Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 26th week of 2023?  We're halfway through the year, how can that be already?  I've been seeing advertisements that Christmas is 6 months away, Hallmark Channel advertised that their Christmas in July started this week & I've already started my Christmas shopping.  We had planned to go camping but the weather was calling for thunderstorms.  I didn't want our 1st outing in the tiny camper to be filled with rain & mud, also we were still waiting for the canopy to arrive.  We were wise to postpone.  There were thunderstorms in between bouts of beautiful sunshine & spring like temperatures.  We went to a yard sale in search of a yeti cooler that was advertised.  One was too big, one was too small.  We ended up getting a meat grinder at the yard sale to replace the one left behind in South Dakota that was sold in our yard sale.  Kevin's uncle Pete & some of his family stopped by to do a little chicken trading.  We enjoyed visiting while sitting out on the front porch, we talked about having a family get together with all the kids & grandkids at our place, maybe sometime in the fall.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & we'll talk a little about barn quilts, come walk with me...

*  Back years ago, we noticed designs popping up on barns, houses & buildings.  We discovered the designs were called barn quilts.  Kevin got a piece of metal & was going to paint us a barn quilt to go on the barn that we had at the time in Iowa.  He never got around to doing the painting & ended up using the metal to make doors on the side by side not too long ago.  The place we bought here in Georgia came with a barn quilt already hung on the side of the house.  I think it's a variation of the 8-pointed star pattern.  We are delighted with it.  I'm not sure if men get delighted about stuff so maybe it's just me that is delighted. We both like it for sure.

The town of Hayesville North Carolina that I work in, has barn quilts all over the place.  There is a barn quilt studio next door to the office.  A customer came in recently & asked what the designs on all the buildings were. The barn quilts, I had questioned back. Yes, that was them. 

Come to find out, there is a quilt trail project. It's a quilt block walking trail that is part of the town's Pedestrian Connectivity.  There is a map of the locations of the quilt blocks along with other arts & historical points of interest in the downtown area.  

I discovered 10 quilts along the street in front of my work office.  Each quilt block has a unique name, some names have changed thru the years.  Kevin's mother was a quilter & my mother is a quilter, so we are familiar with some of the different patterns.  I made several patch work quilts years ago using the tie knot for quilting.  I did a search to find out more about barn quilts & how they got started, Barn Quilts - the story.

Cross & Crown - This one is
on my office building, my walk
started here.

Tumbling Blocks

Lone Star

Triple Sunflower - The 1st quilt
block installed on this project.

Mariner's Compass

  

The blue one is an Ohio Star variation.  According to my research, the Ohio Star
 pattern was the very 1st barn quilt that started the quilt trail in Ohio.
The other one is Interlocking Square/Saw Tooth Star in a Square.

  

Log Cabin - at end of the street.

Patchwork

*  Here is a closer look at those that were a little farther away.  I wanted to give an idea of the different placements of the blocks.  I had fun taking pictures & looking up the names of the quilt block patterns.

                         

 

I wanted to sit a spell but my
lunch break was about over,
I had to head back to work.

The chickens are getting their
personalities & colors.  This
little beauty is a golden laced
wyandotte.

These are some of the things going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

No wonder this iris didn't bloom,
it's a gladiolus. 

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 25th week of 2023?  We went to a yard sale & got a bunch of good stuff for $10.  It was my Sunday to work so I was up at 3:30 am to get that task completed. We made lists, went shopping, ordered a canopy & packed stuff in the camper.  We moved rocks.  We roasted strawberries.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & we'll talk more, come walk with me...

*  Kevin got that tote of spray paint at the yard sale that included this polyurethan that we needed to finish the headboard/shoe rack/storage unit for the camper.  I got a cutting board that we needed for the camper, a retractable dog leash & a couple of frisbees that I put in the camper.  I got hangers we needed for our closet & I also got several DVDs.  Kevin got some other workshop type things, I don't remember what all.

The headboard/shoe rack/storage unit installed in the camper.  We needed pillowcases
for the pillows I got to go in the camper, so I ordered us Mickey & Mini mouse for
the fun & cuteness of it.  

Rose likes to be in on the action
when there is opportunity.

*  There were lots of rocks around the big ol camper that didn't need to be there anymore since the camper is gone.  We're making the covered shed a place to park the tractor, jeep & camper then I'll be able to park my car under the garage.  Several bucket loads of rocks were moved to the azalea garden behind the house.  Several more loads went along the creek. 

Working together to put
rocks in the bucket.

When there are lots of rocks, there
has to be rock stacking involved & it
made a good decoration for the garden.

Kevin dumped the rocks & I started
placing them around the edge.
        

 

*  We went exploring in the mountains to check out a camping spot & look for firewood.  Kevin got a permit to get trees that are down & dead to use for firewood.  The wild rhododendrons were blooming.  There was also a pink flower blooming.  I put the pink blooms out there to the plant identifiers to identify. 

Japanese spirea, Spiraea Japonica, Eupatorium, Spirea shrub, Joe pye,
Iron weed, Joe pye weed, Spirea.  If you recognize these blooms,
what would you call them?

We cooked our supper over the fire 
several evenings this week.  Have
you ever roasted a strawberry? Our
strawberries were picked fresh out
of the garden, dipped in marshmallow
cream then held over the fire for a
few moments to gently toast the
marshmallow cream.  Delicious! 

These are some of the things that's been going on around in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 24th week of 2023?  My week started with a Grammy's themed dance recital & ended sitting by the fire roasting a cheddar dog & marshmallows.  In between, I worked more hours on the job than usual.  It was tuff not being used to working those few extra hours, but I did survive.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few other simple joys, come walk with me...

Waiting for the show to start.  This was my 1st ever
dance recital.  I really enjoyed the whole experience.

I got to go backstage to get a
peek at how the dancers get
ready for their performance.

    

I got my picture taken on the red
carpet with my 2 favorite dancers.
Kevin told me I looked like I was
going to the Kentucky Derby
 instead of the Grammy's.

4 dozen quail eggs set. 

*  Kevin sold the big ol camper & got it moved out of the way.  He finished the chicken fence & ordered an incubator. 

The chickens are growing.

 

Happy Birthday to Grand Gracie.

*  Nana Grandjoy Camp Run-A-Muk - Grand spent the night then we celebrated her birthday with a "Taco Twosday" party hosted by her parents.  Tacos were the main course along with a birthday cake that looked like a taco. 

Strawberries taste the best when
 ate directly from the garden.

Bubbles, bubbles!
We love bubbles.

One of her favorite things to do
was to walk across the bridge & 
along the creek to see the water.

  

  

*  I took a brief short walk before work one morning to look at the wildflowers behind the house.  

I discovered some different chips for
us to try with our hotdog.  If you're
 a Funyun fan, you might like these.

These are some of the things going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 23rd week of 2023?  There were flower buds on the plants in the container by the fire pit, sure enough, it was balloon flowers.  The bloom looks like a balloon before the flower opens up. We had some more family celebration get togethers.  There were graduations & parties that included a little hula dancing & a flaming birthday cake.  Kevin bought us a camper & got some quail.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how the garden is growing, come walk with me...

This property we moved to back in March, already
had the 4 large raised beds with a fence around
them.  We added some smaller beds & put the
mulch down.  The raised beds seem to dry out quick. 
There was a pump included in the garden stuff that
 draws water from the creek to use for watering.

We might get a few apples off this young
apple tree.

We've picked a few strawberries.

Onions in the front.  Carrots in the back.

        

There are several peppers growing.
We hope to get enough to make
a batch of stuffed peppers. The
plants are yellow looking & don't
look real healthy.

  

The blueberries are doing good.  We've picked
a lot.  We thought the birds would get the berries
but so far, nothing has bothered them.

Tomatoes, green beans on one side,
cucumbers on the other side
& okra down the middle.

The tame blackberries have
some blooms.

*  There was head start graduation, 8th grade graduations & high school graduations.  Then there were graduation parties.  Brother came from Texas for a visit & to see his Grand graduate. I probably mentioned before that it had been about 18 years since I had seen Brother in person.  I spent the night at Moma's house on the last night of Brother's stay. Moma had all 3 of us kids back home under one roof for a night, though we didn't fuss & fight or wet the bed like we did when we were kids.  I certainly enjoyed talking with Brother, getting his views about world events over a cup of coffee before he headed back to Texas.

Mine & Kevin's oldest Grand
graduated high school the next night.

Brother's oldest Grand graduated
high school one night.

  

*  Grand & Girlfriend celebrated their graduation together with a family & friends feast of a meal get together hosted by their parents.  The 2 grads had no idea who the wrapped packages were from that were on the gift table.  Their anticipation grew.  Grand double & triple checked the gifts to see if he could figure out who they were from.  Each thought they had gotten a box of coffee as they opened their gift.  Girlfriend said she liked coffee.  Grand said he could probably start liking coffee.  A card inside revealed the packages were from me (& Kevin too). The box was filled with some of their favorite snacks, a blanket, candles, a travel mug, some cute graduation themed socks, a little money along with a bear hug.  I've been giving bear hugs to the Grands ever since they popped out of the womb, so the teeny tiny teddy bear with a card saying that it was a bear hug, was kind of sentimental to me.

I thought these little candy
boxes were adorable. 

  

Friend turned 12.  There were
burgers, bubbles & a lit
birthday cake.

*  There were 2 birthday celebrations.

Grand turned 16.  There was a
pool party & he got his drivers
license.

   

Getting our mountain exploring vehicle set up.  Kevin raised the camper 6 or 8
inches so it won't drag on rocks going through creeks & such.

Rose

These are some of the things going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?