What we (and she) have all been waiting for...Abigail's first ballet class. The next ballerina in our Waldroup family. Auggie has never been so proud of her little sis.
Ballet is so exhausting.
193(7)/172
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Abi's First Ballet
July 12, 2011
What we (and she) have all been waiting for...Abigail's first ballet class. The next ballerina in our Waldroup family. Auggie has never been so proud of her little sis.
What we (and she) have all been waiting for...Abigail's first ballet class. The next ballerina in our Waldroup family. Auggie has never been so proud of her little sis.
Bottle Tree.
July 11, 2011
I can't believe I haven't shared this picture yet! My mom spent a lot of time and money to have her yard planned out and this one tree didn't make it for some reason or another. She was so mad. Then she decided to make a bottle tree, a popular southern tradition (which was actually originated back 1000 years in Africa). We've had so much fun helping her find some different colors and shapes! And found a fabulous antique store in Leesburg, VA!
A man that came to fertilize the other plants in the yard stopped at this one and said that he didn't know how to treat this one, but next time, if it started shooting out wine, he was going to bring a glass and a chair!
I can't believe I haven't shared this picture yet! My mom spent a lot of time and money to have her yard planned out and this one tree didn't make it for some reason or another. She was so mad. Then she decided to make a bottle tree, a popular southern tradition (which was actually originated back 1000 years in Africa). We've had so much fun helping her find some different colors and shapes! And found a fabulous antique store in Leesburg, VA!
192/173
The Bottle Tree Story
Middle 9th century, Africa...the Congo...
- a tradition of honoring relatives with memorials.
- the grave would be surrounded with plates; leaning, on sticks, or hung from something.
- the plates were thought to resemble mushrooms.
- the Congo word for "mushroom" is similar to their word "to love."
- bottles were hung from trees by strings to catch bad spirits lurking near the house.
- the spirits would be attracted to the colorful bottles.
- bottles were tied to both ends of a string and thrown over the branches.
- sometimes the inside of the necks were greased with animal fat to make it easier to enter and harder to exit.
- sometimes these trees were placed near the homes entrance so that the spirits wouldn't follow you in.
- some people believed that the bottles would catch evil ancestral spirits (because the ancestors knew where their family lived) and would come and get the living and take them to the land of the dead!
- the bottles were periodically corked and thrown into the river to wash away the unwanted spirits OR it is also said that when the sun comes out the next morning, the spirits are destroyed.
- sometimes the bottles were put on the tips of trees. Cedar trees were most often used because their up-turned branches pointed towards heaven.
- blue was thought to be an especially potent spirit repellant.
- blue was also thought to protect the home from an illness. (Many homes in the south have blue doors or shutters).
- blue was the color of the sky and the water, had the power to repel evil.
- blue is also the color of dreams, spirituality, distance and the heavenly realm.
"When a soft wind blows, you can hear the moans
of the trapped spirits whistling on the breeze.
The way the spirits get free is if a bottle breaks,
so take care around the Bottle Tree!"
The Vacation. Day 9
July 10, 2011
Our vacation is over. Much thanks to the many family and friends that helped get us though it...it wouldn't have been the same without constant support through it all. One final drama - to ice the cake - when we got home and plugged the card into the reader to download all the +700 pictures we took on our travel? Something went TERRIBLY wrong and everything got deleted from the card. This has happened before - and it's a time consuming process and SOMETIMES it works to get them back. Thankfully, it did (Thanks SanDisk RescuePRO, you were so worth that $40 I spent last time it happened) so I could share our story and our pictures and entertain you...hopefully make you laugh and smile and let you know - that no matter how bad it is, it could be worse - and it will always get better.
Our vacation is over. Much thanks to the many family and friends that helped get us though it...it wouldn't have been the same without constant support through it all. One final drama - to ice the cake - when we got home and plugged the card into the reader to download all the +700 pictures we took on our travel? Something went TERRIBLY wrong and everything got deleted from the card. This has happened before - and it's a time consuming process and SOMETIMES it works to get them back. Thankfully, it did (Thanks SanDisk RescuePRO, you were so worth that $40 I spent last time it happened) so I could share our story and our pictures and entertain you...hopefully make you laugh and smile and let you know - that no matter how bad it is, it could be worse - and it will always get better.
191/174
The Vacation. Day 8.
July 9, 2011
The truck was done and everything seems to be going alright. Did a practice family photo shoot for Colin's other brother and family...
The truck was done and everything seems to be going alright. Did a practice family photo shoot for Colin's other brother and family...
190/175
Miss them already...
The Vacation. Day 7
July 8, 2011
Packing up and heading back to Trinity, N.C. Tears were shown by all. No one wanted to leave are quiet little retreat. We will be back...
189/176
The Vacation. Day 6.
July 7, 2011
Today we realized that Deals Gap is not for the weak stomached. Three out of the four queazy stomached people in the Suburban made it though. Poor Abi.
Deals Gap is a stretch of US129 at the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. It is a series of curve after curve that runs for 11 miles with 318 curves.
(And at the end, I ate the best fried pickles - I've always wanted to try those!) We also visited some dams. One of them is said to be the one that was in The Fugitive!
Today we realized that Deals Gap is not for the weak stomached. Three out of the four queazy stomached people in the Suburban made it though. Poor Abi.
Deals Gap is a stretch of US129 at the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. It is a series of curve after curve that runs for 11 miles with 318 curves.
Colin had a great ride though! He finally made it!!!
(And at the end, I ate the best fried pickles - I've always wanted to try those!) We also visited some dams. One of them is said to be the one that was in The Fugitive!
Special thanks to Larry and his family for coming to the rescue!
And no vacation would be complete without S'mores on the fire pit!
188(27)/177
The Vacation. Day 5.
July 6, 2011
Today, running around, visiting family - went to the river and watched some of the people riding down the rapids. Realized that a mom of two can NOT stomach the middle of the backseat on those winding mountain roads...feet flat, eyes forward...feet flat, eyes forward. We had a pretty safe, photogenic day...so it seems...
Today, running around, visiting family - went to the river and watched some of the people riding down the rapids. Realized that a mom of two can NOT stomach the middle of the backseat on those winding mountain roads...feet flat, eyes forward...feet flat, eyes forward. We had a pretty safe, photogenic day...so it seems...
Smokey Mountain Express Railroad
Great Grandma's new driveway
Day 5. Yes, you THOUGHT it was going to be a fairly safe day until the country people laughed at the city mom that didn't keep her eyes off her city kids - minutes after they finished laughing at me, I chased the kids away from a swarm of yellow jackets that was under the deck they were playing on and was standing next to this railroad tie, which would have presented itself to be a nice little balance beam. Out crawled this copperhead. No one got bit.
186(20)/179
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