Birds Fly, They Don’t Think Twice

For the past month and a half or so I’ve had a beautiful little nest in my wreath on the front door and it’s been so fun to watch the little lives of 5 birdies as they enter and discover the world.

I came home one afternoon and found the beginnings of a nest in my wreath.  Not wanting to disturb a mother bird and her babies further down the line, I took the sticks and pine straw out and thought that’d be the end of it.  Wrong. The determined mother built a replacement nest in no time  and I couldn’t bear to throw away all her hard work.

About a week later, I held my cell phone over the nest and took a picture.  This is what I found: It’s blurry but there are 5 beautiful, blue eggs inside!! I began carefully opening and shutting the door when I came and went so as not to crack one and so I wouldn’t disturb the mother keeping them warm.

About two weeks later, I came home to find that the babies had hatched! They were the funniest looking things and were covered in fuzz: See their tiny beaks and beady eyes? (again, forgive the terrible picture quality, my camera phone isn’t exactly professional grade) Note: apparently Mama Bird uses the outside of the nest as her own personal bathroom.  The nest is now lined with a thick layer of bird doodoo and it’s all over the door as well!

Over the last few days, the birdies have been very vocal and are getting restless in their nest.  They’re hopping around, chirping and really wanting to fly. This little brave fella is ready to go!

Last night, one brave baby flew out of his cozy nest and flopped all around the entry way! He was trying to be so brave but couldn’t seem to quite take off.  He finally landed in a potted plant to catch his breath and this morning he was tucked safely back in his nest.

I’m a little sad to see them grow up and fly away but it’s been so much fun to watch them develop from a few sticks and twigs into flighted birds!

Ps.  Ten extra cool points are up for grabs if you can name the song I borrowed lyrics from for this post’s title.

Always Remember. Never Forget. Elephants are Faithful, 100%!

The church I work at is holding a White Elephant Sale this weekend.  As a church employee, I got to scope out the deals a couple of days early.  I had every intention of responsibly restraining my wallet from throwing all of its money at the sale but unfortunately, it had a mind of its own.

There were so many deals to be scored and I came away with four of them.  The first thing that caught my eye was this beauty: That fabric lining inside sealed the deal for me!  It needs minor cleanup and was a steal at $50!

Then I second guessed myself and thought I should have purchased this piece:

But I think I made the right decision.  This piece, while it has major potential, is missing glass panels, needs complete stripping and sanding, repainting and new hardware.  It’d be a fun project but it was also $50.  I thought the first one was a better deal.

Then I spied a pair of these chairs.  I lurve that fabric and I’m hoping I can spot clean it and keep it.  If not, I think I might paint the wood working white and pair it with a fun fabric.  What do you think of these as head chairs for my dining room table?$25 for the pair of them!

Do you see that cutie white chair in the background above? I bought it too! The upholstery is in good shape so I think I’ll clean it up and keep it as is too.  I’m thinking my bedroom…

Finally, as I was walking out, I noticed this set of 30 vintage postcards featuring the fish of Florida.  I think they’ll be so pretty when framed in a grouping.  The ladies at the sale were so sweet, they threw them in for free!

I wish now that I’d gotten this gem: Haha! Maybe I’ll go back and get it for Daddy’s birthday.

Also on my way out, I noticed something that struck me as hilarious.

It’s a box from the Home Shopping Network full of romance novels.  Sad but true.

Leave me your thoughts on my purchases!

Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough

I absolutely cannot get enough of Garden & Gun Magazine! The photographs are gorgeous and each subject is Southern to the core.  In an era where most magazines have turned to cheaper paper and ink printing processes, Garden & Gun still produces the slick, heavy pages indicative of high-end publications.

Don’t you just love that pig-nosed doggie?!

I’m even in love with their mission statement:

Garden & Gun is a Southern lifestyle magazine that’s all about the magic of the New South – the sporting culture, the food, the music, the arts, the literature, the people, and the ideas.

It espouses a strong conservation ethic that grows out of its connection to the land, and it reveals the beauty of the South as no magazine ever has.

Since it’s a relatively new magazine (founded in 2007), it may not have the wide readership yet of some other publications but I have no doubts that Garden & Gun will be as prolific as Veranda in no time. Read this review for more information.

So… if you’re in the market for a gorgeous magazine chock full of all things Southern, I highly recommend subscribing!

The Good Book

I’ve just finished reading Run with the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams.  He is hilarious.  I love his writing style and witty observations.  Here are my favorite exerpts:

P. 102 There was a new janitor for the new school.  In those days before anyone had coined the descriptive word “redneck,” he was known as a white man.  He had a high voice, a mouth full of snuff, and a back which was humped across the shoulders but erect at the waist.  This resulted in a loose-legged, arm-hanging gait that shrieked “country” from a half mile away.  He had a five pound bunch of keys, a  massively puffy wife, and a houseful of crusty-nosed, snarl-headed children.  He did not wear overalls but dressed in khaki pants and a white shirt with the top button always fastened.  His best friends were the ninth grade boys and at lunch he could be found under the cedar tree at the rear of the building, where this worldly and highly sophisticated group of males gathered.  Here they conducted their own version of the Kinsey investigation and provided, without tuition, raucous and graphic sex education classes long before such a service was even imagined by the Board of Education.  It was simpler to avoid the cedar tree.  Everybody else called the janitor “Edgar,” but the boy invariably addressed him as “Mr. Bannister.” He had learned at an early age that polite formality can be a very effective social barrier.

P. 172 She had married Mr. Billy Boy Carruthers just at the end of the World War and had been busy trying to make something out of him ever since.  He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. William Boyd Carruthers, Jr., and it had never entered his head that this exalted position was not the ultimate goal of existence.

p. 198 About this time the waitress came to the table for their order.  She was an older woman, at least twenty-five, and moved with the deliberation and patience of one who had worked long enough with the public to expect anything and to express surprise at nothing. Her uniform had been fresh three days before and had never been big enough for her.  She was so fat that when she stopped walking it was several seconds before her buttocks settled down.

I highly recommend this read.  Pretty much anything by Ferrol Sams is solid gold.  Happy Reading!

A real, live grown up!

I spent an inordinate amound of time on the phone with Tomika from IT (nice pipes, Tomika!) trying to get our software at work fixed.  While we were talking, my earring was digging into my flesh and was less than comfortable.  I took it off and was reminded of Mama.  She’d sit at our little telephone table talking with her bff or Grandmama and remove one earring to make talking more do-able.  I know that’s probably a normal thing every woman (or member of Motley Crue) does while talking on the phone but for some reason it just seemed like a tiny rite of passage into real adulthood (a place I’ve been peering over the fence at for the last 3 years.)

If I lived in the 1700s…

If you’ve been around me for more than like 12 seconds, you are all too aware of my obsession with dogs.  I was flipping through a magazine while washing clothes at Mama and Daddy’s last night and ran across this ad for Virginia.  I couldn’t help but laugh aloud at  this silliness! I love every single one of those hilarious dog faces! Look at their expressions! They couldn’t care less if the British were coming… well, maybe that chihuahua she’s holding could.  He looks a little terrified.  Don’t ask me what this has to do with living passionately in Virginia but I think it’s hysterical and it makes me so happy that it’s now hanging in my office.

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

I absolutely love this picture.  I ran across it in a Google image search for something else and was completely dumbstruck by it.  The person who posted it didn’t credit the photo so I don’t know what it’s called or even the artist’s name but I am completely in awe of its sweetness and purity. *

I love how Jesus is so tenderly hugging the lamb.  You can see that He loves this fragile little creature so much that He is willing to die (evident by the nail piercing in His hand) to protect it.  What struck me as even more beautiful was how the lamb is snuggled in so tightly and obviously loves his master and protector. The lamb trusts Jesus entirely and knows to rest securely in His loving arms.  That thought brings me to tears.  Far too often, I feel the loving arms of Christ wrapping around me and I kick and flail and push Him away.  Oh to be like this trusting lamb! How I long to rest soundly in the arms of my protector and keeper with that look of comfort and satisfaction on my soul.

O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go

O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to thee; my heart restores its burrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that mourn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee; I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red life that shall endless be.

George Matheson (1882) and Albert L. Peace (1884)

** Estute commenter Jana discovered that the drawing is by artist Katherine Brown.  Thanks, Jana!

My Life Would Suck Without You

I LOVE Milk Glass!! Oh, you don’t know milk glass? Well you, my friend, are missing out on life. Okay, maybe not on life but on really pretty stuff. 

I spent the better part of this afternoon looking at delicious milk glass pieces on Etsy.

This is absolutely beautiful and I can’t stand it!! I must have it!! Do you ever get that toddler feeling that if you don’t have something right now, you’re just going to pitch a fit? This compote gives me that feeling.

In the Beginning…

I realized today that I flood my sister Susie’s inbox with hundreds of pretty/funny/ridiculous things I find on a day to day basis.  For the sake of her time, I am electing to just put it all here.  So for all 3 of you who happen to run across this blog, I do hope you’ll enjoy and leave a comment here and there.

Thanks!

SJ