She's Gone . . .

How could six days fly by so quickly?

How could we eat so much, laugh so often, sleep so little, and still yearn for more, More, MORE!!!

Today I saw a plaque in a catalog that read:

Blessed are Women whose hearts and souls are
Joined together by laughter and tears
For they shall be known as
Sisters

That would surely make Cindy and me sisters of the sort deeper even than the blood we share. The older we get the closer we become.

[How come we never knew we were such terrific friends when we had to share a bed and she would irritate me so by putting her feet all over the walls prompting me to scare her with a cryptic warning about the wall witch that came and took naughty children?] : D

This past week we found the time to shop the farmer’s market, wander through the gardens, soak in the spa, play rounds and rounds of Phase 10 and Skip-Bo, and even find time to watch Schoolhouse Rock with those who weren’t privy to the premier episodes (like we were) of the catchy tunes and fun facts of grammar, history, and all the rest.

(Seriously, this is the ONLY pic taken of us the entire time of Cindy’s visit!! Scandal! I am a shameful blogger indeed! I am in the pink slippers, Cindy is wearing yellow, Elizabeth is reading on the settee, Lydia is bundled in the Queen Anne recliner, and Rachel rests next to me.)

We filled our days with long teatime chats, strolls in the garden, time in the kitchen preparing meals (though we did enjoy a few away in my favorite eateries about town), after which we played games, watched silly films (like Woody Allen’s Sleeper – a fave from way back when . . . was it always so silly?) and epic movies (like Gone With the Wind). Can you believe Cindy had NEVER seen it before? (Where was she when I watched it a GAZILLION times?)

We snacked on yummy cheeses and dark rich chocolate. We baked bread and fruit crisps. We dined inside and out. And we capped off the visit with a Southern Feast featuring Hoppin’ John, Dirty Rice, and the MOST DIVINE biscuits named “Touch of Grace” biscuits – all recipes found in my The South: A Beautiful Cookbook. Later I will share the biscuit recipe, even though I rarely recommend something with WHITE FLOUR and CAKE FLOUR and HEAVY CREAM in addition to buttermilk. Those biscuits were decadent and DELICIOUS! (Do I have pictures? You ask sweetly. Nope . . . I really fell down on the job, didn’t I?)

Tonight, as I stood under the arbor laden with Confederate Jasmine and Eden roses,


I inhaled the scent of pure bliss and thanked the Lord for such a sweet, sweet visit with my l’il sis. All the pruning and cultivating of our relationship over the years has produced a harvest of friendship and sisterhood and deep, deep love despite a roller-coaster life that has dealt us many blows and whiplashes. Of late my sister mourns the recent loss of her mother-in-law, along with two kitties whom she loved so much. At times we dropped tears on each other’s shoulders – that’s what friends are for . . . and my sister is my oldest and dearest friend in the world.

So . . . in the coming days I will surely entertain you with tales of our silliness and sweetness shared over this past visit. But for now I must sign off and finish tackling the chores and duties that I willfully and most joyfully neglected during Cindy’s visit.

This evening as I deadheaded the roses in the coming twilight I came across that brilliant “Dream Come True” rose that looked like this just a day or two ago:

Tonight she looked like this:



And as I clipped away the spent bloom I found this:

The promise of a new blossom.

I have no way of knowing whether this bud will flush into as rare a beauty as the former beauty atop this bush, but I have the joy of looking forward to finding out.

Likewise, as I thought back over the richness of my visit with Cindy and the sadness as we parted at the airport, I smiled in anticipation of our next meeting . . . which we just happened to finalize on her last day here. Prior to boarding that big ol’ plane headed back to North Carolina, she booked our airline/hotel/minivan/hopperpasses for our trip to Disney World in November! I must admit that made the goodbye hug a bit easier . . . but just a wee bit.

Rachel awoke this morning and came into my room where I sat reading.

“It sure is quiet around here,” she remarked glumly.

I agreed.