Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? We did pretty much nothing this week, just hung out. We had breakfast for supper one night, the hens are laying good. It was the last week of summer since school officially starts back next week. I watched the kittens play for a while, walked around the yard discovering spider webs everywhere & picked up a few sticks. Kevin got the mowing done & put up some more okra in the freezer. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & as I think back, I realize we actually did plenty. What does doing nothing look like around your place?

Daycare Kids gave me a surprise
 treasure, what could it be...
A granddaddy long legs???

Me in the afternoon sitting in the blazing hot sun
underneath an umbrella watching Grand cheer at
the football game. They had a canopy with fans
 to help them cool down from time to time.

Me wearing my new fall sweatshirt
 cause it was a crisp 55 degree morning.

Me letting Grands try on
masks at the dollar store.

Walking around in the yard.

The young Rose of Sharon bushes
are still blooming. There are several
white ones to. So pretty!

Iris & her kittens.

  

  

The okra is still putting out &
it's taller than me.

The little poinsettia is putting on
some new growth. Wondering if
 it survives till Christmas?

Rose wanting me to throw
her a stick to fetch.

There is 1 ornamental gourd growing.

The knockout roses are making
another round of blooms.

Spiders on the fridge made by Grands.

Another spider web at
the chicken house.

I changed out the seasonal decorations to fall.

Granny having a popsicle
during last week's End
of Summer Water Party.

I asked Grands what they wanted to do for their last week of summer before we start back to homeschooling. I heard one of them say "play bingo with prizes".  So that's what we did, played states bingo along with some very competitive games of Trouble & kick ball. There were root beer & coke floats with biscuits & Granny's freshly made grape jelly. Grands visited with Granny about how life was when she was growing up a little girl.  Some of their take-a-ways - They didn't have a car & her daddy rode a horse to the store. All their farm animals were their pets. She was across the street from Woolworth's historical lunch counter sit-in when it happened. She talked about seeing a commotion, riding the bus that day when the seats were no longer segregated, how it seemed different, being asked to sit in her seat, she said "sure" & had simple conversation. Granny said she didn't think anything much about the situation at the time being only about 16 years old herself. 

My turn.

Find out next week what this is going to be...

    

Grand yellow won.

  

My surprise was........

 A piece of play kitchen toast. It was
 pretend yum yummm good &
I ate it all up. 

   

Daycare Kids made a beautiful
sandbox flower garden.

Time to reset & organize in
anticipation for Grands
to come again. 

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? It's pumpkin everything season again here around our place. I made pumpkin muffins with the help of 2 of the littlest grandboys. There may have been more mix on the counter at one point than in the mixing bowl. The muffins turned out delicious anyway, maybe because of the almost full bag of chocolate chips we dumped in. I helped host the End of Summer Water Party for Grands & Daycare at Granny's house. She has the perfect backyard for such things. Grands went to the community Back-to-School Bash & got lots of school supplies. I've been watching some of that Lindsay Clancy trail this week & looking to watch the new season of Leanne that's coming out next week. Me & Kevin went on a good little trail ride & saw some fresh hog sign. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about something else we saw that I didn't know even existed.

Daughter, Me & Sister being superheroes
of our own stories. The End of Summer
Water Party theme was Superheroes &
 Dinosaurs. Roarrrrrrrrrrrr!

Did you know there was yellow jewelweed? I guess I thought there was just the orange like we have growing along the creek. I don't recall ever seeing any yellow. I've been calling them nasturtiums. I don't know where I got that from.

Fresh hog sign.

As far as we could go on
this road. There were lots
of downed trees, most had 
already been cut out of
the roads.

Jewelweed

Grands were so excited to show me all the stuff they got at the Back-to-School Bash.

Grands have pen pals from
Michigan & Arizona so far.
We've been learning lots of
fun facts about other states for
this summer's 250th year
 celebrations.

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? 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 house 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. 

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 just had kittens
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 being eager
to pick enough wild blackberries
 to make a cobbler. We picked 0
berries. They were very
small & not many ripe ones
so, no wild blackberry
cobbler or jelly or anything
this year.

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.