Publix and Piggly Wiggly

What an exciting adventure this past week.  I traveled with friends to Hilton Head Island, SC to spend a few days enjoying some R&R in a wonderful resort.  As always when we arrive at a condo, we make a grocery store run.  You always need to some wine, coffee, diet coke, cheese, crackers, fruit and breakfast foods.  So naturally you get on your iPhone and locate the nearest grocery store. 

What a surprise when I discovered that there was an actual Piggly Wiggly and a Publix nearby.  Publix is a great market - clean, upscale and wonderful selection of cheeses, wines, fruit and coffee.  My first experience with a Publix was last year when we traveled to Florida.  Publix must be our Texas version of HEB.  It is sad when you look forward to a great grocery store.

However, to my great surprise was that there was a Piggly Wiggly on the island.  It has been in the same family since 1969.  There was a Piggly Wiggly in my hometown growing up.  I loved going to Hiram's store.  He (and later his son David) had a wonderful grocery store.  Steve was the butcher and always selected the best cuts of meat.  They always carried your bags (paper of course) to your car no matter how many or how few groceries you had.  And there was a always the pig you could ride in the front of the store.  Mr. Hiram was generous too.  He gave away turkeys at Thanksgiving. 

This was a great trip down memory lane.  We are so spoiled to fantastic supermarkets that we forget how important personal service is in the retail business.  I'm glad I grew up in a town where there was a Piggly Wiggly!

Help

Most of the time I am pretty free with giving advice and tips. But one of the things I learned many moons ago is that you are never too old to learn anything new.  So I pose the question to those who read my blog and eagerly await your responses.

What I want to know and learn is about tips and tricks for organizing and decluttering my kitchen.  I have cleaned it out, downsized, moved things around and trashed old stuff and appliances I never use.  I have made a point of not buying too many "pantry items" or perishable goods so that I don't waste food.  Although my kitchen is where I feel the most at home and so very comfortable, I still feel like it is cluttered.

So, help me out.......give me some tricks, tips and hints to make my space more user friendly and less congested.

Relaxing

I decided Sunday afternoon was a great day to lounge by the pool.  I love sitting out and looking at the plants. I love my palm trees and banana plants as it just makes the backyard look tropical.  I so enjoy listening to the waterfall and seeing all the birds I regularly feed.   It has taken me a while to learn that some of life's best moments are in the still and quiet of your own backyard.

The Kentucky Derby

Every year I look forward to the Kentucky Derby.  I am not really a horse racing fan but after having been to the Derby once time, I love the history and traditions of the race.  I love the hats, the singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" and of course, the mint juleps.

In 2008 we attended the Derby with two special couples, Doc and Patty & Hoyt and Bev.  It was a great trip.  We have so many wonderful memories from that trip.   I hope I can attend again just one more time in my life.  The following year, I hosted a Kentucky Derby Party.  The array of hats was just divine.  Janice won best hat.  I think it may be time next year to revisit Louisville during the race weekend.  Let me know if you plan to join us !!!!!

Fresh Flowers

There is nothing quite like getting fresh cut flowers.  Most women would never admit but they love to have a bouquet of fresh flowers in their kitchen.  I have always admired friends who could do grow flowers and make arrangements from their own gardens.   I have never had a green thumb at all. 

Since I moved behind the gates, I have been inspired by my two neighbors Patty and Janice.  Janice always could take anything from the yard and arrange it into something wonderful.  Patty could grow anything.  She has the greenest thumb of anyone I know.  I aspire to learn to love to dig in the dirt like she does.  I'm not there but I'm learning.

Over the past three years, I have been planting a little here and there.  Lulane recently gave me some gardening gloves as a little sussy - so I have put them to use today.  I repotted two plants that were root bound that I had not killed last winter.  One was a plant called Texas blue belles that I grew from seeds.  They are beautiful annuals that can withstand our Texas heat.  The other was a big ole fern that my son Jake gave me for Mother's Day before he left for Alaska last year.  

As I was finishing up, I decided to snip some magnolia blooms and hydrangeas to put on my kitchen windowsill.  They are beautiful.  They remind me that you can do anything you set your mind to doing - even gardening.  I have real fresh flowers that I grew in my yard in my house for the first time ever.  I only wish my Grannie Lester were still here to see how beautiful my hydrangeas are!  I am sure she is looking down from the heavens smiling today!

I am heading back out to yard to clip some more fresh blooms to take to my friend, Patty, to remind her of her great influence on me as a gardener.