South Korea Girl {CC}

South Korea Girl is not coming home for Christmas.

 It is good news though. Really. Many of you have asked about her in e-mails and in comments. She will complete her semester at Sogang University in Seoul this week. She studied Korean and Asian history. She loves South Korea. CC has been studying Korean for over a year here in Georgia but there is no substitute for total immersion in the culture.

She had been fervently applying for South Korean internships. She was interviewed for two in the last two weeks. Time was drawing near for her to fly home and it was making me anxious. Flying to South Korea is expensive and she would have to fly back for an internship.  

Being a mom I was caught up in the myriad of details. What about a visa extension? What about the plane ticket? What about approval from her home university? What about the cold winter?

CC was in perfect contrast to her mother virtually unconcerned about all of the above. She had met with a missionary couple and arranged to live with them if an internship happened. She arranged to help them teach orphans. She felt that God strongly wanted her to stay. She was and is resolute. I am proud of her faith and in awe of her.

She accepted an internship at Seoul University to work at a museum. 

She will be helping a man there with his English as they work and he with her Korean. We continue to talk and text, for free, via Kakao Talk. It is a free app that hardly ever cuts us off. The winter in Seoul will be nothing like CC has ever experienced. It can get in the negative numbers. We live in a state where coats are optional.

The image above is of CC (on the left) and her now roommate. I think they are adorable. Her roommate is from Georgia and also attends CC's home university. They did not know each other before this South Korean semester. They can continue their friendship when CC returns.

I tried to pull some images of Seoul and CC in the snow off of Instagram but could not. She is coffeeaddict0021. She takes a lot of pictures of Korean food, coffee and historic sites.

We will miss her terribly at Christmas but we will be fine. I will be fine. I am happy for her.
Thank you all for asking about her.

Please read my sponsored post from Kaplan and Blogher 
Thirty Minutes In The Day Of A Registered Nurse.  
It is a true story of a sick young man I cared for.

Happy Christmas
Olive

Picture This Moment

Picture a blond, skinny, blue eyed, young child looking about four years old (but actually six) running down a chain link fence and signing to her mother as her mother drives away from school. She's signing "I love you" continuously as she runs along the fence as if her mother is leaving her on the concrete playground forever. This scenario occurs every morning.

Now picture that same child, grown, but still petite at age twenty-two (looking fifteen) in line at Hartsfield-International Airport signing "I love you" in the security line as she prepares to fly off to university in South Korea. Maybe for five months or perhaps for an entire year. The mother or young exchange student have no idea when she will return.

This is when the mother cries. She pictures, the skinny child, the concrete, the fence, and not the TSA in their navy uniforms checking her in at the large shining airport. The mother then signs "I love you" back to her daughter.

That was my CC and me last week.

Can you picture what I have been up to?

Joy and Peace

Olive

Green Chippy Chair&McCoy

The green chippy chair has to be in my top ten thrifty finds.

 I paid three dollars for it.

 And ran with it.

The McCoy planter is Joe's mother's. 

We found it, intact, buried in the yard at our old house. 

I posted about it a while back and my astute readers identified it as McCoy.

 It is unmarked.

Happy Sunday my astute friends

Linking@Tweak It Tuesday

Budget Decorating Party

Wow Us Wednesday's

joy and peace

Olive

Do you buy furniture with no idea of where it's going?

It is a glorious fall day here. 

I started off with a small fire in the wood stove and now I have the doors open.

I have been dusting and moving Joe's chair around I showed you on Saturday.

This room, despite it's windows, is dark so these photos are dark much to my dismay.

 

 

A reader remarked that she liked the chair but it wasn't her colors.

Same here lovey. 

We have a faded cabbage rose sofa in green and pink in this very room. 

One day we want a neutral cream colored sofa.

We paid all of twenty five dollars for each of the two sofas we have now. 

Spending more than that is going to be difficult.

 

The chair does blend with our old crocks. 

The butter churn was my mother's and the lamp was Joe's mother's. 

We recently got the old pickle crock, beside the chair, at an estate sale.

The unframed oil painting, on the left, reminds us of our trip to Italy.

The art glass vase was a gift from one of my patients.

Please ignore my terrible hair but I adore this image of Joe.

I recently let my grey fly and will have some profile shots soon I hope.

This is my view of the fall leaves as I type.

 I am still in a pickle as to where to put Joe's chair.

We will work it out. 

We always do.

Do you buy furniture with no idea of where it is going in your house?

Linking with Marty at  A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday.

may joy and peace surround you

Olive

Photo Challenge: Closer

This Friday’s challenge is Closer.

Hosted by Chania at Razmataz.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I take a gracious plenty of close up photos.

 The glass is a vintage cake plate.

It was Joe’s mother’s.

The embroidery is on a vintage table scarf.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Nineteen, Goodness Gracious!

She was born on a Tuesday. Early in the morning. She was planned and wanted oh so very much. I went to an infertility doctor for some time. She weighed 2lbs 9oz. She lost the 9oz and had to start over at 2lbs. She seriously looked like an albino squirrel. She was covered in white fur, the lanugo that covers babies in the last trimester.

She is nineteen today!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Where did nineteen years go? She is in her second year of college already and I cannot believe it. She does not look her age. She gets mistaken for a thirteen year old often. She is always gracious about it.

CC, I love you more now than I ever have. From that tiny neonate to the lovely young lady you have become you have been a pure joy. I especially love that you have a heart for others. You put people first and that is a wonderful gift. Now, if you would just clean your swamp….I mean your room.

She has had every color of hair available in a box. This pink is especially cute. One of my favorites was platinum blonde but it was way too expensive.

She calls her Mama every day. Sweet.

grace surrounds us

Olive

White and Vintage

A white and vintage table scarf found pressed and starched at a yard sale for two dollars. Add Joe’s milk glass. I found these three pieces scattered around the old house when we married. They might be his mother’s.

The embroidery on this table scarf is executed perfectly. The stitching is fine and I think the backside looks beautiful also. This could never be said of pieces I did in my twenties.

Grouping the milk glass pieces together makes for a more cohesive look. I especially like the urn in the back.

I was shopping for an ace wrap at one am and overslept and missed my magical sun in the window perfect moment. Please pardon my glare. The ace wrap I hope is not a blog for another day!

I am linking with Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesday and at Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday. Please visit them for all the white and vintage goodness.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Cloches

Cloches. A party. At Marty’s. Over at A Stroll Thru Life.

It’s a grand idea. I however, did it in a small scale. My cloches are not large. The contents are petite. I have always been drawn to tiny objects.

My cloches do not usually reside in the window seat. I was chasing the light!

 

 

 

  

 

The cake plate is Joe’s mother’s. The teapot is CC’s grandmother’s. I treasure them both.

 

 

 

 

I will be looking for more cloches as I am officially cloche happy now.

grace surrounds us

Olive

I Miss My Dad

 

Daddy I miss you.

 

I moved in with my Dad when I was thirteen.

He was quiet and studious. He read three or four newspapers a day.

We were quite the pair.

It was peaceful at his house and I needed that.

He loved old things, wooden, rusty, and hand crafted.

He drove down to the river just about every day.

He found unique objects in that South Carolina Clay.

He was a picker before picking was cool.

Maybe that is when I began to appreciate vintage and antique items.

He is gone now.

I often find myself trying to call him from my cell phone.

There is so much to tell him.

What CC is doing in college,

that her hair is purple, that she is dating boys,

and making good grades.

Maybe he knows.

 

grace surrounds us

Olive

The Rocks Rescue?Olive

Last weekend I was washing a cucumber in the kitchen sink. I peered out the window and saw a squirrel sitting on the bird feeder. I yelled at that critter something like this " GET OFF MY BIRD FEEDER YOU DANG SQUIRREL!" I was quite loud. The critter did not move. I stepped onto the deck and threw a pine cone at him. Gone. For thirty seconds maybe.

A few minutes later the doorbell rings. It is Mr. and Mrs. Rock from next door. Mr. Rock says he heard someone scream over here. Scream? I didn't hear it I say. Then it hits me. Mr. Rock is seventy eight and he has rushed over to rescue me from a squirrel. Mr. Rock says he would never forgive himself if something happened to me. Oh my goodness. These are the best neighbors ever. I tell them I am a heathen girl from the country who yells at squirrels out the window. Then I thank them and apologize. A lot. I promise to refrain from further loud discourse with the squirrels.

grace surrounds us
Olive

Hidden Treasures At The Old House

I have lost an important quilt. It was on my daughter's bed when she was a small child. I believed it to be packed in a box somewhere here in the old house. We cannot find it.

Do you know how old houses in the South have rooms added on to them? This house has several. One was a beauty shop in the fifties. It has it's own porch. The current header photo for this blog is a picture of it's little window with Lady Banks Roses. The room itself is small with low ceilings. Unlike the thirteen foot ceilings in the rest of the house. The beauty shop is dark and full of curious artifacts. Two light bulbs dangle over the spider webs. Joe brought out three fabulous lamps. I have been looking for lamps at yard sales. I need to ask Joe to look in the innards of this old house before I buy anything!

We located three plastic boxes of mine from when we moved here. Apparently I never unpacked them. I think the contents must not have been critical. They have been fellow shipping with the spiders for seven years . The quilt was not in them. But HOLY BAT SHEETS ROBIN we found CC's Bat Man sheets. I always put them on the bed when she came with me to camp when I was a camp nurse.

There was gnashing of teeth and some mild wailing about the quilt. Regardless. It was not found. I do like that my child has a love for things from the past that have meaning. We have quilts made by my grandmother and Joe's mother(pictured above). Dishes from every one's mother. I try to tell CC how treasured they are. I think she's got it.

grace surrounds us

Olive

You Make Me Happy When Skies Are Grey, You Are My Sun Shine

We scooped up CC from her dorm today. It was a lot of work. I am thrilled to see her on Mother's Day. She gave me one of those musical cards. It sings "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey". She bought that card because that is the song I used to sing to her when she was a baby. Sweet.

We filled a Jeep Sport and half a trailer with her dorm stuff! Was she ready when we arrived? Absolutely not. Haha. Really not a surprise. That's our little darling. She moves at her own pace. That is just who she is. I love her guts.

She weighed two pounds at birth. My pregnancy was fraught with worry and danger. I prayed for a baby and was given a baby for longer than most. CC was small for a long time. She was feisty from the start. I would call the Neonatal ICU at three am and the nurse would say she's awake and wiggling her foot out the air vent. She still stays up all night.

Her grandmother, Granny ,went to the NICU every day and rocked her. I rocked that little fuzzy squirrel too. That way she was held twice a day as she was there for almost ten weeks. I appreciate Granny more than could ever be said or recorded. She is the best grandmother anybody could have.

To think that miniature baby who wore Cabbage Patch doll clothes is now in college is more than a mama can handle some days. She calls and asks me about boys. Boys. Huh? I want my little baby sunshine back.

grace surrounds us
Olive Out

Great Women In My Life Part Two

I can see her now. It's nineteen seventy and she's quickly getting out of her mint green Volkswagen bug. Frequently she would be hollering at us kids. She had spirit and lots of it. She is my Mom. Katreen or better known by all as simply Kay.

She died last June after an extended illness. She was from the mountains of North Carolina. Appalachia. Her father died when she was a toddler. The family lived on the food they grew in their garden or they did not eat. Her mother died on my Mom's fourteenth birthday. Then she came to live with my Aunt Vera and Uncle Lester. Mountain people are fiercely loyal and stubborn. They hold grudges and never forget anything. They are excellent country cooks. Mother held true to all of that. She blew into a room like a mountain breeze.

She made some bad decisions. Decisions I know she regretted. She did not regret having her children. She loved all of us desperately. She loved the children she adopted as her own and treated them no differently. When her son, my only brother, was killed by a drunk driver at age forty-two it nearly destroyed her. She was not the same after his death. Dear Lord who would be?

We had our differences. I joked that she had a tenth degree black belt in passive aggressiveness. Truly she had mastered this skill. Especially after she became ill. I suppose it was her way of getting things done. Some how she managed to know what was happening even from her sickbed. I never doubted her intelligence.

When I work in my flower garden I think of Mama. She could grow anything anywhere. She always had a garden. She would enjoy my salvia, roses, and succulents. I believe I inherited my love and need for digging in the earth from her. Our relationship was complex and became more so in the last few years. That does not diminish the love I have for my Mama. This would be the first Mother's Day without her. Last Mother's Day was the final visit I had with her. I miss her. Now everyone go hug your mother!



grace surrounds us

Olive Out

Great Women In My Life Part One

I have been musing about two great women in my life. In this blog and the next I will attempt to write about these huge forces who have had such an influence on me. Now dead they are still part of my language, behaviors, and beliefs. I hope I can do this and give them the credit they deserve.

When I was two my Mom was hospitalized because my Dad slammed on the brakes while driving at the lake. Her head struck the windshield and she had a head injury. This was in hindsight a marvelous illustration of their relationship. My Aunt Vera took over and cared for me for the next four years. I was her fourth child. God in his omniscience gave her four children at odd times to raise. When she was a young women in Alabama her appendix burst while she was on a train. This was in the nineteen forties. It is amazing she did not die from septic shock or sepsis. She could not bear children as a result of the scar tissue in her abdominal cavity. She had always wanted children of her own.



She and my Uncle Lester raised two little boys from Alabama. I sadly only have one photo of them. Then in the nineteen fifties my mother arrived at age fourteen. That is not an easy age to acquire a child. But Aunt Vera was wonderful with my Mom. Later one could only mention Aunt Vera's name and Mama would cry. Vera was quiet and kind. She did not preach but she taught me daily about the love of God. One day I arrived home to find string all over the yard leading into the house. She told me to follow it. At the end was this splendid doll. I was delighted. She understood how to have fun. She often took me to my favorite place for lunch after school. That was McDonald's. Certainly a reason as to why I am about to be a lifetime member of WeightWatchers!

When I was in the first grade I arrived home from school and found my darling Aunt on the sofa. She was unresponsive. I never saw her again. She had suffered a stroke and was gone from us. My life was forever changed that day. I often imagine what she would think of me now. Would I be different if she lived longer? I think the answer is yes.

grace surrounds us
Olive Out