1. Sometimes we weave bracelets while we eat breakfast in Appalachia. Well…not everyone does that, but that’s how Chitter rolls. If you haven’t looked through her Stamey Creek Creations Etsy Shop jump over and take a look.
2. Listening to this song makes me think everything will work out and heck if it doesn’t who cares? I’m not sure which is my favorite part. Who couldn’t love that guitar intro it makes my blood hum. The banjo makes my feet tap and the piano runs make my fingers tap along on the steering wheel. Blues Berry Hill is one of my favorite songs to listen to as I drive to work. One day I’m going to take every last one of you along for that ride…I’ve been meaning to do that for a good long time. Now that I’ve told you maybe I’ll actually do it!
3. The snow we got this week still wasn’t the big snow I’ve been wanting, but it was enough to make our steep driveway slick. The Deer Hunter usually takes the vehicles down the hill before the snow arrives. We live on the north side of the mountain and snow stays on the ground longer than it does on down the road. There’s usually a day, or a few days depending on the amount of snow, where we have to hike in and out because even though the main roads are all clear our driveway remains snowy. As we slip and slide up and down the hill we tease each other that its hashtag mountain life. This go around we somehow only ended up with The Deer Hunter’s truck at the bottom. So this morning we all headed out to carpool to our various destinations. On the way down Chatter got in the ditch because she thought it would keep her from falling. Chitter was having a hard time holding on to all her school stuff and I was trying to keep from getting my dress pants dirty. The Deer Hunter said “Go ahead and say it Chitter.” She yelled out “Hashtag mountain life. This is what its like living on the mountain!” We all laughed over that exclamation!
4. There is nothing like staying in a hospital to make you appreciate your bed and your own bathroom! During Pap’s recent hospital stay I slept in a chair and used the public bathroom along with everyone else. The night I finally got home I took the hottest shower I could stand and then crawled into my own warm cozy bed. It felt so good that I told The Deer Hunter and the girls I might just never get up again.
5. As I walked across the parking lot the other day I saw a piece of paper laying against the curb. I picked it up so that I could throw it away, but once I had it in my hands I realized it was a letter. It would have been impossible to stop myself from reading it after I saw the words I love you to the Heavens and Beyond. Let me tell you a sweet letter from a husband to his wife put a smile on my face and little pep in my step. Yep love is alive and well in Appalachia. To the Heavens and Beyond…now that gives you something to study on.
Tipper
Each one of those 5 things I can relate, even tho I’m not crafty my Wife has always been the Artist/crafty person, I love good music, long driveways, hospitals, and the Lord has blessed me with the most Wonderful Women he could have ever picked for me..
I have that album, as well as the first ‘Circle’ and to tell the truth, I could not pick out which of the tunes is the best. I *can* say that the one I played the most was “Little Mountain Church House” by Ricky Skaggs, not for any religious reason or purpose but because it is just plain great music from the piano-mandolin intro to the fade-away of the mandolin and drop-thumb banjo, beginning to end.
‘Way back when we lived in the Joe Carter holler, if it was to rain we had about 15 minutes to get the car and truck up to the top of the hill or we were stuck in there for a few days after the rain stopped. It wasn’t but about 3/4 of a mile to the place where we parked but mighty inconvenient if we did not make it in time…
great post — from slip-sliding down the mountain, appreciating a warm bed and finding an awesome declaration of someone’s love! I’m sad for the person who lost the letter — that’s something to be treasured.
It’s the simple things that are really important in life. 1. Chitter’s crafts are beautiful. I love crafting myself (it gives me such joy and relaxation). 2. Loved the music, it got me boppin’.
3. What a beautiful driveway you have! There is nothing nothing like a walk in nature, lucky you have it every day. 4. Ahhh, to sleep in your own bed and use your own bathroom, now that’s luxury. 5 What a sweet ending to a letter. I wonder if the recipient realizes they lost it? Lovely post Tipper.
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com
Tipper,
Ain’t it nice to live in the Mountains? I don’t even have a skeeter problem in the summertime up in the holler. There’s still Snow up where I live, but we only got about another 1 1/2″ this time.
If I had lots of money, I’d buy lots of things from Chitter for my daughters and all my granddaughters. She’s very creative!
As the radio program ended today, the Radio Gal played “Down the Escalante” by
Paul and the Gang. It’s #19 on the Playlist…Ken
The comments about driveways ring a bell with me alright…I recently wrote about how pleased I was when the man I found (finally!) to plow my driveway told me that mine is not the worst in town, it’s just the second-worst.
I’m with Janice, Heavens and Beyond says so much more! Just might have to steal this too.
It’s the little things, isn’t it? That’s what keeps us grounded and at peace. Sending hugs to you and yours, and my greetings to Pap that his recovery is full and speedy.
Like b Ruth, my mind started “what if’n” after reading the heavens and beyond statement. – then I thought, perhaps the Deer Hunter wrote it to Tipper.
My granddaughters and I have a way of delaying departures. We start off with “I love you to the ridge and back”, then the next one takes it a little further, “I love you to the highway and back” – – now, we can really drag out departures if we’ve a mind to – kind of an exercise in geography – we can take it across the state of Texas, through the United States, all around the world, and into outer space. Grandma always gets to close with “I love you beyond the edge of the universe and back” —
– – but there’s something about “to the heavens and beyond” that is much more romantic!
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.”
So wrote poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her sonnet believed to have been to the love of her life, poet Robert Browning
I loved your “5 Things” post today, and it got me in the mood to say
Hold to what is good and precious for Valentine’s Day,
Remember what makes you happy, lifts you up,
Life is not always a simple or easy way
But adequate the happiness to fill your cup! -Ethelene Dyer Jones
Our house lies at the end of a 1/2 mile long, steep driveway with a big hairpin curve in the middle. It was gravel for the first 13 years we lived here, and snow and rain took a toll on road quality. We finally broke down and had it paved, which has been such a blessing. It’s easier for hubby to plow during a snow, and we don’t lose half the driveway each time as we did when it was gravel. We, too, have had to hike up the driveway many times when the 4WD just could not make it. In a bad snow in 2009, it was dark and hubby was walking out in front of me. There was a crack and a crash, and a limb whacked me in the shoulder. Had it hit my head, I probably would have had a knot or a concussion. Luckily my coat was heavy and it absorbed some of the shock. We got almost to the house, and another limb came down, this time oak. It would have knocked the snot out of me had it hit me, but fortunately it came down beyond me. Scared both of us half to death. Now that I am retired, I don’t have to go out when it is bad, and I don’t miss those dark, snowy walks up a steep road.
Tipper, I got the cow dish yesterday. It arrived safe and sound. It is so cute, and goes so well with my other cow things. Thanks so much!!
I think you are someone who knows and lives the truth of this verse.
PROV 15.15. All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
There are always ‘little things’ (that are not so little after all) to gladden our heart when we have the trained eyes to see them. As Robert Frost said,
The way a crow shook down on me
Dust of snow from a hemlock tree
Has given my heart a change of mood
And saved some part of a day I had rued.
Yesterday morning a bright red male cardinal perched outside the kitchen window right in the morning sun. He was gorgeous. I grabbed the camera, left ready for just such fleeting moments, and got just one picture before off he went. When I looked at it, . There was a black diagonal bar of a tree limb right across his ‘face’. I had to laugh at myself, though it was a rueful laugh. It didn’t make him any less beautiful anyway.
The Dirt Band can do no wrong by me. Looking forward to a ride to work. It could even be a regular feature, maybe on a seasonal or special occasion basis.
To the heavens and beyond, that’s the way we do things!
I love your 5 Things Posts! When I see that at the heading I know it going to be 5 glimpses into your every day life PLUS your always interesting slant on them.
Hashtag mountain life! After a couple of days at the hospital it’s Hashtag home sweet home.
Tipper,
1. Don’t weave bracelets at breakfast, but some tall tales have been woven at breakfast!
2. Tipper, thank you but no thank you for that ride-along to work to the tune of Blues Berry Hill…much too fast at my age…
Now then, if you drove to work to (Fats Domino’s) Blue Berry Hill, I might reconsider since it is a much SLOWER DRIVIN’ song!
3. We have about a half inch of snow this morning and it is still snowing…Supposed to stop and warm up and start again later this evening….We have a very mean hill to climb as well as slide down!
4, Love home-made beds! “Comfy cozy, sleepy dozy!” I’m not crazy about those old stiff made beds at hotels/motels either!
5. If there was an address, I’d mail it back to the receiver, explaining,…Sorry, I read this…did you drop it? “Happy Valentine’s Day”….NO, I probably wouldn’t…it might have been a breakup apology letter. Then again, it might be a cherished note to the receiver that would have been lost forever! Or, maybe it was somebody’s thoughts for a love letter not yet sent! Could it just be someone’s homework poem…Yep, I think that is what it is…..ha Nothing like a good HOMEWORK poem to keep the warm fires burning on a cold day like today…especially with Valentine’s Day on Sunday!
Thanks Tipper,
Sure do like to the HEAVENS AND BEYOND better than to the moon and back!! Haven’t heard that one; may have to steal it.
Ah! Enjoyed reading these five things and agree the last one is probably the most important one in life. Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
I’m a newbie to your site. Enjoy reading your ponderings. I believe we’re kindred spirits. Thanks!