FREE GRILL

As every Southerner knows, with spring here it is now time to get ready for that all-important cooking technique of the south...outdoor grilling!

I have just found out there are several stores (not just in the South) where you can get a FREE Bar-B-Q grill! You can get a free BBQ grill from any of the following stores (just make sure to get a metal one....the plastic ones don't do so well):

A&P
Albertsons
BJ'S
Bi-Lo
Ingles
Big Lots
Bloom
Brookshire's
Costco
Food Lion
Fry's
Home Depot
Lowe's
Pathmark
Price Chopper
Publix
Rouse's
Sam's Club
Safeway
Target
Vons
Trader Joe's
Wal-Mart
Winn-Dixie



Ya'll enjoy now!

Don't blame me. Blame Ann and Doug.

Dang!

From Lapin.

"One Of These Days...."

Mark Harris at Preludium answers a question from his comments about accountability:

I am accountable to Christ Jesus who is the Source of everything I am, and who would wonder that in any wise the institutional churches were confused for the people who are the living presence of himself, and would wonder why any accountability to those institutions would suffice even in the slightest for the accountability that is love.
....

So I am not much help for those who want to talk about accountability to this or that church, or the Anglican Communion or any visibly right way of being church that would match the Body. The Body of Christ is too visceral, too much alive, too unseemly to be held by anything as starched and petty and pious, as propitious and prudent as the several churches. The Body of Christ is, in other words, too alive to be associated in too great convergence with the death which is most institutional church.

Mark speaks from his heart with great wisdom. I urge you to read his entire post. He speaks just what I'd want to say, but with an eloquence to which I'd never aspire.

Thanks to Counterlight for sending me to read Mark's wonderful words.

Aspen Alley

Aspen Alley on Battle Mountain near Rawlins, Wyoming

Thanks to Ann. I asked Ann if the beautiful alley of trees led to her mansion, but she said no.

The Doctor's Daughter

A physician was taking her 4-year-old daughter to preschool. The little girl picked up the stethoscope, which the doctor had left on the car seat, and began playing with it.

"This is wonderful," thought the doctor." My daughter wants to follow in my footsteps!"

Then the child spoke into the instrument, "Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"

We Meet Ginny S. And Cousins At Oak Alley

Oak Alley Plantation

On Tuesday of this week, I met Ginny S. and her cousins, Mary and Isabelle, at Oak Alley, pictured above, a beautiful plantation house on the Mississippi River not far from Thibodaux. The oak trees which create the alley going down to the River Road are estimated to be nearly 300 years old.

Ginny doesn't have a cell phone, and we had not discussed how we would recognize each other, but she had seen pictures of me online, so she came up to me first, and we went on from there. Ginny is No. 27 on my list of members of our blog world whom I now know face to face.

Mary, Isabelle, and Ginny grew up in Baton Rouge, and Ginny lived in New Orleans and Hammond, Louisiana, as an adult, so we had quite a bit in common. Grandpère was with me, the only man in a group of four women, but I think he likes that. He held his own.

Ginny S. does not have a blog, but many of you will recognize her handle from her comments around our little piece of the blogosphere. She mentioned at The Friends of Jake that she would be in the area, and I asked if perhaps we could meet for a meal, and - lo! - it worked out, and I got to meet the lovely Ginny and her two equally lovely cousins.

We went to lunch in the restaurant on the grounds first. The food was good. The conversation was excellent and always high-toned, which is as it should be with southern ladies. We laughed a lot, another very good thing. Although two of the four of us no longer live in the South, once a southern girl, always a southern girl, and try to keep us from letting the good times roll.



Here they be - the cousins - Isabelle, Ginny, and Mary.

After lunch, we toured the house, which is beautifully restored and furnished with pieces from the period when the house was completed in 1841. Sadly, only a couple of the original furnishings of the house remain.


Here be us - Mimi and Ginny.

After the house tour, we strolled around the grounds and spent more time talking and getting to know each other better at our leisure. I had not visited Oak Alley in years, and I was pleased to see what the owners have done since I was last there.

Grandpère took most of the pictures, so he is not included, but I managed to capture a rear view of him with Isabelle and Mary, as he waves his hands around as he talks, like a typical Cajun.



And now GP and I have three new friends. All in all, a lovely day, indeed!

UPDATE: One more picture with Isabelle to show the size of one of the oak trees.

A Fire Rainbow And The Northern Lights

THIS IS A FIRE RAINBOW - THE RAREST OF ALL NATURALLY OCCURRING ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA. THE PICTURE WAS CAPTURED RECENTLY ON THE IDAHO/WASHINGTON BORDER. THE EVENT LASTED ABOUT 1 HOUR.

CLOUDS HAVE TO BE CIRRUS, AT LEAST 20K FEET IN THE AIR, WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ICE CRYSTALS AND THE SUN HAS TO HIT THE CLOUDS AT PRECISELY 58 DEGREES.



THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

Since the Fire Rainbow is one of the rarest of naturally occurring atmospheric phenomena, I don't aspire ever to see it. However, for a quite some time, I have longed to see the Northern Lights. One day....

Thanks to Doug for the gorgeous pictures.

News From Roseann

From Pat-Arkansas:

Hello, Grandmere Mimi

This is Pat-Arkansas, a constant reader of your Wounded Bird blog, but not much one to leave comments. I know you have been keeping up with, and reporting, news on Roseann (thank you very much) so thought I would pass this on to you. You may share this, or not, as you choose. Roseann knows that I am writing to you.

This afternoon I visited Roseann at the hospital in Little Rock. I found her in good cheer (or putting on a really good front). She was so happy to tell me of your and Mad Priest's telephone calls. They did her a world of good and she is so grateful to have such wonderful and caring cyber-friends.

She has developed some additional medical problems (as though she needed anything else on her plate), but I'll let her tell that story should she choose to do so.

I hope to visit her again soon, either in hospital or at home.

Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Thanks,

Patricia/Pat - Arkansas

Update On Tigger, The Cat

When Tigger was at the vet's office a week or so ago, he was diagnosed with an ear infection, along with the polyp growing in his head that will eventually be the end of him. To everyone's surprise, he has made a remarkable recovery as the antibiotics worked to clear up the infection. He is now walking, only occasionally stumbling, and still eating well with hand-feeding and water through a syringe. The polyp presses on his throat, thus making it impossible for him to eat on his own, but he can swallow.

On the way home from school, I asked the kids if they thought that cats went to heaven. Both children said yes. I said, "I think that one day we will all be together with our pets again." My grandson said, "I know it!"

Thanks be to God.

UPDATE: Tigger with my granddaughter.

Florida Road Sign

UPDATE: Dear me! I forgot to give due credit to Doug. I can't let that happen again. I don't want to lose a good source of material.