Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? Goldenrods & blackeyed Susans are blooming, that means it's officially fall by my standards. August is flying by, so I guess that means we've been having lots of fun. We went on a couple trail rides. I helped host Cousin Camp & assisted daughter more with daycare & at her home. Kevin has been putting up okra from out of the garden & he went back to work. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how many more kittens we got & how many wild blackberries we picked.

Son-in-Law has a nice spice
collection. I enjoy his 
grilling & taste tests.

When our kids grow up & become adults, things change that nobody really ever warned us about or talks about. We don't stop being Mom, we don't stop loving each other, we just stop being around each other. Everybody has jobs, their own lifestyle, their own home, their own schedules, their own responsibilities, their own people that need them. Time together becomes something we have to plan. We Moms may not be needed in the same ways we used to be, but there are still moments when we can step in, lend a hand & simply be there. Son-in-Law's Mother was hospitalized with serious ongoing heart problems. When something like that happens to the one's we love, everything else seems to take a back seat. While Daughter's Family focused on Mawmaw's care & recovery solutions, I was grateful to be able to help & assist Daughter with the little everyday things that needed to be done around her home - prepare meals, wash dishes, tidy up, fold laundry, take Grands to practice & help them with their pets, give the little one's baths, sub for daycare & simply just being there. I may have got on Daughter's nerves a time or 2 & that's all part of motherhood too, I know I couldn't take away the family's worry or the difficult circumstances, but I could lighten the load in small ways. Sometimes being Mom to adult children means showing up, rolling up our sleeves & doing whatever needs to be done with love & gratitude, giving them a little room to breathe. 

Walking tacos, meatballs & roasting
 hotdogs for supper.

Cousin Camp was a 5-generation celebration - a reminder of where we came from & the family we are now. Everything was about having a good time together laughing, playing & learning. We watched the movie The Mighty Macs on a big screen under the stars near the campfire. Sister provided unlimited popcorn.

Everyone ended up getting wet
either from the bouncy water slide
or from Sister's idea of "wouldn't it
 be fun to have squirt guns". 

Reminiscing around the campfire.
 "Remember this" & Sister's very scary
ghost stories that everyone looks
forward to. 

Most of the birdies ended up 
on top of the house. Most of
them were not hit up there 
by the kids.

Party time with July & August birthdays.

Happy 21st Birthday to Grand Austin &
 his wife Jessi. Happy 2nd Birthday to
Greatgrand Ash.

Greatgrand had a Mario 
birthday party at the pool.

Daughter made this adorable
Luigi & Mario fruit dish.

Our cat had 4 more kittens. I 
thought it was a bit too soon 
since she had just had some
back in April.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods these last few weeks, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.

Kevin took a bowl on one
of our trail rides to pick
wild blackberries to make
a cobbler. We picked 0
berries. They were very
small this year & not many
ripe ones.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? It's coming a nice gentle rain this morning. I've got the door & windows open. It's a very comfortable 69 degrees outside. I set my 4 house plants & the 2 amaryllis bulbs out so they could soak up some of nature's nourishment. I would like to have more house plants put I just don't have the room for them. Clothes are going in the washer & a grocery list needs to be made. I ate lots of birthday cake this week. We got okra & tomatoes from out of the garden. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & we'll talk about birthday cake & some other random things.

Me & Sister took Grands on a
hike to a waterfall last week. It
was interesting & loads of fun.

It's about a 1/2 mile to the falls.

We met quite a few other
hikers along the trail.

There were lots of little butterflies. We
saw minnows in the creek & a spider
web with a big spider on it.

An interesting gnarled tree. We saw
lots of millipedes & different colors
of mushrooms while walking.

The dollar store was putting out
fall stuff. I thought this corn was
cute but didn't know what I
would do with it. Any ideas?

    

 Fall is in the air.

  

I waited for a downpour to slack up to go
in the grocery store. It hailed some to. A
few others were waiting in their vehicle.
We all headed for the door at the
same time.

Elevation 4,784 at the highest
point in Georgia.

Friends Steve & Nancy from Iowa stopped by. They were traveling through from visiting the capitol in Washington DC. Kevin worked for Steve operating heavy equipment playing in the dirt building ponds & putting in drainage systems on farms & things like that when we lived in Iowa. We spent the day shopping around at a flea market, ate at Chic fil a & Taco Bell, stood on the highest point in Georgia, walked on the Appalachian Trail, took a jeep ride & explored the woods. It was very enjoyable talking & catching up.

Overlook on the side of the road.

Needoh, butter squishy &
zombies.

There were a couple snails to look
 at along with rocks, mushrooms &
millipedes.

Cake & ice cream with
Daycare Friends.

I celebrated the last year of being in my 50's with 3 birthday cakes, ice cream & a feast. Kevin brought home a blueberry pound cake & ice cream. I got a garden owl from Daughter & Grands. I got a basket filled with all kinds of goodies from Granny & Sister. Coincidentally, I forgot both gifts at their houses. At least I didn't forget that they had gave me the gifts. I thought about the owl on the way home. When I was unloading the car, the basket wasn't there.

Cake made by Sister for Homeschool Day.

Birthday feast made by Granny & Sister.

Grands mailed out their 1st
pen pal letters.

Me playing in the sand. The
mermaid liked to splash her
tail in the water.

Lake Day

The lake level is down this summer. It is usually
over our heads out at the rope. We've been able
 to walk out there & it's chest deep.

The plants enjoying the rain.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? We're in the dog days of summer. It's been so hot & humid. I worked on homeschool lesson plans & got Grands set up with pen pals. School starts back after Labor Day, so it's still a while yet. I had some thoughts, did some research, put things in my Amazon cart & typed stuff in the Docs folders. Kevin put up peppers & blackberries & worked on a job clearing for a house site. He cooked us some good burgers on the grill. The tommy toes have been coming in. I made a tator tot casserole that I make about once a year during this time. We ate on it for several days. I got the recipe out of a magazine years ago. Crab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll share the recipe with you.

Ray Steven's squirrel in the
church was at the lake. 

This one was made with ground wild hog
because that's what I had on hand & I didn't
have any bacon. It was so good. Be sure to
add plenty of cheese.

Chicken bacon ranch tator tot casserole.
(You can click on the picture & zoom in.)

Grands in the garden
picking blackberries.

  

We got one tiger lily bloom. 

I assisted Daughter with Summer Day Camp
 to an amusement park. This is inside the Wacky
Factory. It was mortifying with zombies,
a blaring train whistle & these wacky lights.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? The 4th was a joyful summer day. Daughter & Grands came over, Kevin got the pond going & I got some tattoos. We ate leftover hotdogs & watermelon for a few days. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & tell me how your summer is going.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? Happy 4th of July! It's my birthday month. The spider lily surprised us with blooms. Moma gave us the bulbs & couldn't remember which color they were. We did some yard work this week & made several trips to the dollar store. We needed new house numbers along with laundry detergent & dish soap. We went on a couple trail rides, did some walking & had picnics. The summer homeschool projects this week were making peanut butter cookies & dissecting owl pellets. I assisted Daycare on a field trip to the aquarium. The kids got so excited seeing the sharks. I'm still in vacation mode enjoying my souvenir coffee cup. After the 4th of July celebrations, I'll be ready to put up the fall decorations. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & we'll walk around & look at the daylilies, they have been so beautiful this summer, then we're going to have a hotdog roast, maybe eat a slice or 2 of watermelon, sit by the creek & watch Grands play in the water this weekend.

 

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been? Go out & have a wonderful weekend.