Thanks to Mary, I now know this plant is Teasel. I figured it had a different name, and I remember seeing the name elsewhere now that I see it again.
I am assuming this is another thistle...I should have taken a picture of the leaves, but it was sprinkling so I was hurrying. I did not know there were so many kinds, if this is indeed another thistle. The leaves were different to any I have ever seen,
and the flower was bigger than any I have seen so far. I told Roger I would almost like to have some in our yard, they were so pretty. Almost. I am afraid of what might happen if I brought some home. 
The plant itself was as tall as me, and the leave were long and skinny....an inch wide at the most. And prickly just like the rest of the plant. I would not want to grab hold of it by mistake!************
Last night I was warming up some leftover soup beans that I had frozen sometime back to have for a quick meal. I put them on to heat, turned the oven on to preheat for cornbread, and ran out and got a couple green tomatoes from the garden, cut them up and put them in a bag and threw in enough cornmeal to coat the green tomatoes and sat them aside. I stuck a pan on top of the stove with a little oil in it to heat while I quickly made up a pan of cornbread and stuck it in the oven. Then I fried the green tomatoes....
Just as everything was ready, Roger came by and I told him I felt just like mommy...she could always have a meal on the table in such a short time. And this meal was one she would have fixed. It may not sound like much to some people, but it is one of my favorite meals.
And it brought to mind that some of the simpler things in life are really what makes us happy. There are always the big ones like good health, good doctors, our freedom that so many of us take for granted. Things like that.
But just think of the things that gladden your heart to think of.
Of course at the top of my list is Lorelei's smile...it melts my heart. The way she looks at me and smiles when she gets here in the morning and will duck her head into her mom's shoulder and then raise back up and look at me. Who could ever resist a face like that? But maybe she is one of the big things in life.
Hearing the wrens sing here, even though it isn't Carolina wrens, still makes me smile every morn. If I don't sit outside before Lorelei gets here, then we sit outside as her mom leaves and we talk about the wrens. The wrens here and the Dickcissels out at the strip pits make me smile. I love the other birds, but something about their singing is extra special for me.
And the smell of honeysuckle! I would love to have it growing in my yard...I am talking about what we normally call honeysuckle...the vine. I take deep, deep breaths every time I smell it...if I can, I break off some to bring home. Smelling it takes me instantly to Tennessee...Dolly Parton sure knew how to write a song when she wrote My Tennessee Mountain Home.
I guess smell plays a big part in my life...and so much of the time it is smells that take me back home. Besides honeysuckle, there is the smell of woodsmoke! I always wish I could just bottle it or capture it in a candle to burn. Or the smell of old dead morning glory vines in the fall..when I was at the orchard, I would sometimes stir up that smell and it took me to the tobacco patch of my youth. If I would have closed my eyes, I would have swore that I was there.
Hearing a friend's voice on the phone....or getting a letter. Remember a while back I wrote about how much handwritten letters mean....something to hold in my hand? One of my best friends in life set down and wrote me a letter and I got it a couple days later in a card. It is one of my cherished possessions.
When Roger and I lived in Tennessee, she and I lived almost within sight of each other. We talked every day on the phone, and usually even visited each other every day. I miss those days! So I guess I am saying that as I grow older I really appreciate friendship more. Just thinking of my childhood friends brings a smile to my face...and I think of the things we used to do.
So take a moment...and think about the small things in life that make it so much better. I am not naming near all I should. Maybe I will write more at a later date...but right now it is almost 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 is not too far off. Lorelei is supposed to be here by 5:30 so I should be heading to bed.
