An Omnivore and a Beloved Neighborhood

I've been posting quite a few pictures of lovely Manteo but recently I got to thinking that Smithfield is lovely, too! In fact, every town in every state has spots that are beautiful and photo worthy.

So a couple days ago, while Steve and I were taking our evening walk, I snapped a few photos of our neighborhood.

Because it's pretty.

Because I'll miss it when we move.

And because it's provided Steve and I with hundreds of companionable evening strolls.

The neighborhood tour begins with our lawn ornament that stands right next to our front steps.

The house that has given shelter to the Smith family for sixty-two months.

Autumn sky and trees

A neighbor's fence

Fall loveliness

There now, wasn't that fun? You got to travel to a new city without ever leaving your front yard! I love that about the Internet!

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Thanks to everyone who wrote down ideas for fixin' and freezin' grean beans; it was very helpful. Green beans are not one of my strengths and I am thankful that you all saved me from having to enroll in four years of Green Bean College!

Speaking of green beans, we found out that a certain dog of ours thinks they're great. We had set our bag of beans on the living room floor in Manteo and before we knew it, Sir Snowy had sashayed on over there, inserted his head, and removed a green bean.

Cheerily chomping and chewing

Headed back to the bag for an additional bean. Or two.

Snowy is obviously an omnivore--he eats meat, veggies, dog food and miscellaneous rotten food stuck to the parking lot when we're walking him while traveling. What is it about dogs and old, yukky food?

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A Few Questions . . .

Q. Ann asked, "Is the house you're looking into this week the fixer upper you mentioned before, or something else?"

A. Actually, when I referred to this house before as a fixer upper, I wasn't using the right term. (House terms are not my specialty.) It isn't a fixer upper in the sense that it has to have serious renovations before we can move in; we could move in tomorrow, if necessary.

However, there are some cabinet fronts that need replacing and some painting that needs to be done and a few repairs here and there. Nothing too terribly serious.

Steve and I both enjoy taking a home and, little by little, fixing it and changing it and updating it and making it our own. This home has plenty of potential for that.

Steve called the real estate agent today to tell him to go ahead and make the offer to the owner so we'll see what happens from there.

Q. "Random" asked, "How are the 'during-the-week' duties being handled at the church right now? Surely you don't have to make the drive more than once a week."

A. Fortunately, Steve can do all of his sermon prep here in Smithfield and we can also get set lists and music and arrangements together for the worship team here at home. We also passed out all of our contact info to the church members and they know that they are free to call us anytime.

If there was any sort of big emergency, though, Steve would be ready to hop in his car at a moment's notice.

Q. Robin asked, "Does the Manteo church have a photo directory?"

A. No they don't. And I agree, a directory would make it infinitely easier for us to memorize names. For now, though, we'll just keep on cheerily bumbling our way through the proper placement of all the names and faces. Thankfully, the Manteo folks are being very patient with us, even if we ask them for the fourth or fifth (or sixth) time what their names are.

Eventually we'll know 'em all! Until we do though, I may continue to assign wrong husbands to wrong wives and wrong kids to wrong parents.

Oh well. Nothing like keeping life interesting!

A Great Night For A Showdown

Nathan has been kidding me about the fact that I like to be in bed by 9 pm whenever I possibly can. He's been telling me that being "older" has rendered me completely incapable of staying up late and partying with the likes of him. He's been happily hassling me by telling me that I don't have enough perkiness to stay up til after midnight, the way he does.

In short, Nathan has been spoiling for a showdown. And Friday night, he got it.

As I mentioned earlier, Friday night our whole family went to see Monsters vs. Aliens. Steve, Nathan and I were actually thinking about going to another movie that Sarah didn't want to see; however, we figured that since she had just graduated from seventh grade that day, we should do something of a celebratory nature that included her. (Because we're nice like that.)

In the process of making our movie night plans, it occured to me that after months and months of being unmercifully teased by my son, the time had come to throw down the gauntlet.

I said, "Nathan, how about if you and I drive to the theater separately. After the first movie, Dad and Sarah can go back home and you can I can stay for the 9:15 showing of the movie we had wanted to see in the first place."

Nathan stared at me as if I had just lost what was left of my mind. He looked a little quizzical and a lot worried, obviously wondering if his aged, decrepit mother had taken a sudden leave of her aged and decrepit senses.

He asked, "Mom, do you think you can really stay up that late?"

I said, "Just watch me!"

And so, according to our plan, Steve and Sarah went home at 8:30 which left Nathan and me with a little time to kill before the second movie started. We decided to walk about a block down the street from the theater to a little book store/coffee shop that features live music on Friday nights. Here's a picture of the shop. (Taken in the daytime, obviously. And yes, that IS Snowy's head, lurking in the foreground.)

There was a delightful group of five fellas in there last Friday evening, playing country bluegrass music. The youngest guy might have been in his late fifties, and the rest were at least in their 60's and 70's. It was so refreshing to watch people making music with that kind of simplicity and joy. They weren't worrying about their light show, or CD sales, or publicity tours. Shoot, they weren't even worried about playing all the notes right.

They were just five guys, having fun, grinning from ear to ear and obviously enjoying the simple pleasure of playing music--in a small town, in a small coffee shop, in front of a small audience.

Nate and I sat and listened to several songs and then walked back up the block. I teasingly asked him while we were walking if I needed to stay five paces behind him so that no one would know he was out on a Friday night with his mom. He said he thought he would be fine. (smile)

Just to give you another glimpse of small town life, here is the theater we were going to. Our family sees most of our movies at the Howell since tickets are just two dollars. It's a quaint, old timey place that always makes me feel like I've stepped a few decades back in time.

As Nathan and I were standing in the ticket line out on the sidewalk I looked across the street and had to smile just a little bit as an old memory hit. (Old ladies tend to ponder old memories, you know.) I had told Nathan this story a time or two in the past, but standing right there with him, I just couldn't keep from repeating it. (Old ladies tend to repeat their old memories a lot, too!)

Here's how the memory goes:

Almost twenty years ago, Steve and I were youth and music pastors at the same church he just resigned from last November. After being on staff at the church a couple years, we made the decision to go on the road with my brother and sister-in-law as full time musicians. (Where we stayed for FIFTEEN years!)

Since we figured we would need some promo materials, we made arrangements to have a publicity photo taken. And the place we chose was this photography shop that just happened to be right across the street from the theater.

What made that photo shoot especially memorable was that I was three months pregnant with Nathan at the time and therefore dealing with lots of pregnancy nausea. The guy would take a few shots and then I would run down the hall to be be sick in the bathroom. Then he'd take a few more and off I'd go again.

It was a really weird feeling to be standing across the street from that same shop almost twenty years later with the big, tall, wonderful guy who was a result of that pregnancy. Talk about precious memories!

At any rate, we finished reminiscing, bought the tickets, watched the movie, and exited the theater at about 11 pm. I was pleased to note that Nathan was yawning and I was still feeling perky! Ha! I was showing HIM a thing or two about partying late at night!

As we drove home together discussing the movie, he suddenly announced that he was hungry. No surprise there. We went through the drive through at McDonald's where he treated me to anything I wanted--as long as it was from the dollar menu! (A man after my own heart.) We took our dollar treasures back to the house, and sat at the kitchen table to eat and talk. And talk. And talk. We ended up talking so long, it was 1 am before I finally made it to bed.

But people, I DID it!

I stayed up past 9 pm!

I hung out with my college son!

I didn't fall asleep and/or become incoherent at 9:01!

I was immensely PROUD of my middle-aged self!

Of course, the next day I felt like I'd been in a wrestling match with a 300-pound armadillo but that was okay. My son had been impressed by his mom's amazing ability to be a night owl and I had been impressed by my son's amazing ability to make me feel young again.

It was a great night for a showdown.

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On the subject of movies, we use a great website that reviews movies from a family perspective and lets you know exactly what each movie contains as far as sex, language, violence, etc. The Smith Family highly recommends it and uses it frequently.

And now a few questions for class discussion.

Are you a morning person or a night person? If you're a morning person, why do you like the morning better? If you're a night person, why do you like the night better?

Does age make a difference for you? In other words, as you got older, did early bedtime look more appealing? I just need someone to tell me I'm not alone here in my desire for 9 pm bedtimes!