Lucia Flips a Nickel (or something like that)

Lucia turns five today, and I can't help but go back in my mind to the day she was born. Time passes amazingly fast, and on milestone days like this, I'm especially reminded just how quickly it goes.

The very first photo I took of Lucia.

I've probably spent two hours this afternoon going back through old blog posts with a "Lucia" tag on them - I actually started with the very first one - reading snippets here and there and watching her change from fresh newborn baby to joyful little girl through the many, many photos of her I've taken and posted here over the years. And there are a LOT of them...

At one point last week I got the idea to pull together a birthday photo book with "The Very Best of Lucia Nell Vernon - Birth to Age Five" but was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of photos and her fast approaching birthday. I might still be able to make the photo book happen - I mostly need the help of an editor - and I figure as long as I get it done by the time she turns six, it'll still count.

We celebrated Miss Lu's birthday this past Saturday. In the morning Lucia had a "paint your own pottery" party with about a dozen of her friends at Third Coast Clay at The Factory in Franklin, which was an ideal location. Each of the children painted a Christmas ornament, and when they were finished, they enjoyed the cupcakes and other refreshments Sis provided. Third Coast's large, private room came with an assistant to walk the children through the steps in the ornament decorating process, make sure that they had the paints they needed, and keep that part of the party on-track. Mom, Dad, Jack, and I also painted, but we selected bowls to decorate, and quite frankly, we had every bit as much fun as the kids did. Jack and I are both pretty excited about seeing how our creations turned out, but we have to wait a week for them to be fired and picked up by Sis.

There was an impromptu visit with Santa while at The Factory.

Later on in the afternoon, the family got together for a lovely birthday dinner at the Baby House, complete with a beautiful and delicious cake from good friend, Shelli Williams of the Smithville Sweet Shop.

Lu requested that her cake be decorated with "a fruit bowl full of fruit" in homage to a painting Mom did years and years ago, which currently hangs in Sis' kitchen. The colors are bright and vibrant on kind of a chocolate-brown background, and that's what Lu picked for her birthday cake. No, it's not your normal five year old's birthday cake, but then again, Lucia isn't your normal five year old when it comes to things like that.

We wrapped up the day with Lucia opening her presents and celebrating together the wonderful gift of family.

Lu's Birthday Party - December 7, 2013

Lu's Birthday Party - December 7, 2013, a set on Flickr.

Here's the full set of photos from Lucia's birthday parties on Saturday.

Our First Josie-versary

December 4, 2012.

I had errands to run. I was already late, because all-too-often that's how I roll. Dad was waiting for me to either drop something off or pick something up at the farm. The bank would close in less than an hour. I'd left home without the grocery list, a realization I made around the same time I noticed that my shirt was inside-out. My mind was churning on about a hundred different things as I sped along one of my favorite stretches of country road.

Then I saw the dog. It was running up the center of the road about a hundred yards ahead of me, and as I slowed down to approach her, a car topping a hill from the opposite direction came within inches of  hitting her.

"WATCH OUT, PUPPY!" I yelled to the empty interior of the car.

The dog turned and headed toward the ditch but quickly jumped back into the road, and I could see that she was dragging something - a leash or a wad of weeds... She darted side to side to get away from the end of whatever-it-was, which was whipping back and forth around her front feet as the loose end bounced around on the pavement.

Realizing that the dog was in trouble, I pulled into a convenient driveway and stopped the car.

"Here, puppy," I called once I'd parked and opened the door. "Come, let me see about you."

The dog, an obvious hound, trotted toward me, sniffed my hand, and jumped across my lap into the passenger seat. 

I promise you, the very last thing I was prepared to deal with that afternoon was a lost dog, but animals in trouble hit one of those soft spots in my heart, and as I looked over at her, I had no choice but to help her. The thing she'd been dragging was a strand of Christmas lights, which, for whatever reason, had been tied to her collar.

I petted her for a few moments. "Do you have a tag? No, of course you don't have a tag. Having a tag would make things entirely too easy."

As soon as we were underway, she jumped into the back seat, made herself comfortable, and promptly passed out.

I zoomed through a quick visit with Dad and explained that I didn't have time to explain when he spotted the "beagle dog" looking out the window of my car. I finished my errands with just enough time to swing by our vet's office to have her scanned for a microchip. 

"No microchip, but she's been spayed," the vet assistant said, pointing out the small green tattoo on the dog's belly.

Before leaving the parking lot at the vet's, I snapped a photo, the one at the top of this post, and shared it on FaceBook, thinking that this adorable dog likely had a family and that they'd soon be worried about her.

Arriving at home, I had some explaining to do - mostly to our pets - about the little hound-doggie and why she was camping out with us...

Jack (who has his very own soft spot for animals in trouble) and I initially hoped we'd be able to find the dog's owners, but the more we discussed the situation, the more troubled we were that she was dragging a string of Christmas lights down the road. Despite that, in consideration of what we'd been through when Moose was stolen and knowing that her real owner might not be the person who tied her up with a string of lights, we left her photo and our contact information available online.

In the days to follow, we only received one call about her, and as soon as the redneck on the other end of the line gave the wrong answer to the "Has she been fixed?" question, I thanked him for his interest and hung up the phone.

Thinking that another dog would be too much, we contacted a rescue organization, but by the time they got back in touch with us, Josie had a name, dog and cat friends, a new collar with a tag, an official record at our vet's office, and a forever home in plenty of time for Christmas. 

Happy Josie-versary!!

Smoky Mountain Breakfast

After posting about my 1983 trip to National 4-H Congress, I began reminiscing online with some of my fellow delegates (thank you, FaceBook), and the memories came flooding back.

One thing that has stuck with all of us over the years is the famous (or infamous) "Smoky Mountain Breakfast," which was routinely served at one of the opening sessions at Tennessee State 4-H Congress and certain other special occasions. Most of us had heard about it from our older 4-H friends and extension agents, but even those kids from East Tennessee who'd lived their whole lives in the actual Smoky Mountains had never eaten it before.

The first time I ever experienced Smoky Mountain Breakfast was in 1980 at the Downtown Sheraton in Nashville, which hosted the annual event. Seven o'clock in the morning is already early enough for most teenagers, and a lot of us had stayed awake entirely too late the night before. As we sat there in a banquet room, discovering the medicinal quality of morning coffee, the wait staff began delivering plates of the most delightfully insane breakfast in the whole world - creamed, chipped beef over a baked potato.

Unlikely as the combination might sound for breakfast, it was wonderful - hot, creamy, savory. Jokes abounded - it's Shit on a Spud - but those of us in that breakfast room saw it as a rite of passage, and we ate it.

That trip to Chicago in 1983, when delegates from all across the country were treated to "Tennessee Breakfast," was the last time I had it, and in the process of reminiscing, I found myself suddenly hungry for Puke on a Potato.

This morning memory lane led me to the kitchen, and I introduced Jack to Smoky Mountain Breakfast.

Smoky Mountain Breakfast

4 medium or 2 large baked potatoes, piping hot

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1.5 cups warm half-and-half

1 3-ounce pouch dried, chipped beef (Kroger has the best - it's near the lunch meat edited 07/2020 Bresaola, which is an Italian-style dry cured lean beef is the absolute MMMM of the dried beef options, but use what you can find), cut into strips

A pinch of cayenne pepper

A dash of black pepper

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour all at once and whisk to form a roux. Continue whisking constantly until the roux becomes a rich, golden color - about 4 - 5 minutes. Add the strips of beef and whisk them around briefly. Slowly whisk in the half-and-and half. Increase heat to medium-high, keep stirring (at this point I'd switched to a slotted spoon instead of a whisk, but that's just me), and allow the mixture to come to a boil. It will quickly thicken at this point, so be ready. Remove from heat. Stir in cayenne and black pepper. Serve over piping hot baked potatoes. 

Enjoy!