a remembered act of kindness...

Recently one of the bloggers I read, "Arkansas Patti" wrote about something she did when she was young. And at the end of her post, she asked 'if anyone remembered a kindness' that was done to them.

Well, I certainly do... 

I wasn't a child at the time, but a young married woman (23) who had just come from a visit to our Pediatrician's and had just been informed  that my one year old son had German measles. Now this wasn't a problem as the Pediatrician informed me that German measles was not dangerous to my one year old, but could be extremely dangerous to an unborn child. At which point, I informed him that I WAS PREGNANT. He then proceeded to ask me if I had ever had German Measles myself... which of course I had no idea. Apparently if I had, there was no danger as I would have antibodies in my system that would protect the child. 

"But if I didn't?", I asked. 

"Then I would recommend you get an abortion."

These words were said very matter of factly... and to this day he probably had no idea as to how these few words affected me.  I was devastated... said nothing, but left the office in a state of panic.

I drove over to my husband's work-place to share this news with him, but before I could call him, began crying uncontrollably in the parking lot. After a few minutes, I heard a knocking on the car window. Looking up, I saw a stranger standing there. Wiping my eyes, embarrassed, I rolled down the window. It was a young man and he looked embarrassed too. But he handed me some samples of perfume that he apparently had in his car and said that he didn't know what was wrong, but perhaps this would help. 

Well, I don't use perfume due to my migraines, but was so taken by the gesture that I did smile and thank him. And I never forgot this act of kindness. I'm 70 years old now and have had my unknown good Samaritan in my prayers for years. 

As it turned out, I had a blood titer test run and apparently  had had German Measles at some time in my past, so my unborn child was safe and all was well. 

And I'm sure that other acts of kindness have been done to me over the years, but this one stands out in my memory. It was such a little thing - but it stayed with  me forever.

weekend workshop...

Occasionally we have a Professional Potter 

come in and do a weekend workshop!  

These are some of the things we made at our clay workshop this past Friday and Saturday... platters, pitchers, and butter dishes.

 My own projects turned out OK.
 This is my platter, butter dish, and small  'something or other'...

 my pitcher

 and butter dish

My pieces were passable, but some of the work done was really excellent.  Hand-building is not my forte, but I do enjoy learning it.

My original plan when starting with clay was to learn throwing on the wheel... which I've done, but I'm finding it takes years to get proficient. Hand-building is probably the same. If I had to say which part of working with clay I enjoy the most, it's probably 'sculpting little clay animals'...

But I will continue to attend the classes, workshops, seminars, and festivals... as the variety of originality and talent fascinates me. 

And supposedly *learning new things* is good for our aging minds!

Going to leave today (Monday) with a picture of my pink tulips that we bought at Central Market around Easter time. I love pale pink tulips! 

I don't usually give in to the temptation to buy flowers, but this time couldn't resist (such beauty for $6.99).  However, they did have to be kept in the bathroom as our cats tend to chew on any available plants.

Have a Happy Monday and a great week!

Road trip to New Orleans...

women cousins

My mother had 2 sisters. My 2 cousins (pictured here with me) are their daughters. We basically grew up together and now that our parents are gone, it's wonderful to have my cousins still around. They have continued to live in New Orleans, so I don't get to see them very often (since DH and I moved to Texas in 1971). 

But we were there this past weekend for Darnell's (cousin in center) son's wedding. This is where this picture was taken. It was a lovely wedding and a lovely visit. 

I forget how much I miss both the family and the city when I'm away, but it all comes rushing back at family events such as this. Having watched for good Flight Specials and not finding any, my dear friend offered to take a road trip and drive us down instead of flying. This turned out to be a great idea as what we ended up spending on gas was less than a round trip ticket.

So we got our fix of Cafe Au'lait and beignets at both Cafe Dumonde on Veterans as well as The Morning Call in City Park. We tried to get more at the Cafe in the French Quarter Saturday morning... but the lines were around the block. However, we did pick up some Italian seed cookies at the Central Grocery and hit Aunt Sally's Pralines and a few cute shops around Jackson Square.

Cafe Au'lait and Beignets

oyster po-boy

Jackson Square (me)

St Louis Cathedral (Janet)

Ship Shop on Jackson Square

t-shirt

paintings along Jackson Square

And besides the wedding and the French Quarter, we also got to go to City Park which is one of the most beautiful parks in the country. With the oak trees, moss, and lagoons... I just love it. We didn't live far from City Park when I was growing up and Dad used to bring us often. It's really a beautiful place.

City park lagoons

This is my friend, Karen,  who I went to high school and college with. She still lives in New Orleans and we try to meet whenever I'm in town.







And this is my friend, Janet, who drove down to New Orleans with me.

Janet and Karen on old oak tree

And my 2 cousins, Janet, and I drove out to the Gulf Coast on Monday (45 mins from New Orleans) and had a wonderful seafood lunch at this little Marina on the beach...

taken from our restaurant window

I had red beans and rice with fried catfish, while the others had soft shell crab, fried green tomatoes, and crab meat. We had all had wonderful gumbo and jambalaya at the wedding... so we can't complain that we didn't get our N.O. food fix.

We also stayed at my cousin Barb's house and were shown wonderful hospitality. She has 2 cats, Anna and Kuchi. I got a few pictures of Kuchi as she lay on my lap one morning.

Kuchi

It was a great trip and hopefully will hold me for a while... 

Sunday after Easter...

Grand daughter Easter Egg Hunting!

Isn't that a great smile?  And when it comes to hunting Easter Eggs, she is fast...

Son and youngest grandson's 9th Birthday!

Easter weekend was busy. Not only was it Easter, but youngest grandson turned 9 on the 28th!  

And now that it's the weekend after Easter, the weather is beautiful! (It really wasn't bad Easter weekend either... although they did forecast rain Easter day - which didn't happen.)
But today is beautiful - cool and sunny. DH and I took a walk around the block a little while ago. Something we haven't been able to do in a long time (either too cold or too rainy). The inside cats are enjoying the sun and open windows and the outside feral cats are lying about in the grass and up in the trees. 

front cat in her favorite spot out front

close up of front cat

Another visitor out front yesterday evening...

possum

and this morning...

first turtle of the season

Usually we don't see the box turtles showing up in the yard until around May. This guy was early... it's only April 3rd!

Well, I hope everyone is getting to enjoy this spring weather! If it stays this nice, I may be able to redo the hanging herb baskets next week. Our parsley is doing beautifully and some of the chives have come back... but I do need to replace other herbs that didn't make it through the winter... like sweet basil.  Our bay leaf tree has always done well and has kept us in bay leaves for years.

bay leaves

parsley

and there's not much left of the chives... but they're blooming!

ivy on front porch

and lastly... our overgrown back yard!

But... the good part about it is that the feral cats and wildlife do like it this way.

=^..^=