From the Grand Sandestin Hotel, there is a seashell strewn pathway down to the Baytowne Wharf shopping and eating area. It is a short walk…maybe 500 feet or so. As we walked down to find a place to eat lunch, I used my camera to capture images that demanded a second look. Here is what caught my eye…

The pathway…..

Johnny Jump-ups…planted in big beds…

…and a little orange gerbera thrown in…

And, Old Glory is peeking out between the columns…

A beautiful urn and flower bed filled with colorful pansies…

Loved the foliage on this tree against the grey-blue sky…

An absolutely gorgeous courtyard…immaculate!…

What is that I spy back behind those bushes?…

Let’s get a little closer…

What a neat old fence…

And, notice how all the vine is all twisted around, and through the gate. Don’t know what it is, but bet it’s pretty when it’s blooming…

******************************
Walking back to the hotel after breakfast, I watched an elderly couple meandering along in front of me. She had a bag full of something. She and I were talking about all the pretty flowers. She stopped walking and then she said to her hubby, “I don’t see her…she’s always here. I bet she thinks we forgot her.”
Her hubby said, “Don’t fret, dear. She always comes running when you call her. Did you call her?” “Well, no. No, I didn’t,” she said. “Well, my dear, why didn’t you?” he asked. She stopped walking and looked at him and said, “I didn’t call her because you forgot to remember that you needed to remember to tell me to call her.”
And, he turned around and walked to her, took her hand, kissed it and said, “I’m sorry I failed you, dear. I won’t let it happen again. Now, you call her and see what happens.” He glanced over at me and said, “She’s still sharp as a tack.” She looked up at him and a thousand things showed themselves on her sweet face…and then she said, “I can’t seem to remember her name. So, how can I call her?” “Think hard”, he said. “You know…just think.” She thought and it was if I could see the wheels turning…bringing up info for her to consider. She must be thinking of every name she ever knew. And, then…a smile slowly began to form. She had it!
“Ca-a-at! Cat! Cat!, she called. “Come on here to Mama. Cat, come on…I got your breakfast! Cat! Ca-a-at!” I wanted to help her call. I wanted to find a cat for her. I actually prayed that the Lord would find that cat and set it down in front of her. She called again and again. She started to get teary. Hubby looked over at her and said, “She’s gonna come…just wait!” And, I sent another prayer to the Lord. I wanted to see a cat, even though cats are not very high on my list of things I like. But, right now, I wanted to see Cat very bad. And, then…from under a big group of bushes…out comes a cat! And, from the way her sweet face lit up…I knew it was THE cat. “Look,” she said to Hubby, “I told you she was gonna come. I knew it! I knew it!” Hubby told her to come on down where there was shade before she began feeding her. There was a low wall, and she slowly sat down…and Hubby sat beside her. And, as I walked off, I looked back at them sitting there…a big smile on her face as she watched the cat. And, a bigger smile on Hubby’s face as he watched his wife. He saw me looking, and gave me a wave…and then a big thumbs up!

SHOPPING IN THE VILLAGE

THE VILLAGE AT BAYTOWNE WHARF…NIGHT

BISTRO BIJOUX…..dinner

A PERFECT ENDING….

THE GREAT ART OF GOD

Come back with me to 1209 3rd Ave, for a few more memories. Here is one of those great old pecan trees that we had in our backyard. Great for climbing, and hiding behind, and cooking!

Here is Joy filling her pool! Look behind her…next to the house,beside the steps, is the basement door…it’s standing open…

There was always much to do in the backyard. And, it was there that I began experimenting with combining differing tastes and textures to come up with my own delicious offerings. We had a most delightful sand, along with a rich dark soil, and a smattering of red clay. Mixed together, it looked delicious. At the right time of the year, I would have the most wonderful green tassel from the big pecan trees in the yard.
See them there at the bottom of the picture. I could strip the tiny little pollen granules off the stem and add them to the soup or stew I had been working on all morning. They were also great for decorating the top of a pie or cake.

In our front yard we had a beautiful wisteria vine. It grew up the telephone pole that was next to the street, right by where we kept the garbage cans. Ours was a much travelled road, and we were not allowed to play there, BUT…that was where the wisteria was. And, it held some strange hold over 2 little girls.
The seed pods of the wisteria vine as they are growing have an incredible softness…almost like velvet.

Blooming, the flowers have an intoxicating aroma. Just saying the name of the plant brings that sweet scent up from my memory bank to delight me again! Bees like them, too! Alot!!!

Then there were the drying seed pods…you actually can hear them when they popped! The seeds were then blown about by the wind to take hold in some fertile ground and start another vine. IF the 2 little girls, and their posse, did not get them first.

It really wasn’t fair that the vine was in the front yard. Really, it wasn’t. It sang a song to entice us when it was in full bloom! (Or that could have been the bees…) The beautiful purple blooms would mix into the dish of the day, and it was possible to take the individual flowers and place them ‘just so’ on top for the final presentation.

And, when summer faded and the seed pods were doing their popping dance, the vine, all naked with branch after branch twisting and tangled and turning, beckoned us to come and listen. It begged us to take of its bounty of little seeds inside the pods and use them any way we could imagine. The beautiful wisteria was doing it all for us!

The problem…and it was a big one…was how to partake of its glorious bounty without being seen by Mama. Because, she had this thing about obedience! If we didn’t obey…there would be consequences. Yes, Ma’am there WOULD be consequences. And, while I know I could have explained to her just WHY we had gone down ‘the path of unrighteousness’, she was not in the mood to listen when her girls had strayed. And, she had a way of ‘explaining’ to us just how unhappy she was! We always got the message loud and clear!OBVIOUSLY WE WERE BEING OBEDIENT HERE!

However, that ‘demon’ wisteria was working against her. It was pulling her girls to disobedience just as hard as she was pulling us toward obedience. And, there we were, 2 pitiful, sweet, little angel girls…caught in the middle.

How, pray tell, can a budding chef , along with her assistant, prepare her dishes without the necessary ingredients? There MUST be some way to get the wisteria petals and seeds from the FRONT yard to the BACK! And, so, we became quite creative. Sometimes, we would have contests, and whomever would lose had to sneak to the front yard, creep up to the bush, gather enough supplies, and get back before getting caught! See, there were always younger kids around, who could not run or jump or swing as high as we could. So, they would lose. It was just the way of the world on 3rd Ave. Hard-knock life, it was.

Sometimes, we would get my buddy, David, to go get them. Now, David and his 3 brothers lived right next door. He could ride his bicycle anywhere, even IN THE STREET! Poor Mrs Mary had her hands full…4 boys!. So, when David was around, he would go get us a big bunch. He had to do this surreptitiously though, because what boy would want to be seen picking flowers for the backyard girls? So, he would grab some and go…sometimes bruising the delicate flower in the process. He did the best he could…boys just don’t always see the big picture! Like a finished cake, pie and 2 soup dishes done by noon! They MUST be decorated!

There was another boy in the neighborhood, Michael, but he was a ‘whiney, baby tattletale’ so we only used him as a last resort.

EVER TRY TO WASH A CAT?

There were, then, times when Joy or I would be forced to take forbidden road. We would go out the fence gate on the far right side of the yard. This is where the banana tree was. HE-ELL-O-O! Plant the ever so interesting, educational bit of foliage where the kiddies can’t watch it, OK.? We never once caught it making any bananas…but, we could have kept our eye on it IF it had been in the backyard! Anyway, I digress. Out the fence gate, and down the row of forsythia planted between our front yard and the McCord’s. There were 8 bushes…and then the wisteria. We would always move over to the McCord’s yard and try to hide behind the forsythia, moving with quick little hops and jumps between each bush. And, we would stay on their side when we got to the street…even though it was much better pickins’ on our side! We always carried a bucket to gather our supplies. And, there were always those infernal bees! It was a quick lesson that you do not slap a bee! I’m just saying…Then, there was the L O N G trip back down the row of bushes, past the banana tree, through the gate, to safety. We would sit quietly there in the shade for a while…trying to regain normal breathing and listening for the slam of the backdoor. It was possible to tell the kind of mood Mama was in by the sound of the slam! Really! It could be just a normal, walking out the door and letting it slam behind you OR it could be a quick, hard slam that signalled someone had opened it and forcefully slammed it closed. Oh! we did not like to hear that second kind! But, if we did, we’d quickly hid the bucket under the azalea bushes just inside the gate…and then hurriedly sit down and look all innocent and pious!

“Hi Mama! You look real purty! —Ma’am? —You thought you heard the gate open and close? Really! Well, we’ve been sitting right here. Just us two loving sisters enjoying playing together like little angels. —No, Ma’am! —We know about going to front yard. —Yes, Ma’am! We remember what will happen if we go outside the gate. —Yes, Ma’am, we promise to stay inside the fence!” And, we would, NOW that we had what we needed!

Me? I just took all this reconnaissance in stride. It was something that had to be done, and I was careful to plan and carry out the mission as quickly and quietly and as inconspicuously as possible.

Joy, I think, just wet her pants!

I can remember a time when doing something really embarrassing would have just made me want to crawl under a table and wait until everyone went home and then come out. I haven’t been that person in quite a while…and today, I got a chance to prove it again.

I went to the PS to offer a little help with end of year things. I spoke with several people, and then went into Bonnie’s office and sat down. She was on the phone, so I talked with my friend Allison. Then I crossed my legs… and LOOK!!!

I just laughed and laughed! You would be surprised how many of those girls asked me if I did that on purpose! Would I do something like that on purpose???? Well, yes, I probably would…but I didn’t today!

{MEMO TO MY YOUNGER READERS: The day that you find you can laugh at yourself…is the day you are on the road to maturity.}

Oh, it was so good to see my friends there! I miss them so much!

Well, I left there and went to Ross to look for something specific…didn’t find it, but did find something else. I have a whole group of decorations in the beachy theme to use throughout the summer. And I found this little figurine…

Here’s a better look at their sweet faces…

$4.99…Ross…great deal!

I then moved on to Kohl’s, then to Michael’s, and finally to Lowe’s. That was all my feet would agree to carry me today…so home I went. Had a nice, long conversation with my Pop, too.

Oh, and I did go home and change shoes before I walked all over town…well, actually I just had to change one shoe!!! 🙂