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Friday Favorites

Favorite # ONE

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

This is the most recent read that was chosen by the book club.  It is a fictional story that “follows the journey of three characters brought together through grief and trauma. In Violet, Frank, and Harriet’s converging paths, Wood explores The Effects of Incarceration, The Healing Power of Books, and the importance of Forgiveness of Self and Others” (supersummary.com).

The story was captivating and I enjoyed following Violet’s journey, but the discussion and language used by the prisoners was enough to make a Southern Baptist squirm.

~

Favorite # TWO

This beauty

from my garden

Lilium ‘Tiny Massive’ or Asiatic hybrid lily

I found it at Home Depot last summer and luckily the many freezes we had this past winter did not wipe it out.

~

Favorite # THREE

OZZY

This baby is getting so BIG.  He has a delightful personality and makes my heart happy.  In this photo he is sucking on my orange blanket.  I don’t know what it is that he enjoys about this, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting anything.

~

Favorite # FOUR

Forever Friends

When this was posted in our family group chat, my comment was “this makes me happy and sad all in one”.  Many others commented “me too”.

The Starlings spent some time with the Rigdons on their last full day in Florida.  Although the tears were shed later, this photo shows how much these cousins enjoy each other and the great love they have for one another.  I hope they will always remember.

~

Favorite # FIVE

Eaglemania

at the Alhambra Theatre and Dining

LB and I are season ticket holders to Alhambra because it is our favorite type of date night.  If there is music to be heard, I’m usually right on board!  This Eagles tribute band did not disappoint.

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Family Day 2026

I am fortunate to be a part of a very tightly knit group.  Until recently I defined this group as my extended family.  During the photography portion of my niece Sydney’s wedding, my sister (Gina) set me straight saying:

“THIS is immediate family”

Mama, My sister, Me, our spouses, children and grandchildren.

My Immediate Family

~

We get together to celebrate so often that LB will jokingly say, “well let’s go, I can’t remember when we last got together”.

Recently, one of our OG members made a decision that will change everything going forward.  My nephew Clay will be taking his family out of the country and into the mission field.  Here is his story: Clay Rigdon – 6:8 Ministries

My sister wanted to send them off with a family gathering that would leave them wanting for nothing.  Her plan was to “have a Seasons Party or Year in the Life kind of situation” highlighting “the major holidays and also celebrate Adrian’s upcoming birthday”

To begin, on Sunday morning everyone went to Jones Road Baptist Church to hear Clay deliver a sermon.  After a tearful dedication and laying on of hands we departed and gathered again at our home base, the house where my sister and I grew up.  We kicked off the event with a celebration of Adrian’s upcoming 8th birthday and a specially made with love kitty cat birthday cake.

She told Amanda it was the “best day of her life”.

~

Because we had recently celebrated Easter…

we moved forward with a celebration of the Fourth of July

which included a cookout in the backyard, rocket pop-sicles, and sparklers…

..

~

The next Family day event to celebrate was Halloween…

which included masking up to go “trick-or-treating”

~

What comes after Halloween?

You know!

We didn’t have any pumpkin pie, but we did enjoy some sausage puff appetizers and apple cider while sharing the things we are most thankful for

~

Christmas would be observed by a reading of the birth of Jesus from the book of Luke

followed by a brutal game of Dirty Santa.  The gift stealing was so intense that hardly any photos were taken.  It was worth every minute.

Gina had gifts for the kids that she designed and several photos were taken of them….

The tee shirts were designed with each name of Mary Reid’s great grandchildren shaped into a heart along with a bible verse…

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you”  (Philippians 1:3)

~

There were 2 more holidays that followed Christmas

and

In honor of the next new year, Dillon made a toast and said a prayer then Sydney handed out Valentine’s Day treats as parting party favors.

At this point we were all overwhelmed.

My heart is full.  My life is blessed.

~

 

Please pray for Clay, Chynna, Levi, Thea, Adrian, and Eden as they depart for Costa Rica this week.  Please pray for the rest of us as we remain in Florida without them.

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Don’t be scared

Little Kitty Little Kitty

LB and I have been grieving the loss of our little Elvis since he passed away.  I randomly break out in tears and sometimes imagine that I see him; LB has missed calling “little kitty little kitty” every time we come home.  After the busyness of the holidays passed I was missing Elvis really bad.

There was a kitty shaped hole in my heart.

I started stalking the Humane Society website to find a kitten.

Then Richard and Emily told me about a kitten under their house and borrowed Amanda‘s cat trap to try to catch it.

Last Saturday they caught the little black kitten.

LB and I went to their house to get it, but not knowing the rules of cat capture I accidentally let it go. We all went out to breakfast together and then LB and I went to the Pet Supermarket to buy kitten food and a litter box.  I figured the kitty would be needing breakfast again the next day and this time I would take the whole trap home with me.  Fully expecting to hear of another capture I had picked out the name Ozzy if it was male and Lisa Marie if female.  Day after day passed and still no kitty.

~

When I saw a little black kitty (whom they named Ozzie) on the Humane Society’s website, LB wanted to take me to see him.

Meet Ozzy

He was about 10 weeks old and weighed just over 2 pounds.

Richard and Emily tried for several days to trap the kitty under their house, but I don’t think the little fella will fall for it again.

Meanwhile, our new little kitty has kept us on our toes.

There will never be another Elvis, and my heart still hurts for him,

but it is nice to have a furry little presence in the house again.

 

 

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

My Best Friend has Four Paws

One year, for my birthday, my sister gave me this coffee cup…It was true.

My little Elvis was a friend like no other.  He was a full time job, but he was no work at all.

It was in May 2025 that he began to have some physical problems.  We took him to the vet right away.

Dr. Bradberry ordered:

  • Catalyst Chem 17
  • CBC w/Diff.
  • t4/SDMA Catalyst Test
  • Electrolyte test
  • Urinalysis-Sedivus/UA/Bact Confirmation
  • Fluids
  • Cerenia
  • Pepcid
  • Gabapentin
  • and a prescription for a new special cat food.

She found nothing wrong with his heart, kidneys, or liver and she was very specific about his kidneys and liver.  After that visit, Elvis stopped vomiting and seemed to be okay until July.  We went back for another cerenia injection and fluids.

 Right after Labor Day he began showing signs of swelling in his abdomen.  This time we saw Dr. Thoma.  She ordered the Catalyst Chem 17 again and afterwards gave us the bad news.  His liver was failing.  She asked me if I would consider euthanasia, to which I shook my head.  Never would I give up so easily on my beloved baby cat.  I asked if there was anything I could do to save him.  So she drained the fluid in his abdomen and wrote 3 prescriptions:

  • Furosemide liquid (2x daily for fluid retention)
  • S-Adenosyl Methionine liquid (2x daily for liver support)
  • and Mirataz ointment (1x daily in the ear for increased appetite).

We went through several different brands of food to find something Elvis would eat.  His interest would pique and then fall away leaving me to start over.  Eventually I would spoon feed him.

There would be 2 more visits to Dr. Thoma because of fluid buildup.  Then Elvis began to refuse his medicine.  I would roll him up like a burrito and if I managed to get the medicine in him, he would eliminate it as soon as I put him down on the floor.

After much urging from my daughters, I finally made an appointment with San Jose-Beauclerc Animal Clinic and took Elvis to see Dr. Holly on November 26th.  Amanda came along.  The vet requested Elvis’ records from his previous appointments and ordered more tests.  Dr. Holly advised me that Elvis had possibly one of these three conditions:  Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), GI Lymphoma, or Liver Cancer.  She said we could make him comfortable, but it would only give us [maybe] a few weeks with him.  She prescribed Prednisolone (2x daily).  I’m not sure why but was a lot easier for him to keep down.  Probably because it didn’t smell like old meat.

We spent the rest of his days doing whatever Elvis wanted to do, which was sitting out on the patio

or being in my arms

…sometimes all night long.

On Monday following his last appointment I noticed blood in his litter box.  I called Dr. Holly.  When she returned to the office she called back and let me know what I already knew.

Elvis passed away while we were sitting in our spot on the sofa.

It was Sunday December 7 around 5:45 PM.  LB and I will never forget that day.

The reason I’m putting this in writing is to remind myself that I did everything that I could to save my sweet little cat.

I loved you your whole life and I’ll miss you for the rest of mine.

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Sweet 16

My baby is sixteen years old today!

Elvis has been with me since he was three months old.

It was December 12, 2009 and my plan was to give my oldest daughter Stephanie a kitten for Christmas.  LB and I went to the Humane Society and looked at all the adorable kitties that were living there.  Some of them were in crates; some of them were playing together in the Kitty Cabana.  As we walked into the Kitty Cabana I noticed one little black fur ball scurry behind a kitty play set. Of course I went after him.  Given the fact that he was so skittish, I was surprised that he let me pick him up.  Not only did he let me pick him up, he let me hold him close and snuggle.  I had found a winner.
We took him home.


My plan was to keep him for the next several days before Christmas and then take him to Stephanie on Christmas morning.

It was only a few days that he was with us and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to part with him.


The decision was made that I would keep Elvis and go back to the Humane Society for another rescue.

 

Exactly one week later, we went back and adopted Aymie.  She and Stephanie are inseparable.  Aymie is obviously a good sport.

~

If you have a kitty in your life, you know just how special he can be.

Elvis used to go everywhere with me.  Now he is a homebody.  He tolerates no visitors and hides under the bed as soon as he is aware that company has arrived.  To most people, he seems very unsociable.
However, when he detects that his mama has arrived home, he comes running.  He then leads me to the living room for some hello-let’s-have-a-brush time.

Elvis sleeps on my bed at my feet. He is anxious for me to get up in the morning and has been known to sit by my head and pat my nose. His favorite time is when I’m sitting in my living room chair letting him sleep on my lap. 

He is sleeping on the recliner next to me as I type this post.

He is just a precious little fur ball, and I’m so happy to have him in my life.

Happy Birthday Elvis!

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Beach Vacay 2025

This week I was surprised with an impromptu vacation at Crescent Beach.

LB has a friend who has been trying for some time to have us visit his beach condo.  Being the generous friend that he is, he provided his Summerhouse beach condo to us the first week of September from Thursday through Tuesday.

Summerhouse Beach & Racquet Club

I was a little hesitant to leave Elvis since he hasn’t been feeling well, but we made it work and thoroughly enjoyed our time away.

We arrived a little late on Friday and brought our things inside.  LB took several photos…

Once we were settled in we took a walk on the beach.  At the time I had only seen the beach at high tide.  I was concerned that Crescent Beach didn’t have much of a beach, but it would turn out to be better than I thought.

Then we went to dinner at the Elkhouse Eatery, which was a recommendation from LB’s friend.

 

~

On Saturday we set out early to find a nice place on the beach.  The low tide provided plenty of space to choose a good spot.  We set up our chairs and umbrella and found that we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

There is no better beach than a private beach!

Unfortunately we stayed out in the sun too long and found that we were both a bit more pink than we wanted to be 🫠

In addition to the amenities on the grounds, there are several great places to go out to eat. On Saturday night we went to Taco Libre for dinner and on Sunday we enjoyed a breezy evening at Finn’s Beachside Pub.  Each of our dining out experiences get 5 stars.  The Summerhouse Beach & Racquet Club gets 5 stars too.

The condo was lovely, the beach was lovely, and each day of our vacation was lovely.

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Friday Favorites

It’s Friday and I’m at home!

This past week was an exciting week and I have a few favorites that I’ve selected to share…

Last Friday LB and I headed to Captiva Island Inn for a vacation to celebrate my birthday

Favorite #ONE

Captiva Island

We made it in time to have dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant before catching the sunset!

Another restaurant on Captiva Island is the Mucky Duck which has been closed since the devastation that came to the island during the 2022 – 2024 hurricanes.

Many places are still in desperate need of repair.

~

Favorite #TWO

Mudbugs

Mudbugs is an adorably decorated Cajun restaurant that we happened upon while touring nearby Sanibel Island.  We didn’t sample the crawfish, but LB was able to have his fill of oysters while I enjoyed blackened fish.  Also while exploring Sanibel, LB and I found several cute shops.

Favorite #THREE

Beach Daisy

a lovely little shop where I found a lovely little summer sweater and pendant.

Someday I will post an OOTD pic wearing this!  In the photo above, I’m sitting in bed surrounded by all of the birthday gifts LB presented to me on June 1st!  Speaking of birthday gifts…

Favorite #FOUR

Birthday Gifts

This is what I was awakened to.

When I got home, I laid everything out for a more impressive photo…

I’m spoiled forever!

~

As we do nearly every year, LB and I attended one of our favorite concerts on Thursday

Favorite #FIVE

Happy Together

This year’s performance included the Cowsills, the Vogues, Gary Puckett, Little Anthony, Jay & the Americans, and, of course, music by the Turtles.

Just for fun I created a YouTube playlist that I’ve included below

I hope you enjoy!

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog!

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