babybloomr

They just released the first little preview of it, and I wanted you guys to see it!

It was such an amazing night. I don’t care if you are a fan of gospel music or not, the sheer vocal ability and emotional delivery of these women’s performances has to be experienced to be believed– gospel women can SAAANG, ya’ll!  I’ll post the clip at the bottom of this page, but first, here are a few random PHOTO PHRIDAY pics to delight and amaze you:

**I’m totally embarrassed to admit this, but the number of cats who have now taken up residence on our front porch has climbed to 3.

I know, I KNOW.

The good news is, we now know that two of them actually have a home (sort of– it’s currently empty and up for sale, but the owner still stops by to feed them. They, of course, neglected to tell me that because they are basically fur-covered LIARS.) Those two, Porch Cat (the original interloper) and Beecie (stands for B.C. which stands for Rhymes-with-Witch Cat, because she totally is) have been joined by a true-to-Taff-form starving stray we have named Norman because he slightly resembles the writer Norman Mailer in the face– you know, that kind of aging pugilist/deep thinker look. He is distressingly mangy, frighteningly thin and almost feral (in other words, just our type.) We are slowly but surely convincing him that we are safe, primarily because a) we FEED him every day and b) humans have that whole nifty opposable thumbs thing going for us which translates into really good head-scratching and belly-rubbing. So he’s starting to rethink his position about People = RUN AWAY!!!! Here are a couple of lovely pics from Norman’s latest photo shoot: 

Was I kidding about the starving waif part?! We should have named him Kate Moss. But he also kind of has an air of faded nobility about him, too…

**One of my new favorite discoveries is a beautiful pick-your-own-fruit farm about 10 minutes away in Wartrace called Valley Home Farm. They are famous for their strawberries, but they also have absolutely gorgeous blueberries and blackberries, as well as a little farm store that offers honey from their own hives, fresh eggs and homemade cakes and pies. The five-generation family farm is absolutely charming, with a big ol’ white farmhouse, greenhouses, rolling fields, chickens, goats, and cattle. They make it so convenient and easy to pick that I have even managed to entice my “why-can’t-we-just-buy-them-already-picked?” slacker daughters into grabbing a basket and joining me. TWICE! For blueberry picking, they give you this fashionable, handy-dandy little canvas bag that fastens around your waist so you can pick with both hands, which is brilliant. Blueberries are gone for the season, but the blackberries are in full swing. I have actually managed to entice Russ into checking it out– I waved a heaping basket of  juicy black beauties under his nose, and now we have a hot date to go picking tomorrow! Here I am engaged in some serious pickin’ during the blueberry season: 

**And for those of you who have kindly inquired as to the progress being made on the house, here’s a couple of kitchen pics. I found a wonderful cabinet making place in Nolensville, TN called Country Cottage Farm Tables and Furniture, located in the big barn next to the Amish Country Market Feed Mill. Since I really needed more kitchen cabinets and I didn’t want to try to matchy-match the existing ones, I commissioned a couple of pieces from them. They turned out really well, were very reasonably priced and fit in perfectly. I’m obnoxiously thrilled with them. I also found a weirdly charming light fixture for the island, and a couple of used bar stools that Russ just picked up for me yesterday. (By the way, what the heck is the deal with the price of barstools, anyway?? Especially painted wooden ones– they just seem stupid expensive to me! REALLY, eBay? $500 for a dang stool?  WHO’S WITH ME ON THIS?! *sound of peasants gathering torches and storming the gates*)

All right, enough of all that. As promised, here is the preview of the upcoming Women of Homecoming video– if it turns out to be even remotely as powerful as that evening was, it will be a not-to-be-missed one! (And yes, I was doing the Big Ugly Cry during “Amazing Grace– My Chains Are Gone,” but hey– if you were there, you wouldn’t have blamed me.)