Kaolin Weekend

It was a wonderful weekend for the Kaolin Festival here in Washington County. For those of you who do not know what kaolin is.... (thanks to Wikipedia):

"Kaolinite is a clay mineral . Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as china clay or kaolin. Kaolin is used in ceramics, medicine, coated paper, as a food additive, in toothpaste, as a light diffusing material in white incandescent light bulbs, and in cosmetics. The largest use is in the production of paper, including ensuring the gloss on some grades of paper. Commercial grades of kaolin are supplied and transported as dry powder, semi-dry noodle or as liquid slurry.

Sandersville, a small town in Georgia, USA, holds an annual kaolin festival every year. Sandersville has huge kaolin deposits throughout the town and the surrounding areas. The town is based on the kaolin industry."

The annual parade is one of those small home-town events that make this such a wonderful place to live. It seems that everyone in the county is either IN the parade, or comes to WATCH the parade. This year, the Maison Cou Rouge family had one in, one helping, and two watching.

ENJOY!!

The Square set up for Kaolin Festival

Handmade Seagrass Baskets from Savannah

American Legionnaires Lead the Way

Look closely- it's Grumpy Guy with the rifle!

The Gang's all Here!

Yes, we have a Grand Marshal

Miss Mary Alice Jordan

Leo Club sells funnelcakes

Those are some of my friends on the Thiele Kaolin float

Girl's BFF

Our darling neighbor, Miss Betty (who is also the mother of our sheriff!)

One of Boy's best friends--and see her mom in front? That's one of MY best buddies, Lee Lee

More friends on reunion floats

Girl's friend is the pretty one in brown at the back

We LOVE our Fox's Pizza

More good friends watching the parade

Pilot Club sweet treats

Old Fashioned Fried Tarts? I'm an Old Fashioned Tart...

Churches sell Fried Fish, among other things

Cross Country Runners being silly

A cross country coach masquerading as his day job of Health Inspector

Cousins AND best friends

Our Dancing Friends

Fried Fatback- you don't KNOW what you're missing!

Another of Boy's friends

Brentwood Jr. Varsity Cheerleaders

Why I Hate Bill Paying Mondays

My Office (aka Pool Room) after opening and sorting stuff

It took me all day Monday to sort through the accumulate junque of the past month. Normally I do this on the FIRST Monday of the month, but I was too busy celebrating my birthday week to do it on the first.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like paperwork, don't like the telephone, don't like minutiae of any kind. I purposely schedule NOTHING on Mondays, so I can have the day to recover both the house and my sanity from having everyone at home during the weekend. It's my mental health day. So I really detest it when the little things of life (bill paying, cooking, laundry, taxi-driving, etc) take up my Mondays.

But I slogged on ahead. Opened, sorted, noted, balanced, paid, reconciled, filed (sort of). Planned and listed. Wrote thank-you notes and sympathy cards. Researched and tackled new health insurance application forms.

Eight hours of my life later, I was finished. Mail basket empty, ready for another month's accumulation. Creditors kept at bay for one more month. My reward was a beautifully grilled hamburger (Grumpy Guy to the rescue!), a cleaned up kitchen (thanks, kids) and a blissful 2 hours with a glass of wine, my ipod and some sock knitting.

I am woman-hear me roar.

Searching for Inspiration

I sit here staring at a computer monitor, knowing that I need to open mail and pay bills, and do all sorts of mandatory (um, not...) stuff that makes up Monday mornings at MCR. I've spent an hour playing around on the internet, checking up on friends, reading blogs, checking the weather-anything to not get to the task at hand.

What happened to the weekend? Well, we went to Bulloch Academy in Statesboro, GA for Boy's football game. They played 3 great quarters and then sorta fell apart in the fourth. So we go into the region portion of the season with exactly the same record as last year (1-4-1), when we won region for the fourth straight year. This schedule of playing much larger and tougher teams has its merit, but can be demoralizing mentally. Hopefully we are at the top of the roller coaster hill, ready to zoom toward the fun. Boy got in LOTS of playing time, (the stats aren't in the paper for a few days, but I know he had at least 77 yards) as the two major Senior runners are out. He is bruised and very sore, but happy. God love him-he must be as crazy as they come. Apples don't fall far from their trees.

Girl didn't have a cross country meet this weekend, so she just did the "hanging out" thing. Typical 13-year old. Those with this type of human in the house know just what joy and happiness can be spread by hormones. I still have my hair and she hasn't been grounded-but it wasn't for trying.

Not even the doves were flying Saturday, so Grumpy Guy and Chip were disappointed. Georgia lost....well, at least LSU pulled it out in the end. I just really hate it/love it when a ball game is that good-but have to hang on until the bitter end.

I spent most of yesterday reading stuff about my alma mater. I haven't written about Randolph-Macon Woman's College becoming co-ed "randolph college" (the lower case is intentional...)- it's just too painful. Maybe I will in a few weeks, but the horror stories that have happened over the summer, (and continue to happen, if one believes the reports from the Lynchburg police news) among them the trustee's decision to sell part of the prestigious RMWC art collection to keep the college afloat have left me heartsick. I'll write of it later, but I can say that the best thing that could possibly have happened is that I am closer than ever to the women of my class ('82). We reconnected at our 25th reunion, and rebonded. Of my closest 5 friends, we've always kept in touch, but now I realized how deeply important these friends are. We now communicate on a weekly, if not daily basis. They are the treasure that has come from all this muck.

So, on this dreary Monday morning, overcast and drizzily, with my coffee getting cold, I am now smiling at the thought of all those strong, vibrant women who are alums-and present students- of Randolph-Macon Woman's College. They are my inspiration.

HB to ME!!

Yes, it's my birthday today.

Sacrificing myself on the altar of ritual humiliation, I present for your viewing pleasure some snapshots of the 47 years of my life.....

Oh, and THANKS, MAMA!!!!!!! I love you!!!

Four Weeks Old

Two Years Old

First Grade

High School 1977

Catholic High School silliness 1978

My Deb Party 1979

Cotillion Princess 1981

College Senior 1982

Boy's Christening 1991

1994

Boston Beer Company Brewer 1995

Lost a Bet with LSU Brother 2002

2001

2001

2004

2005

2006

2007-this afternoon

Gran's Visit

Sorry to have been away for so long--but I had an exciting reason--my MOM came for a visit to Maison Cou Rouge.

Those of you lucky enough to have your children's grandparents around constantly might not be able to appreciate how lucky you are. One thing I regret about the swell place we live is that my children do not know what it is like to have one's grandparents nearby.

So Gran came for a visit, to see Boy play football, to see Girl run cross country, and generally hang out with us for a few days. She brought gorgeous cool weather with her from Louisiana (not exactly a state known for it's chilly temps, but much appreciated nevertheless).

So on Thursday morn, Grumpy Guy and I drove up to Atlanta to meet her flight. We left early to check out the Atlanta IKEA, bought totally unneeded but absolutely necessary stuff, and checked on the status of Boy's out-of-stock futon armchairs. I absolutely LOVE IKEA, a romance that blossomed when we lived in Germany. I could spend DAYS in that place, and was happy to have exited the building with a credit card slip under $100, boxes of gingersnaps, some new cotton napkins (at $0.50 each...who needs paper), some picture frames, leather magazine boxes for the piles of magazines by GG's side of the bed, and all sorts of ideas for Girl's soon-to-be redone bedroom.

Gran's flight was almost on time- a miracle in Atlanta. She didn't have any baggage checked-everything for five days' travel in her rolling carry-on bag.

Those who know my mom just read that last sentence in slackjawed stunned silence. Gran, five days' clothing, one bag? One bag for her SHOES, maybe, but for EVERYTHING??

My mom is always impeccably dressed, coiffed, and manicured. (Did I mention that she's still a size 8, walks at least 3 miles a day, eats right, etc. I sometimes wonder if I was switched at birth, until I look at Girl, and realized the elegance gene just skipped a generation).

But she was her fashionably turned out self, even in that one bag. She charmed the masses of Middle-Of-Nowhere, GA. She laughed with our friends and neighbors at the local restaurant on Thursday, hollered just as loud as I did at Friday's homecoming game, and cheered on unknown runners at Saturday's meet. She met the kid's friends, didn't raise an eyebrow at the late night electric guitar jam session, cooked and cleaned up, and brought her towels down to the laundry on Monday morning.

She was a trooper. She is fabulous. No, she can not be cloned. Don't even ask.

Gran and my friend LeeLee at the Tailgate Supper before football

There is, and always will be, only one Gran.