Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 18th week of 2024? It's 60 degrees here this good Friday morning. The black cherry trees are in bloom & they are so sweet smelling. I'm on the count down for my last days of work this month. I've officially joined the Dull Women's Club in preparation to a retirement lifestyle. I've ordered a magazine subscription as a substitute to work comradery for recipes, what movies are coming up to watch & info on things going on in the world around me & such. People have asked me what am I going to do after I retire. The 1st things that come to mind are... 2 hour morning coffee quite time, meal planning more strategically - cooking things we keep stocked up in the freezer & things from out of the garden using recipes from that magazine subscription, the church cookbook & several cookbooks I have on hand plus all those other recipes I've collected through the years that I had planned to make one day. I have plans to finally & truly organize my pictures & make photobooks that I've had on my to do list for at least 19 years since the 1st Grand was born. Then I have thoughts of everyday feeling like it's a weekend. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll show you our 90th birthday surprise for Aunt before I head out to Grand's baseball game this weekend & a dinner for Moma's birthday & Mother's Day combined. Also, Me & Kevin enjoyed a picnic & jeep ride last weekend, the wild azaleas were in bloom & lots of other wildflowers that I took pictures of that I'll share with you, come walk with me...

I came up with the birthday card idea,
Sister put it into action. Aunt is very
loved by so many. There was a big turnout
 of family & friends to celebrate her birthday.
 She received lots of cards & pots
of flowers. Happy 90th Birthday to 
Aunt Velva.
 

  

I saved room for a piece of the delicious
birthday cake made by Cousin, the same
one that made the cake for Grand's
wedding. Cousin is a wonderful &
true cake artist. 

*  Since I made a countdown of my last days of work, my mind wants to put off doing anything & everything till after I retire. They'll be plenty of time to do it then, I'm thinking. The overflowing dirty clothes hamper along with the small mound of dirty clothes beside it & the dirty dishes stacked in the sink told me otherwise, so there was laundry done this week & the dishes washed as usual. I started a 31-day walking challenge for May. I need to get some weight off & also eat less portions & have less to none sweets for my health to try to get those glucose & cholesterol numbers down or else... So far, I'm rocking it & have walked the 1st 3 days of May. I've been walking 1st thing in the morning after coffee time, of course. 

Some have asked if I was counting down the days
to retirement. I am now, 29 more to go.

* We hadn't been on a jeep ride in a while. Nature did not disappoint with all it's beauty. There were lots of blooms, these were some of the best pictures I took.

Asters

 

Yellow Flowers, Maybe Ragwort
The poison oak does not bother me.
Kevin steered clear of it.

Lady Slipper

  

May Apple

Wild Iris

 

Fern

Wild Azalea 

 

We went through several
fords in the creek.

Lunch, using the new lunch box
Daughter gave us for Christmas. 

  

It's me, sitting on the creek bank 
taking a moment to admire the 
beauty, sounds & smells.

Cucumber Tree

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