Muses

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

This morning at 7 a.m. I was supposed to be leaving the back door for a 12 mile training run for the March Atlanta ING Half Marathon.

Madtown 7 a.m.

Madtown 7 a.m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what happened yesterday afternoon and early evening ~ so had to put run on hold till this afternoon. For much of this will disappear as the temperatures climb into the 40s.

But alas, Tebow needed a walk, so out we went and I brought along my camera.
 
 
The Beckers

The Beckers

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There were a few of us out bearing cameras. Tebow seemed to be navigating the snow and slick roads better than any of us.
 
 
 
 
 
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Joshua Hill House
 
 
 
The sun started peeking out over the horizon.
 
 
Church of the Advent

Church of the Advent

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tebow. He didn't seem cold.

Tebow. He didn't seem cold.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Newton House

The Newton House

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And the little restored 1812 slave cabin out back of my in-laws.  My husband’s grandmother lived her till she was 2 months shy of her 100th birthday.
 
 
 
Anna Rachel Cottage

Anna Rachel Cottage

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
At this point, my hands were quite cold and  Tebow had done his business, so we headed home. Now I am sitting with a warm cup of coffee at my computer staring out at the snow.
 
 
 
 
022
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What a great day to write. Let’s see how much of that gets done. Enjoy the snow wherever you are.
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Very Merry Madison Christmas Parade..A Mediocre Photo Essay. (at best)

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It was looking a lot like Christmas in Madison during the Bicentennial Holiday Parade.

Now my family, all except teenage son who was too tired (too kewl) to go, scurried downtown to stand across from the Courthouse to view the festivities.

It was turning dark ~ and I couldn’t really tell what my camera was doing. It wasn’t doing much. But here is some of what I captured.

As always..the parade started with our most excellent fire department.

This is a firetruck, in case you can't tell.

This is a firetruck, in case you can't tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very cute children from Primary School. In case you can't tell.

Very cute children from primary school. In case you can't tell.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The parade had its share of dignitaries. The Chick-fil-A cow.
 
 
Local celebrity Burns Warfield driving Chick-Fil-A mobile

Local celebrity Burns Warfield driving Chick-fil-A mobile.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
These pictures aren’t getting better. Sorry. You might want to stop right here, if you haven’t already. Or maybe I’ll just get more vivid with my descriptions.
 
 
 
 
 
Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
That’s really some antique ambulance. Like from the 70s. I think that’s my best shot of the entire parade. 🙂
 
 
 
And the celebrities keep rolling by…
 
 
Mark Wilson, Morgan County High School Principal

Mark Wilson, Morgan County High School Principal

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is probably my worst shot of the entire affair. Unfortunately Mark was turned the other way…but he was screeching by so fast this blurry shot was the best I could get of the 2009 High School Principal of the Year. Yes, that’s right of all the high schools in the county, Mark was voted number one. Follow him on Twitter @tweet30650. He tweets ALL THE TIME. 
 
 
 
Okay. He rarely tweets. That’s what makes his lone tweet every 2 months or so special and full of educator knowledge.
 
 
 
 
Here comes another celebrity. One of the best people on the planet.
 
 
 
Diana Blanton

Diana Blanton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you don’t know her, you are missing way out. Just don’t too many people clamor around her, because that wouldn’t leave any room for me. And my needs are always most important.

 

Here come the Clydesdales. Just picture them crashing through the snow. See how fast they’re going….

 

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And of course no Christmas Parade would be complete without..

 

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I better practice a bit more before Macy’s next Thanksgiving.

So signing off from across from the Courthouse for another year.  Too bad I couldn’t capture all the spectacle a bit better….But here’s wishing you a merry season from Madtown, Georgia wherever you are sitting in front of your computer at moment.

Aspiring photojournalist J. Miles. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Friday or What Tim Tebow is dressing up as for Halloween.

Jack's Creek Christmas Tree Farm

Jack's Creek Christmas Tree Farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was going to scream if I heard “Black Friday” one more time!

  OVERKILL.

It’s not really merchants’ fault, the media just went on and on…Maybe you can relate if I mention the phrase,

“TIM TEBOW.”

I’m sure some of you screamed, but it’s really not his fault ~ he is truly too good to be human. It’s just the media goes on and on and on about his supernatural goodness.

Joke…”What did Superman dress up as for Halloween?”

“Tim Tebow.”

But this is not about Black Friday or Tebow. This is about “Green Friday.” The day after Thanksgiving when the Miles’ family goes out to Jack’s Creek to buy our tree making beautiful memories for the rest of our lives.

Well, that’s the way it used to be, until our children got older and decided they would rather hang out with visiting cousins than head out to the trees with mom and dad. And our teenager was at Auburn v. Alabama.

So just me and hubby. You would think this would be easy, this would have been fun. Not an epic battle of the wills for the ages. 

 Now for a number of reasons we buy the pre-cut Frazier Fur. Number one of which handing over a saw to my husband never ends well…(lots of complaining.) 

 And like it often is with Christmas trees and me, I experienced… LOVE at FIRST SIGHT.

Nestled in amongest the others, he was BOO-TEE-FULL! All mine!!! Then hubby looked at the tree’s stature and price.

“Jamie, it’s way too tall.” 

 

He started pointing out other wanna bees

He started pointing out other wanna bees

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I held firm. To be fair, I would go and look at the other tree and though they were pretty, they just weren’t like my green firry beloved.

Then I got “the Look.”

 

See what I was up against.

See what I was up against.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 He kept saying it was too big. We called in MCHS Junior John Dustin Hawkins who was helping out with the Morgan County Baseball team loading up trees. He rounded up one of those measuring sticks which proved  that the tree would indeed fit in our hall.

Hubby kept saying, “No.”

John Dustin looked to me.

You're coming home with me...no matter what he says.

You're coming home with me...no matter what he says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I was not going home without him. (The tree ~ my husband, I was not so sure at this point.)  

  

YAY!

YAY!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Now when we got the tree home and I finished laboring with the lights, hubby agreed. Spectatular. The ornamments aren’t even on yet.

This year, I have thought…what are the three things that matter most to me about the holidays and the rest I promise myself not to stress over.

Number one would be the tree.

So when I saw him, I just knew he was special.

So special, guess what Tim Tebow will be dressed as next year for Halloween?

(Insert photograph of our tree when he’s all decked out.)

 Please tell me someone can relate.

 

 

The Feast…This year I’m starting a file, so please share your favorite recipe.

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I love Thanksgiving.

It’s my favorite holiday with childhood memories of watching the mythical Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. (It was mythical to a girl sitting in Florida with air temperature around 85.)  The turkey going round and round on the rotisserie. That’s how Mom cooked our bird. When I think of Thanksgiving morning, the predominant memory is the sound of that rotisserie motor and wonderful smell of the roasting bird.

But in a confessional column this week, I admitted never having been founder of the feast. There  was one  year when John and I first married when I remember roasting a turkey breast, mixing together some Stove Top and opening a can of cranberries. Very cute. Very newlywed.

When you arrive in your mid-40s and are still reaching for the Stove Top ~ not so flattering. Don’t get me wrong, I love Stove-Top and have the most wonderful meatloaf recipe using a box. (I’ll share that another time). But Thanksgiving does beg for a little more love and effort.

More love and effort than I have to bear.

No. One of these years I’m going to do it. One of these years, I’m going to not to run the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon and stay home, set my very own dinner table and present a feast for those I love most in the world.

I need your help. Leave me with your favorite dish and recipe. I shall start a file with FEAST written in black Sharpie across the top and will be so ready for that glorious day.

I’ll share my corn casserole  recipe that I bring every year. My husband is not very adventurous with food. I think my mother-in-law asks me to bring it every year so her son (my hubby) will have something to eat. Turkey, corn casserole and rolls.  That’s what my Johnny eats for Thanksgiving.

So here it is….And be sure to leave a comment on blog by Monday 11/26 to be put in the drawing for a side of Ye Olde Colonial’s very yummy cornbread dressing.

For those of you living under a rock and don’t have this tried and true favorite in your file; my corn casserole. Okay, looking at the recipe it’s titled…

Corn Pudding. I like that. It sounds so holiday.

  1. 2 cans corn (one whole, one cream)
  2. 8 oz. sour cream
  3. 1 stick butter
  4. 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
  5. 2 eggs
  6. Mix all and bake at 375 degrees, 30 to 45 minutes until brown.

Here’s to a wonderful feast for all.

Where is this in Madison, Georgia?

Ye Olde Colonial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not Monday. The day I usually ask that question. But yesterday went by very quickly.

No one came up with the correct response last week for the bell. Here is the bell…

One if by land, two if by sea.

One if by land, two if by sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No silly me. That had to do with shining lanterns, not ringing bells. As you can see, the bell sits a top the stairs to the Morgan County High School football stadium. The bell rings after a victory.  So sorry that no one received the great prizes offered by the Boosters.

A Morgan County hat and blackout shirt.

My husband insisted that he receive the prize ~ but I didn’t think that fair since he suggested the bell in the first place. But he kept pouting so I bought him a box of Milk Duds.

How 'bout a walk? Please.

How 'bout a walk? Please.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will keep the really cool hat and shirt for another time…And hope my husband quits begging me to give them to him.

This week in the spirit of the coming holiday, I thought of doing something a little different. Everyone in town knows of Ye Olde Colonial Restaurant. I was in there Friday…fried okra, black-eyed peas, chicken. All very yummy. Which got me to thinking.

How about give away one of the fabulous sides of their cornbread dressing?

So everyone that leaves a comment on the blog anytime this week…Monday 11/16 through Monday 11/23…will be put into drawing for the dressing.

Janice that means you too. I shall ship it to Ethiopia. It certainly will get there in time for you birthday. Thanksgiving in June.

YUMMY!!!

So comment away on posts all this week for a chance to win.

Tail-Gatoring. It’s All Coin Tosses and Cockabooses.

This is last Saturday and this is not Madison, Georgia.
 
 
I forgot the table.
I forgot the table.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It had been so long since I had been somewhat responsible for a tailgate…I forgot the table. We improvised with coolers. They worked great, until someone got thirsty. But it was a beautiful day to travel two hours from Madison to Columbia, South Carolina to see the Florida Gators play the Gamecocks.
 
 
The Cardwells and Miles try to do this every year.
 
 
Joe Cardwell grew up  like me in Central Florida, but he was a southpaw for Gamecock Baseball. Surely, he pulls  for Florida at these things, but feels compelled every year to wear his SC gear. And so does his lovely wife, Kathryn, who went to Kansas.
 
Lots better weather this year than last.
 
 Gainesville, 2008

Gainesville, 2008

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I am not making a hand puppet. That’s a baby Gator chomp.
 
We usually don’t have any trouble picking up tickets at the game. This year was no exception. We found two pairs and decided it would be “boys club” and “girls club.”  Joe mentioned one set was upper deck, one pair lower. I distinctly remember saying, “We can just flip a coin.”
 
We ate, drank…tried some of the Cardwell’s wings..
  
See. We can still be best of friends (until kick off).

See. We can still be best of friends (until kick off).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Then headed for the stadium.
 
This trek entails running a gauntlet of these things called Cockabooses.
 
 
 How about $300,000 for a Cockaboose?

How about $300,000 for a Cockaboose?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We have partied in a Cockaboose after South Carolina beat Florida four years ago.  I didn’t care for a repeat stint of  hanging around after the game in a caboose filled with happy Cocks. Deliriously happy. Please not another immersion in their Cocky, giddy happiness. Nothing personal.
 
So we gals were handed our pair of tickets. (Funny, no coin toss.) Up we went.
 
Kat and I were perched here among the Cocks.

Kat and I were perched here among the Cocks.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
They really were okay seats.  Notice a lot of raised hands. The stadium rocked and rolled.  You’d have thought they were playing the Number One team or something.
 
Oh. I guess the Gators are.. but to me, they’re just my dear boys I have gone to see play football since I was five years old. When they were never number one, never on television and went to the All-American Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama.
 
 
They have become a football powerhouse with a perennial target on their back. And that crowd wanted something BAD. Especially the man sitting directly off my left shoulder screaming constantly into what used to be my good ear. He must have some “issues.” Wow. Talk about scream therapy.
 
South Carolina played a great game. The more they stayed close — the more the crowd roared.
 
 
HELP!!!
 
 
I did learn my camera had a good lens.
 
I have a really good lens. Because we where on another planet from Tebow.

I have a really good lens. Because we were on another planet from Tebow.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Madisonian Julie Speyer texted me during the game asking were our seats were…was John wearing a blue shirt, she thought she had just seen him on TV?  John on television? Surely, not. Why would there be any cameras, anywhere near where he was sitting?
 

Mid-way through the game we got a text from the “boys club” …a picture from their seats.

 
The menfolk's view.

The menfolk's view.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hmm. Those wise-guys probably were on television.
 
 
 
hmm. I would have loved to be sitting there.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BAD!!  No coin toss.
 
Well, honestly, it was just great  to go to a game. Even more joyous that the Gators pulled through. My hubby continues to protest he had no knowledge of where their seats were ~ throwing Joe completely under the bus. Or should I say…under the Cockaboose.
 
So next year it’s back to Gainesville. Woot!
 
And “Heads.” Most definitely, it will be heads.
 

The Battle of the Bulge…into the woods.

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That looks really cold.

I don’t like to be cold.

After talking the other morning with friend Paul Reid, who happened to be in that snow in the French countryside, I felt pretty much the wimp. And very grateful to all those in the Army infantry that held their ground against the Germans.

Every morning as I race into the Madison Fitness Center late for Emily Buck’s cardio-interval class, I scan the gym for Paul. He is usually on the stationary bike. I wave. He waves back. (Well, to me and any female that might wave his way.)

Now during many of our morning conversations, the subject of running comes up. If I’m off to do some athletic adventure, I always ask Paul if he would like to come along. His standard response. “I walked miles and miles through the ice and snow in the Ardennes — I have no desire to ever run again.”

Until our conversation the other day, I don’t think I truly understood.

As a child, WWII seemed a long ago event. Something of black and white photos and film clips. It conjured up images of George C. Scott standing in front of the flag in movie stills. (As a girl I thought he seemed more terrifying than the idea of the war.) Now I realize all that happened less than 20 years before I was born. That would be as talking to a teenager today about something that happened in 1991 — or close to it — like the falling of the Berlin Wall. To them it might seem a world away, to you recent history.

Those young service men lived that history.

Paul left UGA and went through Fort Benning, Camp Swift and Fort Dix. His deployment overseas was interrupted by Roosevelt ordering them to Philadelphia to break the transit strike. While they were there, D’Day happened. (I’m glad my friend missed the honor of participating.)

Their group headed over on a double-loaded ship. Soldiers spent 12 hours above deck, then 12 hours below. This allowed the ship to carry twice as many boys. He used numbers like 5000 above deck and 5000 below. Ten thousand troops heading to the coast of France.

They arrived at Normandy and jumped over the side of the boat into a net but didn’t have to fight their way a shore. There was plenty of that waiting in the French countryside.

Paul was a machine gunner with equipment that “should have been in a museum.” He threw out all the names and places. Normandy, Northern France. The Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge. The Rhineland Campaign.

Now I’m am embarrassed to say – I certainly heard of those places, but didn’t know much about them. I never heard of the Ardennes. Could it have been a mountain range? Silly me.

It is a forest. And the more I heard about it, I couldn’t help but picture some wicked, enchanted forest straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. All covered, dripping with snow. Paul spoke of how they were joined with the British by this point. Sometimes they would go weeks without seeing the enemy, then there would be periods of day-to-day combat.

The troops were ill-equipped to fight in the ice and snow. My husband and son helped fill in a little bit of the history — the Allied forces thought the war would be over that summer — but that is when Germany pushed one last time into the forest. Winter arrived.

The Battle of the Bulge.  Thinking as a child again, I am more familiar with references to this term used by Madison Avenue  to fight weight gain.

Can you can spot Paul in photo?

Can you can spot Paul in photo?

I feel stupid.

Paul talks being so cold and having nothing to wear. He saw a German soldier lying on the ground and noticed straw stuck in this boots. From then on, he kept straw in his boot to help stay warm.

Dark uniforms couldn’t camouflage against a backdrop of white. They took anything they could find in old abandoned farmhouses – white sheets, white drapery — tearing them into shreds to use as cover for their uniforms. Taking the doors from the houses, they would cover foxholes with the door and dirt. Surrounded by earth…”We were as safe as in your mother’s arms.”

His best friend, a young man from Portland, Oregon — got separated from the group. By the time they found him, he had frozen to death.

An incaluable magnitude of death resulted from Hitler captivating a nation. More destruction than my generation and those who have come after ever have known – and hopefully never will have to experience.

I asked Paul what he felt about the state of the country today. “I have my doubts whether we could fight a war like we did. Today, we are so divided.”

After the war ended, Paul was ordered to stay on as an MP to help rebuild France.

But the war stayed with him long after returning home. Walking in downtown Atlanta with Graham Ponder a streetcar jumped on the rail. Paul threw himself and Graham on the ground. “You just react after being in those types of situations for so long. The men over there now in the Middle East. They won’t be the same for a while when they return.”

It might be clique (one tenets of Writing 101 is never to use clique) but freedom truly isn’t free. That and thank you this Veteran’s Day.

I pray you all are somewhere warm and dry.

Where is this in Madison, Georgia? Getting your bell rung.

This looks like a bell.

This looks like a bell.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Okay.
 
I gave away part of this week’s challenge.
  
It is a bell often rang  to call young ones home for dinner. In my neighborhood growing up, a family had one of these huge things in their yard. One day  – for some reason – that huge black thing was on the floor of their garage. Running through the dark garage, I tripped and my forehead came into contact with that bell.
 

Seeing Stars,, Deviantart

That is when the phrase seeing stars came alive for me. From that moment on, I could identify with Looney Tune characters whom got bonked over the head with a mallet and had a galaxy swirling about their noggin. I was very young — and that is where my memory ends with the Pinel’s bell.  (That rhymes. How nice.)

As you can see, this bell is not lying around on the cement floor of someone’s garage. If you can guess where this bell hangs in Morgan County, you shall be this week’s winner.
 
The first person to leave a comment on the blog wins a super prize.  I can’t reveal the prize or the sponsor – for that would make it too easy.
 
So have a great Monday and start to the week. 
 
And for goodness sakes, I hope all your bells are where the should be.
Last week’s winner Carla Cloud correctly answered Madison’s new Denny’s as breakfast spot. She received gift certificate to Antique Sweets. Yay.
           

           

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