Marriage Without Regrets

Today marks our 16 anniversary.....wow....a lot has happened in these years...

This morning I asked my wonderful husband if he would marry me all over again...his answer...."ABSOLUTELY!"

and I feel the same way..no regrets here....he is my true soulmate....worth the wait...

To any girl that is still single, do not settle and marry the next one you can find....WAIT!!  until you KNOW..and believe me, you will KNOW!  and you will be glad you waited, no matter how many years it takes...the wrong choice NEVER turns into the right choice....believe me, I know about that......

and ladies, share this with your daughters....to wait on the one God has chosen for them..it is easier than trying to turn a bad choice into a good one.. (usually does not work very well)

That's pretty much all I am going to say about this today...I hear the collective sigh out there..wink,, wink....

I will end with this line from a song ...sometimes you have to get it wrong to get it right..pretty much sums up my first marriage and my present marriage...

I take the lessons from my first marriage and apply them to this one as things I learned NOT TO DO!!

Happy Anniversary to us!    it is a day to celebrate.....Love never fails.......not ever, ever.....

Below is a picture of where it all began....kinda appropriate , don't ya think?  this time we planted the right kinds of seeds and fed it with love.......

Almost There

 From where I sit, I can see October......it begins in just a few days....where has this year gone?  it has passed so quickly......this is a grand birthday month in our family......My husband and I both have grandmother's born in October....we went on our first date in this lovely month.......

BUT.......

the BEST thing about this month.......my first granddaughter will arrive...and I can hold her in my arms and see her sweet face......and the three generations of women living on this earth will be once again......yes, indeed a grand wonderful women filled month is right on the horizon.....

Jerusalem artichokes

Confederate Rose

the same Confederate Rose--day two

Confederate Rose is a wonderful old fashioned flower that I got from my grandmother whom I called  Mamama  every October she is full of blooms.....beautiful....large plant...

goldenrod

chrysanthemum buds

holly berries turning

I love outside in the fall...the colors are breathtaking to me....I met my husband in the fall and it contains many great memories for us.......

These are just a few of my favorite things...

mountains

apples

warm fires

cozy cashmere blankets

smell of cinnamon

brown transferware dishes

pecans, acorns, caramels

sweaters, boots, and jeans

beautiful fall foliage

What does fall mean to you?  

thank you for stopping by today and I hope to see you again soon...Happy fall weekend to you...

Mona

Never enough flowers.....

As most of you know, my husband and I date every Tuesday night..it is our time together when we shut out the rest of the world...and be US!!   One part of that date night that I haven't ever shared here is the flower arrangement that I always put on the coffee table...especially for our date..we almost always watch a movie in that room.......there have been many, many different combinations on my coffee table...and usually a candle or two...

Flower arranging is one of my passions..I have been doing it as long as I can remember...My Grandmother and Mama were very good at it...winning ribbons at flower shows...I was entering arrangements from the time I was old enough to do it...In our little town, they cleared out the Ford Motor Company show room and held the flower shows there.....nothing like small town living....in the 50's and 60's....Grandmother was a flower judge and I always thought that was such a big deal...flowers, flowers, flowers....it is my life.......and heritage......


This week I really liked the flowers that I put together and I thought I would share them with you...and encourage you to pick some of those flowers from your yard and bring them inside..it will brighten up your home and make it look loved....

I got the idea from a friends post on facebook...thank you, Carole....when she said use hydrangeas to hold other flowers in place..and that is what I did....so pretty...

The dahlias I bought from Brent and Becky's are proving to be well worth the money and time....just gorgeous and the blooms are not slowing down  at all....

The Becky shasta daisy are Bryan's favorite...so pretty this year....

 I think the hydrangea is Nikko.....maybe....

.
This is just an example of how beautiful something can be when there are many different parts brought together into a whole....not the same, but each distinctive in it's own beauty.....they are all flowers but each one is different......Do not give up your individuality.... your distinctiveness...... the way you are.......

Be YOURSELF....

it is the only way things will all come together and work to make a whole ....if we play the part that we are called to be.....harmonious.....that's another thing I love about nature.....it is just so harmonious....not a lot of competing with each other unless it is an invasive plant species.and that is not something I will tolerate AT ALL in my garden.......but that is another story all together....

Thank you for stopping to smell the flowers here...

I hope to see you again soon...

Mona

Gardening is my passion

It seems like all I do lately concerns my gardens....yesterday, it was rainy and I am getting over a cold so I worked in my sewing/catchall room....I can finally see my sewing machine and work table that has been undercover since Christmas.....I am glad to get that underway....

But I still long to be outside even when I know I need to chill another day or two.....

a place to sit down and rest

heirloom tomatoes and eggplant

hollyhock, maple trees, and calendula

digging beds for tomatoes

beans and potatoes

Early Girl tomato

several varieties of squash

So for today, I am content to post some pictures about the progress in our vegetable garden....this early spring warmth will work a body half to death.....I     M U S T   learn to pace myself....I will blame it on my mama..she used to work until she could not work another second...I am like that..I try to overcome it but that trait lingers.....

and being married to a man that never slows down or stops..well, we both need to learn more about rest..  grin...

mastermind inventor

irrigation system for home garden

Bryan is so inventive that if I dream it up, he can usually come up with a way to do it...very thankful for him.....and all he does...I especially love the expressions when he is showing me something like this..that he knows I want for the garden....and it works perfectly.....and blends in with the landscape...

thank you for stopping by today...I hope to see you again soon..I certainly need to do a blog post about my daylilies..once I have enough time to come in from the garden........

Happy Tuesday to you..

Mona

THIS Man

This man is my husband..mainly he stays in the background around my blog but today is his birthday and I think it is only fitting to honor him right here out in blogland......

this is his dog Tula (Tula does the Hula)  yes, he named her that!   she has almost as much energy as my husband does......

this is him sporting his mountain man look....we love the mountains...A LOT!!

 He built this company from the ground up after he lost his job at the beginning of this economic downturn.....a whole other story....LATER......and he did it against all odds in the worst economic climate for building in many years..he is INDEED a good businessman....

these are his babies  dogs......they think he is the STUFF......and they are right...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the man I love.........life with you is a real joy.......
and always an adventure......thank you for being you......

I am glad you were born and TODAY we celebrate YOU!!!!!


thank you for stopping by today....and helping to celebrate this important birthday..I hope to see you again soon...

                                                       Mona

Happy Dance

Home for Thanksgiving Historic America  by Johnson Brothers

I am doing a happy dance today...the Thanksgiving dishes have come out of the hutch and are all over the dining room...oh happy day.  I do dearly love these dishes.  I never see them anywhere out there in blogland...well, I did see the platter once....and I was so happy to see it...but the rest of them....I don't know why more people don't use these dishes for Thanksgiving...the name of them is Home for Thanksgiving  by Johnson Brothers  ...the whole set is titled Historic America......I have loved them for as long as I can remember.  My mother had these plates and platter and we ate on them every Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I did not inherit them and was so sad about that .. my dear sweet husband knew how much they had meant to me so.....he bought me 12 plates and the platter a few years ago....it is our official china...and I have been adding to it since then..there are even red ones that I will mix in and use for Christmas.......so, oh, doing the happy dance around here...the beautiful dishes are out and my favorite people in the world will be here in a few days and we will all share a meal of Thanksgiving on these dishes.... 

beautiful details  acorns and leaves

loving the colors

all the little people..need some arranging

pressed leaves from our woods...waiting patiently

I just have a lot of getting it all put together before then....I LOVE, LOVE this holiday.....and sharing it with my awesome family.....it seems like every year we grow a little bit more......for this I am so thankful.....

thank you for stopping by today.  I hope the Thanksgiving preparations are in full swing at your house too ....and that you are enjoying every minute of the preparation...it is all so worth it when the day gets here....

I am thankful for you my readers....it would be nice if you all were here for Thanksgiving too....I could buy some more plates.  :-)

Being thankful

The leaves are turning and the color on our property is the best it has ever been...for this I am thankful.......

But more than anything else, I am thankful for this man...my husband...the man I am doing life with.we are a team and I am so very grateful for that....some things in life are not appreciated until you do without them for a while...I know what it is to do life as a team and I also know what it is like to do life with someone when you have to fight for every decision you make......It is much better to have a marriage where the people love and respect each other..and work together...we can get much further in life when we do...and oh, yes the main thing...COMMITTMENT.....knowing that the other is totally committed to making the marriage work..that is priceless....

I have a lot to be thankful for but the foundation to all the others is my marriage...I am thankful for the man I am married to..the one that makes marriage possible......

I hope you think about something you are thankful for today......everybody has something.....just ponder that....this is the month that we celebrate Thanksgiving...my favorite holiday........so as we live out this month, let's be thankful...

I am thankful for you my reader....I hope you come again soon....

It's FALL Y'ALL

A few things we only get to see during this season.....

pecans

gingko turning yellow

ripening persimmons

Hyacinth bean pods

Jerusalem artichoke flowers

chrysanthemum buds

dogwood seeds

I love fall...the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter and the time to build a fire in our wood stove gets nearer....and the very BEST thing about fall is.......I met my wonderful husband in the fall.....
all things became new for me in the fall.....

So look around, see what you can see...what is it that only comes around in the fall of our life?  enjoy this season... there are lots of things that only occur this time of year...and it is good....

thank you for coming to see me this morning...I appreciate each and every one of you...

Coffee and tomato sandwiches..

What????  do these have to do with one another...ummmmm  nothing..really...they are just  two of the things that happened at our house this past week. 

If you have never tasted Community coffee, maybe I can persuade you to find some and give it a try.  I think you will be glad you did...we buy it by the 2 lb. bags and have it shipped from here ....I used to run around to all the grocery stores trying to find it and just decided this is the easiest way for us to always have some...We have been drinking this coffee most of our married life.  we used to go to a little Cajun restaurant..Gautreau's.... when we were dating and I loved, loved their coffee....they would make a fresh pot of cafe coffee for me and I would drink most of it after a dinner of blackened catfish..we would buy it there when they had it and bring it home to enjoy...oh, how we loved that little restaurant.  it is now gone but I have fond memories and we still drink the Community coffee...My husband introduced me to the Cajun flavors with this coffee being one of my favorite....he lived for a time in Mississippi right before I met him...it was the VERY WORST time of his life but the silver lining is this coffee and our being familiar with Cajun food...I have quite a collection of cookbooks that I have read over and over trying to learn to cook this wonderful food...and acquired a taste for all things Tobasco.  LOL.  anyway a very good thing came from a very bad thing in my husband's life...he came out of Mississippi with a taste for all things Cajun and a divorce....funny how life acts like that sometimes  all of the time....something good comes out of something so bad....

and all last week we were sick with an awful summer cold..too hot to be outside and mosquitoes the size of small dogs.......but one day, there was a RIPE tomato.....so we had these so, so good tomato sandwiches...all while we had stuffy noses and couldn't really taste it very good...LOL   but the tomatoes are beginning to ripen..Cherokee Purple is the first this year..an heirloom with a purple color and green seeds...when I tried to feed these to my Daddy several years ago, he could not eat them...said they made him sick to look at them cause they didn't look right..LOL  old people can be funny!!  believe me, they taste good......

so we have had our first tomato sandwich of the summer.

when I started writing this morning I was on a ramble, not knowing where I would end up but now, I think I do...

If you look closely in these gray skies, you will  see where the sky is beginning to turn blue.....in these clouds, there seems to be a silver lining...the rain is over and gone..the trees are so very green...the gray skies are turning to blue..and life is good....

no matter how awful life has been for me and you, there is ALWAYS something good that we can focus on.....Out of an awful, no good, terrible time in my husband's life that ended in divorce and all the rest that goes with it..........came our beloved Community coffee..the very thing that we wake up to every morning...a memory of good things coming out of the pits of life....and a love for all things Cajun....even if I am a true Georgia girl....maybe , just maybe I have a little Cajun blood in there somewhere.  :-)
when we think of planning the first real vacation we have ever had..to celebrate the end of paying child support...that we thought would never end.....but it did!!     my thoughts and heart turn to Cajun country...I want to go there and eat the food and drink the coffee there.and eat Boudin...and crawfish.in the real places..so we'll see what this next year holds for us..

I am so appreciative for your reading along today..and I hope you get some encouragement that no matter how discouraged and awful you feel today..there is something, somewhere in the midst of it all that will bring you encouragement...look for it.....search for it..and do not give up until you find it..it is like the grain of sand in that oyster that because it is an irritant, it gets attention from the oyster until it turns into a pearl..what is your pearl?

My pearl is Community coffee and tomato sandwiches.......