Eat ya hearts out snowbirds

I took these pictures of the little azalea bush we planted last Spring, a few minutes ago. The lil guy didn't grow much at all last year, but thanks to the 70 degree weather we have been having the last 2 weeks, it now thinks it is Spring. It is covered with these beautiful varigated pink blooms and many soon-to-be-opened buds. Not bad for a January afternoon. We planted the lil guy almost as an afterthought in the garden last year and this is its third blooming. It sure is a tough little thing, cause it sits neglected in a corner of the garden in front of the banana palms, next to the grape arbor(more on those later).

The Wedding Went off WITH a Hitch.

Now all I have to do is let it all sink in. After almost five years, we actually got the whole thing accomplished. When Cappy was off the boat last month and son, Dan was here, as our witness, along with our friend and my sponser, we had our marriage blessed in the church. Because things were moving so rapidly, we didn't have a chance to arrange for all of our family in New York State and Penna to be here. We didn't want them to feel even worse if Cappy's family came here as witnesses, being in Louisiana, or other friends as well, and have another wedding celebration without them ...AGAIN (our 'justice of the peace wedding' took place almost four years ago in our yard with all of Cappy's family in attendance, and none of mine from NYS could make it), ...so we opted to just quietly have our priest bless our marriage.

Friday, we went to meet with our priest for Reconciliation, after which we were 'good to go' for today. Today, even tho I've been attending for three years, playing my Christian Rock accordian with the more charasmatic choir group, also for the special community group, and singing with the Gospel Choir, I still wasn't really a part of the church. Well.....today, I was formally welcomed, took my first communion, and Cappy, too, who has not been able to take communion these past few years, either, then I was confirmed. We were also privileged to be able to bring the communion vessels to the front! I never, ever thought that would be possible for me until a LONG time from now! I cherished every moment today.

Yesterday Cappy sent me off shopping for a First Communion dress...and the buckle-shoes...I hadda have the buckle shoes. I had heard from wayyyy back that little girls having their first communion had lacy dresses and buckle shoes. So this granny was going to have lace and buckle-shoes for her first communion, too.
I didn't get far walking back and forth in the mall before my feet were already killing me. I couldn't find anything. I was frustrated, having not lost any weight that I usually gain when Cappy's off the boat and 'coooooking'. He doesn't force the food into my mouth, but oh gosh, try and resist. So I was dragging all that extra weight around on my feet around and around in all of the stores, from one end of the mall to the other. Well, I found this dark brown ruffled, lacey, modestly sequinned dress that would at least fit over my hips. And the matching buckle-shoes...GOT 'em. So this is my first communion outfit.
I usually make sure that Cappy and I 'match' color-wise when we go to church. I dunno, we like to look like a 'team'. I bought him a nice shirt, dark brown belt and pair of tan dockers at J C Penney's, and dragged myself home. I don't know why it took me hours, but it did. That mall is huge! I have blisters to prove it. But at least I was happy that we were going to look nice in the morning. When I got home, Cappy tried quickly tried everything on, not messing with the tags, to make sure it all fit. Poifect. He looked great.
This morning I jumped into the shower ahead of him, cuz I take so long, but it only takes him a few minutes to get ready. (typical story, I'm sure) Finally, I was almost ready, putting my make-up on, feeling all 'churchy' and in my 'goin' to meetin' happy feelings, when I heard Cappy in the bedroom struggling with something. He was trying to take the tags off his new trousers. He said, "Hey, this is one of those things they are supposed to take off at the store....urhhhhggg, it won't come off! I've been trying!" He had his shirt on, and was wrestling with this white 'thing' that was tenaciously hanging onto those trousers...and we were in a hurry now to get going. He gave one big tug and heard some kind of snap, then saw 'blood'. "Huh??? Am I bleeding??" I ran and got some tissues and some wire cutters he said to bring. When I got back, he wailed, "Oh no! I've got shop-lifter's ink all over my hands and these pants! They were supposed to take this thing off at the store with one of their special tools! I can't go to church wearing these...people will think I'm standing there taking communion wearing pants I shop-lifted! And it won't wash off...it never will!!" He said he'd wanted to wear his good blue jeans all along anyhow, so he did. He still looked nice. I hope nobody noticed the red ink on his hands.
Now I'm wondering what to do with these new trousers...I'd like to take them back...good luck with that, probably. Take the priest with us??

http://www.clustercorner.blogspot.com/

Cappy's Rebuttal

To those of you who delve, on occasion, into the bowels of our blog, may remember my sweet wife, Peggy, mentioning my reaction to the kitchen sink while she is washing dishes. I'd like to present exhibit "A" for my defense.Please consider that I spend 2/3 of my life on a boat, where,
#1. We carry a limited amount of potable water.
#2. A sink as full as the picture above, would slop everywhere,
everytime the boat rolled.
With these two facts in mind, I'm sure ya can understand my horror, when sauntering through our kitchen at home in search of a beer, I see this!!! If I temporarily forget that I'm not on the boat, which happens if I 'aint' been home too long, or have had a few beers too many, imagine my shock! I immediately 'freak ' and wait patiently for the sinkto slop over, with the next swell I can still feel in my sea-legs. She giggles at my distress, but I assure you, my panic is caused from long habit.

This is what the sink looks like when I wash dishes. I guess 2 weeks off gives us plenty of time to pick at each other so heres my jab.

Rainy Day BBQ

Well, we finally got the rain we desperately needed, so we did what any happy cajun couple would do on a rainy day and invited over some friends and family for a bbq. I marinated some chicken over night in our cajun seasoning and some sparkling wine(hey ya use what ya got) and put it on the pit with the mandatory sausage. Its like against the 'law' to light a pit in Louisiana with out sausage and the last thing we need is the bbq police crashin the party. As an experiment, I used some of that Jack Danials whiskey barrel chip smoking wood. I know it sounds a lil trendy for us tacky cajuns, but it smelled like bourbon, so i figured what the heck. It sure made a fine smoke and by the time the coals 'took ',I had half the neighborhood smokey. Don't ya love folks who experiment on their guests at a cook out? Peggy made some of her infamous coleslaw and we warmed up some left over bean soup from the other day, and to top it off we roasted some apples in brown sugar and butter with pecans on the pit as well. Oh, and let's not forget it was 5$ daquarie day at the local drive-through daquarie stand. The crowd consumed several........ gallons. I stuck with a few beers, which in Lousiana I think, is a bbq requirement. Anyways, it was a lot of fun even though there was like an inch of water on the patio and it rained the whole time. What's a lil rain when ya got a patio full of fun lovin cajuns. We took a few pics; for a look click the title above, which is the link.

Marsh Sunrise

I love mornings on the boat. This morning we were tied up at a dock waiting to load our barge. I was sitting in the wheelhouse drinking coffee and working on the ever growing pile of paperwork us cappys have to do. I was thinking there is lots of folks sitting in their offices doing paperwork but I bet few of em have my view.

Home Again

Greetings all, Cappy here. I'm finally offn da boat and home with my sweet Peggy. This explains why she hasn't posted in the last few days as I have had her ...... errrr distracted. Thought yall might enjoy seeing this beautiful sunset over Barataria Bay in south-east Louisiana. Things are slowly returning to normal at work, most of the oil platforms are back up and running and we are very busy hauling barge loads of oil to keep yall warm this winter.

Our Dear Pam.

This is one of the dearest, Sweetest persons I've ever met. I only wish I had gotten to spend more time with her before she went home today, to be with the Lord, to wait for the rest of her family to join her. Her smile, humor and intelligence was incredibly winning. I fell in love with her immediately and was very comfortable in her presence.
Despite the fact that she suffered and was in pain, she didn't complain. We didn't have the privilege of knowing her for all that long, but if diamonds are created by pressure, then it must have been pressure in her life that created Pam. She was (and still is, whereever she is) an exquisite personality with so many beautiful facets, that we were looking forward to discovering.
Dear Pam, tell Jesus we said hello, and we'll all see you soon.
Love,
Peggy and Cappy

Hugs From Our Lil' World to You All.

So many people leave such nice comments that I'd love to respond directly. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. It really makes my day...no lie! Maybe when Cappy gets back off 'da boat' I'll have him put a link or something so that anyone who wants, can contact us by email, not just by posting here on the Blog. Til then contact us by email at: cappy_and_pegody@yahoo.com

(I guess I should add that our last name is Robin...hence the 'chubby robins'...and two crazy-nutsy bichons.)

Louisiana Dreamin' on Such a Winter's Day

"All the leaves are brown"...but the sky is blue...I feel safe and warm living in LA..."Stopped into a church I passed along the way"... I don't know what there is about this place, but I just love it. I can almost see the people from the past going in and coming out all dressed up in their Sunday finest. Marriages, Baptisms, Funerals. Love built this place, and it's soul seems to be resting, somewhere, waiting with the souls of those who had built her and worshipped here. They are not gone, not really, nor forgotten; not forgotten by their God, and neither is this building forgotten. It's a present, standing testament to the Faith and Hope of the people who raised her.

But at Least it's Warm Here.

Sorry I haven't written lately. Never thought I'd be the kind of person who'd get down around the holidays. Hubby calls lots and the kids call. Or I call. I'm just not the kind of person who invites myself to peoples homes, anytime. Or just barges in. SURPRISE! After five years I leave hints. Embarrassing to even do that. I invite ladies here, but they all have their friends or family and plans written in stone. Surprise! (placing a party hat on your head) You have unwittingly come to my pity party! Usually it's only me and the dogs. Aw, I knew I shouldn't have come here to blog. I'll lighten up in a few days when I find where I put my bootstraps. Prolly the dogs have them under the bed all chewed up. Later Ya'll.