Something Borrowed... Something Blue

I'm on a sand pail roll, people, 

a sand pail roll. 

In the course of one evening,

 I managed to do three more items on my
sand pail list. 

That's because for our anniversary this year, 

we decided to take a picnic.  

That's #1...

At the beach.

That's #2...

We waited until the evening to avoid the sun, the heat, and the crowds, and headed to the nearest beach.  Then, we followed our traditional pattern.

Sir Lotsa Hair carried the load...

Lady Blogalot carried the shiny red Kodak.

We cloistered ourselves near the dunes for a little more privacy.

After all,  we didn't want some 

Nosy Nellie  peeping in on our private moments.

People do that kind of thing you know...

Don't ask me how I know...

Apparently, young chicks and old hens all have the same romantic notions. We saw a total of four weddings from our hideaway that night.  The Nosy Nellie in the dunes even managed to capture three brides at once.

All wanting evidence that their marriage started out on the rocks....

If you're thinking that item # 3 was a sunset on the beach, think again. We live on the east coast, you see. The sun doesn't exactly set over the water.

Instead, we packed up and headed into Savannah 

before the blue hour. 

That's #3.

We watched as it turned blue...

. 

And bluer 

And bluest.

Just plain awesome in my opinion...

And finally, we called it a night.

As for this sand pail review, I give picnic at the beach two thumbs up for an anniversary celebration. The Man of the House did too.  (Of course, he also liked grilled watermelon so we probably shouldn't put too much stock in the manly opinion.  I think he mainly likes the idea of a cheap date.)

So weigh in, folks.

Are you a picnic person, 

or would you rather dine inside and at a table?

Would you picnic at the beach
or would you rather not have sand in your shoes?

A Tandem Tale

Woohooo! I won a blog giveaway!  

It’s a signed copy of this book straight from one of the authors, 

Dayle at A Collection of This and That.

Thanks, Dayle...

It’s full of wonderful stories to warm the heart and secrets for the married soul. 

Since today is our 28^th anniversary, I thought I might share one of ours. 

Do you know what it is?
We learned to ride a tandem.

It’s true, folks. We started way back in the early ‘80s.

Note the kelly green walking shorts

 and spiffy visor.

We rented that tandem on our honeymoon, but we own one too. You see, way back in our college days,  Sir Lotsa Hair inherited an old tandem from his brother and brought it back to school. When we weren’t busy strolling the streets of Athens, we would ride.

That’s how I knew that he was the kind of boy I wanted to marry.

source

Tandem riding, you see, is all about teamwork.

By design, a tandem bicycle has only one front seat, and a choice must be made as to the front seat rider.  Let’s face it. Most of us are inclined to want that seat.  At first glance, it sort of looks like the glory seat.

You don’t have to ride in the glory seat very long, though, to figure out that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.  For one thing, the front seat rider has to pedal.

This might seem obvious, but if you’ve ever been the backseat rider, you know that you can sneak a little break or two and rest your feet on the bar.  The bike will still roll for a while. Not quite as fast, of course, and it’ll start to get a little wobbly, but as long as the front seat rider is giving it all he’s got, he can pull the load.

The backseat rider has a choice to make. She can either give it all she’s got too, or she can be a bike slug on a wobbly ride.

And then there’s the whole steering thing.  

The front seat rider might have to pull the load, but he also gets to steer. It’s the front seat rider who controls the route.  That's why he has a choice to make, too. 

He can either be a big old bike bully or love the pedal pusher behind him enough to make it a team effort.   

Folks, that boy was a terrific front seat rider.

He never took a turn without asking me first. He steered away from potholes and stray dogs, even though he has no fear of  them whatsoever. He warned me when the road up ahead looked a little bumpy. When we were headed uphill, he told me to lean in and pedal hard. When we were headed for a downhill plunge, he let me close my eyes and scream. 

Yep. 

We were pedaling along just fine

until the day we had the big blowout.

source

It happened the way blowouts generally do, in the most inconvenient of locations - miles from where we wanted to be. The fact that it was the tire beneath the backseat rider is purely coincidental and not at all related to this post…

But blow it did, and we were left with no alternative but to walk that tandem all the way home.  Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever walked a dead bicycle, but it’s not that easy of a task.  You have to  lift the seat over the flat with one hand and steer with the other.  

Which is what I was prepared to do.

It was my flat after all.

I am woman. Hear me roar.

But the skinny boy had a different plan; he insisted that we switch places. I distinctly remember arguing with him that day, and I’m almost positive it was the first time that he called me Deb-or-ah.

He told me to march my stubborn self to the front of the bike, steer, and let him carry the load.   

I punished him with silence all the way home...

I've since learned to admit that he had the better plan. 

And that’s pretty much the way we’ve been riding ever since.  

He rides in the front.

I ride in the back.

We pedal together.  

I'd love to say that all roads have been straight and easy, but you would know it was a tale. We've had more than our share of stray dogs and potholes in our road. It’s been an uphill climb and a downhill fall, and we’ve had some more blow outs along the way too.  Yet here we are... still pedaling after all these years. 


Of course, we won't be pedaling on this anniversary. Oh, I wanted to,  but the tandem has suffered another major blow out. The fact that it's the tire beneath the backseat rider is merely coincidental and not related to this post...

Tandem riding.

I think it should be a marital prerequisite.

That's our secret. 

What's yours?

Every Party Has A Pooper...

...that's why we invited you.

Party Poop-er.

That's the song that has been playing in my head for the past two days. I'm sitting here this morning completely pooped from parties, both those in Blog Land and the ones in the land of  real  living.

Not only have I attended more than my personal quota of blog parties lately, but it's also party season in Dixie. Beginning about two weeks ago, I have been on a nonstop party bus to everything from luncheons to weddings. My house is a bit of a mess, and I'm worn out. Marathon yakabouts can be very exhausting.

If there's one thing even more exhausting than attending a party, it's throwing one.

There's something more exhausting that that, too, and it's helping the Duchess throw one of  hers. That's because the Duchess never throws a party. Noooooo.  The Duchess hosts an event. 

For large numbers of people... 

At some random outside location...

To which the slave labor she procreated must haul 

food, linen, flowers, and every manner of creative dishery.  

When we're finished? We have to haul it all the way back home again. 

Such was the case this week as she hosted a reception for a local political candidate.  After all that fixing and lugging and decorating and serving and hauling back home again, do you know what I wanted to do?

I wanted to set up a yet another table for Cuisine Kathleen's beach table challenge. 

At a random outside location.  

Yes, I realize that the pool is not the beach,
 but it's watery so out we went. 

Actually, the we this time the we was mostly I.  The other two have common sense. The Farm Sister forked over some blue place mats and a vase and headed home to get caught up. The Duchess provided just about everything else on the table. Then she retired to the shade to watch from a distance.

I lasted about ten minutes poolside before I decided to drag the entire table into the shade with her.

 That's where it ended up.

 Ours is not exactly beach themed, but it is designed around something 
at the sea shore. 
That counts, right?

The Duchess found these lighthouse dishes over a year ago at a local thrift store. They actually have bowls and mugs as well, but we didn't use them.  It's summer and southeast Georgia. Not even the invisible people are interested in hot chocolate and chowder. 

The only thing on the entire table that belongs to me is the set of red salad plates which you can barely see.
The rest was pilfered from the Duchy. 

Actually, these cute little napkin rings

are the whole reason that I wanted to do the table.  

That's the same set of stemware as last week, but it belongs to her. We each have a set of it. (Belk, about two years ago) That way we can combine it for larger parties events.

We each have a set of the red flatware too. 

Same reason.

If I were not too tired to join the tip party, I would give you that tip of the day.
Buy some of the same table stuff as close friends and family,
and pool your resources. 

Well, that's all I've got, and I'm too pooped to provide more. 

Plus, I need to get caught up and rested up. You see, this coming weekend I have another very special event to celebrate.

I won't say what it is, but after 28 years of being married to a party girl, I don't think Sir Lotsa Hair will appreciate it if the party pooper shows up instead.  

*****

Sharing at Let's Dish! with Cuisine Kathleen 

and The Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Eat Your Veggies!

It's time for the

 Note Card Party

at A Haven For Vee. 

That's when we venture into the echo chambers of our blogs and find

four related pictures 

which could be turned into a set of note cards.

This month, my set of  cards celebrates 

National 

Eat Your Veggies Day.

Now, National Eat Your Veggies Day was actually two days ago, 

on June 17th. 

But really folks...

 Today and every day

 it's important to make sure that a heapin' helping of vegetables

 is the centerpiece of the family table. 

This public service message has been brought to you by....

 Chicken

Ham

And beef

What veggies are on your table?
As for me, I'll eat anything but  carrots and turnips.
I've never actually eaten a turnip, 
but I just have a feeling it tastes very  turnippy...

Dollar Tree Noodling

Am I the only one with a precarious pile of cheap, old, beach towels taking up space in a closet?  Honestly, I don't know where they all come from.  We're overrun with them around here, and we don't even have a pool.

 Thanks to Blog Land, I've figured out a way to reuse them.  

Just cut them into strips and wrap them around a
Dollar Tree pool noodle 

for an beachy door wreath. 

That way, you can join the other bloggers who have gone completely

 off their noodles at a crafting party.   

                                                      

It's embellished with some terrycloth flowers made from washcloths which also came from the Dollar Tree. The petals were just adhered to some card stock with spray mount to keep them from being floppy.  

In a big surprise, I used yet another painted Dollar Tree 
sand pail to finish it off.

They love me at The Dollar Tree.

You might want to put on some sun shades for this one. 

I warn you, the colors are kind of   

bright and hot. 

But it's summertime in southeast Georgia, people.

Bright and hot are the only two colors we know.  

Total cost:  

One dollar each for the noodle, pail, towels, and sunglasses

 for a total of $4.00.
Don't you think it looks like I spent at least $4.50?

****
See other noodle tricks at the  Noodle Party  

Ho Ho NO!

Blame it on the watermelon.

Had I not ventured into Hobby Lobby looking for something cute and watermelony to put on a table, you wouldn't have to listen to this whiney yakabout.

But I did, so you do.

You see, what I discovered when I got there was nary a watermelon sight. Really and truly... there was not so much as a napkin to decoupage into a coaster.  In fact, there wasn't much for summer merchandise period.  What little they did have had been dismembered by craft vultures and banished to the bargain corner.

All so they could make room

for this.

And aisle after aisle 

of this.

To be honest, my first response was a little bit of panic. Christmas decorations do that to me. The whole Christmas mania thing kind of comes up in my throat and threatens to choke me when the stores first put them out.

But then, I remembered something. This is June. It's not even the end of June, either. We've still got about six weeks before we enter the dog days of summer.  We have not yet begun to bake.

Yet at Hobby Lobby,

 it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  

Suddenly, I wasn't panicky anymore; I was downright irked. I stood there and glared at it for a minute, and then because I'm a glutton for punishment, I felt the need to walk through Santa Land, getting crankier by the minute.

I tried to titch and snort the whole thing out of existence, but it didn't work.  

I tried to get other gawkers to titch and snort with me, but they were  giddy with excitement.

Finally, I did what I always do. I called my mother and tattled on Hobby Lobby.  Then, I whipped out  the shiny red Kodak and took these pictures so I could tattle to you.

It was bad enough when Christmas started showing up in November, and Thanksgiving got bumped into obscurity.

Then, it moved to October...

And then into September...

But June? 

  For the life of me, I can't understand the rush. 

Do people really need six full months to prepare for Christmas?

Please tell me someone can relate. 

Does anyone else out there think that 

Christmas in  June is entirely too soon? 

 Or are you all  at this moment Ho Ho Ho-ing your way
to the nearest Hobby Lobby all giddy with excitement?

And Some Like It Cold

If you read my previous post, you know that after nearly 28 years of marriage, I discovered that the Man of the House does not like watermelon. Apparently, it's just too watermelony for him.

You also know that I tried and rejected the notion of grilling the stuff.  Popular opinion seemed to be with me that watermelon is a dish best served cold. 

Therefore, Miss Whimsy and I decided to use up the remaining fruit while the husband is out of town by trying some recipes from the cold side.

We started with watermelon sorbet.

Now this recipe?

 It gets four thumbs up, 

two from me and two from Miss Whimsy.

We loved it.

It's cold and refreshing, and it's really easy too.  

Just make a simple syrup
with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup (boiling) water. 

Blend syrup with 8 cups of watermelon chunks

Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice until it's thoroughly mixed and slushy.  

Then spread it in a 9 x 13 pan and freeze for 8 hours.
(Covered)

When you're ready to serve it, just cut it into frozen chunks 

and puree them again until it looks like sorbet. 

 Mine kind of looked like frozen slush, but it tasted like sorbet, 

and that's what matters.

Then, set a watermelony table for two
for no other reason than fun.

I don't have any watermelon dishes so I just layered  red, white, and green

and then seeded it with a little black. 

 A painted pot for the center.

Some watermelon napkin rings...

And colorful stemware. 

I actually have some watermelon glasses that I borrowed from the Duchess,

 but they were busy showcasing our other cold watermelon recipe.

Watermelon Coolers
(From the May 2012 issue of All You Magazine)

(I cut this recipe in half, but here's the whole one)

Freeze 8 cups of watermelon chunks
for at least 30 minutes

Blend together (in small portions) 

                                                        -watermelon chunks
                                                        -2 cups of ginger ale
                                                       -6 ounces frozen limeade
                                                       -1/4 cup water


I actually only gave this one thumb because I'm not a huge limeade person.  Miss Whimsy, on the other hand, gave it two thumbs and a big toe to make up for it. She loved it.

Therefore, I will definitely make it for her again.

So there you have it. Not one but two recipes and a watermelony table all in one post.  Not too shabby for a lazy, hazy, crazy day of summer.

Sharing with
 Let's Dish! ,  Tablescape Thursday, and
On the Menu Monday