These are “cooking” pumpkins. They are lighter in color than the ones that are dark orange—the ones that we love to set outside our doors alongside big baskets of colorful mums. Fall is on the way to northeast Georgia. Today, it rained for the first times in weeks. Temperatures are much cooler, too, and change is on its way.

Have you ever wondered why gates are so perfect in Britain? Probably not but I have. The one above proves that they really are quite “perfect” in England. Of course, this one has golden edges, and it is located at Windsor Castle (where the Queen likes to kick back on the weekends). But that’s beside the point.

Even the ones in Britain that are old beyond imagination are often restored, refurbished, and reused. Not in America, we discard things like gates. We place them on the side of the road for garbage collection, and then drive to Home Depot or Lowe’s where we purchase new ones. Can you imagine see this one on the side of the road in Windsor waiting to be carted away to the recycling center or worse—the garbage dump? Never! It chills my soul to think about it.

I have a bird feeder located near the patio area. It’s also close to where I get in my car each morning. The little birds are less afraid than the larger birds that come into the yard. This little guy stopped eating long enough to let me grab his photo.

No reason to panic! Chipley loves soccer.

Cocoa Says: "Life Can Turn Funny, Too!"

I recently read something Atlanta author Celestine Sibley wrote that made me shake my head and smile. Well, actually it made me laugh. For years, Sibley was a beloved author and columnist for the Atlanta newspapers (The Journal and The Constitution). I almost never missed her articles because they were usually about the south and the way we lived years ago and the outrageous things we did.

Over the years, she interviewed many famous people and lots of “characters,” too. She was a little bit of one herself. I remember reading articles where she wrote about being “in trouble” with local libraries because of overdue books. Once, she was even threatened with jail time because she didn’t pay up. I doubt anyone would have actually followed through and arrested her.

She kept stacks of books beside her bed in her home that she named “Sweet Apple.” She said it was so she could easily pick one up and begin reading at any point during the night. To this end, I share her passion. I love to read before turning the light off in the evening. In fact, it is the best way to end any day.

In her book Turned Funny: A Memoir, Sibley explained a definition of a phrase also I grew up hearing. And since it is Friday, I thought you would enjoy it, too. She wrote, “Some time ago a reviewer, who gave a book of mine perhaps more attention than it merited, described a couple of my relatives as ‘eccentric.’ I was stunned. I wanted to look her up and shout childishly, ‘no such thing! My kinfolks aren’t what-you-said, ‘eccentric.’

“There’s a gentler, kinder, maybe more southern term I think more applicable. I first encountered it when I was bout four or five years old.” She goes on to tell how one day she met Miss Derby—a local woman who was evidently a real “character” herself and who often drew a great deal of attention in the small town were Sibley grew up.

After a particularly tense run-in with a group of local bullies, Sibley, who was only about five-years old at the time, ran home and asked her mother, “Is Miss Derby crazy?” She had heard the bullies shouting to Miss Derby that she was.

“No, honey,” replied her mother. “She’s not crazy, she’s just turned funny.”

I also remember when I was young my grandmother, who never uttered a bad word about anyone, would see a particular lady and say, “She’s a funny little woman.” I knew the lady she was talking about, and I remember thinking: “I can’t remember a ‘funny’ thing that lady has said.” It never hit me that the person had “turned funny.” I never asked my grandmother to explain or elaborate, but now I know what she meant. Some people, beloved people, can just “turn funny.” And really that’s all we need to know when it comes to some things in life—they just “turn funny.” That’s it!