Last Saturday, the night before and no resolve

Last Saturday afternoon at my sister and brother-in-law's home in Jefferson County, Florida (the very northern part in the "panhandle.")  My sister was occupied with Christmas errands when I arrived, so I sat on the front steps and just listened to the quiet.  The loveliest thing - camellias bloom in December and these were in their full glory.

I don't see Moby all that often, but thankfully, he likes me.  He is a good, fierce guard dog, when needed.  He wandered around the house and his tail started wagging when he heard my voice.  His birthday is Christmas Day, so I brought him a special treat for his birthday, as well as Christmas.  That's kitty Pete in the driveway - just going over to inspect my car.

My sister calls these "Auxiliary Stockings" - the knitted ones hanging on the mantel are too fragile for all the heavier things we like to put in them.  I had fun labeling them and even more fun putting things in them.  I had a lovely time with my family and it was fun seeing the excitement of the little ones that Christmas had come.

Thinking of my blog friends on the drive home, I pulled over to take a photo of the cotton, all wrapped up in big bales.  The white spots you see on the side of the road, are pieces of cotton that drifted away - you see a lot of that in southern Georgia.  The bales will be picked up at some point and will end up in our clothing and other linens.  

And speaking of blog friends, Grannie Annie turned this photo that I posted in November into a "digital painting" - posted on facebook.  I was delighted to see it and I love it.  Thanks for doing that, Annie!  (Posted here with permission.)

Happy New Year, my friends (a little early.)  I'll be around at your blogs the next couple of days.  I hope you have a lovely weekend.  Any resolutions?  None for me.  I'll end with my three favorite resolution quotes: 

- I do think New Year's resolutions can't technically be expected to begin on New Year's Day, don't you? Since, because it's an extension of New Year's Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year's Day isn't a good idea as you can't eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second. ~Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary

- Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account. ~Oscar Wilde

- Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go. ~Brooks Atkinson

Chamber of Commerce day, reward and fleet feet

- Another gorgeous day in Atlanta, blue skies, and the high temperature was 77 degrees. It's what I call a Chamber of Commerce day.

- Landscape designer James Farmer in the October edition of Southern Living magazine: "Fall is a Southerner's reward for having survived summer."

- Sitting in traffic* and watching a squirrel traverse a power line going across Indian Creek Drive, just like The Great Wallenda, only faster. :)

* And then spotting a woman dressed as a pink bumblebee or fairy. A policeman stopped traffic and the pink fairy lead a wave of women (and a few men) dressed in pink in crossing the intersection. They were on a three-day walk for breast cancer. They walked 60 miles last weekend. (This happened last Friday.)

Steel Magnolias, credits and favorite lines

The Opera House (circa 1890) in sleepy Monticello, Florida.

I wrote it about it once before here. On Saturday evening, it was the scene of a play, Steel Magnolias. And six women who could be considered steel magnolias themselves attended the play and the dinner before it. The dinner was delightfully southern: smothered fried chicken, mashed potatoes and pole beans, with Mississippi Mud Cake for dessert. The caterer provided the food for my niece's wedding reception and I took the time to tell her that it was the best food I've ever had at a wedding.

- The play was set entirely in Truvy's Beauty Shop. I loved the credits in the back of the program thanking local Monticello beauty shops: Maggie from Maggie's Beauty Shoppe for the loan of the beauty shop equipment, special thanks to Jessi at The Dogwood House salon for helping Truvy and Annelle learn to "act" like hair stylists and thanks to Amber Waves for the loan of Truvy's styling chair. Jessi also colored the actress who played Truvy's hair red for the part. My niece was disappointed she didn't look more like Dolly Parton.

The Meeting Oak, next to the Opera House.

- We had a discussion about our favorite lines from the play during dinner: My sister's favorite, when Shelby says tearfully, "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" My favorite, when Annelle says, "I promise that my personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair." My niece's favorite, when Clairee says, "Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!"

Premiere footage, extinguisher and pilau

- Spotted on the Atlanta History Center website - home video footage by Russell Bellman of the "Gone With the Wind" Atlanta Premiere (December 15, 1939). The video features the Georgian Terrace Hotel, Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, the Gone With the Wind Ball, and the Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. I saw the dress that Scarlett wore to the barbecue.

- Chatting up the man who is changing out the fire extinguishers at my work building and remarking that I need to get one of those for my house. He goes to his truck and brings me a used one as a gift, something I will never live down with my co-workers. Oh my - the teasing! But I say, when you are nice to people, good things happen to you. :)

- It was warm enough in Thomasville, Georgia for a cookout yesterday. On the menu: Chicken Pilau (pronounced "pur-loo"), a low country dish. My mother pronounces it delicious - wish I could have been there. Here is a recipe with a picture.

It's back, fun facts and off to work

- So we have a little snow again this morning. The sign on the photo is doctored, of course, but a giggle for its tongue-in-cheek truth about how Southerners react to snowfall.

- From a fun facts about Atlanta email: >>The falling of one raindrop causes all drivers to immediately forget all traffic rules. If a single snowflake falls, the city is paralyzed for three days and it's on all the channels as a news flash every 15 minutes for a week. Overnight, all grocery stores will be sold out of milk, bread, bottled water, toilet paper, and beer.>>

- As it turns out, it was only about an inch and not sticking to roads. I'm certain that the grocery store chains were excited about the influx of shoppers shoring up their pantries last night. :)