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 2024? We're halfway through the year, whew, how time is flying by. It's a very pleasant 69 degrees here this Friday morning as I prepare myself to do a much needed clean of the bathroom & fix the onions today. There is a new romantic comedy that just came out on Netflix called A Family Affair that I'm going to try to watch sometime this weekend. I picked up sticks, pulled weeds & went along as an extra chaperon on a field trip this week with Daughter's Summer Day Camp. I was delighted to experience some Christmas in June, especially since Christmas is now just 6 months away. It's the time of year that I start Christmas shopping, looking up ideas for Christmas activities & gathering thoughts for a winter bucket list. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you a little about my week in the garden & about my day at a place where it's Christmas every day, come sit by the creek with me...

 

I gave Santa a big ol hug & asked him how
he was tolerating the heat down here in the
south being away from the North Pole.

*  The field trip was to Santa's Land Fun Park & Zoo, the home of the famous Rudicoaster. It's a fun place for kids of all ages, including my aging gracefully inner-kid self. We rode the rides, train & paddle boats. We went to the magic show. We explored the zoo area & fed some of the animals. We played on Candy Mountain & the other playground areas. The kids got a souvenir ring made out of a reindeer/horseshoe nail at the blacksmith exhibit. Each ring was made to size as we watched. Of course, we talked to Santa & got a candy cane.  

In our imagination, we called
these Santa's reindeer.

The kids wanted to paddle
the boat, so I relaxed in the back
 seat & watched the fish. 

There were several Christmas trees on display here & there.
These dolls reminded me of the Raggedy Ann &
 Andy I had as a kid. Season's Greetings.

*  Vegetables in the garden have started coming in. Kevin planted the garden, worked it & has kept it watered. I'm helping with the picking, gathering & preparing the goodness to be fixed for supper or put up in the freezer. Not pictured are the cucumbers. Kevin has kept them eat up before I get a chance to include them in a veggie photo shoot. He likes his cucumbers cold. The colder the better he says, almost to the point of being froze. 

A little unexpected surprise that there were green beans ready.

Eversweet Everbearing strawberries
that are true to their name.

These tommy toes/cherry tomatoes made
 me think about needing to get out the
 tator tot casserole recipe & have it
 ready for when these tiny mators are
 ripe here in a few more days.

"Rose, do you want to help string
the beans?"

 

The berry cobbler turned out good
using the muffin mix.

The grocery store had locally grown blueberries for a good price, so
 I thought I'd add them with our blackberries & strawberries to
 make a couple bags of mixed berries to put up in the
freezer to have later.

The onions are ready to be harvested.

Is that fall leaf color I'm seeing? I 
wonder what is going on with that.

We had Arby's for supper 
one night.

These are some of the things that's been 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 25th week of 2024? It's 86 degrees here this Sunday afternoon as I finish cleaning up after a family get together with Kevin's side of the family this weekend then I'm thinking about a nap but 1st, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll show you some elephant toothpaste, have you ever heard of it, come walk with me... 

Elephant toothpaste

*  One of the experiments during Daughter's Science Day of Summer Day Camp was to mix ingredients/chemicals together that reacted to form an oozing that looked like a huge tube of toothpaste. I assisted with the day's activities & was treated with pizza & ice cream along with the camp participators. 

Oobleck from the Dr Suess book
Bartholomew and the Oobleck.
It's a liquid & a solid.

*  I had lunch with Moma & took a tour of her flower gardens along with my little sidekick that hung out with me for a few days. The daylilies were putting on a show.

*  Me & Kevin hosted a get together for Kevin's side of the family along with having a surprise birthday cake for the oldest family member. There was wiffle ball, cornhole, badminton, playing in the creek, bubbles & fireworks. There was so much good food, I ate some of the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

My little sidekick helping me
get the drink cooler ready.

 

Can you guess how old Birthday Boy was?
The Cake Lady, my Cousin Sally, did an amazing
job making the surprise birthday cake. Everyone was
talking about how good the cake tasted along with
 the homemade ice cream made by Kevin's Cousin
Bryan during the get together.

 

We ate under our pavilion, aka... 2 vehicle open garage. It was a little cooler in
the shade with a little breeze blowing from time to time.

,

Catfish, meatloaf, country boil
& grilled pork chops with
all the other fixings, there
were hotdogs for roasting &
smores stuff for the making.

Caprese skewers made with
blackberries from the garden.

*  Here's a few pictures of Kevin's flower beds, creekside walking path & pond project that he's been working on.

 

The walking path starting to take shape. Way down there at the
other end of the fence, will be the pond.

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

Kevin discovered this yellow jacket's nest
while we were stacking wood for the 
fire pit. The nest was about a foot
over our heads while we worked & 
neither of us had noticed it. 

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 2024? It's 75 degrees here this Sunday morning as I have breakfast with Kevin & start unpacking from my weeklong adventures in the mid-west with Daughter. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll share a few glimpses of the road trip before going out to see the flower gardens Kevin worked on while I was gone, come walk with me... 

Gateway Arch National Park

Little River Watershed Lake

Adventureland Amusement Park 

Busch Stadium
 

Morning walk in a cornfield

Metropolis

Picnic at the ballpark

Ledges State Park

Train ride

Family wiffle ball game

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

Happy Birthday to my
donut loving girl.

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 2024? It's 67 degrees here this Friday morning. I'm officially retired. I was blessed to have been able to work with such a great crew this last year. I don't know how I ever found time to have a career with all the stuff that I've done this week. As I mentioned last week, I've got a whole summer's worth of sticks to pick up after that storm that blew through. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you a little about my last weeks of work & my 1st week of retirement, before heading out on a road trip to have adventures with Daughter, come walk with me...

I actually did still set the alarm clock.

Kevin is still working, so I got up as

usual to pack his lunch & get our day

 started. 1st thing Monday morning

scheduled on my weekly planner 

was a mammogram. 

I was surprised with a Retirement Party at work.
 I sure am going to miss that gang. 

   

Biscuits & hash rounds from
 Chick fil i were served along
 with the cake & drinks.

I was presented with a retirement service
award certificate along with a 30-year
 service pin & certificate of appreciation.

* I was surprised with a Promotion Party at a lake picnic. I had said no retirement party, so a banner had been made that read "Promoted to Full Time Nana".  Also, it was a celebration of the last day of school for the school year. All the kids got promoted to their next grade level.

I am still so touched by everyone's
kind words & gifts.

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

Happy Birthday to my Michigan
loving fan.