Hotty Toddy

I've been away from the blog for a few weeks. Been out of pocket.

I went to the big quilt show in Houston for the first time. Pretty amazing.

My favorite great-aunt passed away after a valiant battle with cancer. Three times this woman went up against breast cancer - and while in her 80's, too! I'll have to tell you about my Aunt Kat another time.

I've hosted both my bee and my art quilt group.

And I made a trip to my alma mater to connect with friends.

A visit to the Ole Miss campus never fails to put me back at a time and place in my life when there seemed to be endless possibilities and new discoveries around every corner. The friends I made in college are still my friends today. And I can count on them. There's a freedom and an ease in our conversations that belies the shared experiences of a maturing time in our lives. A time when we were becoming independent thinkers and adults - no longer children. No pretensions. We all know better.

The campus of the University of Mississippi is exceptionally beautiful. I'm not the only one who thinks so either. And you can almost feel the ghost of William Faulkner as you walk the square in downtown Oxford. He is still there, you know.

Every home game weekend, the biggest and best house party in college football sets up in the Grove and the Circle in the heart of campus.

People pay big money these days to hire students to set up their tents and tables. Why didn't we think of that when we were there? We could have raised a bunch of money for summer mission projects.

The tops of pop-up tents as far as the eye can see in any direction. There is no way to adequately photograph it all.

The next generation has arrived ...

and others are waiting in the wings.

She was just too fast for the camera. The tape on her back lists mom and dad's cell phone numbers just in case she scooted out of familiar territory.

Something I've never, ever seen on campus, much less in the Circle. She was a bit anxious 'cause her "mama" walked away for a moment.

A cleverly named necessity.

The old man and the tree.
The largest catalpa tree in the state of Mississippi.

Good food, good friends, good times.