Stopping By

One afternoon this week, on my way home after a particularly long day, I noticed how beautiful and bright the five o'clock sun was.  I noticed the green in the trees and the blue in the sky, and I decided to stop for just a little while to enjoy it.  I ended up in a peanut field, and the twenty minutes that I spent out there, all alone, soaking up the radiance of the setting sun, were the best spent that day.

Stop and the smell the roses.  Or peanuts.

Enough to Know

Today, I spent a lot of time daydreaming about my favorite place in the world to go to as a little girl- Slovenia.

I was fortunate to grow up in a military family, where we were able to live all over the world and travel often.  For the first half of grade school, I lived in northern Italy and spent a lot of time visiting nearby countries. There is no way to tell how thankful I am for everything I experienced, learned, lived during that time.  I have seen that culture can be so beautiful and so different than it is in my backyard, and it has given me a penchant to discover more and more of it.

That being said, it could be potentially difficult to pick just one favorite place.  But, surprisingly, it's not (very surprising, considering I'm slightly indecisive - slightly).  I've always known that it's Slovenia, that lovely little country just east of Italy.  We visited just three times, and I was fairly young, so a lot of the details are fuzzy.  I couldn't tell you anything about the country except the bits that I saw myself, so that's what I'll do.  In no particular order, here are the memories about Slovenia that have etched themselves into my thoughts and remained after all this time-

I remember the fireplace at the house we stayed in over the Christmas holiday.  On the kitchen side, the fireplace was open into a small room covered in beautiful, decorative plates, where everything was rustic and inviting.  On the bedroom side, the back of the fireplace was built into a stone bench that would get toasty when the fire was lit- perfect for warming up wrapped in a blanket that was a little scratchy, but perfect anyway after being in the crisp winter air.

I remember Nelly and Junior - the two cows we befriended that lived in the field next to the apple orchard.  It must have been spring, this visit, because the apples were small and green and would crunch loudly when the cows ate them whole off of our flattened hands.  I remember learning that cows have seven stomachs (am I remembering that correctly?) and wiping the cows' apple drool on my faded blue jeans.  

I remember skit night during the summer trip that was girls only, plus little Jon Luca.  It was mothers against daughters, and the laughter that evening rose higher as the sun sunk lower.  Our grand production was Wolferella,  in which I played a very loud (and very obnoxious) Rumpelstiltskin- my performance was so... moving that a very old, disgruntled Slovenian man came over to shake his cane at me and mutter incoherent Slovenian things (I'm sure he was telling me what a compelling role I played).

I remember when we visited to ski and were met with the first winter there in years and years that didn't see one single flake of snow- so instead we hiked the vast mountains with a precocious, sandy-haired little local girl as our guide who learned her English from watching Cartoon Network.  After a particularly long stretch of trail, Dad surprised us all with a thermos of the richest, creamiest, most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had, and it warmed me all the way down to my toes.

I remember riding a brown horse with a white diamond between its eyes and a tail that swished back and forth to rid us of the horseflies.  I remember the clearest blue lake, with blinding sunlight glinting on the surface.  I remember the winding roads on the way there, hairpin turns at harrowing heights, with Mom beseeching Dad to please slow down.  I remember walking though the orchard alone one morning, smelling air that had never been so sweet.  I remember lush green, everywhere- trees, grass, mountains.  I remember a rope swing hung on high branches.  I remember stray cats, mangy and begging for scraps from the table and just a little love.  I remember a huge barn covered in moss and wooden beams that was a picture of fairy tales. 

I remember enough to know that I want to go back.

Singing in the Rain

Last Saturday involved yet another road trip- they seem to be the flavor du jour.  This one took me to beautiful Montgomery, where I met up with Dailey to make a day out of the somewhat inclement weather... and make it we did.

Fleeting dance party as we waited for a beak in the rain

There weren't any No Trespassing signs on the boat, so we're pretty sure it wasn't trespassing

Such a dear, sweet friend

The day had the most ideal ending, with an impromptu trip to Auburn for dinner, shopping, and a short stop at my older sister's apartment. 

 

And, of course, a visit to the building we love more than any other.

Down by the Bay, part two

Sunday morning took us back downtown, where visited the Richards Daughters of the American Revolution House Museum, strolled around the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and had brunch at Spot of Tea.

After dropping SB off at her conference (the reason for our trek), I met up with Sarah, one of my closest friends from school, who lives in the area.  We spent the afternoon catching up at a coffee shop, talking and laughing and laughing some more.  Such a perfect end to such a lovely adventure.

 Soon to come- a rainy day in the Capitol city.

Down by the Bay, part one

Last weekend brought with it the opportunity to visit Alabama's oldest city, Mobile.  My little sister and I set out on the road, and had the most wonderful time enjoying the sunshine, experiencing the culture, and embracing the slower pace of life surrounding the gulf. 

Technically, we spent Saturday in the town of Fairhope, a charming little community founded in 1894 with a fair hope of success.  It was the perfect place to whittle away an afternoon.  We walked the streets downtown, exploring the stores, restaurants, and the museum at City Hall.

 

Evening fell, and we made our way to downtown Mobile, where we were treated to homemade peanut butter cups at an old soda shop and then saw a film at the Crescent Theater.  I had the good fortune of sitting next to a regular there- an old gentleman who indulged to me all the secrets of why this independently-owned theater was superior to all of those mega-movie places popular today.  He had me convinced.

The day ended with frantic trip to Waffle House (in all of the excitement, we had somehow skipped dinner and were positively famished by the time the movie got out) and then SB and I crashed in our beds, exhausted but happy with one beautiful day behind us and another one to come.