Comments on: Falling In Love Again, What Am I To Do…?

By: gbowdoin

gbowdoin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:22:04 +0000

I don’t know her by her married name, but I might know her by her maiden name. My name is Ge-Anne Bowdoin. I taught in Warren County for 9 years, then moved to Georgia, where I have lived since 2003. I love it down here, mainly because it reminds me of home.

The lake house is beautiful. I know it was tons of work, but I am sure you guys will love having it up and running again!

By: tori

tori — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:39:51 +0000

gbowdoin– Welcome! So glad you found us, don’t be a stranger. I have never in my life heard of that particular denomination– and I thought I knew them all!
One of my best friends in the world is from McMinnville– her married name is Lynne Shaw, I’ll have to ask her about her maiden name, maybe you know her…? We sure do love Smithville– and hey, now they have their very own Wal-Mart! (I know this because we were there about 20 frillion times in 4 days.)

By: gbowdoin

gbowdoin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:35:12 +0000

I stumbled upon your blog today and I am smiling ear-to-ear. I am from McMinnville and absolutely love Smithville’s charm. The church that you posted a picture of is pronounced THEE Baptist (folks around there don’t usually add the “Church of Christ” part and my grandmother was a THE Baptist all of her life. So was my first husband. The churches are slowly dying out, but I can remember years of services and popsicle stick fans provided by the funeral homes to keep congregants cool in the summertime.

I hope you enjoy your stay in Smithville! If you need a Wal-Mart, I believe the closest one is McMinnville.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:26:04 +0000

Oh Honey, you might call it Bucolic, and it is, but I’d call it simply beautiful. So green and lush, makes me wonder what sort of critters are crawling around in those hedgerows.

By: jonny

jonny — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:35:07 +0000

Thanks ! It was a good one = )

By: MostlySunny

MostlySunny — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 01:19:52 +0000

What a wonderful place of memories! Glad you’re enjoying it again. Love those little towns where time seems to stand still.

Barbara M Lloyd – I hear ya!!! I hate to see what someone has done to “my” house to make it (so-called) “better”!

johnny – Happy “Mid-Summer”.

By: Barbara M. Lloyd

Barbara M. Lloyd — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 20:45:57 +0000

By the way, sweet Tori, your lake house sounds just like the perfect place for you and Russ to go and write his life story. You can take breaks and go fishing with Char for dinner….Madi can help fish when home from college. Sounds like a plan to me.

For now, I can hardly wait for that next cd?

By: Barbara M. Lloyd

Barbara M. Lloyd — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 20:40:57 +0000

Along with more quilts, I’d like to see more of the lake house. Those get-away places are always so precious. My mom and dad for many years had a small cottage on the beach of the Delaware Bay where we could look across and see the New Jersey shores. My children grew up there. It was more or less a country beach…perfect for children. Our family has so many memories of those days of swimming, water skiing, fishing, and all of those summer fun things. In the winter they went duck hunting. The day came when we had moved so far away from it that we made the decision to sell the little cottage. A couple years ago one of my sons and I happened to b 3e close enough to drive by and a neighbor had a key, asking us if we wanted to see what the now-owners had done to the cottage. Excitedly, we took her up on the offer. What a terrible mistake….for “they” had ruined my memories. Gone was the open screened-in porch with the wonderful view of the long beach leading down to the gentle waves…the sound of those waves that had put me to sleep so many nights were muffled…..and the large open room where family and friends gathered to eat churns of homemade icecream and talk about the fish caught that day had been cut up into four smaller rooms. The charm was lost and it made me so sad I wanted to cry. Our little beach home was now no more than the memories I felt at that moment had been robbed from me. So then, last year I was asked if I wanted to visit the people who bought our home several years ago, after we had lived there for more than 25 years. I declined…..no more messing around with my precious memories.

By: carsmith

carsmith — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:43:21 +0000

I just checked out the links….what’s not to love about this area. Love the pictures of the quaint town square, drop dead gorgeous Rock Island State park and flea market ad. The General Store states they are closed on Mondays or NOT and have real 1950’s milkshakes.
T.T. start looking for checks to arrive in the mail soon from the chamber of commerce or the Mom and Pop store.

By: carsmith

carsmith — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 05:44:25 +0000

Glad that Liz gave you reason to return to your home away from home. Perfect place for displaying those beautiful quilts. I’m trying to figure out how you ever painted the stencil going down the wall on the right side of the picture. That must have taken a really tall ladder.

Be glad you had itty bitty visitors and not squirrels. Our neighbors found their lake house had been inhabited by squirrels that moved in over the winter. They did major damage and it wasn’t a pretty site.
Sounds like you all will be making more memories at the lakehouse.

By: jonny

jonny — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:36:35 +0000

Timing is everything ! This weekend is one of the top three holidays in Finland. It’s Mid-Summer ! This weekend around 80 percent of the Finnish population, if not more, are at their summer cottages, or lake houses, enjoying nature, sauna, and lots of food !! OK, quite a few are probably deep in a bottle as well, but I tend to turn a blind eye on that one.

For over twenty years now I also thought the word was ‘butolic’ ! Good to finally see it spelled out, and yes, TN is; or can be = )

Oh, and I often wondered what it would take to be man enough and jump on live grenade if ever in such a situation.

By: bettyrwoodward

bettyrwoodward — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:55:19 +0000

Beautiful lakehouse and scenery. Can’t wait to get to Tennessee in 2013 with my family! Love the quilts too.

By: anna

anna — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:32:30 +0000

you are so talented at writing…you made me feel like actually being there….the house is lovely…you are lovely too…y

By: tori

tori — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:18:04 +0000

delightedabroad: Yeah, “boring” is not a word that came up even once! And I agree, there is an almost European feel to the local woods and farmland there. Just gorgeous, really.

meb: Yes– it is a crazy quilt that I found on my wanderings! It is fading, but still lovely. Lots of silk and velvet and embroidery, one of my favorite pieces in the house! I WILL try to get a photo of a couple of other ones for you– there is an old pink Depression-era one with all of the state birds of the U.S. stitched on it, and a really faded small blue and white one that has some scenes from the Bible on it. I just love them– wish I knew how to quilt!

belinda: Trust me, we could use you! Yes, I did stencil that border– two stories worth. A looooooong time ago.

LindaB: I think the idea of coming up and spending some time there this summer got them motivated– also, I was driving and I had the keys. And yeah, I can’t imagine balancing on a two story ladder and hand-stenciling all around the whole dang house these days either. Though the paintball idea is a little intriguing…

By: LindaB

LindaB — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 06:29:01 +0000

Lovely lake house, Tori! And what I’d like to know is how in the heck did you get two teenage girls to clean that much?? And can I borrow them?

I noticed the stenciled border first thing too, Belinda! I painted one of those borders around our foyer——grapevine, I think. I don’t look up there anymore ’cause now I’m tired of it and I wish I hadn’t done it. I did it when I was young……and thinner, and didn’t think a thing of climbing up a ten foot ladder, balancing a pail of paint and a paint roller. But NOW, I wouldn’t dream of climbing that high. My husband wouldn’t let me. My insurance company wouldn’t either. So, I guess I can’t paint over it now. I’m stuck with it.

Hey wait! PAINTBALLS!

By: belinda

belinda — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 02:47:56 +0000

I want to come visit you at your lake house. I will help clean.

So in that picture I see all of that green border, is that what you painted? I remember a conversation about that once.

Enjoy your lakehouse and the Taff bounding time. Love you guys! Any more pictures of the lake house?

By: meb

meb — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:11:43 +0000

More pictures of the quilts please. Is that a “crazy quilt” behind you? And were these treasures you found when out and about on the country lanes? (I’m a quilter in my, ahem, spare time – so I love seeing these and the stories behind them.)

By: delightedabroad

delightedabroad — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:10:25 +0000

Wow, it’s never going to be boring with the Taff family, right? You’re sooo brave, y’all
The picture of the surrounding countryside could have been taken a few kilometers from where we live! I immediately felt at home.