Ft. Deposit, AL - "Kirkville"

We accompanied my parents to the beach in May - the same weekend as the major flood hit Nashville and just after the oil spill in the Gulf. Fortunately, we had no damage. On our way back from Gulf Shores, I'd done some research in my family's genealogy record and realized we'd be passing right through Fort Deposit, AL - my family's ancestral place, at least here in the US. I won't bore you with the details, but something like my 5th, 4th, and 2nd great-grandfathers from my Mother's side are all here. We found the church and its little cemetery and began to explore, when an elderly couple arrived. It was the day after Decoration Day, and she was cleaning up the flowers and such from the graves from the previous day. As fate would have it, the man was the de facto area historian and knew a whole lot about my family! We followed him around the area for a good while retracing their steps. It was a great time, and I am so grateful to have done it and to have been able to do it due to the diligent research of a distant cousin several years ago which culminated in our genealogy book, The Descendants of Valentine Kirkpatrick (my sixth great grandfather!)

Little Sandy Ridge Presbyterian Church - our family played a role in the establishment of this congregation and very distant relatives are apparently still active!

A great-grand, with a newer headstone, it seems! And he was a postman! Apparently, too, a relative made it to the major leagues in baseball.

Another great or grand... wow, I really should have done this sooner so it would be fresh on my mind! Gotta go back to the book at some point, I guess...

Along the highway - apparently there once was acres of hardwood known as the "Junie Kirkpatrick Woods" that he would harvest and sell - very well known in the area.

Finally, the man took us to a place where an old homestead once was - my family's place! And all that is left is this sign commemorating the area - "I Make Sure" was something of a family motto. I really don't have the smart aleck comment you'd think I would to follow that up with.

Sink Fail

We were taking a nap earlier and heard a noise in the bathroom. We figured it was something falling off the counter. But when we awoke, we saw this.


The sink bowl somehow spontaneously became detached from the sink slab. It doesn't look like there's any damage to the pipes, so we've got that going for us. The sink in the other bathroom is identical, so it makes us wonder when that one will fail. Paul will have to start familiarizing himself with various types of epoxy and caulk!

Tree is up!

Here are some pictures of the tree's "becoming", and of all the help I got from my family, two and four legged. Enjoy! They kind of go from last to first... 

To anticipate some questions and comments: We will be hiding the wires under the TV soon, and we are aware how tacky our tree topper is. We don't know how Bugs fits on the chair. Yes, we would beat her ass if she got on the new chair(s). No, we are not keeping Lana even though she is SO cute. No husbands were harmed in the decorating of this Christmas tree.

More cooking, more house pics...

We hosted Bill and Danya tonight for a small "Thanksgiving" meal. We ordered a small turkey from the Avalon Acres farm in Hohenwald, TN... their website is here. It ended up being delicious, as were the side dishes: squash dressing, apples and sweet potatoes, and green bean bundles with bacon. Banana pudding to top it all off--but I still can't get the meringue to do like Mom's! I just reviewed the pictures and they look terrible so I am NOT going to post them--but rest assured they were awesome! To compensate, here are some pics from the clean house, including Paul's "Winter Wonderland" he's turned our deck into :)

The winter wonderland...

The living room... the unfinished (unstarted) tree, and our "new" old bookcase that was Danya's Great-Grandfather's.

The kitchen... with the fixed table, bromeliads and rosemary.

And the bar area!

...and now for your daily sign of the apocalypse!

No, I'm not talking about this, although that's pretty weird. I'm talking about my clean kitchen. Observe, and weep, ye wannabe-domestic goddesses. I don't want to take any guesses on the over-under of how long this is going to last; but it sure is a good feeling.

Yes, that is a yummy crockpot full of ranch stew. And here is my Amaryllis, that I feel like is really coming along well... it's probably four weeks in.