Arrrr! It's Pirate Baby -- or grandson, Nolan Thomas Behel, practicing his Jack Sparrow impression.
Pirates Can Be Cute, Too
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Tag Archives: family
Recycling the Recycling
You know you lead a sophisticated and exciting life when the arrival of new recycling bins is a highlight of your week.
What can I say? My husband and I live on the edge. Taking our paper/plastic/cardboard recycling to the center in nearby Florence, Ala., is a weekly chore on our to-do list, and the status of the aging and always overflowing bins there is a hot topic of our conversation. So naturally we were overjoyed to see that the city of Florence recently replaced some of the old and creaky bins with larger and shinier ones. The question, of course, is: Did the city of Florence recycle the old bins? Inquiring minds want to know.
Pear Honey
My daughter’s mother-in-law, Sharlie Behel, of Tuscumbia, Ala., is one of the best cooks I know — she can feed a dozen people without batting an eyelash and frequently does. In the summer, her garden overflows with fresh vegetables that she generously passes along to friends and family … and luckily she considers me both! And then she cans the extras, like these green beans and her “pear honey,” which is a delicious combination of pears and sugar that literally tastes as if she’s dipped pear slices into honey. It’s perfect on toast, biscuits or pancakes, and I could eat the contents of a whole jar with a spoon and bypass the whole bread thing. Not that I’ve ever done that, of course. I can’t even keep a jar of it at the house, because as soon as somebody tastes it, they’re begging to take some home. And I share, because that’s what Sharlie does with me. But I share so much that it gets gone quick. So maybe Sharlie will read this and “share” some more pear honey with me, if she has any extra left!
He Looks So Cute in His Little Red Suit
Grandson, Nolan Thomas Behel, at almost six months old. Note his courage and bravery while being threatened by a menacing dragon (puppet).
Watch This!
Grandson, 6-month-old Nolan Thomas Behel, learns about watches from his great-grandpa, Ray Wood.
Fresh Market Shopping
Sure, first steps and first words and first days at school are important, but in our family, first day sitting alone in a 
shopping cart at Fresh Market is equally as significant! Here’s grandson, almost 6-months-old Nolan Thomas Behel, with mom Liz on his first Fresh Market trip sitting all by himself — after his mom and grandma spent about 10 minutes sanitizing the entire cart, of course. “This is is great,” Liz said. “We don’t have to carry him or bring in the stroller or anything. How easy!” I predict many more Fresh Market trips in our future.
Healthy in Huntsville
Daughter Liz with son, Nolan Thomas, at Garden Cove
One of my older daughter’s favorite places to shop in Huntsville, Ala., is Garden Cove Produce, 628 Meridian St., and I love going along with her. Liz is a vegetarian and cooks organic for her family when possible, and Garden Cove is a mecca for that kind of diet. Just walking into the produce section is an education — there are fresh fruits and vegetables from all over the world. But don’t be intimidated! The helpful staff has all sorts of cooking tips and suggestions if you need help. The grocery part of Garden Cove also has a great selection of non-perishable foods along the lines of a Fresh Market or Whole Foods, much of it organic and natural and most of it hard to find anywhere else in Huntsville. On the other side of the store is a holistic-type drugstore, with cosmetics, health/beauty products and supplements along with some food items such as teas, breakfast cereals and bulk grains. We go there for lunch — it’s self-serve to-go freshly made sandwiches and soup. Visit http://www.gardencoveproduce.com/index.html for details — Garden Cove is closed Saturdays and open various hours on the other days, so check before you go. The other thing — besides the selection — I love about Garden Cove is the people who shop there: Folks with different backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicities and incomes all come here to get good food at good prices. It’s invigorating to be a part of that.
Mother-Daughter Style
Both of my daughters are great shoppers. I’ve taught them well! My 
younger daughter, Carolyn, goes to school in Birmingham, Ala., and she loves shopping in consignment and charity stores there. Mainly she looks for T-shirts she recycles into other projects, but she also finds great retro/vintage buys perfect for a 20-something college student. She got the three tops on the left from a Goodwill store in Birmingham. The red wrap dress was about $9 — she’s going to wear it over T-shirts and jeans. The polka-dot white top was about $3 — again, wonderful with jeans. The pink cotton embroidered tunic is Free People and was about $5. These tops only needed good washings and they were good to go. She found the embellished yellow slip for $7.50 at Golden Temple Natural Grocery in Five Points South in Birmingham. Somebody had added lace and little satin roses to this slip — maybe to wear as a dress? Anyway, it’s 
adorable and the perfect length to wear under a couple dresses she’s got.
Carolyn had come home for a quick visit this weekend and showed me her shopping treasures. But before she went back to Birmingham, we had to negotiate a deal. She liked a new dress I had bought and wore to church on Sunday (see post below). I have to admit it looked a lot better on her than on me. So, in exchange for the dress, she gave me the pink Free People top, which she said didn’t really fit her but it was a $5 Free People top so she had to get it! Of course, it’s exactly the hippie-boho style we all wore 30 years ago, so naturally I love it. Thanks, Carolyn!
Jacket Weather
Even though the temperature is summer-like today, I still want to wear 
this jacket. I absolutely fell in love with it when I tried it on at Reed’s department store in downtown Tupelo, Miss., the other day. You know how you put something on and you know immediately that it was meant for you and you for it? There is such a thing as love at first sight. I adore the tailored half-belt in the back and the sort of pleated sleeves and the slash pockets and seaming in the front. I usually don’t like double-breasted jackets — reminds me of Mr. Howell on Gilligan’s Island — but this one doesn’t even seem double-breasted for some reason, even though it obviously is. It fit perfectly (even though it looks square in the photo, it’s definitely not when you put it on) and of course who can resist a pumpkin-colored jacket for fall? I’d never heard of the brand “liquid,” but my fashion-savvy college-age daughter assures me that it’s a hot name, so there you go. Actually, this jacket sort of reminds me of the car coats every self-respecting female had to have in her wardrobe about a million years ago — when I was younger.
Now I just need a day that’s less than 70 degrees. C’mon, fall!
Family Reflections
Older daughter, Liz, with her son and our first and so far only grandson, Nolan.
Coffee with Cathy 