Alice's Saturday Night Surprise

This evening, the girls surprised Alice (and her son-in-law, Rick) with yummy Wendy's Frosties, which were the perfect way to cool down after a hot summer day. The girls forgot the camera, but everyone sat in the living room and caught up after a busy day.

Alice and Shorti did some serious shopping today. Dillard's is closing their Columbia Place location, so they went and checked it out. The closing was just announced and won't happen until November, so there were no "down and dirty" sales yet. Both Alice and Shorti have their eyes on a few things and will watch them as the sales start and progress.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Alice's nephew, Joey, and his friend Ray will be coming to visit her in Columbia, and then the Elliott's will be coming over for dinner to celebrate Shorti and Rick's 44th wedding anniversary, which is September 4.

We promise pictures of tomorrow's events, as well as updates on a few projects Alice has been working on...

Alice Hasn't Gone AWOL

Alice is still plenty busy in Columbia, but the Baldauf Sisters have taken a short Blog break! Keeping up with Alice is wearing them out!

Stay tuned for lots for more photos and stories in the next couple of days!

Alice Celebrates Mary's Birthday

Mary Elliott's birthday, that is! The Elliotts are longtime friends of the Baldauf family, and by proxy, now friends of Alice! Alice actually knew the Elliotts long before she moved to Columbia, now she just sees them more.

As usual, the girls were the first to arrive. Here is Alice with her only red-headed granddaughter, Beth.

Then Mary's mother, Frances, came. She knows a lot of people from the Sanford, NC area - some of the same people Alice knows! Here, Alice is sharing a print out of the Blog with Frances, who just this evening learned what a Blog is, and now she is on one!

Alice also shared some pictures from home with Frances.

The first Elliott to arrive was Will, who came in with a "mama" cicadia - that's it on his shoulder. That was a huge hit with Alice, but somehow, we couldn't get her picture with the dead mama cicadia.

After pizza for dinner, everyone celebrated Mary's birthday with a cake. Alice had the big job not of baking it, but thawing it out! It was a Sam's cake, but it was yummy and pretty, too.

While Mary blew out the candle, Alice sneaked some icing.

The Elliott's have three kids: Will, Frances Anne and John Douglas. You've seen Will and Frances Anne from movie pictures, but this is John Douglas, Alice's Braves buddy.

Whose birthday is next???

Alice Has Dinner with Friends and Family

One of the girls' oldest friends, Kayren, was in Columbia Sunday and Monday, and Shorti and Alice prepared a Monday night meal to beat all others in Kayren's honor.

The menu: roast beef and gravy, carrots, lima beans, sweet potato fries, applesauce and Alice's yummy fresh pink-eyed beans (which really look and taste like black-eyed peas when cooked.)

Here's what I just found out about pink-eyed beans: "Pink eye peas have a less dark ring than black eyes." Now you know.

Anyway, Alice gave Kayren her new address card so she could continue sending her Christmas cards.

We all had a really good time and laughed quite a bit! In the picture, l-r, Shorti, Alice, Kayren.

Alice aka Madame Blueberry

The girls are now calling Alice "Madame Blueberry," after a Veggie Tales character. They're actually calling her that because the blueberries Bobby and Debbie brought from her house are sweet, blue and plentiful! Beautiful berries! Even more beautiful on cereal!

The Great-Grandcats

Did you know that Alice has great-grandcats? You probably know about the dogs, but the cats don't get much face time!

Pikachu is a beautiful, but mischievious boy cat. He was born under a church near the law school, but looks like a purebred Russian Blue cat, which we know he isn't. Pikachu likes to sleep with Alice's granddaughter Beth, eat paper, chew holes in cotton clothing and bully Dutchess. He also likes to pretend he is a dog by eating dog food and sleeping in the dog beds.

Dutchess is a regal, longhaired cat who was abandoned in an apartment complex before being rescued by the girls. She sleeps on the day bed in the basement when the dogs are in, but as soon as they leave, she claims her space in the living room. The girls also call Dutchess Scarlett, after Scarlett O'Hara, as she looks like she's wearing a hoop skirt. (That's a nice way of saying that Dutchess is a well-endowed cat.) Dutchess is very vocal and makes a wide variety of sounds.

Luckily for Alice, who is allergic to cats, they both like to sleep in the window. That way, she can see them without having to get too close.

Alice's Saturday

Alice had a fun visit on Saturday morning. Bobby and Debbie, who bought her house in Vass, came to see her.

Bobbie and Debbie brought some pictures of the house. They have made some changes to the house:

• The kitchen is now dark blue, and the cabinets have been painted white.
• Debbie and Bobby moved the light from the living room into the kitchen/dining room and added a ceiling fan to the living room.
• They painted the blue bathroom mauve, but they're still using Alice's shower curtain.
• They're painted every room in the house.

They brought Alice some apples and blueberries from her yard, and also had some very exciting news. About four years ago, Alice planted a peach pit from a Mac's Pride peach in the yard. The tree grew, but never bore fruit. But this year, it was full of peaches! Bobby and Debbie left Alice a picture of the peach tree - full of peaches - and we hope to scan it and add it to the Blog in the next day or so.

Bobby and Debbie came very early, so Alice had to miss her usual Saturday Starbucks visit. Everyone missed her, and she promises to be back next weekend.

E-Mail from Bob

Alice and the girls received the following e-mail from Bob, who invited us to McBee. We bought him a Starbucks giftcard and tucked it in to a thank you note in a big yellow envelope, which Mary Pat put on his car, parked outside of Stabrucks, on Monday morning.

Thanks. When Taylor came in and said I had a yellow ticket on my car, my heart sank. Happily I weathered the plunge and soon rebounded with joy. You were all great travel companions and I hope further gustatory adventures lurk on roads we do not travel everyday. It is I who is thankful – for good friends who share my enthusiasm for people and food.

Best Alice Tip

Hi-ho from the Baldauf Girls tonight! We wanted to share one of the best tips Gramma Alice never told us until this week. We can facilitate the peeling of a peach by dipping it in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Then the peel literally peels off. INCREDIBLE. How is she just getting around to telling us this?

We didn't do the church thing on Sunday; WE were too tired after the trip to McBee. I think Gramma was still raring to go, but we needed to sleep late.

Gramma has a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, but otherwise we are encouraging her to stay in. Tomorrow will be a near record high in Columbia - we should ALL stay in!

Alice's Road Trip

Today, Alice and her granddaughters joined Bob from Starbucks and his friend, Vivian, on a road trip to McBee.

The group left from Starbucks around 10:30 a.m. Mary Pat thought they were leaving at 10 a.m., so the three almost left, thinking Bob stood them up. Bob arrived just in time and the group was off on their adventure.

On 1-20 outside of Camden, there was a blimb! We didn't get close enough to see where it was from, and we couldn't figure out where it was going. But it was cool.

When we arrived at McBee, we first went to the Mac's Pride "shed," where Alice said the peaches were cheaper.

Alice checked the prices and the goods, and we were off the McLeod "compound."

Since we arrived around noon, we headed straight for Big's, the restaurant/meat market. Bob is writing a book on locally-owned restaurants in South Carolina, and this meal was "research."

Bob got a plate of their homemade salads: broccoli, potato and grape. The grape salad was our favorite. It was a bowl of grapes drenched in a cream cheese-based dressing. It was almost like dessert. Alice got BBQ, MP chicken strips, Beth a hot dog and Vivian a big, fat burger. Ooooh, and they had the BEST peach lemonade.

Alice, Bob and Beth at Big's.

They had some "kids" games at Big's, including Wooly Willy. Bob had never seen a Wooly Willy, but we think it was a long lost brother.

Next, we were off to the market, which was surrounded by beautiful flowers.

Alice met an interesting man there, and he got a little fresh!

Alice checked out the peaches for everyone, and we all loaded up. Alice got peaches, squash, pink-eyed beans; the girls only got peaches.

When we came out, we were greeted by a big white van - look who was driving!

After we got over the shock of seeing a "driving" dog, we saw Bob waiting for us and loaded up! Good thing Bob has a big trunk!

On the way back, we stopped at this open-air market to see a beautiful scrap metal sculpture Mary Pat spotted on the way down. The large rooster was made from old signs, and had it not just been sold, Mary Pat would've had a hard time leaving it. After she heard how much it sold for - $185 - she decided that she ought to take a welding class!

We returned to Starbucks around 3:30 p.m., a little tired and a lot hot. We had a blast; the trip was a great day to spend a Saturday. Special thanks to Bob for not only the invite, but also the fabulous curb service!