have been out in it, but now I'm not. I've told you I'm a little hesitant to sit down and write, mostly because it just makes me have more questions that I don't have the answers to yet, and I am putting undue pressure on myself. Because I want to be "qualified" to do this, I am feeling the urge to write outside the subject of the book, so I have decided to submit a "flash fiction" story to one of our local publisher's contest. It involves me writing a story; in this case it is about something that really happened, but I have changed the names to protect the not so innocent. (Don't go getting up in arms, everyone who is in it and is still alive has already read it and thinks it's funny.) One person read it three times, thinking it sounded familiar, until he got that it was him. I'll send it out someday after all the winners are announced, probably sometime in June. (What do I have to lose, but $15. for the reading fee?) In the meantime, it's time to WRITE!

Hope you are having a productive day, no matter what the weather!

The Hard Way

I have never thought of myself as a procrastinator. If anything, I feel I am just teetering on the edge of the extreme opposite... obsessive/compulsiveness. I was a great student in seminary just 2 years ago. I tackled papers and projects with a vengeance for four years until all the work was completed to the very best of my ability, and I try to do the same in all I do, but sometimes my best does not measure up to my expectations of what I could do if I just knew how to do it better. It's very frustrating-thinking that way.

I realized yesterday, as I sat down to write THE BOOK, that I have two books going in my head; one contains just the facts, which are so interesting; the other contains the emotion and paints a picture for the reader to become immersed in all aspects of the farm...the family, the house, the land, the people who share the land now. (I can put the two together at certain points, but then it changes the whole audience of the book.) The second book is easier to write because it just flows out of my thoughts and into the computer and I can put "my voice" (as my friend/writer Beverly Hamel says) to it readily. They cannot be woven together yet, so as I sit down to write, I will move from one story to the other. Who knows, maybe I will come to a fork where they just naturally flow together to make one big picture. I want to discover it for myself though, and not have to work so hard to get there because there's a format I should follow. (Even though, I said up at the top that it would be easier if I just knew how to do it.) I love self-discovery, because I have to rely on God and look within myself, and I know there will come a time when I will have to consult with some wise friends who have gone down this path ahead of me. Having it all unfold just internalizes it more and makes the journey a part of me, as opposed to something I am just doing for the sake of completing a project. (It's the teacher in me. I love being TAUGHT.)

I hope you do too. It's never too late to learn something wonderful!

It's Time

I just looked back at past blogs and I came upon the November 16, entry that I was going to start chronicling the writing of the book. I say compile, because the history is already written, so it is just a matter of putting it all together in a most interesting way. I am so thorough it hurts. Because the information I have is so interesting to me, I can't help thinking that if I left a particular tid-bit out that no one would know what I know, and they would miss out.

For instance, did you know the Gray family Winston Salem history goes back as far as 1849, when Robert Gray bought one of the first parcels of land at the first sale on May 12, 1849? I don't know about you, but I've never lived anywhere where I have had family living for over 150 years. He was one of the first merchandisers here and he hired a man named Will Brock to work for him. They all used to hang out at the potbelly stove in the back of the store with some other fellas named Dick and Will Reynolds. Eventually R.J. Reynolds (Dick) hired Brock to work for him at his tobacco company, and he became a salesman for him in Tennessee. Does the name Brock ring a bell? He went on to fame and fortune in the candy industry! I LOVE Brock's chocolate covered cherries and used to get a box from my sisters every year for Christmas. (Randy renewed the tradition this year and I enjoyed every last one.)

I hope you will keep me in your prayers as I sit down and sort all the information I have gathered in the last eleven months. I am coming up to my one year mark when I made a phone call to our Developer, Jim McChesney, and he put me in touch with Bowman Gray, IV, the grandson of Bowman Gray, Jr. Since then, I have been on a wonderful, swirly, rollercoaster ride of getting to know him and other family members ,and those connected with the family, and my interest in the history of Winston Salem just continues to grow. I cannot get enough. I am so thankful for those of you who encourage me and want me to succeed in this endeavor. What started out as just a pamphlet for newcomers to Brookberry Farm, has morphed into an encyclopedia that could fill a room, so that is probably where you need to start your prayers..."Just the facts, ma'm."

Stay tuned! Don't expect something every day, but you never know when I may just have to share something in advance because I can't hold onto it any longer!

A Leaf Skittering Day

I love winter! I love the cloudy days, the rainy days and the sunny days. They each evoke a wonderful feeling of thankfulness. There is a very thin layer of ice on the pond, and the leaves are slipping, sliding and skittering all over the place. At first glance it looks like little Alvins tumbling on the ice. (You know, chipmunks.) It is easy to imagine their screams of joy and laughter as the wind scoots them along.

The goose is gone, but he's been in the backyard for a little over a month now. I hope his mourning time is up and he has decided it's time to get back in with the real world, instead of the one he created here for himself for a period of time. I really shouldn't be surprised, as I looked out yesterday, and he was snuggled up next to a little cherub planter I have sitting out under a tree. Maybe that helped him realize he wanted to be back with the living/breathing again. I hope so.

I am an oxymoron this time of year. I hate to see the Christmas decorations put away because this house looks as though it should always be decorated this way. BUT, as I near completion of getting everything back in order, I anticipate the new that is unknown, and there is such a feeling of hope and anticipation I am overwhelmed sometimes. This is my best time of year for creating, so I'm off to create while the creating is good! Hope you are having a great day!

Happy New Year!

We ended the year with a bang! My oldest friend from high school came a few days after Connie, Larry and Matthew left and she just left this morning. We have had an action packed 2 days. We went to Rutherfordton on Friday and to Boone yesterday. She wanted to catch the New Year sales at a clothing line she's always followed. We went and we each left happy... even Randy, our driver...especially yesterday in Boone. He took a new book he had received at Christmas (just in case) but there was a TV room and another man, so they watched football and were happy as could be. It was snowing as we drove into the town, where the ground was already snow-covered. Needless to say, we didn't stay outside too long, as it was only 14 degrees and frigid. But we did find a quaint little cafe to eat at called The Red Onion after our shopping spree. We came home tired and happy and finished off leftovers.

It's a New Year, so I pray each one of you will be filled with the newness of Christ...new hope, new attitudes, new actions, new endeavors, new friends and new healthy living.