A Sister's Weekend

Two weekends ago, the younger kids and I drove 540 miles to a small town in KY to my sister's house. She moved there a little while ago to teach at a local university. My other sister lives about 3 hours away in TN, so she met us in KY and we had a little Sisters' weekend together. The occasion was R.'s birthday and her desire to visit the annual Spoonbread Festival of Berea, KY. 

The drive there was a revelation to me. I have few memories of West Virginia, through which the bulk of the route winds, and other than the words of that favorite old song, Country Roads (almost heaven, mountain mama and all that), I don't know much about it. Goodness, it is glorious! You should go!  A perfect interstate (I-79) threaded through beautiful mountains, over rivers and in and out of several small towns. We saw the eponymous haze of the Blue Ridge Mountains and noticed little villages in the valleys. It really was lovely. I used to love driving mountain roads-I found it so exciting. In recent years, I've grown more anxious and uptight about it and haven't enjoyed it as much. This time, on two sunny afternoons with the wide road carving through this beautiful place,  I remembered that previous love of soaring through hills and valleys and kept my grip on the wheel relaxed and my foot off the brake. Sometimes the feeling of flying was real, complete with a wonderful swoop in my stomach when we'd crest a hill or slingshot back up after crossing a river.

I got to see my sister's beautiful house for the first time and felt happy for her success there at the university.  My other sister is a amazing cook, so some fabulous meals were also on the agenda. Great setting, good food, and family. Check. Check and Check.


The Spoonbread festival was a charming local festival with authentic bluegrass music that we could have listened to all day, lots of great arts and craft booths (naturally I found some yarn), and of course the famous spoonbread. It's a kind of cornbread, but so soft and almost pudding-like that you really do have to eat it with a spoon and get every bit of buttery, warm and melty-in-your-mouth goodness. Ask me and I'll make you some.

My kids wanted to go to see their cousins and I'm glad they came along. They had time to hang out a bit and we all went and invaded the DQ where my nephew works and had Blizzards on a Saturday night while he had his break. I went the mini-blizzard route and tried two different flavors. Yessss.

It was a super-quick trip--we drove in on Friday and home again on Sunday, but it was worth the time. With all my siblings scattered over the entire nation, having 3 of us in one spot was a watershed moment and I'm glad we got the chance.

My cute niece tries the spoonbread...

and doesn't see what the big deal is.
"It's just cornbread."

My sisters and I, on the other hand,
enjoyed it thoroughly. 

I love this picture of Niece and Sister
getting ready to watch the parade. 

The three of us. I like this photo best of me...

but this one is better all around. So you get both cuz it's my
blog. 

My kids just really, really love her kids.
They're so fun together. 

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An Account of My Not Blogging

Every time I start a post, I can think only of the other things I need to do, so I go do those instead. I've been blessed with lots of photo opportunities lately, as well as lots of good knitting opportunities. I also still feel a bit like I'm catching up after all the travel of the summer and that surgery that was harder than I thought. (All is well on that score, by the way. Swelling is gone, cancer is gone,  scarring is neat and minimal, doc says numbness will go away eventually.) I am down in the anemia dumps for the moment as well, which means that every time I stop moving around and am not frantically running from place to place, I immediately fall into suspended animation or slow motion or something that causes me to not move again for a long time. I'm back to taking my iron, so hopefully I'll have a little oxygen in my bloodstream again soon and be able to stay conscious. I'm just so used to feeling this way, it has to get really bad before I realize, "Oh yeah, this actually IS NOT normal."

Today I'm letting my heart be tender as my good friend has said goodbye to her dear husband after a long fight with Parkinson's disease. He died quietly and peacefully and is now free of a host of physical challenges. I like thinking of his spirit being free to continue learning and growing. I also like thinking of he and my friend together again someday.  Jann and I visited with her today, and it was a special time for us. She is a woman of faith, and I have been impressed watching her go through this experience with a sense of gratitude, positive energy and love.

I have some trips to post about, some pictures I want to record here, and some things that I just want to write down, so hopefully I'll be back soon, but I probably shouldn't make any promises in case it's another 2 weeks.  Here's a preview of one of the trip posts, anyway. I went to Kentucky last weekend to see two of my sisters and this is one of the things I found affixed to a storm drain in that fascinating place. If you can tell me what it means, I'd love that. I'm sure I can google it, but I'm too tired right now.

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