" May Flowers "

As you know ~~~ April showers bring May flowers! We had lots of rain in April and the flowers are wonderful ......
This Rose is bowing from all it's blooms ~~~~~




This bed just takes my breath away!

I'm always amazed by the different colored roses a Joseph's Coat turns out !!

The Pond House Amaryllis are just beautiful ~~~~~

WOW !!

I forgot to show this in the last post, we had also planted a Pomegranate Tree

I think that may be fruit bursting out of this bloom ~~~~~~~~~~~

Max is on guard watching the girls free range ...................

Yesterday, my dear friend author Carolyn Haines, picked up her "Harper Lee Award" at a luncheon during "The Harper Lee Festival " in Monroeville, Alabama! This award recognizes Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Year ~~~~~~~~~

She also was presented a signed copy of " To Kill A Mockingbird " !!

OMG !! I would just be stepping high over that !!!!!!

That's OK Carolyn ~~~ You can live MY dream!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

" My Top Ten Favorite Reads "

Yesterday I got a e-mail from a lady in Mobile, Ala named Twila. She ask me if I would tell her my all time favorite top 10 books.......

For someone who has read thousands of books over the last half century,( I started reading at 7 years old) that is not an easy thing to do! So I walked around "the porch" and gazed at my hundreds of books. I was a hundred pages shy of finishing one of the best books I've ever read, so I'm really glad she didn't pose this question to me last week. I thought long and hard about it and unless my memory is in serious trouble and I've forgotten one, here goes Twila...............





1. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I was 22 when I read it the first time. I was 24 when I saw the movie and decided if I ever had a daughter she would be named Melanie after the sweet, compassionate and loving Melanie Hamilton Wilkes. I have read the book I believe 4 times!



2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Released in March 2009 this book has been on the NY Times best-seller list for 45 weeks and has for the last 3 weeks occupied the No.1 spot.



3. Heaven-high Hell-deep by Peggy Poe Stern. I just discovered this awesome NC author recently and bought five of her 17 books. This is the first book she wrote, I finished it yesterday and I'm 100 pages into the sequel, Above All.
THIS BOOK is awesome and should have been a number 1 best-seller years ago!



4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I have read this book 8 times and it just gets better!



5. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I first read this book in 1994. I have purchased 4 copies of this book over the years. I loaned out 2 that I never got back, which broke me from loaning my books. I currently have the 3rd and I ordered one for my daughter, it is her all time favorite book! This is a christian romance set in the California Gold Rush days based on the biblical story of when God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. This book is an unforgettable read for anyone!

6. Alex Stewart by John Rice Irwin. This is the non-fiction story of an incredible man. Alex Stewart lived on the Tennessee-Kentucky line in Appalachia in a county(Hawkins) that Irwin describes as 100 years behind times when he met him in the early 1970s. Irwin visited and tape recorded their conversations for 20 years.This book reads like a well written novel and you will cry when it ends and never forget Alex Stewart!

7. Christy by Catherine Marshall. Another book I've read several times. Set in Del Rio, Tennessee on the NC line, this is another unforgettable book about old Appalachia.

8. The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb. Set in Appalachia the story is based on the first woman hanged in the state of North Carolina! An awesome read!

9. The Truest Pleasure by Robert Morgan. Another Appalachian story of the hard fought survival of a mountain woman...........

10. Forty Acres and No Mule by Janice Holt Giles is the personal account of the authors move from the city to the Kentucky backwoods of the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1940s. It too reads like a wonderful novel! I have read this book more than once and love it more each time.

So, there is my top ten favorites. It would take me days to list all the books I consider 5 star reads and all the authors I think are amazing writers. We live in a time when great writers and great books are everywhere!! Just look at a portion of my TBR stack, everyday it seems I hear about another book that I want to add to it! My greatest fear is not living long enough to read ALL the books I WANT to read!

So lets see.... 9 out of 10 are Southern writers, 6 out of 10 are Appalachian Writers , 6 out of 10 are Appalachian Mountain settings. We may not have won the Civil War but the South is the winner hands down when it comes to the Literary War in this readers opinion! :0)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE and READ A GOOD BOOK !!!

" I SAT THERE AND BAWLED "

This post originally ran last March. Since Kathryn won this award yesterday for her wonderful book and because I have so many wonderful readers now that weren't following in March, I am re-posting my review of the best book I've read in YEARS!! Congratulations Kathryn Stockett!
It has been on the NY Times Bestseller list for 24 weeks and is still # 3. It has been the # 1 book on Indiebound for several weeks!


















I am reminded of a story told to me many years ago by my sweet neighbor Mr. Albert. As a boy, he had to walk nearly a half mile from the barn back to the house carrying two heavy pails of milk hanging from a pole across his shoulders. One day he had made it nearly to the back steps when he stumbled and fell, spilling all the milk. He said to me;
" my mother always said not to cry over spilled milk, but I sat there and bawled " !

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett ( Pub . Feb.2009 by Amy Einhorn/ Putnam ) 444 Pages

I finished reading " The Help" this morning around 2:00 A.M. When it was over, I sat there and bawled! All that time I spent with Abilene, Minny, Skeeter, May Mobley and Miss Celia had come to an end and I was just heartbroken! They became my friends, like family and now it was like a funeral, after 444 pages, they were gone. I will miss them!

I have been reading the works of Southern Authors for as long as I can remember.This book is the work of a True Southern Author and it is an Awesome Read ! Kathryn Stockett has truly captured the emotion both the good and bad of the 1960's Mississippi I grew up in!

I have never laughed , cried, been angered, ashamed or proud this much within the pages of "one book ", in my life and I have read hundreds of great books! I relived my days with Ruby, the black woman who worked for my family, through Abilene whose character is so much like my memories of Ruby. I heard through Abilene's voice talking to Mae Mobley, Ruby's voice telling me; "what a smart girl I was and how I was gonna grow up and be something real special". I cried because I lost the chance to let Ruby see what I became, just like Skeeter did with Constantine, the black woman who helped raise her.

Thank God the South has been trying to change for the past 40 years and I am reminded by this book that it really has. Though things are not and may never be completely , the way they should be here in my lifetime, I have faith that they will in my children and their children's.

I agree, Kathryn may just have her a book as special in its message as Harper Lee did with "To Kill A Mockingbird "! I will place my copy of "The Help" on the shelf with the ones I consider the Classics.

I predict great things for " The Help" and to whomever buys the movie rights, I hope they opt for a mini-series because two hours will never do justice to these 444 wonderful pages!

If you love to read, read this book! If you don't read it , you have as we say in Mississippi, " a grudge against your own self ".

Never Say Never..Destiny Will Make A Liar of You Everytime!

These two posts were originally published on January 11 and 12, 2009. Due to the interest shown in mine and Eric's story I'm republishing them today..............

How often have you said; "never again, I'll never do that" only to find yourself doing it?
I am guilty,guilty,guilty. Let's start with: "I will NEVER move back to Hattiesburg Mississippi,I will NEVER date again,I will NEVER,NEVER,NEVER get married again. I lied, I lied,I lied.
Oh, and let me add the minor ones like, I will never blog, comment on a blog, join a My Space or Facebook group. Liar,Liar,Truth,Liar. I NEVER did the My Space.

I don't know if it was fate,destiny(are those the same),coincidence or God but I really have been doing a lot of lying! I guess I should explain and ask forgiveness?
Here goes.........In December 1998 I moved to a six hundred acre farm in Middle Tennessee in a 150 year two story log house. A single woman, a tiny Peek-a-Poo dog named Sassy and a cat named Cloe. I had fallen into the Y2K trap and I was getting prepared! Spring water, wood heat and plenty of garden room. As you know,Y2K never happened. However the surroundings were a life long dream and I loved it. The nest was now empty, I'd had my fill of dating(here's where the never starts) I had my own little business, life was good. I could write, read, cook or not cook,
make my own hours for work and not have to please anyone. Things went smooth for awhile.
Then my sweet Mother died in Feb 2001............I was lost. I don't care how old you are, losing your Mother makes you feel orphaned. I was still reeling from that when 9/11 happened.
America was not the only one who got attacked that day! I was on my way into Nashville, stopped dead still at a red light, wearing my seat belt, obeying all the laws when BOOM, the van in front of me put it in reverse, gave it the gas and backed over me! I remember thinking, this fool did not just back over me! I had an immediate, excruciating headache. I could not get out the driver's side so I crawled out the passenger side. Before all of this was over, I had three bulging discs, a sprained foot, a broke foot. I muddled through all of this, got well enough to continue my business on a limited basis and kept chugging along. Then in 2002 my childhood friend and bestselling author(She's like Harper Lee..in seclusion) told me I should move back to Mississippi and write a book. Thus the seed was planted for lie number two! However I skirted this one by saying;"not Hattiesburg". Liar, Liar, pants on fire! My plan was to move to Bay St. Louis on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where I knew not a soul. Hey, I'm friendly, I could make friends fast.
Then word got out to my other Hattiesburg friends and things went haywire! " You need to move back to the burg where you have friends, visit Bay St. Louis for awhile, make friends there and then you can relocate. Okay........sounds reasonable. So I bought it! Packed it up and moved back to Hattiesburg, Mississippi! Some friends came all the way to Nashville to help!
March 2003.........Life in Hattiesburg begins! Still not dating..........it's been 4 years and 10 months!
Fast forward six months...................December 2003. Let me inject that I had a few days prior told a friend;" if God wants me to have someone he will arrange it" to which she replied; He is not gonna send them to your door!
A knock at the door!! Excuse me, God can do whatever he pleases! I open the door and on the other side was my very first love! Grinning like he'd just won the lottery! My first words were;
" Oh MY GOD !! Scroll down for the REST of The Story

" Up Close: Harper Lee" by Kerry Madden

In March 2009, the newest addition to Vikings
Up Close young adult series was released:

Harper Lee by Kerry Madden
Hardcover 223 pages
ISBN 978-0-670-01095-0


I really enjoyed this book because I am a Harper Lee
fan and because it was extremely interesting and well written!
I did not feel I was reading a children's book.It was well researched
and as we all know without input by Ms. Lee.
Kerry reports that Miss Nelle said in a note to her;

" I may be old, but I'm not dead yet and biographies are for the dead"

We all hope she lives many more years and she will have written her
memoir for us to read! I would consider it as much of a blessing as I do
" To Kill A Mockingbird"

The quote I have under Ms. Lee's picture on my sidebar came from my
friend Kerry's book...................
If you are a Harper Lee fan, you will really enjoy this book!
Thank you Kerry for your hard work in bringing this book to print!

Kerry is also the author of a wonderful children's series about the Weem's

Family, set in the Appalachian town of Maggie Valley. I have ordered all three for my

granddaughter Taylor's birthday, she will be 11 on July 1st.

In other news.... two of my author friends are attending the Harper Lee festival in Monroeville

this weekend, Carolyn Haines and Terri DuLong, Author Rick Bragg will be presented with the 2009 Harper Lee Literary Award! Girls I am insanely jealous but still hope you girls have a great time!!

" Happy Birthday Nelle Harper Lee" The Literary Queen

Born April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee who had no idea that the child they named Nelle
Harper Lee would grow up to be the Queen of the Literary World! Her 1960 book
" To Kill A Mockingbird" is perhaps the most widely read book of the 20th Century, it has been required reading in many high schools since the mid 1960s.


She has won many awards for this one book including, The Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and she was presented in 2007 with The Presidential Medal of Freedom Award for her contribution to the culture of the United States. She and this book are beloved by millions!


I read the book the first time at 12 years old. I read it again in 11th grade. I think all total I have read it 8 times.


I once owned a first addition, which I dreamed of getting signed and handing down through the generations of daughters in my family, it burned in my home in 1986. I dream of meeting Nelle so I can tell her how her book made me love the written word so much.



We all know how much she values her privacy, so I doubt that I will ever realize that dream. I would be scared to mention the book anyway but I'm a real positive person and I believe in miracles too, so I will hold to the dream! Those of you who read my post It's Now Or Never March 3rd, know how I feel about this.



So I ask you to join with me today in wishing our beloved author Nelle Harper Lee a wonderful 83rd Birthday and hopes for many more !! We love you NELLE !

" It's Now Or Never ".........

You're here, I tell myself. Question is; is she here? I've spent five hours driving, a sleepless night in a less than comfortable motel room practicing what to say if she opens the door, and now that I'm here,
the fear holds me tight to the car seat. I've dreamed of this moment for years, come all this way and now I'm frozen both physically and mentally. My Lord, she can't eat me, or at least I don't think she can ! I look at the house bathed in the early morning shadows of the two huge live oak trees towering above it. So mysterious I think, just like her. Tomorrows her birthday, is she turning 82 or is it 83? Suddenly I can't remember. I have the card I bought for her along with a nice box of personalized notes I had printed with her name in gold embossed calligraphy lettering, I hope she sends notes instead of e-mailing. Maybe she won't even open them, from what I've read about her you can never tell. Oh Lord, It's now or never, I can't just sit here staring at the house all day, she may call the Police and complain of a stalker in front of her house. Wouldn't that be a hoot, hauled to jail for trying to give your hero a birthday gift? Alright, here goes nothing!

I slowly open the ornate black iron gate to the fence surrounding the yard. Even though it's seventy degrees, the iron is cold as ice. I slowly walk the cobblestone path leading to the porch steps. Carefully I ascend each step, as though it is a gang plank to my demise. Suddenly, like a lightning strike from out of nowhere the door jerks open and there she is! I go stiff and my breath gets caught midway between my lungs and throat, stifling the scream I know is there!

I stare at her as if she were her own ghost! She smiles at me and says in a sweet southern drawl: " Good mor'n child, I'm Nelle Harper Lee, won't you come on in and join me for some breakfast"?

It was then that I awoke and said oh No! To which Hubby asks; what's wrong? I just had a dream I met Harper Lee and I woke up too soon, I say!

copyright(2009) Carol Murdock

The Interview

http://www.hyggedigter.blogspot.com/

My friend Kat at Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes was recently
interviewed by Willow of Willow Manor and we learned some interesting things about her.
Kat in turn expressed a desire to interview me..I accepted! She sent me these questions and
after careful thought...here are my answers. If you in turn would like to be interviewed by me,
please leave a comment at the end and I will send you 5 questions of my choosing.

1. Kat.........You have indicated a real affinity for the South and Southern Authors. How has this affected your own wonderful writing?

Carol.........I am truly partial to both the South and Southern Authors. Mississippi alone has produced some truly awesome Authors. William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Shelby Foote, Larry Brown, Carolyn Haines, Melinda Haynes, Patrick Smith,Willie Morris and let's not forget John Grisham and my very favorite, Greg Iles. The South with it's laid back lifestyle, traditions that are both wonderful and in some cases atrocious and it's hard fought ability to let go and move forward provide a wealth of material for it's present day writers. My writing is greatly affected by having grown up in a time and place that was a hotbed of the Civil Rights Movement, a place whose identity was destroyed by losing the Civil War, which in my opinion only furthered the racism.I think sometimes that I and other southern writers feel the need to "right the wrongs" and it shows up in our writing. I always been told that to be a successful writer, you MUST write what you know.........I know the South.

2. Kat..........If you could invite anyone to dinner( alive or dead) who would it be and why?

Carol.........It would be Jesus without a doubt! Why? I would like nothing better than to get his opinion on several matters of interest to me? An interview of Jesus would be awesome! I'd ask questions such as; How do you think your message of love, forgiveness and compassion got so messed up by organized religion? Why is it so hard for humans to look past a persons skin color and see the person? What really does happen when our body dies...is our spirit really gone or are we still around our loved ones in a "ghost"form? If I could have a dinner party? My guest list would include along with Jesus, Mother Theresa, Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell, Abe Lincoln, Dolly Parton, Oprah, Maya Angelou, Steve McNair( Former Titans QB) and all my blogger friends. Wouldn't we have a good time?

3. Kat............Your profile says your an NFL Fan. Have you ever been to a game? What in your opinion is the best game you've ever seen? (live or on TV)

Carol...............When the Houston Oilers became the Tennessee Titans in 1998 and moved to Nashville, I attended the first game in the new stadium. It was a pre -season game against the Atlanta Falcons. Tennessee won the game. I had never experienced such an electric atmosphere, I was hooked! I thought watching #9 Steve "AIR" McNair play the QB position was the greatest thing since indoor plumbing! A football freak was born! I lived and breathed Titans football! Now that has to be my best live game! I have been many times since but that was the best! On TV......it has to be SuperBowl 2000 when Tennessee came from behind to lose it by " 1" yard !! ONE stinking yard! I had to go to bed afterward !! However all was forgiven in September when I received a signed official Titans football for my birthday from my man, Steve McNair. I also attended his MVP party in Nashville along with Brett Favre and Allen Jackson! Be still my heart!

4. Kat.................... What is your favorite all-time film and why?"

Carol...............Gone With The Wind". Because I am Margaret Mitchell reincarnated? I wish! I really don't know why. It just makes me wish I had lived in that era and been a real Southern Belle! I loved Melanie Wilkes so much I named my only daughter that in hopes she would be just like her. She is defiantly Scarlett but my heart anyway!

5. Kat.................What is your fondest memory of your Mother?

Carol......After we moved to Nashville we returned to Mississippi every Christmas. Either my mother or my Mother-in-law would go home with us for a couple of weeks. One year my Mother went. It snowed about seven inches. Mom and my two sons Todd and Marty(7 and 3 at the time) went outside for a snowball fight. My Mom made a huge snowball and hurled it at Todd, striking his chest, knocking him down! He jumped up and said; Dang Grammaw.....I didn't know you played baseball!

And so.................the interview ends. Thank you Kat for this opportunity, I enjoyed it !

If you would like for me to interview you, leave a comment and I'll fire you off some questions!

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

I started this blog in December just about the time things got crazy around here.

I have gotten several e-mails asking if I planned to blog again? I answered yes,
when things go back to normal.We had a wonderful Holiday Season, lots of parties, food and visits with friends then went to Tennessee to celebrate with the children and grandchildren! Came back and the NFL Playoffs began! This year my Tennessee Titans have the best record in the NFL and hopefully will make it tthe SuperBowl!

Reading...........my favorite thing in the world! I have managed to read two books in the past seven days.

The first was.........' My Old True Love' by Sheila Kay Adams.(Hardcover 289 p)
Shiela is a North Carolina writer. As you know, I am very parcial to NC writers or I should say Appalachian writers in general. I LOVED THIS BOOK !
What a wonderful storyteller Sheila is. She takes you back in time through the gentle voice of Arty Norton. Arty is a mountain woman born in a era and place
where heartbreak and joy change places as fast as people in an old fashioned cake walk.
If you love an Appalachian setting, down to earth mountain people, the Civil War and a good love story told by a master storyteller...........this is the read for you!

Second.........Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee (Hardcover 285 pages)
By Charles J. Sheilds.

Nelle Harper Lee the Author of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', is perhaps one of the most fascinating people of the 20th century. Why? Because after writing her Pulitzer Prize winning debut novel she practically disappeared from the scene. Most people think she died years ago when in fact she is still alive and well in Monroeville,Alabama.She was born April 28, 1926, making her 82 at present.
She lives a quiet,reclusive life and refuses to discuss anything to do with the "book" or writing.

I have always been fascinated by both Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell because these two women wrote what is considered to be the greatest novels
of the20th century and never wrote another published book.Years ago I read
'Tara Road' the biography of Margaret Mitchell and learned that she had expressed often that she wished she had never let 'Gone With The Wind' be
be published, 'It ruined my life' she said.

After reading 'Mockingbird', I learned that though she never expressed the same exact sentiment, Harper Lee may have felt the same about her book. When questioned as to 'Why' she never wrote another book,she would say;
"I said what I had to say in the first one".She also expressed to a close friend,
"when you start at the top,there is nowhere to go". Since this applies to both of these women's first and only books, I believe it answers the question of 'Why' in both cases.

"Mockingbird" is a well written and wonderful glance into the world of Harper Lee. Charles Shields has done an excellent job considering that his research
was hindered greatly by those close to Miss Lee in an attempt to keep her private life just that!