Met A Blogging Friend, and Busy, Busy, Busy........

This picture was taken Thursday, June 8 of me and one of my blogging friends, MomTeacherFriend. She is from Lansing, Michigan and was in Jonesboro, Arkansas visiting with friends. She and her son and daughter made the drive by themselves, and her hubby stayed home doing some projects in their house. You can read about it HERE, in her blog. She drove the 7 or 8 miles from Jonesboro to Bay, where I live, picked me up, and treated me to lunch at a nice Italian restaurant in Jonesboro, then we went back to her friend's house for a while to watch her kids play in the kiddie pool. It was nice and shady in Miss Sue's backyard, as you can see from the pic. Unless you're a new visitor here, you'll know that's me on the left, and MomTeacherFriend on the right. Yes, she did share her real name with me, and NO, I didn't call her MomTeacherFriend for the whole time we visited. She chooses not to use any of their real names online, and I respect that. I have heard some of the horror stories, with identity theft and all that. As for me, heck, who'd want to steal my identity? I'm not too happy with it sometimes, but I'm stuck with it. I probably couldn't give my identity away, LOL. I had a really nice time meeting MomTeacherFriend, and I think she enjoyed her first trip to Arkansas and the South. She is travelling back to Michigan today, and I wish her a safe journey home.It seems like I have been chasing my tail for the last 2 weeks, I have been so busy. One thing I did enjoy was riding around again last Friday night with Jessica, her boyfriend, Jason and Lamar. It was a blast, I tell you. We listened to CD's and the radio and just took off with no particular destination in mind. We left about 7 pm and drove off into the sunset, literally. And as the sun was setting in the West, a full moon was rising in the East. We drove into the Ozark Mountains as the sun was setting, and then that bright full moon rose over the misty mountains and valleys.........It was magic, I tell you.......Magic. We had the windows down and the scents of wild honeysuckle drifting in now and then...........Dew on newly burned wheat fields.........The smells of freshly plowed ground...........Hay freshly cut and baled.............And the occasional cow pasture with fresh...........Uh, use your imagination, here. We alternated choosing the music, and I'll never forget, we were barrelling along on one of those steep, curvy, narrow mountain roads, when suddenly we approached an overlook. We stopped to absorb the atmosphere of the mountain night. The moon was shining over a misty valley........Whippoorwills were calling from the forest............Fireflies were flickering.......It was a perfect, romantic scene........Except that "Get Low", a RAP song was blaring from the radio at a deafening level! Until I "asked Jessica nicely" to turn it off, please. THEN it was a perfect, romantic scene. We were so far out in the sticks we only saw 2 distant yard lights, and I don't remember seeing any cell towers, and you really have to be out in the boonies not to see a cell phone tower these days. There was a sheer drop off the side of the mountain at the overlook, no guard rails or fence, nothing but air and treetops. Jessica and Jason played "Scare Mama To Death By Standing Too Close To The Edge Of The Sheer Drop Into The Bottomless Ravine", which afforded them heaps of amusement, and nearly caused me to go into cardiac arrest. Of course, a lot of their amusement and energy was spurred on by ingesting copious amounts of sugar and caffiene-laden sodas and energy drinks, and Tootsie Rolls and Gummi Bears, among other wholesome, nutritious snacks. Can you say, WIRED, folks? Vibrating in place, even! When you're that hyper, almost anything is funny. Yes, anything...... Including but not limited to cemeteries and roadkill. It wasn't pretty, folks. Amusing, Yes.......Pretty, No.

Lest I leave anyone with the wrong impression, let me say unequivocably, I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE. I. had. a. ball. Give me a cold soda, a snack or 3, some good music, the windows down and good company, put it on wheels and roll it down the road, and this old gal's one tickled Mama. Give me a choice between riding around for the evening or a diamond ring, and riding around will win every time. Hands down, no pun intended.
Cecil and Sue came up for lunch and games Monday. We had sandwiches for lunch, then played Trouble afterwards. I cooked some speckled butterbeans for supper, along with some fresh homegrown green beans and I smoked some country-style ribs and sliced some fresh garden cucumbers. If I do say so myself, those hickory-smoked ribs were delicious, and the fresh green beans and cucumbers, courtesy of a good friend and neighbor, really hit the spot. I am so enjoying the fresh garden veggies, and I can't wait until the homegrown tomatoes start coming in. I have yellow squash and cabbage, too, from the same neighbor. We're gonna feast for dinner tomorrow. I'm making smoked chicken along with some of the fresh veggies. Yum......I can hardly wait.
Well, I think I will post this and call it a night. I will try post more often this week. BooMama was threatening to send out an APB on me earlier, so I'll try to post frequently enough to avoid that. Wishing everyone a good week. :-)