Our Lake Adventure

This was a weekend full of huge adventure, family, food, music, fireworks, and fun. At some later point I might have some wisdom, (and more pics) to offer to inspire, uplift and amuse, but for now, here are some pictures from our time on Guntersville Lake with the our dear friends the Phillips and the Scotts.


Amanda B. and Amanda P. were perfectly cool aboard the inflated float of wild speedboat fury, but I think our sadistic chauffeur, Brian, took it a little easier on them than on us guys.


Christopher more than held his own on the crazy float while Brian hot dogged that boat like he was at the water version of the Indy 500.

After eating several gallons of lake water, I really had an awesome time.

Lynne said that, among many other things, "her boys" Jacob and Adam, could stand up on the moving float, and that sounded way too much like a challenge for me to pass up.

Somehow we missed getting pictures of everybody, but Jacob's sweet fiance, Mallory, also came along for the adventure. We packed a lake picnic which we all enjoyed while hundreds of tiny bats entertained us as if on cue at sunset at the "Bat Cave." This is a well kept local secret and I think the Scotts and all the lake dwellers around there wouldn't mind keeping it that way. This place is truly breath taking. Surrounded by rolling hills and gracious southern charm, Guntersville Lake is a hidden jewel in the middle of Marshall County, Alabama.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Some of you have asked for this recipe, so here it is. It is the cake my Mamma made for Amanda's birthday and it is SO good. I'm calling it Mamma's, but in her recipe book it's called Dianna's Chocolate Sheet Cake. My Mamma has been making it long enough that I think she can claim it now. Plus, she made it with dark chocolate this time, so she changed it a bit. In her favorite cooking notebook, this recipe is hand written and covered with splashes of batter and twenty years of cooking.

Olethia's Buttermilk Chocolate Cake

Sift together 2 cups sugar and two cups self-rising flour and set aside.

Then bring to boil 1 stick butter, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 5 Tbsp. dark cocoa, 1 cup water.

Pour over sugar and flour mixture.

Beat 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 cup buttermilk.

Pour this into other mixture.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Icing:

Boil 1 stick butter, 6 Tbsp. buttermilk, 5 Tbsp. dark cocoa

Add 1 box confectioner's sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1 cup chopped pecans.

Pour over cake right out of oven, and careful not to swallow your tongue.

Amanda's Wedding Birthday Party

We have a weakness at my house. We can't resist the themed party temptation. We spend days planning, weeks really, we make fancy foods, we wear costumes, put up decorations, change out light bulbs, make special party play lists, and do so while putting off other less exiting responsibilities.


The Birthday Brides and Bride's maid.


The Grooms. Evan (top left) thought we said welding party, not wedding party. Ha Ha!

Why? I think it fits perfectly into our philosophy that relationships are the most important things in life. We laugh, dance, confess, brag, we might even cry, and we clean up the aftermath, eventually to do it all over again, hopefully sooner than later.


The Cake

So is it a waste of money? Do we worry what the neighbors will think when they see bubbles floating out our front windows, a strobe light flashing from our dining room window, or people pouring out of cars in outlandish get-ups? Not a chance.

My Review of "East of Eden"

The early 1900's California country side in graphic detail, painfully difficult father-son relationships, whores, deep moral questions, scripture translated into Hebrew, a really wise Chinese guy who shares a mysterious liquor that tastes like good rotten apples, what more could you ask for? This is the kind of book that inspires mourning when the final pages arrive.

From the first descriptions of California's Salinas Valley, I was riveted to John Steinbeck's East of Eden.  It is a page turner with meat.  It is like a twelve course meal shared with friends that lasts and lasts, but doesn't leave you feeling too full.  

The story picks up early in the life of Adam Trask and follows him through two turbulent, but ultimately satisfying generations.  The perspective that ran as a theme throughout is really a moral question that is ultimately answered in Holy scripture.  They don't call em' classics for nothing! 

I found myself inspired on a spiritual level in addition to simply falling in love with the broad spectrum of realistically flawed characters.  Thanks, Annie Thomas, for the recommendation.  You've never let me down.

Our Trip to Bama

It is always cool when work takes me back home and we sneak in an unexpected visit. I like holidays, but my favorite times are just the ordinary days like today. Amanda used her birthday money to buy a new camera, so here are a couple of the very first pics.

Ginny and I went for a swim. I was holding on tight to keep her from rushing the cows, (maybe one of her top five favorite activities in life.) Yesterday she caught a bunny. A real bunny. For a city dog, it doesn't get much better than a trip to Arab.

Here's lunch.


Mamma whipped up Amanda's favorite buttermilk chocolate cake, from scratch of course, then made sure all 29 candles were lit.


It was, hands down, the best yet of Amanda's birthday cakes. Not quite done in the middle, dark chocolate, pecans from the trees in the yard, hot right out of the oven, you know, perfect.

I was glad Mammaw felt like coming. She has been a true force to be reckoned with for her whole life. She still drives herself to dialysis after four years, but it has taken its toll. She knew Amanda and I were working on a new business, and she had several ideas to share. Her package for Amanda's birthday made it to the house a full two days before the day. If she's still breathing, her wheels are turning, considering ways she can help us grand kids.

We have big, fat, loud, and utterly delicious meals, mules, horses, cats, a new baby calf named Lloyd to bottle feed, enough fresh eggs to fill five Easter baskets, some laughs, some fights, but more love than you can shake a stick at. It's where I come from.

What You Gotta Do

We have our strengths, we have our weaknesses. Sometimes we just have to work through our weaknesses just to get to our strengths.

Since about five o'clock last night, I have been performing a ritual. It involves lifting up couch cushions, crawling through dust bunnies on the floor, retracing steps, calling places I have been, visiting the gym, looking under the same stack of books and magazine's on my bedside table at least ten times until I finally gave up in utter dejection, picked up the top magazine to read it, and ended the ritual. It happens about once every two months or so with some regularity, yet it still holds this power over me, as if it is some kind of wicked punishment.

Today, it is the search for my wedding ring. This time, it was where I always put it, on my bedside table, it was just hiding under that top magazine. I imagine it to be buried in the back yard, mysteriously stolen, or maybe somehow blown into the outer limits of space into the black hole of lost rings, keys, driver's licenses, sunglasses, receipts, and one of my all time top lost things, my wallet.

As I frantically search, I go from extreme shame and self loathing to bitter blame, to hopefully, every now and then, somewhere in between, something like a healthy attitude. I tell myself, "It's a wonder you've kept up with this thing for five years!" And, "Don't panic, you've got a back up for just such times as this." But it doesn't help a great deal.

The disaster was averted, once again, this time. But this is a struggle that I have had since the year I lost three nice winter coats in one season as a kid. So, like the fact that I am so extremely confused by numbers that, hard as I try, I cannot calculate my score correctly in card games, or sometimes even count my reps at the gym, I must just keep plowing through the harder things in my life to get to the easy ones.

Nobody is good at everything, and I tend to think it best not to focus too much on your weaknesses. However, they have a way of showing up sometimes in places where they demand your attention.

So, full circle, you gotta do what you gotta do to get to do what you gotta do.

I gotta do my life in my own way. So I gotta put up with the fact that I'm gonna hit kinks, they are unavoidable. I just have to remind myself not to get too bent out of shape over the rough spots and soon enough I'll be flying again.

Our Four-legged Family

Where in the world would we be without them? They make us laugh, they love us when no one else really notices, they help us get our exercise, calm us down, cheer us up, they guide us into better versions of our former selves, they fill our lives with meaning,.. OK, and some poop.



This is Image. He is a twenty-five year old Morgan gelding who belongs to my good friends. He is very fat, and he founders often. For you non horse people, that is a problem with the hooves that happens to fat, spoiled horses with some regularity, but if not taken care of, can be pretty serious. He gave my brother a job when he was a colt because he needed a little training. Come to think of it, he gave me a job a few times when I got to give him his water, oats and hay, when his mom and dad were out of town. The truth is, my family's long love affair with horses probably had more to do with bringing my dear friend's, his owners into my life than just about anything. Thanks Image.



This is Fred. He is a dog of extremes. The most obvious extreme is his size. Medium sized ponies are terrified of him. He can toot the foulest, sling the most slobber, eat the most rotisserie chickens, Vienna sausages, and jumbo dog treats, and snore the loudest of any dog I have ever known -by far.



That's Poo Bear eating a golden delicious. He just showed up one day with his mom and nobody had the heart to make him leave. I think that has a lot to do with his uncharacteristically furry face.



These are my dad's cows. Just looking at them gives me a sense of calm. They have the opposite effect on our dog, Ginny.



This is Ginny's friend, Lucy. She's kind of a tornado of affection and sweet Golden-doodle love.



This is Ginny and Amanda. They let me live with them. I can't begin to describe how much I love this picture and the two hot babes in it. They're my pin-up girls.