Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia.  How you doing this 32nd week of 2023?  There were noticeable signs that fall is on it's way.  I'm waiting till after the Grands start back to school to put out my little dab of fall decorations.  The dogwood tree's leaves are turning red, I saw golden rod in bloom & the burning bushes were turning red.  I was on vacation leave from work this week & was super delighted to do Mother of a Mom activities while Daughter & Son-in-Law went on their annual anniversary getaway.  Moma & Sister hosted a Cousin Camp, Kevin hosted a hotdog roast & Son-in-Law's parents brought over pizza.  I fell short in so many ways compared to the awesome amazing Mom Daughter is to her children.  My mashed taters didn't have the red stuff that gives them flavor.  The red stuff was the skins.  "Mom don't make us do that, she does it herself".  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few of the other things that went on while I was at Daughter's house, come walk with me..

*  We took a couple walks on the River Walk Trail in the evenings while waiting for the football boys to do their practice.  We saw river cane, a duck & a ground hog.  There were lots of wildflowers that included golden rod & kudzu was starting to bloom. We had fun throwing walnuts to each other & batting the walnuts with sticks.  The girls waded in the muddy branch to cool off.  Also a few rocks were thrown into the river & there were big rocks along the trail to climb on.  We brought water to drink on the trail but it wasn't enough to quench our thirst by the time we got back to the vehicle.  We went into Lowe's & got refreshing drinks & snacks then sat in the air-conditioned car eating & drinking till practice was over. 

  "NOOOoooo, It's too hot, Mom don't make us enjoy nature."

*  Even though I'm done mothering a child, I get to joyfully be a mother to a mom.  When I go visit, I enjoy doing all the things for Daughter & her family - cooking, cleaning, bathing the babies, dropping off or picking up the kids...  I don't have to do it every day nor do I do it on a regular basis, so it's fun for me.  It's enjoyable & it gives me a purpose to still be able to do motherly things for adult Daughter from time to time.  It gives me simple joys to be able to help out & spend precious quality time with the Grands.

*  I was up by 6 am most mornings to get the day started.  I tried to keep the household routine the same as Daughter's, especially the baby's meals & naptimes.  Part of our morning routine was walking to the mailboxes & checking the mail.  We had a popsicle for snack when we got back to the house.  We took their neighbor, Miss Janice, some tomatoes from out of our garden.  Kevin froze 8 packs of tomato juice & had leftover tomatoes to share.

Grand grabbing a bite of breakfast & chit
chatting before he heads off to work then
he had football practice in the evening.

Mid-morning walk to the mailbox, 
there were acorns, colored 
leaves, pinecones & rocks
collected along the way.

"Look, it's a blue mushroom."  I had never seen a blue mushroom before,
Kevin said he had never seen one either.

*  I relaxed by the fire at Cousin Camp after the babies went to bed.  The older boys played glow basketball.  Sister & I played a few rounds & shoot hoops with the kids.  There was also a glow frisbee & a glow ball made out of glow sticks.  The cousins were all of Moma's Great-Grands.  Sister cooked hamburgers & hotdogs on the grill for supper.  She made fruity yogurt waffle bowls for breakfast along with bacon & eggs.  We all spent the night & camped out on the beds, on the couches & in the floor.  

The backyard pool was a big hit
for the littlest ones.

Relaxing by the fire watching the
kids play glow basketball.

*  Girlfriends came over.  There were crafts made.  There was jumping on the trampoline.  There was food cooked.  I made a birthday cake & taco fixings for lunch on oldest Grand's birthday.  

There's still lots of summer left for
swimming & pool parties before
school starts back.

Roasting marshmallows is fun
anytime of the year.

  

Happy 18th Birthday to Austin.

Another sign of fall - Halloween crafts.

 

Daughter & Son-in-Law's anniversary getaway was chasing major league baseball 
stadiums. Their plan was 7 MLB stadiums in 7 days.  They had opportunity to watch
2 games at one of the stadiums, so they ended up watching 7 MLB games & visited
6 stadiums.  What an incredible adventure!  Can you tell what team they route for?

The white Rose of Sharon was
in full bloom.  There isn't a
lot of blooms but the blooms
it does have are big.

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