More Than Just Boards And Shutters

I was blessed to have a really sweet childhood. And the odds for that really were not in my favor. My parents were young and just newly married when I came along, money was tight, and mama had asthma while daddy had a bad case of the young-dumb-and-a-hot-head disease.

But for reasons beyond me and despite all the uncertainties,  I lived a very happy and peaceful life. And all of my memories of that time are all bound up in one single place.

 The house that built me. Miranda Lambert said it best but our little white two story farm house truly did help shape me into who I am today.

Small for today's standards, it sat nestled in the curve of a dirt road and until I was about 5, it was surrounded by woods on all sides. Sitting on some of Daddy's family land, mama said it was like living in the "Little House on The Prairie" books. White with black shutters and a black door with a brass knocker, the porch, which was converted from wood to brick when I was 7, welcomed you in and brought you to our tiny foyer. If you looked to your right, you saw the den where the TV and couches were along with a light wood coffee table. If you looked to the left, you saw the dinning room where our cherry dinning room table sat in front of the matching (well, in color anyways) china cabinet.

If you looked beyond this and to the left, you saw the kitchen which was dominated by a huge white counter in the center-complete with built in stove and bar stools. Due to originally being built as a shotgun house in the 20's, and remolded a bit to make it more modern, when you stood at the front door you were looking at a wall that had the kitchen on one side and a hallway on the other. In the hallway to the right, were the doors to mama and daddy's room as well as the closet that housed our washer and dryer. If you walked through the kitchen you found yourself in the backroom-which we called the library. Originally a screened in back porch, this room housed the back door as well as my favorite part-a huge picture window that looked out over the back yard.

Knitters Have Unhuman Like Support In Yarnbombing Fight: Interview With Rocky the Rebel Raccoon

In the middle of the great Dixie Knitters Vs. Conway City Council saga, the knitting grannies have gained the overwhelming support of a surprising  person...er...creature.

Rocky the Rebel Raccoon, has he calls himself has been making the rounds on Facebook. Encouraging  the grannies with words and pictures through the use of a local Conway man's personal account.

And he is causing quiet a stir. Council member William Goldfinch was seen as engaging in a what could be called a very "stimulating debate" with the head knitter  Barbara Streeter in the comment section underneath one of Rocky's posts that read,

"My fellow Conwayites, we must not let our right to knit be abridged by city government. Today it's yarn, tomorrow it's cats they will go after." 

 I inquired

BWH-You seem to have just "shown up" out of nowhere in the Dixie Knitters VS. Conway City Council debate-How did you become affiliated?

RRR: I was just minding my own business eating my dinner and reading the Horry Independent in my favorite trashc...er...restaurant when I came across the story. I'm not a member of the Dixie Knitters, just a fan of their left overs...Grannies can cook!

Did you know that Knitting is one of the great foundations of this country. Many people may not know this, but Betsy Ross actually KNITTED the first American flag due to a shortage of polyester in the colonies. We had plenty sheep but the British had confiscated all the polyester for those silly wigs.

Dear President Obama, Stay Away From Me. Signed, American Woman

For the longest time, I have stayed out of the realm of politics. I've had plenty of opinions, but for many reasons I have chosen to stay silent on the subject until now. I almost feel as if I am being forced to come out  due to all the hype surrounding American women and our vote in the coming election.

First off, let me say for the record that I think that the popular notion that President Obama is "For Women" is a lie.

President Obam is in fact exploiting women, using them as scandalous campaign fodder and preying on their emotions.

His campaign is making women appear as nothing more than over-sexed, uneducated, baby machines that are totally dependent on government handouts to function. It’s as if he wants them to stand up and demand of their bosses and their government to be 100% entitled to free stuff. Why? Just because they have a set of female reproductive organs.

Even the language on the Obama campaign website seems derogatory. It’s all about how "President Obama is fighting for women." How, "Women will decide this election—but only if we get involved and help bring our friends and family on board" (emphasis added) and “Because of President Obama, being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition.”

For "emancipated" and "independent" women, these words make us sound --shudder-the very thought--dependent.

The women for Obama website: Only two "really" important issues?

 Before you go and call me bias or –gasp-- uninformed, I have been on the Women for Obama site several times. I have read the articles and I hear what my friends are saying. But do you know what I see? I see articles, statistics, and conversations that are completely centered on birth control. Oh sure, there are other issues pertaining to women on the Obama checklist (although by the issues page at Women for Obama, there appears to be only two: Health Care and Equal Pay) but the red button topic is women's health care and more specifically, the birth control debate.

Black Water Honey is now on Pinterest!

I have officially become addicted to this site! It's just plain fun. To me it is the best social networking site ever because it takes out most of the garbage that floods most social sites (*cough, cough, Facebook, cough*) like essay length statuses, endless game requests, and even more endless duck face pictures.


It gives you just the good stuff. Like art, and intelligent thought, and recipes-finally, something I can use! I had no idea when I posted about this site awhile back that I would love it this much but judging by the almost two hour long session last night, I am pretty much hooked.



I love seeing what others find and pin-its the best part- so join me in my addiction (come over to the dark side we have cookies! haha)

 Click to follow Black Water Honey on Pinterest! 

I think the reason I am so in love with pinning is the sheer simplicity of it all. It's clutter free and

A Girls Best Friend...Is A Man?

Sounds wrong I know but I am a whole heart believer in this truth, and I will tel you why...

My upbringing wasn't the typical and besides my sister I never had any close female friends growing-up. Mama's kid brother was just 13 when I was born and he was more like my big brother than my uncle. His friends were always over at the house plus all the rest of my cousins (all male) pretty much surrounded me and my little sister with older (not necessarily mature at times)  maleness.

This trend continued as we got older and we consistently had more guy friends than girls. We just got along better with guys. Plain and simple.

We were very close to our little brother and guy world was one we fit into and understood. And they loved us! We cooked and baked, could bandage a wound (read: scratch,) listen to all their stories, and smelled nice.

Even now, I am the only woman in my office, and even though I have 3 very fabulous and awesome girl friends, I spend the majority of my time around men. Mostly my sweetheart but you get the picture.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively Marry At Historic Boone Hall, Hollywood Goes Wild

The new Mr and Mrs. Reynolds

The web was all abuzz today, and so was downtown Conway, over the news that actor and actress Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively said "I do" in a very private (read: secret) ceremony at historic Boone Hall plantation, which is round about 2 hours from here.

Even my lovely mother was in on the hype and called me at work to tell me about it, so I took a break from a rather pesky project to check out the news for myself. Mama had mentioned Yahoo! as having the story so I headed there first to find the article.

The first thing I noticed was that the writer saying Boone Hill, instead of Boone Hall but whatever. Responsible journalism is as much a relic these days as rotary dial phones. Skipping over this oversight to the rest of the story I have to say it all sounded-dear I say it-sweet.


And Hollywood isn't missing a beat on reporting all about the secret nuptials. I noticed that an updated Yahoo! article put the fact that Boone Hall was used as a filming location in the blockbuster film "The Notebook" in 2004, front and center-as if the site needed credibility to prove it good enough to hold such a star studded event.

Oh Have Mercy! Black Water Honey is Turning 1!

Who needs cake? Birthday Lemon squares are all the rage ;) 

I realized a couple days ago that today marks one year since I started Black Water Honey and risking sounding like a total cliché-what a year it has been!  I never dreamed way back then what this would turn into.

What started as just a place to be able to say what I wanted, became into something I am really proud of. (Even with my horrible spelling, Mama tried, Lord how she tried :))  

And while I’ve gotten plenty of room to say what I felt on so many issues,  I’ve also been wonderfully  blessed to learn about so many interesting and neat things.

I’d like to thank the Conway Journal for publishing my articles and being so kind as to edit me so I sound like I have the sense the good Lord gave a fruit fly. I want to thank my family, especially my  little southern mother, I would not be who I am or be able to do what I do without them. 

Conway City Council Says No To Bombing Trees, Yes To Creativity

The Dixie Knitters  presented their "Dancing With Wool" yarn bombing art project proposal to a hesitant City council on Monday night.

  The Digitel.com and the Sun News first broke the story but I spoke directly with Ms. Barbara Streeter-the head knitter-in-crime, about the city's doubts and    verdicts for the project.



It seems that the city once again had "one complaint" from somebody vastly upset about the prospect of having the oak trees along the end of laurel street decorated with yarn bombing finery. Usual noise maker Jean Timbs was also very opposed to the yarn being on the trees.

Ready For Fall, Plus Halloween Sneak Peak....

According to my 7 year old wiz kid assistant for today, the first official day of fall isn't until Saturday, September 22. -She was that exact  too. What are they feeding these kids these days? Anyway, while that may be the exact date, my personal first day of fall is and will remain-September first.

 I have already started counting the leaves that have begun to fall of mama's sycamore tree out in the front yard, bought a Autumn hued lip stain at the drugstore and pulled out our fall kitchen decorations.




But nothing is as fall over kill as the fact that I just purchased the main parts of my Halloween costume online via Etsy.com today. Below is a picture of the first part and the first person who can guess what it is gets a shout out...