The Boys of Summer

"But I can see you-
Your brown skin shining in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone"...
Don Henley



Oh, a beach town...a beach town in the summer. Can it get any better? Such a simple way of life. Little diners full of folks in flip-flops looking for a home-cooked breakfast, funky souvineer shops and a grocery store with aisles packed chock-full of float toys, chairs, umbrellas and coolers.

Everything and everyone moves just a little bit slower.

On the beach you see little kids run in and out of the surf, laughing with delight as the waves kiss their feet. Buckets and shovels in hand constructing sandcastles in the sand.



The beach draws families, couples, groups of young pretty girls and boys strolling hand in hand.

There are runners and joggers and walkers. Couples with strollers introducing the newest member of their family to this wonderland.

And, of course, there are always a few folks like me who aren't so "postcard perfect", book in hand watching another beautiful, tranquil, fabulous day at the beach pass before my eyes.

There's also pelicans and gulls and kites and an occasional game of volleyball and then there's the surfers...oh the surfers!



For me, the beach is the ultimate "therapy".

It presents me with exquisite beauty - the simple things in life I've mentioned here.

When Don Henley wrote The Boys of Summer I imagine he was referring to romance and a girl. As for me, the words also bring about thoughts of a very different love affair - my love affair with the sea.

..."and I can tell you my love for you will still be strong, after the boys of summer are gone"

In Honor of Julie AND Julia...

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I went to the theater and saw Julie and Julia starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. What a precious movie! Meryl Streep was amazing and I have to keep reminding myself that Meryl is not ACTUALLY Julia - although, I also have to wonder whether the true Julia could have been any more charming than Meryl playing Julia! She is tall and vocal and when one day her husband asks her, "what is it you really like to do?" she responds, "eat" and he says, "and you're so good at it, look at you"!

The movie ended, the credits rolled and I looked over at my husband and proclaimed, "You realize now that I must have that cookbook". Being the sweetie-pie that he is it miraculously appeared in my mailbox just a few days later!

In case you aren't familiar with "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" it is a mere 684 pages long. As it just so happens I have spent several half sleepless nights of late so I've familiarized myself with said book and decided it was high time we tackled the delectable Boeuf Bourguignon.

Boeuf Bourguignon is basically beef stew but, let me you something people, once you have tasted this stuff you will never look at beef stew the same again. Holy-moly was it fabulous. The bacon, the boeuf, the herbs, the sautéed mushrooms, the baby onions, and the entire bottle of Cote de Rhone - oh my, I may have to have another serving! Focus Kim.

Okay, so as the story goes Julie spent 365 days of her life tackling (not to mention blogging about) the 524 recipes offered by Julia in this beautiful book. It was quite a challenge but she pulled it off. I'm in no way saying I could ever pull off such a feat especially considering there are complete chapters on duck, goose, kidneys, liver, sweetbreads and brains; I am however excited to take on the poultry chapter, the eggs, the vegetables and the pork. As you can tell dear reader, Julie, Julia, Senior Reaves and I have a couple of things in common, we love to cook, we love to eat and we're good at it!

So, in the next few days I will be off to Central Market to purchase the perfect roasting chicken. According to Julia it "does not require years of training to produce a juicy brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird". Well, we'll see about that. Until then "bon appétit"!

My Happy Place...

To settle in to a beach chair in Playa del Carmen or X-Pu Ha Beach is a therapeutic experience. To share it with people I love makes it even more special. On our most recent trip down Mexico way we added a couple of new folks to our usual cast of characters - welcome Micah and Taylor! and were minus a couple - we missed you Jessica and Cory!


Mark, Kim and Taylor


Taylor at X-Pu Ha Beach


Cody and Haley



Mark and Gary


Bryan and Micah at Coconuts - Cozumel


View from Fusion Restaurant - Playa del Carmen

Bright Lights, Big City...

In April I had the pleasure of traveling with my Mom and Sandra to New York City. It was the first visit to NYC for Sandra and I. Mom went over 20 years ago with one of her crazy-crazy friends but believe me people, that is a whole other story!

The trip was wonderful - even though someone ordered up a monsoon for the majority of the time we were there - oh, and I guess I should mention the temperature was somewhat chilly. Still we suffered through!

We picked up our "City Sights" 48 hour-hop-on-hop-off bus tickets and hit the streets. I don't guess there is a Manhattan neighborhood we didn't cover on one of those trusty buses at least once; as well as, Brooklyn. We were even lucky enough to see Queens courtesy of a great driver we had on the way to the airport as we were leaving town!

Now, a little bit about the layout of a "City Sights" bus. They are considered a "double-decker" bus although there is actually only one level (the top) used to carry passengers.




Some of said buses are partially covered with a thick, clear plastic top and others are not.



One would think that during monsoon season the folks at "City Sights" would choose to only run those buses that are at least partially covered but NO, they run them all. They are kind enough to sometimes hand out what they term as a rain slicker - however I believe most people might see it more as a table cloth for Barbie's Dream House.

The "City Sights" tour is definitely a great way to get the lay of the land. The tour includes an real-live-official-tour-guide as well. Some of them are a little sketchy, others maybe not quiet as much.

We took the obligatory carriage ride through Central Park.



It was every bit as charming as you might think it would be - not to mention the carriage driver was kind enough to loan us his blanket. In Central Park we saw it all - skaters, bikers, kids playing on jungle gyms, baseball fields, tennis courts, lakes, Shakespeare Garden, dancers, painters, Strawberry Fields, Tavern On The Green, the Children's Zoo. My goodness, I could truly go on and on!

We also visited the world famous Tiffany and Company, St Patrick's Cathedral, The NY City Library, Ground Zero, Rockefeller Plaza, Washington Square. Well, you name it I think we saw it and it was all very impressive!

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing Phantom of the Opera and Jersey Boys on Broadway. I was absolutely in awe of both productions. They are completely different shows of course and, in my opinion, the perfect shows to see for a first trip to Broadway.

I'm currently begging Mark to take me back one day, preferably during the holidays. I want to see all the sappy tourist stuff - especially the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I also want to take a second ride through Central Park - this time with Mr Love of My Life snuggled up in the carriage beside me. New York is truly unlike anything I've ever seen before and I look forward to the next time I am fortunate enough to experience another little bite of the Big Apple.

Catherine Evonne

The morning of April 7th was pretty typical around our house. Mark was off to work - actually I was about to cart him off to the airport for a quick business trip - when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the Caller ID and said, "Cory Hendricks". And yes people, that was the beginning of Mark and Kim's marathon trip to Lubbock! The call came in at 9:00 AM and at 1:00 PM we were in Lubbock and ready for our Granddaughter to make her grand entrance in to the world. And, a grand entrance she did make - be it almost 12 hours later!

When I look at Cate my heart swells with love. I can't wait to watch her grow, to see her first tooth, to see her little bottom crawl across the floor. I can't wait to hear her first words and see her wrap her Grand Daddy ever so sweetly around her little finger. I want to be there to teach her to build a sand castle and chase crabs with a flash light. To be a part of her life is such a gift from God and I already cherish every moment we will share with her. I look at Cate and the sweetest song goes through my mind - and it is just for her and Cory and Jess...

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she pretty
Truly the angel's best
Boy, I'm so happy
We have been heaven blessed
I can't believe what God has done
Through us he's given life to one
But isn't she lovely made from love

Where Have I Been?

Actually I've been a lot of places lately and I plan to memorialize each of them here sometime between now and the end of eternity (multiple posts to follow!).

First things first though. In March I decide the Reaves' master bedroom needed a serious makeover. Of course, what I deem to be a simple 5 day project can never actually end up as such.

It started out as planned. We, well not actually we but the contractors re-textured the ceiling and walls, installed crown molding, trim and new baseboards, painted, ripped out the carpet and installed new flooring. The crown molding proved to be a little challenging as our entire home is apparently, well, crooked. Several days and lots of frustration later they somehow got it done.

Now, more about the room. The walls are the color of Hershey's Cocoa and the crown molding, boarders and bedding are white.



I went junk shopping and found a couple of old antique doors. Senior Reaves got crafty and mounted them for me and we now have a funky new headboard.





We added a gorgeous Persian style rug and some powder blue accents and we now have a warm and cozy master bedroom that I love.





I have as of yet to hang anything on the walls and am considering not doing so. There is something very calming about having a warm, simple room to lie down in each night. The room almost has the feel of a space from long ago - soft white linens and big fluffy pillows - they inspire a feeling of times gone past. The days when Ma Maw and Pa Paw were young, when folks slept with their windows open and enjoyed the breeze - a breeze whose movement created shadows across the wall that softly rocked them to sleep at night.

I love that one can create such feelings and conjure up memories by using color, texture, fabric, light. What a fabulous gift from God the senses are.

Savannah...

Mark and I recently visited Savannah, Georgia. To say Savannah is a "charming" city is such an understatement that it could almost be taken as an insult to the city herself.

Savannah is a magical place. You can almost feel the spirit of the many men who gave their lives there as you pass through the tree covered squares draped in Spanish moss.





Street after street is lined with beautiful row houses, historical homes and mansions all built in the 1700 and 1800's. Most of them have their own little plaque stating the year they were built, and in many cases, who they were built for.







We stayed in a gorgeous B & B on Jones Street. Jones Street was named by Southern Living Magazine as the "Most Beautiful Street In America" and it is easy to see why. It is a red brick street that literally is covered it its own canopy of decades-old trees with Spanish moss flowing lazily from their limbs. The trees give the illusion of a tunnel as you take in the length of the street. Horse drawn carriages slowly clop-clop along as tourists take in the sites.




Our room...



I LOVE oysters and, boy oh boy, Savannah is a great place to indulge in them. Too bad I didn't take a few pictures of them. They were the perfect size and very pretty! We also had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Alligator Soul. The food was good, the service was excellent and the room was beautiful.



After dinner we took our own cozy carriage ride. It was very romantic!





On the tour we saw the famed Mercer House from the movie "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil".



We also saw the house where the scene from the movie "Something To Talk About" was filmed in which Julia Roberts character says, "Yeah, I just want to ask how many people here has NOT had sex with my husband?"! That is one of my all time favorite movie moments and it was fun to see the place it was filmed!

Forsyth Park Fountain...



St John's





And, of course, I had to see The Lady and Son's Restaurant. We didn't eat there (the reviews are just NOT THAT GOOD!) but here is a picture of a line of folks who were waiting to check out that ever famous buffet.



We also took a drive out to Tybee Island.



Tybee Island is like a blast from the past! It is just a little island beach town and we fell in love with its simplicity. There are no high-rise hotels. There are some 3 story condos but mostly it is filled with funky-little-beach houses. Of course, Mark and I are funky-little-beach-house kinds of people so Tybee got us to dreaming about the day that we will have our very own funky-little-beach-house.
Hopefully that day is not so far off.

I've thought a lot about Savannah since I've been home. I've tried in my mind to describe the feel and taste and smell of the air. To write words that accurately depict the architecture, the fountains, the gardens, the iron work. The perfect words did not come. I researched what others have said before me and found what I believe to be the perfect words. They are from The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, Bill Bryson:

"I stood agog in Lafayette Square in Savannah, amid brick paths, trickling fountains and dark trees hung with Spanish moss. Before me rose up a cathedral of linen-fresh whiteness with twin Gothic spires, and around it stood 200-year-old houses of weathered brick, with hurricane shutters that clearly were still used. I did not know that such perfection existed in America."

Given the opportunity, visit Savannah.