Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

41 years, a squirrel, buckeyes & an apple fritter

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing? September is moving right along & so are we. 41 years... the day came & went doing our usual things. We're still here, still together & still making memories one day at a time. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how many fish we caught to put in the freezer this week.

We got up before the sun, stopped by Bojangles for a couple of their sausage egg biscuits then headed to the lake. The water temperature was just above 84 degrees. It felt like bath water as we reached down to test it. The water was calm & glassy just like Kevin likes it. We saw starting of leaf color, watched a squirrel cut acorns & saw a heron. It was a peaceful morning on the lake but not a good day for fishing. Maybe the water was too warm for the type of top water fishing that we do. There wasn't even any fish showing up on the fish finder. Kevin caught several fish, but they got off before he could get them in. He commented that the fish wasn't biting aggressively. I caught 1 fish a little on the small eating size & put it back, so no fish for the freezer this week's fishing trip.

Why do leaves change color? It's
one of next month's lesson plans.

Goldenrods, another sign that 
cooler weather is on its way.

We went on a good trail ride. There were 5 side by sides. We were all related in one way or another. We met up then hauled to the parking spot. The woods were beautiful. It came up a little shower of rain during mid ride. During one of the stops, everybody picked up buckeyes to put in their pockets for good luck. There were several rough places that made me queasy thinking about going over, so I got out. The drivers were delighted to have the challenges. We all ate at Wendy's afterwards. I tried the pretzel bacon pub cheeseburger. It was good but, oh boy, loaded with carbs for those of us needing to eat a keto-ish diet. Yikes! 

Orange flag marker

I assisted Daughter on a field trip to an apple orchard. The staff was so friendly & helpful. I was impressed & I think Daughter was to. It's probably the place we'll go back to next year, if going to an apple orchard comes up in the event plannings. I arrived a little early to find out where things were & to get apple sampling snacks ready. We were welcomed to a covered shady picnic area centrally located to all the things. All the staff went above & beyond to be sure we got to do & see all the things. We did an apple tasting test to see if we could really taste a sweetness difference in apples. First, we had a slice of Crimson Crisp then tried a slice of Granny Smith. Oh My Yes! There was a difference. The Granny Smith seemed really really sour. We picked 2 pecks of Rome Beauty to take home. We have a day planned next week to make an apple pie.

    

We picked Rome Beauty.

Look at me wearing my tie dye shirt
from last week's Meet up at the Park.

   

Cow milking

Hillcrest Orchard

We did all the things except the trikes & bubbles. We sampled the apple cider doughnuts along with the fried apple pies, apple fritters & the cider sippers. There was an extra apple fritter left over. Me & Kevin shared it a la mode after supper.

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? Happy 4th of July! It's my birthday month. The spider lily surprised us with blooms. Moma gave us the bulbs & couldn't remember which color they were. We did some yard work this week & made several trips to the dollar store. We needed new house numbers along with laundry detergent & dish soap. We went on a couple trail rides, did some walking & had picnics. The summer homeschool projects this week were making peanut butter cookies & dissecting owl pellets. I assisted Daycare on a field trip to the aquarium. The kids got so excited seeing the sharks. I'm still in vacation mode enjoying my souvenir coffee cup. After the 4th of July celebrations, I'll be ready to put up the fall decorations. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & we'll walk around & look at the daylilies, they have been so beautiful this summer, then we're going to have a hotdog roast, maybe eat a slice or 2 of watermelon, sit by the creek & watch Grands play in the water this weekend.

 

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? The orange butterfly flowers are blooming in the backyard. The butterflies love them. We can see the flowers out the kitchen window. The bugs, rabbits & birds have been bad in the gardens this year. I made a version of that chia seed pudding I've seen going around on the internet. I topped mine with strawberries from out of the garden & drizzled it with chocolate. The drizzle was more of a blob. The strawberries are what gave it flavor. I ended up adding blackberries when the strawberries were gone. It was good & filling, I'll be making it again. I went swimming this week & ate birthday cake. Kevin went fishing & caught some good looking yellow perch. He cooked a mess for supper & the rest went into the freezer. He replaced the fuel pump in the side by side & we're ready to ride when I get back from the beach. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage, we'll walk around in the gardens then we'll sit on the porch for a spell before it gets too hot. The temperatures are supposed to get in the upper 80s next week, maybe into the 90s here in north Georgia.

Ok, here we go. These are my
walking around out in the
yard shoes. 

The creek is running good. We've
had several good rains recently.
We have a little pump to pump
water from the creek to water
the gardens when needed.

    

The begonias & fern are pretty together. Moma
gave me a start of these. They are doing
good here beside the creek. They get morning
 sun then are in the shade most the
rest of the day.

Kevin picked up a couple packs of lily bulbs at the dollar store. They turned out quite beautiful here with the donkey. If you haven't heard the story behind the donkey yet, I'll tell the short version right quick. Kevin was given this rusty old donkey as somewhat of a joke. He cleaned it up, painted it & now it's quite the handsome fellow in the flower gardens.

Daisies

The swimming hole.

   

The tadpole pond. Kevin has a red clay
source. He just hasn't got around to
getting it yet, to see if we can get this
thing to hold water & be something
better to look at.

The different colors of daylilies
are blooming.

                

The phlox have been pretty. Iris doesn't
seem to be bothered that her kittens are gone.
  The new owners named the kittens Bobby &
Miss Maggie. I got the turtles as a retirement
 gift. I move them around for Grands to find.

I call this a snowball bush but
I think it's supposed to be 
hydrangea. Last year it was
 loaded with snowballs.

    

We're not sure if this pampas grass
 is going to make it or not. It looks
like it's only going to have 1 blade
 of grass this year. There is some of
this grass near the road going to
town, it's not doing any good this
year either.

Kevin scratched up this little
garden space on the edge of the 
property down by the creek.
Last year he planted broom corn
& it did good. This year he planted
 squash, pumpkins & tators. The
rabbits have ate most the plants.

        

The birds are eating the blueberries.

Kevin picked a bowl full. We made
muffins & the rest went in the
freezer.

The fenced raised bed garden is protected from the rabbits & deer but not the birds & bugs. The grape vines are loaded with tiny grape clusters just starting to grow.  The tomato & pepper plants are still looking good. The radishes are gone, we ate them up. We're still getting lettuce, spinach & onions. The onions are a little bigger now.

The bugs are eating on the okra.

Tommy toes

The blackberries are starting to 
come in. Have some, if you see
any ripe ones. They are so sweet.
These are thornless blackberry
 bushes so we can pick without
getting all scratched up.

Look at that morning glory
bloom hiding back there. This 
is the tall stump flower bed in
front of the house. 

    

The summer garden flag is out.
We're celebrating the 4th of July
all summer long.

Every garden path leads back to the porch,
a place for pondering about finding 
joy in the simple things.

 

The little poinsettia from Christmas is
still surviving. A few years ago, I
kept one till May. This is a new
poinsettia PR for me.

Happy 5th Birthday to
Grand Gracie.

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.

Yellow perch

Chia pudding