I’m Mecca Trueblood, an empty nester. I love to write and my husband, we’ll call him Fred, and I are at the beginning of our “later years”. We’ve raised our children and they’re independent adults. We’ve gotten to a ….comfortable spot. But we have a dream…a new LIFE VIGNETTE if you will. A place to draw a new “small, pleasing picture or view”.
A Vignette is what you call a decorative design or small illustration used on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter. That seemed like a sign…I love books and I feel like we’re at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. I hope you’ll join me for the journey.
The Family
Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him “The Marlboro Man” like Rea Drummond’s hubby of The Pioneer Woman fame or the old ad. He got the nickname Fred because years ago in a crowded room, if I called his name, he never heard me, but I could almost whisper, “Fred” and he’d immediately turn around & look at me…expectantly. It stuck….because it worked. Every time.
Wilma didn’t stick to me as well. He tried. It just didn’t stick.
Fred & I have been together 32 years. Go figure. Didn’t actually see that one coming. I’d planned to be The Best Aunt Alive. Single. Wildly successful. Then Fred’s sister introduced us one evening and I watched him bend down and throw rocks in the lake with his 3-year old son and I was gone. Plans changed. 30 years. Fast. Real fast!
Then there’s Gig…nope, not the Aggie kind, the giggle kind. I don’t know. It just happened. Gig is this beautiful, talented graphic designer married to “The Beau.” She’s fun and funny and we’ve decided to keep her….versus trade her in on something different. She’s my first born and my daughter. Strong and kind.
Boo is my son: all 6 foot 6 of him. Gentle, kind, maybe a little crazy. Boo tends bar. He has a way with people. Maybe it’s the six foot of him, or maybe it’s that he has this incredible ability to accept people and remain calm when chaos reins all around. He gives the best hugs ever!
They are who I’ll share with you in little moments of time…Vignettes of our life. There are more…but the Vignette isn’t set yet.
On the Foodies Page – Fred & I are Foodies. There – it’s spoken (well written) out loud – the first step to recovery, right? Except I have no intention of recovering. I LOVE good food.
When I married Fred, he was a steak and potatoes man….and that’s about all he ate. Well, there’s an old Jerry Clower story about a guy who told Clowers that his dog wouldn’t eat greens and then Jerry Clower says, “Mine wouldn’t either until he got hungry enough.” So, I might have used that on Fred…maybe. But the boy had to learn to eat other stuff!
In college, when I got stressed, I’d announce to my friends, “Dinner’s at my house tonight” and I’d go cook. Thankfully college students are generally poor and hungry, so they ate whatever I cooked.
Then Fred learned to cook (like I said…you get hungry enough….) and our life has never been the same!
So on the Foodies page, we’ll share some of the places we’ve found for great food and some of the recipes we’ve tried and loved. Bon Appetit!
The Chalk Boards
I got the idea to have an outdoor chalkboard – something I could change on whim or season. So, I “encouraged” Fred to make me one. We bought a piece of 4′ x 4′ plywood, gave it a few coats of chalkboard paint, framed it and mounted it on the fence.
I’ve had lots of fun creating, sometime mimicking designs from Pinterest. I can see it from the kitchen every morning and it makes me smile, makes those creative juices slosh around some.
Please visit the Chalk Boards