Men Who Bike and Cook

Guess who is the spotlight member of the Druid City Bike Club this month???
Click here to find out: http://www.druidcity.org/pdf/spotlight_member--Brent_Freeman.pdf

I am so very proud.

Tonight we went to a fundraiser hosted by Focus of Tuscaloosa called "Men Who Cook." http://www.focustuscaloosa.org/MenWhoCook.htm

Proceeds from the event go to the Alzheimer’s Family Support Group, the Foster Grandparent Program, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. There were several different teams from the area (including the Druid City Bike Club) and the food was fantastic! There was also a silent auction and I won all three things I bid on -- a watercolor painting from a local artist, an old framed needlepoint work, and a decorative shelf that matches our living room perfectly. We had a great time. We met some really nice people, including a woman named Melissa (who actually works for Focus), her sons, and her parents. Brent and one of the sons got into a bidding war over a bicycle wine bottle holder that Brent loved. She conceeded her win to Brent and let him buy the item. He was thrilled. The entire family was absolutely precious.
Here is a picture of the wine bottle holder:



And some other miscellaneous pictures:

Multum in parvo

*** Support Brent in the Ride of Love ***

Hello everyone,

If you have known me very long, you know that I am not the type of person that hits folks up for money very often. However, I have recently been asked to participate in the The Ride of Love to benefit Camp Smile-A-Mile. The Ride of Love is a very unique ride that leaves from Tuscaloosa, AL and travels to the Camp Smile-A-Mile campsite, which is located on the shores of Lake Martin in Alexander City, AL. It is approximately 150 miles and will likely take around 9 hours to complete. When we arrive at Camp Smile-A-Mile, we will be welcomed by the screams and cheers of children and their families. For those of you unfamiliar with Camp Smile-A-Mile, here is a little history from the website about the kids and families that will be cheering us on...

"Camp Smile-A-Mile (SAM) first began in 1985 with the mission to provide challenging, unforgettable recreational and educational experiences for young cancer patients across Alabama at no cost to their families. Camp Smile-A-Mile gives kids with cancer a place to go for camp. A place for them to forget about cancer and just have fun being a kid. A place where they can be themselves….get treatment, go without prosthetic limbs and hair, and simply be around others who are just like them. Camp Smile-A-Mile provides these children and their families with hope and love. More than 500 children/year and their families participate in Camp Smile-A-Mile programs/activities.Camp Smile-A-Mile is the only program statewide that offers year round programs and helps the entire family deal with the diagnosis of a child with cancer. Eight different camp sessions are offered during the summer but they don’t stop there—there is a program offered each month for campers and their families all throughout the year. To date, close to 400 cyclists have participated in the Ride of Love, raising over $500,000 for Camp Smile-A-Mile. Each cyclist is asked to raise a minimum of $250 to participate in the ROL (this is the cost for Camp SAM to send one child to week long camp). The Ride of Love has helped to send over 2,000 children to Camp Smile-A-Mile."

Personally, I can't think of a better reason to ride a bike. If you are interested in sponsoring me, you can donate to the Ride of Love online by clicking on the link below. Please remember to add your donation amount to the the Ride of Love category and note "Sponsoring rider Brent Freeman" under the comments section. Otherwise, I will be collecting personal checks made out to Camp Smile-A-Mile. For any out-of-towners, you can mail a check to me at 2107 Fairmont Dr., Tuscaloosa, AL 35405. For those that donate, you will receive a receipt from Camp Smile-A-Mile for tax purposes.

Any donation amount is greatly appreciated! If you are unable to donate, please say a prayer for the safety of the riders on May 16th. Hopefully, with your donations and prayers, we can make some of the dreams of these children come true!!!!

Donations:http://www.campsam.org/donations.asp

More information about Camp Smile-A-Mile:http://www.campsam.org/

On hold for now.....

I feel like my entire life is on hold right now. I just can't seems to shake whatever this is....a cold, virus, sinus infection, allergies, I'm not sure. I am going on 4 weeks now! Four weeks! I actually felt much better last week/weekend (Easter), so I almost cancelled my Dr. appt I had scheduled for this past Monday. But it started up again Tuesday and is still going strong today. I have taken more medicine these past few weeks than I have in my entire life. It just keeps hanging on. Mentally I feel fine and I really want to do things -- I even worked a double in the ICU on Wednesday -- but after a few minutes of anything that requires movement I am wiped out. So there go my plans for the weekend -- I really wanted to start on my garden but it doesn't look like it is going to happen. I also had some new recipes to try (I am on a cooking/baking kick lately) but Brent is such a germophobe and doesn't want me around food.

We also haven't been able to try out the new mountain bikes we got this week, except in the backyard for just a few minutes. But I am ready to get out there. Brent and I decided to order mountain bikes after we went skiing in Breckenridge this past winter. We had such a great time doing an activity together and started brainstorming about something we could do together as a way to spend time and have fun with each other. We used to run and participate in races together but we both had some injuries, so he started getting very serious about road biking, which I am not crazy about. Plus, there are so many parks and trails in this area that are perfect for biking. Anyway, here is my new bike, which is beautiful:
http://www.trekbikes.com/women/wsd_products/bikes/mountain/4500wsd/

Pictures of April

Magnolia flowers getting ready to bloom.

Oscar the pug.

Mr. Tucker's red roses...much prettier in real life.

A neighbor's walkway. So pretty with the dogwood petals on the stairs.


The neighborhood lake. I like the sky and the reflection on the water.

Pretty pink rose

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

I heard a different arrangement of this old hymn in church several months ago and it was like hearing the song for the first time. I am so taken by the words of this hymn, one that I have sang probably hundreds of times in my life. How did I not notice them before? Perhaps my favorite hymn, not just for Easter, but for every day. Written by Isaac Watts in 1707, Charles Wesley reportedly said that he would have given all of his other hymns to have written this one:

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Easter 2009

Today was our very first very own Easter. We opted to stay in Tuscaloosa this year instead of making the drive home to visit with Tennessee family. We certainly missed them, but had a nice, quiet holiday here, just the two of us. My first Easter dinner -- what a lot of work! I have a newfound appreciation for my mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother, who pull off meals twice this size without falling into the recliner afterward.

The menu included:
Ham (courtesy of Heavenly Ham)
Cornbread dressing (also courtesy of Heavenly Ham)
Green beans (from Thelma's summer garden last year)
Roasted red potatoes and asparagus (allrecipes.com)
Yeast rolls
Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing (allrecipes.com)
Strawberry trifle (my own personal, improvised creation)

I used Mammaw Anderson's china, a wedding gift that has been waiting in the china cabinet for a day such as today. We were honored to have our neighbor and friend, Mr. Kelley Tucker, as a guest for dinner. We talked about his different projects, grandchildren, Easters past, and his sweet wife Rosemary, who he lost last year.

More Spring 2009

Milly la-la, our rescue, in the old tree in the backyard.



Front yard



Climbing a tree



Waiting........



I can't get over the azaleas. They are so beautiful!







Sun going down



Afternoon sunlight