Rolling on the River---2008

What did I do this weekend ? I went to a dance in an old drugstore in downtown Ft. Gaines, Georgia. That answer couldn't begin to do this event justice !!! Thanks to Ken and Ann, Tom and Kay, Joe and Tril, Phil and Jan, Tom and Chrissi, and Ronnie...we had a GREAT TIME !!

A fun band...old friends...new friends...and family.

THE Weekend !!!

We are very "low" key people, so this past weekend was the highlight of our social life; we had back to back party events and we loved it !!!
I am blessed to have a close knit extended family. My maternal grandparents, Webb and Trudie Roney raised five children to adulthood. John, Jack, Martha (Mock), Sallie (Sank), and Joe produced twelve grandchildren and we have remained close physically ( ten of us live within 45 minutes of each other and the other two are less than 4 hours away) and emotionally. We share the hard times and we celebrate the good times. This weekend was truly the goodtimes !

On Friday night, my first cousin Ann and her husband Ken entertained their son Brad and his wife Andressa with a "belated" wedding party. Brad and Andressa married two years ago in New York City, which is a very long way from Newville, Alabama...so they re-enacted their vows for us on the Penuel's back porch in Ft. Gaines, Georgia and we all felt like we were at the wedding !

Since Andressa is from Brazil, and her family had come for this event, they were surrounded by all things southern, including fried chicken, pimento cheese sandwiches, peach cobbler and home-made teacakes. My cousin Tril is the teacake expert, but she shared her recipe...so now I feel like an expert. As you can see from the recipe below, they are not difficult to make. When you make them people will think you are very smart...a highly favored compliment to us southern girls !

Aunt Mattie's Teacakes

3/4 cup real butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1&1/2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring ( use a good quality real vanilla)

Melt butter in a glass measuring cup and add oil to make one cup. Add other ingredients and mix well ( I mix my flour and baking powder together before adding). Cool in refrigerator for about 10 minutes--roll into balls and place on cookie sheet ( I use a cookie scoop and bake on parchment paper on top of air bake cookie sheets). Flatten with the back of a spoon or your fingers. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes or until the edges turn brown. These freeze very well.

The "after wedding re-enactment party" was held a in downtown Ft. Gaines at the Big Bad Wolf Saloon, where the "wedding guests" took over the place and Brad and his band performed for the crowd.



I heard that the party ended at the saloon at 11:00 (eastern time) and continued well into the am back at home. I wouldn't know, we had to go early and rest up to be ready for the annual Saturday night Rolling on the River festivities !!

Amaryllis "Lilies"

After two summers of drought and a lot of disheartened gardening, I searched my yard for a sign of spring...this is what I found. If this was all you saw, you would think my yard is full of beautiful blooming amaryllis. I must confess, the first sentence of this paragraph is true..this is my only sign of spring !

I always think of my mother in law when I see an amaryllis; she loved them, and she called them amaryllis lilies ( just like she always said U-Haul It instead of U-Haul).

My mother in law taught me how to be a mother in law. I felt like she loved me just as her own daughters ( although as a mother myself, I can't imagine that was true !) She left a legacy of happy memories and when I see a Amaryllis Lily I think of her and I smile.

The Challenge

This weekend I attended the annual Women's Retreat at my church. Our wonderful and Godly speaker was sent to us just for me. How do I know ? She allowed the Lord to work through her to challenge me in two specific ways. One, do something creative and two, do something you fear.

So..here I am. I have been thinking of blogging for several months, titles of posts would float through my mind and everywhere I went I would hear about blogs...not just by famous people..but by regular people, like me !

Thank you Betsey...here I am !!