They're heeere!, not camping and smile

The Girl Scout cookies arrived!  I couldn't say no to the delightful Brownie Scout who gave me such a good sales pitch.  (She had tried the new S'mores cookies at a troop meeting and liked them very much.)  I'm supposed to be on a diet, so took the S'mores cookies to my volunteer organization, but the Thin Mints are all mine.  Currently in the freezer at home - just waiting for a rainy day.  :)

Were any of you Scouts?  I was a Brownie Scout and went on to be a Girl Scout, finally dropping out when I was 12 years-old or so.  I hated camping and that's what did me in with the Scouts.  So when I saw the magnet on the lower left (that lives on my fridge at home), I laughed out loud and had to buy it.  

And I love that a fellow administrative volunteer at my volunteer organization always draws a smile on the back of envelopes that she mails to me.  I hope she does that for everyone.  It never fails to make me smile.

Could it finally be the weekend?  Halleujah!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

Happy mail, refrigerator art and just so

A few weeks ago, our friend the Elephant's Child mentioned in a blog post that she would send us a magnet from her visit to Floriade, Canberra, Australia's annual celebration of Springtime.  All we had to do was ask - and so I did.  I adore receiving what I call "Happy mail," which came by Air Mail, with the magnet (there on the right) inside a lovely note card, with a mom with her baby on the front.  This totally made my day.

And there it has landed, on the side of my refrigerator, next to Frida Kahlo and holding up a postcard from the Flannery O'Connor foundation.  There's also hummingbird paraphernalia, as well as a drawing depicting the metamorphosis of a butterfly, drawn by great niece Kloie.  So it's in good company.  Thanks, EC!  I adore it.

The main reason I visited the Elephant's Child's blog the first time was that her blog handle evokes one of my most favorite stories of all time - "How the Elephant got his trunk" by Rudyard Kipling.  (I have a paperback copy of the book "Just So Stories," but the cover is not as good as this one I found on the internet.)  My fifth grade teacher, the late Mrs. Ola Payne, used to read to us in the afternoons, and this was, by far, my favorite. 

If you aren't familiar with "How the Elephant got his trunk," you can imagine, just from looking at this cover, how that happened.  :)  Poor Elephant's Child, with his 'satiable curiosity!  I do love to visit our EC's blog and read her "just so" stories!  A Good Thing, for sure!

Desert island feast, fab pen holder and warrior angel

- My dinner group met last Friday night at the home of some real cooks.  I was asked to bring the appetizer and then got conflicted about what to make - many online recipes and magazine appetizer recipes were poured over.  But in the end - I decided to bring what I would want with me if I were stranded on a desert island:  cheese, bread, olives and nuts.  I loved that heart shaped Brie that I found at Publix (I guess leftover from Valentine's offerings,) The other cheese is Le Roulé herb cheese - found at Fresh Market.  It was a hit.  The heart napkins belonged to the hostess - leftover from another party.

 - More refrigerator magnets (it's been a slow Good Things period).  This pottery pen holder came from a shop in Winchester, Virginia (near where sister #1 lives.)  My fridge is full of photos of loved ones and the piper in the magnet above it advertised a Highland Games in Savannah, Georgia.  I didn't attend, but loved the image, so there it has stayed.

 - The battered warrior angel magnet came from the gift shop at Stirling Castle in Scotland.  I laughed when I got home and saw the sticker on the back:  Made in Oklahoma City.  :)

The Girl & Frida, hummingbird & moon, & the Hokey Pokey

How's that for a title?  In my last post, I had a photo of a birthday card that had owl magnets on the front.  (One of them is shown below.)  Joe commented, "I picture you as a fridge magnet type of person. Now you are going to tell me you aren't. Ha."  Well - so I am.  And so this is a good excuse to post about refrigerator magnets. Thanks Joey!

- Friend Leisa and I visited the High Museum of Art, here in Atlanta, for an exhibit "Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshuis" in 2013.  It featured the lovely painting, "The Girl with the Pearl Earring."  So of course I had to get a magnet at the gift shop at the end of the tour.  And the same museum had an exhibit of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, "Passion, Politics and Painting" in the same year - a banner year for the High, I think.  Friend Barbara and I went to that one together and both of us bought a Frida magnet. 

- I share my parents' love for hummingbirds and this magnet came from my late mom's fridge at the assisted living facility.  It's carved from wood - I bought it in the North Carolina mountains, I think.  I use it to hold up the nectar instructions.  And I've always loved the man in the moon - I've had that crescent moon magnet for years and years.

- And really, "What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about?"  I mean, really?

Happy Friday, y'all!