Sometimes, people just want to tell their stories. Sit down with a veteran and see if they’ll talk to you. You might be surprised at what you learn. Here’s a chat I had with my favorite veteran in honor of Veteran’s Day.  Ever since I’ve known him, my step-dad has loved Folgers® Coffee. Nothing fancy, …

It began, as most weddings do, with an engagement. While many of the friends in our group have been through weddings in the last three years with our own children, our friends Rita and Ray had not—so we were all overjoyed when their daughter, Calli, became engaged to Brandon, a young man we had grown …

“The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.” C.S. Lewis, Shadowlands The thing was, we were not going to get a dog. We’d had to put my dog down the year before and I’d had her for 15 years. But the kids wanted a dog. And after a while, I was …

High school graduation…triumph, joy, success, fear, wonder, excitement…the emotions nearly overwhelm both child and parent. The unknown looms like a giant playhouse shadow, scary yet thrilling and full of promise. I’m so grateful to have experienced three high school graduations with my children, feeling the overwhelming joy of knowing they were on the way to …

This is the story of the DeLaura-Abate family, who emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s. They were the grandparents of my friend Rita, and this story originated from my love of the family’s Sausage Risotto, a recipe which comes from Rita’s mother’s family. *********************************************************** Port of Naples, Italy – 1901 The young boy twisted …

You know that feeling…it’s late February and you’re all bundled up in sweaters and coats, scarves, gloves. Driving along, minding your own business, lamenting the bitter cold that never seems to end. It feels as if there will never be another spring. And inevitably, that damn groundhog confirmed it just weeks earlier. And then, out …

Last weekend, I did something I’ve never done before. I went ice skating! I was terrified that I was going to break an ankle or end up with a concussion, especially after I saw the flailing and falling that was happening out on that ice rink. But I’m proud to say I did not fall …

  I have been thinking a lot lately about the seasons of life, about changes, growing older. Learning. Isn’t it important to keep learning regardless of how old you are? I would become a lifelong college student if I had the time. I would study so many things, read different and interesting books each week, …

Special thanks to Dayana Cagle of CDM Photo Studio who provided many of the photos in this post.  Here’s the third and final installment in my Rustic Southern Wedding series. This one is all about the reception. We had so much fun! Our awesome band, The Glow Band, was so great that Brian and Caroline signed …

Special thanks to Dayana Cagle of CDM Photo Studio who provided the photos in this post.  Last week, I shared with you some pictures of the lovely outdoor setting where our daughter, Malorie, married her sweet husband, Gavin. Indigo Falls is a wooded fairyland created just to give brides the wedding of their dreams.  Malorie had …

Special thanks to Dayana Cagle of CDM Photo Studio who provided many of the photos in this post.  A while back I told you about our daughter Malorie and her engagement to Gavin, and things have been in a whirl ever since but I finally have a moment to share some photos with you. This will be …

We’re having another wedding! Sweet Caroline is marrying Brian in just a couple of months on September 20, 2014. Caroline came into our lives about four years ago and our whole family fell in love with her. She is as extraordinarily beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and the kindest, most authentic, and …

Today I was going to share a recipe for beef enchiladas. But because I’m undiagnosed ADD, my mind ran instead to the reason I made beef enchiladas in the first place. And that made me think about cancer. Which made me think about how to cook for people who have cancer. Which made me think …

Atlanta snow is not something we typically fret about, at least not until the Atlanta snow storm of 2014. The city was paralyzed, unprepared, and stuck. But for Southerners, out of adversity comes the best of us.  We are the South. In the last week, we have been blinded and stranded by a winter Atlanta …

Last year at this time (2012), my youngest son, Casey, was at Marine boot camp at Parris Island. I wrote some thoughts about honoring our military in my post Beyond Apple Pie. This year, he is home and serving in the Marine Reserves. I never wrote about our experience, so I thought I’d share a …

Once upon a time, there was a little princess who lived with her beloved mother and step-dad in a land far, far away. The princess was a big sports fan and loved the Atlanta Braves. One day, the princess announced to her mother that she would like to have a little brother or sister. Her …

I was one of the last to let go. I believed right up until the moment Oprah herself confirmed that Lance Armstrong had admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. I believed him when he looked straight into our eyes and said, “Absolutely not.” I believed him when he called his teammates and friends liars. I believed him …

In honor of this month’s Let’s Lunch gratitude theme, I’m linking to this message about our Thanksgiving Tablecloth from a couple of years ago. It’s about a tradition in our family which highlights our thankfulness for something in the previous year. The tradition will be skipped this year because, for the first time in many years, …

Edited July 2018: In the six years since this post was first written, 545 Americans have been killed in the War on Terror, 15 just last year in 2017 and 2 so far in 2018. My son fulfilled his commitment to the Marines and is no longer in the service. But many of our young …

February 1, 2012 What will you leave behind? The story of the most inspiring memorial service I’ve ever witnessed.  From time to time, I have to talk about something here that doesn’t have anything to do with food. And I think that’s the true meaning of Southern Food and Fun. All of my life, the …

Here’s a fact about getting older and having older children: they will make their own plans for significant, important days and those plans will most likely not include their parents. We used to look forward to New Year’s Eve because we would spend the evening playing games and hanging out with our kids, but now …

I’m very blessed to have several best friends living close by. We get together as often as we can, which is never often enough, and try to celebrate each other’s lives. Some of them I’ve only known for ten years or so, some for less than that—and a small handful for more than twenty years. These …

Things to do… Hurry to the store.Make homemade yeast rolls.Write article.Bake fudge pie.Wash two loads of clothes.Change sheets on four beds.Edit article.Pick up Oregon Pinot.Clean flour off floor.Pay bills.Sew button on blue checkered shirt.Last minute bakery trip for rolls.Find needle. Hurry.Bake.Wash.Shop.Fold.Work.Clean.Do.Pray.Breathe. Thankful… Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give …

Wow! It’s been a year since my little blog began. It’s moved from a WordPress hosted free blog to its own domain, growing from just a couple of pages to several, and it’s still a work in progress. And we’ve been in the New York Times! How cool is that! To celebrate the year, I thought I’d …