CLAY AND WATTLES

Blueberries and Other Colors

Yesterday morning I got my hair done with semi-permanent color. The color is exactly what I wanted, but I have to get used to seeing it on me! I used to have my hair colored but got tired of the upkeep. But it was either do the color for body or get it cut short and I didn't want it so short again. Gray hair - mine anyway - will hardly curl with a curling iron and it was just hard to manage without that extra body. I'd tried different shampoos and gels and nothing works as well as color. It was just wild. When I was very young, my hair actually was close to this color, with red highlights, like Amy's. And full. And thick.

The Killough's blueberries are ready and I picked up my two gallons Saturday. Oscar went along for the ride, and it's a lovely ride - one and a half miles of "parkway" to their home off the highway. I drove very slowly to enjoy the small meadows and noticed several little side trails. I didn't see any deer or other "wild animals" along the way. (The only wild animal was Oscar when we go to the house and he heard and saw their dogs! He left scratch marks on the panel by the window, defending the door.) I made blueberry muffins after I got home with them. Such an easy recipe! But wait! I got down to the last ingredient and didn't have baking powder! Nor did I have self-rising flour. Just went ahead and baked them, knowing they'd be flat, and so they were. When I went to the grocery store I made sure I had Clabbergirl Baking Powder (when I was little I thought that was just the neatest name - Clabbergirl - and it reminds me of Goobie and the Great Aunts' store at Oldham) and also self-rising flour. I can use one or the other, but I made sure I was prepared. I ate a few of the flat muffins, but this morning threw the rest over the fence for the birds, cats and squirrels. I really hated to lose those blueberries, although it was only about a cup and a half. I have plenty in the freezer, though. They're so pretty - and they're good for you. Memory. I think...

The orchard is the line of green beneath the trees way in the background.

Full moon last night. I used the little tripod Amy gave me ($1.00 at the Dollar Tree) and this was made off my patio.

Sher spent the night in her house last night on her new mattress and didn't want to leave for Montgomery this morning, but she did. (She said the uplighting in her yard shone through the beveled door in front and made the prettiest color patterns on the floor and wall.) She called on her way; asked if I'd heard from Steve, and I hadn't. So then I called Mike and we talked a long time. He said Steve came back from Texas after one week! And this was what, about two months ago? Sher and I both have gotten Steve's cell voice mailbox, and he hasn't called us back, so we didn't know. "Tell Steve to let his big sisters know where he is!" I told Mike. But then, Mike was surprised the day he looked up and saw Steve drive by his house. He didn't know he'd come back home either! Do men just not tell each other things? I guess sisters are the ones who fuss over the family. (Mama, we're trying to take care of him!) Mike and family are doing fine. Morgan is probably going to Northeast this fall, still work part-time. She wants to get her degree in nursing. She's working for a home health agency now.

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Brother Matt felt led to change his sermon approach for the summer series he had planned. God had used the Beatitudes to show him that all relationships - marriage, work, friends, all - would be used for God's glory if everyone would just take these to heart for one another. Jesus used "blessed" nine times in these verses in Matthew 5:1-11, so He must be trying to tell us something! And in Sunday School, the lessons are about grace. I have been given so much grace - I know I do not deserve it. How can I give any less to others? It is only by His grace that I am able to!