How exciting it has been to have good friends come to visit us in Alabama. Willie works for that "other railroad" - Union Pacific - and teaches preschoolers during Sunday School at our former church, Willow Park FBC. Donna is a homemaker who loves antiques, pretty flowers, good books and her Lord!!
They arrived about lunchtime on Monday and while I was at work, Barron drove them to see a bit of Cullman, the older, beautiful homes, unfortunately Margos was closed, over to Seventh Street to meet Sandy, and then lunch. Monday night Barron outdid himself with a great meal: Honey Baked Ham (courtesy of Jonathan, my mother's day gift), fresh corn (thanks to corn fairies at Boyd Farm), fried squash and okra (from our garden), and sweet cantaloupe -- simply delicious!!
Tuesday I skipped work so we could spend the time checking out the local sites: Cullman Museum, Festhalle Farmer's Market, Downtown Grill for lunch, Ave Maria Grotto, Cripple Creek Civil War Museum. After a two hour rest back at the house, we drove over to Lake Guntersville State Park and then Top of the River for dinner, after which we fed the turtles and fish, and enjoyed the sunset on their dock.
Back to work for me on Wednesday, but the other three made it back to Margo's, Sportsman's Lake and Veterans Park, and a stop to pick up some groceries at Piggly Wiggly. Tried to download Willie's video onto my computer but no luck, but he did fix our DVD player so we could enjoy the Dennis Swanberg video they brought us. Another great meal by Chef Barron: grilled steaks, salad, baked potato, leftover fresh corn, sauteed mushrooms, grilled squash - yummy!!!
Phillip Garrison agreed to meet us at the Honey Barn for a quick tour of his beekeeping/honey making operation and beeswax candles store -- plus much info on the syrup making business as well. I think he has convinced Willie and Donna to come back in October to watch the syrup making process up close and personal. Since we missed church, we called and invited Roger and Vickie to come over after dinner to meet our guests and enjoy the famous "right out of the oven" orange rolls from All Steak restaurant. We enjoyed their visit, checking out the garden too. Willie just keeps finding hidden squash in there.
Sadly, our company had to leave this morning and I had to head to work. But we are sure looking forward to them coming back!!! We loaded them up with squash, corn, honey and candles. See all the pictures as a separate post.
