Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

 

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 49th week of 2023?  Me & Kevin had a night out on the town. We had Taco Bells $5 Classic for supper then took a walk thru the Town Square gander necking at all the Christmas decorations on display & ended the evening doing our weekly grocery shopping. Kevin got his barrel stove set up in the workshop. I had a day out with the Grands. Sister hosted a cookie bake that lead to Me & Kevin having eggnog & cookies while watching one of our favorite Christmas movies, A Holiday to Remember, starring Randy Travis. Kevin said we'd watched it at least 9 times already. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you what kind of cookies were made & show you Kevin's stove, come walk with me...

Christmas Lily Elf says candy canes are her
favorite Christmas candy & that everyone should
use one as a stir stick in their favorite hot drink.

*  The Town Square's walkways & pavilions are decorated with all sorts of lighted Christmas decorations for all to view free of charge, so I've taken a couple walks to look around. Kevin & I stopped by there this week on our weekly outing to the grocery store.

Good ol Saint Nick & a couple of reindeer are hanging out on the
corner lawn, spreading Christmas cheer to all passerbyers &
 greeting everyone with a Merry Christmas.

The Town Christmas tree, located
in the gazabo, has elves 
frolicking on it's top.

This snowman, I think, is my favorite 
lighted decoration setup up along
 one of the walkways.

*  The cookie bake was a success.  Next year we'll do gingerbread houses.  Sister took charge of the oven, baking her selection of cookie. I came up with a no bake variety of cookie.  I made hot chocolate cookies to share & Sister made different variations of her oatmeal cookies to share.  I threw in gingerbread men from the dollar store because those cookies are pretty good.  We sampled a lot of the cookies warm out of the oven, sister took a plate to the neighbor across the street & we made 3 trays for sharing with our loved ones.

Measuring & mixing ingredients.

Rolling up the dough.

Sister working with Grands to make her monster cookie recipe.

Gingerbread men, Rudolph's
red nose (on the bottom),
oatmeal cookies of different
variations & hot chocolate
 cookies.

 

Rudolph's red nose was my
selection for a no bake recipe.

Sister & Moma made us a scrumptious spaghetti
lunch. The best part, I got to take leftovers for
supper & lunches.

*  I took Grand's out for breakfast at Waffle House then we did a little shopping at Wal Mart before the basketball game & cookie bake.

Proud Nana, the cooks & servers
complimented on how well 
behaved the kids were. 

Shopping for Toys for Tots
donations for their classrooms.

Look how cute we all are in these little Santa hats, rocking around 
the Waffle House Christmas tree with our to-go bag there & 
a vehicle's headlight outside shining the way for us.

The barrel wood stove that Kevin
made to knock the chill off
in the workshop area.

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

We're getting up to 5 eggs a day.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 47th week of 2023?  I made a thermos full of hot chocolate then we headed to the woods for a picnic & to pick up pinecones to use for decorations.  Moma & Sister hosted Thanksgiving. I was thankful for family get together time & the bounty of food with lots of leftovers for lunches. Our neighbor down the road turned on their well-known Christmas lights display. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you the final item I marked off my Fall Bucket List, come walk with me...

Look at those perfect pinecones
to decorate with, how many
do you see? 

My edges used to overcook till
I discovered the method of wrapping
aluminon foil around the edge.

*  The final item I marked off my Fall Bucket List was.... 15. Make a pumpkin pie. I made 2 pies using pumpkin puree from a pumpkin Kevin had got at the produce stand. One of the pies went to Moma's Thanksgiving dinner, the other one went in the freezer to have at Christmas.

Christmas Lily Elf helping me decide
which vegetable out of the garden I should
 use to make a dish for Thanksgiving.

Daughter with her Mississippi Mud Pie. 
Me with my carrots & pineapple dish.

* I went to Grand's basketball game.

Fans in the stands having snacks & sharing
nachos & cheese with pulled pork on the top.

  

It's never too early to get them
tossing around a ball.

Happy Birthday to Grand Olivia.  She chose for her
party to be at Build-a-Bear with her siblings.

The lovely ladies that hosted Thanksgiving, everyone's favorite cooks. Sister gave a
short sweet educational presentation about Thanksgiving's history that included football
& there were a few turkey jokes in between. 

Why were the turkeys parading down the street?
They were marching to the beat of their own drumsticks.

Why did the turkey cross the road?
It was the chicken’s day off.

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 42nd week of 2023? I marked leaf looking off my Fall Bucket List, we went to Grand's housewarming shower. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how many fish we caught while out & about, come walk with me... 

Kevin gave 1 of his paintings for a
"Something From Home" gift.  

My veggie topping tray
for the burgers.

*  Grand & Fiancé got lots of needed things at the housing warming shower that Me & Daughter gave for them.  It was good visiting with everyone that came. Son-in-law cooked up some of his delicious gourmet gourmorgan smash burgers. For my "Something From Home" gift, I gave a can of WD-40 that I discovered we had 2 of. I told Austin now that he was getting older, he could use that on his joints. He chuckled.

My version of candy corn harvest mix
with a hint of pumpkin spice.

"One minute you're young & wild,
the next minute you're into air fryers",
said somebody somewhere,

This pavilion in the park along the
river is a beautiful area for
get togethers & such. 

*  Moma & Sister made a home supplies cake.  It's like a diaper cake for a baby shower expect the ingredients are useful household items instead of diapers.  We've made diaper cakes for the Grand's baby showers when they were born, so we thought it to be essential that they get a home supplies cake as they move out on their own.  It's a fun decoration for the shower & a gift all stacked up into one.

*  Kevin & I went on our annual fall leaf looking drive & chicken dinner picnic. Kevin grabbed us a bucket of chicken & biscuits from Kentucky Fried Chicken. There was lots of leaf color, but the color really wasn't that close to being at the peak for the most colorful time.  We ate our chicken sitting on the creek bank. Kevin did a little fishing while Me & Rose walked along taking pictures of fall.  Kevin caught 5 rainbow trout that made 2 suppers for us. 

Kevin put all the windows back in 
the jeep, so it's safe once again for
Rose to come along on our rides.  She
enjoyed leaf looking & chicken as
much as we did & she didn't even
care that her harness was on 
backwards.
 

 

We picked a beautiful little spot along the creek to have our picnic.  Unfortunately, 
there was evidence that others had been there before us.  We like the "leave no trace"
kind of picnicking & camping areas.  I usually pick up the trash but there was so much
of it, we didn't have room in the jeep to haul it.  

My Christmas cactus is blooming & the
orchid has 2 new little leaves.

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 40th week of 2023? Kevin started a new job & went to the Goat Farm Trade Day. I cooked some pumpkin & went to Daughter's Church Fall Festival. We went for a jeep ride & picked up a bag of chestnuts. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll give you some of the details, come walk with me...

Kevin got a job doing something
 he has found enjoyment in doing
these days, playing in the dirt. On this
job they were clearing trees for a
house site.

Stats:  20 pounds plus or minus a pound or 2 or 3, 
45 inches in diameter, 14 inches at the top of the
steam to the bottom on the ground.

*  I marked a few more fallish things off my Fall Bucket List.  I only got 1 pumpkin & the chickens helped carve it into a jack-o-lantern.  The pumpkin was an outcast from the produce stand on the other side of town.  Here is my pumpkin photo shoot for your viewing enjoyment:

The pumpkin had a little bad spot there
on it's top & it was flat on the back side
but it worked perfect for my use.

I cooked 1/2 of the pumpkin to put
in the freezer to make pies later on &
a cup of it went into a pot of pumpkin
chili I made this week.

The other 1/2 went to the chickens for their help 
in carving a jack-o-lantern.

Mashing up the cooked pumpkin
to make a thick puree. It wasn't the
perfect sugar pie pumpkin for
making pies, but it'll work.  The
 peeled chunked cooked pieces
 looked kinda like pineapples.

  

To make pumpkin chili, I made my regular chili
recipe that's on the back of the chili seasoning
pack then added a cup of pumpkin, 2 teaspoons
of pumpkin pie spice & 1 tablespoon
 of brown sugar.

Happy Halloween Month.

2. Go to a fall festival ✅ 12. Drink spiced apple cider ✅

6. Get some pumpkins ✅ 17. Carve a jack-o-lantern ✅

8. Watch fall/Halloween 18. Make pumpkin chili ✅ 

movies every day in October. ✅

1. The Curse of Bridge Hollow 4. There's Someone Inside Your House

2. We have a Ghost 5. Wednesday

3. Casper 6. Hubie Halloween

Mushroomy things were the things to see
 during this week's jeep ride exploring
in the mountains.

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

This brought back memories
of selling chestnuts back in
 elementary school during the
Harvest Sale days in the 1970s.