Smokey Mountain Breakdown

Note: I do not play by the rules of memes. Instead of passing these things along per instructions…I offer tag clouds of free link love. NO ONE is under any obligation to pass these things along! Please don’t send me a snippy comment that you have already done this. I don’t care and I’m not interested. Just accept the link love graciously and don’t do the meme if you don’t want to.

If you do want to participate, generally speaking, memes ask that you link to the person linking you to the meme (in this case that would be me) and further they ask that you send it on to five people. Sometimes more, but I say five is enough. Just because I've caught someone up in my link cloud, it doesn't mean you can't also tag them. The only reason I do a link cloud is so that more people get the exposure from the meme. In fact, you don't have to link to me at all! No strings! Got it?

I’ve been meme’d so I’m going to take care of both of those today!

First, Karen over at Art in the Garage tagged me for a Christmas Meme.

“When people say ‘Christmas’ you immediately think…”

Psycho killers and stalkers. (Please see this post to find out why....I'll go into the stalking thing at another time.)

“Favourite Christmas memory…”

There are so many, all of them having to do with my mother. She really made sure that Christmas and all of the holidays were very memorable for me as a child. Gathering the most fragrant cedar and most perfect smilac vines for decorating, the ritualistic polishing of the tortuously ornate silver, pulling the decorations out of the attic, my dad’s yearly cursing of the Christmas tree lights, getting the Christmas gallon of oysters, the Christmas Eve squirrel hunt. But mostly, I remember the baking and my mother and I sharing that tiny kitchen space and creating all that that wonderful food.


“Favourite Christmas song/carol…”

The Holly and the Ivy

The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir

“Favourite Christmas movie…”

A Christmas Story

“Favourite Christmas character…”

The elf who wants to be a dentist in “Rudolph”.

“Favourite Christmas ornament/object…”

It’s a battered little lamb that has been passed down through my father’s family.

“Plans for this Christmas…”

Got some invites…nothing special planned here at the house. Don’t even have a tree yet. May do some baking.

“Is Christmas your favourite holiday?”

As a child, I think it was. Holidays are a family thing and I think children are such a big part of it.

Keeping with my tradition of the “No Strings MEME”…I offer the following tag cloud…

Absence of the Mind and Body
Appalachian Writers
Bad Alice
busybusymomma
Carolina On My Mind
CHARMING, JUST CHARMING
Cubby Goes Digital
Daisy's Dead Air
Ducks Mahal
Farmgirl Fare
Fetch me my axe
frogma
Fun in Flatland
Glastonbury Farm
Hidden Haven Homestead
I think I have a recipe for that...
Karen Road Chronicles
KeesKennis
Last One Speaks
Leslie's Omnibus
Lyric Flight
Mamma Loves...
Marsha Loftis
Mommy on the Floor
Moonmeadow Farm
no school, just learning
Northview Diary
Original Faith - Blog
oya baka mama
Ruminations Of A Country Girl
Simply Chumly
Straight White Guy
SusieQ's Place
Tennessee Jed
The Gods Are Bored (Or Yule, as the case may be...)
the root cellar
Tossing Pebbles in the Stream
Welcome to 12 Happy Chickens
Nancy's Garden Spot
The House of Flying Monkeys
PineTop
ruminations from the distant hills
Ruminations Of A Country Girl
Tennessee Jed
the Contrary Goddess
…………………………….

Moving right along….

My dearest Erica has bestowed upon me the following award/meme:




I have no idea what this means, but Erica says Mrs. Who at House of Zathrus said:

“I read their blogs because whether they are simply taking care of family or working to make others’ lives better, they do it with grace and dignity despite any roadblocks along the way.”

I'll expand that a bit to include tolerance and contributions to community, either the net or in life.

I offer the following tag cloud of recipients.


Karen Road Chronicles
Appalachian History
12 Happy Chickens
2 B Sophora
Farmgirl Fare
Glastonbury Farm
Hidden Haven Homestead
Home in the Highlands
Moonmeadow Farm
Poetic Overthrow
Rooster Hill Farm
Hobo Stripper
Original Faith
The Gods Are Bored
DC Comictician on Star Trekiology
Sue Doe-Nim
SusieQ's Place
Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

So sorry if I've left anyone out that I should have included. If you are really wanting to be tagged, just let me know and I'll edit you in.

Also, if you are following "Porn and Donuts"...there's another installment over on Editred.

As I poked my head from the covers and wiggled my legs to see exactly how solidly the cocker spaniel cocoon had enveloped me during the night, my eyes focused out the french doors to my balcony towards Sol Messer Mountain. The sky was floating with swirling eddies of snow.

It's a good day for some housekeeping.

Link Love

I've been a bit remiss in spreading the link love that has been so generously offered to me. Please allow me to correct this oversight with my humble apologies. Sometimes when I'm in the midst of a story cycle or getting some research off the ground, I can be most churlish.

Bonnie @ bkfrogma

Bonnie and I met during my Buzznet days, so she's one of my oldest blog friends. I started the blog here, getting the first round of story cycles off in 2003. These stories are pretty rough but tell of my first year here in the mountains and my experiences getting the farm off the ground. Mostly they are about the amazing people who embraced me here. I felt my writing was missing something so I took off to Buzznet for a few years to do some photoblogging and satire. Writing from photos helps me tune my descriptions and think more visually.

Bonnie is an urban gardener, sailor and kayaker extraordinaire paddling the Hudson from Manhattan. She works for a huge corporate media giant...sort of like I used to, but in publishing rather than cable news. She has gorgeous photos of places we'd all rather be.

She wrote a lovely post all about me and the Easter Story about Friend Scott. I'm very honored that she did this for me.

Pissed-Off Housewife.

What can I say about Housewife? She's the Jewish mother we probably all should have had so that we would have turned out better. She's opinionated, shamelessly judgemental (in somehow a good way...not sure how she does it), and the least L-Alien from L.A. that I know.

And I'm absolutely terrified of her and slavishly do everything she tells me.

See, I have this nightmare. I'm as sure as the sun rising tomorrow that I could lick Hershey's chocolate syrup off of any surface in Housewife's home(including the carpet) without ever having to think about the 3 second rule. Me...ehhh...not so good a housekeeper. The kitchen is more my thing. In my dream, someone knocks at the door. At this moment, there are baby goats in the house, the dogs have gotten into the trash strewing it from one end of the house to the next and I, myself, am in nasty old sweat pants, bra-less and eating cheap ravioli out of the can with my fingers. To my horror...it is Housewife and her trusty side-kick Mrs. D and they have come to perform one of those awful TV housekeeping interventions on me.

I'm telling you...I wake up shaking in my bed with a hankering for clorox.

If you don't read her...you probably should. There are just too many funny, sad, angry, heartbreaking things in her blog. And they are all mixed up in a truly endearing way.

Hilarious posting today called:

Everything I've Done is Public Record

What's not to love about stoned teenagers, the press corps and a dead iguana?

and she kindly mentions me in these:

Why I read blogs instead of magazines...
Rosie and Momma and the other Mrs. D.
If you think that people are born good....

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Snakes in Church Update

I'm almost done reading Jimmy Morrow's book, Handling Serpents: Pastor Jimmy Morrow's Narative History of His Appalachian Jesus' Name Tradition. All I can say is "Wow." For me, as a writer, every sentence is a story all of it's own. His editor, Ralph Hood, has done a superb job. I really want my own copy for my library and I can't wait to digest all of it, then ask Jimmy about some of his beliefs and the history. Actually, I'm really interested in talking with Pamela, his wife. There is a wonderful photo of her handling a really big rattler.

Here's an excerpt:

U.G. Prince and his son, Charles, brought serpents back into the service. Charles got anointed to handle the serpent. He went outside to the parking lot, opened the car door, and got the serpent box out. He opened it and reached inside, got the serpents out, and took them into the church. Members that had not handled serpents for twenty-two years took turns handling the serpents. U. G. told Charles to go to the car and get the "deadly thing" --it was Red Devil Lye. U. G. got the jar and drank it down in the name of Jesus Christ and several more people also drank the lye. (p.42)

Scott called this morning. He's spending Easter weekend with his family. I had been thinking about Scott in terms of our snakehandling expedition. I'm an Episcopalian and we are pretty much immune to the anointing thing they talk about here. At least I am. Scott...I'm not so sure of. I'm going to be majorly pissed if I end up carting he big snake-bit ass to the hospital.

I'm also still looking for one of these: ZOOM H4 Handy Digital Recorder Or something like it. Preferably used and donated but functioning. It seems a shame to go in there and not get some decent quality sound. If you know any sound techy types...I'm desperate for something to take into the field that will work with my computer.